Agenda item

 Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk detailing outstanding actions from their last meeting.

Daylight/Sunlight – Alternative Guidelines

A Member noted that the target date for this matter to be completed/progressed had been revised from Autumn 2019 to Winter 2019. He requested that, when target dates were altered, relevant Officers be asked to include a written explanation for this in the report. He went on to question which Winter meeting Members could expect to see a further report on this matter presented to and sought some clarification around the delay. The Chair added that he had also raised the need for further clarity on timing with Officers.

The Chief Planning Officer and Development Director explained that it was originally hoped that BRE would revise their guidelines in Autumn/Winter 2019 but that this was now unlikely to occur before mid 2020. It was not felt appropriate to revise the City Corporation’s own guidelines ahead of this but they would be considered as soon as possible after revised BRE guidance was issued.

The Member highlighted that he had originally raised this matter in February 2019, as a result of the Wells Court planning application, seeking a practical solution to the issues raised on this. He went on to state that the training offered to all Members of this Committee on daylight/sunlight in July 2019 had been extremely useful and had also referred to the use of radiance. The introduction of a simple technique such as this would, in his view, assist and would not need to await any BRE revisions to guidance. Officers undertook to look in to this matter specifically.

Construction Works

A Member commented that there was evidence to suggest that major development works (the ‘Scalpel, having just completed and ‘Gotham Towers’ with work now just commencing) were already seemingly being phased/co-ordinated within her Ward at the behest of developers/constructors. She commended their excellent approach to managing the area in question and hoped that others would follow suit.

Road Safety Risk – Trends Update

A Member noted that the proposal was to include this information within Transport Strategy quarterly update reports, the first of which would come to the 5 November 2019 meeting of this Committee. Given that this was a corporate risk that impacted across the organisation, she questioned whether the document should be circulated wider than this – to all members of the Court. The Chair stated that the priority here was to keep pace on delivery against the long-term risk and that he was reticent to share this information with the full Court as he felt that a regular report to this Committee adequately covered the matter.

A Member requested that calendar months or quarters be referred to as target dates going forward as this offered Members more certainty than seasons.

RECEIVED.