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Lewes and Eastbourne
Councils

Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Ditchling Room at Southover House, Southover Road, Lewes, BN7 1AB

Contact: Committee Services on 01323 415021 

Items
No. Item

1.

Minutes of the meeting held on 27 March 2019 pdf icon PDF 105 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 March 2019 were submitted and approved and the Chair was authorised to sign them as a correct record.

2.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

Apologies were reported from Councillor Maskell and visiting member Councillor Gauntlett.

3.

Declarations of interest

Disclosure by councillors of personal interests in matters on the agenda, the nature of any interest and whether the councillor regards the interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

None were declared.

4.

Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) Policy 2019/2020 pdf icon PDF 60 KB

Report of Director of Service Delivery

Lead Cabinet member: Councillor Ron Maskell

Additional documents:

Decision:

(Key decision):

 

To adopt the revised policy for Lewes District Council, subject to the removal of bullet point 5 at section 4.1 of the policy, as recommended by the Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 7 February 2019.

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Service Delivery asking them to review the revised Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) Policy for Lewes District Council.

 

It was clarified that the Central Government allocated funding of DHP had been fully utilised in previous years. The funding allocation was 2019/20 was £209,143.

 

The recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 7 February 2019 were appended to the report and detailed at section 4.1 of the report.

 

The Cabinet were unanimous in supporting the adoption of the policy, subject to the removal of bullet point 5 of section 4.1 of the policy, as recommended by the Scrutiny Committee.

 

In response to a question from Debbie Twitchen, Tenants’ Representative in relation to which food banks were consulted through this process, it was clarified that only those that were involved with appeals for DHP had been consulted.

 

Resolved (Key decision):

 

To adopt the revised policy for Lewes District Council, subject to the removal of bullet point 5 at section 4.1 of the policy, as recommended by the Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 7 February 2019.

 

Reason for decision:

 

To ensure that the Discretionary Housing Payment scheme is administered consistently across the District.

5.

Exclusion of the public

The Chief Executive considers that discussion of the following items is likely to disclose exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and may therefore need to take place in private session. The exempt information reasons are shown beneath the items listed below. Furthermore, in relation to paragraph 10 of Schedule 12A, it is considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. (The requisite notices having been given under regulation 5 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.)

 

(Note: Exempt papers are printed on pink paper).

Minutes:

Resolved:

 

That the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting as otherwise there was a likelihood of disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. The relevant paragraph of schedule 12A and a description of the exempt information is shown below.

(The requisite notice having been given under regulation 5 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.)

 

6.

North Street Quarter - scheme delivery

Report of Director of Regeneration and Planning

Lead Cabinet member: Councillor Jim Lord

 

Exempt information reason 3 - information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

Additional documents:

Decision:

(Key decision):

 

(1) To note progress in respect of the Land Collaboration Agreement (LCA) between the two landowners - Lewes District Council and North Street Quarter (NSQ) Ltd. and programme for NSQ Ltd’s appointment of a Developer.

 

(2) To delegate authority to the Director of Regeneration and Planning, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, Cabinet Member for Strategic Development, Chief Finance Officer and Assistant Director – Legal & Democratic Services, to acquire various third party interests at the NSQ site.

 

(3) To delegate authority to the Director of Regeneration and Planning, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, Cabinet Member for Strategic Development, Chief Finance Officer and the Assistant Director – Legal & Democratic Services to enter into a pre-emption agreement to acquire the affordable housing element of the North Street Quarter project.  This acquisition would be in addition to the previous authority granted by Cabinet to acquire the Health Hub and Car Park from the scheme.

 

(4) To allocate funding towards the costs of discharging the pre-commencement planning conditions for Phases 2 and 3 of the scheme.

 

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the exempt report of the Director of Regeneration and Planning regarding the delivery of the North Street Quarter scheme.

 

Following discussions, it was agreed to add an additional resolution and this was reflected in the open summary of the decisions below.

 

Resolved (Key decision):

 

(1) To note progress in respect of the Land Collaboration Agreement (LCA) between the two landowners - Lewes District Council and North Street Quarter (NSQ) Ltd. and programme for NSQ Ltd’s appointment of a Developer.

 

(2) To delegate authority to the Director of Regeneration and Planning, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, Cabinet Member for Strategic Development, Chief Finance Officer and Assistant Director – Legal & Democratic Services, to acquire various third party interests at the NSQ site.

 

(3) To delegate authority to the Director of Regeneration and Planning, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, Cabinet Member for Strategic Development, Chief Finance Officer and the Assistant Director – Legal & Democratic Services to enter into a pre-emption agreement to acquire the affordable housing element of the North Street Quarter project.  This acquisition would be in addition to the previous authority granted by Cabinet to acquire the Health Hub and Car Park from the scheme.

 

(4) To allocate funding towards the costs of discharging the pre-commencement planning conditions for Phases 2 and 3 of the scheme.

 

Reasons for decisions:

 

To progress delivery of the strategically significant North Street Quarter (NSQ) development, to secure site assembly in respect of the scheme that been granted planning permission and to ensure that the Reserved Matters planning permission can be implemented within two years from the date of the decision.

Notes: (1) The report remained exempt. (2) Exempt information reasons 3 – information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).