Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 6.

The Democratic Services Officer drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out on the Agenda.

There were none.

Members who have an interest to declare are asked to:

a)  State the Item Number in which they have the interest

b)  The nature of the interest

c)  Whether the interest is personal, or personal and prejudicial

Any Member who is unsure about the above should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer prior to the meeting in order to expedite matters at the meeting itself.

There were none.

There were none.

At the time of publication no notifications had been received.

The Chair informed the meeting that 6 speakers would address the Panel related to the Update on Bus Services.

To confirm the minutes of the above meeting as a correct record.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 22^nd July 2010 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Councillor Roger Symonds informed the Panel that he still didn’t receive information related his query on what the full impact of the Food Waste collections would be.

The Safer and Stronger Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel are asked to:

1. Receive and comment on a presentation summarising the approach towards doorstep crime in Bath & North East Somerset celebrating our success in particular on a number of cases and, identifying areas of support where the Panel can influence. 

2. Hear about ‘No Cold Calling Zones’, which will highlight key issues of their work within the community.

Sergeant Geoff Cannon and Beth Shire gave a presentation (attached) where they highlighted following points:

·  Crime reduction methods for doorstep crime

·  Extracts from the Police distraction burglary problem profile (produced July 2008)

·  Distraction burglaries – the definition

·  Rogue Traders

·  What’s being done to combat these crimes

·  Multi - Agency Doorstep Crime Forum set up Sept. 2008

·  ‘No Cold Calling’ zones

·  A snapshot of where distraction burglaries were committed

·  Practices that are banned under Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008

·  Other listed offences and;

·  Example of one rogue builder that was jailed for 21 months.

The Panel asked the following questions and made the following points:

The Chair said that she contacted the Police, on behalf of her Ward citizens, in relation to doorstep crime and that she didn’t receive any information back on what had happened with the cases she reported. She felt that community representative should have kept informed on developments. Councillor Pritchard, who is Council’s representative on Community Safety Partnership, agreed with the Chairs view and urged the Police to feedback the case/s development to people who report those on behalf of the community.

Sergeant Geoff Cannon agreed with the comments from Councillors and assured the Panel that it would be Police’s intention to improve the feedback to those who report the crime. He added that the Police developed the practice to feedback to victims of the crime.

The Chair thanked Sergeant Geoff Cannon and Beth Shire for their presentation. On behalf of the Panel she praised the Police for the work done to combat doorstep crime urged them to continue with the same pace.

It was RESOLVED to note the presentation.

The Panel will have a debate with British Transport Police representatives on public transport safety.

Sergeant Mike Harris gave a verbal update on the work of the British Transport Police (BTP).

There were 2,700 BTP officers across the country. Majority of resources were in London following the 7^th July events. The Bristol office, which covers a wide area in the South West, is open 24 hours 365 days in a year with an establishment of 1 Inspector, 5 sergeants, and 16 police officers. The new Bristol area Neighbouring Policing Team (NPT) based at Bath Spa Railway Station has also 6 BTP Police Community Safety Officers (PCSOs) who have the different powers than traditional PCSOs (including a 30 minute detention power with conditions) and training to deal with the less serious matters thus reducing the amount of time they spend away from the patrol.

Sergeant Harris informed the Panel that the footfall for all 15 platforms on the Bristol rail stations was 7 million whilst for all 2 platforms on the Bath Spa station was 5 million. This was because people coming to Bath were tourists or because of the night time economy in Bath.

Sergeant Harris also informed the Panel about the NPT policing strategy, NPT’s introduction to neighbourhood teams and the advantages of the NPT (a document named ‘Bristol Area Neighbouring Policing team based at Bath Spa railway station’ is attached to these minutes). He also added that the NPT had been running for 2 years now and since then there was a 70% reduction in staff assault. The Bath Spa railway station is due to be revamped and one of the first improvements would be installation of metal detector at the station. 

The Panel asked the following questions and made the following points:

Councillor Symonds asked about the office cover for Saturday nights.

Sergeant Harris responded that 2 PCSOs are on duty on Saturday nights.

Councillor Symonds asked about the contact details for the BTP.

Sergeant Harris said that people could call 0800 405040 or by emailing him on mark.harris@btp.pnn.police.uk .

The Chair asked if the BTP controls buses as well.

