Agenda and draft minutes

Councillor R Shori declared a personal interest that his partner is employed by the Council.

Councillors A Quinn and A Simpson declared a personal interest in respect of minute number CA.08 for the reason that they serve as governors of Parrenthorn High School.

A period of thirty minutes was allocated for any members of the public present at the meeting to ask questions about the work or performance of the Council or Council services.

Topic: Parrenthorn High School – Proposal to Enlarge the School Premises

Question: Where has the proposal come from? Has analysis been carried out on the accuracy of the need for new school places?

Response: The Council is proposing to use Basic Need Grant Funding for the cost of new building works at the school in order to increase the Planned Admission Number (PAN). The Council has analysed data from demographic patterns within the borough and the demand for school places which has identified significant demand pressure in the south of the borough. A high demand for places exists for both primary schools and high schools and this is expected to continue to increase each year. Parrenthorn High School has received the highest number of first choice preferences of all the high schools in the south of the borough but has the lowest capacity. The increase in the PAN would take the number of places to 1050 and would not have a negative impact on other local high schools.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 28 June 2017.

Delegated decision:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 28 June 2017 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

The Cabinet Member (Children and Families) submitted a report following a request from the Governing Body of Ribble Drive Primary School for the Local Authority to publish and consult on a statutory proposal to remove the nursery provision at the school. This would change the age range of the school from 3-11years to 4-11years.

Cabinet had deferred making a decision on the previous report (28 June 2017) to allow further information to be provided by Ribble Drive Primary School regarding an informal consultation conducted prior to the publication of the proposal. The additional information was provided in Appendix 2 of the report submitted.

The proposal for the closure of the nursery provision at the school was published by the Council on 18 April 2017 and set out arrangements for those affected by the proposal to make their views known. The closing date for comments was 16 May 2017.

The meeting was attended by a grandparent of a child at the nursery and staff members that would be affected by a decision to close the provision.

The Chair invited members of the public present to speak on the proposal.

Mrs Hyde stated that she was not satisfied with the outcome of the meetings and emails exchanged with officers following the meeting of Cabinet on 28 June 2017 because questions had been left unanswered. Mrs Hyde maintained her belief that the process and manner with which the school had approached the proposed closure of the nursery was flawed and based on incorrect information. The informal consultation of parents carried out by the school in the playground had not included all parents and some had been left unaware of the proposal. The school had passed letters to parents on the proposal via their children on the last day of the school term in April, which had the potential that the letter may not be read, could be lost or only opened on the first day of the new term, leaving limited time to respond properly. The nursery was a community asset and provided a valuable service for local families. It was suggested that the decision to close the nursery had been made by the school in November 2016 but additional children had been taken on in January 2017. Children had settled well at the nursery and made friends only for their parents to be informed that they would need to find another nursery from September. The school had appointed new staff to work in the nursery and moved staff from the primary school and now they were being made redundant. Mrs Hyde stated that she did not feel the school had acted in an honest or open manner during the process.

The Chair thanked the members of the public for their input and directed that an officer to notify the school of the comments and issues that had been raised.

The Cabinet Member (Children and Families) explained that the role of the Cabinet was to consider the proposal made by the Governing body  ...  view the full minutes text for item CA.106

The Cabinet Member (Finance and Housing) submitted a report presenting the Council’s financial position for the period April 2017 to June 2017. The report included Prudential Indicators in accordance with CIPFA’s Prudential Code.  

Delegated decision:

That the financial position of the Council as at 30 June 2017 be noted.

Reason for the decision:

The report has been prepared in accordance with the Council’s Financial Regulations relating to budget monitoring.

Other options considered and rejected:

To reject the recommendation.

The Cabinet Member (Finance and Housing) submitted a report informing Cabinet of the progress on the process that has been followed to notify stakeholders of the Council’s intention to prepare a new Local Plan for Bury. The process has been undertaken under Regulation 18 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 and comments have been invited on the contents of the new Local Plan. The consultation period took place from 6 March to 17 April 2017.

A copy of the Key Issues and Policy Framework document was also submitted and represents a key early stage in the preparation of Bury’s Local Plan. Together with the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF), the Local Plan will form part of Bury’s wider development plan and provide a range of locally-specific policies, designations and site allocations.

