Agenda and minutes

To appoint a relief Chairman.

It was moved by the Lord Mayor and seconded by Councillor Tim Mitchell that Councillor Judith Warner be elected as Relief Chairman and resolved accordingly.

To sign the Minutes of the Meeting of the Council meeting held on 11 November 2015.

The minutes of the proceedings of the Council meeting held on 11 November 2015 were, with the assent of the Members present, signed by the Lord Mayor as a true record of the proceedings.

(a)      The Lord Mayor to report that on Monday 16^th November she attended  a Service of Thanksgiving for the Life and Work of Councillor Audrey Lewis at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey, along with Councillors, Honorary Alderman, Council Staff and members of the local community.

(b)      The Lord Mayor to report that on Tuesday 17^th November she departed for a Civic Visit to Oslo for the annual cutting down ceremony of the Oslo Christmas Tree to London.

(c)      The Lord Mayor to report that on Thursday 19^th November she attended, as guest of honour, the Westminster Property Association Annual Luncheon at Grosvenor House; Magna Carta 800 Citizenship Ceremony at the House of Lords and the Annual Marylebone Civic Service at St Marylebone Parish Church.

(d)      The Lord Mayor to report that on Thursday 26^th November she attended the Unveiling Ceremony of the ‘Angela Hooper Place’ memorial plaque on Victoria Street.

(e)      The Lord Mayor to report that on Friday 27^th November she attended the ActiveWestminster Annual Awards Ceremony at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

(f)       The Lord Mayor to report that on Sunday 29^th November she hosted the City of Westminster Tea Dance for Older Residents in Westminster at Grosvenor House.

(g)      The Lord Mayor to report that on Thursday 3^rd December she hosted a reception, in the presence of Her Highness Princess Astrid of Norway and the Mayor of Oslo, prior to the official Lighting-Up Ceremony of the Oslo Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square.

(h)      The Lord Mayor to report that on Tuesday 8^th December she attended HM The Queen’s Evening Reception for the Diplomatic Corps at Buckingham Palace.

(i)       The Lord Mayor to report that during December she attended a number of Ward and Community based festive lights switch-on ceremonies.

(j)       The Lord Mayor to report that on Friday 1^st January she attended the New Year’s Day Parade.

(k)      The Lord Mayor to report that visits by Year 6 primary school pupils to City Hall will resume on Tuesday 12^th January.

(l)       The Lord Mayor to report that on Tuesday 12^th January she hosted a Reception at City Hall for the Volunteers who work in Westminster’s Libraries and the Archives Centre.

(m)     The Lord Mayor to report that on Thursday 14^th January she attended the London Government Dinner at Mansion House.

3.1     The Lord Mayor informed the Council of the death recently of former Councillor Maggie Cahill who served as Councillor for Queen’s Park Ward from 1986 to 1994.

3.2     The Lord Mayor conveyed the best wishes of the Council to both Councillor Aziz Toki and Jason Williams whose mothers were ill.

Councillor Angela Harvey declared an interest as a Non-executive Director of CityWest Homes.

Councillor David Boothroyd declared in respect of Item 10, Westminster Community Infrastructure Levy that he is the Head of Research and Psephology for Thorncliffe, whose clients are companies applying for planning permission from various local authorities.  If any clients applied for premises relating to Westminster he would be precluded from working on them under the company’s Code of Conduct.

Councillor Murad Gassanly declared an interest as a resident of Churchill Gardens Estate who would be impacted by the introduction of the Community Infrastructure Levy.

Councillor Barbara Grahame presented a petition from local residents relating to traffic issues around Gateway School.  The petition was referred to the relevant Chief Officer for reporting to the Cabinet Member for City Management and Customer Services

Standing Order 9 limits the questions to matters relevant to the general work or procedure of the Council.

A list setting out the order of questions is attached.

The questions, supplementary questions and replies will be included on the Council’s website.

(a)        Councillor Richard Holloway – Changing Communities – Looking Ahead to a future Westminster.

(b)        Councillor Patricia McAllister – Children’s Services

Changing Communities – Looking Ahead to a Future Westminster

Councillor Holloway spoke and Councillor Roe replied.

Children’s Services

Councillor Patricia McAllister spoke and Councillor Chalkley replied.

With the approval of the Chairman of the meeting, the Leader of the Council may make a statement on an urgent matter and the Leader of the Opposition will have an equivalent right of reply.

There were no urgent matters.

To consider item chosen for debate from the attached Future Policy Plan.

No matters were selected for debate from the Future Policy Plan.

To receive, consider and debate, if chosen, the following reports which contain a recommendation to the Council for decision:

The Majority Party had selected the report of the Cabinet Member for Built Environment – Westminster City Council Community Infrastructure Levy.  Following debate, the Lord Mayor put the recommendations in the report to the vote and on a show of hands declared the recommendation adopted.

Resolved

That the Westminster City Council Community Infrastructure Levy Charging Schedule attached as Appendix 2 to the report considered by the Cabinet and attached to the agenda as Appendix C in accordance with Section 213 of the Planning Act 2008, as amended.

