Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting

Contact: Salar Rida Email: salar.rida@barnet.gov.uk 020 8359 7113 

Link: Click here for the meeting

Items
No. Item

1.

Minutes of last meeting pdf icon PDF 220 KB

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Finchley and Golders Green Area Committee, Councillor Jennifer Grocock welcomed all attendees to the virtual meeting.

 

Subject to the below corrections, it was RESOLVED that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 23 February 2021 be agreed as a correct record.

-       Page 3 of the minutes under item 8, Members CIL items funding applications – Councillor Rohit Grover’s item should state the location of the Grass Verge and improvement to entrance as Lyttleton Playing Fields.

.

2.

Absence of Members (If any)

Minutes:

None.

3.

Declaration of Members' Disclosable Pecuniary interests and Other interests (If any)

Minutes:

Councillor Arjun Mittra and Councillor Anne Hutton declared a non-pecuniary interest in item 7 and item 10 relating to Market Playground by virtue of living close to the playground.

 

4.

Report of the Monitoring Officer (If any)

Minutes:

None.

5.

Public Comments and Questions (If any)

Minutes:

None.

6.

Petitions (if any)

Minutes:

None.

7.

Matters referred from the Finchley and Golders Green Area Residents Forum (If any) pdf icon PDF 476 KB

Minutes:

The Chairman introduced the report which sets out the issues and petition referred from the F&GG Residents Forum to the Area Committee.

 

1.    Petition – Protect and improve Market Place Playground East Finchley, N2.

 

The Chairman invited the lead petitioner, Kathy Batten who presented the petition to the Committee. The Committee noted the comments made by the lead petitioner. As the item had been brought by Councillor Moore as a Members CIL funding item, the decision on whether to grant funding for the improvement of the playground was dealt with under item 10 of the agenda.

 

8.

Area Committee Funding - Community Infrastructure Levy update pdf icon PDF 339 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Damien Pantling, Head of Finance, introduced the report and notified the Committee that they had a £41,282.30 balance remaining to spend at this meeting for the 2020/21 financial year. It was explained that the balance considered prior commitments, overspends and underspends of closed schemes from previous years.

 

The Committee were also asked to note that this report did not include the additional budget for the 2021/22 financial year. It was noted that this report was the last report of the 2020/21 financial year, rather than the first report of the 2021/22 financial year. The reason for this being that the publication fell within the prior year and the final agreed budget for Area Committees was yet to be approved by Policy and Resources Committee. The Area Committee budget was due to be increased above £150,000, as well as there being a separate funding pot for road safety measures. However, exact amounts were due to be agreed by the Policy & Resources Committee in May. The funding for the 2021/22 financial year would be reported to the next meeting of the Committee.

 

The Chairman moved to vote on the item. The Committee unanimously agreed the officer’s recommendations.

 

RESOVED that:

  1. The Committee noted the amount available for allocation during 2020/21, as set out in paragraph 6.2.1 and in Appendix 1.
  2. The Committee noted the amount of re-allocated underspends and overspends in section 2.1.

 

9.

Members' Items (if any)

Minutes:

None.

10.

Members' Items - Area Committee Funding Applications (if any) pdf icon PDF 862 KB

Minutes:

a)    Councillor Alison Moore – Refurbishment and Improvement of Market Place Playground, N2

Councillor Moore presented the Member’s item.

 

It was unanimously RESOLVED that the Area Committee agreed to allocate £30,000 of funding for refurbishment and improvement of Market Place Playground, N2, subject to the increased CIL allocation per scheme being ratified by Council. The Committee noted the implications to the Committee’s CIL funding budget.

 

 

b)    Councillor Ross Houston – Feasibility study for Gainsborough Road, N12 close to the junction of Nether Street, traffic measures.

 

Councillor Houston presented the Member’s item.

 

Jackie Staples, Member Liaison Officer, advised that the feasibility study would cost £5,000. She advised that there was already a feasibility study being undertaken for Gainsborough Road and Lodge Lane. If the Committee agreed for this feasibility study to be funded, it could be tagged on as one large study. Results of the study were due to be brought back to the October committee meeting. Councillor Houston agreed that the feasibility study could be undertaken in conjunction with the wider study, as long as this item was investigated as a separate item if required.

 

It was unanimously RESOLVED that the Area Committee agreed to allocate £5,000 for a feasibility study to be conducted on Gainsborough Road, N2 and noted the implications to the Committee’s CIL funding budget.

 

11.

Progress update on Area Committee actions from previous meeting pdf icon PDF 457 KB

Minutes:

The Chairman introduced the report which provided an update on all the Highways Schemes agreed at the Area Committee to date.

 

Councillor Hutton noted that Glenhurst Road should be included under Woodhouse Ward rather than Underhill. Councillor Hutton also asked that Lambert Way waiting restrictions, be reviewed in conjunction with the wider issues being investigated within the area. Jackie Staples, Member Liaison Officer, agreed to take that back to officers as an action and to arrange a ward meeting.

 

Councillor Dean Cohen noted that an item under the Golders Green Ward, Woodlands Close, stated that the scheme would be implemented at the end of April and he queried if this was realistic. Jackie Staples reported that a meeting would be set up with officers and councillors to update on the scheme.

 

It was unanimously RESOLVED:

·         That the Area Committee noted the completed and in progress schemes as set out in Appendix 1.

 

12.

Finchley & Golders Green Area Committee Local Priorities pdf icon PDF 467 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Andrew Charlwood, Head of Governance, introduced the report, which outlined the need for Area Committees to set local priorities and detailed the local priorities for Finchley and Golders Green Area Committee proposed by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman.

 

The Head of Governance advised that the agreed priorities would not prevent the Committee from agreeing items not outlined on the list, if they felt it was appropriate and met the legal definition of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). It was reported that agreeing priorities would enable the Committee to make better informed decisions about which schemes to approve based on the infrastructure needs of the constituency.

 

The Committee were informed that any schemes above £25,000 that had been approved by the Committee, were subject to the decision to increase the limit to £30,000 being ratified by the Constitution & General Purposes Committee and Full Council. Members were also advised that anything that would have an ongoing revenue funding implication for the Council, should not be put proposed via Members Items or agreed by the Committee CIL funding should generally speaking be used for capital rather than revenue projects.

 

It was noted that a review of the priorities would be carried out in six months’ time when more insight and data would be available to Members to assist in setting priorities based on the needs of specific wards or constituencies.

 

Councillor Hutton raised a query around the CIL receipts annual report not currently being available on the website. The Head of Governance advised that an annual CIL report was due to be reported to the Policy & Resources Committee in May, which would include updates on the CIL reform around charging rates and that this should also cover CIL receipts. It was agreed that officers would raise this request with the Assistant Director of Capital Works and the response would be circulated to the Committee.

 

Members were informed that workshops would be held to introduce them to the new forms and guidance, prior to the June round of Are Committee meetings. Councillor Houston asked that some common worked up examples were presented at the workshop, to assist Members with what information is required for the form. Officers agreed to provided examples during the workshop.

 

Following discussions, the Chairman moved to the vote.

 

It was unanimously RESOLVED:

1.    That the Committee approved the CIL funding priorities for the financial year 2021/22, as per the list set out in Appendix A, subject to these being reviewed by the committee in 6 months.

2.    That the Committee noted the updated funding request form as set out in Appendix B.

 

13.

Forward Work Programme pdf icon PDF 167 KB

Minutes:

The Committee noted that the review of the CIL priorities would be added to the forward work programme for a future meeting.

 

14.

Any item(s) the Chairman decides are urgent

Minutes:

None.