Meeting documents

Apologies for absence were received from Lin Hazell, Steve Orchard, Madeleine Howe, Huw Jones, Barbara Wallis and Irene Thompson. The Committee sent its best wishes to Irene Thompson who was unable to attend owing to ill-health.

The Chairman welcomed Mary Trevallion and Peter Cathcart to their first meeting of the County and Parishes Liaison Committee.

The Committee stood for a Minute’s silence in sad remembrance of Rodney Royston as this was the first meeting of the Committee since he passed away. It was noted that Martin Tett had been appointed as the new Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and would be invited to join the Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

of the meeting held on 12 October 2006 to be confirmed as a correct record

The Minutes of the meeting on 12 October 2006 were confirmed as a correct record.

Verbal Report from Chris Williams, Chief Executive, BCC

Chris Williams, Chief Executive, BCC reported that at the end of January 2007, the County Council and 4 District Councils had submitted a Pathfinder bid to the government for enhanced 3 tier working. The aim of the bid was to move towards seamless integrated services in terms of customer contact and services delivery whilst maintaining 5 sovereign Councils.

There were high hopes of the bid being accepted. However, even if the bid was not successful, the 5 Councils had agreed to work together more closely.  A successful bid offered the prospect of additional freedoms and flexibilities and some access to additional funding. Involvement from national government would also assist in liaising with other government departments.

A Joint Implementation Board with 5 County Council members and 4 District Council members would act as a project board. Council Leaders would act as the conduit between the Councils and the projects. A programme team would assist with delivery and it was anticipated that a raft of projects would commence within the first year of implementation, 2008/09.

For 2008/09, the first project planned involved bringing together County and District Council back office services, possibly including the police and fire authorities as well. The second major project was around extending the concept of contact centres to the 3 authorities that did not currently operate in that way and rolling out access points across the County. The third project was the development of a Joint Waste Authority bringing together the waste collection responsibilities of the District Councils and the waste disposal function of the County Council. It was hoped that this would secure significant savings. The fourth project was around demand led transportation covering public transport, concessionary fares and dial-a-rides. Joint procurement was the fifth project and community engagement the sixth, bringing together the work the County Council’s GC2C and District Council work on community engagement.

Specific issues for Parish and Town Councils were highlighted as follows:

• Attempts were being made to rationalise public consultations to reduce the burden on Town and Parish Councils. However, the Charter around rationalising consultation with parishes had been put on hold with a view to developing a charter across the 5 authorities. It was anticipated that a draft charter would be available for consideration by June 2007.
• A list of potential, delegated powers had been drafted by the County Council but progressing this had been delayed until the District Councils had compiled a similar list. It was noted that minor highways work had already been delegated to Buckingham and Chesham Town Councils.

In terms of timescales, it was anticipated that the outcome of the bid would be known by April 2007, the Joint Improvement Board would first meet in June 2007 with scoping reports to be approved by the board in July. Implementation would commence in April 2008.

A Member requested that Town and Parish Councils be considered in terms of joint procurement once contracts had been negotiated. The Chief Executive undertook to explore the possibility.

Action: Chris Williams

In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Report from Victor Green, Business Support Manager, Youth and Community Service

Mary Lewis, Interim Youth Service Manager, tabled two documents for members’ information, one detailing targeted youth support and the other generic Youth and Community provision in GC2C areas. Mary Lewis explained that services for young people were changing rapidly and every effort was being made to ensure that gaps in provision were being identified and filled. To this end, current provision was being mapped in the 19 GC2C areas. By working closer with local councils and other partner agencies, the Youth and Community Service was seeking to obtain a better understanding of the needs of the wider community, and therefore provide services that were responsive to the needs of young people at a local level. The service would also contribute to the cohesion and equalities agenda, with an increased focus on prevention and early intervention work with young people.

Mary Lewis reported that the Youth Opportunity and Youth Capital Funds had provided local authorities with a unique opportunity to involve young people in the development, design and delivery of services and youth facilities at a local level.  Young people’s involvement in this process was being expanded by the formation of Local Youth Advisory Panels in the 19 GC2C areas.  These forums would offer service providers a cohesive structure for ongoing engagement of young people in decision-making process.

In response to a question, Mary Lewis replied that the service did link up with voluntary sector and community groups. The service was also working with "action for youth" to map their youth service provision. Part of the current exercise involved working more closely with voluntary and community groups to best utlise available resources.

A Member requested that Youth and Community Services liaise with the 3 Senior Area Coordinators and the Rural Towns Co-coordinator with respect to mapping services available in their localities. The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services requested that she and Mary Lewis discuss linkages with the 14 – 19 strategy outside of the meeting.

Action: Marion Clayton and Mary Lewis

By way of clarification, the Interim Youth Service Manager explained this was an ongoing piece of work and that the missing figures on the tables circulated relating to actual and target "reach" would be inputted in due course. It was agreed that the item would be reconsidered at a future meeting once the figures were available.

