Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Harrington and McKean.

At this point Members must declare whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest, or other interest, in any of the items on the agenda, unless it is already entered in the register of members’ interests or is a “pending notification “ that has been disclosed to the Solicitor to the Council.

Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the Scrutiny Commission for Rural Communities meeting held on 17 September 2012 were not approved at this meeting.

This report was presented at the request of the Commission to provide an update on options for making villages energy sustainable. The report specifically focused on a pioneering EU-funded project based in Glinton and Peakirk, which would hopefully have future links to the wider rural area.

The following points were highlighted:

• Peterborough City Council had secured co-funding from the Regional Development Fund through the INTERREG IVB NWE Programme which would be used to increase environmental awareness and reduce carbon emissions in the villages of Glinton and Peakirk
• Between now and December 2014 the funding would be used to deliver capital investments as well as hands on practical support, contributing to the development of an EU-wide zero carbon certification system for communities
• In October 2010 Peterborough City Council was approached by the University of Applied Sciences in Berkfield, Germany to work with them to develop and deliver a project designed to produce a zero carbon certification scheme for residential communities
• Peterborough was keen to use the funding stream to bring in additional revenue to provide additionality to existing funding allocations. To achieve this the focus was on street lighting and environmental behaviour change within the communities of Glinton and Peakirk
• The villages of Glinton and Peakirk were chosen because there was already a community green group operating. The group had delivered significant community engagement activity including events and household Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) assessments.
• In November 2011 the first full partner meeting took place in Germany and in September 2012 Peterborough City Council appointed a Community Carbon Reduction Officer to co ordinate and oversee the deliverables
• Throughout the project Peterborough would be working with European partners who were available to provide particular expertise in the areas of green financing, greenhouse gas balancing and other innovations.
• The project would contribute directly to ‘Zecos’ – a new European zero carbon certification system. It would be of direct benefit to the communities of Glinton and Peakirk, reducing their CO2 output and increasing their resilience to climate change
• The project was an intensive project on two specific communities with the view that the successful elements could be rolled out to other communities in future years

Observations and questions were raised and discussed including:

·         Members commented that the project seemed highly commendable and they were very supportive of the work in tackling climate change.

·         Members queried whether the project would result in practical changes for individual households. The Climate Change Team Manager advised the Commission that households would not be forced to make changes although the aim was to talk to people and work through possibilities and look for the small changes that households were willing to make.

·         Members queried if there would be sufficient resources to run the project if it were successful and was rolled out to other rural areas. The Climate Change Team Manager advised members that this would depend on what the particular initiative was going to be. There were some projects that could be advertised across the city that would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The report was written at the request of the Commission who required information regarding street lighting in rural areas and in particular with regard to the following topics:

• How the new low energy streetlights would be appropriate for rural areas
• Was there a policy over rural streetlights
• Was it possible to have alternatives to the standard model, like Victorian or other retro styles which may be appropriate to some villages
• Lighting at junctions or danger spots
• The possibility of reducing some lighting
• Was their a safety/crime aspect to street lighting

A presentation was delivered to the commission and the following key points were highlighted:

Street Lighting

• There were three man areas of work

1.      General Maintenance

2.      Energy Efficiency Scheme

3.      Column Replacements (LTP and MTFS)

• The Energy Efficiency scheme replaced the old orange light emitting lanterns with white LED’s without the requirement for additional or replacement columns
• A column replacement scheme which replaced concrete and cast iron columns and replaced both column and lantern

Rural Lighting

• Street lighting was implemented to illuminate areas of public highway only
• Currently there was no specific lighting policy for rural areas. A new street lighting policy was being considered as part of the process of combining the Highways contract, this would go through the relevant consultation process
• Some authorities had switched lights off and had no significant evidence to show that there had been an increase in crime due to areas not being illuminated
• Rural lighting was often more sporadic than urban street lighting and tended to illuminate specific points such as road junctions
• A majority of lighting in rural areas would be considered for inclusion in the column replacement scheme
• £870k was awarded for ten years to replace cast iron and concrete columns and Local Property Tax contribution which varies annually
• The most suitable, efficient lighting solution would be used which would not always be an LED solution due to the difference in lighting output when compared with orange light emitting lanterns

