Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Shaheed and Nawaz.  Councillor Stokes attended as the designated substitute for Councillor Nawaz.

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 7 September 2010 were approved as a correct record.

The report provided an update of the responses to recommendations made by the Commission at previous meetings.

School Transport

Members were directed to the response of the Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and University in relation to the Commission’s previous request to reconsider the current school transport service between Eye and Arthur Mellows Village College.  The Cabinet Member had advised that there would be no changes to the provision of transport for the year 11 students at this time, however the situation would be monitored by the Council’s Passenger Transport Team and the College.  The College had recently reported that there had been no significant problems with the service so far.

Rural Policing

The Chairman read to the Commission a letter received from Chief Constable Simon Parr, which responded to the Commission’s previous request for further support for the rural policing teams.  The Chief Constable had advised that the Roads Policing Unit and Tactical Firearms Unit already provided regular support to rural communities as part of their general patrolling, and also supported initiatives of the Rural Community Action Team when required.  As a result of the current financial climate and the challenges facing the Constabulary, the Chief Constable advised that he was unable to guarantee increasing support to rural areas.

The Chairman advised that he had also corresponded with the British Transport Police with a view to developing an agreement around the policing of level crossings and how they were used by commuters in particular, and encouraging a more conspicuous police presence in rural areas.

Further Education in Agricultural and Farming Industry

The Governance Officer advised that in response to an earlier Commission recommendation, Anglia Ruskin University had responded that it does not currently offer courses in agricultural or farming related industry and had no plans to do so in the future.

ACTION AGREED

It was agreed not to take any further action at this time in relation to gaining extra support for Rural policing unless any significant problems developed in the rural areas, and to revisit the issue in twelve months time to reinforce why extra support is needed.

The Economic Participation Programme Manager, Partnership Officer and Women’s Enterprise Centre Manager gave the Commission an update on work undertaken to promote the services of the Women’s Enterprise Centre in rural areas following the recommendations of the Commission in July 2010.  Officers advised that in response to these recommendations, Women’s Enterprise Centre (WEC) information had been distributed to village halls, community centres and village shops, and contact had been made with parish councils and the Women’s Institute (WI).

The WEC Manager gave an update on her work to engage with the rural communities, and made the following comments regarding the WEC’s ‘Feet on the Street’ programme:

• Many villages had already been visited.
• Promotional materials had been made available in all libraries, mobile libraries, post offices and village shops.  Work was being done to gather contacts for parish newsletters so that the WEC could advertise its services regularly.
• The WEC Manager had recently attended a WI conference where the WEC promoted its centre and services and explained that it was felt that working with the WI important in facilitating the delivery of enterprise introduction, business start up and personal development workshops in the local communities. It was anticipated that opportunities to give presentations through the WI would be available in the new year.
• A leaflet drop had recently been undertaken in Wittering, Eye and Glinton which had already shown an increased use in the service by women from rural communities.
• The WEC Manager had engaged with RAF Wittering and would attend a women’s pamper evening in November to promote services and to engage with women.  The WEC offered a programme called ‘Base Opportunities’ which was aimed at supporting service wives to start businesses which they could take with them when their spouses transferred.
• The WEC Manager had been working with Cllr Walsh, Cabinet Member for Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion, Safety and Women’s Enterprise to engage with parish councils.

It was acknowledged that whilst there had been a modest increase in service users from rural communities, it was felt that this ongoing work would see an increase in the coming months.

In response to questions raised by the Commission, officers advised:

• Women were setting up a variety of different businesses including business services, holistic therapies, falconry, catering, artists, jewellers.  A list of the businesses being set up by women using the centre would be provided.
• Yaxley had been included due to the lack of clarity around rural boundaries.

The Chairman thanked the WEC for its work and increased engagement with women in rural areas. 

ACTION AGREED

It was agreed that the WEC would continue to work with the Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion, Safety and Women’s Enterprise to engage with parish councils and give presentations at parish council meetings, and to keep members of the Commission informed regularly of work being undertaken so that Members could offer assistance where possible.

The Team Manager – Network Network (Planning, Transport & Engineering) presented the report of the Executive Director of Operations which sought to inform the Commission on progress achieved regarding the:

• Government’s current position in relation to the publication of the National Road Safety Strategy and the potential lowering of the speed limit on rural roads to 50mph; and
• Proposed implementation of 20mph speed limits around rural schools.

The Team Manager Network (Planning, Transport & Engineering) advised that the publication of the National Road Safety Strategy had stalled with the change of government, with a review published on the 16th of June which had made many recommendations.  Consequently, the 50mph issue had effectively been put on the back burner.

