northlincs.gov.uk

64        (5) WATER’S EDGE VISITOR CENTRE TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE UPDATE – The Director of Places submitted a report updating the Cabinet Member on progress of developing a fully networked Tourist Information Centre (TIC) at Water’s Edge Visitor Centre, and recommending that Water’s Edge became an EnjoyEngland Official Partner TIC in October 2013.

Waters’ Edge Visitor Centre was open seven days a week. Set in an 86-acre country park on the Waterfront at Barton upon Humber, it had plenty of free parking, a café, gift shop and toilets.

In April 2013 the council agreed to develop a TIC that would be fully networked as part of the review of the service. These TICs were now known as Enjoy England Official Partner TICs.

There were over 200 of these Official Partner TICs around England. To achieve this accreditation required meeting set criteria so that customers know that they would get reliable and inspirational information from experts. As well as their knowledge of their local area the staff needed to offer extensive information about the country as a whole. The TICs must prove that they excelled in the service they offered so customers could be sure to get the most from their stay.

The report gave progress on the various stages that had been completed and/or were on going.  The effect on visitors to date to the Centre was also detailed.

Resolved – That the proposal that the Tourist Information Centre at Water’s edge applies for Official Partner status in October 2013, as set out in Option 2 of the report, be approved.

65        (6) CHRISTMAS OPENING TIMES, TOURISM AND TOWN CENTRE VENUES – The Director of Places submitted a report approval for proposed opening times for tourism and town centre venues over the Christmas and New Year period 2013.

The Tourism and Town Centres Team managed a number of venues across North Lincolnshire. Their aim was to offer customers the best service over the Christmas period, by matching opening times to customer demand. The proposed opening times for each venue were set out in the report.

Resolved – That the proposed opening times, as set out in the report and accompanying appendix, be approved.

66        (7) NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANNING – DECISION MAKING PROCESSES – The Director of Places submitted a report informing the Cabinet Member about the process for Neighbourhood Planning and seeking approval to establish a decision making process for Neighbourhood Planning.

The Localism Act 2011 introduced new opportunities for local communities to get involved in the planning of their areas by preparing neighbourhood plans, neighbourhood development orders and community right to build orders. The powers under the 2011 Act and associated neighbourhood planning regulations gave town/parish councils and neighbourhood forums the power to be able to shape and encourage delivery of new development.

The 2011 Act and associated regulations also contained a number of provisions for councils. It conferred on them an overall “duty to support” to neighbourhood planning in their areas. Much of this “duty” focused upon the provision of technical support and advice to communities who were progressing with neighbourhood planning. For example, this might be ensuring that plans were in conformity with the council’s planning policy or national policy.

As well as this general “duty to support”, the 2011 Act and associated regulations also required the council, in its role as the local planning authority, to make decisions at different stages in the neighbourhood plan making process. The stages were outlined in the report and appendix.

Resolved – (a) That the contents of the report be noted, and (b) that Option 2, as set out in paragraph 4.2 of the report, be approved and adopted as the most appropriate mechanism for the neighbourhood planning decision making process, including the decision making protocol set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

note: Reports are in Portable Document Format (PDF) and therefore require a suitable reader to view them. A reader can be downloaded free from the Adobe website (full instructions for downloading the reader are provided on the site).

Where there is no report this is because it is exempt, as it contains information which is considered to be of a confidential nature, as detailed in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act.