Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To confirm as a true record the Minutes of the meeting held on 14 March 2024.

RESOLVED:

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 14 March 2024 be approved.

RESOLVED:

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 14 March 2024 be approved.

To invite Members to declare any interest they might have in the matters on the agenda.

There were no Declarations of Interest

Questions may be asked without notice but to guarantee a full reply at the meeting, a question must be put including the name and address of the questioner by delivery in writing or by electronic mail to Democratic Services at democratic.services@iow.gov.uk, no later than two clear working days before the start of the meeting. The deadline for written questions will be Monday 15 April 2024.

There were no public questions.

The Chairman had no announcements to make.

To agree some of the Full Council recommended changes, all of the recommended changes from the Policy and Scrutiny Committee for Neighbourhoods and Regeneration and all of the recommendations from Corporate Scrutiny Committee to the draft Island Planning Strategy, with the changes as attached at Appendices 1, 2 and 3, but to replace all the text in column (e) (agreed change or reason why unsuitable) of Appendix 1 as it relates to paragraph matter i) paragraph 6.15, with the following:

“6.15: It is important to set out that any planning application submitted including those on allocated sites, should consider all relevant policies of the Development Plan, the NPPF and any relevant legislation. While the plan has sought to avoid a lot of cross-referencing within policies, it is acknowledged that many of the policies in the plan are interlinked and therefore no one policy should be considered in isolation. If, on the planning balance, the development proposal, including all allocated sites, is unacceptable it will be refused.”

and then

To recommend to Full Council that the draft Island Planning Strategy be approved and published for the Regulation 19 period for public representation and then submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for examination; and

To recommend to Full Council to delegate any final editorial and presentational changes to the Island Planning Strategy prior to publication and submission, to the Director of Communities in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning, Coastal Protection and Flooding, so long as they do not materially alter the intention of the version agreed by Full Council.

Following the Full Council meeting on 20 March 2024 when the matter had been referred back to Cabinet, some discussion had since taken place regarding concerns over clarity in the wording of paragraph 6.15. Following this, the recommendation in the report had been amended to reword paragraph 6.15 and it was believed that the draft Strategy was now more robust. The amended wording was read out and proposed and seconded. Cllr Lilley confirmed that the amendments satisfied the members of the Liberal Democrat group. Cllr Spink did not believe that all his comments had been taken on board and asked whether if a site allocation was found to be on “the best and most versatile agricultural land” that allocation would be removed from the plan. The Cabinet member for Planning Coastal Protection and Flooding indicated that there was a policy within the draft Strategy which dealt with agricultural land. The Leader indicated that a written response could be provided. A short period of disagreement then took place, and the meeting was adjourned to seek advice from the Monitoring Officer on the procedure to be followed. Upon reconvening, in accordance with Section 9 of Part 4B of the council’s constitution the chairman moved that Cllr Spink not be heard further which was seconded  and the vote was carried.

The recommendation (as amended) was then voted upon and it was

RESOLVED:

To agree some of the Full Council recommended changes, all of the recommended changes from the Policy and Scrutiny Committee for Neighbourhoods and Regeneration and all of the recommendations from Corporate Scrutiny Committee to the draft Island Planning Strategy, with the changes as attached at Appendices 1, 2 and 3, but to replace all the text in column (e) (agreed change or reason why unsuitable) of Appendix 1 as it relates to paragraph matter i) paragraph 6.15, with the following:

“6.15: It is important to set out that any planning application submitted including those on allocated sites, should consider all relevant policies of the Development Plan, the NPPF and any relevant legislation. While the plan has sought to avoid a lot of cross-referencing within policies, it is acknowledged that many of the policies in the plan are interlinked and therefore no one policy should be considered in isolation. If, on the planning balance, the development proposal, including all allocated sites, is unacceptable it will be refused.”

and then

To recommend to Full Council that the draft Island Planning Strategy be approved and published for the Regulation 19 period for public representation and then submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for examination; and

To recommend to Full Council to delegate any final editorial and presentational changes to the Island Planning Strategy prior to publication and submission, to the Director of Communities in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning, Coastal Protection and Flooding, so long as they do not materially alter the intention of the version agreed by Full Council.

To invite Cabinet Members to provide a brief update on matters concerning their portfolio.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health reported that

The Dementia Strategy had undergone its year two review, there had been significant achievements which included shortlisting for the MJ awards 2024 as one of six finalists in the area of Innovation in Adult and Children’s Services, and the launching of a Carers’ Passport. The Dementia Hub would officially open on 13 May. Work was ongoing on the Smokefree Generation initiative.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Education and Corporate Functions reported that drop-in sessions for improving education on the island were currently taking place, including school place planning, and all those interested in education on the island were encouraged to attend. The first two sessions had taken place, positive feedback had been received and further session were planned.

The Cabinet Member for Planning, Coastal Protection and Flooding reported that he had been to visit the south of the island to look at the areas that had been affected by coastal erosion. He had spoken to residents and business owners and heard about the challenges they were currently facing.

It was confirmed that the Draft Island Planning Strategy would be going to Full Council for a decision on 1 May.

The Cabinet Member for Economy, Regeneration, Culture and Leisure reported that Arts Council funding had been received for Cowes and Ryde libraries, and £500,000 for Dinosaur Isle. Funding had also been received for swimming pools on the island, and £250,000 capital funding from the IW Rural Fund for small businesses in rural areas. Expressions of Interest for the funding were invited before the end of May.

The Cabinet Member Regulatory Services, Community Protection and ICT commended the Emergency Planning Team for their work with the recent flooding in Cowes and confirmed that the Property Flood Resilience Fund was open for bids until the end of May.

Cabinet Members to identify decisions which need to be amended, added or to be removed from the Forward Plan.

The contents of the Forward Plan were noted. No amendments were made.

To guarantee a reply to a question, a question  must be submitted in writing or by electronic mail to democratic.services@iow.gov.uk no later than 5pm on Tuesday 16 April 2024. A question may be asked at the meeting without prior notice but in these circumstances there is no guarantee that a full reply will be given at the meeting.

Written questions had been received from Cllr P Spink (MQ 12-24) concerning a) the forthcoming judicial review regarding Westridge Farm, and b) the floating bridge settlement, and from Cllr C Jarman (MQ 13-24) concerning a) the reduction in hours to the Contact Centre and b) the disposal of council owned land for affordable housing. Responses were given by the Leader. The Deputy Leader also confirmed that details of tenderers and bidders would not go into the public domain until the conclusion of a procurement exercise and that it was important that such people were respected when doing business with the council.

Cllr Jarman asked a supplementary question enquiring whether there were any other items that had been agreed at Full Council that the Leader was not going to implement. The Leader responded that he could not say at this time whether the Alliance group would or would not be delivering any other amendments.

Cllr Lilley asked whether correspondence he had sent to the Deputy Leader and the relevant Cabinet Member in relation to concerns expressed by care providers and reassure the public that the care market would not be ‘unstablilised’ and that discussions would continue with the ICP. The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health responded that dialogue was ongoing with the ICP and confirmed that she would send Cllr Lilley a detailed written explanation.

Cllr Lilley also asked what the Cabinet would do to ensure that the Island’s voice was heard when being represented on various bodies, as he was concerned that the health needs of Islanders were being dictated by Hampshire and that the island was seen as a ‘junior’ partner. The Cabinet Member had been reassured that we would be an equal partner but would provide a more detailed response in due course. An update on the Dental Strategy was also due to be provided.