Agenda item

Task Group Updates

Meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Board, Monday 10th June 2019 6.00 p.m. (Item 9/19)

Minutes:

Members considered whether to continue with two Task Groups and a Short Sharp Review that had been approved by the Overview and Scrutiny Board in the 2018/19 municipal year. Each of these reviews was discussed in turn:

(a) Bromsgrove Sporting Football Club Task Group

Members noted that the Bromsgrove Sporting Football Club Task Group had not yet had a meeting. In 2018/19 Councillors C. A. Hotham, R. Jenkins, R. J. Laight, M. Thompson and S. Webb had been appointed to the group. Councillors Laight and Webb could no longer serve on the group as they had been appointed Chairman of the Council and a Portfolio Holder on the Cabinet respectively. Members concurred that it would be easier to complete the review quickly if only Board Members were appointed to this group.

The Board discussed the scope of the review. It was suggested that this could be expanded to take account of the success of Alvechurch Football Club and some local rugby clubs. However, Members noted that the focus of the review had been on the rent paid by Bromsgrove Sporting Football Club and the work it did in the community, and therefore it would not be appropriate to extend this review to look at the success of other local sports clubs.

The group had not met in 2018/19 as it had proved difficult to identify a date when all Members would be available. However, it was suggested that Members had a responsibility to make themselves available if they chose to serve on a Task Group.

The potential to review the subject at a series of Board meetings, rather than through a Task Group exercise was briefly discussed. It was suggested that the Legal Department could be invited to present an update in respect of the legal position at a Board meeting and this would help Members to clarify whether further investigation was required. However, Members also noted that a Task Group would be in a better position to review this subject in detail and could receive the update from the Legal Department at a meeting.

Members noted that the review could be completed in 2 or 3 meetings. However, Members agreed that should no meetings have taken place by August 2019 the Board would reconsider whether this review should take place.

(b) Business Rates Relief Short Sharp Review

Councillor Thompson reported that the Business Rates Relief Short Sharp Review had met twice. The review had been established following the referral of a Motion from Council on the subject of business rates relief to the Overview and Scrutiny Board. As the review had been launched as a result of a referral from Council Members concurred that this exercise should continue.

The Executive Director of Finance and Corporate Resources informed Members that the Council had been provided with funding to help businesses navigate the costs of the rise in business rates. Not all of this funding had been spent in 2018/19 and some had had to be returned to the Government. A similar amount of funding had been provided to the Council this year and the group could help Officers identify how to spend the balance of this funding both in 2019/20 and 2020/21.

The membership of the group was also considered. In 2018/19 Councillors S. R. Colella, M. Glass, R. J. Laight, P. McDonald, P. Thomas and S. Webb had been appointed to the review. Following Councillor Laight’s appointment as Chairman of the Council and Councillors P. Thomas and S. Webb’s appointments as Portfolio Holders on the Cabinet they could no longer serve on this group. Members agreed that to ensure the review was completed quickly Board Members should be appointed to serve on this group.

Councillor S. R. Colella, who had originally proposed that this review should take place, explained that the focus of the investigation was on Worcestershire County Council’s Local Transport Plan 4 (LTP4). The LTP4 was an infrastructure investment plan for the county, but concerns had been raised about the planned investment in infrastructure within Bromsgrove district. Many strategic routes in the district had high levels of congestion and poor air quality and the Task Group could investigate the extent to which the LTP4 addressed these problems. The review would be focusing on an area that had implications both for the economic vibrancy of the district and for the health and wellbeing of local residents.

Questions were raised during the meeting about whether the review was still needed. Since the Overview and Scrutiny Board had agreed to establish this Task Group Worcestershire County Council had agreed to review a whole range of highways infrastructure and traffic issues in Bromsgrove District. Concerns were raised that a scrutiny investigation of this subject could place that work and the development of positive working relationships between the county and district levels at risk. Furthermore, Members noted that many issues in respect of transport infrastructure had been raised in a review of transport planning which had been carried out by the Board and been concluded at the end of the previous municipal year. Members also noted that a Task Group review of this subject could report their findings to the team undertaking the strategic review of transport at Worcestershire County Council and the Group would also have the benefit of reporting local experiences and observations.

The Board noted that it had previously been agreed that only two Task Groups and / or Short Sharp Reviews should take place at any one time. The review of the LTP4 had not yet started as the reviews of Business Rates Relief and Bromsgrove Sporting Football Club were still taking place. In this context, Members agreed that the Strategic Planning and Conservation Manager and relevant officers from Worcestershire County Council should be invited to attend a forthcoming meeting of the Board to explain what stage had been reached with the strategic review of highways and the implications for the district. Based on this Members could then determine whether any further investigation of this subject was required.

In conclusion to the discussions about these Task Groups and the Short Sharp Review Members noted that it was important to complete scrutiny work that had been agreed in the previous municipal year to provide Members with time to focus on issues that had been identified in 2019/20. With this in mind the Board agreed that members of all of the Task Groups and the Short Sharp Review should commit to completing their investigations as soon as reasonably possible.

RESOLVED that

(a) The Bromsgrove Sporting Football Club Task Group review should continue;

(b) Councillors S. P. Douglas, C. A. Hotham, R. J. Hunter and M. Thompson should be appointed to the Bromsgrove Sporting Football Club Task Group;

(c) Councillor R. Jenkins should remain a member of this group, subject to her agreement to continue to serve on the Bromsgrove Sporting Football Club Task Group;

(d) The Business Rates Relief Short Sharp Review should continue;

(e) Councillors S. R. Colella, M. Glass and M. Thompson should be appointed to the Business Rates Relief Short Sharp Review;

(f) Councillor P. McDonald should remain a member of this group, subject to his agreement to continue to serve on the Business Rates Relief Short Sharp Review;

(g) The Strategic Planning and Conservation Manager and relevant officers from Worcestershire County Council should be invited to attend a forthcoming meeting of the Board to explain the stage reached with the strategic review of highways and the implications for the district; and

(h) The Overview and Scrutiny Board to reconsider whether the WCC LTP4 Task Group exercise should be launched after resolution (g) above has taken place.

Supporting documents: