Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received.

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.

There were no declarations of interest

• 8 September 2011
• 3 November 2011

The minutes of the meeting held on 8 September 2011 were approved as an accurate record.

The Senior Governance Officer informed the Committee that following Councillor North’s query regarding the minutes from the 8 September 2011 meeting she had  checked the notes taken and question regarding when the Environment Capital status would be achieved and when it was achieved what it would look like had been covered in the minutes.

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 November 2011 were approved 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 Commission.  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.

The report had been brought before the Committee to seek views on the draft Local Transport Plan Capital Programme 2012/13 and highways maintenance revenue schemes, prior to its consideration by the Cabinet Member for Housing, Neighbourhoods and Planning.  The report included the following information:

·         2012/13 Integrated Transport Capital Programme

·         2012/13 Highways Capital and Revenue Maintenance Programme

·         2012/13 Street Lighting Capital Maintenance Programme

·         2012/13 Bridge Capital Maintenance Programme

The Transport Planning Manager advised the Committee that the CPW had input from various areas:

• Local Transport Plan
• Neighbourhood Council Allocation
• Project requests
• Schemes  identified through monitoring regime
• Strategic Importance in the Growth Strategy
• Asset management Plan

Methodologies were used in order to determine which schemes were prioritised for each area.

Questions and observations were raised around the following areas:

·         What is a footway slurry seal?  It was a surface treatment that was put on footways over the existing black surface and therefore extended the life of the asset.  This was done instead of having to remove the existing surface.  It was the equivalent to the micro asphalt surface that was put on carriageways.

·         What does a footway slab replacement mean?  Slabs are taken up and replaced with a black surface.  The slabs are  then recycled and used within the sub-base construction of the new footway.

·         Members felt that residents would prefer to have slabs replaced with slabs within conservation areas so that the footway looked the same.   Small localised areas and conservations areas were replaced with like for like slabs.  For longer sections of works it was more cost effective to replace the section with the black surface coupled with the reduction in insurance claims for trips and falls on slabbed footways.

·         Does the council have a significant amount of natural slabs rather than the artificial ones and what was the difference in cost?  There were less natural slabs and they tended to be in the old imperial sizes.  It had been much more cost effective to replace slabs with black surface.  The cost of replacing slabs was £25 per square meter and much more labour intensive which meant it cost 20% to 30% more than using black surface.

·         Members felt it was important to keep conservation areas in keeping with the natural area.

·         The report had stated that under Innovative Travel there would be a contribution to a regional project to introduce charging points for electrical vehicles.  How many charging points will there be and where will they be placed.  It was a regional scheme and the council were working with partners to assess where and how many would be needed.  It was a match funded scheme and the Government were pushing to get electric vehicles in use. There were some charging points already in place but had not been connected up yet.  The Officer was unable to give specific details at this point.  It would be a staged implementation over the next five years and as the points became live the use of them would be monitored. 

·         Street lighting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The report provided the Committee with an overview of regulatory performance in the field of Environmental Enforcement.  In March 2011 Regulatory Services had been integrated into the Neighbourhoods Team allowing stronger engagement with communities providing increasingly aligned services to local community needs and priorities.  A presentation highlighted areas where Regulatory Services had been proactive in improving regulatory outcomes.  These included:

• Fly tipping
• Accumulations
• Business Waste
• Fly posting
• Littering
• Graffiti
• Dog Fouling
• Abandoned vehicles
• Road side sales of cars

Questions and observations were raised around the following areas:

·         The budget proposals state that there will be a reduction in Enforcement Officers from seven to four,  two of which will be based solely in the City Centre.  The Head of Neighbourhood Services informed members that there was a consultation being undertaken with staff with regard to a restructure in the Neighbourhoods team and there was a proposal to move Enforcement Officers into the city centre where there was more activity.  The Enforcement Officers through the consultation had been given the opportunity to come forward with ideas of ways of achieving the financial savings but retaining the level of commitment.  For example they had looked at heightening their enforcement activity to bring in more revenue and using a company called X4 a private sector business that mainly focused on littering offences.

