Agenda and minutes

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting of 14 July 2025.

The minutes of the meeting of 14 July 2025 were confirmed and signed.

To receive a presentation.

Members received a presentation which gave an overview of Clarion’s work and development by representatives of Clarion.

Members made comments, asked questions, and received responses as follows.

·       Councillor Hay stated on the presentation it says that there are 52 inactive units and asked, is that meant to be empty homes? Sue Stavers responded that this is the way the system used captures information around the stock conditions, and these are units that have not been uploaded to the system yet. She continued there are to date 30 empty homes in the Fenland area. Councillor Hay asked how long these homes are likely to be empty for as she did notice there are waiting lists for every type of unit. Carl Grimmer emphasised the additional investment that Clarion have put into their empty homes in the Fenland area, he acknowledged that it has been difficult to maintain the number properties that are coming through as a void and to bring them back into a lettable position as quickly as Clarion would like to. He continued this figure has been improved by 60 within the last year but there are still a high number of voids that are coming through, but the return in the Fenland area is 12 a week, which is an improvement on previous figures, which has been achieved by doubling the bespoke work to the void properties and he is expecting the 30 to come down over the coming weeks.

·       Councillor Hay asked for the phrase ‘Cloned Survey’ to be explained in more detail. Carl Grimmer explained that this survey is in relation to stock conditions information from the surveyor, once he has been out and collated all the information relating to a property, if the Surveyor is unable to enter a property and it is similar to one that they have already been into, it will be classed as a clone, for example, if there is a row of houses all of the same build and nine have access and information has been gathered, the tenth one would be classed as a clone.

·       Councillor Hay asked where the wellbeing hub is going to be located in Chatteris and what sort of advertising has been done within the community? Maria Walker stated that the Wellbeing Hub is part of a joint application that Clarion Futures carried out with People and Animals to the health bid and they were awarded £38,000. She continued that the advertising is undertaken by the People and Animals, they are working closely with Living Sports and a local charity called Berts and Bees to open the hub. Maria Walker added that the wellbeing hub which is due to be run from the library will not be a one size fits all and she would like to know what the local community would like to gain from the wellbeing hub being in Chatteris, which is why it has taken a little while to open. Councillor Hay asked why the Town Council has not been approached?  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC19/23

To receive an update on the Council’s key achievements and performance, to include a LGR update.

Paul Medd and Council Chris Boden attended the meeting with a presentation having been circulated prior to the meeting.

Members made comments, asked questions, and received responses as follows.

·       Councillor Woollard stated that in the report it says that the budget was originally balanced but now it is currently being suggested a possible deficit of £1.4 million if interventions are not met, and also following that projected deficits of £2.2 million for 2026 and rising in subsequent years and he would like some reassurance that Fenland District Council (FDC) are continuing to be a prudent Council and that FDC will expect to be budgeting wherever possible with no losses and no deficits. Councillor Boden responded that steps have been put in place through the Budget Equalisation Reserve which has not needed to be relied on which is testimony to the fact that the Finance Team and officers work really hard to ensure that FDC works as efficiently and effectively as possible when spending public money, however, officers face an unusual situation coming up regarding the budget for 2026/27 where legally FDC do not actually know for sure that Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) is going ahead, and that means being prudent FDC cannot assume that the Council will cease to exist on 31^st March 2028. He continued the Council do believe that is likely to be the case, and believe it is the Governments current intention to carry this out, but it may not happen, and if it does not the Council cannot find itself in a position where it has made financial decisions on the assumption that LGR will take place and then it does not. Councillor Boden added with this in mind the 2026/27 budget will be much more difficult than the 2027/28 budget even though the projected deficit is smaller in 2026/27 because the Council must not make the assumption that LGR will go ahead and the Council will cease to exist on 31^st March 2028. He stated that there have been a goo number of meetings to identify opportunities which exist so the Council can ensure that prudence continues to be shown by FDC either until the 31^st March 2028 or into the indefinite future depending on what happens with LGR.

·       Councillor Woollard stated that March Country Park project mentions that there is confirmation of the land transfer agreement only, what does this mean, is this going ahead and has the land been agreed? Councillor Boden responded that the project was split into two phases because of the potential impact of LGR on phase one and phase two with Phase one identifying land ownership and then agreeing to the terms of the land transfer to FDC, and Phase two will see the detailed design and delivery of the project, He stated that the work has been done by officers and by lead members to confirm ownership and discussions have been undertaken with the owners, but as of yet no agreement has been reached on  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC20/23

To provide an update of the work of the Investment Board from April 2024 to March 2025.

Members considered an update on the Commercial Investment Strategy and Investment Board from April 2024 to March 2025

Members made comments, asked questions, and received responses as follows.

·       Councillor Woollard asked for clarification on the quarter of a million-pound fees for DM and DP attached to the Chatteris project. He continued there are also consultancy fees shown of £191,400 and £117,000 to Instinctively Green plus £41,000 in legal fees which are in his view colossal and are not allocated to the two principal projects, so what are they for, why have these fees been paid and are they justified? Councillor Boden stressed the FDC is not a development company and FFL does not have the expertise that is necessary for a development company, so the Council has to buy that expertise in. He explained that the abbreviation DM is the Development Management (DM) cost, and the DP is the Development Planning (DP) cost both of which are supplied to FDC by Luvals. Councillor Boden continued, as far as the legal costs the company has various things which it has to do like training, land transfers and legal advice for the overall objective to be achieved and there would be significant benefit to FDC in managing to subsidise its revenue account and services given to residents on an annual basis.

·       Councillor Mrs Davis asked if there are any confirmed timelines for the delivery and completion of the project as they seem to have been rolling on? Councillor Boden stressed that there has been a lot of work happening on the technical side both in terms of what appears on the ground and what has to go in for the planning application and also the way the company is set up and the decisions which have been made. He added that considering the options the Council has now based on LGR that may change what the Council has planned, but as far as the Elms in Chatteris is concerned if the Council was to continue to go ahead as planned the site should be under construction by July 2026 subject to the agreed viability assessments being positive and as far as the Nene Waterfront is concerned in Wisbech there are negotiations happening with an interested party for a significant part of that site and the Council is progressing well with the extra care offer on-site five which is due to go to Planning Committee soon.

·       Councillor Mrs Davis stated there are rising loan costs of £147.000 in 2024/25 and asked at which point do projects become financially unviable and the decision taken to step away? Councillor Boden confirmed this figure was projected to increase significantly over the course of the forthcoming years as additional capital is required in order to achieve the objectives of the company. He continued that if the Council did find there was a significant financial lack of viability, then things can be changed and there are mechanisms in place to deal with unexpected financial lack of viability,  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC21/23

To provide notice of decisions taken without the need for notice to be given on the Forward Plan and/or for the call-in procedures to be applied.

Councillor Mrs Davis provided details of decisions that she had waivered the need for notice to be given on the Forward Plan and call-in procedures.

Councillor Boden stated that it is necessary to exercise this waiver, but it is not desirable unless necessary and is pleased with the balance shown.

Members noted the waivers permitted by the Chairman since the date of the last meeting.

Members to receive an update on the previous meeting’s Action Plan.

Councillor Hay mentioned that some of the reports have been sent incomplete, Member Services agreed to re sent the report with the missing information.

To consider the Draft Work Programme for Overview & Scrutiny Panel 2025/26

Councillor Mrs Davis stated there was nothing further to report.