To consider and agree pre-decision scrutiny questions/comments to be presented to Cabinet.

(Time allocated – 30 minutes).

The Committee considered the Cabinet agenda for the 5^th April, 2016 and noted that the Mayor, Councillors and the community have expressed concern that the development industry is increasingly seeing much of the Borough as an opportunity for “Tall Buildings”. This is resulting in planning applications being received for developments that the Council considers are inappropriate for their local context and as such fail to satisfy the planning policy requirements of London Borough of Tower Hamlets adopted Local Plan (Core Strategy 2010 and Managing Development Document DPD 2013).

It was noted that the Council is in the process of preparing a new Local Plan that will include a new policy on “Tall Buildings”. These policies are anticipated to be published in draft in autumn 2016 and adopted in 2017. In the interim however, more applications for “Tall Buildings” are likely to be received. Therefore, the Mayor has requested that an explanatory note is published to ensure that the Council’s policy on “Tall Buildings” is made clear to interested parties. The ‘Planning Policy Explanatory Note on Tall Buildings’.

To consider and agree pre-decision scrutiny questions/comments to be presented to Cabinet.

(Time allocated – 30 minutes).

The Committee considered the Cabinet agenda for the 5^th April, 2016 and raised the following questions:

Item 5.7 Revised Regulation 123 List and Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)

Question: What steps will officers make to ensure the reporting of the decisions on the collecting of contributions from developers through CIL and Planning Obligations to DC/SDC and Full Council?

Subsequent to the meeting the following response was received: The Mayor in Cabinet on 5^th January 2016 approved the implementation of an Infrastructure Delivery Framework (IDF), which from April 2016 will provide the governance framework for the collection, spend and reporting of CIL and S106 monies. Officers are working with the Mayor to ensure that appropriate reporting to all relevant parties is in place to support the implementation of the IDF, including to SDC/DC as appropriate, in accordance with the Mayor’s Transparency Protocol. For reference, the relevant paragraphs of the January 5^th Cabinet Report are included below:

6.36 Planned S106 expenditure information is currently reported to Full Council as part of the Capital Programme and Budget Setting Process. It is also the case that this information is reported to Cabinet and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee as part of the Capital Programme quarterly monitoring process.

6.37 The Infrastructure Planning Team is taking steps to ensure that CIL is effectively reported as part of the Capital Programme and Budget Setting Process. It is likely that expenditure and income information (for noting) for CIL will be reported and that S106 income information will also be reported for noting.

6.38 In addition to the reporting requirements set out in paragraphs 6.36 and 6.37 above, it is proposed that further specific reporting of collated CIL and S106 income and expenditure information is reported to Cabinet and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on a 6 monthly basis. It will be the case that S106 revenue expenditure reporting will be undertaken on an annual basis to account for the extensive process of the assignment of revenue funding to the relevant S106 account.

A report regarding the use of S106 funding was presented to SDC at March 2016 Committee. It is proposed that this will become an annual report. Existing reporting regarding S106 can also be found on the Councils website at the link below. This includes: a copy of all signed S106 agreements; a summary of received contributions; a record of decisions made on the spend of S106; and 6 monthly factsheets detailing infrastructure projects delivered using S106 funding.

http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/environment_and_planning/planning/register_of_planning_decision/section_106_planning_obligatio/section_106_planning_obligatio.aspx

Item 5.10 London Borough of Tower Hamlets Adult Social Care Local account 2014/15

Qu: How will the ‘Local Account’ be promoted to residents in the Borough

Subsequent to the meeting the following response was received: We will communicate the Local Account to residents based on our understanding of communication needs of our service users.  We know from a recent survey that only 16% of adult social care users report being able to use the internet (a further 13% report others are able to access  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8