Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Arculus, Peach and Murphy.  Councillors Morley and Todd were acting as substitutes.

At this point Members must declare whether they have an interest, whether personal or prejudicial, in any of the items on the agenda. Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

No declarations of interest were made.

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 June 2010 were accepted as an accurate record.

The decision notice for each decision will bear the date on which it is published and will specify that the decision may then be implemented on the expiry of 3 working days after the publication of the decision (not including the date of publication), unless a request for call-in of the decision is received from any two Members of a Scrutiny Committee or Scrutiny Commissions..  If a request for call-in of a decision is received, implementation of the decision remains suspended for consideration by the relevant Scrutiny Committee or Commission.

There were no requests for call-in to consider.

To be consulted on the development of the Environment Capital Policy.

We welcomed Councillor S Dalton to the meeting and she presented the report which provided an update on the progress of Environment Capital and the next stages in developing and launching the approach.

In adopting the Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) the Council had committed itself to becoming the UK’s Environment Capital.  Environment Capital had widespread support which had been achieved through clear political direction and the efforts of a committed, cross-sector Environment Capital Partnership.  Significant building blocks had already been put in place including the SCS, Local Area Agreement, the creation of an Environment Capital Cabinet portfolio and the Environment Capital Scrutiny Committee itself.  The approach also had the support of Opportunity Peterborough and of the wider business community as represented by the Economic Development Partnership. 

There would be significant advantages in maintaining the current momentum in driving forward the Environment Capital agenda as it played a key role in driving the city’s economic development, supported sustainable growth and provided a focus for building strong and supportive communities.  Peterborough must continue to position itself as an environmental leader and enhance its reputation as a result.  It must continue to build on the Environment Capital culture within the Council and throughout wider city stakeholders and the next stages must also include a range of projects and activities aimed at supporting the Environment Capital agenda. The Committee had previously seen early drafts of the city wide Development Plan which would be updated and improved as part of this work.  The Council and other partners also needed to be aware of the impact of their activities and decisions on the environmental and wider sustainability agendas. 

The Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council together with the Cabinet Member for Environment Capital were committed to launching the Environment Capital approach this autumn and three work steams had now been established:-

Stakeholder Engagement: The Director of Environment Capital with support from GPP colleagues was working with partners to galvanise support for and input to the Environment Capital approach which would build and maintain a common approach and culture.  This would involve delivering a clear definition, an outward facing prospectus and a briefing document aimed at all city ambassadors. To succeed, Environment Capital must also deliver improved outcomes for local residents and communities.

Policy Development: This would include the replacement of the Council’s Environment Policy (2000) with a newly developed Environment Capital Policy which would form part of the Council’s Major Policy Framework.  The sustainable growth of the city would be supported by an Environment Capital Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) which would drive sustainable developments across the city building on the Environment Capital Core Strategy policy.

Marketing: A newly formed team was leading the development of a marketing strategy to ensure that the new approach enhanced the city’s regional, national and international profile. This profile would, in turn, support inward investment and economic development. 

The Cabinet Member advised that whilst environment capital was well imbedded one of the next steps would be to look  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To consider the issues which were identified at the Big Debate meeting held in February 2010.

The report advised the Committee of the outcomes of the Scrutiny Big Debate event which was held in February 2010.

The Big Debate had involved an investigation by the four Scrutiny Committees in to how the economic downturn had affected the City in terms of its aspirations for growth, levels of crime, requirements to support vulnerable people and its credentials for environmental sustainability with particular reference to transport.  It was a pioneering piece of work that had been designed and delivered in consultation with the Centre for Public Scrutiny.

The scope of the review for this Committee had been to look at how the City could continue to grow and overcome the effects of the economic downturn.  The event had been held at the Town Hall on 17 February 2010 and involved representatives from various organisations who gave their personal perspectives on the future of the city.  The event provoked lots of discussion and there had been a significant amount of positive feedback from attendees.  Following workshops which were held on the evening a number of issues were suggested to take forward for further work.  The Committee were now asked to delegate to the Group Representatives consideration of which items should be added to the Committee’s work programme.

Observations and questions were raised around the following areas:

·         The issue around building more executive family homes to encourage senior managers to live inside rather than outside the city had been discussed for a long time.  It would be helpful to receive updates on what was happening at future meetings during the year.

ACTIONS AGREED

(i)                   To note the outcomes from the Scrutiny Big Debate.

(ii)                  To receive an update on the progress of the outcomes at a future meeting.

(iii)                To receive updates on the building of executive family homes at our meetings in November 2010 and March 2011.

To consider the Forward Plan of Key Decisions.

The latest version of the Forward Plan, showing details of the key decisions that the Leader of the Council believed the Cabinet or individual Cabinet Members would be making over the next four months, was received.

The Chairman advised that he had recently used his urgency powers in relation to an Executive Decision relating to the Bridges Refurbishment Programme as he was satisfied that any delay in the implementation of the decision would have prejudiced both the Council’s and the public interest.

ACTION AGREED

To note the latest version of the Forward Plan.

To consider the Committee’s work programme for 2010/11.

We considered the Work Programme for 2010/11.

We considered the items which were still to be scheduled.  We requested that a report on the SERCO ICT Managed Service contract be brought to the meeting in November, along with an update on the site allocations document.

ACTION AGREED

To confirm the work programme for 2010/11.

Tuesday 14 September 2010 at 7pm.

Tuesday 14 September 2010 at 7pm