Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor S.A. Robinson with Councillor J.W. Robinson in attendance as named substitute.

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.

No declarations of interest were received nor of any whipping arrangements.

The minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 6^th January 2025 were considered.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 6^th January 2025 be agreed as a true and correct record.</AI2>

The attached papers were specified as “to follow” on the Agenda previously distributed relating to the above mentioned meeting.

The Assistant Director of Environmental and Housing Property Services presented the Strategic Parking Review and firstly apologised for the delay in the report for Member’s consideration.

Waterman Infrastructre and Environment were commissioned by Bromsgrove District Council to undertake the Strategic Review. The proposal was based on a brief that was discussed in consultation with the Cabinet Advisory Group (CAG) on 8th May 2024 and included three key deliverables:

• A review of existing and future parking requirements, including supply and demand carried out on a site-by-site basis with options to address existing parking issues.  The review was also required to be linked to the wider Worcestershire Transport Strategy due to regeneration objectives to increase town centre living and footfall to support retention of the existing traders. The review was also to include Leisure Centre users and the Shopmobility service.

• A review of car park management arrangements with solutions identified to reduce the need for off-street parking enforcement including an outline of costs, together with operational and enforcement issues.  Also to be included were recommendations for time and day of restrictions to address existing parking issues and assess enforcement requirements for identified parking management design options.

• Review of on-street enforcement to be carried out to address member and resident concerns around coverage of activities.  A review to concentrate on enforcement and hotspots for law breaking and nuisance was to be undertaken, focusing on repeat offences.

As part of the strategic parking review, car parks were assessed across several factors including capacity, condition, usage, proportions of blue badge parking and Electric Vehicle (EV) charging bays, safety and security, accessibility, convenience and usability.

As part of the discussions through CAG on 8th May 2024 and at the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 12th February 2024, there was a clear desire expressed by Members to ensure a more equitable balance in patrols across the whole District. The Service Level Agreement (SLA) with Wychavon District Council (WDC) included a 10% provision for out-of-town centre patrol time. To assist with on-street enforcement, the review of off-street enforcement was included.

On-street parking enforcement, together with off-street enforcement was contracted to WDC to administer the service with 5.5 Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) spread across the mainly rural District, which in turn, lead to coverage issues based on the geographical nature of the District.  Through the course of the review, Bromsgrove District Council (BDC) Officers had been working closely with WDC Officers to review patrols based on the feedback given by Members, regarding the volume of time spent within the parishes versus the town centre.  In the initial version of the SLA, there was an indication that 10% of patrol time should be spent outside of the town centre. As a consequence of the reviews of patrols, the proportion of time spent outside Bromsgrove town centre had increased.

Across most of the ward-based engagement with Members, issues around parking outside schools at peak times was frequently raised.  There was no uniform approach to addressing these concerns based on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 89/24

This item was deferred to the next ordinary meeting which would take place on 25^th March 2025.

This item was deferred to the next ordinary meeting which would take place on 25^th March 2025.

The Chairman of the Finance and Budget Working Group, Councillor P. McDonald updated the Board of the recent meeting which took place on 10^th February 2025. 

The group reviewed Tranche 2 of the Budget setting, and the following were discussed:

• The Council would be increasing the Council Tax by a further 1%.
• There was no increase in government funding and a balanced budget was to be taken from the general fund.
• After consideration of The Poverty Truth Commission presented during the meeting, Members requested further information to detail how the commission had helped individuals and to provide examples.  An extraordinary Finance and Budget Working Group meeting would take place on 18^th February 2025 for further consideration of this item.

RESOLVED that the Finance and Budget Working Group update be noted.</AI9>

<AI10>

The attached papers were specified as “to follow” on the Agenda previously distributed relating to the above mentioned meeting.

The Cabinet Work Programme was considered by the Board.

RESOLVED that the content of the Cabinet Work Programme be noted as per the preamble above.

The Overview and Scrutiny Board Work Programme was considered by Members, and it was agreed that the following would be added as items to consider:

·         Members suggested that the Board should review the implications of the decision that the Council no longer recycled waste on the Bromsgrove High Street. 

