Freedom of Information Request Reference: 1112252
Date received: 29 July 2011
Date response provided: 25 August 2011
Information requested and answers:
1.
Please provide details of all meetings held both formally and informally between
Suzanne Lang or other Council Employee working in the Affordable Housing Team
and any member of the Planning Department, any employee at Torbay Development
Agency and Cavanna Homes, or agent acting on behalf of Cavanna Homes, in respect
to the production of this questionnaire. Please provide copies of minutes or notes
taken at those meetings.
Details of the meetings held to discuss Area 4 South over the previous 12 months are
below. There will be numerous informal conversations within the department and on the
telephone to discuss specific issues as and when they arise but there is no record of these.
Date of
meeting
Title
Purpose of meeting
Attendees
11/10/10
Area 4
South
22/11/10
Area 4
South
stakeholder
event
Briefing from Cavanna on their
proposals for the site at Area 4
South and to gather
information on the affordable
housing requirement.
Stakeholder event arranged by
Cavanna to engage with
interested stakeholders.
10/01/11
Catch up
meeting
Cllr Neil Bent
Liam Montgomery (Torbay
Council)
Ian Pugsley and Michael Newman
-Cavanna Homes
Ian Pugsley and Michael Newman
of Cavanna Homes, Cllr Neil Bent,
Cllr Colin Charlwood, Cllr Roger
Kerslake,
Police representative, Lee
Kerslake (Chairman community
Partnership), Mr and Mrs P
Chairman of the Action Group
Liam Montgomery Torbay Council
Cllr Neil Bent, Liam Montgomery
16/02/11
Scotts
Meadow
05/07/11
Affordable
Housing
update
Brief Cllr Bent on the
affordable housing proposals
for the site.
Generic planning meeting to
discuss a wide range of
planning issues including
design and S106 requirements
To brief Cllr Thomas on the
current affordable housing
proposals and the time frame
and principles for engagement
with the questionnaire
Les Crump, David Pickhaver, Ruth
Robinson, Liam Montgomery, Pat
Steward – Torbay Council Ian
Pugsley, Michael Newman –
Cavanna Homes
Cllr David Thomas, Liam
Montgomery
Notes/
minutes
available
N
N
N
N
N
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2.
Provide copies of emails between Suzanne Lang or other Council Employee working
in the Affordable Housing Team and any person employed by Torbay Council in a
Planning role relating to potential development on Area 4 South, Scotts Meadow and
any person employed in the Torbay Development Agency.
Due to the amount of information provided in response to this request we have been unable
to include it on this document.
To view a copy of the information requested please write to Information Compliance. Torbay
Council, Town Hall, Torquay TQ1 3DR or email: foi@torbay.gov.uk quoting the above
reference number.
3.
Provide copies of emails between Suzanne Lang or other Council Employee working
in the Affordable Housing Team and Cavanna Homes, or agent acting on behalf of
Cavanna Homes, in respect to the production of this questionnaire.
Due to the amount of information provided in response to this request we have been unable
to include it on this document.
To view a copy of the information requested please write to Information Compliance. Torbay
Council, Town Hall, Torquay TQ1 3DR or email: foi@torbay.gov.uk quoting the above
reference number.
4.
Provide details of authorisation and approval for the Questionnaire to be produced
and circulated and any costs to rate payers. If no cost to rate payers how was it
funded?
Authorisation to engage with specific client groups rests with the service manager. Having
said that the decision to engage with households on the housing waiting list on all major
developments was taken after consultation with the previous Portfolio holder for Housing
Cllr Neil Bent, internal departments and officers in the Council and then more recently the
current Portfolio Holder for Housing and Deputy Mayor Cllr David Thomas.
As part of the planning process developers are encouraged to engage with communities as
widely as possible via public meetings, exhibitions, design forums, questionnaires,
stakeholder groups etc and its is generally the case that applicants are requested to meet
these costs. In this instance the cost of printing and postage were met evenly between
Cavanna Homes and Torbay Council. Total Cost £1329
5.
Was this approved by the Mayor past or present? Was it approved at a Full Council
Meeting such that all Councillors are aware of this?
The decision making process is described in the answer to question 4. For clarity the
decision to engage with residents on major housing developments in this way was not made
at Full Council or by the Mayor.
6.
Please provide full details on the purpose of the questionnaire by sending details of
the Terms of Reference for this work and the planned use of all information captured.
To better understand the views and needs of our communities and to fully embrace the
localism agenda we are committed to engaging with as wide an audience as possible.
Torbay Councils previous experience of running consultation and engagement activities
shows that there are a number of ‘hard to reach’ groups whose views are difficult to capture.
These range from young people, ethnic minorities, those in housing need as well as many
more and it is necessary for us to tailor the engagement process accordingly. This exercise
is designed to complement and add to the information gathered at other events and surveys
that are carried out on major developments. All the information captured both positive and
negative will be fed into the planning process and a summary of the results will be available
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to planning committee along with all the other results from other engagement activity.
7.
Has a similar form been sent out in the same way relating to any other planning
applications, please give details of those applications, the forms used, the response
and how they were acted upon. Is it planned to do similar questionnaires for every
planning application that includes affordable housing?
As mentioned in previous answers it is intended that these questionnaires will be used on all
major developments. Scotts Meadow is the first time we have carried out this specific
process.
8.
Why did the questionnaire not state that the land in question is not identified a
building land in the current local plan?
The type and content of the questions used in the questionnaire follows good practice
guidance when engaging on planning applications. The purpose of the questionnaire was to
seek views about the principle of housing on this site and to ask them what they liked and
disliked about the current design to help inform the planning process. It was explained how
people could gather further information.
9.
Why did the questionnaire not cover the ecological reports on the land and that it has
Local Urban Protection Status?
There are many surveys carried out on all major developments covering a variety of
subjects and it is only appropriate to signpost people interested to the information available.
10.
Please provide details of any cautions or concerns given to Suzanne Lang that this
could be deemed to be pre-determining planning decisions in respect of this land.
No cautions or concerns were given to Susanne Lang as community engagement through
questionnaires in no way pre determines a planning application. The purpose of the
exercise is to gather thoughts and opinions on the proposals from the community that will
then feed into the planning process.
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you
are doing and for the purpose of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.
For more information on requesting to re-use information held by Torbay Council under the Re-Use
of Public Sector Information Regulations, 2005 please visit
www.torbay.gov.uk/accesstoinformation/psi
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