Agenda and draft minutes

Working Plymouth - Wednesday 16 March 2016 4.00 pm

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

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

Items
No. Item

83.

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.

84.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 81 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on 24 November 2015 and 9 December 2015.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Agreed that the minutes of 24 November 2015 and 9 December 2015 are an accurate record of both meetings.

 

85.

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.

86.

Building Control and Planning - How the Services Work Together pdf icon PDF 94 KB

Members will be provided with a verbal update on Building Control and Planning – How the Services Work Together.

Minutes:

Members were advised that an officer would not be in attendance for this item due to unavailability however the service had changed and was now under the control of Peter Ford (Head of Development Management).

 

Members commented that the report contained several typographical errors and several abbreviations which were not explained; it was considered that abbreviations should not be used in a formal document and that the feedback on the report should be provided to the appropriate department.

 

 

87.

Mayflower 400 pdf icon PDF 74 KB

Members will be provided with a progress report on preparations for Mayflower 400.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Smith (Deputy Leader), Amanda Lumley (Chief Executive, Destination Plymouth), Tom Cox (Project Manager, Transformation), Kim Hayden (Project Officer, Transformation) and Nicola Moyle (Head of Heritage and Arts) provided Members with an update on the Mayflower 400 preparations.

 

Members were advised that –

 

(a)

the Mayflower 400 anniversary would be a defining moment for Plymouth and preparations and events associated with the celebration would help to transform the city;

 

(b)

the event would provide a platform for a national celebration of the enduring special relationship between the UK, Holland and US which began with the sailing of the Mayflower in 1620;

 

(c)

in headline terms, it is anticipated that Mayflower 400 will be in the top tier of international economic and cultural events in 2020 and will achieve the following major impacts:

 

 

·          

5,407 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) jobs and £256m Gross Value Added (GVA) for the Plymouth area;

 

 

·          

8,110 FTE jobs and £384m GVA for the Travel to Work Area;

 

 

·          

10,000 FTE jobs and £0.5bn for the UK;

 

 

·          

Media value will be in the order of £20-30m;

 

(d)

ambitions for the celebration included:

 

 

·          

a Presidential visit to the UK in 2020 – opening ceremony for new international ‘Mayflower Monument’;

 

 

·          

Royal Family visit to Plymouth, USA for Thanksgiving in November 2019;

 

 

·          

the Great Mayflower Re-union Party – following the National Mayflower Trail;

 

 

·          

a joint Armed Forces Celebration;

 

 

·          

a National public Mayflower art trail;

 

 

·          

a transatlantic cultural festival.

 

The main areas of questioning from Members related to the following –

 

(e)

an event held in relation to the Mayflower 400 celebration whereby businesses were asked to pledge how they could support the event;

 

(f)

the Mayflower experience and the possibility of renovating the Elizabethan House and the Merchants House;

 

(g)

the £40m Drake Leisure Development and the impact of this upon the Mayflower 400 event;

 

(h)

the language used in the report and the difference between jobs that would be achieved and those forecasted;

 

(i)

the issue of accommodation in Plymouth and if the city had the correct type and standard in order to support the Mayflower 400 event and the numbers of visitors expected;

 

(j)

the link between the Mayflower 400 event and the History Centre;

 

(k)

how the event would be promoted in schools/ the curriculum;

 

(l)

the governance structure of the board;

 

(m)

ways in which the descendants of the Mayflower could be remembered and encouraged to visit Plymouth, i.e., having a guest book for them to sign or giving out pieces of fabric with names on to be transformed into a flag;

 

(n)

access to Plymouth and problems associated with the railway line and lack of an airport.

 

The Chair thanked Officers and Councillor Peter Smith for their attendance and agreed that –

 

1.

the Mayflower 400 should remain on the work programme for the next municipal year;

 

2.

an update would be emailed to Members regarding what plans America had in place to celebrate Mayflower 400;

 

3.

the figures provided with regards to job creation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87.

88.

Working Plymouth Achievements 2015/16

Panel Members will reflect on their achievements for the municipal year 2015/16 to inform the annual scrutiny report.

Minutes:

Members discussed the Working Plymouth Achievements for 2015/16 and highlighted the following areas to be included in the report:

 

(a)

the History Centre;

 

(b)

Living Streets;

 

(c)

1000 Club/ apprenticeships;

(d)

economic growth in the city

 

Under this item Members discussed the Living Streets update, provided under the Tracking Resolutions item on the agenda, and raised the following:

 

(e)

recommendations from the Living Streets scrutiny review in September 2015 regarding the ward packs and meetings with officers had been rolled out and packs were being reviewed;

 

(f)

some Members had been successful in negotiating better prices with Amey for works to be undertaken in their wards;

 

(g)

due to the expensive cost of advertising Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs), some Ward Members were advertising several orders together in one advertisement;

 

(h)

a recommendation regarding the issues surrounding the advertisement of TROs had not yet been completed by officers. Members requested a progress update to be emailed to them and for this item to be carried forward to the new year’s work programme. Members requested that officers take this matter up with the LGA;

 

(i)

items were appearing on Councillors Living Streets lists which had either not been agreed or were not a part of their ward;

 

(j)

ongoing monitoring of the costs and options regarding the Living Street process needed to be undertaken.

 

89.

Tracking Resolutions and Update from the Co-operative Scrutiny Board pdf icon PDF 52 KB

Members will be provided with the tracking resolutions document, an update from the Cooperative Scrutiny Board as well as progress reports, for noting, upon waste services, living streets and controlled parking zones (CPZ).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members noted the tracking resolutions document and were advised that recommendations submitted to the Co-operative Scrutiny Board had been approved.

 

Agreed that -

 

(a)

the appendix referred to in the update on Controlled Parking Zones (CPZ) report is emailed to Members for their information;

 

(b)

a response is emailed to Members, relating to the waste and recycling update on the agenda, regarding why the percentage of LACMW (Local Authority Collected Municipal Waste) arising diverted from landfill was only 97% and not 100% now that the incinerator was fully operational.

 

90.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 54 KB

Members will be provided with a copy of the Working Plymouth work programme for 2015/16.

Minutes:

Members noted the work programme for 2015/16.