Agenda and draft minutes

The Chairman will announce details of the arrangements in case of fire or other events that might require the meeting room or building’s evacuation.

If any received

Apologies were received from Councillor Jason Frost. Councillor Gillian Ford and John Crowder (substituted for Osman Dervish) attended via Zoom.

Councillors present in the Town Hall were as follows: Michael Deon Burton, Christine Vickery, Ron Owen, Paul McGeary, Ray Morgon and Graham Williamson.

Members are invited to disclose any interest in any of the items on the agenda at this point of the meeting.

Members may still disclose any interest in an item at any time prior to the consideration of the matter.

Councillor Paul McGeary declared an interest regarding The Infrastructure Funding Statement because he was a Chairman of Governors at Meads School. He also declared an interest in the development of St Georges in Hornchurch as he is lead officer for NELFT on that development.

Report attached

The Committee was presented with a report on the Infrastructure Funding Statement. The Statement contained the most recent formal financial position on section 106 and CIL. It was to be noted that it was published online as part of a statutory requirement in December 2021.

Officers pointed out that the headlines in the report set out the schemes and the following was explained:

·         Under section (e), the total amount which was allocated but not spent during the reported year for funding infrastructure was £3,093,380.25.

·         Under section (f), the total amount of money (received under any planning obligations) which was spent by the authority (including transferring it to another person to spend) was £1,790,708.37.

Other financial 106 figures were held by the finance team and therefore the infrastructure planning team did not have a live, real time access feed on those currently. IT solutions were being worked on to ensure in future the team had access to those financial details.

Concern was raised over collection of Section 106 and CIL payments and the governance of spending funds. Officers explained that CIL was less complicated than monitoring Section 106. However, auditing exercises on data had taken place and monies had been collected for Section 106 more efficiently. New technologies were aiding to future collection.

Furthermore, the governance of spending was examined and scrutinised firstly by the Infrastructure Steering Group (ISG).  Any spending then went on to the more senior executive function of the Infrastructure Planning and Delivery Board (IPDB). A spend amount of less than £50,000 could be recommended by the IPDB and anything over £50,000 would be required to be approved during the budget setting period (and included in capital or revenue budgets).

Other questions regarding the governance of spending would be answered by IPDB on reporting of specific projects. Any questions around school projects spending, monitoring and due diligence would be answered by the relevant team.

The Committee noted the report.

To consider whether the public should now be excluded from the remainder of the meeting on the grounds that it is likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, if members of the public were present during those items there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972; and, if it is decided to exclude the public on those grounds, the Committee to resolve accordingly on the motion of the Chairman.

Presentation by the Director of Regeneration Programmes.

Report attached

Report attached

Report attached.

Report attached.

Report attached