·         What will be the amount saved from cutting the numbers of Enforcement Officers from seven to four. This would form part of a bigger package but it would be the region of £90K.

·         How will it be decided which of the seven would loose their jobs.  The Head of Neighbourhood Services was optimistic that jobs would be found for all of them but could not guarantee this.

·         How will it be decided who will work in the city centre?   Volunteers would be asked for first and then there would be a selection process.

·         Could money be taken from the Citizens Power Programme and used towards the Enforcement team.  Members were advised that there would be no any further investment in the Citizens Power Programme and therefore this would not be possible.

·         Members commented that the Enforcement Officers did an excellent job and neighbourhoods relied on the service that the Enforcement Officers provided and would not like to see the service diminish.

·         The report states that there had been 129 warning letters sent out for fly tipping but there had only been 7 prosecutions.  Why had there not been more prosecutions when you know who the people are.  It had been very difficult to identify the culprits.  Cases were looked at on an individual basis.  Householders sometimes paid people to dispose of their household items in the belief that they were legitimately licensed businesses but were not.  Unknown to the householder the items would then be fly tipped.  The fly tipped items would then be traced back to the householder who had no idea of what had happened and had been under the impression that it had been disposed off correctly.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The report informed the Committee on the work being undertaken to assess and tackle verge parking concerns across the city.  Various hot spots had been identified across the city which would be dealt with in a holistical and affordable approach.  There were now nine officers in post and a CCTV car tackling the issue.  Funding would be key to any scheme proposed.  Existing highway funds were limited and would need to be supplemented by Neighbourhood Committee funds if considered to be a neighbourhood priority and with Member Community Leadership funding where ward Councillors wished to support a scheme in their ward. Where advantageous to do so and funds were available, schemes to address verge parking problems would be aligned with planned highway improvements in order to reduce scheme costs.

Site specific measures to address the problem that could be considered and used in the highway included:

·     Installation of Grass-crete (porous concrete sections which facilitates grass to grow through) which allows parking on verges without the resultant damage.

·     Hardening of verge area by tarmacing.

·     Planting of suitable trees to act as a physical obstruction.

·     Planting of suitable low growth shrubs to act as a physical obstruction.

·   Introduction of Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO`s) whereby no waiting at any time (double yellow lines) could be installed which not only cover the road but to the highway boundary which included adjacent verges and footways.

·  Installation of suitable bollards or other street furniture which when positioned sensitively can act as a physical obstruction.

Questions and observations were raised around the following areas:

·         Members thanked the officers for all the hard work that had been done to try and resolve the verge parking issues and endorsed the approaches being taken.

·         Officers advised Members that there would be a rolling programme in place to address the verge parking problems and that the worst areas would be addressed as a priority.  It was envisaged that in twelve months time there would be some noticeable progress.

·         Members commented that green areas across the city should be taken into consideration when looking to concrete areas and should note areas that may flood.  Cheaper alternatives like planting trees and shrubs should also be considered.   Members were informed that site specific needs would have to be taken into consideration and there would be a need to be realistic with funding.  The aim would be to enhance the look and feel of the locality.

·         Members suggested that the officers look at using Capital Funding as it could be used for a strategic approach to tree planting.  Members were informed that all avenues of funding would be explored.

·         How do you deal with areas of housing that do not have enough parking spaces provided? A particular area of concern was Ploverly.  Members were informed that the authority was working closely with the Housing Associations to try and resolve this issue.  It may mean some capital investment for extra parking spaces.

·         Would we be wasting capital investment if enforcement  ...  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.

Members considered the Committee’s Work Programme for 2010/11 and discussed possible items for inclusion.

ACTION AGREED

To confirm the work programme for 2010/11 and the Scrutiny Officer to include any additional items as requested during the meeting.

Thursday, 22 March 2012

22 March 2012