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Venue: Committee Room 1 & 2, The Guildhall, Market Square, Cambridge, CB2 3QJ. View directions
Contact: James Goddard Committee Manager
No. | Item |
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Apologies To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies were received
from Councillors Nightingale, Pegram and Smith. Dr Roman Znajek has retired
from being a Cambridge City Councillor. Mrs Heazell has retired
from being a South Cambridgeshire Councillor. |
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Declarations of Interest Members are asked to declare at this stage any interests that they may have in an item shown on this agenda. If any member of the Committee is unsure whether or not they should declare an interest on a particular matter, they should seek advice from the Head of Legal Services before the meeting. Minutes: None. |
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To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 18 April 2012 as a correct record. Minutes: The minutes of the 18 April 2012 meeting were approved and signed as a correct record subject to Councillor Smith being listed as an attendee. |
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Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee
received a report from the Urban Design &
Conservation Manager regarding the
Design Codes for Strategic Development Sites within the Cambridge Fringe Areas -
Informal Guidance Note. Since August 2007, both Cambridge City Council
and South Cambridgeshire District Council have required design codes for the
urban extension developments in the City Fringes. It is expected that the new
town of Northstowe will be “coded”. The report outlined provided an overview of the
guidance note “Design Codes for Strategic Development Sites within the
Cambridge Fringe Areas – Informal Guidance Note”. The guidance note updated a
previous briefing note prepared by officers in 2007 (not approved by the Joint
Development Control Committee (JDCC) as it had not yet been constituted at the
time). The guidance note would need to be approved
separately by the Northstowe Joint Development Control Committee in future. In response to Members’ questions the Head of
Planning Services, New Neighbourhoods Development Manager and Urban Design
& Conservation Manager confirmed the following: (i)
The Design Code document
would signpost the input of all contributing authorities (City, County and
South Cambridgeshire Councils). (ii)
The Design Code document
would apply to areas of major change around the city and fringe areas. It would
not apply to medium or small scale sites. (iii)
Design codes were required
by planning conditions. Conditions could not be discharged if the Design Code
document could not be completed, or contained errors. (iv)
The Design Code document
would apply to mixed use sites and residential ones. However, it was primarily
focused on residential sites in line with Central Government guidance. (v)
The Cambridgeshire Quality
Panel was an independent body that would become involved in the consultation
process as required. This was likely to be mid-process when the Panel could
review well developed draft proposals. The Panel would receive officer support
and relevant briefing information in order to come to objective decisions. (vi)
JDCC Members would be
advised of the timetable for applications to be considered through the Forward
Plan. Members approved by 10 votes to 0 (with 1 abstention)
to agree the use of the updated document: “Design Codes for Strategic
Development Sites with the Cambridge Fringe Areas” as informal guidance for the
preparation of future design codes for the Cambridge Fringe site developments. |
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Joint Development Committee - Member Development Programme PDF 39 KB Minutes: The Committee
received a report from the New Neighbourhoods Development Manager regarding the
Member Development Programme. The report provided an update on the Joint Development Control Committee (JDCC) Member development programme, following on from the extended programme approved by the JDCC in January 2012, which authorised a number of further sessions to take place up to April 2012. The overall
programme has now been running since August 2011 and a total of eight sessions
have taken place. Following discussions with JDCC Members, the report
recommends extending the programme on a permanent basis until further notice. A programme of
topics for future sessions up to the end of 2012 was attached in Appendix 1 of
the Officer’s report. An additional session on Community Infrastructure Levy
and renewables could be added to the topic list. There will be
additional opportunities for JDCC Members to take part in wider training
programmes that may be organised either jointly by the three partner authorities
or through one of the three local authorities on an individual basis. A site visit of
fringe sites was proposed for June 2012. The Committee Manager and New
Neighbourhoods Development Manager undertook to confirm possible dates once
JDCC membership was confirmed 24 May 2012. In response to
Members’ questions the Head of Planning Services and New Neighbourhoods
Development Manager said the a session on the Community Infrastructure Levy
should be integrated into the programme on 31 October 2012, instead of the
Adoption session. This would allow for a wider half day Member session on
adoption processes to take place separately, which could be open to all
councillors from the JDCC authorities. The adoption process was a key corporate
issue for the authorities as it covered all types of adoption such as road and
street lighting. Whilst adoption in itself was not technically a responsibility
of JDCC, adoption strategy and processes had a significant impact on the
planning process, so JDCC could join up issues for the public. For example,
encouraging new roads to be put forward for adoption at an early a stage as
possible. Members unanimously approved: (i)
The roll forward of the
Member Development Programme on a permanent basis, until further notice. (ii)
The schedule of topics for
future sessions as set out in Appendix 1 of the Officer’s report and as agreed
to be amended above. (iii)
That: (a) changes to
topics/scheduling and (b) topics for future sessions post-December 2012 would
be agreed via Chair, Vice Chair and Spokes. |