Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed Panel members and officers who were attending the meeting via Zoom and members of the public viewing on YouTube.

She explained that other councillors (not on the Panel) were present as they had been invited to attend the meeting, namely Councillor Paul Myers (Chair of the Corporate Panel), Councillor Sarah Warren (Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency and Neighbourhood Services) and Councillor Joanna Wright (Cabinet Member for Transport Services). She added that these councillors were not eligible to vote as part of the Panel.

The Chair added that also present were David Trethewey - Director of Partnership & Corporate Services, Lynda Deane – Senior Manager, Reopening & Renewing High Streets Workstream Lead, Chris Major, Assistant Director – Highways and Transport and Michaela Gay – Democratic Services Officer. 

The Chair announced that the meeting was being held under The Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020. She stated that the Council had agreed a protocol to cover virtual meetings and that this meeting would operate in line with that protocol. She explained that the meeting had the same status and validity as a meeting held in the Guildhall.

There were none.

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 Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

There was none.

David Redgewell South West Transport Network made a statement to the Panel regarding Transport matters.

Ceris Humphreys - Pulteney Estate Residents' Association made a statement to the Panel regarding Liveable Neighbourhoods.

Councillor Manda Rigby made a statement to the Panel regarding Liveable Neighbourhoods.

The Panel confirmed the minutes of the previous meeting, hold on 16^th March 2020 as a true record.

The report attached sets out an overview of the 3 workstreams (Re-opening, Resilience, Renewal Vision) for Panel Members to scrutinise and comment to Cabinet.

There will also be a presentation at the meeting.

David Trethewey - Director of Partnership & Corporate Services and Lynda Deane – Senior Manager, Reopening & Renewing High Streets Workstream Lead, Emergency Management and Eventsgave a presentation to the panel which covered the following:

·  Renewal Board and Workstreams – outline of approach

·  Renewal Workstream Leadership

·  Reopening the High Street Safely (Aim and Objectives)

·  Reopening and Renewing Our High Streets

·  Reopening the High Streets Safely – social distancing measures, access restrictions, retail reopening, licensed premises and visitor attractions

·  Reopening Safely Guidance and Support

·  Reopening the High Street Safely – Webinars, New Planning and Business Bill and ‘I love local’ campaign

·  Reopening the High Street Safely – Next steps

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

Councillor Hirst raised the following points. Officer responses are shown in italics:

·  Which Cabinet Member does this sit with? The Leader and whole Cabinet with Cabinet Members leading on specific parts of the workstreams.

·  What are the timelines? There are some timelines regarding reopening and we are starting to build timelines into the other programmes.

·  On the issue of reskilling – unemployment is a current issue, we are working to build a skills hub and are in discussions with WECA and colleges. This can be reported to a future meeting of the Panel.

·  Regarding governance, there is a gap for Bath as it has no forum, we need to find a solution for this. Every area is different regarding governance, there will be discussions about the gap for Bath.

Councillor Craig asked that members be kept informed and involved, especially as Bath does not have parish councils. She also asked about contingency plans for each workstream in case of any future outbreaks. The officer agreed that engaging with members is important. He explained that public health officers are built into the action plan for each programme.

Councillor Walker asked if the work done on reopening would bring the High Street back to Bath. The officer explained that public health has been the priority rather than attracting visitors from elsewhere, but this could now be considered in moving forwards.

Councillor Born stated that the ‘I love local’ campaign was good and asked if food outlets with no space for tables and chairs would benefit from a central food court area, signposted in the city where people can eat take away food. The officer explained that she had been looking at ‘parklets’ which are areas of benches and seating although finding space is a challenge. She explained that work would start on Kingsmead Square soon.

Councillor Davies asked if we know how we are doing relative to other authorities and if best practice was being shared. The officer explained that the BID footfall data showed that the trend is going up and that the area is above average for our comparator cities, particularly at weekends. She explained that she attends the Local Resilience Forum that other cities representatives also attend so best practice can be shared.

Councillor O’Brien raised the following points. Officer responses  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

The report is attached on Liveable Neighbourhoods.

Chris Major, Assistant Director – Highways and Transport, introduced the report.

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

Councillor O’Brien stated that there is an emphasis on cycling and walking which is ok if you live near a centre/shops but this discriminates against people who live in rural areas, blue badge holders and those who cannot walk or cycle. The officer explained that walking and cycling is being encouraged for those who can do this, we are not saying that cars cannot be used. We are trying to change habits where possible.

Councillor Born raised the following points. Officer responses are shown in italics:

·  Welcome that communities are being asked to put forward proposals – the criteria must be clear and central to the consultation and the local proposals must work together across the city.

·  Regarding RPS (Residents Parking Schemes) – some areas of Widcombe and Lyncombe are already someway down the track to getting much needed schemes in place and will be concerned if the new strategy causes delay. A significant amount of time has been lost due to the lockdown, we are behind but we are working on those schemes.

·  Regarding Bear Flat – there are some difficulties with parking for people working in local shops and other businesses. Some were using the regular bus services but these are reduced currently and some people are not confident about using public transport. She requested that staff could have access to permits while Covid measures that make it difficult for them to get to work remain in force. Workers parking is always an issue, there is a fine balance with residents parking schemes, we are trying to look at it strategically, the LTN (Low Traffic Neighbourhood) scheme should help.

·  It is great to see the plan for EV (Electric Vehicle) charging points, this is welcome, and it is a good idea to use lampposts where they are sited at the front of the pavement. However, we will need to provide a mixture of rapid and slow chargers across all areas.

·  Regarding the query about EV car sharing clubs – this is part of the strategy and is key.

Councillor Davies raised the following points. Officer responses are shown in italics:

·  Could we have a brief summary of exactly what is being consulted on? We are consulting on high level strategic documents which set the direction of travel for the Council.

·  EV (Electric vehicle) charging will be an enormous challenge – the paper mentions that BANES have ruled out the Oxford example of using channels, we should be cautious in ruling things out so early on. A number of authorities have been forced into decisions, digging channels into footways can cause future problems. We ruled out channels after speaking to maintenance teams.

·  RPS (Residents Parking Schemes) - where are we on the on-street parking vision?  A number of schemes have not been completed due to Covid. All permit policies will be reviewed. There has been a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

This report presents the latest workplan for the Panel. Any suggestions for further items or amendments to the current programme will be logged and scheduled in consultation with the Panel’s Chair and supporting senior officers.

The Panel noted items on the future workplan.