Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2017 be confirmed.

Please note that, in accordance with the Members' Code of Conduct, when declaring interests members must disclose the existence and nature of the interest, and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) or personal and/or pecuniary.

Councillor Eddie Strengiel wished to place on record that he lived close to the boundary of the proposed Western Growth Corridor site, but that he did not have a disclosable pecuniary interest in the matter.

You are asked to resolve that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following item(s) because it is likely that if members of the press or public were present, there would be disclosure of ‘exempt information’.

RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business because it was likely that if members of the public were present there would be a disclosure to them of ‘exempt information’ as defined by Section 100I and Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

The Chair reported that a request for Call In of an Executive decision made at the meeting of the Executive on 30 October 2017 in respect of the Western Growth Corridor had been received.

The decision at that meeting was to approve an allocation from revenue contingencies and earmarked reserves of £332,956 of additional budget for commitments up to the end of 2017. The Chair emphasised that this was the decision that had been Called In and was the subject of consideration at this meeting.

The Chair invited the members presenting the request, Councillor Andy Kerry and Councillor Tom Dyer, to address the Committee regarding their request to Call In the decision made at the meeting of the Executive on 10 October 2017 in respect of the Western Growth Corridor. A copy of the Call In request form was appended to the report.

Councillor Kerry referred to the Call In request form and made the following points in support of the Call In:

·         in his view, there had been insufficient consultation, particularly in relation to issues regarding highway provision and management of works as to how this would impact the local population and the road infrastructure. This meant that members and residents had not had an opportunity to put forward their concerns;

·         it was unclear what impact there would be as a result of vehicle movements when work commenced on the site, which he felt would be considerable in view of the significant number of heavy goods vehicles that would need to carry goods on and off the site. He raised the necessity of the flood plain being at an adequate level as a contributing factor to this anticipated heavy goods traffic, highlighting that normal site traffic would also impact negatively on the local infrastructure;

·         initial plans had included a link to the A46 and a proposed business park, but he understood that this element had been shelved with the A46 link taking place at completion of the project rather than feature at its commencement. This could cause an inconvenience for local people throughout development of the entire project;

·         the existing infrastructure, such as Birchwood Avenue roundabout for example, could not currently cope with demand by local traffic;

·         he understood that a significant landowner had changed their position in relation to the scheme which was a key reason as to why consultation events had been cancelled;

·         he felt that there had been no real consultation on changes to the proposed project or plans and how local people would be affected;

·         it was premature to progress with the Western Growth Corridor project as the risk assessment and transport assessment was currently unclear. He understood that Highways had required a new traffic assessment to be undertaken, which he agreed with. Councillor Kerry was therefore of the view that insufficient consultation would have taken place, without this assessment having been carried out, analysed and consulted upon with major stakeholders and any interested parties;

·         the costs stated in the Executive report regarding the A46  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.