Items
No. |
Item |
16. |
Apologies for Absence
Minutes:
*O&S
16
Apologies for absence for this meeting were
received from Cllrs D W Cloke, J R McInnes, J B Moody and P J
Ridgers.
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17. |
Confirmation of Minutes PDF 53 KB
Minutes:
*O&S
17
The minutes of the Meeting of the Overview and
Scrutiny Committee held on 26 June 2018 were confirmed and signed
by the Chairman as a true and correct record.
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18. |
Declarations of Interest
Members are invited to declare any
personal or disclosable pecuniary interests, including the nature
and extent of such interests they may have in any items to be
considered at this meeting.
If Councillors have any questions relating to predetermination,
bias or interests in items on this Agenda, then please contact the
Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.
Minutes:
*O&S
18
Members and officers were invited to declare
any interests in the items of business to be considered during the
course of this meeting, but there were none made.
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19. |
Public Forum PDF 10 KB
A period of up to 15 minutes is available to
deal with issues raised by the public.
Minutes:
*O&S 19
There were no issues raised during the Public
Forum session at this meeting.
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20. |
Hub Committee Forward Plan PDF 143 KB
If any Member seeks further
clarity, or wishes to raise issues regarding any future Hub
Committee agenda item, please contact Member Services
before 12 Noon on Friday 27 July 2018 to ensure
that the lead officer(s) are aware of
this request in advance of the meeting.
Minutes:
*O&S 20
During consideration of the most recently
published Hub Committee Forward Plan, the Committee made reference
to:-
(a)
the intention for an additional agenda item entitled:
‘Commercial Property Acquisition Strategy Update’ to be
added to the Forward Plan for consideration at the Hub Committee
meeting on 11 September 2018;
(b)
the number of particularly significant agenda items that were
scheduled for consideration at the Hub Committee meeting on 11
September 2018. In noting the contents
of the Plan, Members expressed their concerns over the likely size
of the next Hub Committee meeting agenda. As a consequence, the Committee requested that the
Chairman contact the Leader of the Council to relay these
concerns;
(c)
the Tamar Valley AONB Management Plan Review 2019-24. With regard to the proposal for this Review to be
presented to the Hub Committee meeting on 11 September 2018, a
Member advised that she had already received a copy of the draft
version of the Plan. In commending its
content, the Member was of the view that the wider membership
should also be in receipt of a copy before its presentation to the
Hub Committee. Such was its linkages to
the Joint Local Plan (JLP) that a Member also felt that the JLP
Joint Steering Group should be given the opportunity to comment on
the draft Plan prior to its adoption.
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21. |
Update Report on Garden Waste Service PDF 45 KB
Minutes:
*O&S 21
Members considered a report that provided an
update on the garden waste service that had now been in operation
for a twelve month period.
In presenting the report, the lead Hub
Committee Member advised that the Waste Working Group was actively
looking at methods of promoting the service to increase resident
uptake.
During the ensuing discussion, the following
points were raised:-
(a)
In response to a question, it was confirmed that trend analysis did
not indicate any significant increases in cases of fly tipping in
the Borough since the charging scheme had been in place;
(b)
Following the most recent waste analysis exercise, officers advised
that there was no significant evidence of green waste being placed
with residual waste. However, the
Committee was advised that there was a number of instances of food
waste being placed with residual waste and Members acknowledged the
need for this to be addressed;
(c)
Due to the particularly dry and warm weather this year, Members
noted that it was difficult to obtain an accurate assessment of how
successful the first year of this scheme had been;
(d)
Some Members expressed their regret that the wider membership had
delayed the initial decision to implement this scheme. As a consequence, this delay had resulted in a
negative financial impact that the Council could ill afford at this
time;
(e)
With regard to the £40 annual subscription charge, the
Committee was informed that this was broadly consistent with the
fees applied by other local authorities who provided a similar
service. Members proceeded to confirm
their belief that a £40 annual charge remained appropriate
for the service;
(f)
Whilst accepting that there would be some complexities, some
Members were of the view that uptake in the service would be
increased if residents could sign up to the scheme anytime
throughout the year. In reply, it was
agreed that the Waste Working Group would look into this matter in
more detail at a future meeting.
It was
then:
RESOLVED
That the contents of the update report and
the views of the Committee (as outlined in the minutes above) be
noted.
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22. |
Exclusion of Public and Press
to
consider the following resolution to
exclude the public and press:-
“That in
accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972,
the public and press be excluded from the meeting during
consideration of the following items of business in order to avoid
the likely disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in
paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act”;
Minutes:
*O&S 22
RESOLVED
That in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the
Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from
the meeting during consideration of the following item of business
as the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in
paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to the Act is involved.
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23. |
Financial Stability Working Group: Progress Update
Minutes:
*O&S 23
The Committee considered an exempt
Briefing Note that had also been presented to the Hub Committee
meeting on 17 July 2018 for consideration (Minute *HC 15
refers).
In discussion, the Committee welcomed
the update and wished to put on record its thanks to the lead
officers and Members of the Review Group for the progress that was
being made.
It was
then:
RESOLVED
That the contents of the Briefing Paper be
received and noted.
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24. |
Re-admittance of Public and Press
Minutes:
*O&S 24
RESOLVED
That the public and press be re-admitted to the
meeting.
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25. |
Economy Working Group - Verbal Update
Minutes:
*O&S 25
In
his introduction, the lead Hub Committee Member for Economy
highlighted some of the challenges that were preventing the Working
Group from making real progress. To
overcome these challenges, the lead Member was strongly of the view
that there was a need for some form of officer resource to be
available in order to support the economic development
agenda.
