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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting

Contact: Carole Oliphant  Member Services Officer

Link: audio recording

Items
No. Item

185.

APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS (00-04-05)

To receive any apologies for absence and notices of appointment of substitute Members (if any).

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Cllr F W Letch (who was substituted by Cllr B Holdman).

 

In the absence of the Chairman, the Vice Chairman took the chair.

186.

REMOTE MEETINGS PROTOCOL (00-04-23) pdf icon PDF 313 KB

Committee to note the Remote Meetings Protocol

Minutes:

The protocol for remote meetings was NOTED.

187.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST UNDER THE CODE OF CONDUCT (00-04-36)

Councillors are reminded of the requirement to declare any interest, including the type of interest, and reason for that interest, either at this stage of the meeting or as soon as they become aware of that interest.

 

Minutes:

Members were reminded of the need to make declarations of interest when appropriate.

188.

PUBLIC QUESTION TIME (00-05-03)

To receive any questions relating to items on the Agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.

 

Note:   A maximum of 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

Minutes:

The Chairman stated that she had received an email from Mr Quinn raising a question with regard to a question he had put at the last meeting, the issue that he raised did not relate to anything on the agenda for this meeting and therefore she did not intend to read it, however she would request that a written response be provided.

 

189.

MEMBER FORUM (00-05-48)

An opportunity for non-Cabinet Members to raise issues.

Minutes:

Cllr A Wilce referring to Public Question Time requested that any response to Mr Quinn be attached to the minutes of this meeting.

 

The Head of Legal (Monitoring Officer) responded stating that she understood that an interim reply had been sent to Mr Quinn from the Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee following his questions on 1 March and, she would make sure that this was published on the website alongside the minutes of that meeting.

 

Cllr G Barnell made reference to the 3 Rivers Developments Limited Bampton business case and his request to the Leader to investigate the set of figures provided by a member of the public.  He asked when he might expect the outcome of the investigation into the difference in figures between the planning viability and those in the business case and requested that the answer be provided to all members of the committee.

 

Cllr G Barnell also referred to his request for advice (and a review of that advice) from the Head of Legal (Monitoring Officer) with regard to the Cabinet’s decision to approve the business plan for 3 Rivers Developments Limited on 4 February 2021.  The Head of Legal (Monitoring Officer) confirmed that her advice would be circulated and published as soon as possible.

 

Note:  Cllr R L Stanley declared a disclosable pecuniary interest at the start of this item and left the meeting during the discussion thereon as he was a remunerated Director of 3 Rivers Developments Limited.

190.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING (00-08-48) pdf icon PDF 261 KB

Members to consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meetings held on 15th February 2021 and 1st March 2021.

 

The Committee is reminded that only those members of the Committee present at the previous meeting should vote and, in doing so, should be influenced only by seeking to ensure that the minutes are an accurate record.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 February 2021 were approved as a correct record.

 

The minutes of the meeting held on 1 March 2021 were approved as a correct record.

191.

DECISIONS OF THE CABINET (00-13-13)

To consider any decisions made by the Cabinet at its last meeting that have been called-in.

Minutes:

The Committee NOTED that none of the decisions made by the Cabinet on 4 March had been called in.

192.

CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS (00-13-27)

To receive any announcements that the Chairman of Scrutiny Committee may wish to make.

Minutes:

The Vice Chairman (in the Chair) stated that the Chairman had attended the South West Overview and Scrutiny Network meeting recently where he had noted that at least one council had an Audit Scrutiny Committee.

193.

CABINET MEMBER FOR ENVIRONMENT (00-14-16) pdf icon PDF 295 KB

To receive an update from the Cabinet Member for the Environment on area’s within his portfolio.

Minutes:

The Committee had before it and NOTED a report of the Cabinet Member for the Environment providing an update on areas within his portfolio.

 

The Cabinet Member for the Environment was welcomed to the meeting and invited to address the committee. He then outlined the contents of the report stating that he reiterated the Leader’s speech to the Council thanking all the staff for their continued hard work, dedication and diligence to deliver a valued service during these testing times.  The work was appreciated and on target.  He then referred to the following:

 

·         Managing littering and fly tipping which had increased during the summer months of last year and that there would be a strategic review to reduce littering and fly tipping in the community through education and awareness, better cleaning and infrastructure and the improvement of enforcement.