Sergeant Harris responded that the BTP was responsible for trains and railway stations only. The Police are in control of the buses.

The Chair, on behalf of the Panel, thanked Sergeant Harris for the informative and interesting update.

It was RESOLVED to note the update.

The Panel will receive a presentation on this item from the Transportation Policy Manager. The consultation documents are currently available to view on the Travel Plus website.

http://travelplus.org.uk/our-vision/joint-local-transport-plan-3/let's-talk---read-the-draft-jltp3 .

Adrian Clarke gave a presentation (attached to these minutes) where he highlighted following points:

·  Framework JLTP3

·  Partners

·  Vision

·  Key transport goals

·  JLTP3 Structure

·  Key features JLTP3

o  Reduce carbon emissions

o  Support economic growth

o  Equality of opportunity

o  Safety, security and health

o  Quality of life

o  Targets

·  Future Changes

·  Three emerging themes for JLTP3

The Panel asked the following questions and made the following points:

Councillor Hedges welcomed the presentation. However, he felt that although the plan was good for the region it did not address needs of local communities. Issues like reduced buses, schools closing and similar could not be forecasted in the JLTP3. Councillor Hedges suggested that the JLTP3 should be divided and adjusted to each area within the region.

Adrian Clarke responded that things such as home to school transport, school travel and similar had been raised in the JLTP3. There were also other plans in the strategy and all of those would be implemented following the consultation with the community.

Councillor Symonds said that although the presentation mentioned more than once that targets would be to increase cycling, bus travel, etc, he could not see any investment in infrastructure to support these targets. He felt that such infrastructures were not developed in Bath and North East Somerset Council.

The Chair said that there should be a higher government prioritisation of the bus use. She also said that this Council should set the example in terms of an increase in cycling. The Chair asked where all the comments, made by Scrutiny Panels, ultimately go.

Adrian Clarke responded that all the comments would be fed to the West of England Partnership Executive Committee and ultimately the JLTP3 would need to be approved by each Council in the region.

It was RESOLVED to note the presentation and for the officer to take comments made in the debate on board.

The Panel are asked to note this update.

The Chair introduced this item by saying that the Panel would have the opportunity to debate the bus services update after 6 members of the public, who submitted their requests to speak at the meeting, address the Panel.

Pamela Galloway addressed the Panel by saying that in the absence of the former Public Transport Liaison Panel there was no place for the public to bring their concerns about buses. Therefore, a Bath Bus User Group had been set up to bring together all bus users in the whole of Bath. So far there were two meetings of the group and the group was looking to involve more people from other areas so they could become truly representative of all bus users in Bath and North East Somerset.

Full statement is available on the minute book in Democratic Services.

Pat Lunt read out five aims and objectives of the Bath Bus Users Group and said that the group would be seeking to become a statutory consulter on bus issues.

Full statement is available on the minute book in Democratic Services.

Linda Patterson said that the new Bath Bus Users Group is calling for the reinstatement of the Public Transport Liaison Panel which should operate along its previous remits and similar to the successful South Gloucestershire Public Transport Forum. She also asked that the Bath Bus Users Group would like to be a part of this Panel.

Full statement is available on the minute book in Democratic Services.

Anne Hardy said that the steering group of the Bath Bus Users Group had been made of members of the ‘Save our 6/7 Buses Campaign’, people from Combe Down who have been campaigning for improvements on 1 & 2 bus services in Combe Down and Pat Lunt from Odd Down. She also invited all members of the public who have interest in monitoring and improving bus services in Bath to come for the next meeting of the group.

Full statement is available on the minute book in Democratic Services.

David Redgewell said that the Act 2008 allows for this forum to be set up. He also gave Panel Members articles from different newspapers which covered safety issues on railway stations, bus safety and future bus plans.

Newspapers articles are available on the minute book in Democratic Services.

John Earp questioned the statement in the update from the officer on return regular bus services to Great Pulteney Street with the change in No4 bus routing.

Full statement is available on the minute book in Democratic Services.

The Panel asked the following questions and made the following points:

The Chair said that this Panel do not have powers to re-establish the Public Transport Liaison Panel. However, she would take on board requests from the public and pass it on to the appropriate Cabinet Member or Council body.