During the ensuing debate, the following
points were made:-
(a)
A number of Committee Members
supported the views of the lead Member and recognised that
Enterprise and ‘creating places for enterprise to thrive
and businesses to grow’ was a recently adopted Corporate
Strategy Theme by the Council. Having
been informed that any additional resource was likely to be a
further budget pressure for the Council, it was PROPOSED and SECONDED that:
1.
The Economy Working Group be
asked to produce a paper for consideration at a future Hub
Committee meeting that indicates the requirements for a dedicated
officer resource; and
2.
With this information and, in
preparation of the draft 2019/20 Budget and the Medium Term
Financial Strategy, consideration be given to providing sufficient
officer resource to support the local economy and the Corporate
Strategy Theme relating to Enterprise.
When put to the vote, this
proposal was declared CARRIED.
(b)
The Committee noted that one of
the areas of focus for the Peer Review Team that was visiting the
Council to undertake a review in September 2018 was to be on
economic regeneration;
(c)
Some Members regretted the fact
that Business Rates did not link in any shape or form to the actual
performance of a business and felt that this was a shortcoming that
needed to be addressed by Central Government. As a way forward, it was suggested that a Member
may wish to submit a motion to this effect for consideration at a
future Council meeting.
It was then:
RESOLVED
1. That the Economy Working Group be
asked to produce a paper for consideration at a future Hub
Committee meeting that indicates the requirements for a dedicated
officer resource; and
2. With this information and, in
preparation of the draft 2019/20 Budget and the Medium Term
Financial Strategy, consideration be given to providing sufficient
officer resource to support the local economy and the Corporate
Strategy Theme relating to Enterprise.
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26. |
Quarter 1 Performance Measures PDF 55 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
*O&S 26
The Committee considered a paper that
presented the performance measures for Quarter 1.
By way of an introduction, the lead Hub
Committee Member made reference to his review into both the
performance measures reported and the appropriateness of the
targets that were aligned to these measures. In so doing, the Member advised that it was his
intention for the findings of this review to be presented to a
meeting of the Committee in the autumn.
For clarity, the lead Member confirmed that this review would
include the design, format and layout of the measures and Members
were encouraged to share their views with the lead Member before
the findings were presented.
In the ensuing debate, particular reference
was made to:-
(a)
planning enforcement cases. The
Committee welcomed the performance trend whereby the number of
cases closed during June 2018 had exceeded the number of new cases
received. Some Members highlighted the
effectiveness of the recent sessions with local ward Members during
which it had been agreed that a number of historical cases should
no longer be pursued. It was felt that
such ongoing dialogue between officers and local Members was
critical to ensure that this positive trend continued;
(b)
accessing the latest information on the performance
dashboards. Some concerns were raised
that officers were not regularly updating the dashboard information
and it was therefore requested that officers follow up on this
point outside of this Committee meeting.
It was then:
RESOLVED
That the performance
levels against target communicated in the Balanced Scorecard and the performance
figures supplied in the background and the exception report be
noted.
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27. |
Joint Local Plan: Standing Agenda Item
Minutes:
*O&S 27
By way of an update, one of the Joint Steering
Group (JSG) Members advised the Committee that:-
-
Due to illness and unavailability, it was noted that there had been
a further delay in the receipt of the interim findings from the
Examination in Public. It was now hoped
that the report would be received during mid-August; and
-
In respect of a meeting that was taking place at this current time
in Plymouth that related to a potential Marine Park, it was hoped
that those officers and Members who were in attendance would
provide feedback to the wider membership.
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28. |
Task and Finish Group Updates (If any)
(a) Partnership Funding –
formal closedown proposal
Minutes:
*O&S 28
(a)
Partnership Funding Review
Since a decision had now been made by the Council at its meeting on
26 July 2018 (Minute CM 24 cii refers), the Committee agreed that
the Partnership Funding Review Task and Finish Group should now be
formally disbanded.
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29. |
Rural Broadband Working Group Update (if any)
Minutes:
*O&S 29
During the update, reference was made to:-
(a)
the invite having been extended to the
Connecting Devon and Somerset Programme Manager to attend a future
Committee meeting. The Committee was of
the view that, in the event of its future meeting dates not being
convenient for the Programme Manager to attend, then an alternative
date should be sought with this matter being considered at an all
Member Briefing instead;
(b)
a useful report that had been produced
that illustrated the linkages between the positive impact on the
Cornish Economy and the increased Superfast Broadband provision in
the county. It was agreed that the
Vice-Chairman would share the contents of this report with the
Council’s representative on the Connecting Devon and Somerset
Programme Board.
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30. |
Annual Work Programme 2017/18 PDF 55 KB
Minutes:
*O&S 30
The Chairman introduced the latest version of
the Work Programme for the next 12 months.
In discussion, it was agreed that:
(a)
the Work Programme would in the future include the relevant lead
Hub Committee Member alongside each item; and
(b)
the Vice-Chairman would prepare a
Scrutiny Proposal Form for further consideration on a particular
issue that would seek to ensure that the Council had obtained value
for money from a recent Consultants’ report.
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31. |
Member Learning and Development Opportunities Arising from this Meeting
Minutes:
*O&S 31
In discussion, the Committee was reminded of
the contacts details for the recently appointed Member IT Support
Officer and Members were urged to utilise his expertise.
In addition, Members were encouraged to
discuss their thoughts on the Performance Measures review with the
lead Hub Committee Member before the findings of this exercise were
presented to the Committee in the autumn.
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