Agenda and draft minutes

Minutes of the previous meeting held on 8 December 2025.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 8 December 2025 were agreed as a correct record.

See list at end of the minutes.

Guidance is available online to councillors and co-opted members on making declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

Information on public speaking is available online.

There were no members of the public present.

There were no matters of urgency.

To agree any items to be dealt with after the public (including the Press) have been excluded.

There is one item which officers recommend should be dealt with in this way.

There was one item of confidential/exempt business, minute no.62 refers. 

The Group expressed their disappointment that representatives from the Cranbrook New Community Partners (the Consortium) were not present at the meeting and that progress on issues raised in October 2025 remained unresolved. 

The Group requested that the following items were forwarded to the Consortium:

·        Issues with the persimmon and Wimpey developments where roads had yet to be completed and there were a number of raised ironworks around the road network which had led to a number of accidents involving local residents.

·        Recent storms had led to a number of properties being flooded, including at Blackmore Lane (Cavanah Homes).

·        Bus stops on grass verges causing difficulties for bus passengers.

·        Court Royal – lack of a safe crossing place

·        Basin 2C – remedial works required and concerns raised around Basin 2B following the recent storms.

The Group requested that the Portfolio Holder for Inward Investment and Strategic Planning and the Director for Place send an email to the Consortium expressing their disappointment that no representatives from the Consortium had attended the meeting.  

The Group received a report from the Corporate Lead for New Communities relating to the mechanism for the allocation of category 4 infrastructure which included a draft set of assessment criteria for bids made for that funding.

The Group noted that funding bid requests would be assessed against the following criteria:

·        Eligibility check

·        Need

·        Value for money

·        Deliverability

To support the assessment of funding bids a scoring template would be used requiring assessors to award a score out of 25 for each of the four categories. 

The Group supported the criteria and scoring mechanism for category 4 infrastructure funding bids and that the Strategic Planning Committee should be invited to consider the criteria and scoring mechanism.

RESOLVED:

That the set of criteria for the assessment of category 4 infrastructure funding bids and together with the previously endorsed mechanism and principles for the allocation and spending of category 4 contributions is endorsed.

RECOMMEDATION TO STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE:

To recommend Cabinet approve the set of criteria for the assessment of category 4 infrastructure funding bids.

The Corporate Lead for Placemaking and Major Projects and Corporate Lead for New Communities presented a report giving an update on ongoing projects within Cranbrook town centre, including a number of land transfers together with the commercial project of Cranbrook and the health and leisure campus.

The Group noted the following:

Land Transfers:

·        Land parcel TC1 is in the process of transfer from the New Community partners to Devon County Council.

·        Adjacent to TC1 is land parcel TC2 which represents the remaining land north of Tillhouse Road and south of the Country Park. This land is due for transfer to East Devon District Council. The site is in part expected to accommodate The Tillhouse building for Cranbrook Town Council, together with Cranbox (discussed below) and therefore there will need to be an onward transfer of part of the site to the Town Council once the precise boundaries of the transfer have been established.

·        The New Community partners have made an offer to transfer land parcel TC4b to Devon County Council, in line with their existing legal obligations.

·        Land parcel TC4c will also be due for offer to East Devon District Council and once transferred will mean that the council will own all the remaining TC4 land parcels.

Town Centre Masterplan and Delivery Strategy

A masterplan narrative was endorsed by the council in October 2024, identifying high level principles for the development of the town centre and locations for key uses. Since then, projects for the health and leisure campus have been established and this report gives further information about that. This has altered the location of these uses from that previously identified, in part due to a change in the facilities mix, to ensure that the swimming facilities are sized to account for the proposed new town of Marlcombe.

As part of wider work being undertaken by the council to explore how the new town of Marlcombe can be developed alongside and complementary to Cranbrook and the Enterprise Zone sites, AHR architects have been appointed to develop the next stage of masterplan. This work is in the early stages of development and will engage officers and members of the three local authorities in its production. A high-level delivery strategy will also be produced alongside the more detailed masterplan.

Health and Leisure campus

A project team, led by AHR Architects, had been appointed following a competitive tender exercise undertaken in Autumn 2025. The team would be working towards the planning application submission stage and would work with Sport England on the proposals. 

The Group received an overview of the proposals for the health and leisure campus and were advised that the proposals would be subject to a public consultation exercise, including a survey on Common Place and a public consultation event on 11 February (at the Cranberry Farm Pub from 2pm until 8pm).  .

Cranbox

The Cranbox project continued to advance according to a revised programme. Western Buildings, the modular provider, has initiated detailed design activities under the Pre Construction Services  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

The Group received an updated Implementation Plan outlining the list of projects scheduled for delivery.

The Group noted the ongoing progress with the projects and requested that an update on the provision of SEND education was provided at the next meeting from Devon County Council, including timescales and funding for this provision.

RESOLVED:

That the Implementation Plan be noted. 

The Group received and noted the current forward plan.

RESOLVED:

That the forward plan be noted.

The Chair to move the following:

“that under Section 100(A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public (including the press) be excluded from the meeting as exempt information, of the description set out on the agenda, is likely to be disclosed and on balance the public interest is in discussing this item in private session (Part B).”

RESOLVED:

That the press and public be excluded from the meeting under Section 100(A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public (including the press) be excluded from the meeting as exempt information, of the description set out on the agenda, is likely to be disclosed and on balance the public interest is in discussing this item in private session (Part B).

The Group received a report from the Corporate Lead for New Communities on the progress being made to determine planning applications within the Cranbrook expansion areas.

RESOLVED:

That the update on the status of the constituent areas of the Cranbrook expansion areas and the progress made with each of the planning applications and permissions within the Cranbrook expansion areas is noted.