With regard to the implementation of a 20mph speed limit around rural schools, the The Team Manager – Network (Planning, Transport & Engineering) advised that since the last meeting of the Commission, speed survey shad been undertaken at all primary schools in rural areas during peak and off peak hours.  Informal consultation had also taken place with ward councillors, head teachers and parish councils, which showed that the scheme received support for implementation.  Funding had also been identified through the Local Transport Plan to implement the change.

The Team Manager – Network (Planning, Transport & Engineering) advised that the speeds that had been recorded were already very low in the main, with average speeds in the low 20s for most of the schools and whilst there had been cars travelling in excess of the limit, and in some cases notably, the volume in comparison to other traffic was relatively small.

The thrust of this change was to improve safety, and accident data for incidents outside schools showed that there had been four accidents; 2 in Eye and 2 in Glinton, and whilst all those took place on school days and not necessarily during school hours, 1 incident involved a child suffering a slight injury.

The Team Manager – Network (Planning, Transport & Engineering) asked the Commission to reconsider its recommendation on the basis of the cost implications associated with implementing the change when weighed against the benefits expected to be derived.

Councillor Kirt of Glinton Parish Council addressed the Commission and made the following comments:

• The Team Manager – Network (Planning, Transport & Engineering) had done an excellent piece of work in looking at this issue and whilst the evidence suggests that the change shouldn’t be implemented so as to save £16,000 on the basis of 2 key considerations, being the average off peak and peak of below 30mph, and that in the last 5 years nobody had been killed or seriously injured.
• Whilst the average speed was recorded in the mid 20s, depending on the village, the peak speed could be excessive.  Peakirk Parish Council did a speedwatch, and vehicles were caught going 56mph and 80 mph in the 30mph zone.  As a result, peak speeds need to be taken into consideration.

• The Department for Transport (DFT) had issued information which suggested that if you are  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Commission received a report which provided an update on a number of rural planning and housing issues, together with a request for comments on items which would subsequently be considered by Cabinet. 

(a) Village Design Supplementary Planning Document – draft for consultation

In presenting the item, the Policy and Strategy Manager informed the Commission that a Village Design Supplementary Planning Document (SPD):

• Supported an overarching planning policy of the Council.  The Council already had policies around design issues in rural areas, but Village Design SPDs allowed for specialised detail to be included.
• The Village Design Statements previously prepared by villages and parish councils had held virtually no weight in the planning system since 2004 when changes to government rules were introduced.
• Village Design SPDs were able to capture the most important parts of the village design statements to ensure that these issues once again held weight in planning matters.
• The document presented to the Commission was in draft format, but in summary these documents should be seen as an important tool for the Planning Committee when considering any rural planning application, so as to ensure good quality design and layout of buildings.  Village Design SPDs were not about the allocation of new sites for development.
• The Principal Built Environment Officer had been working closely the parish councils on developing each village’s Village Design SPD.  This draft document was brought to the Commission to seek its views.  The draft would be considered by Cabinet in December 2010 with public consultation to take place in January 2011, following which it would be further considered by the Cabinet.
• The Village Design SPDs were structured in two parts, the first which was to have some generic design policies which apply to all villages about building materials, brick walls, railings, frontage issues etc, and then more specific policies relating to the individual village, so that when a planning application for a new house is received, all of these criteria will be taken into consideration.
• The Village Design SPDs gave some power back to parish councils when it came time to comment on planning applications and to planning officers to negotiate, and grounds upon which Planning Committee may refuse applications.
• The preparation of Village Design SPDs were nearly complete for all villages and parish councils were very much welcoming the work.

During consideration, the following points were noted:

• The wording within the Policy Village Design SPD 1 had been lifted from the existing village design statement, and it was agreed by the Policy and Strategy Manager that some of the wording was open to interpretation.  This would be reviewed and strengthened by the Policy and Strategy Manager to eliminate any possible legal loopholes and to enable them to be used by planning officers.
• Some Village Design Statements have been found to be up to 8 or 9 years old.  The Principal Built Environment Officer has been working closely with Parish Councils to update these to make them relevant to today.

(b) Rural Housing Delivery Partnership  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

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.

No items on the forward plan were identified as areas for scrutiny.

The Commission reviewed and confirmed its work programme for the remainder of the municipal year.

Tuesday 11 January 2011 at 7.00pm, Bourges Room, Town Hall, Peterborough

The next meeting of the Scrutiny Commission for Rural Communities was scheduled to be held on Tuesday, 11 January 2011 commencing at 7.00pm.