Agenda item

Public Question submitted by Andrew Dennis for response by the Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing, Cllr Nigel Cooke:

 

“What decision-making processes led to SBC’s supporting the successful Garden Village bid at Wynyard Park, SBC’s role in the delivering that bid and co-ordinating the Wynyard Masterplan delivery.”

 

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing responded with:

 

“To provide some clarity, the “Garden Village bid” was a bid to the Government’s Garden Communities Programme and was led by Wynyard Park Ltd, focussing predominantly on land owned by Wynyard Park Ltd and Homes England, the vast majority of which is in the borough of Hartlepool. Due to the close working relationship between HBC and SBC on all matters pertaining to the development of Wynyard as a settlement and the obvious cross boundary matters, both Council’s supported the bid. It is understood a letter of support was provided as part of the bid but as this was undertaken in late 2018 and whilst there will have been documentation and correspondence at the time, these records (including emails) are no longer available due to the Council’s data retention Policies.

 

Subsequent work on the delivery of the successful bid has been led by Wynyard Park Ltd and Homes England with Hartlepool Borough Council as the lead Local Authority.

 

SBC’s role has been to deal with cross-boundary issues as they arise. The Wynyard Masterplan is a different entity, it sets a strategic stage of thinking for the Wynyard settlement and sets out the proposals for movement, spaces and land use in the form of a ‘Strategic Framework’ and matches these proposals to a delivery strategy. It was formally adopted by both Councils, in SBC’s case this was at a full Council meeting in November 2019.

 

In terms of co-ordinating the delivery of the Masterplan it is important to recognise that the Masterplan should not be seen as a rigid blueprint for development and design, but rather a document that sets out the context and development principles within which individual projects come forward. As such the masterplan forms part of the decision-making process when determining planning applications, and therefore development, within the Wynyard area.

 

Andrew Dennis asked the following supplementary question:

 

“What assessment was carried out of the impact of the thousands of additional homes in Wynyard and surrounding areas?”

 

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing responded with:

 

“The Wynyard Masterplan sets out the strategic framework for land use. Planning applications will need to be determined by the Planning Committee and judged on the merits of each individual application.”

 

Public Question submitted by Tony Maxwell for response by the Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing, Cllr Nigel Cooke:

 

“In July 2023, Cllr Riordan met with the council's monitoring officer to discuss planning service failures. An Inquiry was agreed. What was the brief and outcome of that Inquiry?”

 

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing responded with:

 

“Thank you, Mr Maxwell, for your question. Clearly members from all groups may meet with the monitoring officer from time to time to discuss concerns that they may have, although such meetings would generally be considered confidential, I am advised that Councillor Riordan did meet with the Monitoring officer where he raised concerns about the planning service, particularly regarding the validation of an application for 750 houses at Wynyard. This prompted a process, not a formal corporate complaint which would be investigated, but a less formal process to try and resolve the issues of concern by examining and addressing the perceived operational and governance issues. That process focused on:

 

Staffing and Resources: Identifying staffing pressures as a key issue, leading to the implementation of career grades following job evaluation to improve recruitment, retention, and capacity.

 

Governance and Validation: Considering procedural gaps, including the expired local validation criteria, and progressing their update to ensure greater rigor in application assessments. We expect a new version to be presented to planning committee very soon.

 

Communication Protocols: Strengthening communication with ward members to ensure proactive updates on significant planning applications. The process informed a report to the Corporate Management Team, which looked at planning performance, and expedited the completion of work on the staffing structure including the implementation of career grades.

 

While this was not a formal corporate complaint, it led to tangible steps to address the issues raised and improve the planning service. The Council remains committed to continuous improvement in this area.”

 

Tony Maxwell asked the following supplementary question:

 

“My understanding was that the outcome of the investigation would be made available for public scrutiny. When will this be made available?”

 

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing responded with:

 

“I was not privy to the discussions that took place between Councillor Riordan and officers and cannot comment on the investigation any further.”

 

Public Question submitted by Ryan Davis for response by the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Cllr Lisa Evans:

 

“As a care-experienced individual, can you confirm that every elected member fully understands their role as a corporate parent and is truly committed to going above and beyond for children in care?”

