REPORT
FROM THE CABINET MEMBER FOR ENVIRONMENT AND TRANSPORT
TO
THE MEETING OF FULL COUNCIL ON
1. PLENARY MEETING OF THE SOUTH
As the SEERA delegate from the
Planning
Gain (Section 106 agreements)
At the last Plenary meeting delegates were told that
the Regional Planning Committee (RPC) were considering a proposal from the
Government that all planning gain money be collected centrally and then
re-distributed ‘locally’ to fund infrastructure needs. Despite objections raised by myself,
supported by other local authority delegates, the RPC subsequently indicated to
the Government that such a scheme would be acceptable provided all the money
collected, was re-distributed. To date,
no such assurance has been received.
This proposal creates a risk that money collected by the Government
could be diverted to other areas of the
South
East Plan –Examination in Public Phase - Housing
The Examination in Public (EiP) phase of the South
East Plan is proceeding well and the current indications are that the
Government will reconsider its original demand for 42,000 homes in the South
East. SEERA has recommended 29,000, the
building trade have indicated that they can cope with 40,000, but the expected
figure from the Government is expected to be between 33,000 and 35,000. The secondary question is whether the
Government will allow SEERA to allocate the number of homes by negotiation with
the local authorities or whether the Government will make allocations.
SEERA
Executive Committee Membership
Due to a change in the Constitution of SEERA a
vacancy arose on the Executive Committee.
Upon examination of its composition it was clear that unitary
authorities were vastly under represented, in addition there was no
representation from the Isle of Wight, and nobody even likely to represent the
2. LOCAL
TRANSPORT PLAN (LTP 2)
I am very pleased to
report that the Councils Local Transport Plan 2 for the period 2006 to 2011, submitted
to the Department for Transport (DfT) and Government Office for the South East
(GOSE) for assessment, has been graded as ‘Good’ with one key section –
Involvement - receiving an “excellent” classification. The overall “good”
ranking has helped the council receive an additional 3% in funding. 3% equates
to £70,740 (i.e. increasing 2007/08 integrated transport allocation from
£2.289m to £2.358m).
GOSE recognised that LTP 2 displayed a “strong feel for a vision for
the Isle of Wight” and forms “part of a consciously developed interacting and
mutually supportive framework of plans starting with the Community Strategy and
extending to LDF (Local Development framework), SEA (Strategic Environmental
Assessment) and Area Investment Framework (AIF).” They considered that this would ensure
“consistency with other local plans, priorities and objectives and has resulted
in an LTP firmly rooted in the
3. HERITAGE LOTTERY AWARD FOR IW COASTAL CENTRE
I am very pleased
to inform the Council that our Coastal Centre has been successful in a bid to
the Heritage Lottery Fund and have been awarded £70,000. The funds will be used to employ a full time
Coastal Education Officer and to upgrade services. Congratulations to Dr Robin McInnes and his
staff for their initiative in seeking external funding to improve services.