Waverley Borough Council Committee System - Committee Document
Meeting of the Environment and Leisure Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 14/03/2005
MINUTES of the MEETING of the ENVIRONMENT AND LEISURE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE held on 14th March 2005
31
MINUTES of the MEETING of the ENVIRONMENT AND LEISURE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE held
on
14th March 2005
(To be read in conjunction with the Agenda for the Meeting)
*
Mr R J Gates (Chairman)
*
Mrs L S R Hodgson
*
Mrs M V M Hunt (Vice-Chairman)
*
Mrs S R Jacobs
Mr L C Bate
Dr P M Marriott
*
Mr M J Blower
*
Mrs P N Mitchell
Dr J F A Blowers
*
Mr J R Sandy
*
Mr M W Byham
*
Mr J M Savage
*
Mr R D Frost
*
Mrs J A Slyfield
*
Mr P Haveron
Mr A E B Taylor-Smith
Mrs P Hibbert
* Present
Mr M H W Band and Mr P Betlem attended as substitutes.
Mrs P Frost, Mr P Haveron and Mrs C E Savage were also in attendance. Mrs C E Savage spoke on Agenda Item 69, Appendix B.
62.
MINUTES
The Minutes of the Meeting held on 18th January 2005 were confirmed and signed.
63.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Mr L C Bate, Dr P M Marriott, Mr A E B Taylor-Smith. Mr M H W Band and Mr P Betlem attended as substitutes.
64.
DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS
The following personal interests were declared at the meeting in relation to Appendix F:-
Mr M H W Byham
Membership of Bramley Parish Council
Mr R J Gates
Membership of Bramley Parish Council
Mrs J A Slyfield
Membership of Godalming Town Council
Mrs P N Mitchell
A supporter of Elstead Village Hall
The following personal interest was declared at the meeting in relation to Appendix G:-
Mrs S R Jacobs
A subscriber to the cycling organisation SUSTRANS
65.
EXECUTIVE FOUR-MONTH ROLLING PROGRAMME (Agenda Item 5, Appendix A)
RESOLVED that the Executive Four-Month Rolling Programme of key decisions be received and noted.
66.
COMMITTEE WORK PROGRAMME (Agenda Item 6)
As agreed at the previous meeting of this Committee, Members voted on their preferred topics to form the basis of the Committee Work Programme for 2005/06. Each member received a list of all the suggested items, and was given 3 votes to signify their preference, one being for a reserve item. As there was an equality of votes, the Chairman’s casting vote was exercised.
RESOLVED that the items to be included on the work programme for 2005/06 to receive in-depth reviews are:-
(i) Exploring current issues regarding mobile phone technology;
(ii) Surrey County Council Highways Department input into development control decisions; and
(iii) Haslemere Museum - (
reserve item
)
67.
DRAFT WAVERLEY BOROUGH CYCLING PLAN
(Agenda Item 12, Appendix G)
The Committee considered a report which detailed a schedule of responses to the public consultation on the draft Waverley Borough Cycling Plan. As a result of the public consultation, various changes were proposed to the draft Plan and its associated annexes.
RESOLVED that the Waverley Borough Cycling Plan be recommended to the Executive for adoption as a Supplementary Planning Document.
68.
SOUTH EAST PLAN - DECISION MAKING PROCESS
(Agenda Item 13)
The Committee was updated that an extra Informal Council Meeting had been held on the South East Regional Plan on 28th February 2005. The Chairman, after consulting all Members had agreed that accordingly there was no need for the Committee to comment on the draft observations which would be considered by the Executive at its meeting on 5th April.
The Committee was also advised that there would be a further opportunity to debate the Council's formal representations on the Plan at a Special Council meeting to be held on this one matter only on 12th April 2005.
RESOLVED that the update be noted.
69.
WORK OF THE CONSTITUTION SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP (SIG)- PROPOSALS FOR IMPROVING WAVERLEY'S OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY PROCESSES
(Agenda Item 7, Appendix B)
The Committee received a report on the work of the Constitution Review Special Interest Group, which had been referred by the Executive, and sought the views of the Committee on proposals for improving Waverley's Overview and Scrutiny processes. A preliminary response from the Chairman of this Committee to the report was also circulated to all Members of the Committee before the meeting.
The Chairman of the Constitution Review Special Interest Group, Mrs C E Savage, also attended the meeting to inform the Committee of the research carried out by the Constitution Review Special Interest Group.
