Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

The Executive is asked to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 8 December 2022.

The Committee considered the minutes of the meeting held on 8 December 2022.

RESOLVED:

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 8 December 2022.

A copy of the Register of Interest for each Selby District Councillor is available for inspection at www.selby.gov.uk.

Councillors should declare to the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest in any item of business on this agenda which is not already entered in their Register of Interests.

Councillors should leave the meeting and take no part in the consideration, discussion or vote on any matter in which they have a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Councillors should also declare any other interests. Having made the declaration, provided the other interest is not a disclosable pecuniary interest, the Councillor may stay in the meeting, speak and vote on that item of business.

If in doubt, Councillors are advised to seek advice from the Monitoring Officer.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The Executive are asked to note and approve report E/22/31 and consider any further action they wish to be taken as a result of current performance.

The Leader presented report E/22/31 which asked Members to note and approve it and consider any further action they wish to be taken as a result of current performance.  

Members noted the summary of progress as set out in the report. 61% of KPIs reported were showing improvement over the longer term or had maintained 100% performance. 78% of KPIs reported were on target, with 13% of KPIs within acceptable tolerances.

Work continued to address the remaining repairs created during the various Covid lockdowns and subsequent periods of operating restrictions, with 95% of the original backlog having been cleared. Given issues around the limitations of the current repairs management system, work to assess the accuracy of the remaining work orders was ongoing.The increase in the number of open repairs in the system had slowed significantly and whilst the number of open repair entries within the system remained around 10% above anticipated ‘run-rate’, the Council was starting to make inroads to bring the figure back in line with expected operational parameters. The Council continued to work with external contractors to support internal provision wherever possible, although many of contractors were already working near or at full capacity.The situation would continue to be monitored.

In quarter 2 a number of things went well; the Council successfully administered the government’s energy rebate scheme, and at the end of quarter 2 Selby District Council had paid 31,329 households. This was everyone initially identified as eligible plus others that also qualified subsequently, for example properties that were banded after the cut-off time or had incorrect empty discounts.

Positive Performance of KPIs had been seen in supporting SMEs, council tax collection, NNDR collection, sundry debt collection, processing benefit claims, processing planning applications, complaints response times, processing FOIs, customer waiting times (phone), council house re-lets and waste collection.

Quarter 2 performance had not been as good in relation to savings and staff sickness.

Executive Members asked for further information about staff sickness levels from Officers and about potential reasons for the numbers that were being reported. Officers agreed to provide more information after the meeting.

Positive comments were made on waste collection figures which had improved significantly since the previous quarter; again, further information on how this had been achieved was requested by Members.

The Leader commended the report.

RESOLVED:

The Executive noted and approved the report.

REASON FOR DECISION:

The reporting of performance data enables the Council to demonstrate progress on delivering the Council Plan Priorities to make Selby District a great place.

The Executive are asked to consider report E/22/32, agree to adopt the Public Art Plan for the Selby, Sherburn and Tadcaster area of North Yorkshire and implement the recommendations of the Plan.

The Leader indicated that reports E/22/32 and E/22/33 would be considered at the same time, but that decisions on both items would still need to be made separately.

The Lead Executive Member for Health and Culture presented reports E/22/32 and E/22/32 which asked Members to agree to adopt the Public Art Plan and Heritage Interpretation Masterplan, both of which covered the Selby, Sherburn and Tadcaster areas of North Yorkshire, and implement the recommendations of the plans.

Report E/22/32 - A Public Art Plan for the Selby, Sherburn and Tadcaster area of North Yorkshire

Members noted that 2021 the Cultural Development Framework (CDF) for the district was adopted.  This recognised the important contribution of high-quality, authentic and relevant public art to making the district a vibrant, creative and unique place. It built on the work that the Council began with Selby 950 (which included the significant “Pilgrim” illumination of Selby Abbey, by artist Nayan Kulkarni) and was continuing, with artwork by Katayoun Dowlatshahi as part of the Selby Station Gateway TCF project and planned new work by Chris Tipping as part of the revitalisation of Tadcaster Bus Station. 

Officers explained that audiences had told the Council that they wanted to see public art which was site-specific and connected to the rich heritage of the district.  For this reason, there was a strong connection to the development of the Heritage Interpretation Masterplan for the district.  Selby Stories, the cultural programme of the Selby High Street Heritage Action Zone, was a good example of approaching authentic place-specific public art commissioning with heritage as the content. The creative sector had also told the Council that they would like opportunities to develop skills in public art and to make work for public spaces. High-quality public art was a strong driver for the visitor economy and could be a significant source of pride for residents.

The Executive acknowledged that there had not previously been a coherent approach to public art commissioning, which had led to a somewhat piecemeal approach. This meant the Council had not always made the most of the potential in using cultural place-making as part of making Selby District a ‘Great Place to Live’ and a ‘Great Place to Grow’. The Public Art Plan set out best practice and offered a strong framework for future development in the locality.