Action: Mary Lewis and Sheilah Moore

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Members applauded the work of the outreach service and also commended the use of the rural "outreach" bus which, they noted, had proved very popular.

Report from Madeleine Howe, Senior Local Area Co-ordinator

Ian Reed, Senior Area Coordinator, updated members on developments with GC2C.

• The GC2C areas had been reviewed after the first years’ experience and feedback which had resulted in 19 areas for service planning
• 14 cluster groups were continuing to develop with essential support from Heads of Service and other managers
• A draft framework for these clusters had been prepared to assist in their operation and Terms of Reference
• The GC2C newsletters were being well received
• Two workshop events for Town and Parish Councils had been held the previous November which had been well attended and the feedback had been very positive. As a result of these events an "Offer/Charter" had been developed but publication had been delayed in light of the Pathfinder bid.
• Front line staff "Speed Date" style events had been held in all former pilot areas with follow-up events including health and Police
• Local community area profiles had been produced for each of the areas and would be accessible on the GC2C web pages.

It was noted that the MKOB partnership had started work on community engagement which would be brought to the next meeting of the Committee.

Action: Ian Reed and Sheilah Moore

Members commented that the area technicians were being well received. They were familiar with the local area and served as a point of contact with County Council services, not only Transportation. However, another member pointed out that to keep communities engaged, it was important to address their primary concerns such as preserving the environment and limiting HGV traffic through the villages. The member felt that the County Council also needed to respond to consultations on parish plans and to consult Parishes on changes to services provision.  A Senior Area Co-ordinator responded to the member’s concerns stating that environmental issues would be addressed in future and that reasons had already been provided as to why HGVs could not be kept of the Cliveden Road.

A member indicated that there was some confusion over the respective roles the Local Committees and the cluster meetings. A Senior Area Coordinator clarified that clusters were to focus on very local issues and Local Committees would be taking a more strategic view. The Chief Executive added that over time more and more decision making would be made at a local level by the local area forums. County Council services would become increasingly localised and youth service planning, provision and youth forums already operated on a cluster level. 

In response to a question, the Chief Executive informed the meeting that it was hoped to have Heads of Service leads allocated to each of the GC2C areas within the following few weeks.

Discussion Item led by Richard Pushman, Buckinghamshire Historic Environment Champion

Richard Pushman, Bucks Historic Environment Champion, reported that the role of Champion was to serve as a link between people with local knowledge of the historic environment and the people who could take steps to protect it. However, the lack of grant aid to support their work was disappointing. As Champion of the Historic Environment, the member had been involved with the Quarrendon monument and he encouraged people to visit the site. 

A member raised the idea of building a green bridge over the A412 linking Black Park with Langley Park. The County Council was applying for lottery funding to support this, but the member wondered if there was a role for the Historic Environment Champion to play. The Champion suggested that European funding might be a possibility and agreed to discuss the matter further outside of the meeting.

Action: Richard Pushman and Bill Lidgate

Discussion Item

It was reported that Aylesbury, Buckingham, Chesham, Gerrard’s Cross, Iver, Little Marlow, Newport Pagnall, Stoney Stratford and West Wycombe had all achieved Quality Parish Status. Concern was expressed that some services were not being devolved down to the Parishes despite Quality Status. Also, Quality Parishes were not playing a leading role in the GC2C clusters and the parishes were unclear as to the benefit of having achieved Quality Status.

A member suggested that the profile of Quality Status should be raised. The status needed to be recognised as a delivery vehicle for devolved County Council service provision. In response, another member pointed out that the County Council was not always notified when Quality Parish Status had been achieved. There were many services that could be devolved to Quality Parishes that were interested. The Chairman agreed to draft a press release about Quality Status and the opportunity to take on devolved services.

Action: Bill Chapple

It was suggested that the BALC newsletter "Matters Arising" could also be used to publicise this further.

Report from Malcolm Godwin, Rural Towns Co-ordinator

Members received and considered the report from Malcolm Godwin, Rural Towns Co-ordinator. In response to a question, Malcolm Godwin indicated that the issue around responsibility for market stall in Princes Risborough should be resolved in the next few days.

It was noted that the County Council was also supporting Chalfont St Peter in its consideration of whether or not to undertake a full Healthcheck. Alison Derrick and Malcolm Godwin undertook to discuss the implications of development Chalfont St Peter outside of the meeting.

Action: Alison Derrick and Malcolm Godwin

Members received and considered an update from the Buckinghamshire Rural Affairs Group which was noted.

It was agreed that training for Parish Councils would be considered at the next meeting.

Action: Patrick Martin and Sheilah Moore

2.30pm on Thursday 18^th October 2007 in Mezzanine Room 2 is proposed.

The date of the next meeting was agreed as 2.30pm on Thursday 18^th October 2007 in Mezzanine Room 2.