After a full discussion the Committee agreed the following observations on the improvements suggested by the SIG:-
·
The Committee agreed that the existing size of the Committee should be maintained but that this restricts the informality and style of meeting. The Committee noted that work already carried out by the Sub-Committees had been very successful. It was therefore agreed that smaller working groups and workshop mode should be used with less formality where possible, particularly for performance monitoring.
·
The Committee was in favour of an annual report to Council, Members agreed that this should include both the outcome of reviews and the Executive's responses to the Overview and Scrutiny Committees' observations.
·
It was agreed that it was not necessary to detail the Corporate objectives on the agendas;
·
It was agreed that advance notice of questions to Officers should be encouraged but that it should not be mandatory;
·
The Committee welcomed the proposal to change procedure rules to allow
s
ub-
c
ommittees to be established without Council approval and that this should be progressed as soon as possible, if possible at the next ordinary Council meeting;
·
The Committee acknowledged the value of involving members of the public with particular expertise in both previous in-depth studies and their forthcoming work; and
·
The Committee recognised that more resources for dedicated officer support were needed, but welcomed the provision in the budget of £3,000 to pay expenses.
RESOLVED that the report be noted and the observations outlined above be passed to the Executive.
70.
REVIEW OF DEVELOPMENT CONTROL
(Agenda Item 8, Appendix C)
The Committee considered the report which provided feedback on the Executive's views on this Committee's final report on the review of Development Control which the Executive considered at its meeting on 7th December 2004.
The Committee noted the positive outcome of the review undertaken by this Committee. The Committee did note however, that they had stated that the performance needed to be improved regardless of the amount of planning delivery grant received. The Committee also stated that they wished all the service improvements to be permanent and for there to be improvements in all areas of the service. The Committee also noted that as part of the list of future improvements a review of the Committee system had been mentioned. The Director of Planning and Development informed the Committee that there had been a meeting of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Development Control and Sub-Committees on this matter earlier in the evening.
RESOLVED that the report be received and the above observations be passed to the Executive.
71.
FLYTIPPING - IN DEPTH REVIEW
(Agenda Item 9, Appendix D)
The Committee considered the report which provided feedback on the Executive's decisions regarding the Committee's final report on the review of Flytipping. The Committee noted that some of its suggestions had not been implemented, an example being CCTV surveillance of problem areas, because of the resource implications. However, it was considered that everything else was achievable. The Committee stated that they were satisfied with the report and looked forward to seeing the initiatives taken forward.
RESOLVED that the report be received and the above observations be passed to the Executive.
72.
BEST VALUE AND LOCAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS: REVIEW OF WAVERLEY'S PERFORMANCE FOR THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 2004/05
(Agenda Item 10, Appendix E)
The Committee considered a report which detailed Waverley's performance during the first nine months of 2004/05 in respect of the best value and local performance indicators that fall within the remit of this Committee.
109 a-c - Officers informed the Committee that targets needed to be met by March 2007 and if targets were not met there might be intervention by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and it would take on the Development Control function. The ODPM had already reported that with Waverley's Planning Officers excessive case load, existing area Sub-Committee regime, number of items deferred and number of recommendations overturned meant we were more likely not to meet targets. Officers informed the Committee that targets were being met with 109c, other applications, but that 109 a, major applications, and 109b, minor applications, needed improvement.
L0DC 2 - Officers confirmed the importance of reaching this target because of its effect on reaching targets 109 a-c and the need to get the initial process correct.
170 c - Members agreed to the officers' request to reduce the target as performance was falling. Officers informed the Committee that targets were not being met because of the reliance on volunteers.
The Committee commented that in future the user satisfaction indicators (generated by triennial user satisfaction surveys) need only be reported every three years when there was new data to report.
The Committee also commented that it would like to see cumulative data in future.
RESOLVED that the two observations outlined above be passed to the Executive.
73.
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP FUND 2005/06
(Agenda Item 11, Appendix F)
The Committee received a report which considered the applications submitted to the Community Partnership Fund for 2005/06, including the Community Buildings Grant Scheme applications for 2005/06.
The Committee considered the applications within its remit and the use of the balance. The Committee agreed that the balance remaining after funding high priority schemes should be ring-fenced to fund further high priority projects that may emerge during 2005/06.
RESOLVED that the above observations be passed to the Executive.
The meeting concluded at 9.14 pm
Chairman
comms/o&s3/2004-05/078