Agendas, Minutes and Reports

Minutes

of the Meeting of the

Strategic Planning and

Economic Development Policy

and Scrutiny Panel

Tuesday 21st November 2006

held at the Town Hall, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

Meeting Commenced: 3.30 p.m. Meeting Concluded: 5.25 p.m.

Present: Councillors Elfan Ap Rees (Chairman), Clive Webb (Vice-Chairman), Peter Burden, Mark Canniford, John Clark, Derek Kraft (substitute for Bob Bateman), Andy Wright

Apologies for absence: Councillors Bob Bateman, David Shopland

Also in attendance: Councillor Bob Coleman

SPE

Declarations of Interest by Members

Councillor Mark Canniford declared a personal interest in any discussions regarding The Playhouse because his business premises are located nearby.

SPE

Minutes of the Meeting held on 30th October 2006 (Agenda Item 4.1)

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting be approved as a correct record.

SPE

MTFF and Budget Planning for 2007/08 (Agenda Item 6.1) and

Budget Strategy Consultation 2007/08 and beyond (Minute EXE 103 24th October 2006)

The Chairman thanked the representative of the Director of Finance and resources for his overview of the report presented to the Executive of 24th October 2007/08. The Panel then referred to and commented on the initial findings and proposals of the Budget Working Group tabled at the meeting (a copy of which is filed on the signed Minute Book).

1) Highways – The Chairman reported that the Working Group had had difficulties identifying areas where savings could be made without serious impact on the level of service. Councillor Peter Burden forcibly stressed the need for the Council to maintain the assets it has and to take note of customer surveys which always placed maintenance and improvements to highways as a priority. The Assistant Director responded to the Panel’s various suggestions where savings might be made in the longer term. The Panel commended to the Environmental Services Policy and Scrutiny Panel to investigate the future provision of street lighting and to explore the possibility of switching off streetlights, particularly along dual carriage ways where there were no residential dwellings or pedestrian crossings. The Panel supported the capital bid to invest new funding in the highways over and above the current expenditure.

2) Strategic Projects – The Panel noted that the Working Group was to give more detailed consideration to this item following a planned meeting with relevant officers before making recommendations, and also noted that £104,000 had been saved in this section in the 2006/07 budget.

3) Economic Development – Arrangements were in hand for the Working Group to receive a further briefing on the issues raised. Councillor Kraft suggested that it might be possible to link this section with the five new posts created for the delivery of safer, stronger, greener communities strategy which was grant funded. The Assistant Director of Development and Environment advised that neighbourhood funding was ring-fenced capital funding, which had to be spent over a period of time; the funding could not be diverted into other areas and the five posts had to be in addition to existing posts. The Working Group was to give more detailed consideration to this item before making further recommendations to the Panel.

4) Supported Bus Service – the Working Group required further statistical information which was being prepared by the Sustainable Travel Team Leader as part of the annual review and which would be used to establish the criteria for letting future contracts. It was agreed that this be passed to the Bus Contracts Working Group for this year but worked up by a new working group in 2007, looking at all aspects of subsidised bus and community transport for the 2008/09 budget.

5) Business Support – In noting the Working Group’s comments, the Panel accepted that this unit supported statutory services and that no further savings could be made.

6) Building Control – Following discussion of the Working Group’s comments and further information from the Assistant Director of Development and Environment, the Panel concluded that there were no savings on office space or ancillary costs to be made.

7) Development Control – The Panel noted the comments of the Working Group and the representative of the Director of Development and Environment responded to comments by Councillor Burden regarding the future payment of the Planning Delivery Grant. The enforcement team reported to the Planning and Regulatory Committee on a quarterly basis and now had a better set of priorities and targets than previously and was more responsive. The Panel requested further information be provided to the Working Group relating to the implications of replacing Area Committees with one planning committee.

8) Tourism/Destination Management – The Panel noted the comments of the Working Group and that, by possible future amalgamation of tourism promotion with neighbouring authorities, there could be savings on costs, in the first instance, by the production of one joint tourist guide for 2007. However, the possible savings would be unlikely to have a major effect in the short term. It was understood that Tourist Information Centres were included in the review currently being undertaken. The Panel endorsed the view of the Working Group that the Panel should be given the opportunity to closely scrutinise any proposed changes before they were presented to the Executive.

9) Other issues raised - It was noted that the implementation of Decriminalised Parking proposals would have a financial impact on the budget next year, although any revenue gained would not occur before 2008/09.

The Panel discussed the need to set up a working group to look at the way in which the Playhouse in Weston-super-Mare is run and also certain other facilities such as Somerset Hall, Portishead. It was agreed that a heading be introduced on the Work Plan for early 2007 to investigate more cost effective ways of running these facilities.

Councillor Kraft commented that Weston Town Council was considering approaching North Somerset Council with a view to establishing what services the town council could take on.

The Panel also endorsed the recommendation in the final paragraph of the Working Group’s report and concluded that the Council must look to the Corporate Plan, which reflected the result of public consultation on services to be retained and improved and that savings should reflect the priorities of the Council as outlined in the Corporate Plan.

Concluded: that the Working Group consider the points raised above in Sections 2), 3), and 7) and provide a follow up report to the Panel at its next meeting when a full response to the reference from the Executive would be made, including the following recommendations:

(1) The Panel supports the retention of the current highways budget but with more emphasis on actual highways repairs, rather than ancillary works.

(2) The Panel requests the Executive to support the capital bid to invest in new funding for highways over and above the current budget expenditure.

(3) The Panel requests the Executive to note its view that, whilst there may be certain efficiency savings to be made in Development Control, no effective cuts are possible without impacting the front line service which the Council has recently striven to bring up to an acceptable standard.

(4) The Panel wishes to record its concern that previous cuts in the department of Development and Environment’s budget in the areas covered by its remit have already had an effect on the front line services and consequent public image of the Council in areas such as streets and open spaces, highways maintenance, tourism promotion and offers and economic development. Further “salami slicing” across this range of public services will only result in further erosion of those services.

(5) The Panel requests `the Executive to look to the Corporate Plan which reflects the view of the public on services priorities and that Council wide budget saving proposals should reflect this

(6) The Panel unanimously agrees that if sufficient savings cannot be found in the areas identified in the above report, which in themselves may involve staffing reductions, then the Council must look to other high spending Directorates and their services to provide a greater share of budget cuts. The Panel particularly identifies strategic housing and educational central services for such a review.

Recommended to the Environmental Services Policy and Scrutiny Panel that it investigates the future provision of street lighting and explores the possibility of switching off street lights, particularly along dual carriageways where there are no residential dwellings or pedestrian crossings.

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Chairman

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