Meeting documents

BATH AND NORTH EAST SOMERSET COUNCIL

CouncilExecutive

Wednesday5th October 2005

PRESENT -:

Councillor Paul Crossley                   - Leader
Councillor Francine Haeberling       - Social Services
Councillor Sir Elgar Jenkins OBE    - Transport and Highways
Councillor Jonathan Gay                   - Children's Services
Councillor Gerry Curran                    - Sustainability and the Environment
Councillor Colin Darracott                - Economic Development
Councillor Malcolm Hanney              - Resources
Councillor Nicole O'Flaherty             - Tourism, Leisure and Culture
Councillor VicPritchard                    - Community Safety, Housing &Consumer Services

Also inattendance:

65         WELCOME ANDINTRODUCTIONS

The Chairwelcomed everyone to the meeting.

66         EMERGENCY EVACUATIONPROCEDURE

TheChair(person) drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out onthe Agenda.

67         DECLARATIONS OFINTEREST

CouncillorPaul Crossley declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest in item 11 (BathCommunities Partnership Southside Youth and Community Centre RedevelopmentFeasibility) as a member of the BCP Board and Chair of the South West triangle.

CouncillorGerry Curran declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest in the same item asVice-Chair of the South West triangle.

CouncillorMalcolm Hanney declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest in the same itemand also item 13 (Local Area Agreements and Local Public Service Agreements:Update) as Chair of the Primary Care Trust.

68         TO ANNOUNCE ANY URGENTBUSINESS AGREED BY THE CHAIR(PERSON)

There wereno items of urgent business.

69         QUESTIONS FROM PUBLICAND COUNCILLORS

13questions had been submitted from the following people;

CouncillorMatt Davis, Councillor Shirley Steel, Councillor Brian Webber, Councillor DavidHawkins (x2), Councillor Chris Watt, Councillor Hilary Fraser (x2), ChrisBeezley, Councillor Gitte Dawson (x2), Councillor Gail Coleshill and CouncillorCaroline Roberts.

                  [Copies of the questionsand responses have been placed on the Council's Minute book and are availableon the Council's website.]

70         STATEMENTS,DEPUTATIONS OR PETITIONS FROM PUBLIC AND COUNCILLORS

CouncillorShirley Steel and local resident Julie Body presented a petition of 314 namesregarding a pedestrian crossing in Midsomer Norton. This was received by Executive Councillor Sir Elgar Jenkins and passed toofficers in the Transportation section.

ParishCouncillor Carol Watts and Councillor Matt Davis made statements regarding thecutting of the bus service to the village of Timsbury and calling on the Councilto put pressure on First Bus to meet the needs of the community in Timsbury. They also asked for an interim solution to be found and for this matterto be taken into consideration in the Annual Review of Supported Bus Services. Executive Councillor Sir Elgar Jenkins explained that he was veryconcerned about rural passengers and he undertook to ask First Bus to send arepresentative to talk to the local community. Sir Elgar also offered to review all the correspondence that had beensubmitted to First and see what action could be taken.

CouncillorGitte Dawson made a statement regarding the flood mitigation measures plannedfor the Lambridge Park & Ride.   ExecutiveCouncillor Sir Elgar Jenkins responded.

71         MINUTES: WEDNESDAY 7THSEPTEMBER 2005

On a motionfrom Councillor Francine Haeberling, seconded by Councillor Nicole O'Flaherty,it was

                  RESOLVEDthat the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 7th September 2005 beconfirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair(person).

72         CONSIDERATION OFSINGLE MEMBER ITEMS NOW REQUISITIONED TO COUNCIL EXECUTIVE (Report9).

There wereno such items on this occasion.

73         CONSIDERATION OFMATTERS REFERRED BY OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY BODIES (Report10).

There wereno such items on this occasion.

74         BATH COMMUNITIESPARTNERSHIP SOUTHSIDE YOUTH AND COMMUNITY CENTRE REDEVELOPMENT FEASIBILITY (Report11).

CouncillorTim Ball explained some of the history regarding this building and urged theExecutive to take up the opportunity of a feasibility study. Councillor Ball added that a community facility was vital in this area ofconsiderable deprivation.

DeniseBurton, Chair of the Bath Communities Partnership, referred to the'Rationale' section, paragraph 6.1 of the report and explained that thePartnership had a different view about whether SWRDA were content to fund thefeasibility study with only the Council's commitment to "in principle"support.  Their view was that SWRDAwould not fund the study unless funding for the entire project was guaranteed.

CouncillorPaul Crossley noted that there was not a shared understanding regarding thecommitment from SWRDA to fund the feasibility study.

