Agenda and minutes

To agree the procedures for the operation of hybrid meetings.

RESOLVED –

THAT the guidance on hybrid meetings be agreed.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Stark.

Members will be asked to declare any pecuniary, non-pecuniary and any other interests in respect of items on the agenda.

There were none.

Webcasting of the Meeting

The Chair to announce the following: “In addition to the rights by law that the public and press have to record and film public meetings, I would like to remind everyone present that this meeting will be broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and can be viewed on our website for six months after the meeting.  After that time, webcasts are archived and can be made available on DVD upon request.

If you are seated in the room it is likely that the Council’s cameras will capture your image and you are deemed to be consenting to being filmed and to the use of those images and sound recordings for webcasting and/or training purposes.”

Any other announcements

The Chair announced that the meeting was broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and could be viewed on the website for six months after the meeting.  After that time, webcasts were archived and could be made available on DVD upon request. Those who were seated in the room or participated via Teams were deemed to have consented to their contributions being recorded and broadcast and to the use of those sound recordings and images for webcasting and/or training purposes.

Requests to speak at the Committee on a matter within its terms of reference must be made in writing to the clerk named on the front of this agenda by 5pm two working days before the meeting.

The Chair advised that two deputations had been accepted and copies of the deputation statements had been included in the supplementary agenda.

The accepted deputations related to Agenda Item 7 and would be taken when that item was reached on the agenda.

There was no urgent business.

Report of the Director of Economy, Regeneration and Investment.

On 10^th May, the Cabinet Member for New Homes, Jobs and Community Investment considered and approved a report (reference: SC/2023/15) proposing to enter into a conditional land sale agreement (conditional on the partner securing planning consent) to dispose of the Council owned Car Pound & Reuse Recycling Centre site on Regis Road NW5 and Holmes Road Depot site on 76 – 79 Holmes Road NW5 to act as a catalyst for the implementation of the Regeneration Strategy for the Kentish Town

The agreement will enable and catalyse the comprehensive regeneration of the Regis Road Growth Area including the comprehensive delivery and masterplan-led approach to deliver the objectives of the Kentish Town Planning Framework – to create a new innovative mixed-use neighbourhood of up to 1,000 new homes including affordable homes, employment space and jobs, open space and connections with surrounding local communities. It will also enable ’seamless’ reprovision of the Recycling Centre and other Council service provision as necessary to support the Strategy, and support land assembly and coordination within and between land parcels and ownerships to deliver on the comprehensive approach.

On 17^th March 2023, Councillors Tom Simon, Nancy Jirira, Linda Chung and Judy Dixey called in the decisions. The decisions have not been implemented to allow consideration of the call-in. A copy of the call-in notice is attached as Appendix 1.

The report sets out the grounds for the call-in and officers’ advice to the Committee.

This report has appendices, which contains information exempt within the meaning of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 and is not for publication. The appendix has, therefore, been circulated to Committee Members only.

If the Committee wishes to discuss the contents of a closed exempt appendix it may pass the proposed resolution identified at the end of the agenda to exclude members of the public and the press from the proceedings for that discussion.

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Director Supporting Communities.

Councillors Chung, Dixey, Jirira and Simon attended the meeting to support the call-in. Councillor Simon outlined the reasons for calling in the decision made by the Cabinet Member for a Sustainable Camden on 10^th March 2023, regarding the implementation of the regeneration strategy for the Kentish Town Regis Road growth area, along with the alternative course of action proposed within the call-in request.

Responding to questions from Members Councillor Simon provided the following information:

·       The Holmes Road Depot office building was recently refurbished and retrofitted at a cost to the Council of £8.4 million, which had made it 40% more efficient than it was previously in terms of energy efficient. If this building was demolished as part of future regeneration the efficiency savings generated by the retrofit may not be realised.

·       As there was not yet a Planning Application, it was unknown whether the building would be demolished, but this course of action seemed likely given the context of the sale of the site. It could not yet be determined how much housing could be provided on the site.

·       Whilst the decision did not directly propose to demolish the building, it created a clear potential for demolition, which would be environmentally damaging. Reducing carbon emissions should be a top priority for the Council.

The Committee also considered the deputations presented by Tom Young and Alice Brown, representing Climate Emergency Camden.

Alice Brown provided the following responses to questions from the Committee:

• Net-zero carbon was often perceived to refer only to operational carbon, such as decarbonising the heating in buildings. In reality, however, the construction of buildings created huge carbon emissions, which were not often considered by central and local government. 
• Climate Emergency Camden called upon the Council to better educate Officers and Members on carbon emissions, as simply relying on Planning Policy did not go far enough. The construction of large developments generated huge amounts of upfront carbon, which took up to 60 years to break even.
• It was imperative that drastic action was taken within the next 10 years in order to stop the continuous rise in temperature. Climate Emergency Camden had been lobbying the Council to do all it could to reduce carbon emissions.
• Reducing carbon emissions started with education on the effects of high carbon emission construction on the environment and the impact that large scale developments, such as the O2 Centre, would have. 

Responding to questions from Member the Cabinet Member for New Jobs, Homes and Community Investment provided the following information:

• The Holmes Road Depot site was not closing immediately, the process would take several years, and any decisions on development were subject to the normal planning application process. The decision to refurbish the site was taken in 2017 and the processes of pre-construction, planning applications, and decamping the site would be a long process, in which time the building would continue to be in use and value would be gained  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

There was none.