Agenda and minutes

Chairman, Councillor Marie Longstaff had sent her apologies to the Panel. In her absence the Vice-Chair, Councillor Caroline Roberts acted as Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

Jenny Raggett, made a statement to the Panel on behalf of David Redgewell,

South West Transport Network who was unable to attend the meeting. A copy of the statement can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book, a summary is set out below.

She addressed the Panel on the matter of the renewal of the Great Western Rail Franchise and called for no cuts to be made in the current services provided and that the level of rolling stock must be listed and maintained. She urged the Panel to contact TravelWatch South West should they wish to make a response to the consultation.

On the subject of proposed cuts to bus services in Somerset she said that this had the potential to isolate whole communities. She also suggested that the Council should consider bidding for a £5m bus grant to enable a larger fleet of low floor vehicles.

The Chairman on behalf of the Panel thanked her for her statement.

Councillor Geoff Ward asked the Democratic Services Officer to review the notes he had taken on Tuesday 6^th December 2011 in relation to the debate on the Medium Term Service & Resource Plan. Councillor Ward wished to clarify the content of his comments in respect of the Mobile Library Service.

Following the meeting the Democratic Services Officer confirmed the comments he had recorded in his notes with Councillor Ward. Councillor Ward then stated that he was happy that this reflected his view on the matter

The Panel confirmed the minutes of the two previous meetings as a true record and they were duly signed by the Chairman.

This item gives the Panel an opportunity to ask questions to the Cabinet Members and for them to update the Panel on any current issues.

Councillor Roger Symonds, Cabinet Member for Transport issued the Panel a series of bullet points to show some of his latest portfolio work and was present to answer any questions from the Panel. The bullet points will be available to view on the Panel’s Minute Book.

Councillor Neil Butters asked what procedure should the Council follow to respond to the consultation on the Great Western Rail franchise.

Councillor Symonds responded by saying that he felt that any response should be made through the West of England Partnership.

The Chairman on behalf of the Panel thanked him for his update.

Equality Impact Assessments for Financial Plans are available on Council’s website on the following link http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/communityandliving/equality/Pages/FinancialPlans.aspx .

The Divisional Director for Environmental Services introduced this item to the Panel. He informed them that the Plan was still a work in progress and that consultation on any of the proposals has and will continue to take place with staff and service users.

He highlighted from within the report the priorities, accomplishments and objectives of the Service. He stated that budget income is at a good level currently but that a drop in the use of Parking Services has been witnessed, which on one hand can be seen as a positive because of less traffic but also has the effect of generating less income for the Council. He added that an Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) had been carried out in connection with the composition of the Service Action Plan.

Councillor Malcolm Hanney commented that on future plans he would like to see a section that shows what objectives have not been possible to achieve within the year. He added that he would like the comments from the Medium Term Plan debate in December on gulley cleaning, heritage and floral displays to reiterated as part of this process.

Councillor Neil Butters asked if the column detailing the impact on staff could be shown as a percentage.

The Divisional Director for Environmental Services replied that this would be possible.

Councillor Caroline Roberts commented that she wished to highlight the good record of the Waste Services team. She also asked if any further work to target local areas based on current recycling performance had been considered as part of a ‘street pride initiative’.

The Divisional Director for Environmental Services replied by saying that currently there was no such ‘initiative’ at present but that low performing / problem areas were being targeted.

Councillor David Martin asked how had the reduction in black bag collections and the increase in recycling collections affected the service.

The Divisional Director for Environmental Services replied recycling collection costs have increased since food waste has been collected but that the resale values of materials are good and this, together with the reduction in costs of landfill, reduces the overall costs to the Council.

Councillor Caroline Roberts commented that she was still witnessing and hearing reports that street cleaning was taking place prior to refuse and recycling collections and called for these routes to be amended.

The Service Manager for Neighbourhood Services replied that attempts are being made to plan rotas and routes more strategically and to minimise spillages during collections.

