The Cabinet is asked to note any announcements made by the Leader of the Council.
Minutes:
The Leader of the Council (Councillor Stock OBE) made the following announcements:-
(1) High Street Futures Fund: Expression of Interest Application for Clacton
“In December 2018 The Future High Streets Fund was established by Government in order to support the transformation of town centres across the country, focusing on towns which can best demonstrate the need for major change in order to be sustainable in the years to come.
This is an opportunity that fits well with our Council Priorities, cuts across all Cabinet Portfolios and of course the ongoing work of the Clacton Town Centre Working Party, which I established last summer.
As with most Government grant programmes the process is competitive and starts with an initial call for Expressions of Interest, which is to be submitted by the 22nd of March. Districts can make only one bid for one town centre.
The Expression of Interest is not a commitment for a specific direction or project; rather it is a pitch to Government that Clacton should be one of the towns included in the High Street Futures Fund programme.
Therefore, Officers are working to develop the most robust and attractive Expression of Interest bid possible for Clacton as the town within the District which has the best opportunity to attract support from the Fund.
Work to produce the Expression of Interest bid is ongoing but, due to the very tight timescales involved, has not been completed in time for this Cabinet meeting.
This is clearly not an opportunity we want to miss out on. Therefore I aim to agree the submission, with the support of Cabinet, under my delegations as Leader and this decision will be formally published in due course.
The outcome of the Expression of Interest application will in due course be reported to Cabinet and this is likely to be July 2019.”
On a related matter, the Leader also confirmed the importance of the Council progressing as speedily as it was sensible to do so with the investment it planned for the Dovercourt public realm improvements.
(2) National Planning Policy Programme
“On 19 February 2019, the Government published the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and how these would be applied. As a consequence of the revision, for the District of Tendring, the housing allocation would increase from 550 homes per year to 850 homes per year until such time as the Local Plan was approved, at which point it would revert to 550. This implication would have a perverse and ludicrous impact on this District with local planning decisions being taken to appeal and rational decisions being potentially overturned on the basis of the higher allocation. As a consequence, Officers have been asked to prepare a letter to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government expressing in no uncertain terms the disastrous implications of this latest Government revision to the NPPF.”
Following suggestions made at the meeting, the Leader also confirmed his intention to write to the local Members of Parliament and to the Local Government Association to alert them to the NPPF issue and to seek to enlist support of similarly affected Planning Authorities. The Leader agreed to circulate a copy of the letter to MPs and the LGA to all councillors.
In addition, he stated that in the near future the Council would be sending correspondence to local Parish and Town Councils in the District on the wider issue of the development of the Local Plan and the revision to the NPPF.