Agenda item - Cabinet Members' Items - Report of the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder - A.7 - Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community Joint Committee

To recommend to Cabinet and for referral to Full Council the draft terms of reference of a Joint Committee to be established for the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community together with Tendring District Council, Colchester Borough Council and Essex County Council.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a) endorses the proposal that a joint Development Plan Document be prepared together with Colchester Borough Council, and further that a Joint Committee is established with Colchester Borough Council and Essex County Council in relation to the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community;

(b) agrees that all three Councils should be represented on the appointed Joint Committee with full voting rights;

(c) agrees that executive functions in relation to the preparation of the joint Development Plan Document are delegated to be discharged by the appointed Joint Committee in accordance with Sections 101(5) and 102(1)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972;

(d) agrees that each Council should be represented on the appointed Joint Committee with 3 members each under Section 102(2) of the Local Government Act 1972, one of which will be a member of the Cabinet, appointed by the Leader of the Council;

(e) agrees the Terms of Reference for the Joint Committee, as set out in Appendix A to item A.7 of the Report of the Leader of the Council, for recommendation onto Full Council in respect of non-executive functions;

(f) endorses the Leader of the Council to delegate further executive functions to the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community Joint Committee, in consultation with the Monitoring Officer and the Section 151 Officer;

(g) authorises the Acting Director (Planning), in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance to enter into a partnership agreement between the Councils, if deemed necessary, in order to support the operation of the Joint Committee and Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community project; and

(h) authorises the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance to allocate further financial contributions from the existing Garden Communities budget to support the Tendring Colchester Borders project for the purposes of local plan making.

RECOMMENDED TO FULL COUNCIL that:

(i) a Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community Joint Committee be appointed for the discharge of executive and non-executive functions related to TCBGC, pursuant to Sections 101(5), 102(1)(b) and 102(2) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the terms of reference attached at Appendix A to item A.7 of the Report of the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance & Governance;

(j) Part 3 of the Constitution (Responsibility of Functions) be amended to include the Terms of Reference of the Joint Committee; and

(k) the Terms of Reference of the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee be amended, as set out in Appendix B to the aforementioned report.

Cabinet gave consideration to a report of the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder (A.7) which sought its approval for referral to Full Council the draft terms of reference of a Joint Committee to be established for the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community together with Tendring District Council, Colchester Borough Council and Essex County Council.

Members were aware that the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community (TCBGC) was located across Tendring District Council’s (TDC) and Colchester Borough Council’s (CBC) Local Planning Authority’s area, and that accordingly those Councils could consider establishing a Joint Committee made up of members from both of those Councils.

Cabinet recalled that both TDC and CBC had now adopted a common Section 1 of their Local Plan, which had the shared vision of sustainable development and allocation of TCB Garden Community, which would be further defined through a joint Development Plan Document (DPD) providing detailed parameters and policies (as required within Section 1 – Policies SP7 & 8).

It was felt that due to the joint nature of Section 1 there was a case to be made for a Joint Committee for Tendring and Colchester, which would also include members from Essex County Council (ECC), continuing with the existing partnership working on this project. This format had been adopted elsewhere and linked into decisions around infrastructure and possibly other County matters.

Cabinet was advised that it was possible to delegate various functions to a Joint Committee but that at this stage the proposed Terms of Reference for the Joint Committee would be limited to planning functions related to preparing for plan making through the DPD process; and development control and determination of planning applications for TCBGC against the common Section 1 and adopted DPDs.

It was reported that ECC had also proposed to transfer/delegate their relevant planning functions to the Joint Committee for the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community.

Members were informed that the alternative to establishing a Joint Committee, was to leave the current arrangements in place such that Cabinet and/or the relevant Committee of both Councils would be involved in the decision making process for production of the Draft DPD. Once the DPD was adopted, the relevant Council’s Planning Committee would deal with any individual planning application in their area. This latter option could present some complications associated with managing the practicalities, introducing delay to the process and it was therefore considered beneficial to advance the joined up and partnership approach through to decision making.

Cabinet was reminded that the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community Member Group had assessed the various options and considered the joint committee approach for both the TCBGC joint DPD and Development Control functions would best demonstrate the Councils’ continued partnership commitment to delivering the Garden Community, provide increased confidence to developers and remove delayed individual decision making through working together for the benefit of the residents in both areas.

Members were assured that the establishment of the Joint Committee would be limited to the TCBGC and all other local planning authority functions would remain unaffected and rest with TDC and CBC.

The proposed Terms of Reference and Scheme of Delegation of the TCBGC Joint Committee were set out in Appendix A to the Portfolio Holder’s report and consequential amendments to TDC’s Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee delegated functions and responsibilities were set out in Appendix B thereto.

Cabinet was informed that further executive functions related to the TCBGC could be delegated by the Leader of the Council, as the project developed and a partnership agreement might be deemed necessary between the Councils to formulate arrangements between them.

Cabinet was aware that the Planning Policy & Local Plan Committee had considered this same matter at its meeting held on 11 November 2021. At that meeting that Committee had decided:-

“That the Planning Policy & Local Plan Committee recommends to Full Council that –

(a) a joint Development Plan Document is prepared together with Colchester Borough Council in accordance with Section 28 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004;

(b)a Joint Committee is established with Colchester Borough Council and Essex County Council in relation to the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community for the discharge of executive and non-executive functions related to TCBGC, pursuant to Sections 101(5), 102(1)(b) and 102(2) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the terms of reference attached at Appendix A to item A.1 of the Report of the Deputy Chief Executive & Monitoring Officer; and

(c) the third elected Member of the Joint Committee to be appointed by the Full Council should be a Member from a political group that is not represented on the Cabinet.”

The Leader of the Council made the following statement on this matter:-

“We are confident that this recommendation of the TCB Member Group will prove to be a success, however, as with any new governance arrangements, including the terms of reference, they can be reviewed over time.”

Having considered all of the information and advice contained in the Portfolio Holder’s report and its appendices:-

It was moved by Councillor G V Guglielmi, seconded by Councillor Stock OBE and:-