Chichester District Council
Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 2, East Pallant House. View directions

Contact: Democratic Services on 01243 534685  Email:  democraticservices@chichester.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

305.

Chairman's Announcements

Any apologies for absence will be noted at this point.

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Mrs Bushby, the lead officer of Scrutiny to her first meeting.

 

Apologies had been received from Mr Johnson.

306.

Minutes

To approve the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 10 September 2019 (copy to follow).

 

To receive an update on progress against recommendations made to the Cabinet and the Council.

Minutes:

Mr Moss welcomed members comments.  The Committee requested that in future the minutes be recorded as notes of the decisions made.

 

With regard to minute 298 - Anti Poverty Strategy it was confirmed that the item had been taken forward and would be brought back to the Committee next year.

 

Following the motion submitted to Full Council relating to social and affordable housing it was confirmed that the Committee would be invited to consider the draft Housing Strategy at its January meeting. The report will recommend that a Local Housing Delivery Task and Finish Group be set up.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 September 2019 be approved and signed as a correct record, subject to the amendment of minute 291, paragraph 4, delete “Supervisor”.

307.

Urgent Items

The Chairman will announce any urgent items that due to special circumstances are to be dealt with under the agenda item below relating to late items.

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.

308.

Declarations of Interests

Members and officers are reminded to make any declarations of disclosable pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests they may have in respect of matters on the agenda for this meeting.

Minutes:

Mrs Apel declared a personal interest in relation to agenda item 9 as a friend and chaperone of Chichester Festival Theatre.

 

Mrs Sharp declared a personal interest in relation to agenda item 8 as a Chichester City Council appointed representative of the Business Improvement District.

309.

Public Question Time

The procedure for submitting public questions in writing no later than noon 2 working days before the meeting is available upon request from Democratic Services (the contact details for which appear on the front page of this agenda).

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

310.

Cabinet Member for Environment and Chichester Contract Services Address pdf icon PDF 89 KB

The Cabinet Member for Environment and Chichester Contract Services is invited to present her priorities and areas of focus over the coming months and to answer questions from the Committee on progress towards achieving the priorities within her portfolio.

Minutes:

Mr Moss welcomed Mrs Plant, the Cabinet Member for Environment and Chichester Contract Services. Mrs Plant addressed the Committee outlining the importance that the council has given to the declaration of a Climate Emergency. She then provided an update on the council’s environmental strategy which will address the concerns raised by the Declaration.

 

Members asked questions on the following topics:

 

·         Using Friends of the Earth as a benchmark

·         Solar Panel requirements within the Local Plan

·         Electricity Prices

·         Cost of Electric Cars

·         Environment team staffing levels

·         Funtington piggery expansion

·         Air Quality Management Areas and health implications

·         Creating a more radical approach to the management of air quality

·         Emissions from vehicles used by developers

·         Car Free Day

·         Improving the focus on public health

·         Improving public transport and cycle routes

·         Solving rather than mitigating environment problems

·         Making it easier and cheaper for individuals and businesses to help the environment

·         Supporting the provision of additional staff to address the climate emergency issues

·         Food waste schemes

·         Public involvement

·         Parish involvement

 

The Chairman thanked Mrs Plant and officers for their contribution.

311.

Reducing Single Use Plastics - Monitoring and Review pdf icon PDF 71 KB

The Committee is asked to note the progress on the Council’s Single Use Plastics Action Plan.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr Moss welcomed Mrs Evans and Mrs Stevens from the Environment team. Mrs Evans outlined the report highlighting the Single Use Plastics Action Plan and what has been achieved to date.

 

Members asked questions on the following topics:

 

·         Figures relating to the reduction of plastics since the implementation of the Action Plan

·         Supermarket plastics

·         Recycling measures at large public events

·         Separate recycling bag colours for litter picks

·         Increasing staffing

·         Collection of crisp packets and biscuit wrappers and the number of local collection points

·         Businesses and their use of single use plastics

 

The Chairman confirmed that a number of the points raised would be passed officers at Chichester Contract Services as Mr Carter had left the meeting.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.    The Committee notes the progress on the Council’s Single Use Plastics Action Plan.

2.    The Committee requests that in the budget making process Cabinet considers increasing the resources available to officers to deal with the issues arising from the production of single use plastics.

 

The Chairman thanked officers for their contribution.

312.

Annual Review of Business Improvement Business District (BID) pdf icon PDF 63 KB

The Committee is requested to note the annual report relating to Chichester Business Improvement District (BID) performance.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr Moss welcomed Mr Hicks from Chichester Business Improvement District (BID), Mrs Hotchkiss, Director of Growth and Place and Mrs Murphy, Divisional Manager for Place. Mr Hicks outlined the report highlighting the importance of the BID’s partnerships in particular with the council. He emphasised the need to educate the public on the current condition of the high street with regard to the interpretation of the statistics.

 

Members asked questions on the following topics:

 

·         Creation of a new body to discuss the future of the city

·         The number of organisations involved in the future planning of the city

·         The best options for leadership on the vision of the city

·         Which bodies have the powers to tackle which issues

·         The importance of the rural areas

·         Positive feedback on the street party

·         Homelessness in the city centre

·         The impact of roadworks in the city centre

 

RESOLVED

1.    That the Committee recommends that a group led by the council be set up to actively address issues about aspects effecting the survival of the high street and representatives from the Committee will discuss the matter further with the Leader and the relevant Cabinet Member.

2.    That the Committee notes the annual report relating to Chichester Business Improvement District (BID) performance.

 

The Chairman thanked Mr Hicks, Mrs Hotchkiss and Mrs Murphy for their contribution.

 

The Committee took a short break.

313.

