Agenda and minutes

Prayers were led by Reverend Canon Jill Bentall.

Resolved:

That the apologies of Councillors Adams-King, Borg Neal, Boulton, Cooper, Denny, Hibberd, Lashbrook, Mutton and Tupper.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 5 September and 10 October 2018 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

The Worshipful the Mayor highlighted three forthcoming events

·  Saturday 16 February 2019 - Murder Mystery evening at Crosfield Hall. 7pm start with a professional ‘murder’ company, a three course Dinner with a prize for the winners.

·  Sunday 24 March 2019 Sparkling Tea.  Starts at Houghton Lodge Gardens privately viewing the spring flowers, followed by a concert with Senior Moments band and followed again by a full cream tea with Prosecco- cost £20 per head.

·  Friday 24 May 2019  Mayor’s Ball Wallop Museum with four course meal followed by a live band with dancing etc.  Museum will have been newly re-furbished so a chance to see all the new ideas before the public opening.  Ticket price to be announced shortly.

For further information on any of these events please contact Councillor C Lynn.

The Worshipful the Mayor reported that 100 years ago today on 21 November 1918 women were able to exercise their right to vote.

To receive and, where necessary, adopt reports of Committees.

In response to a question from Councillor Bailey regarding the Suitable Alternative Natural Green Area at Sherfield English the Community and Leisure Portfolio Holder explained that planning permission would be required for a material change of use for the land together with the delivery of a 10 space car park, fencing, gate and other works.  It was anticipated that this would be finished by the end of April 2019.

Question 1

Councillor P Hurst asked a question of the Housing and Community Services Portfolio Holder on behalf of Councillor C Dowden which asked if the Council would take advantage of the lifting of the borrowing cap for Local Authorities, and explore opportunities to work with partners to build much needed social housing throughout Test Valley.

The Housing and Community Services Portfolio Holder responded that the Council has no housing stock and no Housing Revenue Account against which to borrow, which means there are no direct impacts or advantages for the Council resulting from the borrowing cap being lifted.  However, the Council will continue to build on its excellent track record of delivering affordable housing in partnership with housing associations and developers.  For four of the last five years Test Valley has delivered the highest number of completions in Hampshire which also includes 1,320 affordable homes.  In 2016/17, Test Valley delivered the highest number of affordable housing units of all Hampshire authorities and continues to exceed its local target to deliver 200 new units of affordable housing per annum.

In recent years, Test Valley’s affordable housing delivery has included different products to meet different levels of need. With a new emphasis on social rented housing at both the national policy level and within the business plans of our developing partners, it is anticipated that Test Valley’s enabling role will continue to deliver new homes to support households in need who are registered on the waiting list. We will continue to deliver intermediate (home ownership) products, such as shared ownership, for those households in the local area who are in a position to access owner occupation but require a level of subsidy to do so.

Question 2

Councillor C Dowden then asked a question of the Leader whether he would provide a draft on the take-up of online services and for residents who have access to use services digitally, were the Council making it easy, efficient and as effective as possible.

The Leader responded that An online service for Council Tax and Business Rates was implemented in 2015 and to date has seen over 9,000 requests or changes submitted by customers. This system actually updates the customers record in real time and 85% of these go through automatically with no intervention from officers. With that came the option of receiving a council tax or business rates bill by email – overall 11% of residents have opted to receive their bill by email whilst business rates are at 22%.

In the Planning and Building service we have seen changes this year in the Building Control department. Since the 1^st January we have received 1630 planning applications, 76% of those made via the online Planning Portal site.

The My Test Valley site and app was launched in 2015 and we have seen a steady increase in the number of residents choosing to report issues or request services online. There are currently 16 processes available to residents to complete themselves and we  ...  view the full minutes text for item 204.

To receive information related to property purchase approved by the Head of Estates in consultation with the Member Panel for Property Investment.

Consideration was given to a report of the Finance Portfolio Holder which sought to update Council on the details of two property purchases.

In November 2015, Council approved a delegated authority to the Head of Estates, in consultation with a Member Panel, to purchase property investments where the timing of the normal Council approval process would reduce the Council’s ability to complete the purchase.

The Head of Estates, after consulting the Panel, had recently exercised his authority to progress the purchase of three properties in Andover after consultation with the cross-party Member panel established for that purpose.

Resolved:

1.  That the decision to pursue the purchase of the properties identified in the Confidential Annex, to the report, be noted.

2.  That, following completion of the purchases, the budget for property investments be re-established in the Council’s Capital Programme at £3M, with the additional sum to be financed from the Capital Receipts Reserve.