Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Barry Dobson, Councillor Brian Sumner and Councillor Ray Wootten.

Apologies for absence were also received from Councillor Bob Adams.

There were no declarations of interest.

                                                                                               (Enclosure)

The action notes from the meeting held on 27 January 2017 were noted.

A Member requested that a guidance note on the protocol for noting Members and their comments in minutes and action notes be sent to all Members.

A Member also queried what was going to happen with the Court building that had closed last year.  He commented that this had been discussed at a previous PDG and asked if Members could be sent a copy of what had been discussed and agreed following the consultation feedback.

Action Note:

To provide PDG Members outside the meeting with information from a previous PDG that discussed and considered the consultation feedback in respect of the closing of the Court Building in Grantham.

Report ENV655 of the Business Manager Environmental Health.

(Enclosure)

The Business Manager Environment presented report ENV655 on the proposed Engagement Plan for the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Lincolnshire.  The report outlined the Lincolnshire Health and Wellbeing Board Engagement Plan for the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Lincolnshire which was due to be published in 2018.

It was noted that the Lincolnshire Health and Wellbeing Board (LHWB) had a statutory duty to produce a Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JHWS).  A duty within this Strategy was to develop engagement with people who lived and worked in Lincolnshire in order to provide them with an opportunity to contribute to the Strategy and Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA). This would also provide the required evidence to support the prioritisation of health needs.

The following principles for communications with stakeholders were proposed:

·         To have a better understanding of local need in order to ensure that services delivered were appropriate and effective;

·         To work with other organisations and the public to identify the key issues and needs of the community on an ongoing basis so these could be addressed  together;

·         To involve people in Lincolnshire so they could help inform the local priorities in order that work could be undertaken to improve the health and wellbeing of the local community and reduce health inequalities.

A series of engagement events were being proposed and would be based on the evidence of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA).  These would enable the Lincolnshire Health and Wellbeing Board (LHWB) to identify health and wellbeing priorities and form the basis of the next Joint Health and Wellbeing (JHWB) strategy. 

A three stage engagement process was proposed:

The Lincolnshire Health and Wellbeing Board (LHWB)had been asked to nominate a lead officer from each representative organisation on the Lincolnshire Health and Wellbeing Board (LHWB)to undertake this exercise. The nominated lead officers from the organisational members would review the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) evidence and draft priorities to be included in the next Joint Health and Wellbeing (JHWB) strategy. 

Public engagement events were to be undertaken across the county where a  similar prioritisation exercise would take place. The LCC Health Scrutiny Committee would review the initial work and feedback to the Lincolnshire Health and Wellbeing Board (LHWB).

Discussion and moderation of the prioritisation would then be undertaken by Lincolnshire Health and Wellbeing Board (LHWB) members and the wider stakeholders at an informal LHWB session.

Members would be provided with an update on the nominations and public engagement dates.

Members were informed that only 2 local authorities had fed back to county and SKDC was one of them.  The outcomes from the PDG’s previous consideration of the graduation status exercise had highlighted a number of areas already identified by county.  Although SKDC was not at the table it had been important to feedback areas of concern within the district in order that the appropriate action could be put in place to address these areas.  Areas of concern were childhood and adult obesity, diabetes and winter deaths.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

Report SEG 40 of the Executive Manager Development and Growth.

The Executive Manager Development and Growth presented report SEG40 which concerned the Government’s Housing White Paper (WP) on how to address issues that were seen to be blocking housing supply.

Some of the emerging policies within the White Paper were being addressed by the Council.  A range of thoughts and ideas from Members had been identified following the recent Housing Summits (HS) that had taken place.

There were 40 questions contained within the consultation document on the White Paper. These questions would not be directly asked of the Communities PDG or the forthcoming Growth PDG, but relevant questions for each PDG would be posed.  This would help inform the Council’s response to the 40 questions.

Councillor Charmaine Morgan arrived at 15:02.

An overview of the White Paper was provided and covered three areas:

Inaccessibility of home ownership for young people

Increasing rents in private sector housing

Negative economic impacts caused by the lack of affordable housing

The White Paper expressed the view that solutions to the housing problem were linked to three key areas:

40% of local planning authorities (LPAs) did not have a plan that met projected growth in households in their area – (South Kesteven did have a plan)

More than a third of new homes granted planning permission between 2010/11 and 2015/16 had yet to be built.  The pace of development was slow – (South Kesteven’s position at 25% was slightly better than the national figure).

The structure of the housing market made it difficult to increase supply – (Reference was made to some house building firms having a significant hold on the market).

The deadline for the consultation response was 2 May 2017.  What happened after that date could mean a rapid introduction of policies that may well impact on what the Council was trying to do to enable quicker delivery.

Government funding would only be available for those authorities that engaged with the Governments agenda and were seen to be proactive – this was a key message

The Growth PDG would also be considering relevant questions and the response to the 40 questions would be based on the comments made by both PDG’s.  The Council was already addressing some of the issues raised within the White Paper so a letter would be submitted with the response that would provide more detail than that contained within the 40 question consultation document.  Copies of the response to the governments White Paper would also go to the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG). 

Reference was made to the lack of skilled workers and how the White Paper did not address this and how this impacted on the housing industry.  One of the issues highlighted as requiring more exploration during the Housing Summits was skilled workers and off-site construction.

The first question for the Communities PDG to consider was to do with the Local Plan. It was suggested that if a plan was in place and was progressing well only a light touch review should be undertaken. However,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

·       Homelessness Bill

·       Hare Coursing

·       Town & City Centres – East Midlands in Bloom

(Enclosure)

It was noted that the following items would be included on the Work Programme:

Homelessness Bill

Hare Coursing

Town and City Centres – East Midlands in Bloom

It was expected that Wyndham Park would be on the agenda for the first meeting in the new Municipal Year.

The review of the HRA Business Plan would be aligned to the completion of the Review of the Housing Strategy.

Members suggest the following areas be included on the Work Plan

Improving the gateway into market towns

Whether a site visit to Wyndham Park would be appropriate

Community Cohesion and the power of Volunteers

The meeting closed at 16:40.