 

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People responded with:

“As an organisation, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council places a great emphasis on its role as a corporate parent and recognises the huge privilege that this is. We are so proud of our children and young people. Our Corporate Parenting Board is a committee of the Council and, over the last 18 months, the elected members who form this Board have accessed specialist training to strengthen their role as corporate parents and they are committed to learning from the lived experience of children in our care and care leavers. The Board have invited partner agencies to attend the meetings and are developing their collective understanding of all aspects of the system that supports children in our care and care leavers including health and wellbeing, education, employment and housing. At each alternate meeting, the agenda for the Board is led by children and young people and this has led to meaningful discussions about children and young people’s emotional health and wellbeing, experiences of our apprenticeship programme and the importance of our No Limits Hub. Members of the Board then share their learning, and any decisions made with their fellow elected members to ensure connectivity with other council committees.

 

Whilst this is a real positive, we now want to extend specialist training to all elected members to deepen their understanding of being a corporate parent and the positive impact that they can have every day for children in our care and care leavers. We are striving to ensure that being a corporate parent is at the centre of all decisions that members make on a daily basis throughout every aspect of their role, from the decisions made about the transport infrastructure in the borough, the transformation of our towns or the expansion of our own delivery of children’s residential homes. We have recently refreshed our Corporate Parenting commitments to children in our care and care leavers, this was previously known as our pledge. The Leader of the Council signs this on behalf of all elected members each year at full Council and this will happen again during 2025.”

 

Ryan Davis asked the following supplementary question:

 

“What will you do to ensure that every Member and officer understands their legal duties and champions young people in care?”

 

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People responded with:

 

“It is important to make sure that everyone who is considering standing as Councillor understands their duties through the Be a Councillor Campaign, through mandatory training for all Councillors and specialist training for particular roles, by including corporate parenting in staff induction and job descriptions. The Corporate Parenting Board is playing an important role in championing children and young people in care and, leading by example, encouraging others.”

 

Public Question submitted by Ryan Davis for response by the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Cllr Lisa Evans:

 

“The Council has made progress for care leavers recently. What’s next to transform services, cut NEET stats, and ensure every care-experienced young person thrives and are fully support?”

 

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People responded with:

 

“We have made progress with our support for care leavers but we are determined to do more. Our soon to be published Corporate Parenting Strategy 2025-28, which has been co-produced with children and young people and all our key stakeholders, builds upon our ambitious improvement programme for care leavers and identifies the key priorities for the Council and its partners to ensure that all children in our care and care experienced young people thrive. Our priorities include:

 

Ensuring that our children and young people have safe and stable homes. This may be by supporting them to live with supportive and loving families through our implementation of the kinship strategy and expansion of our fostering offer or by providing a range of high-quality accommodation designed to meet their needs when they are beginning to be ready to live independently. We want to make best use of the amazing developments that we’re driving ahead with in the towns and villages across our borough so that our children and young people feel connected and valued within their communities.

 

Further strengthening the opportunities and support we as a Council provide for our children and young people to achieve and progress by offering a wider range of paid work placements and apprenticeship opportunities and making sure that we have high quality support in place for those young people who may not feel quite ready to engage with learning opportunities and the labour market yet. We are also working closely with partners to expand our Employability pledge to ensure that the opportunities we provide to young people are diverse and inclusive of their wide range of skills, talents and interests.

 

Making sure that everything we do is driven by the voice and lived experience of our children and young people. We are committed to improving our practice to ensure that children and young people jointly create plans for their care, and for when they leave our care.  We are also passionate about involving children and young people in the design and development of services so that they can inform our practice and how we use our resources. Examples of this include that we will jointly continuously review our care leavers offer to ensure that our young people have the best opportunities that we can provide for them as they enter adulthood. We will also ensure our children and young people are part of recruitment processes and are involved in the quality assurance of our work. Crucially, we will make sure that we feedback what has happened as a result of them sharing their views and experiences so that they understand the influence they have had.”

 

Ryan Davis asked the following supplementary question:

 

“Is it wrong to be ambitious for Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council to be the best corporate parent in the country?”

 

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People responded with:

 

“The Council should be striving to be the best corporate parent in the county. Corporate Management Team and Members have come a long way and have recently been asked to submit an article on the work that has been carried out in Municipal Journal. However, we are not resting on our laurels; there is a lot more planed work. We are learning from other Councils such as Telford who provide driving lessons and North Yorkshire County Council who are working with Lovell Homes to offer ex show home furniture to care leavers. In collaboration with Tees Valley Combined Authority we are hoping to provide free travel for care leavers up to age 25. We are passionate about being outstanding and will strive for our care leavers and to be the best corporate parents in the country.”

 

A Public Question was submitted by Nathan Sizer for response by the Cabinet Member for Access, Communities and Community Safety, Cllr Norma Stephenson. However, Mr Sizer was not present at the meeting therefore it was advised that a written reply would be sent to him.