Minutes:
The Committee considered the undernoted report:
“1.0 Background Information
1.1 Members will be aware that as part of Local Government Reform a range of functions will transfer from central government to council on 1st April 2015. This report covers three of those functions, Urban Regeneration & Community Development (URCD), Planning and Local Economic Development.
1.2 The current Urban Regeneration and Community Development programmes consist of three broad areas:
1. Community Development - Community Support Programme; and Community Investment Fund
2. Area-Based Regeneration - Neighbourhood Renewal (both revenue and capital); Areas at Risk; Belfast Area Partnerships (BAPs); and development of non-statutory masterplans and frameworks.
3. Physical Development - strategic regeneration projects (e.g. Girdwood, Royal Exchange); city centre regeneration; comprehensive development; public realm and environmental improvement schemes; and Urban Development Grants
1.3 In respect of planning the key transferring planning functions include:
1. Development management - responsibility for decisions on residential and commercial planning applications; and tree preservation orders
2. Enforcement - of breaches of planning permission
3. Local development plans- the development of a strategy and policy framework outlining our ambitions for the use and development of land in Belfast
4. Heritage powers - an increased role in protecting and preserving built heritage within the city
1.4 In relation to Local Economic Development the main programme being transferred is the Regional Start Initiative (RSI). This programme is currently delivered by Enterprise NI – the network of local enterprise agencies across Northern Ireland – with Invest NI acting as contract manager.
1.5 John McGrillen is the Senior Responsible Officer for all three functions. John provides strategic co-ordination for the transfer of UR & CD via a monthly panel of relevant officers from across the Council. Planning has a separate working group structure which oversees the transfer at a regional level and reports into a Partnership Panel.
1.6 The work of all three functions is closely aligned with other LGR functions, with inter-dependencies identified and managed via sequencing plans.
2.10 Transfer of Urban Regeneration and Community Development
2.11 A two stage transfer process has been agreed:
· Transition (2015-2017) - Putting in place the practical arrangements/decisions necessary for council to maintain and deliver transferred services from 1st April 2015. Thus ensuring service continuity as well as managing expectations and risks.
· Transformation (2017 -) - Developing the future vision, outcomes and delivery models for urban regeneration and community development aligned with Community Planning
2.12 A detailed project methodology has been employed to manage the transfer of UR & CD, and the paragraphs below highlight the most relevant issues.
2.13 Legislation STATUS: Progressing
The council will receive powers under the Regeneration and Housing Bill in relation to social need. Members are asked to note that the Bill has not yet passed through the Assembly, but DSD anticipate that this should take place during September. Officers will update Members on legislative progress.
The Bill includes powers to provide financial assistance that will benefit areas of social need; power to carry out public realm schemes; and power to support community development. It also contains powers to acquire land, either by agreement or through vestings; power to develop and dispose of land; power to prepare development schemes; and power to extinguish public rights of way. These powers will replace those currently incorporated in the Social Needs Order 1986 and Part VII of the Planning Order 1991.
In addition, Councils will have a General Power of Competence giving them vires to operate in areas such as health and education.
To embed these powers the council’s legal services will develop policy and legal frameworks to support masterplan activity and vesting, and will review all contracts coming into force in April 2015 to ensure compliance with council conditions. DSD will retain responsibility for the overarching policy on urban regeneration and community development, and will be responsible for regionally significant interventions.
2.14 Communication & Engagement STATUS: On track
Council have already taken forward a number of initiatives including:
· Identification of all key stakeholders and the most appropriate communication channels to engage with them.
· Quarterly seminars with Belfast Area Partnerships and Neighbourhood Renewal Partnerships.
· General information and advice via a dedicated web page.
· Staff engagement through a range of internal channels.
By the end of September council will extend these initiatives:
· Make contact with approximately 250 of the most relevant stakeholders in the sector, including grant recipients, regeneration co-ordinators, and elected members, to offer a monthly newsletter that will provide ongoing updates on how the transfer is progressing.
· To contribute to a series of City Matter articles focused on local government reform.
· To arrange a presentation by the Director for council staff and follow this up with smaller team briefings to the most relevant units.
