Agenda item

The Committee considered a report which detailed the pilot of amended service delivery for Worcester City Council.

Members were reminded that at the Joint Committee meeting held on 22nd November 2012, Members had agreed to sanction a pilot of amended service delivery for Worcester City Council with the objective of saving £40,000 during the financial year 2013/2014.

Mr. M. Kay, Business Manager, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) introduced the report and in doing so informed the Committee that work had started in order to determine which areas of work would be suitable for such a pilot.  A meeting had been held on 30th January 2013 with officers from Worcester City Council (WCC) where a suite of costed alternatives was suggested.  It was made clear during the meeting that certain areas of work would not be suitable for the pilot and that nothing within the pilot should result in additional work for WCC.

Further work was carried out and WCC were offered a ‘menu’ of alternatives which resulted in an additional meeting on 8th March 2013, where it was agreed to use planning consultations and some areas of nuisance (air pollution and accumulations) as a basis for the pilot.  The aim was to reduce the number of planning applications WCC referred to Worcestershire Regulatory Services and to promote self-help to reduce the level of nuisance complaints dealt with.  On 22nd March 2013 written confirmation of these proposals was sent to WCC.  On 19th April 2013 WCC reported that they could not proceed with the current proposal to reduce the level of planning consultations and that an alternative had to be found.  On 29th May 2013 final agreement was reached and amounted to a three month pilot to:-

a)    Reduce the number of planning consultations, currently 150-200 per year, by planning officers at Worcester City Council screening referrals.

b)    The three areas of nuisance, (air pollution, drainage and accumulations of rubbish) not to be dealt with at first contact but complainants be referred to Worcester City Council website and encouraged to self-help.

It was proposed that with respect to nuisance complaints falling into the above category, complainants would be directed to Worcester City Council (WCC) website and encouraged to self-help, i.e. approach the persons causing the nuisance and ask them to desist.  To help with this a template of letters etc. would be placed on WCC website and the hope was that this would reduce the number of investigations WRS would have to carry out.  Monthly meetings to assess progress would be held and the pilot would be assessed after three months in order to see if it had achieved the purpose of reducing WCC costs, and if so, by how much.

The Business Manager, WRS responded to Members questions with regard to elderly and vulnerable residents and highlighted that elderly and vulnerable residents would not be asked to self-help, duty officers would ascertain if residents were elderly or vulnerable.  Duty officers would also refer to any historical data.

The Business Manager, WRS further responded to Members questions with regard to planning consultations, planning officers would not have the expertise to deal with some applications, e.g. air pollution.  The Business Manager, WRS agreed, but informed Members that planning officers would be issued with self-help tools and guidance to deal with other planning applications, thus reducing the number of planning consultations forwarded to WRS.

RESOLVED:

(a)       that the Worcester City Council pilot for revised service delivery, be noted: and

(b)       that a further report at the completion of the three month pilot, detailing projected cost savings (if any) and any other associated issues raised by the introduction on the changes, be brought back to the Joint Committee.