Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The Chair drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure.

Councillor Roger Symonds and Councillor Les Kew had sent their apologies to the Panel. Councillor Geoff Ward was present for the duration of the meeting as a substitute for Councillor Kew.

Councillor Caroline Roberts, Cabinet Member for Transport also sent her apologies to the Panel.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Mr David Redgewell wished to address the Panel regarding agenda items 9 and 11 and chose to speak directly before those items were debated.

The Cabinet Member(s) will update the Panel on any relevant issues. Panel members may ask questions.

Councillor David Dixon, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods addressed the Panel.

Waste – He announced that there had been an increased uptake in the gull proof waste sacks in New King Street and that no enforcement action had yet been required. He added that some members of public in the street had set up a local waste management committee.

Trade Waste – He informed the Panel that the Council had secured a three year contract from March to collect trade waste.

Public Conveniences – Healthmatic commenced their contract with the Council in January and have said they will liaise with Ward Councillors that have public conveniences in their area. He added that they have offered to retain all of the automatic toilets that are currently in place.

Recycling – He said there had been a slight dip in recycling figures last year, but it looked like those were improving for this year. He added that recycling recovery rates were looking to be in excess of 70%.

Food Waste – He said that good progress had been made in this area with regard to flats and schools, but felt a general reminder of the service might be required at some point as participation wasn’t as high currently as it had been.

Council’s MOT Testing Facility – He wished to remind the Panel of this service that the Council now provides and the fact that they refer customers to garages approved by their ‘Buy with Confidence’ scheme. He added that it was hoping to be able to provide tests for Motorbikes from the end of March 2014.

Licensing – He welcomed the involvement of the Panel in the upcoming Statement of Principles (Licensing Policy).

Public Protection – He wished to make the Panel aware of the business support element of this work area in terms of food hygiene ratings.

Urban Gulls – In advance of the agenda item later in the meeting he said that he was pursuing Property Services to take up the offer of the egg replacement service.

Councillor Liz Richardson asked if it was true that the Council could no longer recycle leaves.

The Divisional Director for Environmental Services replied that leaves collected from the road could no longer be recycled and must be sent to landfill. He added that leaves collected from parks & green spaces however could still be recycled.

Councillor Lisa Brett asked if the Council still retained capacity to carry out enforcement work.

Councillor Dixon replied that licensing enforcement was funded and so would continue as normal and that street trading was incorporated within the team.

Councillor Lisa Brett asked how the Council compared in the national figures for recycling.

Councillor Dixon replied that he had not yet seen the figures for this year, but was aware that all authorities will have faced significant challenges in this area with regard to funding.

Councillor Geoff Ward wished to commend the work of the Council staff that keep the streets clean. He also asked how the budget cuts of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

The Group Manager for Planning Policy & Transport will update the Panel verbally at the meeting regarding this item.

Mr David Redgewell, South West Transport Network addressed the Panel.

He said that part of the strategy must include bus priority measures on the Lower Bristol Road. He also called for bus shelters to be improved across the Council and said that residents should not be allowed to veto this work, such as dropped kerbs or shelters.

He said that he expected the Council’s transport links to be debated heavily at the Core Strategy hearings and urged work to be pursued on an East of Bath Park & Ride and Saltford Train Station as soon as possible.

He also asked the Panel to read and comment upon the West of England Strategic Economic Plan.

The Chair asked for clarification as to whether the Panel could comment upon the Plan.

The Divisional Director for Planning and Transport replied that the West of England Joint Scrutiny Committee were due to debate the Plan later in the month and advised that Councillor Brett was a member of the committee and so Panel members could feed their comments through to her. He added that LEP funding would be sought as a result of the Plan.

Councillor Brett commented that she was happy to convey comments from the Panel to the Joint Scrutiny Committee.

The Divisional Director for Planning and Transport introduced the item to the Panel. He explained that the Joint Local Transport Plan was still in existence and that this piece of work would focus on Bath issues because of its planned growth. He added that it would look to identify key investment areas, such as car parking, bus improvements and cycle provision.

He commented that the Council had only scratched the surface of their Public Realm work and said that as a significant number of residents walk to work, could this made any easier for them?