Councillor Geoff Ward asked if there were any ideas as to how to generate further income given that the income from Parking may fall by £300,000.

The Divisional Director for Environmental Services replied that the figure in relation to Parking could be as much as £800,000 as fewer trips via car were being made to the City and the competition that the car park at Southgate now provides. He added that he believed there to be no easy options for increasing income, although there may be some further licensing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

Equality Impact Assessments for Financial Plans are available on Council’s website on the following link http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/communityandliving/equality/Pages/FinancialPlans.aspx .

The Divisional Director for Planning and Transport introduced this item to the Panel. He informed them of some changes to the service in the coming year.

• Develop new registration system for organisations seeking approval of Sustainable Drainage schemes under the Flood & Water Management Act 2010

• Localism Act – Need to respond to Neighbourhood Planning requests, duty to cooperate with other Local Authorities.

 • Establish a team to implement planning obligation delivery and CIL.

He added that in recent years resources in the Planning department had been reduced due to a decline in planning applications. The level of applications had now risen and it was hoped that the current staff levels could be maintained.

Councillor David Martin asked if the service had enough resources to cope with the amount of incoming new activities, such as Localism, CIL, Article 4 Direction and Flood & Water Management Act.

The Divisional Director for Planning and Transport replied that yes, he believed it did. He added that the work associated with brining forward an Article 4 Direction was financed and the activities associated with the Flood and Water Management Act were ahead of schedule and that the growth item associated with CIL could be seen as pump priming the process. 

Councillor Neil Butters commented that some Parish Councils were concerned with the amount of enforcement work undertaken by the service.

The Divisional Director for Planning and Transport replied that the number of outstanding planning enforcement inquiries was reducing.

Councillor Geoff Ward asked if an area based approach would work better regarding enforcement.

The Divisional Director for Planning and Transport replied that currently officers were deployed on a case specific basis with the relative experience in mind. He added that it might be possible to consider having area based officers in some form, but there were no actual hot spot areas within the District.

The Panel RESOLVED to approve the Planning and Transport Development Service Action Plan as printed.

The Council has allocated £500k to implement 20mph speed limits in Bath and North East Somerset over the next 3 years. The purpose of this report is to consult panel members on the criteria used to implement 20mph speed limits within the district based on national guidance and case studies.

The Transportation Planning Manager introduced this item to the Panel. He informed them that since 1999, the Road Traffic Regulation Act had given traffic authorities the powers to introduce both 20 mph zones and 20mph speed limits without obtaining the consent of the Secretary of State.

He added that the value of adequate consultation being undertaken cannot be over-emphasised. Without such consultation, schemes are likely to be subject to considerable opposition, both during and after implementation. The police need to be consulted about a scheme. If sufficient measures to reduce and control speeds are not installed, then the limits will not be self-enforcing and the police could be faced with calls upon their time to enforce the 20 mph speed limit. Residents within the limit would need to be consulted together with consultation with the fire and ambulance services and any bus operators will be necessary.

The Panel were also advised as to the proposed next steps of the scheme which included the implementation of the first 20mph speed limit pilot in Southdown and developing a 3 year delivery programme for Cabinet approval in March 2012.

Councillor Ian Gilchrist addressed the Panel to give his support to the scheme. He spoke of how Widcombe residents had already presented two petitions to Council in respect of lowering road speeds in their area. He suggested that officers should consider whether the scheme could be applied to any rural routes.

Councillor Neil Butters commented that a number of villages including Freshford and Hinton Charterhouse would be interested in taking part in the trial. He added that an area of Wellow had introduced a 20 mph limit last year, the signage however was not adequate enough and therefore had resulted in no charges being levied.

Councillor Malcolm Hanney asked for the cost and nature of the proposed scheme in Southdown.

The Transportation Planning Manager replied that a figure of £25,000 had been allocated. He added that a rural pilot was planned within Peasedown St John.

