Agenda and minutes
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Apologies for absence Minutes: No apologies for absence were received.
(At this point in the meeting it was explained that Councillor J. M. Boswell had been appointed as a Member of the Scrutiny Board.) |
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Declarations of Interest Minutes: No declarations of interest or whipping arrangements were made. |
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Joint Countywide Flooding Scrutiny Report Additional documents: Minutes: The Chairman welcomed Mr. Jordan (Democratic Services Manager from Worcestershire County Council) to the meeting. It was explained that unfortunately, the Task Group Chairman, Councillor M. T. King from Wychavon District Council, was unable to attend.
Members considered the Joint Countywide Report on Flooding in detail. Several comments were made and questions were raised relating to a number of issues including: riparian ownership; enforcement and prosecution; recommendations coming out of the Pitt Review; flash flooding; drainage responsibility; flood defence measures; roles of County Council, District Council and Parish Councils; responsibilities of other agencies such as Severn Trent, Environment Agency and Highways Agency; inconsiderate motorists; emergency planning and sustainability; clearing and maintaining ditches and culverts; role of elected Members; and Gold Command.
The Chairman was particularly interested in the issues surrounding riparian ownership which ranged from householders being unaware they were riparian owners to certain locations where it seemed impossible to establish riparian ownership. It was understood that this was an area which had been difficult for the Task Group to address.
It was explained that the Task Group was conscious not to duplicate the 90 recommendations coming out of the Pitt Review. However, some had been identified and highlighted within the Scrutiny Report to provide a strategic overview and others were picked out to give a ‘local flavour’.
It was stated that approximately £7.5m had been spent on remedial work by the County Council but there was a concern that there were many people who were still unable to move back into their own homes following the floods in 2007.
Issues relating to establishing Gold Commands were mentioned. It was understood that it was often difficult to predict the weather, however, it was agreed, that Gold Commands needed to be set up early as possible.
There was a brief discussion on the future role of Councillors and it was suggested that ‘Gold’ representatives should include an elected Member to enable them to provide community leadership and to help cascade information to local residents.
It was stated that advice was sought from the District Council before ditches or watercourses were cleared. However, it was pointed out that such work was not always necessarily the best solution as it could potentially cause flooding problems elsewhere. Therefore, it was important to ensure such work was co?ordinated. It was also confirmed that enforcement action could be taken by the District Council under the Local Government Act 2000.
Flood defence measures were discussed. With regards to sandbags, it was confirmed that the District Council was not legally responsible to provide sandbags. It was pointed out that sandbags slowed the flow of water rather than prevent water entering a building and there were also issues regarding the length of time sandbags could be used due to water contamination. It was stated that the advice generally given was that is was vital for householders to prepare for such an occurrence (for example taking up carpets, ensuring power points are higher and so on).
There was a ... view the full minutes text for item 3. |
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Additional documents: Minutes: The Head of Financial Services gave a presentation with updated information on the Medium Term Financial Plan (Revenue Budgets) for 2009/10 to 2011/12, including the proposed pressures and savings and the Capital Programme.
It was explained that the Budget linked to the Council’s Priorities, as agreed earlier in the year, and officers had also consulted a small cross section of the public which was called a ‘Budget Jury’.
Several questions were raised during and after the presentation with ensuing discussions. Items raised included: car parking charges; neighbourhood wardens; town centre redevelopment; community transport; CCTV; Street Scene vehicle replacement; chargeable green waste service; collection of Business Rates; spatial project savings; Monitoring Officer investigations; Equality and Diversity Forum bids; Customer Service Centre (CSC); Assistant’s Chief Executive’s team, including Improvement Manager; Basement Project and Foyer Scheme; consultants; and smoke free post.
There was a particular concern regarding the car parking charges. It was understood that the budget proposals suggested car parking charges would not be increased in 2009/10 and 2010/11. However, it was believed that having smaller annual increases at approximately the rate of inflation (2.5%) would be a better option than no increase followed by a high increase in future years. It was also noted that the same view was put forward by the Budget Jury.
With regard to car parking, questions were also raised regarding whether neighbouring areas, such as Kidderminster, had also seen a drop in car parking receipts.
It was explained that it was proposed that Neighbourhood Wardens would be increased by one rather than two posts in the proposed budget.
There was a brief discussion relating to the community transport bid and it was stated that this related to a recommendation put forward by the Public Transport (Buses) Task Group after consulting the Equality and Diversity Forum.
It was noted that there was funding within the Capital Programme to replace CCTV equipment. This led to a brief discussion on the effectiveness of CCTV in other areas and the possibility of removing CCTV equipment in Worcester City. It was believed that in Bromsgrove District, there was evidence to suggest that there had been a significant reduction in anti-social behaviour. However, it was suggested that West Mercia Police benefited from CCTV and therefore could be requested to make a financial contribution.
With regard to Street Scene Vehicle Replacement Programme, there was some concern that it included the green waste collections which would be a chargeable service from 2009/10. Therefore, it was believed that these should be separated as the new annual charge should cover the future cost of the service.
There was some confusion in relation to percentage of funds that were required for green waste, residual and recycling and it was requested that this be clarified. In relation to information on the chargeable green waste service next year, the Board was informed that the Head of Street Scene and Community had called a meeting for the following day to ensure all households in the District received the ... view the full minutes text for item 4. |
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Recommendation Tracker Review Additional documents: Minutes: Consideration was given to the report relating to reviewing the existing arrangements in place to monitor Cabinet approved recommendations from Overview and Scrutiny investigations.
RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny recommendations continue to be monitored by the relevant Board using the existing format on a quarterly basis. |