Agenda and minutes

An apology of absence was received from Councillor R. J. Hunter, who was substituted at the meeting by Councillor D. J. Nicholl.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no declarations of interest nor declarations of party whip.

The minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting which was held on 16^th January 2024 will be published in a Supplementary Papers pack.

The minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 16^th January 2024 were considered.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 16^th January 2024 be agreed as a true and correct record.

The Overview and Scrutiny Board welcomed the Deputy Leader of Worcestershire County Council (WCC) alongside Officers from the County Council.

The WCC Deputy Leader introduced the presentation and stated that the County Council was committed to preserving all 21 libraries in the County. It was stated that the Libraries Unlocked scheme provided a way of allowing libraries to remain open despite significant financial pressures facing upper-tier authorities, particularly relating to adult social care (ASC) services and home to school transport of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The WCC Deputy Leader stated that the Libraries Unlocked scheme enabled library users who upgraded their membership to enter specific libraries outside of standard opening hours. The scheme had already live at Droitwich and Stourport Libraries for circa 18 months, with anecdotal evidence suggesting that there was high satisfaction with the scheme at those locations. Through the scheme, there was a reduction in total staff hours, however, library users were able to enter libraries and access range of services in the evenings, without a member of staff needing to be present.

It was highlighted by the WCC Deputy Leader that there was no proposal to reduce the range of activities offered at libraries; it was reiterated that Libraries Unlocked scheme would safeguard the future of libraries in the County in the face of financial pressures facing authorities.

Following the introduction by the Deputy Leader of WCC, County Officers provided a presentation on the Libraries Unlocked scheme, with the following matters highlighted for Members’ consideration:

• The open library service delivery model was identified in the Library Strategy 2020-25 as Worcestershire’s preferred transformation approach for sustaining the library network. This was approved by County Council’s Cabinet in December 2019; however, the implementation had been delayed due to Covid-19.
• Formal public consultation on library transformation options was undertaken in 2018-19. 2000 responses were received in addition to feedback from public meetings held across all libraries in the county. Therefore, the Libraries Unlocked scheme was a model based on and informed by customer feedback expressed in the consultation, particularly with regard to addressing barriers to customers using libraries when unstaffed and best times of day for libraries to be unstaffed.
• Key benefits of Libraries Unlocked scheme were listed as: increasing opening hours and thereby extending service availability to a wider community audience; growing libraries as community assets by increasing use of library space by community partners; future-proofing of Worcestershire Library network through a flexible delivery model; supporting recovery of library participation post pandemic.
• It was reiterated that staff support would remain available under the Library Unlocked model and would be timetabled throughout the week. The model provided a way whereby most library services remained accessible without library staff needing to be present.
• To mitigate the impact of reduced staff hours from Libraries Unlocked, the under 16s were surveyed (in phase 1 locations for implementation of Libraries Unlocked) to identify preferred times for visiting local library. The staff had been timetabled to reflect the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72/23

(Report to follow)

This report will be published in a Supplementary Papers Pack.

The Principal Democratic Services Officer introduced the report and in doing so noted that the Constitution Review Working Group (CRWG) had their last meeting on 30^th January 2024. At that meeting, the Group considered the suggestion that, wherever possible, opposition Councillors should be appointed to the positions of Chairmen of the Council, Audit, Standards and Governance Committee and Overview and Scrutiny Board.

It was noted that in 2023-24 Councillors from a political groups not represented on the Cabinet were Chairmen of the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee and Overview and Scrutiny Board (which complied with national best practice) as well as serving as the Chairman of the Council.  However, there was not currently a constitutional requirement for the Chairman of the Council to be a member from a political group that was not represented on the Cabinet.

It was reported that Members felt this needed to be formalized and the proposed amendments to the Committee Terms of Reference and the Council Procedure Rules, at Parts 5 and 8 of the constitution, were designed to enable the Council to continue in the future to appoint Councillors who are members of political groups not represented on the Council’s Cabinet wherever possible. It was stated that in the event that following future local elections insufficient numbers of opposition Members available to appoint to the positions of Chairmen of the Council, the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Board respectively, provisions were made in the proposed wording of the Committee Terms of Reference and Council Procedure Rules to enable other Councillors to be appointed to those positions, thereby ensuring that Council business could continue without disruption.

Following the presentation, Members raised questions with regard to the progress in implementation of Cabinet Advisory Group. It was responded that these were in the process of being set up and Members would be informed of any meeting dates once the Cabinet Advisory Group was established. Dates for meetings of Cabinet Advisory Group were also being added to the 2024-25 meetings calendar.

