Agenda and minutes

It was confirmed that all items on the agenda were marked Part 1 and would therefore be considered in public.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2012 were agreed as an accurate record by the Committee.

Discussion on possible conclusions and recommendations.

The Chairman of the Committee informed Members that Officers had been pulling together evidence taken by the Committee at witness sessions throughout the year. Officers had compiled a draft final report and would circulate this to Members for comment. The Chairman of the Committee requested Members to send any comments or amendments to Natasha Dogra or Nadia Williams in Democratic Services.

Officers informed the Committee that the report had been spilt into six sections:

1. Future demand
2. Technical issues
3. Planning policies
4. Regulation
5. Demand
6. Health

Information under each section had been taken from previous witness sessions and research undertaken by the Democratic Services Officers. The Committee approved the layout of the report but asked Officers to rethink the front cover. Officers said they would speak to Corporate Communications about a new front cover and photograph for the report.

Some Members of the Committee queried whether the background information should be displayed before the main body of the report to give the reader some context. However, a majority of the Committee thought the current layout with background information attached as an appendix was more suitable.

Officers informed Members that the planning policies section of the report was still incomplete. Information regarding any changes to the Local Development Framework was yet to be gathered. Officers said they would circulate the information as they received it.

The Chairman of the Committee informed Members that the recommendations included in the report were draft ideas. Members asked Officers to revise the conclusions and recommendations under each section and to circulate these to the Committee to approve. The Chairman asked the Committee whether they were happy to allow him and the Democratic Services Officers to continue to develop the report and send periodic updates to the Members. The Committee agreed that this would be a useful way forward as they hoped the report would be considered at April cabinet.

With that in mind, the Committee thought it would be necessary to merge their meetings in March and April to just one date in late March. This would give Officers enough time to make changes to the current report and have the full document ready for Cabinet on 26 April 2012.

Resolved:

• The Committee agreed to delegate work on the final report to the Chairman and Officers;
• Members would send any comments or amendments on the final report to Democratic Services Officers;
• The Committee requested periodic updates on the report from Officers;
• The Committee agreed to reschedule the 7 March 2012 and 11 April 2012 meetings to just one meeting on 27 March 2012 at 5.30 p.m. in committee room 3.

Resolved:

The Committee noted the Forward Plan.

Resolved:

• The Committee noted the work programme.
• The Committee agreed to reschedule the 7 March 2012 and 11 April 2012 meetings to just one meeting on 27 March 2012 at 5.30 p.m. in committee room 3.