·         Transport issues and that the authority was now into the second year of the partnership with Specialist Fleet Services Limited to continue to provide the supply and maintenance of around 210 vehicles; this reflected good economic and climate change practices.

·         Utilising the Community Payback Service and the need for members to notify the service of projects to take forward.

 

Consideration was given to:

 

·         A strategic review of littering, when would this take place and in what format and who by? - work was taking place with the recycling officers to identify those who were not recycling and providing an education programme, this was work in progress.

·         With regard to the proposed 3 weekly collection trial, there were concerns that savings had been shown in the budget for this project and therefore was the project being predetermined before a trial had taken place – the Cabinet Member stated that the outcome of the trial would not be pre-empted, it was proposed that the trial would commence from 21 June (if Covid restrictions allowed)

·         With regard to the number of fly tipping offences and whether there were

any outstanding prosecutions – a written response would be provided in the absence of the Operations Manager for Streetscene.

·         Specific fly tipping of tyres in Stoodleigh and littering on the A396 and A361 and that discussions were taking place with the Highway Authority with regard to this – the Cabinet Member stated that littering issues on the highways should be reported via the DCC portal alternatively he would be happy to take this up.

·         The impact of 3 weekly collections in town centres because of the lack of storage facilities – the Cabinet Member stated that this was being considered.

·         The current recycling rate and whether a target of 60% was unrealistic – the 60% was a strategic target for 2025 and was work in progress.

·         The recycling of small metal items – there had been problems with capacity (mainly because of the success of the WEE scheme)

·         The need to reduce dog fouling – this would be progressed when the PSPO had been finalised.

·         Problems with littering of cigarette ends and the need to commend  ...  view the full minutes text for item 193.

194.

FORWARD PLAN (00-54-29) pdf icon PDF 69 KB

Members are asked to consider any items within the Forward Plan that they may wish to bring forward for discussion at the next meeting.

Minutes:

The Committee had before it and NOTED the *Forward Plan.

 

It was requested that the Committee consider the Litter Strategy and the formation of a Teckal Company.

 

It was also agreed that consideration be given to the general external maintenance of shops in the town, it was felt that maybe the Community or Environment Policy Development Groups could consider this matter and provide a report to the Scrutiny Committee.

 

Note:  *Plan previously circulated, copy attached to minutes.

195.

SCRUTINY OFFICER UPDATE (1-07-24)

Members to receive an update from the Scrutiny Officer

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Officer provided the following update:

 

·         The first formal meeting of the Planning Enforcement Working Group had taken place the previous week, and after a very productive discussion with the Planning Enforcement Officers, Members were considering the next steps.

·         Motion 564 had tasked the Scrutiny Committee with considering and making recommendations to the Council regarding the findings of the Fawcett Report ‘Does Local Government Work for Women’. The Chairman was proposing that the Committee establish a one off Working Group, like a ‘Spotlight Review’ where Members would spend half a day or so looking at the report, questioning officers and Members, before making recommendations to bring back to the Committee. This proposal would come to the next meeting.

 

·         In terms of actions from the previous meetings:

 

Ø  The Committee had submitted a list of questions on the 3R Business case for the Bampton site and had received answers to those questions. The Cabinet considered the questions put by the Scrutiny Committee and had welcomed the committee’s input. (from 1 March special meeting)

Ø  She had been tasked with providing an update on broadband, which she hoped to send out shortly

Ø  As requested at the 15 February meeting, the Committee had received: a reply from the Monitoring Officer to Cllr Barnell’s questions regarding the Cabinet discussion of the 3R Business plan; response on questions on emergency repairs and rent collection; a response on questions with regard to properties returned to the Council and the charges associated with clearing those.

Ø  Honorary Alderman Nation had also received a written response to his question posed at Scrutiny Committee on 15th February 2021 and it had been added to the minutes.

 

 

 

196.

IDENTIFICATION OF ITEMS FOR THE NEXT MEETING

Members are asked to note that the following items are already identified in the work programme for the next meeting:

 

·         Cabinet Member for Finance

·         Motion 564

·         Recommendations from Customer Experience Working Group

·         Options for accelerating affordable housing delivery

·         Chairmans Annual Report

 

Note: - this item is limited to 10 minutes. There should be no discussion on items raised.

Minutes:

There were no additional items other than those items identified within the work programme for the next meeting on 19 April 2021.

Written Responses pdf icon PDF 249 KB