Agenda item

The committee resolved to look at opportunities to rebalance regeneration spending. Officers were asked to answer specific queries following a report submitted to the 30 November meeting. A report is contained in the supplementary agenda.

8.1  Simon Bevan;  Head of Transport and Planning and Shane Cunningham; Finance Manager,  drew members attention to the report circulated that gave more detail on recent spending alongside exploring opportunities for utilising  regeneration and planning policy to redistribute funds to areas of greater deprivation. The chair invited members to ask questions and initiated discussion by asking officers if the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) provided an opportunity to target investment to areas of need.

8.2  The Head of Transport and Planning explained that a Local Development Framework will be agreed shortly, and as part of that the council will need to develop a CIL policy. This will have the potential to be used to target investment at areas of need, within certain parameters, and there is greater flexibility than Section 106 offers, for infrastructure projects.

8.3  The Head of Transport and Planning also reported that it is anticipated that the London Mayor will use CIL to raise funds for cross rail. The Mayor had attempted that through Section 106, but this proved unsuccessful. However CIL will be able to be utilised in this way. It is now likely that a significant amount of yield, from each new dwelling in built in Southwark as a part of a development, will go to CIL. This may be over half the amount of money generated. The officer reported that there has been speculation that funds generated by CIL for cross rail could be used to fund further transport infrastructure projects.

8.4  A Member asked if the Mayor’s proposed CIL fund could be used in Southwark to pay for transport infrastructure, for example the refurbishment of Elephant and Castle tube station,  the extension of the Bakerloo line or the Cross River Tram.

8.5  The Head of Transport and Planning noted that there are significant negotiations needed to fund the regeneration of Elephant and Castle station between the council, Lend Lease and TFL. The installation of escalators is very expensive. It was agreed that we should invite representatives to discuss this matter.

8.6  The chair drew members’ attention to the section in the  report outlining the funding criteria for Cleaner, Greener, Safer (CGS). He proposed that CGS funding is solely set by the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) weighted by population and that the base share is no longer used as a measure to calculate the allocation to each community council. The chair stated that this would target more resources at areas experiencing greater deprivation.  A member commented that he would like more information on the rational for using the current criteria and the base share. A vote was taken; four members voted for the proposal and one member abstained.

8.7  A member requested information on the amount of CGS money committed to projects, or already spent by each community council, for this financial year.

RESOLVED

The committee agreed that they would invite the Chair / Vice Chair of the GLA transport committee and the London mayor’s transport advisor, Kulveer Ranger , to consider if there is an opportunity to utilise the planed Community Infrastructure Levy to fund regeneration of Elephant and Castle station.

It was decided that the committee would recommend to cabinet that Cleaner, Greener, Safer  (CGS) funding is solely set by the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) weighted by population, and that the base share is no longer used as a measure to calculate the allocation to each community council.

Clarity will be sought on the amount of CGS money committed to projects, or already spent by each community council,  for this financial year.