Issue - meetings

(See report at agenda item 6 (pages 67 – 130) of the Cabinet papers of 20 September 2016)

DRAFT RECOMMENDATION

That the Infrastructure Business Plan 2017-2022 be approved for consultation with the city, town and parish councils, neighbouring local authorities including the South Downs National Park Authority and key infrastructure delivery commissioners for a period of six weeks from 3 October to 14 November 2016.

Mrs Taylor (Cabinet Member for Housing & Planning), seconded by Mr Dignum, moved these recommendations from Cabinet. She explained that the purpose of the Infrastructure Business Plan (IBP) was to enable the Council to prioritise and select the infrastructure that was most needed; when and where it was needed. Projects selected from the IBP would aid the cumulative growth of the area and ensure that the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) was spent to best effect; that a transparent prioritised approach was taken to selecting projects to be funded and that all sources of funding infrastructure were taken into account including S106 monies.

In September 2015 the first draft IBP was reported to Cabinet and subsequently to Council for consultation with WSCC and other Stakeholders. It was emphasised that it was a living document and would be reviewed annually. In February 2016 CIL was adopted by the Council thus giving greater certainty about future funding for infrastructure to support development in the Local Plan. The Council was now beginning to receive income from CIL, although future years’ receipts were still estimated.

In assessing the infrastructure requirements and means of meeting those requirements, collaboration would be essential. In April this year a workshop was held with stakeholders and projects identified. The proposed Cashflow and Spending Plan was discussed at a meeting of the Joint Liaison Group, comprising officers and members from West Sussex County Council (WSCC) and the Council, and it was agreed that the Smarter Choices proposals and the Primary School places projects, together with the requested funding for the new Medical Centre on the West of Chichester Strategic Development Location should be subject to further detail and evaluation.

For the period 2016–2021 there would be a projected shortfall of £2,503,870 on the total costs of projects proposed for CIL funding. Therefore it was important that projects were prioritised that would meet the infrastructure needs of development.

The draft IBP would go out for consultation for a period of 6 weeks from 3 October to the 14November. The results of the consultation would be discussed by the Joint Liaison Group before being reported back to Cabinet.

Mr Shaxson suggested that the foreword be amended to add a sentence to indicate that this plan covered all areas excluding the South Downs National Park (SDNP) and that the Park Authority had its own CIL arrangements. Mrs Taylor advised that the SDNP was referred to as one of the consultees but that this could be included.

Mr Oakley endorsed the comments on Smarter Choices, education and health projects. However he was concerned that the Council was looking to spend this amount of money on projects which would be very difficult to measure. Mrs Taylor advised that further details and an explanation were currently awaited and that all stakeholders agreed that nothing should be spent without good evidence.

Mr Ransley stated that it was essential to know that the infrastructure would be available in order to be able to support development. There would need to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 152

Note: The full draft IBP is available in colour on the Council’s website; a black and white version, without appendices, is printed for members of the Council.

RECOMMENDED

That the Council’s first draft Infrastructure Business Plan 2016/2021 be approved for consultation with West Sussex County Council, neighbouring district councils, City, town and parish councils, and key infrastructure delivery commissioners for a period of six weeks from 1 October to 12 November 2015.

The Council received the draft Infrastructure Business Plan (IBP) (copy attached to the official minutes). Mrs Taylor (Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning), seconded by Mr Dignum, moved the recommendations of the Cabinet.

She explained that the IBP was reliant on the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) being in place by the end of 2015, and its assumptions had been made on the basis that the rates would remain as submitted for Examination. The CIL Charging Schedule was still at the Examination stage. It was unlikely that the Examiner would issue his report before the end of September 2015, and thus it was unlikely that the CIL would be adopted before October 2015.

This was the first time that the Council had prepared a Draft Infrastructure Business Plan. Its purposes were:-

·       to ensure that infrastructure was delivered in time to support the development identified in the Local Plan;

·       to ensure the CIL was spent to best effect

·       to select the priority for projects to be funded.

·       to identify infrastructure that will be funded from S106 and other sources besides the CIL.

The draft IBP concentrated on the projects that needed to be funded during the first five years from 2016 to 2021, particularly those that were to be funded from CIL.

The IBP would be a ‘living’ document and would be rolled forward and updated each year to reflect funding availability, development delivery rates and revised infrastructure requirements.

If approved by the Council, the draft document would be subject to six weeks consultation with stakeholders from 1 October to 12 November 2015. Their comments and any modifications would be reported back to the Joint Member Liaison Group on 2 December, then to the Development Plan and Infrastructure Panel (DPIP) for consideration on 14 January, before going to Cabinet for approval on 2 February 2016, and Council on 8 March 2016 for budget and CIL allocation approval.

Mrs Taylor explained that the table at paragraph 1.18 was the most important part of the IBP. This showed which projects had been shortlisted for CIL funding in each of the five years. The remaining balance was rolled forward into the following year.

The rest of the IBP set out the methodology for identifying the projects to be funded from CIL and the long list of projects put forward by others. There was a relatively small amount of money to begin with, but parish councils would also have a proportion of CIL that could be spent on smaller projects.

The DPIP had expressed concerns about funding the Smarter Choices infrastructure items that related to behaviour change in order to encourage modal switch away from reliance on the private car. Instead, the DPIP would prefer the money to be spent on hard engineering projects such as new cycling infrastructure, or a combination of Smarter Choices to follow on from the harder measures.

The Joint Member Liaison Group had met on 4 September to discuss the spending plans and had agreed that West Sussex County Council (WSCC)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40