Agenda and minutes

When the continuous alarm sounds you must evacuate the building by the nearest available fire exit. Members and visitors should proceed to the visitors’ car park at the front of the building and await further instructions (during office hours staff should proceed to their usual assembly point; outside of office hours proceed to the visitors’ car park). Please do not re-enter the building unless instructed to do so.

In the event of a fire any person with a disability should be assisted in leaving the building.   

33.1          The evacuation procedure, as noted on the Agenda, was advised to those present.

34.1          Apologies for absence were received from Councillor P N Workman.  There were no substitutes for the meeting. 

35.1          The Committee’s attention was drawn to the Tewkesbury Borough Council Code of Conduct which was adopted by the Council on 26 June 2012 and took effect from 1 July 2012.

35.2          There were no declarations made on this occasion.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 July 2022.

36.1          The Minutes of the meeting held on 12 July 2022, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. 

To determine whether there are any questions for the relevant Lead Members and what support the Overview and Scrutiny Committee can give to work contained within the Plan.

37.1          Attention was drawn to the Executive Committee Forward Plan, circulated at Pages No.20-27.  Members were asked to determine whether there were any questions for the relevant Lead Members and what support the Overview and Scrutiny Committee could give to the work contained within the plan. 

37.2          The Corporate Services Manager advised that, following engagement with services across the Council, the Executive Committee Forward Pan was now looking more healthy with a number of items having been added.  A Member noted that a report on the Licensing Services Review and Restructure was due to be considered at the meeting on 5 October 2022; however, in the Council Plan Performance Tracker Quarter One 2022/23 report, due to be considered at Agenda Item 7 of today’s meeting, it mentioned this had been delayed and could not be completed until January 2023 due to an IT issue.  The Member also asked if the costs of GDPR administration for CCTV in taxis was being taken into account as he understood that consultation was currently underway.  In response, the Head of Community Services confirmed this item had been delayed and would be taken to the Executive Committee later in the year, although he did not have a confirmed date for that as yet.  In terms of CCTV in taxis, he advised that no decision would be made until consultation with the trade had finished.  The outcomes of the consultation would be reported to the Licensing Committee in due course.

37.3          A Member noted that a report on the new draft Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Charging Schedule was due to be taken to the Executive Committee in November and he asked if that would address situations whereby other local authorities benefited from CIL monies for properties built within Tewkesbury Borough on allocated sites within the Joint Core Strategy.  The Head of Development Services explained there was an agreement in place that 70% of strategic CIL money was collectively pooled by the three Joint Core Strategy authorities.  It was noted that the CIL was a strategic money pot and was not spent on individual sites.  All of the projects on the Infrastructure Funding Statement currently related to transport; these were all expensive projects with the majority costing around the £10m mark whereas the CIL pot was around £1-2m so no bids had been made to date.  The Member raised concern there was a lot of outstanding infrastructure which was desperately needed in parts of the borough including schools, roads, flood defences etc. and he asked who decided where money from the CIL pot was actually spent as he was seeing more infrastructure within other authority areas than in Tewkesbury Borough which was the one with the most development.  In response, the Head of Development Services advised that the Infrastructure Delivery Plan was part of the Joint Core Strategy; the total infrastructure for all transport required totalled £90m so the authorities were working with the County Council to establish key priorities and identify additional funding streams.  She provided  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

To consider the forthcoming work of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the actions arising from previous meetings.

38.1          Attention was drawn to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme, circulated at Pages No. 28-37, and the action list setting out the actions arising from meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee between October 2019 and June 2022, circulated at Pages No. 38-47.  Members were asked to consider the Work Programme and action list.

38.2          The Corporate Services Manager advised that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee workshop to review the Capability Policy had taken place on 23 August where it had been agreed that a further session would be held to consider the draft revised policy prior to bringing that to the Committee for endorsement.  In order to facilitate the workshop, that item would now be moved to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 22 November 2022.  Members were also advised that the Place Leisure Presentation which was currently included in the pending items section of the Work Programme had now been arranged for the meeting on 11 October 2022.  Work was underway with other relevant Officers to schedule in the remaining pending items. 

38.3           A Member noted that use of mobile surveillance equipment for fly-tipping investigations was still included in the pending items section and he asked if the cameras had been purchased and deployed as Members had asked to be notified when that had happened.  The Head of Community Services confirmed that the cameras had been received about three weeks ago and these had been deployed to known hotspot areas; if Members were aware of any areas where there were regular problems, he asked them to let him know so they could be investigated.

38.4           In terms of the action list, the Corporate Services Manager advised that 13 of the 22 actions had been completed.  Two actions related to the proposed training session on the Government’s Housing Design Guide and it was hoped the target date of September would be achieved.  It was noted that the two actions relating to Ubico, set out at Pages No. 40 and 44 of the report, would be removed from the action list as soon as the information was provided.  The following issues were raised during the discussion:

To review and scrutinise the performance management and, where appropriate, to require response or action from the Executive Committee. 

39.1          The report of the Head of Corporate Services, circulated at Pages No. 48-107, attached the performance management information for quarter one of 2022/23.  The Overview and Scrutiny Committee was asked to review and scrutinise the information and, where appropriate, identify any issues to refer to the Executive Committee for clarification or further action to be taken.