To be moved by Councillor Adam Hug and seconded by Councillor Vincenzo Rampulla:

        “The council notes that as of December 2014 the number of families in temporary accommodation was 2390, by December 2015 this number had risen to 2450. In March 2014 the number of homelessness acceptances was 705 and in March 2015 the figure remained at a high level with 617 acceptances.

        In 2016 decisions will be made about the future of a number of major development sites in Westminster. These include the major private developments at West End Green on Edgware Road and the so called ‘Paddington Shard’ at 31 London Street, alongside significant new council schemes such as the Phase 2 of the Church Street Regeneration.

        As stated in the Draft Westminster Housing Strategy “Very few developments are started by affordable housing providers in Westminster, as they cannot compete with the private sector for development sites. The bulk of new affordable housing is delivered as a result of private developments, through agreements linked to their planning consent. We have a target in our planning policy that aims to exceed 30% of all new housing developed in the city to be affordable housing”. Large scale developments and developments on council land provide the greatest opportunities to deliver significant numbers of new social and genuinely affordable homes in Westminster, therefore West End Green, the Paddington Shard and Church Street Phase 2 are central to the Council’s efforts in this area.

        The council notes the proposed Dudley House development at Paddington Green. It welcomes the principle of the proposed addition of 197 ‘affordable homes’ as part of the development, although noting that earlier options for the site could have achieved a higher number of new affordable homes. However given the proposals are currently for intermediate rent only, it seeks firm assurances that all new units will be affordable to households earning under £40,000 per year and requests that the proposals include new social housing units.

        The council notes that this 30% affordable planning target is lower than many other inner London boroughs and yet Westminster has consistently failed to meet this target. It also notes that Cabinet Members often cite a ‘lack of land’ as being behind Westminster’s failure to provide enough affordable housing. However it further notes that, given such a planning target is a proportion of the total new homes built on land in Westminster, the failure to enforce this currently modest target is at the root of the Council’s comparatively weak performance in affordable house building.

          The council believes it is clear that there needs to be a major increase in the number of new genuinely affordable and social housing units to deal with the persistent and critical problem of the lack of housing for families on low and middle incomes. Some of this need was identified in the Council’s Draft Housing Strategy and direction of travel paper but that proposals to fully meet this need have not been provided.

          Furthermore the council believes that officers and  ...  view the full agenda text for item 11.

The Minority Party had selected for debate the Notice of Motion as set out on the agenda.  The Notice of Motion was moved by Councillor Adam Hug and seconded by Councillor Vincenzo Rampulla.

Councillor Robert Davis moved and it was seconded by Councillor Daniel Astaire that the Notice of Motion be amended, as follows:

In first paragraph delete "remained at a high level" with and replace with "at" then delete remain paragraphs and replace with:

The Council notes the on-going commitment of the administration to provide good quality, suitable and affordable housing for households in temporary accommodation. The Council currently expects to overachieve against its target to deliver 30% of all new residential development as affordable housing, with around 34% being the current projection for the next 10 years.

The Council recognises that over this period the first phase of the regeneration programmes and Section 106 agreements are expected to yield around 2,000 affordable homes, the second phase of the Church Street renewal programme will deliver 820, spot purchases are estimated to be around 250 and non-self-contained units can reasonably be expected to be 580. This presents a total of 3,650 affordable housing units over the next 10 years against an overall London Plan target for housing of all kinds of 10,677.

The Council commends the work undertaken by the Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration, Business and Economic Development in producing the Westminster Housing Strategy Direction of Travel Statement and, in particular, its focus on redressing the short supply of affordable accommodation for middle-income households in Westminster. Intermediate housing makes up only 1.5% of the stock in the city while social housing makes up 25%. As demand for each is similar, action is clearly required to ensure this need is met.

The Council acknowledges the planning team’s hard work, in the face of a range of competing demands, to achieve the best deal possible on affordable housing from new developments. This extends to their efforts to secure affordable housing contributions from new schemes in the city. 

The Council remains committed to working with developers to ensure that the industry plays its part in meeting Westminster’s overall housing needs.

The Council notes the content of Westminster’s forthcoming draft supplementary planning document on ‘Use of Planning Obligations and Other Planning Mechanisms’, which calls for a renewed sense of openness and frankness in the viability process.

The Council has also consulted on, as part of the City Plan revision, amendments to its planning policy to formalise a ‘credit system’ intended to increase affordable housing delivery by encouraging more flexibility and speeding up delivery. This would deliver affordable housing earlier and allow the requirements to be shared between a number of different sites. The Housing and Planning Bill, currently being debated in Parliament, will require the Council, along with other local authorities, to review its housing and planning policies to reflect the future legislative landscape.

After debate, the Lord Mayor put the amendment moved by Councillor Robert Davis and seconded by Councillor Daniel Astaire  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

The Lord Mayor, at the conclusion of the time for items selected for debate, put the remaining business to the vote in accordance with Standing Order 18.

Council Tax Discounts (including Council Tax Local Reduction Scheme) and Council Tax Base

Resolved:  That the recommendations of the Cabinet as set out in the report be adopted.

Treasury Management Strategy  Mid-Year Review

Resolved: That the recommendations of the Cabinet as set out in the report be adopted.