Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Town Hall - Maidenhead

Contact: David Cook  01628 796560

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

To receive any apologies for absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Cannon.

2.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 219 KB

To receive any declarations of interest

Minutes:

Councillor Rayner declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in item 6 i JCEB Minerals and Waste Plan - Additional Reg 18 Consultation, because of her husband’s family trust. She left the room for the duration of the discussion and voting on the item.

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 95 KB

To consider the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2019.

Minutes:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2019 were approved.

4.

Appointments

Minutes:

None

5.

Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 40 KB

To consider the Forward Plan for the period February 2020 to May 2020

Minutes:

Cabinet considered the contents of the Forward Plan for the next four months and noted the changes made since last published including the following amendments:

 

·         Award of Arboricultural Services Contract moves to March 202 Cabinet.

·         HSPG – Joint Spatial Planning Framework (JSPF) and Economic Development Vision and Action Plan (EDVAC) Documents.  Item added to Forward Plan since last published.

6.

Cabinet Members' Reports

6a

JCEB Minerals & Waste Plan - Additional Regulation 18 Consultation pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

(Cllr Rayner left the room and did not take part in the discussion or vote on this matter)

 

The Lead Member for Planning and Maidenhead introduced the report that sought approval to hold a further Regulation 18 consultation.

 

Cabinet were informed that the Council was working with other authorities to produce a Joint Minerals and Waste Plan. Since the original consultation, there had been two ‘call for sites’ exercises and a further Regulation 18 consultation on whether Bray Quarry Extension should be allocated in the Plan for sand and gravel extraction.  There was currently uncertainty over whether the site was suitable for allocation.  The search for new sites would be broadened across four authorities. 

 

The Lead Member also informed that a new development management policy (DM15) was proposed allowing the planning authority to take past operator performance into account in decision-making on minerals or waste applications submitted by the same applicant or operator.

 

The Chairman informed that Bray Parish Council had sent comments to Cabinet that had been noted.

 

Resolved unanimously:  that Cabinet notes the report and:

 

i)     Approves a consultation, under Regulation 18 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, on several issues related to the emerging Joint Central and Eastern Berkshire (JCEB) Minerals & Waste Plan, including the proposed area of search approach and two new allocations;

ii)    Approves the publication of consultation documents related to the above Regulation 18 consultation for the JCEB Minerals and Waste Plan; and 

iii)   Authorises the Head of Planning, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder, to make any minor amendments necessary to the consultation documents prior to community involvement.

6b

Council Tax Base 2020-21 pdf icon PDF 257 KB

Minutes:

The Lead Member for Finance and Ascot introduced the report that sought amended approval of the Council Tax Base.

 

Cabinet were informed that the had originally approved the tax base of 68,817 in December 2019 but at the time as Lead Member he was concerned that some of the figures did not add up. It had subsequently come to light that the MOD properties in the calculation in Bray and White Waltham were being treated incorrectly. Also following contact with Bray Parish Council some houses in ‘The Fisheries’, which moved from Maidenhead to Bray Parish as part of the boundary change in May 2019 had not been included in their tax base. This had now been corrected and the new tax base was 68,691.

 

The Lead Member also highlighted agenda pack page 38 that showed applied discounts and informed that there were 270 empty properties listed and that empty properties would only receive two years exemption before having to pay 100% council tax.

 

Cllr Davey said that there were currently 30% of properties receiving single person discount of 25% and that if this discount was removed this could bring in about £6 million additional revenue.  He suggested that the discount be means tested as there were wealthy single residents in the Royal Borough who could afford to pay 100% council tax and thus the council would get additional revenue. 

 

In response Cabinet were informed that the discount was set my national government and could not be changed, even though councils had lobbied to have the ability to set a local level.  There were tracking systems in place to check for fraud and a risk based assessment was used that removed about 6% of discounts. 

 

Resolved unanimously: that Cabinet notes the report and:

 

i) Approves the Council Tax base for the whole of the Borough area, for 2020/21 at 68,691 as detailed in this report and appendices. This is an increase of 338 over the 2019/20 base, a 0.49% increase.

 

ii) Note a Council Tax collection rate of 99.5% for 2020/21.

 

iii) Note an estimated deficit on the Council Tax Collection Fund in 2019/20 of £142k of which the council’s share is £113k.

7.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 - EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

To consider passing the following resolution:-

 

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on items 8-9 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act"

Minutes:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

8.

Minutes

To consider the Part II minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 19 December 2019.

 

9.

Cabinet Members' Reports

9a

St Cloud Way, Maidenhead - Site Proposal

9b

Renewal of the Council's Insurance Policies

9c

Business Rates Write Off Request

9d

Freehold Sale of Brocket, Boyn Hill, Maidenhead

9e

Extension of Commercial Lease