Councillor Symonds thanked to all public speakers for their statements. He said that the idea behind the formation of the Bath Bus Users  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

Councillor Vic Pritchard, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Services and Housing addressed the Panel and highlighted following issues:

·  Effectiveness of the Taxi Marshal Scheme in Orange Grove and Kingsmead Square.

Orange Grove - On 19^th, 20^th and 21^st August 2,079 people were aided to get home safely. There were 3 minor incidents that had been taken care of without the need for Police to involve. Following weekend over 1,000 people were aided to get home safely. There were couple of mild incidents that were also handled without the need for Police to involve.

Kingsmead Square - On 20^th and 21^st August 840 people were aided to get home safely. There were 3 minor incidents that had been taken care of without the need for Police to involve. Following weekend 1,035 people were aided to get home safely. There were 2 minor incidents that had been taken care of without the need for Police to involve.

In both examples it showed that the presence of Taxi Marshals prevented incidents to escalate.

Orange Grove Taxi Marshal scheme is funded through the core of the Community Safety budget. Kingsmead Square Taxi Marshal scheme is funded out of the current Community Safety budget. Funding for the Kingsmead Square scheme would expire at the end of current financial year.

·  Community Payback.

The Council wants to be sure that the Community Payback must be provided in the community. A number of different organisations and groups wanted to be engaged in this process.

Councillor Steel asked who was monitoring people within the Community Payback. Councillor Pritchard responded that it would be under control of the Criminal Justice Board.

The Chair thanked Councillor Pritchard for this update.

This report presents the latest future workplan for this Panel. The Panel are asked to review and note this work programme.

The Panel noted the workplan with the inclusion of ‘Bus Services Update - Halcrow review’ for November 2010 meeting.

The Housing and Wellbeing Strategy makes a commitment to bring empty residential properties back into use in accordance with an Empty Property Policy. An “empty property” for this purpose is a residential property that has been empty for longer than six months.  Properties empty for less than 6 months and second homes are outside this policy.

The Panel are asked to review and comment on the draft Empty Property Policy.

Graham Sabourn and Chris Mordaunt introduced this report.

The Panel asked the following questions and made the following points:

Councillor Steel asked about the resources for implementation of this policy.

Graham Sabourn replied that resources would be a challenge.

Councillor Simmons asked how empty properties had been identified.

Chris Mordaunt replied that empty properties had been identified by people who knew about them or by the officers. One of the main sources was council tax records.

The Panel asked how property owners would be communicated on Empty Property Policy.

Chris Mordaunt said that the plan was to offer advice and information to anyone who has empty property.

Graham Sabourn added that there were estimated 500 empty properties for the whole area. The Council would offer assistance to all empty property owners. On a question about the enforcement he also said that the enforcement side was a  small part of the policy and properties that were derelict and adversely affecting the local neighbourhood would be at the top of the list.

The Chair said that the Empty Property Policy was also part of the Healthier Communities and Older People O&S Panel. She welcomed Councillor Eleanor Jackson to participate in the debate on this item. The Chair also gave an apology from Councillor Adrian Inker, Chair of the Healthier Communities and Older People O&S Panel.

Chris Mordaunt said that he would welcome information from Ward Councillors on empty properties in their wards.

Councillor Symonds asked if 500 was the consistent number of empty properties in the area. Chris Mordaunt replied that it was a pretty consistent number of empty properties. 

Councillor Symonds said that it costs around £100k to build a new house and in the area we had 500 empty properties. If the Council could bring 5 or 6 properties back into use for the same money, the Council would have pretty strong case. Considering that there were 8,000 people who were waiting on the housing register to be accommodated, this would be worthwhile value for money.

Graham Sabourn reminded the Panel that the finance for new homes comes primarily from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and not from the Council.

Councillor Jackson said that homelessness was a major issue for young people and the process could be used for family accommodation. She also said that in Radstock there were few empty shops with apartments above them and asked if those were taken into consideration as well. Councillor Jackson also asked if derelict schools were considered within this policy.

Chris Mordaunt and Graham Sabourn asked Councillor Jackson to contact them and give details of those empty shops with apartments above them. They also said if derelict schools were on the market the Council would consider them as well.

Councillor Hedges suggested that the Panel should make the following recommendation: any property that has been empty for more than 2 years should be a subject of the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO). The Panel voted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.