He informed them that a vision would be produced as part of this work and that consultation across all relevant departments was key.

He stated that transport solutions were required in the advent of 9,000 new jobs within the city and that the Council would work with a number of agencies, including First Bus to identify improvements.

The Chair asked when any consultation on the strategy would take place.

The Divisional Director for Planning and Transport replied that it was planned to take place in the Spring in conjunction with the Enterprise Masterplan.

Councillor Geoff Ward if the vision of the strategy was going to be big enough. He also commented that rail links to London must be improved and that the strategy must gain cross Council support.

The Divisional Director for Planning and Transport replied that he did think the vision would be big enough and emphasised that this strategy was to be more precise about the work required for Bath.

Councillor Liz Richardson commented that rural residents need help in travelling to Bath as adequate public transport is not available.

The Divisional Director for Planning and Transport replied that work will focus on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

The purpose of the review was engaging businesses, residents and visitors, and other public sector agencies, in taking responsibility for the issues and causes of high numbers of urban gulls. This report introduces the findings of the review.

The Policy Development & Scrutiny Lead Officer introduced the item to the Panel. She stated that over 50 people attended the meeting held in November and represented a wide range of sources. She added that a great deal of information was received on the day and workshops were undertaken in the afternoon to provoke suggestions of what to do next.

She said that in the time since the meeting officers had met with the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Panel to form the recommendations presented today.

She added that the lead Cabinet Member for the review, Councillor David Dixon had agreed to a shorter response time of 4 weeks in an attempt to speed up the process of delivery.

Councillor Lisa Brett said that the Council should promote the legal rights and responsibilities that businesses and property owners have in relation to gulls.

The Policy Development & Scrutiny Lead Officer replied that recommendation 4.2 could be strengthened.

The Chair thanked her for all her hard work and said that she felt more informed at the conclusion of the day. She added that she wanted the work to be seen as very much a joint responsibility document.

The Policy Development & Scrutiny Lead Officer replied that she could elaborate that point further in recommendation 5.1.

Councillor Geoff Ward stated that it must be a co-ordinated plan that involves residents, traders and property owners. He added that the risk of economic damage to the city should not be taken lightly. He also asked for officers to log calls from the public on incidents involving gulls.

Councillor David Martin commented that he felt it was a very good report and asked for the recommendations to be strengthened slightly.

Recommendation 1.1 – Replace ‘Encourage’ with Require.

Recommendation 2.1 – Replace ‘Encourage’ with Urge.

He also questioned whether the section of the report entitled Resource Implications should say none and felt that some level of funding would be required over the next six months.

The Divisional Director for Environmental Services replied that following this meeting talks will take place with the Cabinet Member and officers regarding the recommendations and then a better idea will be known regarding the funding of any future work.

Councillor Patrick Anketell-Jones asked if a licence was required for either individuals or the Council to intervene personally with the gulls.

The Neighbourhood Environment Manager replied that land owners were able to apply for such a licence.

Councillor Lisa Brett commented that it was her understanding that no licence was required if you operate within the terms of the General License.

The Chair summed up by saying that the recommendations would be strengthened following comments from the Panel and it would be emphasised that joined up action is required. She added that the information relating to licences should be made available to the public.

The Policy Development & Scrutiny Lead Officer said it was intended that the Cabinet response would be back by February 14^th and then discussed at the next Panel meeting on March  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

The Panel requested a report on cross-boundary bus services to and from Wiltshire and Somerset.

Mr David Redgewell, South West Transport Network addressed the Panel. He spoke of his concern that bus services were stopping at the border to the Mendip hinterland and that some services were looking be changed by neighbouring authorities. He cited the lack of a Sunday service to Shepton Mallet Hospital as one particular problem.

The Senior Public Transport Officer introduced this item to the Panel. He explained that the report had been written at the request of the Panel to inform them of the current provision of services across the Council and its borders into Wiltshire & Somerset.

He informed them that the tender for the 267 service between Bath – Frome via Midford was currently out to tender. He added that a proposal has been made to remove that last service in the evening to Frome and that Parishes were contacted on the matter in August 2013. He stated that an option to keep the service as it is still remained.