RECOMMENDED

1)    That the proposed amendments to the Committee Terms of Reference, at Part 5 of the Constitution, in respect of provisions as to the Chairmen of the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Board, be approved as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report;

2)    That the proposed amendments to the Council Procedure Rules, at Part 8 of the Council’s Constitution, in relation to the appointments of the Chairman of the Council and the Chairmen of the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Board, be approved, as detailed in Appendix 2 to the report.

RESOLVED

3)    That the update in respect of progress with the implementation of actions arising from the Governance Systems Task Group be noted.

(Report to follow). This report will be published in a Supplementary Papers Pack once the report has been published for consideration of the Cabinet (due to be published on Tuesday 6^th February).

The Development Services Manager presented the report on the Playing Pitch Strategy and in doing so drew attention to the fact that this was the outstanding strategy arising from the Leisure and Culture Strategy that was endorsed by Cabinet in October 2022 (the Leisure and Culture Strategy included recommendations that had been drawn from three further strategies that underpinned the main strategy. These were the Arts and Culture Strategy, the Parks and Open Spaces Strategy and the Built Facilities Strategy).

The Playing Pitch Strategy before Members covered the following aspects:

• How many playing pitch facilities there were in Bromsgrove?
• What was the quality of these facilities?
• Were these facilities accessible?
• What was the current demand?
• What was the future demand up to 2040?

Officers explained that the Council worked with a consultancy to ensure the exercise was undertaken in an independent and unbiased manner. In addition, a team of national governing bodies had overseen this work and Sports England acted as a supervisor and was responsible for signing off the Strategy.

It was further explained that the purposes of the Playing Pitch Strategy document were:

• To provide confidence to the Leisure Team when taking actions on playing pitches.
• To support the local planning authority in making confident decisions about protecting / enhancing provision of playing pitches in Bromsgrove.

It was highlighted that Sports England had to be consulted as a statutory consultee whenever an application that proposes removal or modification of playing pitches comes before the planning committee. The playing pitch strategy provided a framework document that allowed to determine applications in terms of implications on the playing pitch provision in the District.

The Development Services Manager presented the recommendations of the report. It was explained that the first recommendation asked that the Playing Pitch Strategy be endorsed, the second recommendation asked that the authority be delegated to the Head of Planning, Regeneration and Leisure, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Leisure, to implement the first tranche of recommendations of the Playing Pitch Strategy as listed in recommendation two of the report.

Following the presentation, Members discussed the contents of the report. The following points were raised:

• Reporting inaccuracies in the Playing Pitch Strategy – It was reported that as part of stage E of the Strategy, the national governing bodies’ representatives would continue to meet with Council officers in a Steering Group to monitor the progress of the Strategy. Elected Members would be able to raise any concerns or comments with Council officers who would then raise them at the Steering Group meetings.
• Section 106 Contributions from Developers – It was explained that the Council already collected money through the Section 106 agreement. The Playing Pitch Strategy document would allow the Council to be more precise in terms of how to spend any contributions on playing pitches and where there was demand. However, it was clarified that agreement with regard to Section 106 contributions are determined at the planning approval stage, and not decided via a Strategy, which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74/23

The proposer of the motion at full Council meeting, Councillor M. Marshall, addressed the Board. In doing so, he stated that Overview and Scrutiny had been asked by full Council to undertake a review of how to take immediate action to educate and equip residents for impending heatwaves, which had been made more likely by climate change.

Councillor M. Marshall reported that this was envisaged to be a short sharp review composed of a small group of Members to investigate what steps could be taken in the matter such as awareness campaigns, distributing guidelines and establishing cooling centres.

Members discussed the proposal and it was noted that there were national resources available which could help in undertaking the review, including Government guidance paper on hot weather and health from May 2023, and a report from National Audit Office on governmental resilience in extreme weather from December 2023.

The Interim Executive Director suggested that the Short Sharp Review Group could invite an emergency planning consultant to hear what was already being done locally in terms of planning for extreme weather conditions and what strategies could be usefully implemented.

During the discussion, it was agreed that all Members be contacted to ascertain who was interested in joining the Short Sharp Review Group prior to the membership being agreed by the Group.

RESOLVED that a Short Sharp Review Group be established to investigate actions that could be undertaken to protect residents from the impact of impending heatwaves.

The Chairman reported that the next meeting of the Group would take place on the 13^th February 2024 at which the Tranche 2 of the Medium Term Financial Plan 2024-25 and 2026-27 would be pre-scrutinised.

It was commented that as this was a key report which set out the budget, it should be pre-scrutinised by the parent Overview and Scrutiny Board, rather than a Working Group. It was asked that as part of the next year’s budget process, the item be on the agenda of the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

RESOLVED that the Finance and Budget Working Group Update be noted. 

