Agenda and minutes

To note any changes to the membership.

1.1      An apology for absence was received from Councillor Louise Hyams.

To receive declarations by members and officers of the existence and nature of any personal or prejudicial interests in matters on this agenda.

2.1      There were no declarations of interest.

To sign the minutes of the Environment and Customer Services meeting held on Wednesday 16 November 2016.

3.1      RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Environment and Customer Services meeting held on Wednesday 16 November 2016 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record of proceedings.

Written updates from the Deputy Leader/Cabinet Member for Business, Culture and Heritage (to follow), the Cabinet Member for City Highways and the Cabinet Member for Planning and Public Realm (to follow).            

Question And Answer session at the meeting with the Cabinet Member for Planning and Public Realm.

4.1       The Committee received written updates from the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Business, Culture and Heritage, the Cabinet Member for City Highways and the Cabinet Member for Planning and Public Realm on significant matters within their portfolios.  

4.2       The Chairman welcomed Councillor Astaire to the meeting and congratulated him on his recent appointment as the Cabinet Member for Planning and Public Realm. 

4.3       The Committee put questions to and received responses from Councillor Astaire on a number of matters that were relevant to the Planning and Public Realm portfolio.  These included the following topics:

·           Should pubs be given special status in order to protect them?  Councillor Astaire replied that it was something that could be looked at.  He believed there were other greater priorities for the City Plan in the first instance.  He was a believer that the market generally corrected itself.  There were the instances of The Star pub and The Clifton pub in St John’s Wood.  He referred also to a recent Evening Standard article which had quoted the British Beer and Pubs Association as being of the view that more assistance was needed in relation to levies and taxes rather than matters being addressed via the planning system.

·           Councillor Astaire’s Cabinet Member update stated that a consultation document would be issued at the end of March about the right kind of growth to deliver economic and social benefits for people in Westminster.  The question was asked how long the consultation process would be and who would be consulted.  Barry Smith, Head of City Policy & Strategy, replied that it would be approximately eight weeks in duration.  Councillor Astaire added that the consultation document would be distributed to stakeholders including the Westminster Property Association (‘WPA’) and amenity societies.  It would also be available on the Council’s website.  There would be a launch event in City Hall on Monday 27 March.

·           The Cabinet Member was asked what changes he was likely to bring to the planning portfolio.  He replied that he was keen to be a critical friend of the development industry and would emphasise that they should discharge their obligations to the community.  He was looking to work with developers to ensure that as much affordable housing was built on site as possible and that as much income for affordable housing could be obtained as possible.  Councillor Astaire drew the Committee’s attention to the fact that he would be responsible for planning policy and would not sit as a Member of the planning committees considering applications.  He added that he would not be meeting with public affairs consultants and had produced a Guidance Note on how he and the Chair of the Planning Committee would engage with developers in order to provide transparency.  

·           The Cabinet Member was asked about building height.  Without pre-judging the results of the ‘Getting the Right Kind of Growth’ consultation he expressed the view that if the Council was going to ask the developer to give more, such as for affordable housing, the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Report of Director of Policy, Performance and Communications and Director of Planning (to follow).

5.1      The Committee received a report which provided an overview of the planning system in the Council, outlining the role of planning policy and the development management (planning application) process. The report highlighted key changes and priorities from the Cabinet Member for Planning & Public Realm and described the policy context to these at the local, London-wide and national levels.

5.2      The Committee in considering matters relating to this topic heard from Barry Smith, Head of City Policy & Strategy and John Walker, Director of Planning.  The Committee also took into account a written submission from the St John’s Wood Society.    

5.3      Mr Smith, in his introduction, made the point that if there were any areas within the report which the Committee wished to look at in more detail in the Work Programme this was an opportunity to flag these up.  Mr Smith and Mr Walker emphasised that the report was a brief guide to the planning process.  Mr Walker advised that Members were offered bespoke training where the process was explained in more detail.  The Chairman recommended that planning officers write to the 2014 intake of Westminster Councillors to inform them of the training available.          

5.4      The Committee asked a number of questions to Mr Smith and Mr Walker, including the following:

·           How did Mr Walker see his department evolving?  Mr Walker replied that there was a greater focus and emphasis on use of each site, including scrutinising every application for affordable housing.  Affordable housing would still be subject to viability assessments.  The aim was that the developers deliver closer to what was recommended by the viability consultant rather than this being a matter for extensive negotiation.

