Agenda item

Priority: Economic Development

P34 – Objective 4 – Action a) Put in place a plan to regenerate Spring Gardens, following the opening of the new leisure centre – A Member felt that this action should be given an unhappy face as no progress was being made and he suggested that a meeting of the Spring Gardens and Oldbury Road Regeneration Member Reference Panel needed to be held to discuss alternative solutions.

The Head of Finance and Asset Management explained that the preferred tenant for the site had indicated that it would not be investing in the near future based on concern following the Brexit decision.  Unfortunately the whole project had been built on the preferred tenant and alternative options would need to stack up financially.  The Chief Executive pointed out that this was a major long-term project for Tewkesbury Town centre and, whilst he appreciated it was difficult not to become impatient, it would be preferable to take the scheme forward as a whole.  Notwithstanding this, the Panel would meet in the New Year to consider the issues and take things forward from there.

Key Performance Indicators for Priority: Housing

P40 – KPI 11 – Total number of active applications on the housing register – A Member queried whether the figures for quarter 2 included the same people from quarter 1.

The Housing Services Manager confirmed that was likely to be the case.

Priority: Customer Focused Services

P43 – Objective 1 – Action b) Consider our approach to enviro-crimes with particular focus on fly-tipping and dog-fouling – A Member noted that the Executive Committee had recently received a report regarding the recruitment of an Environmental Warden which would be funded by Parish and Town Councils and he questioned whether the Borough Council should be putting more into the role given that it was a Key Performance Indicator.

The Environmental Health Manager explained that this had been discussed at the Executive Committee the previous week where Members had expressed the strong opinion that the project should be cost neutral to the Borough Council; the Council would offer its expertise in terms of employment, management, legislation, equipment etc.  The majority of Parish Councils had reacted well to that and most of the larger ones had indicated that they wished to play a part and would contribute financially.  A meeting was being held the following week for further discussions.  The Chief Executive clarified that the suggestion for the Environmental Warden role had come from the Parish and Town Councils initially.

P44 – Objective 3 – Action b) Let out the top floor of the Public Services Centre – A Member welcomed the approval of the Growth Hub bid but questioned whether there would be additional car parking provision as the Public Services Centre expanded further.

The Head of Finance and Asset Management explained that work on the overall plan for the Public Services Centre was ongoing, and footfall would need to be established; however, he understood that parking could be difficult and advised that it was intended to make improvements to Lower Lode Depot, which had spaces for 40-50 vehicles.  The Chief Executive indicated that, given the number of potential new users of the building, management of the car park would need to be dealt with effectively through a plan and he provided assurance that would be done accordingly.

In response to a query regarding how the Growth Hub linked with the letting out of the top floor, Members were advised that there were several individual projects underway and they needed to be brought together into a phased plan.  A number of positive meetings had been held with another local authority about its potential use of the building and there had been strong interest from an existing partner in relation to letting the top floor but advice was also being taken regarding a marketing strategy for putting it on the open market.  Costings were currently being put together for a full package of the works required for the Public Services Centre including refurbishment of the Civic Suite.  It was intended that a report would be brought to Members in February setting out the overall plan, the requirements to facilitate the letting out of the top floor and the renovation of the Lower Lode Depot and the Civic Suite which would bring the Public Services Centre to a position where it was fully refurbished.

Key Performance Indicators for Priority: Corporate

P48 – KPI 20 – Number of reported enviro-crimes – A Member indicated that this topic was discussed regularly by the Committee and needed to be addressed.  He suggested that achievable targets be introduced so that Members could see exactly what was being done to try to reduce the figures.

The Environmental Health Manager felt that this was a fair comment and he took on board the point about the need for SMART (specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic and time-based) targets.  The Committee was due to receive a further update on enviro-crimes at its meeting in February 2017 and he suggested this could form part of that report depending on the staffing resources at that time.  With regard to abandoned vehicles, he had received an email from the Police and Crime Commissioner who was looking to organise a meeting in the New Year to look at introducing community targets and ways of working between authorities; any progress would be shared with Members in due course.  It was to be borne in mind that enviro-crimes was a national issue and one which was very difficult to address.

A Member queried whether focusing additional resources in this area would help to address the problem and was informed that the Council had a deficit of £3.3M over the next five years and, whilst the Council would be discussing growth items in December, it was likely that any additional funding would need to be found from within existing resources.  The Chief Executive felt that it was not advisable to take on additional costs given the pressures on the existing budget.  There were already considerable resources within the Environmental Health department, the new Deputy Chief Executive would be in post in January and there would be a replacement for the Head of Environmental Services later in the year so he provided assurance that this issue would be dealt with.  A Member asked for costings to be included within the update report in February to identify whether any savings could be made and where additional investment may be needed.

P50 – KPI 27 and 28 – Number of anti-social behaviour incidents and number of overall crime incidents – A Member felt that it would be useful if these figures could be broken down to show where the incidents were taking place and to give more detail about the age of the people involved e.g. how many were under 18.

The Head of Corporate Services indicated that he would find out what information was available on MAIDeN (Multi-Agency Information Database for Neighbourhoods); he understood that breakdowns were provided by Ward and Parish but he was unsure about age.