· To arrange presentations, newsletters and site visits for DSD staff that may join us under the Voluntary Transfer Scheme.
2.15 Legal & Policy STATUS: On track
DSD have a number of policy and framework documents that are currently being assessed by council e.g. the Code of Practice which provides a voluntary governance framework for Neighbourhood Renewal Partnerships. In each case we need to determine if we should migrate these to council, or if our existing policies and procedures are sufficient. Officers will be taking advice from corporate planning and legal services, and any policies we wish to migrate will be brought before Committee for approval.
Officers are also working through a number of other issues with legal services, such as ensuring the procedures for the adoption of DSD grants are robust, and give council meaningful involvement in the process.
2.16 Information Communication (ICT) STATUS: On track
An ICT sub-group has been set up to help co-ordinate technology issues in relation to the transfer of URCD. This includes:
· Working alongside the Central Grants Team to procure and implement a new grants administration system. Delivery of the new system, which has cloud based capabilities and will provide a step change in process efficiencies, is anticipated in November.
· Working alongside Digital Services to manage the transfer of data from DSD. This is a significant undertaking, which in some cases will involve detailed masterplans and strategic plans going back many years. In addition a large number of contracts will be transferred, all of which will need to be assessed. The technological capacity to transfer files has been confirmed, and a selection process will be taken forward before transfer begins.
2.20 Key issues – Transfer of Planning
2.21 A programme of work and project plan with five key areas has been developed. Progress against these five areas are detailed in 2.22-2.25 and 3.4 below.
2.22 Governance STATUS: On track
The transfer of planning is underpinned by the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011. The Minister recently launched the first of two phases of consultation (closing on 20th August 2014) to further implement the provisions of the Act.
The legislation also outlines a number of requirements one of which is the requirement for Councils to establish a Scheme of Delegation in relation to planning. Work is therefore underway, led by Legal Services, to explore potential model schemes and to identify the advantages and disadvantages of each. Crucially, it will be important that the final scheme provides members with sufficient opportunity to comment and assurance that decisions are made appropriately, but also does not delay decision making due to a lack of delegation.
It is proposed that a draft scheme of delegation will be brought to members before Christmas for their consideration.
2.23 Planning Processes STATUS: On track
Applications for Planning Permission (i.e. Development Management)
· From 1st April 2015 planning applications will fall into three categories - local, major and regional. The latter of which will remain the responsibility of DoE.
· It is intended that the DoE will maintain the NI Planning Portal (a web based programme that allows the public and consultees to access details of planning applications) on behalf of local councils; who will have an SLA with DoE for this service.
· From 1st April 2015 the portal will direct online applications to the relevant Council (determined by postcode) who will then process the application through their decision making process.
· Work is also underway to facilitate online submissions and payment of fees from 1st April 2015 onwards on the portal.
· In the long-term the council may wish to review these arrangements to determine whether they wish to use the Portal in the long term.
Enforcement
· From 1st April 2015 the council will assume responsibility for enforcing breaches of planning permission.
· The current approach to enforcement by DoE has been largely reactive due to the level of resources and underpinned by the priorities of central government policy.
· Moving forward it will be important to gauge members’ expectations with regard to enforcement and to ensure there is sufficient policy backing to support decisions on enforcement.
· We are currently working with officers from Council and Belfast Planning Office to identify their approach to enforcement and the supporting back-office systems required.
· It is hoped that the transfer of planning to council will create opportunities for joint working with other council services such as Building Control and Housing teams.
Forward Planning
· Under the 2011 Act the Council will be obliged to develop a Belfast (aka ‘local’) Development Plan. The predecessors to this are the Belfast Urban Plan 2001 and the Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan 2015. The former of which was adopted in 1989 while the latter is due to expire in 2015 prior to having been fully adopted.
· Implicit within this work is the requirement for council to consult and work with partners to establish our ambitions for how land is used and developed.
· Due to the strong links, both in terms of potential process and outcomes, with the Belfast Masterplan and community planning staff teams are currently in discussions about how these pieces of work might be coordinated.
· A draft process outline and timetable for key decisions will then be brought to committee for consideration in due course.