39.2          Members were informed that this was the first quarterly monitoring report for 2022/23 and represented the latest information in terms of the status of the actions set out in the Council Plan which was refreshed and adopted by Council on 26 July 2022.  Progress against delivering the objectives and actions for each of the six Council Plan priorities was reported through the performance tracker, attached at Appendix 1 to the report, which was a combined document that also included a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).  The remaining actions from the COVID-19 Corporate Recovery Plan had been incorporated into the Council Plan Performance Tracker so there would be one strategic document going forward.  Key financial information was also reported alongside the tracker documents with a revenue budget statement attached at Appendix 2 to the report, a capital monitoring statement attached at Appendix 3 to the report and a reserves position summary attached at Appendix 4 to the report. 

39.3           Key actions for the quarter were highlighted at Paragraph 2.3 of the report and included adoption of the Tewkesbury Borough Plan; approval of an interim Medium Term Financial Strategy; submission of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund Investment Plan; and completion of the solar canopy in the rear car park at the Public Services Centre.  Members were reminded that, due to the complex nature of the actions being delivered, it was inevitable that some would not progress as smoothly or as quickly as envisaged and the details of those actions were set out at Paragraph 2.4 of the report.  It was noted that not all actions started at the same time so any which were yet to commence had been ‘greyed out’ in the tracker with indicative dates for commencement stated.  In terms of KPIs, the status of each indicator was set out at Paragraph 3.2 of the report and KPIs where direction of travel was down and/or not on target, were set out at Paragraph 3.3. of the report.  Particular reference was made to KPI 18 – Percentage of minor applications determined within eight weeks or alternative period agreed with the applicant - as the quarter one outturn figure was a significant improvement on the 2021/22 full year outturn despite the target figure not being met for the quarter.  Similarly, performance in relation to KPI 22 – Investigate category C cases within 10 working days – had also improved when compared to the 2021/22 outturn figure albeit the target for quarter one had not been achieved

39.4           During the debate which ensued, the following queries and comments were made in relation to the Council Plan Performance Tracker:

To approve the proposed Terms of Reference for the review of the Economic Development and Tourism Strategy. 

40.1          The report of the Community and Economic Development Manager, circulated at Pages No. 108-112, set out, at Appendix 1, the proposed Terms of Reference for the review of the Economic Development and Tourism Strategy which Members were asked to approve.

40.2          The Community and Economic Development Manager indicated that the Committee had expressed a desire to assist with the review of the Economic Development and Tourism Strategy which played a key role in the Council’s growth agenda.  As the first stage of the review, consultants had been commissioned to undertake an economic assessment of the borough and it was recommended that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, along with the Lead Member for Economic Development/Promotion, receive a presentation/workshop from the consultants on their findings, following which the draft strategy would be produced for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and approval by the Executive Committee.

40.3          Accordingly, it was

RESOLVED           That the Terms of Reference for the review of the Economic Development and Tourism Strategy be APPROVED as set out at Appendix 1 to the report.

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting (21 July 2022). 

41.1          Attention was drawn to the report from the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee, circulated separately, which gave an update on matters considered at the meeting held on 21 July 2022.

41.2          The Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee advised that the meeting had focused on public transport and Members had received an overview of the mass transit project and how it related to decarbonisation.  He indicated that ambitious actions were needed to close the emissions gap including reducing 7.5% of car trips and increasing the use of public transport by 100%.  He advised that the aspiration was for an entirely integrated mass transit system alongside a fully developed express bus network and a high-quality interchange service for all areas which was accessible by public transport with simple and affordable fares and clear information about the system.

41.3          A Member questioned if there had been any indication as to how it was intended to achieve the target of increasing public transport usage by 100% and the Council’s representative advised that had not been specified.  Another Member raised concern that there was a lack of awareness of the cost of travelling on public transport and that would need to be addressed if the ambitions were to be realised – it mentioned affordable fares but they would need to be affordable for everyone. 

41.4          A Member asked for clarification as to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s role in terms of actioning the proposals and how departments such as planning were assisting with the ambitions in terms of increasing public transport use.  The Council’s representative explained that transport and highways was a County Council issue; the Committee’s role was to scrutinise the actions of County Officers.  The Head of Development Services advised that, although the County Council was doing a lot of the work within the Local Transport Plan, it would be taken into account in the overall planning for the Joint Strategic Plan so she provided assurance Officers were keeping a close watching brief on the project.  The Member raised concern that one of the main issues was the lack of space for cycle/pedestrian routes etc. on existing development so he was keen to ensure that was being taken into consideration for new development.  He felt that behavioural change was a significant factor so it was important to give people a choice – for instance, bus service provision was a problem, particularly in rural areas.  Another Member agreed with the points raised about affordability and felt that was where efforts should be focused.

41.5          It was

RESOLVED           That the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee update be NOTED.

The Chair will move the adoption of the following resolution:

That under Section 100(A)(4) Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

42.1          The Chair proposed, and it was

RESOLVED          That, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act                               1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following                              items on the grounds that they involve the likely discussion of                                    exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the                          Act. 

To approve the separate Minutes of the meeting held on 12 July 2022.

43.1          The separate Minutes of the meeting held on 12 July 2022, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.