Cabinet was requested to approve a consultation on Local Plan Key Issues and Policy Framework where the comments received will be used inform the development of draft Local Plan.

Delegated decisions:

1.     That the main themes of the responses from the comments received under Regulation 18 on what the Local Plan should contain be noted.

2.     That approval be given to consult on the Local Plan Key Issues and Policy Framework report between 7 August 2017 to 2 October 2017.

Reason for the decision:

There is a requirement for Bury Council to produce a Local Plan for the borough. This decision allows progress to be made in the preparation of a Local Plan and ensures that all interested parties have the opportunity to be involved in the early stage of the process.       

Other options considered and rejected:

That members seek revisions to the proposed content of the Local Plan Key Issues and Policy Framework Report prior to consultation and/or Members seek revisions to the proposed measures for undertaking consultation.

The Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member (Economic Growth and Human Resources) submitted a report presenting a policy that will enable the Council to objectively consider transfers of Council owned property assets to the Community to support continued delivery of services.

Delegated decisions:

1.   That approval be given to the Asset Transfer Policy as detailed in the report submitted.

2.   That approval be given to delegate decisions over applications for Community Asset Transfer to the Interim Chief Executive, the Interim Executive Director of Resource and Regulation and the Head of Property and Asset Management, in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the relevant portfolio holder.

Reason for the decision:

The policy will allow the Council to:

-      Support voluntary and community organisation contributions to Bury neighbourhoods;      

-      Provide a fair and transparent framework for community asset transfer of Council owned property assets (land and buildings);

-      Help the Council to achieve savings in its costs of managing property;

-      Support continued delivery of services through transfer to voluntary and community organisations, where appropriate.

Other option considered and rejected:

To reject the recommendation.

The Cabinet Member (Member for Children and Families) submitted a report seeking approval to increase the capacity of Parrenthorn High School. The demand for school places in Bury has increased over recent years and the forecast is for this to continue. Modelling of future demand has identified that pressure for secondary school places is more acute in the south of the borough. Parrenthorn High School has a Published Admission Number (PAN) of 840 compared with the average Bury secondary school PAN of 1000 number. The proposal would increase the PAN of the school to 1050 from September 2018.

It is proposed that construction of additional accommodation would take place for a new dedicated two storey science block building using funding from the Basic Need Grant. The funding for this was agreed by Cabinet on 28 June 2017.

In line with the statutory process a proposal making a prescribed alteration to a school was published on 8 June 2017 and invited comments from those affected by the proposal with a closing date of 7 July 2017.  Four objections were received and considered.

Delegated decision:

That approval be given to the proposal to increase the PAN of Parrenthorn High School to 1050 from September 2018.

Reason for the decision:

Bury Council has a statutory duty to ensure a sufficiency of school places in their area to meet the demand for places within the resident population.

Other option considered and rejected:

To reject the recommendation.

Delegated decision:

That in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business as it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information, as detailed in the conditions of category 3.

The Leader and Cabinet Member (Finance and Housing) submitted a report seeking authorisation and approval in order to deliver a residential scheme comprising of 10 apartments on land at Church Street West, Radcliffe.

Delegated decisions:

1.   That approval be given to delegate authority to the Interim Executive Director of Communities and Wellbeing and the Interim Executive Director of Resources and Regulation, in consultation with the Cabinet Member (Finance and Housing) to enter into a Development Agreement with the Development Company involved.

2.   That approval be given to spend £250,000 of accumulated Affordable Housing commuted sums (received in lieu of affordable housing provision on larger housing development sites) to part fund the scheme.

3.   That approval be given to the Council to apply to the Homes and Communities Agency to transfer £390,000 grant from Six Town Housing to the Council and approval for the Council to enter into an agreement with the Homes and Communities Agency, under Affordable Homes Programme 2015-2018 for this funding.

4.   That approval be given to capital of up to an estimated £673,690 to be funded through loan via HRA borrowing.

Reason for the decision:

The scheme will deal with a long standing empty building in private ownership bringing about significant positive regeneration outcomes in addition to housing outcomes and bring considerable government funding into the borough.

Other option considered and rejected:

To reject the recommendation.