2.24 Supporting Systems STATUS: Progressing
Finance & Resources
· DoE have recently provided an initial proposed transfer figure in relation to planning.
· Further discussions are required however as to how this figure was arrived at in order to allow due diligence to be completed. As such the Head of Finance and Performance is working with DoE to discuss this in greater detail.
· Details of existing contracts and SLAs have been requested and initial feedback indicates that there is sufficient scope within existing Council contracts to maintain continuity of service.
ICT
· As noted it is intended that the regional portal will be retained for the immediate future. Digital Services are therefore undertaking preparatory work to ensure connectivity from our office bases.
· Our Corporate Communications team are also working with digital services to ensure the council website offers sufficient information and directs customers to the portal.
· Discussions are also underway with DoE to determine whether NI Direct will be retained for call handling. DoE intend to provide a demonstration of the system in the near future subsequent to which a proposal will be brought forward for consideration by the SRO and TMT.
Legal Support
· Members will be aware that an OD review is currently ongoing within Legal Services in order that sufficient resource and structure is in place to support the new roles of the council.
· Further to discussions with the Town Solicitor Legal Services have provided a commitment that they will be present at all shadow planning and future planning committee meetings in order to advise and support members.
· Legal Services are also working closely with the programme team to put in place the necessary governance arrangements; as well as to undertake due diligence on any transferring contracts.
2.25 Capacity Building STATUS: On track
The DoE has allocated £200,000 towards capacity building for LGR in Belfast and so a draft programme of training in Planning for Members (particularly Shadow Planning Committee members), staff, the public and the development industry has been developed.
The draft programme covers a range of topics and will provide members with both the skills and experience to assume their new role from 1st April 2015. The programme also focuses on the need to offer transferring staff the opportunity to learn more about the Council’s policies and culture in order to assist their integration.
2.30 Key Issues – Future of Regional Start Initiative (RSI)
2.31 The current RSI programme operates as 5 contracts across Northern managed by Enterprise NI. The current programme has an option for a one year extension from October 2014 to October 2015 (see 2.35 below).
2.32 Delivery of the programme in Belfast is organised through five local enterprise agencies across the city, and in the last year around 640 people took part. While the focus is on business plans generated as opposed to businesses started, Invest NI estimates that around 60% of these started a business. If this is the case, it would equate to around 380 business starts in Belfast each year. The annual contract budget across the region is £2million.
2.33 The format of the current programme has been significantly stripped back from previous versions. It now involves the production of a business plan but there is no provision for any additional 1-2-1 support and the grant element has also been removed (but is available for start-ups in neighbourhood renewal areas or for those young people not in education, training or employment).
2.34 Members will be aware that a number of recent research reports have pointed to the need to address the current low levels of entrepreneurship in Belfast. Start-up levels are generally taken as a key measure of a city’s competitiveness. Rates in Belfast are below the regional average and are among the lowest across the UK.
2.35 Invest NI is currently engaging with Council Chief Executives to make them aware of the contractual position with the RSI programme and to understand whether councils – collectively or individually – are interested in extending the contract for one year from October 2014. At a recent meeting of the Chief Executives from the new council areas, it was proposed that, subject to the necessary political approvals, the councils should invoke the option for a one year extension on the current contract, from October 2014.
2.36 Once the statutory responsibility for business start passes to councils, consideration will need to be given to whether a regional approach should be continued (possibly using the “Go for It” branding and providing a generic support programme, as is currently the case) or whether an alternative, locally-focused approach is more appropriate; or indeed whether the two approaches could work in tandem. Officers are currently exploring a range of options and this information will be used to inform a future approach, which will need to be endorsed by elected members.
3.0 Resource Implications
3.01 The Executive has agreed that the transfer of functions to local Councils should be cost neutral. However, there are financial pressures within the transfer of Urban Regeneration and Community Development that are set out at 3.11 below. The due diligence for planning finance is only just beginning, whilst there are no significant issues for council in connection with Local Economic Development.
In addition, there are significant human resource implications for both UR & CD and Planning, which are set out at 3.12 and 3.22 below.
