Members to give notice of any interest and the nature of that interest relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the adopted Code of Conduct.

No declarations were made.

A maximum of 15 minutes will be allocated to public questions submitted in writing to Democratic Services (democratic.services@trafford.gov.uk) by 4 p.m. on the working day prior to the meeting. Questions must be relevant to items appearing on the agenda and will be submitted in the order in which they were received.

No questions were received.

To consider any matters referred by the Council or by the Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

Councillor Acton informed the Committee that the Scrutiny Committee had held a meeting with five of the largest housing associations in Trafford on how they were dealing with damp and mould following the coroner’s report from the previous year. Councillor Acton felt that the providers had been open in their responses and in their commitment to tackling damp and mould within the housing stock in Trafford. Councillor Acton thanked the Executive Member for Housing and Advice and Adrian Fisher for attending the meeting and providing information with regards to the Councils approach. Councillor Acton felt that the Council needed to look at increasing the capacity of Council Officers in order to hold housing providers to account.

To consider a report from the Executive Member for Economy and Regeneration.

1)  That progress made in respect of the Places for Everyone Plan (PfE) be noted.

2)  That the PfE modifications (Main, Additional and those relating to the policies map), and associated supporting background documents be approved and be subject to a period of representations for a period of 8 weeks commencing no earlier than 9th October 2023.

3)  That the next steps for the production of the PfE Plan detailed in section 11 of the report be approved.

The Executive Member for Economy and Regeneration informed the Committee of an email received from Councillor Evans regarding issues he had identified within the report relating to evidence used within the process. The Executive Member read out a briefing note that had been prepared in response to Councillor Evans which was to be circulated following the meeting.

The Executive Member for Economy and Regeneration then introduced the report which contained elements relating to changes that would impact development across the borough including the future of the area’s green spaces, as well as laying the groundwork for the Council’s New Local Plan by outlining the Council’s Commitments to development, sustainability, and Community. The Executive Member for Economy and Regeneration spoke to the robustness of the process and the depth of work carried out by officers to ensure the plan was in the best interests of the area and its residents. The report included details of further work required to ensure that sites were suitable for proposed further development including peat and hydrological surveys. 

The Executive Member for Economy and Regeneration informed the Committee of the difficulties in waying up the differing priorities when developing the plan. The Committee were told of the feedback received by green belt activists and were provided with assurance that the concerns of those groups had been considered at length before the final proposals were put forward.

The Leader thanked the Executive Member for Economy and Regeneration for the detailed introduction and their hard work. The Leader also thanked the officers for their hard work in getting Places for Everyone to this stage.

The Executive Member for Climate Change spoke in favour of the report noting that while Places for Everyone would impact the green belt it also highlighted included plans to develop of one of the largest brown field sites.

The Executive Member for Housing and Advice welcomed the report and stated that action was required to tackle the housing crisis within the borough and the actions outlined in Places for Everyone would save areas of green belt when compared with the alternative options. 

The Leader then opened the floor to all Members in attendance for questions and comments.

Councillors from all of the three opposition parties raised a series of questions to the Executive Member for Economy and regeneration. The questions were concerned with the levels of affordable housing detailed within the plans, the development of Turn Moss, plans for Carrington Moss, provision of sites for Travellers, the Councils water management plan, consultation around Places for Everyone, ecological surveys, and job creation. The Executive Member for Economy and Regeneration and the Corporate Director of Place provided detailed answers addressing the questions and concerns raised by Councillors. Those in attendance were informed that many of the changes within Places for Everyone were to avoid duplication throughout the document rather than to remove elements from the plan. All were assured that ecological surveys and affordable housing assessments would need to be conducted for each development before they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

To consider a report from the Executive Member for Housing and Advice.

1)      That the Poverty Strategy refresh which embeds the Poverty Truth Commission recommendations be approved.

2)      The Executive noted that a further update will be provided on the Trafford Poverty Strategy 2023-25.

The Executive Member for Housing and Advice introduced the report and spoke about how proud he was to take on the strategy as part of his portfolio and spoke of the impact of poverty and how the Council was committed to address the causes of poverty in the borough. The original strategy was a two-year strategy and informed the Committee of some of the work that had been done over those two years, which had fed into the development of the updated strategy. The Executive Member for Housing and Advice concluded his introduction by thanking officers for their hard work and stating the recommendations the Committee were being asked to approve.

The Leader welcomed the report before opening the floor to Members of the Executive.