Types of Street Light

·         Discussions were currently taking place regarding options for replacement columns in designated conservation areas

·         Standard specification was unpainted galvanised steel columns with appropriate lanterns. The approximate cost per unit was £1380

·         Painted steel columns with appropriate lanterns. The approximate cost per unit was £1380 plus ongoing maintenance to the paintwork

·         Bespoke made ornamental columns with appropriate lanterns. The approximate cost per unit was £3000 - £5000

Further Options

• When new lighting was installed the lantern was fitted with remote control equipment that had the potential to allow for lantern diming and or switch off
• Reducing lights in over illuminated areas could potentially be investigated however controlling light levels using the capabilities advised above was likely to be preferable to allow for future requests

The Commission were asked to consider the report and make any comments or recommendations.

Observations and questions were raised and discussed including:

·         Members were concerned that one of the slides in the presentation stated that there was no evidence of an increase in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

This report was presented to the Commission to obtain their views on the proposed review of the Common Housing Allocations Policy.

The following points were highlighted:

• Peterborough City Council currently operated the Peterborough Common Housing Register in partnership with ten Registered Social Landlords that had accommodation in Peterborough
• Currently Peterborough operated an open Housing Register open to all who whished to apply as long as they were over 16 years of age, except where:

v      They did not have the right to reside in the UK

v      They had previously been guilty of unacceptable behaviour, which would make them an unsuitable tenant

• Due to the open register there had been a large increase in the number of live applications (9324 as of July 2012) These were prioritised in to five bands:

311            Applicants in band 1 (highest priority)

3137          Applicants in band 2

1280          Applicants in band 3

3338          Applicants in band 4

1258          Applicants in band 5 (lowest priority)

• Due to such high demand for general needs accommodation most applicants in bands 4 and 5 would never be successful for an allocation of accommodation.
• Between April 2011 and April 2012 1258 properties were allocated through the choice based lettings scheme, during the same period 2678 new applications were accepted
• The Localism Act 2011 made an amendment to the Housing Act 1996 which gave local authorities the power to set their own qualifying criteria for people who were allowed to join the  housing register
• The proposed amended allocations policy made full use of these powers by setting the entry criteria to the housing register to those who were in the most urgent housing need This included:

v      Homeless households

v      Those who were threatened with homelessness

v      Those living in insanitary or unsatisfactory housing conditions

v      Those who needed to move for social/welfare reasons, or

v      Those for whom failure to assist in moving would cause particular hardship

• It was proposed that Peterborough City Council only accepted applications from those who had a connection with Peterborough. A connection would be established:

v      By having lived in the area for 6 of the last 12 months or 3 of the last 5 years

v      By having immediate family members who lived in the area and had done for  the last 5 years

v      For those who were working in the city

v      For those who needed to move to the area for special reasons e.g. in order to receive specialist medical care

• It was also proposed to exclude applicants who owned suitable accommodation or had sufficient financial resources from joining the register. This would not apply to those over 55 and eligible for sheltered accommodation
• Those who had previously behaved in an unacceptable manner would continue to be excluded from the housing register
• From April 2013 households in receipt of housing benefit who were living in social housing would be assessed to determine what size property they required based on the same criteria as if they were renting in the private  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee received the latest version of the Council’s Notice of Intention to Take Key Decisions, containing key decisions that the Leader of the Council anticipated the Cabinet or individual Cabinet Members would make during the course of the following four months.  Members were invited to comment on the Plan and, where appropriate, identify any relevant areas for inclusion in the Committee’s work programme.

ACTION AGREED

The Commission asked for clarification on the Notice of Intention to Take Key Decisions which was formerly the Forward Plan as it did not include dates of when the decisions would be taken.

Members considered the Commission’s Work Programme for 2012/13 and discussed possible items for inclusion.

ACTION AGREED

To confirm the work programme for 2012/13 and the Governance Officer to include any additional items as requested during the meeting.

14 January 2013

14 January 2012.