Followingdebate and an adjournment, Councillor Paul Crossley stressed the importance ofworking in partnership with Bath Communities Partnership and the SWRDA. He explained that the Executive were fully aware of the needs of thecommunity and needed the right information to explore fully the options.

                  Rationale

                  A further paper has beenrequested to enable the Executive to take a decision based on all the necessaryinformation.

                  Other Options considered

BCP andSWERDA have considered other options for investing the £500,000. The Partnership is developing these options but the redevelopment of theSouthside Youth & Community centre remains their preferred option. In thePartnership's view, their proposal offers the best opportunity to support itstarget groups and support long term social and economic regeneration.Alternative projects will be more strictly related to economic developmentcriteria in compliance with SWERDA.

The Councilcould at this stage reject the proposal if it felt it would not achieve alasting regeneration impact or if any additional finance required could not bemet from the Council's own resources.

                  On a motion from CouncillorPaul Crossley, seconded by Councillor Francine Haeberling, it was

                  RESOLVED

(1)         That the Executiverecognises that the facilities at the Southside Youth & Community Centresite are not adequate for serving the community;

(2)         That the Executiverequires a paper to be presented to a future meeting of the Executive which setsout the range of options available for the Southside Youth & CommunityCentre site and includes the proposals from the Bath Communities Partnership;and

(3)         To request the Leaderurgently to explore further with the South West Regional Development Agency thepossibility of progressing a feasibility study with respect to the BathCommunities Partnership.

[Duringthe above debate, a motion was proposed by Councillor Paul Crossley regardingsupporting the proposal and an amendment was proposed by Councillor VicPritchard regarding deferral of the proposal. Following an adjournment, both these were withdrawn.]

75         REVIEW OF PARKINGCHARGES (Report 12).

TheExecutive considered a report which put forward various changes to time limitsand charges for parking.

Rationale

It isexpected that, as a matter of course in each year's budget process, servicesshould be able to accommodate an inflationary increase on all their budgets. In the case of parking income, it is considered better practice to allowprices to remain constant for a period and then implement an increase ratherthan make small incremental increases every year. In this case, it is not planned that prices will be altered for another 4years.

OtherOptions considered

Thealternative of introducing small annual increases was considered, as was theidea of introducing significantly higher charges, but these options were bothrejected.

On a motionfrom Councillor Sir Elgar Jenkins, seconded by Councillor Paul Crossley, it was

                  RESOLVED

(1)         That the schedule ofcharges as set out in Appendix A to the report be approved; and

(2)         That the Head ofTransportation and Highways be authorised to take all action necessary to effectsuch changes.

76         LOCAL AREA AGREEMENTSAND LOCAL PUBLIC SERVICE AGREEMENTS: UPDATE (Report13).

TheExecutive considered a report regarding Local Area Agreements (LAAs) andwelcomed the suggestion that Member briefings would be provided on this complexarea.

Rationale

TheExecutive requested officers in March 2005 to begin work on developing asecond-generation Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA2). Since then, theGovernment have announced that the timetable for Local Area Agreements (LAAs)and LPSAs are to be combined. As a result, Bath & North East Somerset's LPSAwill be negotiated as part of its LAA, to begin in 2007-2008.

Otheroptions considered

Analternative option of not pursuing an LAA/LPSA2 at this stage has beenconsidered. This would remove access to LPSA2 funding streams and opportunitiesto engage with Government and other agencies on identifying new ways to meetlocal priorities. However, as the LAA is progressed, it will be important tomanage and mitigate risk to ensure that the LAA meets local priorities in asustainable way.

On a motionfrom Councillor Paul Crossley, seconded by Councillor Francine Haeberling, itwas

                  RESOLVEDthat

(1)         The Council, workingwith its partners, start work on developing a Local Area Agreement (LAA) forBath and North East Somerset to begin in April 2007;

(2)         Any LAA for Bath &North East Somerset should be driven by local priorities, in particular theCorporate Improvement Priorities, Community Strategy ambitions and emerging keyissues for the area;

(3)         The fullest possiblestakeholder engagement take place on developing the LAA, including joint workingwith elected members, partners, the voluntary and community sector and localcommunities, with progress reports made to the Executive;

(4)         The financialimplications set out in the report be noted, and in particular the continuedearmarking of up to £50,000 from expected Performance Reward Grant to fund anyadditional development and project work required; and

(5)         The Local StrategicPartnership be requested to work closely with key partnerships and widerstakeholders to help co-ordinate and develop the LAA.

Themeeting ended at 11.50am

Chair(person).............................................................................................

DateConfirmed and Signed.....................................................................

Prepared byDemocratic Services