Chichester Festival Theatre Monitoring Report pdf icon PDF 69 KB

To receive the annual report from Chichester Festival Theatre and assess performance in line with the agreed monitoring framework.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr Moss welcomed Ms Bourne and Ms Rooks from Chichester Festival Theatre (CFT) and Mrs Peyman, Divisional Manager for Culture and Sport. Ms Bourne provided an overview of the work carried out by the CFT.

 

Mr Moss commended the work of CFT for the district.

 

Members asked questions on the following topics:

 

·         The use of CFT for purposes other than theatre related

·         Encouraging ideas such as the Speigeltent to bring new audiences to the theatre

·         Feedback on the volume of the Speigeltent initially affecting the main theatre

·         Printing smaller tickets to reduce waste

·         Pursuing links to the library service

·         The percentage breakdown of involvement of local schools

·         Comparative turnover to profit levels

·         Encouraging more music performances

·         Use of the theatre for the Women’s Institute annual event

·         Partnerships with community groups and residents associations such as Swanfield

·         Reducing power consumption

·         Travelling to and from the theatre

·         Linking CFT to Chichester Vision

·         Feedback on the CFT building project

 

RESOLVED

The Committee received the annual report from the Chichester Festival Theatre and notes its performance in line with the agreed monitoring framework.

 

The Chairman thanked Ms Bourne, Ms Rooks and Mrs Peyman for their contribution.

314.

Consultations Task and Finish Group pdf icon PDF 70 KB

The Committee is asked to note the report relating to the review on planning consultations carried out by the Task and Finish Group and to confirm that they are satisfied with the progress made to date and are in agreement with the proposed future improvements.

Minutes:

Mr Moss welcomed Mr Whitty, Divisional Manager for Planning and Mrs Parker, Public Relations Manager. Mr Whitty outlined the report and the work of the Task and Finish Group (TFG) which primarily linked to consultations relating to planning applications and planning policy. He emphasised that the process is governed by legislation and then outlined the five proposals as detailed in section 5.1 of the report.

 

Members asked questions on the following topics:

 

·         Councillors as champions for public participation in consultations

·         Pre-planning application advice training

·         Expanding the parameters for the “my alerts” service

·         Whether the council’s Facebook page could include more information on consultations

 

RESOLVED

1.    The Committee notes the report relating to the review on planning consultations carried out by the Task and Finish Group.

2.    That the Committee notes its satisfaction with the progress made to dates and agrees with the proposed improvements for the future.

 

The Chairman thanked Mr Whitty and Mrs Parker for their contribution.

315.

Corporate Plan Review Task and Finish Group pdf icon PDF 69 KB

The Committee is requested to note this report from the Corporate Plan Task and Finish Group and to confirm that it is satisfied that the Council is achieving satisfactory levels of performance against the targets and activities in the 2019/20 Corporate Plan mid-year progress report.

Minutes:

Mr Moss welcomed Mr Buckley, Corporate Improvement and Facilities Manager and Mr Sutton as Chairman of the TFG. Mr Sutton outlined the report and explained that the TFG had focussed on the red indicators and the amber indicators as indicated in the report. He provided further information on the three red indicator areas; crime, Choose Work and retail training and shop front grants.

 

There were no questions as it was agreed that the TFG had carried out a full review.

 

RESOLVED

The Committee notes the report from the Corporate Plan Task and Finish Group and confirms that it is satisfied that the council is achieving satisfactory levels of performance against the targets and activities in the 2019/20 Corporate Plan mid-year progress report.

 

The Chairman thanked Mr Buckley and Mr Sutton for their contribution.

316.

Budget Review Task and Finish Group pdf icon PDF 47 KB

The Committee is requested to note the terms of reference and scoping outline plan for the Budget Review Task and Finish Group and agree membership of the Group.

Minutes:

Mr Moss welcomed Mrs Belenger, Divisional Manager for Finance. She outlined that the TFG would be made up of three members of OSC and three members of Corporate Governance and Audit Committee (CGAC).

 

Mr Moss confirmed that Dr O’Kelly, Mr Johnson and Mr Dignum would be representing CGAC.

 

Mr Moss asked for volunteers.

 

The following members put themselves forward; Mr Palmer, Mr Sutton and Mr Hughes.

 

RESOLVED

 

That Mr Palmer, Mr Sutton and Mr Hughes be appointed to the Budget Task and Finish Group.

317.

Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 154 KB

Members are requested to consider the latest Forward Plan and whether any items should be added to the Committee’s Work Programme.

Minutes:

Mr Moss welcomed members comments on the Forward Plan.

 

Mrs Sharp drew attention to page 146 of the agenda pack which required amendment to the Cabinet member referenced.

 

Mrs Rudziak then drew members attention to the volume of items already listed for next years Work Programme and reminded members of the work of the Business Routeing Panel.

318.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 93 KB

The Committee is requested to consider the latest Work Programme.

Minutes:

Mr Moss invited Mrs Rudziak to provide an update.

 

Mrs Rudziak outlined the following amendments to the Work Programme:

 

·         Review of off-street parking strategy will take place in March 2020

·         The addition of the Inward Investment Strategy

·         The addition of the Affordable Housing Delivery TFG whose membership and Terms of Reference will be agreed in January 2020

·         The Novium Business Plan will be moved to March 2020

 

Mr Moss invited additional items from members:

 

·         West Sussex County Council small schools closure consultation (it was agreed to take the item to the January 2020 meeting)

·         Church Commissioners land ownership in Chichester – to be invited to attend a future meeting

·         Hyde Group – operations and responses – to be invited to attend a future meeting

 

Mr Moss confirmed that he would consult with officers on the timescale for each item.

 

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