The Chair of the Food Bank and Community Supermarket Provision Task Group, Councillor E. Gray, reported that the Group had almost finalised visits to all known food banks in the District. The Group would be able to meet and prepare recommendations once the visits had been undertaken and the Group had the chance to hold its second formal meeting.

RESOLVED that the Task Group Update be noted.

The Council’s Representative on the Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC), Councillor B. Kumar, reported that that HOSC was next due to meet on 19^th February 2024. It was reported that a communication had recently been received by HOSC representatives regarding the statistics on the number of calls to West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) made during the Christmas and New Year period. It was highlighted by Councillor B. Kumar that the capacity of the ambulance response system was under strain in 2023-24 where there were 2076 calls made to 111 and 999 on New Year’s Eve and New Year's Day alone. This represented a 16 per cent increase in calls compared to the previous year. It was reported that WMAS was looking at ways to minimise waiting times for people calling 111 and 999 numbers.

RESOLVED that the Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee Update be noted.

It was requested that the Cabinet item relating to the Local Heritage List Strategy be pre-scrutinised at the next Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting on 11^th March.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Work Programme be noted and that the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme be updated as per the pre-amble above.

It was noted that the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme would be updated with the item requested for pre-scrutiny under the previous item.

RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme be updated as noted under the previous item.

"RESOLVED: that under Section 100 I of the Local Government Act 1972, as

amended, the public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of

the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it/they involve(s) the

likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to

the Act, as amended, the relevant paragraph of that part, in each case, being

as set out below, and that it is in the public interest to do so:-

RESOLVED: that under Section 100 I of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, the public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it/they involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of scheme 12A to the Act, as amended, the relevant paragraph of that part, in each case, being as set out below and that it is in the public interest to do so:-

(Following this item, the meeting adjourned from 8.00pm to 8.10pm).

(Report to follow). This report will be published in a Supplementary Papers Pack once the report has been published for consideration of the Cabinet (due to be published on Tuesday 6th February).

The Deputy Chief Executive presented the update report in respect of Levelling Up Funding (LUF).

In doing so, it was noted that the Council had been awarded £14.1m of LUF in 2022. In addition to this, the Council had added £1.6m of its own funding.

Members were reminded that NWEDR provided overall programme management for the Bromsgrove LUF programmes. Given the changes to this arrangement in the future, plans were to be put in place on how these programmes were to progress moving forward.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was to be signed with Worcestershire County Council (WCC) to undertake the Public Realm works.

Officers reminded Members that the Planning application for the Market Hall site was to be considered at the Planning meeting due to take place on 19^th February 2024.

The present plan for the Market Hall site would result in a construction completion date of September 2025, which was six months after the present deadline for spending of any Government LUF Grant. The Council had been in communication with DLUHC and sought a six month extension to this project. This was provisionally approved by DLUHC on 5^th February 2024.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

(During consideration of this item, Members discussed matters that necessitated the disclosure of exempt information. It was therefore agreed to move to exclude the press and public prior to any debate on the grounds that information would be revealed Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

(Report to follow). This report will be published in a Supplementary Papers Pack once the report has been published for consideration of the Cabinet (due to be published on Tuesday 6th February).

The Interim Executive Director presented a report which detailed proposals for the termination of the shared service for North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration (NWeDR).

Members were informed that in the summer of 2023, the Leader of Wyre Forest District Council had approached the Leader of the Council and the Leader of Redditch Borough Council, which also formed part of the shared service, to advise them of Wyre Forest District Council’s intention to ask to end the shared service agreement. This shared service had been in place for over 10 years and had provided economic development and regeneration services in the north of the county during this time.

Subsequent to this approach, Officers had been attending meetings with representatives of Wyre Forest District Council to discuss this matter further and, subject to an exit agreement between all parties, the shared service would cease to operate on 30^th June 2024. End of terms were still being negotiated and would need to address issues such as indemnity clauses.

RECOMMENDED:

1)    To agree that the Collaboration Agreement relating to the Provision of Economic Development and Regeneration Services should be terminated mutually under clause 15.1 (Determination of this Agreement), with effect from 30 June 2024 and that a new Exit Agreement be entered into;

2)    Delegate to the Executive Director (interim) following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration, and Executive Director Resources to negotiate, finalise and approve the Exit Agreement and to take any other steps that arose from the termination process; and

3)    That an additional budget of £72,836 be approved for the new structure.

(During the consideration of this item, Members discussed matters that necessitated the disclosure of exempt information. It was therefore agreed to move to exclude the press and public prior to any debate on the grounds that information would be revealed which related to the financial and business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and which related to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the authority or a Minister of the Crown and employees of, or office holders under, the authority).