Agenda and minutes

Working Plymouth - Tuesday 10 June 2014 3.30 pm

Venue: Council House (Next to the Civic Centre), Plymouth

Contact: Helen Rickman  Email: helen.rickman@plymouth.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

TO NOTE THE CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR

The panel will note the appointment of the Chair and Vice Chair for the municipal year 2014/15.

Minutes:

The Committee noted the appointment of Councillor Murphy as Chair and Councillor Darcy as Vice Chair for the municipal year 2014/15.

2.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest in accordance with the code of conduct.

3.

CHAIR'S URGENT BUSINESS

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

Minutes:

There were no items of Chair’s Urgent Business.

4.

TERMS OF REFERENCE pdf icon PDF 53 KB

For the panel to note the terms of reference for the Working Plymouth scrutiny panel.

Minutes:

Members noted the terms of reference for the Working Plymouth scrutiny panel and discussed the impact that the scrutiny of the G.A.M.E Transformation Programme would have upon the current workload and terms of reference for the panel. It was highlighted that waste management, recycling and street cleaning, climate change and sustainability and parks (including playgrounds and greenspaces) was currently listed on the terms of reference for the Your Plymouth scrutiny panel however these responsibilities would be included and referred to in the G.A.M.E Transformation Programme which was the responsibility of Working Plymouth. In order to avoid duplication of work Members agreed that the possibility of including these areas of responsibility to their terms of reference should be referred to the Cooperative Scrutiny Board for decision.

 

Agreed to recommend to the Cooperative Scrutiny Board that:

 

(a)

waste management, recycling and street cleaning, climate change and sustainability and parks including playgrounds and greenspaces, as currently listed on Your Plymouth’s  terms of reference, are transferred to the Working Plymouth scrutiny panel’s terms of reference.

 

5.

APPOINTMENT OF CO-OPTED REPRESENTATIVES

The panel will consider the appointment of co-opted representatives to the Working Plymouth panel.

Minutes:

Members discussed the possibility of appointing a co-opted representative onto the Working Plymouth scrutiny panel however considered that a co-opted representative should only be appointed for a specific piece of work and should not be appointed as a permanent member of the panel.

 

Agreed that a co-opted representative would only be co-opted onto the Working Plymouth scrutiny panel for specific pieces of work other than remaining as a permanent member of the committee.

6.

SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS FOR FORTHCOMING YEAR

To note the Working Plymouth meeting dates for 2014/15 as follows –

 

·          

3 September 2014

 

·          

10 December 2014

 

·          

18 March 2015

 

Minutes:

Members noted the schedule of meetings for the forthcoming year for the Working Plymouth scrutiny panel and considered that due to the high level of work expected to be undertaken by the panel, that additional meetings are scheduled once a month on a provisional basis, to be activated if required.

 

Agreed that it is recommended to the Cooperative Scrutiny Board that the Working Plymouth scrutiny panel have permission to schedule additional meetings once a month on a provisional basis, to be activated by the panel if required, in order to undertake the high level of work anticipated.The short term urgency was for the scrutiny panel to be able to consider Transformation Business Cases and a number of other reports going to July, August and September 2014 Cabinet meetings.

7.

OVERVIEW OF PRIORITIES FOR WORKING PLYMOUTH

Members will be provided with an overview of priorities for the Working Plymouth scrutiny panel.

Minutes:

Paul Barnard (Assistant Director for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure), Simon Dale (Interim Assistant Director for Street Services), Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) and Nigel Gooding (G.A.M.E Programme Manager) provided the Committee with an overview of priorities for Working Plymouth.

 

Members were advised that –

 

(a)

priorities for street services consisted of the Waste Management Strategy, Waste Collection Rounds and Enforcement Services;

 

(b)

the Waste Management Strategy would be fed through a scrutiny workshop and the Plymouth Plan process; this was a main objective for the year due to the new waste disposal point in the north of the city and the glass recycling facility;

 

(c)

there would be an all Member workshop towards the end of June 2014 relating to waste collection rounds for the city; the objective was to make the service more efficient;

 

(d)

a report was to be submitted to Cabinet in August/ September 2014 setting out how to create a more efficient enforcement service; it was the aim that powers would be shared with the Police and civil enforcement officers;

 

(e)

the three main priorities for the transport portfolio consisted of the citywide Parking Strategy, the future of the service currently provided by Amey and the Highway Asset Management Plan;

 

(f)

a lot of work had been undertaken by Officers and Councillors recently with regards to parking however an all-inclusive citywide parking strategy was required to look at current and future demands as well as the level of supply; this strategy would link in with the Plymouth Plan;

 

(g)

the current contract with Amey was due to expire in November 2015; alternative models for maintaining the highway would be considered;

 

(h)

a Highway Asset Management Plan was required to be undertaken in order to understand the condition of the highway; a treatment survey would be developed alongside an investment model;

 

(i)

the focus for Economic Development would focus around the delivery of the pipeline of activity and close working links between the Growth Board, Destination Plymouth, the Culture Board and the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership; work would also be undertaken relating to the refresh of the Local Economic Strategy, the delivery of the CityDeal, Mayflower 2020 and the History Centre;

 

(j)

the focus for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure would focus around work with the Local Transport Board, the Housing Development Partnership and One Plymouth; key issues for the department would link to city centre regeneration projects, Major Scheme and Infrastructure Bids and consultations undertaken, specifically the ‘sofa’ events;

 

(k)

Members would be kept informed of the progress with the Plan for Homes initiative and Get Plymouth Building;

 

(l)

Officers would be working on Local Investment Planning, greenscape infrastructure, neighbourhood planning and connectivity issues relating to the rail, road and air.

