Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and the evacuation procedure was noted.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the last meeting held on 14 December 2023.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 14 December 2023.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 14 December 2023 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

Consideration was given to a report that provided an update on the Powering Our Future Programme. It included:

•         Draft Mission Statement and Council Missions for Cabinet approval

•         Communities Powering Our Future

o        Building intelligence and insight to inform our future approach to community development

•         Partnerships Powering Our Future

o        Developing a ‘Team Stockton’ approach with our partners

•         Transformation Powering Our Future

o        Details of scope for Phase 1 reviews, for Cabinet approval

•         Our Colleagues Powering Our Future

o        Employee Survey results informing our Workforce Development Strategy

o        Smart Working Policy for Cabinet approval 

•         Regeneration Powering Our Future

o        Driving economic growth to increase prosperity and wellbeing in communities.

RESOLVED that:-

1.    The draft Mission Statement and Council Missions set out at Sections 2 & 3 of the report be agreed.

2. The approach to Communities Powering Our Future, set out at Section 4 of the report be agreed.

3. The areas of focus for Team Stockton, set out at Section 5 of the report be agreed.

4.  Agree in principle the scope of Phase 1 Transformation reviews set out at Section 6 of the report. It is recommended that the Powering Our Future Programme Board has responsibility to agree the final scope, based on the outcome of the rapid review (detailed in Section 6 of the report) and consideration of full Project Initiation Documents.

5. The findings from the Employee Survey be noted, and the priority work strands for the Workforce Development Strategy (Section 7 of the report) be agreed.

6. The Smart Working Policy set out at Section 7 of the report be and attached at appendix 1 of the report be agreed.

7. The areas of focus for Regeneration Powering Our Future (Section 8 of the report) be noted and agree to receive future updates on individual areas of activity.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution or previous practice the minutes of the meeting of the bodies indicated below are submitted to members for consideration:-

TVCA Cabinet – 15 December 2023

TSAB – 11 October 2023

SSP – 20 September 2023

RESOLVED that the minutes be received.

Consideration was given to a report on the Local Plan Five Year Review.

The development plan (a local plan) was at the heart of the planning system, setting out a vision and strategy for future development of the Borough. Included within it were a series of policies which supported the delivery of that strategy and against which planning applications were assessed.

Under regulation 10A of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, there was a legal requirement to ‘review’ local plans at least once every 5 years from their adoption to ensure they remained fit for purpose. In the case of the Stockton-on-Tees Local Plan that is required to be complete by the 31 January 2024. 

Cabinet were being asked to ratify the outcomes of the Local Plan review and to recommend to Council to begin the process of a full update of the Local Plan.

RESOLVED that:-

1.    The findings and recommendations of the internal officer review of the Stockton on Tees Local Plan (Appendix 1 of the report) be agreed.

2.  The findings of the Local Plan review are made publicly available and published on its website.

RECOMMENDED to Council that:-

3.  A full update of the Stockton on Tees Local Plan commences.

4. The Director of Regeneration and Inclusive Growth be authorised to commence work on preparatory work for a new local plan with a review of the evidence base, related project management activity and consultation on updated Conservation Area Appraisals in advance of the details on government’s new local plan process.

Consideration was given to a report on Consent Street Trading Policy Review 2024

The report informed Cabinet of the results of a public consultation, a draft consent street trading policy and the proposal to designate the whole borough a consent area for the purposes of street trading.

“Street Trading” was defined in paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 (LG(MP) Act 1982) – as “the selling or exposing or offering for sale of any article (including a living thing) in a street”. For the purposes of the Act this would include private land that the public has access to without payment.

Under the provisions of Schedule 4, a Local Authority may designate streets within its borough as either:

•           Prohibited Streets - in which street trading is not allowed.

•           Licence Streets - in which a licence to trade is required.

•           Consent Streets - where prior consent requirements operate.

In 1987, the resolution to adopt Schedule 4 of the LG(MP) Act 1982 was taken, members approved a list of consent streets and prohibited streets, in 1999 the current street trading consent conditions were agreed and in 2001 the policy was amended to add Yarm Lane as a prohibited street, the regime has remained largely unchanged since.

The Council had no control in areas where it had not designated a street as either a consent or prohibited street. This had resulted in the Council being ineffective to respond to complaints associated with trading and inefficient in responding to requests to trade in areas where no provisions exist.

In addition to this the current list of prohibited and consent streets was no longer relevant in redeveloped areas and was inflexible with the developing Town Centres and Place strategies.

Consultation was critical to ensure any changes to the street trading resolution were clear and transparent for businesses, members, responsible authorities and the public. The statutory consultation process was followed including an advert in the Evening Gazette dated 11 July 2023. A report containing a summary of the results of the online public consultation was attached to the report.

Alongside the online consultation in depth discussions had helped to shape the revised policy and the application / determination process. These discussions had included:

•           Existing traders

•           Potential Traders

•           Voluntary Sector

•           Charity and non-profit groups

•           Parish Councillors

•           Members

•           Council Departments

A copy of the revised draft consent street trading policy 2024, which outlined how officers would manage and review the regime including the application / determination process was attached to the report.

The most significant changes following the consultation had been around:

•           Non for profit and charity fundraising (detailed at pg. 3 of the draft policy document)

•           DBS and convictions information (detailed at pg. 8 and Appendix 3 of the draft policy document)

The revised policy document had been circulated for comments to all respondents to the consultation who provided contact details and again internally with Council departments. Additional responses  ...  view the full minutes text for item CAB/66/23