Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies.

To receive Declarations of Interest, from Members, on items contained within the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree, as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 16 December, 2015.

Resolved:     That the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as a correct record.

To confirm the Terms of Reference for this Committee.

Resolved:     That the revised draft terms of reference for the Assets Policy Committee be agreed. 

A Presentation will be given on this item.

The chair welcomed representatives from Cushman and Wakefield to the meeting who provided a presentation to the Committee in relation to the site schedule which had previously been distributed to members (on a strictly confidential basis to be used solely for the purposes of the Committee’s work).

The representatives stated that the majority of sites had been valued assuming residential development and that sites consisting of over 15 units would trigger an affordable housing and Section 106 agreement requirement.

None of the valuations included abnormal costs such as decontamination or access costs because this information was not available.

The query was raised as to whether it would be best for the Council to release, say, 3 sites per year.  The representative agreed that this would be their advice and to achieve a reasonable geographical spread to avoid flooding the market.

Cushman and Wakefield also confirmed that they would highlight any concerns regarding potential or known likely contamination and would advise the Council that an expert consultant should be employed to clarify the extent of the same.

Members queried whether there was any funding available from the Government to help bring forward brownfield sites and whether this might be available for the Council to access. It was confirmed that in some cases such funding might be available although it was pointed out that the majority of the Council’s sites would be classified as greenfield.

In relation to item 13 on the list (Bower End Lane, Madeley) a query was raised as to whether there was potential for this to be a small enterprise court and members requested that officers look into this possibility.

Members queried whether the site listed at 22 (Cotswold Avenue, Knutton) could be brought back into community use. Officers stated that this could be done but there would be little commercial value to this.

Members queried when the first receipts could be received in relation to the sites listed that were currently in the Green Belt. Officers stated that in order to change the designation of the land and allow for development the Council would be unlikely to receive the receipts before about 2020. Members queried whether this process could be speeded up by approaching the Secretary of State but officers stated that such a move was unlikely to be welcomed by the Secretary of State as the Council needed to go through due process regarding the current Joint Local Plan that was being developed with the City Council and the fact that there were brownfield sites available across the conurbation that needed to be prioritised for development in the first instance.

Members considered that land also had to be made available for jobs to encourage people to come and live in the Borough and that it was better to focus on the larger sites first which would also help to attract house building firms that were less reliant on financing by the banks. Members were also wary that an oversupply of land could lead to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

A Presentation will be given on this item.

The Chief Executive presented (and distributed) a set of slides to members of the Committee in relation to the emerging asset policy for their information.

Resolved:     That the information be received.

There was no other business.