The Divisional Director for Planning and Transport added that the scheme should be seen as a district wide initiative as Radstock had already benefited from such a scheme. He also spoke of the need to learn from the work that had taken place in Portsmouth.

Councillor Geoff Ward questioned whether officers should prioritise further pilot schemes to areas that have a higher number of incidents.

The Transportation Planning Manager replied that the Council does always work with the Police following any incident that occurs.

Councillor Caroline Roberts commented that she had been part of the group that visited Portsmouth and that they had some good messages there that the Council could adopt. She recalled also that the community that safer after the introduction of the scheme. She added that a good relationship with the Police must be established on the matter and that public engagement would also be key.

The Panel RESOLVED to thank the officer for his attendance and said that they would welcome being updated on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

The Panel will receive a verbal update on this item from the Corporate Sustainability Manager.

The Corporate Sustainability Manager gave a presentation to the Panel regarding this item. A full copy of the presentation can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book, a summary is set out below.

Timeline:

•  2006-9 – Our Big Energy Challenge

•  2007 – Climate Change prioritised

•  2009-14 – Carbon Management Programme

•  2009 – Sustainable Community Strategy – 45% CO2 ambition

•  2010 - Environmental Sustainability Partnership established

Initial Strategy:

•  Internal focus from 2006 to 2010 – getting our own house in order in order to lead in community

•  Carbon Management Programme lead to better analysis and understanding of carbon emissions

•  Expanded to community wide carbon and leadership role from 2010

Highlights:

•  Various in-house carbon reduction projects: lighting upgrades; voltage optimisation

•  Eco-schools programme (most schools engaged – 3 Green Flags)

•  Local Energy Champions scheme (8 new community energy projects 2011)

•  Bath & West Community Energy cooperation agreement

•  BWCE – 7 solar roofs at maximum Feed-in Tariff - £1million investment by SSE

•  BWCE Community Fund, community share-holding (£700K Dec 2011)

•  New public advice web pages

Strategic Approach:

•  Partnership Working:

Bringing together the right people to make things happen

•  Community Enablement:

Enabling residents and community groups achieve their sustainability aims

•  Taking Action:

Council & partners taking bold action to make things happen

Key Workstreams (2012-2015):

•  Domestic Sector (inc fuel poverty & Green Deal)

•  Clean Energy (inc Core Strategy targets)

•  Transport Sector

•  Low Carbon Economy

Domestic Sector development:

•  Existing action plan (raft of projects under HECA in housing, public health departments, PCT, Somer)

•  Key Development: How to ensure fair and effective delivery of the Green Deal; core team formed with key partners; research into community based delivery to meet our fuel poverty; local economy & carbon ambitions

Green Deal in brief…:

•  Addresses upfront cost of energy measures

•  Get energy efficiency measures installed at no upfront cost

•  A charge on electricity bill pays back the cost over up to 25 years

•  This charge should be no more than the measure will save you on each bill- the “Golden Rule”

•  The change stays with the house

Total Place Green Deal research:

How can the Green Deal be delivered through a community-based partnership in order to:

•  Maximise carbon reductions

•  Ensure maximum benefits  for those in fuel poverty

•  Create local business opportunities and local jobs

•  Develop a role for community enterprise and other community interests

Project timeline: February to September 2012

Councillor Geoff Ward asked if the hot water springs within the City could be used more.

The Corporate Sustainability Manager explained that a study had been undertaken and that this showed that it is not easy or may not be cost-effective to use hot springs directly. She added that parts of the Pump Rooms are heated by the water from the springs and that in the future it may be used to heat the under floor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 60.

This report presents the latest workplan for the Panel (Appendix 1).

The Chairman introduced this item to the Panel.

Councillor Malcolm Hanney reiterated his suggestion from a previous meeting that the Panel should look to hold a Single Day Inquiry that would engage the public.

The Chairman replied that she had met with Councillor Longstaff to discuss the matter and would seek an update on how this was being progressed.