The papers relevant to this item which will be considered by the Cabinet on Tuesday 6 March 2018 immediately prior to this meeting are the Cabinet agenda report (pages 33 to 36).
It is anticipated that the following recommendation will be made by the Cabinet to the Council:
RECOMMENDATION TO THE COUNCIL
That a sum of £150,000 be allocated from the remaining Planning Delivery Grant Reserve and General Reserve to fund the continued work on the Compulsory Purchase Order in respect of the Tangmere Strategic Development Location.
Minutes:
The Council considered the recommendation made to it by the Cabinet at its meeting earlier in the day on Tuesday 6 March 2018, as set out in the Cabinet report (pages 33 to 36 of the Cabinet agenda).
Mrs Taylor (Cabinet Member for Planning Services) formally moved the Cabinet’s recommendation and this was seconded by Mr Dignum (Leader of the Council).
Mrs Taylor presented the Cabinet’s recommendation. She said that in the Chichester Local Plan the Tangmere strategic development location (SDL) had been identified for the provision of 1,000 homes and associated infrastructure. The parish council was supportive and had included the SDL site in the Tangmere neighbourhood development plan. Despite meetings between CDC officers and the landowners/promoters of the site, little progress had so far been made due to the consortium being seemingly unable to collaborate to deliver a comprehensive approach to the development. Since the site was essential to the delivery of the Chichester Local Plan housing requirement and a five-year housing land supply, the Cabinet had resolved in July 2017 to support the use of a compulsory purchase order (CPO) and specialist advisers had been retained. A timetable for the formal process to seek a CPO was in the report and section 16 notices had been served in order to identify ownership and interests in the land. In parallel with this work efforts would continue to be made to engage with the consortium. In view of the very specialised nature of CPO work, an additional £150,000.00 was now sought in order to engage the appropriate experts. It was proposed that approximately £25,500 should come from the Planning Delivery Grant Reserve and £124,500 from CDC’s General Fund Reserves. It might be possible to recoup the £150,000 via CDC’s developer partner.
Mrs Taylor introduced Mr N Riley, Director of Citicentric Development Management, which was a firm of specialist CPO advisers engaged by CDC.
Mr Riley began by summarising the soft-market testing which Citicentric would be undertaking to identify masterplanners who were experienced in delivering this type of project. He then answered members’ questions and comments on points of detail with respect to (a) the costs indemnity provisions in favour of CDC from the date the development agreement was signed; (b) the point in the timetable (para 3.4 of the Cabinet report) when (i) the additional funding of £150,000 would begin to be used and (ii) the details of the masterplanning process would become known eg the number of the houses on the site; (c) the point when the masterplan would be discussed with the community eg the parish council, in view of the compressed timetable; (d) the correlation between seeking a CPO and determining an application for planning consent; and (e) the reason for needing to seek additional funding to that approved by the Cabinet in June 2016.
Mr Frost answered questions with respect to when the details of the masterplan would be known and what alternatives existed for providing additional housing in the event that a CPO was not made.
Decision
On a show of hands the members present voted unanimously in favour of the Cabinet’s recommendation, with no votes against and no abstentions.
RESOLVED
That a sum of £150,000 be allocated from the remaining Planning Delivery Grant Reserve and General Reserve to fund the continued work on the Compulsory Purchase Order in respect of the Tangmere Strategic Development Location.