·           Would the meeting notes of developers’ pre-application and application engagement with councillors as referred to in the Guidance Note in the agenda papers be available to the Planning Committee when considering the application?  Mr Walker replied that he believed that was the intention.  It was likely to be included in the background papers.

·           Would it be possible to receive an update every meeting on progress regarding delivering housing, including affordable housing, through the planning process?  Mr Smith advised that there was a statutory duty to produce an Authorities Monitoring Report where the Council was required to report on delivery of key policy areas, including data on housing permitted.  It would be possible to provide the necessary information to the Committee when the Report was produced.  He added that there would be a time lag and the evidence of any changes from the renewed focus on delivering housing was unlikely to be seen until approximately fifteen or eighteen months’ time.  Ms Dindjer, Policy and Scrutiny Manager, brought to the Committee’s attention that Councillor Astaire was due to appear before the Committee twice a year and one option was to include the housing updates in the Cabinet Member Update prior to the Cabinet Member for Planning and Public Realm attending the Committee meeting.  It was agreed that the appropriate way in which to provide the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Committee to consider whether it wishes to issue any press releases in relation to its work.

6.1      The Committee decided not to produce a press release in relation to the items on the agenda.

Report of the Director of Policy, Performance and Communications.

7.1      Members of the Committee were requested in the report to suggest any items of interest to add to the Work Programme.  Members recommended the following items:

·                     Business Rates – this was currently scheduled for the next meeting in May.  The Chairman requested that in order to make the item viable expert witnesses would need to be available such as Sir Peter Rogers, Chairman, New West End Company.

·                     Placeshaping – potentially the next meeting in May. 

·                     Baker Street Two Way and 20 miles per hour trial areas – potentially June 2017.

·                     Broadband – potentially September 2017.

·                     Night Tube – potentially September 2017 (one year after the Night Tube commenced).

·                     Pedestrianisation of Oxford Street – potentially September 2017.

·                     Crossrail 2 – potentially November 2017 or February 2018.

·                     Cycling Strategy – including an update on progress of the Cycling Superhighways.

·                     Topics within the City Plan to be considered at the pre-consultation stage.

·                     Support for the forums undertaking Neighbourhood Planning – potentially during February / April 2018.

·                     Street Markets (Cabinet Member for Business, Culture and Heritage portfolio).

·                     The service provided to customers by the utilities such as Thames Water / UK Power Networks – potentially February 2018.

7.2      Muge Dindjer, Policy and Scrutiny Manager, advised Members of the Committee that they have the option to establish task groups and that there is a small scrutiny research budget should the Committee wish to commission some external work.  She would be consulting the Cabinet Members on other potential topics for the Work Programme and would provide a more detailed Work Programme for the next meeting of the Committee in May. 

7.3      The Chairman recommended to his Committee colleagues that they contact Ms Dindjer if they have any further items for inclusion in the Work Programme.  It was agreed that Ms Dindjer would consult Councillor Astaire and the relevant officers as to the potential for a task group on parties which make representations in respect of planning applications being able to address the planning committees.  ‘Assets of community value’ and in particular the policies towards pubs was also proposed as a potential task group.    

7.4       ACTION: The following actions arose:

·           Councillor Chalkley and the relevant officers to be consulted as to whether it was appropriate timing to consider Baker Street Two Way and 20 miles per hour trial areas at the 7 June meeting (Muge Dindjer, Policy and Scrutiny Manager, Councillor Danny Chalkley, Cabinet Member for City Highways and Sion Pryse, Cabinet Officer).

·           Councillor Chalkley and the relevant officers to be consulted on the appropriate timing regarding an update on the Cycling Superhighways (Muge Dindjer, Policy and Scrutiny Manager, Councillor Danny Chalkley, Cabinet Member for City Highways and Sion Pryse, Cabinet Officer).

·           Councillor Astaire and the relevant officers to be consulted as to the potential for a task group on parties which make representations in respect of planning applications being able to address the planning committees (Muge Dindjer, Policy and Scrutiny Manager, Councillor Daniel Astaire, Cabinet Member for Planning and Public  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.1      There was no additional business for the Committee to consider.

8 May 2017, 7 June 2017, 13 September 2017, 15 November 2017

9.1      The dates of future meetings are 8 May 2017, 7 June 2017, 13 September 2017 and 15 November 2017.