Agenda item

a)     17 September 2020

The minutes of the meeting of the Economic Development, Transport and Tourism Scrutiny Commission held on 17 September 2020 are attached at Appendix A1 and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

b)     12 October 2020

The minutes of the Special Meeting of the Economic Development, Transport and Tourism Scrutiny Commission held on 12 October 2020 are attached at Appendix A2 and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record, subject to the following amendment to minute 93, “Draft Local Plan (2020 – 2036) – Public Consultation”, (new wording shown in italics):

AGREED:

1)     That the Director of Planning, Development and Transportation be asked to forward the suggestion of establishing start-up and business development premises to relevant officers for consideration;[moved from point 1 to point 3]

1)    That this Commission recommends that the Director of Planning, Development and Transportation and City Mayor give further detailed consideration to the following issues in drawing up the Local Plan:

a)     The need for more and better public transport particularly in areas of population growth and an infrastructure that enables and encourages more environmentally friendly transportation;

b)     The enhancement of green public spaces particularly in areas of dense housing;

c)      The wisdom of designating scarce NHS land at the General Hospital site for new housing in view of the growing need for health services and beds, resulting from population increase and ageing;

d)     The development of brown field sites including derelict and disused factory buildings for new employment and business opportunities and for other designated purposes;

e)     Enabling development measures designated to create more local jobs, green jobs and business start-ups;

f)       Ensuring that accessibility is a thread running through all parts of the Local Plan;

g)     Protecting family houses in areas where Houses in Multiple Occupation conversions are adversely impacting upon neighbourhood communities and heritage assets; and

h)     Controlling the numbers of betting shops, massage parlours and food take- away establishments in neighbourhoods with vulnerable populations and/or levels of saturation;

2)     That the Director of Planning, Development and Transportation be asked to accept the comments in 1) above and in the commentary to this minute recorded above as this Commission’s response to the public consultation on the Draft Leicester Local Plan (2020 – 2036); and

3)     That the Director of Planning, Development and Transportation be asked to forward the suggestion of establishing start-up and business development premises to relevant officers for consideration.

[wording unchanged, but moved from point 1 to point 3]

a)         17 September 2020

Further to minute 77, “Declarations of Interest”, it was noted that Councillor Porter also had campaigned against the Local Plan before he was elected.

Further to minute 78, “Minutes of the Previous Meeting”, it was noted that the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership’s Economic Recovery Plan was still being developed and was likely to be confirmed at the meeting of the Board of Directors being held on 1 December 2020.

A member of the Committee expressed concern that his comments on the Draft Climate Emergency Strategy and Action Plan, (minute 81 referred), had not been fully recorded.  However, no changes to the wording were suggested, so the minute remained unchanged.

Further to minute 86, “Leicester Textiles Sector (Modern Slavery & Labour Exploitation)”, the Chair reported that the Citizens’ Advice Bureau had recruited an engagement officer to look into issues in the textile sector.  As not being proficient in English was a barrier to workers being aware of their rights, the officer had requested that classes in English for Speakers of Other Languages be extended to people without the usual documentation.  The challenge with this for the Council was that production of documentation was an auditable requirement, so consideration would be given to whether alternative funding could be found to provide language classes.

AGREED:

1)    That the Chief Executive of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership be asked to provide copies of the Partnership’s Economic Recovery Plan to all members of this Commission;

2)    That this Commission supports the provision if possible of English classes for undocumented workers, to remove language barriers for those workers, and asks the Director of Tourism; Culture and Inward Investment to consider whether funding can be found for English classes for undocumented workers; and

3)    That the minutes of the meeting of the Economic Development, Transport and Tourism Scrutiny Commission held on 17 September 2020 be confirmed as a correct record, subject to the addition of the following sentence at the end of the third paragraph of minute 77, “Declarations of Interest”:

“Councillor Porter further declared for openness that he had campaigned against the Leicester Local Plan before he had been elected as a Councillor.”

b)         12 October 2020 (Special Meeting)

A member of the Committee expressed concern that his suggestion that properties should be converted to flats, rather than Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs), had not been recorded fully, (the second bullet point on page 32 of the agenda, (minute 93, “Draft Leicester Local Plan (2020 – 2036) – Public Consultation”), referred).  However, no changes to the wording of that part of the discussion were suggested, so that element of the minute remained unchanged.

The Chair suggested that the actions agreed in relation to minute 93, “Draft Leicester Local Plan (2020 – 2036) – Public Consultation”, could be reworded, to place greater emphasis on specific actions that had been endorsed by the Commission.  The Commission agreed to this suggestion, as set out below.

AGREED:

That the minutes of the Special Meeting of the Economic Development, Transport and Tourism Scrutiny Commission held on 12 October 2020 be agreed, subject to the following amendment to the actions agreed under minute 93, “Draft Leicester Local Plan (2020 – 2036) – Public Consultation”, new wording being shown in italics:

“AGREED:

1)     That the Director of Planning, Development and Transportation be asked to forward the suggestion of establishing start-up and business development premises to relevant officers for consideration; [moved from point 1 to point 3]

1)     That this Commission recommends thatthe Director of Planning, Development and Transportation and the City Mayor give further detailed consideration to the following issues in drawing up the Local Plan:

a)     The need for more and better public transport particularly in areas of population growth and an infrastructure that enables and encourages more environmentally friendly transportation;

b)     The enhancement of green public spaces particularly in areas of dense housing;

c)     The wisdom of designating scarce NHS land at the General Hospital site for new housing in view of the growing need for health services and beds, resulting from population increase and ageing;

d)     The development of brown field sites including derelict and disused factory buildings for new employment and business opportunities and for other designated purposes;

e)     Enabling development measures designated to create more local jobs, green jobs and business start-ups;

f)      Ensuring that accessibility is a thread running through all parts of the Local Plan;

g)     Protecting family houses in areas where Houses in Multiple Occupation conversions are adversely impacting upon neighbourhood communities and heritage assets; and

h)     Controlling the numbers of betting shops, massage parlours and food take- away establishments in neighbourhoods with vulnerable populations and/or levels of saturation;

2)     That the Director of Planning, Development and Transportation be asked to accept the comments in 1) above and in the commentary to this minute recorded above as this Commission’s response to the public consultation on the Draft Leicester Local Plan (2020 – 2036); and

3)     That the Director of Planning, Development and Transportation be asked to forward the suggestion of establishing start-up and business development premises to relevant officers for consideration.

[wording unchanged, but moved from point 1 to point 3]”