(a)

Councillors Mrs Beer, Darcy and Nicholson had called the decision in for the following reasons –

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no consultation had taken place with the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People who had responsibility for Boringdon Primary School and other schools in the city; consultation should have taken place regarding the impact of this decision; the procurement of the land would benefit both the School and the wider community and also resolve this issue for the landowner;

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there was no indication that the Director for People, who had responsibility for education had been consulted;

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since the publication of the decision, Councillor Nicholson had consulted with the Head Teacher of Boringdon Primary School who confirmed that no consultation with the School had taken place; following further discussions with the school it had transpired that direct contact had been made by the council with the Business Manager at the School; however, during these discussions the Business Manager had not fully  understood this part of the planning process;

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Boringdon Primary School was in support of the land being secured for educational purposes;

(b)

Councillor Vincent (Cabinet Member for Environment) Peter Ford (Head of Development Management), Ian Gillhespy (Valuation Surveyor) and Julie Rundle (Senior Lawyer) responded that -

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at this stage of the process, no consultation had taken place with either the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People or the Director for People, as the council was only required to either accept or reject the Purchase Notice; (the Notice had been served on the council by the landowner under section 137 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990);

(a Purchase Notice was a mechanism whereby any landowner who believed their land had become incapable of reasonably beneficial use by virtue of a planning decision might seek to have the land acquired by the local planning authority and be paid compensation for the value of the land);

the council was normally required to respond within three months of receiving a Purchase Notice (which had been received on 13 December 2012); however the council had been in contact with the landowner to explain the process and that it would take longer than three months to provide its response;

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the key point of the decision was whether the council should accept or reject the Purchase Notice; if the council accepted, or the Secretary of State directed the council to accept the Notice, then it would have to purchase the land; (there were no monies allocated within the council’s approved capital programme for the purchase of the land); (due to the statutory obligation, the council would have to purchase the land regardless of its condition);

if the council rejected the Notice, the matter would be referred to the Secretary of State;

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consultation in the form of telephone  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.