The Executive Member for Finance, Change and Governance, the Executive Member for Children’s Services, and the Executive Member the Executive Member for Highways, Environmental and Traded Services all welcomed the report and the updated strategy. Each of the Executive Members recognised the impact of poverty and spoke of the importance of tackling poverty and homelessness to improve residents lives and maximise the opportunity’s they had, especially children and young people growing up in poverty.

The Leader then opened the floor to the other Members in attendance.

Members of all three opposition parties welcomed the report and the Council’s continued commitment to tackling poverty in the area. Questions were raised around the Council’s plans to tackle isolation and the funding of local hubs within Trafford. The Executive Member for Housing and Advice and the Leader provided responses detailing the Council’s plans to improve transport networks across the borough and the hopes for continued funding from central government for local hubs.

Following the discussions, the Leader noted the additions that had been made to the strategy as part of the update before moving the recommendations of the report, which were approved.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That the Poverty Strategy refresh which embeds the Poverty Truth Commission recommendations be approved.

3)    The Executive noted that a further update will be provided on the Trafford Poverty Strategy 2023-25.

To consider a report from the Executive Member for Leisure, Arts, Culture, and Heritage.

The Executive Member for Leisure, Arts, Culture, and Heritage thanked the Assistant Director Corporate Strategy and Policy, the Principal Community Cohesion and Equalities Officer, and the Executive Member for Health and Care for their work in developing the strategy. The Committee were reminded that the strategy was launched in 2021 and the report provided the fourth update since the launch. The report contained key highlights that had occurred since the last update in January 2022. The Highlights included the increase in the number of the equality champions, a statement of zero tolerance towards abuse of staff, the development work around preferred language, the 75-year anniversary of Windrush, the promotion of Trafford Carers week, and work with Trafford Leisure among other achievements.

Following the introduction, the Leader opened the floor for Members of the Executive.

The Executive Member for Children and Young People welcomed the report and added that the Council recognised care experienced young people as a protected characteristic in March and work was ongoing to determine what the designation meant for the young people.

The Executive Member for Health and Care reiterated the thanks for the Assistant Director Corporate Strategy and Policy, and the Principal Community Cohesion and Equalities Officer for their work and asked the Committee to note how the strategy linked into all of the Council’s priorities.

The Leader noted the work of Executive Member for Health and Care in the development of the Strategy before opening the floor to comments and questions from the other Members in attendance.

Councillors from the Green Party and Conservative Party welcomed the report and asked questions about the town centre accessibility audit updates and whether Members could be included within the anti-racism policy. The Executive Member for Leisure, Arts, Culture, and Heritage and the Leader provided responses assuring the Councillors that the town centre accessibility audit would come to the Executive in the next update and that they would look at adding Councillors to the anti-racism policy.

Following the discussions, the Leader read out the recommendations of the report which were approved.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That the proposal for a further progress report containing updates on the success measures within the Corporate Equality Strategy to come to the Executive in January 2024 be approved.

Motion   (Which may be amended as Members think fit):

            That the public be excluded from this meeting during consideration of the remaining items on the agenda, because of the likelihood of disclosure of “exempt information” which falls within one or more descriptive category or categories of the Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12A, as amended by The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, and specified on the agenda item or report relating to each such item respectively.

RESOLVED: That the public be excluded from this meeting during consideration of the remaining items on the agenda, because of the likelihood of disclosure of “exempt information” which falls within one or more descriptive category or categories of the Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12A, as amended by The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 and specified on the agenda item or report relating to each such item respectively.

To consider a report from the Executive Member for Economy and Regeneration.

That the recommendations of the report be approved.

The Executive Member for Economy and Regeneration gave a brief introduction to the report summarising the main salient points, pointing out the work that had been done in consideration of the Councils options, and asking the Committee to approve the recommendations.

The Leader welcomed the report and opened the floor for comments and questions from Executive Members.

The Executive Member for Housing and Advice welcomed the report and spoke in support of the recommendations.

The Leader then opened the floor to the other Members in attendance.

The Leader of the Green Party welcomed the report and its recommendations.  The Councillor then spoke of the communities’ interest in this area and expressed his hopes for public consultation going forward. The Executive Member for Housing and Advice welcomed the positive comments but urged caution regarding the recommendations as they were still being finalised.

A Member of the Conservative Party informed the Committee that they had not received the Part II reports until they requested them on the morning of the meeting and so did not have adequate time to go through the reports in detail. The Governance Officer confirmed that the Part II papers had not been circulated to opposition Members due to an administrative error, but assured the Committee that the error had been rectified as soon as they became aware of it.

The Leader noted the concerns around the accessibility of papers and confirmed that the Executive Members had received the papers in the statutory timeframe. The Leader then moved the recommendations of the report which were approved.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That the recommendations of the report be approved.