Departments are about to embark upon the first cut of estimates for the transfer of functions in advance of the rate being struck for 15/16, and further financial updates will be presented to Committee in due course.
3.11 Urban Regeneration Community Development
STATUS: Progressing
DSD have allocated Belfast almost £20.5m per annum, to cover revenue grants, physical development, staffing, and the Lagan Weir. However, over the longer term historic DSD spend in Belfast averages £27m per year.
Members have agreed a policy decision that sustains revenue grants at their current level, whilst appropriate funding for the Weir is also key. This leaves limited funding for capital projects post April 2015. To alleviate this the Council is making the case for Transitional Funding and Regionally Significant Projects. Party group leaders are meeting the DSD Minister on 20 August, and further reports will be brought to Committee following this meeting.
Members will also be aware that a number of community based physical and regeneration projects are due to be completed by DSD. Officers are in close liaison with the Department following the CSR monitoring round, so that the final list of capital projects, and how these should be progressed, should be agreed.
It is also taking a number of other steps to manage resources, which are set out in the accompanying paper on DSD Funding.
3.12 Human Resources & Organisational Design STATUS: On track
The incoming functions will significantly increase the quantum of work conducted by council. To manage the HR implications in the most cost effective way, the project team has identified a four stage process to develop a transitional staff structure. This involves:
· Focus groups with up to 50 DSD staff to map all current DSD activity, including the quantum of staff time dedicated to each element.
· Removing activities that are not being taken forward after transition (e.g. Urban Development Grants) or other activities that we will take forward in a different way (e.g. our grant administration will utilise new IT based solutions).
· Identifying synergy by integrating activities into existing functions from across council.
· Collating remaining activities into proposals for a new transitional structure, with appropriate skill sets and number of posts identified.
Officers are working to a detailed project plan with a completion date of 26 September. This meets the end of September timeframe suggested by the DSD Minister on 2 July. The proposed structure will then be populated in the first instance by DSD staff under the Voluntary Transfer Scheme, and in the second instance through internal and/or open recruitment.
3.21 Financial Issues /Planning STATUS: Progressing
Council will shortly commence its due diligence on the amount to be transferred, and the Head of Finance and Performance is liaising with DoE to take this forward. Details of existing contracts and SLAs have also been requested and initial feedback indicates that there is sufficient scope within existing Council contracts to maintain continuity of service.
3.22 Human Resources & Organisational Design – Planning STATUS: Progressing
The DoE have proposed that 39.5 FTEs, a reduction of 2.5FTEs since the previous proposal, will transfer to the Council under TUPE; this figure is currently being reviewed by Corporate HR in the context of proposals for other councils and further discussions are due to take place later this month.
The lease on the 1st floor of Bedford House is due to be extended until August 2016 and as such it is intended that planning staff will remain in Bedford House in the interim. Work is underway to allow connectivity to BCC systems, and consideration is also to be given as to whether BCC wishes to co-locate any BCC staff in Bedford House alongside the new planning team on an interim basis.
The DoE has indicated that it would like Belfast to be one of three early transfer pilots. This would give the Council an opportunity to test decision making processes and associated administrative systems; as well as support staff integration in advance of formal transfer. Subject to greater clarity on staff location discussions are underway to facilitate this happening by the New Year.
3.31 Financial & Human Resource issues – Local Economic Development
STATUS: On track
Invest NI have recently offered to retain the administration of the Regional Start Initiative until the end of the extended programme (October 2015), with staff costs being met from within programme budget. Thereafter a proportion of the £2m regional budget will be transferred to council, at which point a range of future management options can be considered.
A paper outlining these options will be brought to Committee at a later date.
4 Equality and Good Relations Considerations
4.1 There are no equality or good relations implications identified at present. However, the overall LGR programme and any associated processes will continue to be screened to ensure we meet our legislative obligations and corporate commitments.
5 Call In
5.1 This decision is subject to Call In.
6 Recommendations
6.1 Members are asked to:
· Agree to receive ongoing progress reports on the transfer of functions.
· Agree to extend the current contract for the Regional Start Initiative, in conjunction with the other council areas and under the administration of Invest NI, for one year from October 2014.”
The Committee adopted the recommendations.