Agenda and minutes

Councillor Josh Cook – personal reasons

Councillor Sue Johnson – other Council business

Councillor Ginny Klein - unwell

Councillor Marcia Watson – personal reasons

None.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 10 January 2018

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 January 2018 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Report of the Head of Legal and Governance

Councillor Graham Chapman, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Neighbourhood Regeneration updated the Committee on his Council Plan priorities and budget challenges, highlighting the following:

(a)  the priority to create 3,000 high quality jobs through developing sites is on track, with 2,000 jobs having been created. Biocity is complete and has been successful, delivering 180 jobs. A new building of science workspace is being constructed at Nottingham Science Park securing a further 109 jobs;

(b)  the Council has leant funds to the Credit Union in order to retain it as an alternative to pay day lending and loan sharks, and a meeting is planned for February for further support;

(c)  a new joint service centre has been opened in the Dales ward, bringing together library facilities from Sneinton and Bakersfield in a building shared with the police. A new library at Strelley Road is planned to open in 2018. This was initially planned as a joint service centre but had to be reduced to save money;

(d)  the Council is looking at options to work closer with Derby City Council, and is continuing to work with Leicestershire on a new IT system. The Council is also looking to work with Rushcliffe Borough Council to locate some of their refuse collection vehicles at Eastcroft;

(e)  the Council has one of the highest ratings in the country for citizens considering that the Council provides value for money. This may become difficult to sustain with further budget cuts;

(f)  the Council is holding the option open on the Blenheim site, whilst developers raise funds to provide an energy park. The developers pay the Council £100,000 a year whilst this is ongoing;

(g)  the third phase of Southglade Food Park will not be going ahead due to its high costs, but the site may be used for warehousing;

The following points and suggestions were raised during the discussion which followed:

(h)  contractors who worked on the improvement of Bulwell marketplace have not returned to make repairs that are required, and goodwill is eroding;

(i)  the Credit Union could provide a representative at food banks to promote their affordable finance;

(j)  provision should be made at the Mary Potter Centre for car parking for the disabled and elderly who want to use the library and other facilities, as these are only available for medical centre users presently;

(k)  if the Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall provided a free concessionary pass for car parking with their tickets, it could bring more people into the city centre in the evening.

RESOLVED to thank Councillor Chapman for the information provided.

Report of the Head of Legal and Governance

Councillor Sally Longford, Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhood Services and Local Government, updated the Committee on her Council Plan priorities and budget challenges, highlighting the following:

(a)  40,000 Robin Hood Pay as you Go cards have been sold since they were launched. Online top ups, fare capping and contactless payment are to be rolled out;

(b)  there has been a regular programme of deep cleans and days of action across the city to tackle hot spots and keep neighbourhoods clean. The number of deep cleans has exceeded targets and included district centres in Bulwell, Clifton, Sherwood and Hyson Green;

(c)  the tram has expanded the discretionary free travel for elderly and disabled residents, and the Linkbus network is extremely well used by elderly citizens. Child fares on NCT and child Robin Hood tickets have been extended to under 19s;

(d)  the school catering service continues to achieve the silver Food for Life catering mark standard, and one secondary school has achieved gold standard. This service is successful and expanding to out of authority schools;

(e)  gritting is carried out on all primary routes when required, including the cycle superhighways. All residential areas in the city except Clifton have developed 20mph zones;

(f)  the Council has kept its street lighting on overnight in all neighbourhoods, and is only dimmed slightly;

(g)  the Skylink bus was reinstated in October 2016 and includes a stop at the Clifton South Park and Ride site to link with the tram;

The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:

(h)  in December 2017, 98% of graffiti and 100% of do fouling was cleared within 48 hours;

(i)  chewing gum is a problem around the city centre as it is unsightly, expensive to clean and leaves marks. There needs to be behaviour change for the problem to be resolved, and there will be a campaign in the spring around cleanliness;

(j)  there is a Council-owned carpark in Bulwell which is poor condition and becomes unusable when it has been raining;

(k)  utility companies must inform the Council when they plan to undertake work on highways, with the exception of emergency work. The Council manages reinstatement, which must be complete within a year or the utility companies can be fined.

RESOLVED to thank Councillor Longford for the information provided.

Report of the Head of Legal and Governance

Laura Wilson, Senior Governance Officer, introduced the report updating the Committee on the Communities and Local Government Select Committee’s findings following its review of the effectiveness of Local Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

The review’s findings include a number of recommendations for local authorities, although a number of these would be impacted by resources.

Committee members welcomed the recommendation that councillors working on scrutiny committees should have access to financial and performance data, and that this access should not be restricted for reasons of commercial sensitivity, although they noted that this would cause issues around commercial confidentiality and the open, public nature of Scrutiny Committees.

RESOLVED to note the findings of the review

Report of the Head of Legal and Governance

RESOLVED to

(1)  agree the work that is currently planned for the remainder of the 2017/18 municipal year;

(2)  note that the work programme for the 2018/19 municipal year will be discussed at the March meeting and forward any suggested areas of work to Laura Wilson.