Agenda item

Councillor Johnson Situ attended the committee for his annual interview as a cabinet member – his portfolio is growth, development & planning.  The chair invited him to give an  overview of his role.  Councillor Situ explained that his role  is to ensure that the council has the right planning policies so that it can get the maximum for local communities, and ensure growth in key priority areas the council has identified such as employment, and digital infrastructure.  He was building on the work undertaken in his previous  social regeneration portfolio,, and taking forward learning from the Southwark conversation exercise before the  local elections.  His key priorities were to ensure early community engagement in regeneration schemes, delivery of  genuinely affordable housing – which he defined as social housing, London living rent or shared ownership.  It was also important to deliver community infrastructure such as libraries, health centres, transport infrastructure and community facilities.  Some of his current projects are: developing work on a consultation charter;  improved communication for example in the Old Kent Road where a website and forum had been established;  producing a “you said, we did” document.  

He was aware that the council needs to go further to win the trust of local communities around regeneration, and he would shortly  be doing a tour to meet with communities who may not usually get to hear about regeneration.  He noted the challenge of working with key partners who are also constrained by austerity. Some community groups had approached him with suggestions about sites being made available for meanwhile space, pending longer term developments.  He had asked the department to review the asset management strategy to see where this could be achieved, and this work should be ready by April 2019.  He also told the committee about a plan to improve the use of Hoardings on development sites to give clear information  about the purpose and timeline for development.  

Committee members asked the cabinet member about improvements in consultation, progress on major infrastructure projects such as the Bakerloo Line extension and Rotherhithe Bridge,  how ensure local decision making for the community infrastructure levy (CIL) is working,  how much CIL money has been collected and how much spent strategically and locally, the timetable for new southwark plan and potential  for policy shift, estate ballots, how the council works with the NHS to provide GP and pharmacy facilities through regeneration schemes, early delivery of affordable housing on Aylesbury, how the council planning service works with developers to deliver affordable housing  policy, Walworth town hall,   Newington library and the broader library strategy,  how the council uses its influence with Tfl, how the council can assist small traders in the north of the borough, the opportunity presented by appointment of a new transport minister, the proliferation of short term rentals in both social housing and leasehold stock, the impact  hard standing in front gardens in Dulwich,  the effectiveness of planning work

Action points arising from the discussion: 

·  Cllr Situ to come back to the committee with detail on CIL spend - borough wide and local, broken down by ward

·  Cllr Situ agreed to highlight to ward councillors if a scheme is coming before the planning committee that is not policy compliant

·  Cllr Situ to meet with Cllr Newens to follow up on hard standing in front gardens