The Public Art Plan was attached as Appendix A to report E/22/32. There were three additional technical documents: a guide for developers and planners; a “how to” commissioning guide; and an opportunities matrix.  The opportunities matrix set out the wide-ranging potential projects for the District, including regeneration and revitalisation schemes which were already underway and those recognised as a future priority.

Report E/22/33 – A Heritage Interpretation Masterplan for the Selby, Sherburn and Tadcaster area of North Yorkshire

Members noted that in 2021 the Cultural Development Framework (CDF) for the district was adopted. This recognised the importance of heritage to audiences (local and visitors), building on previous work (such as Selby  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

The Executive are asked to consider report E/22/34 and approve the Draft Infrastructure Funding Statement, as attached at Appendix 1, for publication.

The Leader presented report E/22/34 which asked Members to approve the Draft Infrastructure Funding Statement, as attached at Appendix 1 of the report, for publication.

Members noted that in September 2019 changes were made to the Community Infrastructure Regulations which required Local Planning Authorities to publish an Infrastructure Funding Statement from December 2020. The report set out the details of monies collected from CIL and S106 obligations receipts over the course of the latest monitoring period and sought approval for the publication of the 2022 Infrastructure Funding Statement.

Executive Members acknowledged that the CIL/S106 Infrastructure Funding Statement was part of the Council’s statutory duty and had to be operated in line with the regulations detailed above.

Members noted that some monies had already been spent on the Sherburn Medical Centre, on which construction had begun; it was hoped that this would be completed within a year, and also towards the development of a roundabout near the Lidl store in Selby, which had made a difference to traffic flow in the area and subsequent spending in the town.

The Executive thanked Officers who had worked very hard on resolving various legal matters relating to the schemes.

The Leader commended the report.

RESOLVED:

The Executive approved the Draft Infrastructure Funding Statement as attached at Appendix 1 for publication.

REASONS FOR DECISION:

To meet the requirements of the Community Infrastructure (Amendment) (England) (No.2) Regulations 2019.

The Executive are asked to note the content of report E/22/35 and authorise the Head of Planning and Interim Head of Regulatory Services (or equivalent), in consultation with the relevant Executive Member, to agree the Local Impact Report, Statement of Common Ground, the content of the draft DCO, and all further necessary representations by the District Council, together with post decision monitoring of planning conditions and enforcement of the DCO.

The Leader presented report E/22/35 which asked Members to note its content and authorise the Head of Planning and Interim Head of Regulatory Services (or equivalent), in consultation with the relevant Executive Member, to agree the Local Impact Report, Statement of Common Ground, the content of the draft DCO, and all further necessary representations by the District Council, together with post decision monitoring of planning conditions and enforcement of the DCO.

Members noted the legislative background to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) and how these were dealt with. The Executive had considered similar NSIP reports in respect of the Drax Bioenergy and Carbon Capture Project in April 2021, the Yorkshire GREEN Project in February 2022, the Humber Low Carbon Pipelines Project in July 2022 and the Helios Renewable Energy Project in September 2022. Applicants for infrastructure projects needed to make an application to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) for a Development Consent Order (DCO). The final decision was made by the Secretary of State on the recommendation of PINS, but Local Planning Authorities were statutory consultees in the process.

The report explained that East Yorkshire Solar Farm Limited were proposing to submit an application for a DCO for the installation of solar photovoltaic panels, associated electrical equipment, cabling, on-site energy storage facilities and grid connection infrastructure across a proposed site which lay between Selby and East Riding of Yorkshire. The proposed development would allow for an anticipated export of approximately 400 megawatts (MW) electrical capacity. Due to its proposed generating capacity being over 50MW, the proposed development was classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP).

The Executive acknowledged that two rounds of public consultation were taking place; non-statutory consultation took place in Q2 2022; statutory consultation was anticipated in Q1/Q2 2023. It was anticipated that East Yorkshire Solar Farm Limited would submit their DCO application to PINS during Q3 2023.  

The Executive understood that once the DCO application had been submitted to PINS, PINS would have 28 days to decide whether or not the application met the standards required to be accepted for examination. Following acceptance, an Examining Authority would be appointed, and all Interested Parties invited to attend a Preliminary Meeting, run and chaired by the Examining Authority. PINS have up to six months to carry out the examination of the proposals through a series of structured and topic-based hearings which Officers may need to attend. After the examination a decision would be made by the Secretary of State, within 6 months of the close of the examination. Following this the Council would have the responsibility to discharge any planning conditions and enforce the terms of the DCO.

Executive Members asked about the grade of the agricultural land on which the solar farm would be built and expressed some concern about losing land on which produce could be grown; Officers confirmed that the applicant had informed them that detailed agricultural land classification assessments so far had revealed the majority of the site did not comprise best most versatile agricultural  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.