 

 

In response to questions raised it was reported that –

 

(m)

an audit would be completed over the summer months relating to the Citywide Parking Strategy; officers acknowledged that the main concentration of problems associated with parking was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

PRESENTATION ON G.A.M.E (GROWTH, ASSETS AND MUNICIPAL ENTERPRISE) TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME

Members will be provided with a presentation on the Growth, Assets and Municipal Enterprise (G.A.M.E) transformation programme.

Minutes:

Agreed that this item would be discussed with the Growth and Assets Full Business Case item.

 

Please refer to minute 10.

9.

COST AND BENEFIT MONITORING INFORMATION FOR TRANSFORMATION (G.A.M.E) - TO FOLLOW

Members will be provided with Cost and Benefit Monitoring Information for Transformation (G.A.M.E).

Minutes:

Members were advised that this item was withdrawn from the agenda after its publication and that cost and benefit monitoring information would be supplied to the panel on a quarterly basis.

10.

GROWTH AND ASSETS FULL BUSINESS CASE pdf icon PDF 55 KB

Members will be provided with the Growth and Assets Full Business Case.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Paul Barnard (Assistant Director for Strategic Planning), Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance), David Draffan (Assistant Director for Economic Development) and Nigel Gooding (G.A.M.E Programme Manager) provided the Committee with a presentation on the G.A.M.E Transformation Programme and the Growth and Assets Full Business Case.

 

Members were informed that –

 

(a)

a key element of the Growth and Assets programme focused around increasing sustainable income and more efficient ways of working creating employment opportunities, reduced dependency on benefits and increased local economic activity; it was the aim that revenue would be increased from the corporate estate by proactively accelerating the delivery of growth;

 

(b)

specific projects included in the programme included the acceleration of economic and housing projects as part of the pipeline of key sites; the effectiveness of services such as street services and fleet services was essential for efficiency gains;

 

(c)

financial benefits anticipated were £13884k total savings from the G.A.M.E. Transformation Programme from 2014 to 2017;

 

(d)

the creation of the Plymouth Growth Dividend, made by revenue from the New Homes Bonus, Council Tax and Business Rates, was expected to accelerate and co-ordinate economic growth and housing delivery within the city by increasing the numbers of homes and jobs.

 

In response to questions raised it was reported that –

 

(e)

officers expected to achieve targets set out within the business case and built resilience into the pipeline of projects to achieve targets; there was confidence that the business case set out realistic financial assessments;

 

(f)

2109 consent planning applications had lapsed in 2013/14; these figures were not added to the calculations for the Plymouth Growth Dividend;

 

(g)

it was the responsibility of the Local Authority to define their own assessed housing needs; this was not set by Government;

 

(h)

the Game Business Case did not detail how many residents of Plymouth would be housed as a result of the planned work as it was a business case which included financial information and plans for protecting the Council’s budget to deliver services;

 

(i)

officers would email Members with the Gross Annual Running Costs for the Commercial Estate and the Corporate Estate as these figures were not contained within the report attached to the agenda;

 

(j)

annual liability costs associated with the Civic Centre were reflected in the business case;

 

(k)

the bubble graph contained within the report did not contain job creation figures but demonstrated the pipeline of projects to capture income for the Council budget; Officers would provide Members with details contained within the pipeline;

 

(l)

cost benefit monitoring information would be submitted to the panel on a quarterly basis;

 

(m)

the New Homes Bonus scheme had been confirmed by Government for 2015/16 however was identified as a risk on the Council’s risk register;

 

(n)

officers would provide Members with an update on progress with the projects contained within the risk analysis table contained on page 33.

 

Agreed that

 

(1)

Members commend the Growth and Assets Full Business Case to the Cooperative Scrutiny Board;

 

(2)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

11.

DRAFT WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 78 KB

For Members to receive the draft work programme for 2014-15.

Minutes:

Members discussed the draft work programme attached to the agenda.

 

Agreed to recommend to the Cooperative Scrutiny Board that –

 

(1)

the following items are included on the work programme for Working Plymouth:

 

·         Market recovery Scheme

·         Get Plymouth Building – 2nd Annual Report

·         Plan for Homes – 1st Annual Report

·         Plan for Jobs

·         Commercialism in PCC Full Business Case

·         Street Services Review Full Business Case

·         Waste Collection Reorganisation

·         Parking Strategy

·         Mayflower Coach Hub

·         Category Management Fleet and Commercialisation

·         Enforcement Services

·         Highways Maintenance Services

 

(2)

the Cooperative Scrutiny Board provide the four scrutiny panels with their scheduled work programme for the scrutiny of the Plymouth Plan in order to help panel’s incorporate this work into their work programmes.

 

Under this item the Chair advised Members of a review that she would like to undertake personally, which did not fall under the terms of reference for the Working Plymouth scrutiny panel, regarding electoral services and the help given to those who were unable to read or write but wanted to, and were eligible to vote. This request would be submitted by Councillor Murphy personally.

12.

EXEMPT BUSINESS

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Minutes:

There were no items of exempt business.