·         A Member advised the Board of a recent article provided by Martin Lewis, Money Savings Expert.  The report suggested that residents consulted with their local constituents to enquire how compassionate and fair the Council were with the debt recovery process for Council Tax, if residents were in financial difficulties.  Also, if bailiffs were a requirement, was the debtor charged further costs. 

RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme be noted.

The Overview and Scrutiny Action Sheet was considered by Members. 

Discussions were considered with regards to the removal of the Artrix scrutiny item from the action sheet. 

The Chairman expressed the view that the item was not appropriate to be held at the Committee for scrutiny and that discussions should be held with individual Members concerning the matter.

Other Members commented that the item was appropriate as a subject to be scrutinised by the Board to discuss the Trust’s prospects and to consider if further funding would be required.  It was felt that other outside charities, such as the Basement Project, had been of past consideration and scrutiny by the Board.

The Cabinet Member, Councillor S.J. Baxter advised Members to consider that funding for this matter was for maintenance purposes.

Following discussions and consideration of the item, the following recommendation was proposed by Councillor R. Hunter:

“That the Artrix item be reinstated onto the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme for scrutiny and consideration by the Board”.

The recommendation was proposed by Councillor R. Hunter and seconded by Councillor J. Robinson.

On being put to the vote the recommendation was lost.

RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny Board Action sheet be noted.

There was no urgent business for consideration.

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 items of business on the grounds that they involve 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:-

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 items of business on the grounds that they involve 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:-

Item No            Paragraph

12                     3

The Regeneration Project Delivery Manager presented the Levelling-Up Fund Programme – Quarterly Update to the Board as follows:

• The Windsor Street site was discussed and as of the 15^th of January, all the buildings on the site had been demolished.  The removal of the gas pipe in November had added a six-week delay to the project and incurred City Demolition’s standing time costs which were agreed at circa £118k.   
• Brownfield Solutions had reviewed the contaminated materials and installed monitoring wells as part of the remediation strategy.  Ground water monitoring had commenced in February 2025 and would continue until mid-August 2025.
• Further to the testing of two zones for contaminated material detecting 14 exceedances, the programme would be extended due to the analysis turnaround time.
• Thomas Lister had been appointed to support with the development appraisal that would inform the options paper. Officers had also engaged with Homes England to discuss potential funding streams, if the Council decided to develop the site.  Homes England confirmed that they could only provide funding for affordable housing above the policy requirements.
• Whilst the gas pipe removal added a six-week delay to the demolition programme, the project was continuing to progress in line with timescales and remained to be on track to be delivered by January 2026.
• The key risks affecting the project were contaminated land with further investigations required during the works, working adjacent to occupied buildings and right of way (easement across site).
• The Public Realm Works site was discussed.  Worcestershire County Council (WCC) were responsible for the design and delivery of the Public Realm element of the project, given their statutory responsibilities. Final prices were agreed and linked to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that existed between Bromsgrove District and Worcestershire County Councils who were delivering the works.
• Both the works on the High Street and on Chapel Street had been completed with an updated Risk Register provided to Members.
• The Council had requested a lesson learned workshop to be held with WCC.
• The Former Market Hall Site was discussed.  The main contract with Kier was signed on 29^th October 2024.  The main construction programme had commenced in November 2024.  Piling was completed at the end of December 2024 and groundworks had commenced in January 2025.
• During the Pre-Construction Services Agreement (PCSA), significant quantities of ground obstructions were discovered, leading to delays in the formal commencement of the main contract.
• Minor delays of six weeks had been incurred due to ground obstructions and Kier had formally submitted a claim for ground obstructions, loss and expenses.  The QS from Arcadis had reviewed the claim and considered it reasonable.
• Kier had provided the cash flow forecast.  Whilst the programme had a revised end date of January 2026, the Levelling-UP Fund (LUF) monies would be spent by the September 2025 deadline.  Officers had also received confirmation that BDC had an extension period until the end of March 2026 to spend the LUF money.
• In January, the LUF Board agreed to directly appoint  ...  view the full minutes text for item 98/24