Wychavon District Council Minutes of A Meeting of Wychavon District Council Held In the Chamber, Civic Centre, Queen Elizabeth Drive, Pershore On Wednesday, 24 February 2016 Commencing At 6.15 p.m. Present: Councillor Mrs V A Wood – Chairman Councillor Mrs F S Smith – Vice-Chairman Members:- Councillors:- R C Adams H C Hamilton Mrs L Robinson A A J Adams A I Hardman Mrs A M Rowley K F J Barclay C D Homer T Rowley G Beale M T King Mrs J E Sandalls G S Bearcroft R Lasota Mrs A Steel Ms J H Bolton Mrs M A Lawley Mrs E K Stokes B Brookes G Mackison B A Thomas J Bulman P Middlebrough Mrs K L Tomalin A M G Darby A P Miller P Tomlinson R Davis R J Morris Mrs E B Tucker N J Dowty R E Murphy C G J Tucker Mrs L R Duffy T J Noyes D Wilkinson Mrs M C English G O'Donnell K N Wright Mrs E A Eyre Mrs C A Powell M S Goodge R W Raphael 87. Prayers The Chairman’s Chaplain, the Reverend Claire Lording, led the Council in prayer. 88. Declarations of Interest Councillor A M G Darby disclosed a pecuniary interest in agenda item 9 – South Worcestershire Development Plan as he owned one of the sites detailed in the plan. Councillor Darby indicated that he would move to the back of the room when the item was being discussed. Councillor Darby also disclosed a pecuniary interest in agenda item 10 – Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocations Development Plan Document as one of the sites put forward needed access across his land. He indicated that he would leave the room during discussions and voting thereon. Councillor Mrs A M Rowley disclosed a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 16 as a director of Tibberton Community Land Trust. Councillor B Brookes disclosed a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 25 – Council debate as he was a director of Droitwich Salt Company Ltd. 44 CL.24.02.16 89. Apologies for Absence There were no apologies for absence. 90. Minutes of the Previous Meeting It was proposed by Councillor Mrs V A Wood, seconded by Councillor G O’Donnell and Resolved That the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 16 December 2015 be approved as a correct record of the proceedings and signed by the Chairman. 91. Chairman's Announcements The Chairman made the following announcements:- 1. Queens Jubilee Community Recognition Award. The Chairman announced that it gave her great pleasure to meet residents that had gone that little bit further for their communities and advised that she had presented the winner, Viv Oddy from Abbotts Morton, with the Queens Jubilee Community Recognition Award. She added that it had been very difficult to find just three winners so a joint third was created with all nominees being given a certificate. 2. Commonwealth Day 2016 The Chairman announced that the Commonwealth flag would be raised throughout the country at 10am on Monday 14 March. All members were invited to attend at the front of the Civic Centre by the flagpole. 3. Charity Fashion Show The Chairman advised that her charity fashion show was taking place on 7 April in the Committee Rooms at the Civic Centre in aid of Dementia UK. She added that staff had volunteered to model but that she was still looking for a ladies size 12 to model if anyone would like to volunteer. 4. End of Term Reception The Chairman announced that her end of term reception would take place on Friday 13 May in the Committee Rooms from 6.30pm with entertainment provided by the 2016 W Factor winners. 5. Events attended The Chairman advised that she had been to too many events to mention since the last Council meeting but added that she was looking forward to attending the official opening of the new buildings at Pershore College 45 CL.24.02.16 which would be providing much needed training in not only horticulture but agri-tech for the district’s youngsters. 6. Wychavon The Chairman advised that in 10 years Wychavon had gone from strength to strength and was now one of the best in the country despite all the challenges that had been thrown at it. She added that she was sure this would continue with the close working relationship between officers and councillors. 92. Public Participation One member of the public had notified the Council of his intention to speak in accordance with the Council’s Constitution. Question from Mr R Hopkins, Droitwich “Re: Willow Court, Droitwich Willow Court is a complex consisting of leasehold bungalows, terraced houses and a large, seriously dilapidated, house which is the subject of my question located between Park Way and Hunters Way (off Westwood Road). The house which is (or was) a grade 2 listed building was occupied by four families until 1991 from which time it has remained empty. Planning consent was granted in 1997 and again in 2004 but no development has taken place. For the past 25 years maintenance of the property has been virtually non-existent. The windows are either boarded up or left open to the elements, the property is fenced on 3 sides, although there is evidence that the fence has been breached by children, the roof badly holed and now sagging in a number of areas creating fears that the property, if no action is taken soon, will start to collapse posing a threat to residents’ safety and their properties. The residents have not been able to sell their properties due to this eyesore plus issues relating to the ground leases on their homes which are now being addressed by your officers. Until this is resolved, the only option available to them if they need to move is either to leave the property empty as is the case with one property or to rent, neither of which is attractive. Even though by any normal standards the property is derelict, the Council did not take action to issue an Enforcement Order against the previous owners nor has any action been taken to address the problem since the Council took over the property in 2012. My question therefore is “What does the Council propose to do with this property before it starts to collapse?” There are bats in the roof but these in my experience can be relocated so that should not be an obstacle. In its previous ownership the Council could have considered issuing an Enforcement Order which I understand is your normal practice with derelict property but now it is in your ownership it is now very much in the Council’s court to act. Finally Councillors if any of you had the misfortune to live next to this house, I cannot believe you would not have your colleagues and officers move heaven and earth in Council to have immediate action taken on this property. It has been 46 CL.24.02.16 vandalised by neglect and the only option I feel is to pull it down. As far as people are concerned, it is a major issue.” Response from Councillor Mrs L R Duffy, Deputy Leader and Executive Board member for Resources “Thank you Mr Hopkins for bringing this forward. I am surprised it has not come up before. This will be a long response due to the complexity of issues. The freehold of the properties including the bungalows and the farmhouse at Willow Court transferred to the Council in 1974. This was subject to a long lease to PL Emms (Properties) Limited which was granted in 1972. The existence of this lease has limited what the Council has been able to do until very recently. Nevertheless there is a long history of Wychavon officers attempting to resolve the issues at Willow Court. On being granted the long lease, the farmhouse was split into six individual flats by PL Emms which were sold by way of an underlease to purchasers. However, substantial issues arose resulting from the poor condition of the building and the flats making them uninhabitable. The Council subsequently acquired the underlease of the flats by agreement in 1992. The farmhouse was left empty because of the headlease remaining in the ownership of PL Emms. At the time the estimated costs of bringing the already much dilapidated building back into good order were significant. PL Emms went into liquidation and the headlease was assigned to Mr Emms in his personal capacity, and following his death in 2006, then vested in the Executors of his Estate. After lengthy and difficult discussions with the Executors, terms were agreed in 2012 for the acquisition of the headlease by the Council. However, this was an extremely complicated acquisition and it was only finally completed in November 2015. Prior to this date, acting in the public interest, the Council took action to erect safety fencing around the farmhouse and paid for additional security. In 2014, the Council commissioned structural and ecological surveys. The structural survey confirmed that the building was severely dilapidated and that the inner floors had fallen in. The ecological survey confirmed that bats were not roosting in the farmhouse. The situation relating to the bungalows has been greatly improved by the Council’s acquisition of the headlease. This has meant that the Council is now the landlord of the tenants in the bungalows and is in a position to grant new tenancies which the tenants have been requesting. The Council is assisting with this process but ultimately will look to sell its interest in these properties.