Home > Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Town Hall, Katharine Street, Croydon CR0 1NX. View directions

Contact: Simon Trevaskis
0208 7266000  Email: simon.trevaskis@croydon.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

35/19

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 79 KB

To approve the minutes of the meetings held on 2, 10 and 17 September as an accurate record.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the meetings held on 2, 10 and 17 September were agreed as an accurate record.

 

36/19

Disclosure of Interests

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to register disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and gifts and hospitality to the value of which exceeds £50 or multiple gifts and/or instances of hospitality with a cumulative value of £50 or more when received from a single donor within a rolling twelve month period. In addition, Members and co-opted Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose those disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting. This should be done by completing the Disclosure of Interest form and handing it to the Democratic Services representative at the start of the meeting. The Chair will then invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3. Completed disclosure forms will be provided to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion on the Register of Members’ Interests.

 

Minutes:

There were no disclosures of interest made at the meeting.

 

37/19

Urgent Business (if any)

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

 

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

 

38/19

Delivery of the Growth Zone pdf icon PDF 364 KB

 To review progress to date of the Growth Zone programme.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report on the development of the Growth Zone project since its inception along with a presentation giving a high level overview of the Growth Zone project. The following Cabinet Members were in attendance at the meeting to deliver the presentation and answer questioned arising:-

·         Councillor Stuart King – Acting Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport & Regeneration (job share).

·         Councillor Paul Scott - Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport & Regeneration (job share).

·         Councillor Manju Shahul-Hameed – Cabinet Member for Economy & Jobs

During the presentation the following points were noted:-

  • The Growth Zone was a £5.2b regeneration initiative for the centre of Croydon. The overall project contained a range of different project within that would lead to the comprehensive regeneration of the area. This included the provision of 2,800,000 ft² of new Grade A office space, 21 town centre development opportunities including Westfield, 28 new public squares and spaces, a new world class train station, approximately 14,000 new homes and 23,000 new jobs.
  • Growth Zone project was due to run until 2034 with a focus on the first five year of major development activity. It was highlighted that much of the development activity was being delivered by developers and as such outside of the control of the Council.
  • The Council had borrowed £3.9m to ensure that the public realm aspects within the Growth Zone were joined up. This would be repaid through the growth of business rates and council tax in the town centre as a result of the redevelopment.
  • The project originally began in 2013, with the Growth Zone bid accepted by the government in 2015.
  • The key themes for the project had been grouped into six themes, which were Transport, Public Realm, Culture, Parking, Social Infrastructure and Smart City.
  • A range of smaller projects had been delivered so far and a lot of the current focus was on planning to bring forward significant redevelopment schemes.
  • The regeneration strategy had retained a flexible approach to take into account changing circumstances such as uncertainty over when the Westfield development and transport schemes would come forward.
  • The Growth Zone included 26 transport projects. Highlights of which included construction and logistics projects winning awards. A priority continued to be keeping road users safe despite the increase in HGV vehicles from the redevelopment.
  • Under the social infrastructure theme the Croydon Works job service had helped to support over 1000 people into employment and the Croydon Creative Campus continued to be a priority.
  • The primary objective of within the Smart City theme was to ensure that the Council continued to make best use of technology through a range of schemes such as monitoring air pollution.
  • Public realm projects included rethinking the old town area, the Clocktower redevelopment, rethinking College Green which would be renaming as Fairfield, with a team appointed to lead the transformation.

Following the presentation the Committee was given the opportunity to ask questions on the content of the report and the information provided during the presentation. The first question concerned the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38/19

39/19

Scrutiny Work Programme 2019-20 pdf icon PDF 76 KB

To note the Scrutiny Work Programme for 2019-20

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report setting out its work programme along with that of its three Sub-Committees for 2019-20.

The Chair highlighted that it was increasingly likely a General Election would be called for early December. As such it may necessitate moving the date of the next Scrutiny & Overview Committee meeting scheduled for 9 December. At present the items on the agenda for that meeting included a Question Time session with the Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, Councillor Oliver Lewis and Fairfield Halls. It was advised that a tour of Fairfield Halls would be arranged for Members prior to the meeting.

The Chair of the Streets, Environment and Housing Sub-Committee, Councillor Leila Ben-Hassel, confirmed that the Sub-Committee would be looking at the Licensing and Housing Strategies at their next meeting along with a review of the Local Plan.

It was confirmed that 23 April 2020 meeting of the Health & Social Care Sub-Committee would be dedicated to looking at the life course of mental health care in the borough. Arrangements for this were still to be finalised, but it was likely that members of the Children & Young People Sub-Committee would be invited to attend the meeting to provide their insight.

The Chair of the Children & Young People Sub-Committee, Councillor Robert Ward, confirmed that items on the new safeguarding arrangements and data sharing would not now be on the agenda for their next meeting on 5 November 2019 and would instead come to a later meeting.

Finally it was highlighted that members of the Children & Young People Sub-Committee had recently visited the Refugee Council, which had been really helpful in giving Members an insight into the unique circumstances in Croydon. It was suggested that it would be useful if the members of the Scrutiny & Overview Committee could also be invited to future visits.

It was resolved that the Scrutiny Work Programme 2019-20 be noted.

 

40/19

Exclusion of the Press and Public

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

 

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

 

 

Minutes:

This motion was not required.