Councillor David Martin asked how the analysis of sections 5.5 and 5.6 of the report are done.

The Senior Public Transport Officer replied that various models had been used and data such as car ownership in the area concerned, level of social housing and number of concessionary passes in use were used in the analysis.

Councillor Liz Richardson commented that she would like to see hub type services in place as she found it difficult to travel to Keynsham.

The Senior Public Transport Officer replied that if a hub service were put in place for instance to the A37, access to it is good, but the return journey is much more difficult. He added that direct services are put in place with regard to user preference.

He also said that an opportunity for services to expand in the Chew Valley area exists over the next 12 -18 months.

Councillor Lisa Brett suggested the Panel could be part of the decision making process as set out in section 6.1 of the report with regard to making recommendations to Cabinet on cross-boundary bus services.

The Chair thanked him for the report on behalf of the Panel and said they would discuss Councillor Brett’s comment further under their workplan agenda item.

At the meeting on November 20th 2013 Panel Members received a joint presentation from Kelvin Packer, (Service Manager – Highways) and Ed Lockington (Environment Agency) on the duties placed upon B&NES by recent legislation and the outcome of flooding investigations in Chew Magna and Chew Stoke. The Panel requested that an update be reported to the January Panel meeting. This briefing note sets out the progress and actions undertaken since the original Panel Report.

The Service Manager for Highways & Parking introduced this item to the Panel. He spoke of the actions taken since the last meeting in November 2013 that were listed in the report and the fact that the Chew Valley Flood Forum (CVFF) had canvassed 69 properties for feedback on the installed flood barriers. He stated that they had received 35 returns and of those, 20 properties identified defects.

He added that the CVFF continues to work with officers and is proactively endeavouring to obtain a return from the remaining properties to establish a complete picture. He informed the Panel that in December 2013 a constructive meeting was held with the supplier of the flood barriers to discuss the extent of, and costs of any remedial works, as well as providing a maintenance scheme for residents. It is anticipated that a further meeting will take place in February 2014.

He explained to the Panel that a meeting took place in Chew Stoke in December 2013 to brief the community on the outcome of the flood investigation. A survey of the sources of surface water flooding and a number of improvement works to the highway drainage system have been identified and as a result a works order for improvements has been issued to our Contractor. These works will be completed prior to 31 March 2014.

He reminded the Panel of the concern expressed by the CVFF that surface water run-off from farm land was a contributory factor to flooding and that officers were requested to contact the NFU to discuss whether contour ploughing etc. could make a difference.

He said that in order for a meaningful dialogue with the NFU officers had reviewed the impact of farming on flooding, as well as the flood investigation results for Chew Stoke and had concluded that farming had a negligible impact on the flooding due to the degree of ground saturation present, intensity of the storms and rapid response nature of the catchment.

He added that drainage staff are planning to hold a meeting with the NFU to discuss farming and land management issues in February 2014.

He informed the Panel that a meeting had also been scheduled with Cllr Charles Gerrish, the Council’s representative on the Wessex Flood Defence Committee, to review the proposed actions for inclusion in the operational Highways and Drainage Service Plan 2014/15. He added that there is already a proposal for an additional £200k investment planned for flood mitigation/enhanced PLP. Officers will brief the relevant Cabinet Members once the action plan is formed and any required funding will be sought through the normal budget approval process.

Councillor Charles Gerrish wished to thank the work of the Service Manager for Highways & Parking and associated officers for all their work on this matter. He also wanted to highlight the need to inspect bridges on a more regular basis

The Service Manager for Highways & Parking thanked him for his comments and said he was aware of the need to pursue this work.

Councillor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

This report presents the latest workplan for the Panel.

The Chair introduced this item to the Panel. She said that they would discuss the Cabinet Response to the Urban Gulls recommendations and review the Alcohol Harm recommendations at their March meeting.

She also stated that it was the Panel’s intent to debate Council's Statement of Principles (Licensing Policy) at their July meeting.

She said that further discussion would be had at the agenda planning meeting between her and the Vice-Chair to see how matters relating to public conveniences, the Bath Transport Strategy and Cross Boundary Bus Services could be pursued.