Meeting documents

Apologies for absence were received from David Carroll, Dev Dhillon and Tim Butcher.

To disclose any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

Of the meeting held on 17 June 2014 to be agreed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on the Tuesday 17 June 2014 were agreed as a correct record subsequent to the following minor amendments.

Item 9 - Public Transport Inquiry

Page 10

On the basis of engineering and licensing etc to be amended to vehicle safety

Page 11

The Concessionary fares scheme is s statutory responsibility given to all upper tier Local Authorities by Local Government to be amended to Central Government.

Page 12

Business Support Review to be amended to Business Performance Review

Matters Arising

Public Transport Inquiry

Community Impact Bucks are to be contacted for clarification of the contract details for the continuation of the Transport Hub.

Action: Mr Clarke

A timeline/scope of the internal review, the review being undertaken by Gate One and the Transport review are to be provided.

Action: Cabinet Member for Transportation/Gill Harding/Andrew Clarke

This is an opportunity for members of the public to put a question or raise an issue of concern, related to Environment, Transport and Locality Services.   Where possible, the relevant organisation to which the question/issue is directed will be present to give a verbal response.  The member of public will be invited to speak for up to four minutes on their issue.  A maximum of 30 minutes is set aside for the Public Questions slot in total (including responses and any Committee discussion). This may be extended with the Chairman’s discretion. 

For full guidance on Public Questions, including how to register a request to speak during this slot, please follow this link:

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/about-your-council/scrutiny/get-involved/

There were no public questions.

For the Chairman of the Committee to provide an update to the Committee on recent scrutiny related activity.

The Chairman reported the following.

Public Transport Inquiry Working Group

Two days public evidence sessions took place on the 24 and 25 July. The evidence sessions were attended by about 30 representatives from the strategic client, commissioners, commercial bus operators, non-traditional transport providers and transport user groups etc.  The attendees provided knowledge, advice and information about transport provision as well as raising any issues and concerns.  Thanks were given to all who attended the evidence sessions.  A further meeting of the Working Group is taking place on the 16 September.

Members will receive an update on the implications of the Licensing for Oil and Gas Exploration following the recent invitation for applications for Licences in the 14th Landward Licensing Round, and the publication of additional planning guidance. This will include an update on the Committee’s recommendations made in Feb 2014 (via letter to Cabinet Member).

Lesley Clarke OBE, Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning

Lester Hannington, Lead Officer for Minerals and Waste policy

Lesley Clarke OBE, Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning and Lester Hannington, Lead Officer for Minerals and Waste policy were welcomed to the meeting.

Mr Hannington referred to his attendance at the 4 February meeting of the ETL Select Committee during which an update was given on the Council’s most up to date position (in light of recent Government announcements) in relation to ‘fracking’.

The Government has since published an invitation to apply for Licences for oil and gas exploration under the 14^th Landward Licensing Round as well as additional planning guidance.  The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will consider applications for licenses received no later than 2pm on 28 October 2014.

In terms of the implications for Buckinghamshire, Appendix 1 on page 24 of the agenda shows the blocks of land that are available for applications. 

The Frequently Asked Questions section of Fracking for shale gas page of the BCC website has been updated to reflect the current stage of the process.  The website will continue to be revised as and when new information is available.  District councils are also hosing this page on their websites.

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/environment/planning/minerals-and-waste-planning-policy/fracking/

There has been a review of existing Minerals and Waste policies. Part of the overall ‘Replacement Minerals and Waste Local Plan’ is out of date and is not consistent with the Government’s National Policy Planning Framework.

A new Local Development Scheme has been published which sets out a timescale for the production of the Replacement Minerals and Waste Local Plan which will begin with a consultation on issues later in 2014.

The report points out that the Government is inviting applications for oil and gas exploration licenses.  There is a key role for the County Council as the Minerals Planning Authority in terms of the Development Control Committee having an up-to-date local planning policy to enable better informed decisions to be made on any applications that may come forward.

Although the County Council needs to be mindful of advice from other regulators, there are many other links in the chain of this regulation of this process e.g. operators can’t apply for planning permission unless they have a license. However, the outcome of the present round of applications for licenses will probably not be known until 2015. In addition, the geological information on Buckinghamshire isn’t sufficiently advanced to show what the number of applications for Licenses may be received by DECC.  There could also be further licencing rounds every 2-3 years.  This is the indication from Department for Energy and Climate Change.

During discussions, the following questions were asked.

Previous understanding was that Buckinghamshire would not be selected for fracking. It now seems to be the case that Buckinghamshire will be selected. Buckinghamshire has not been selected in isolation. Information received from DECC infers that any area where there is slight indication of the presence of any form of oil or gas has been included in the areas of land available for applications for licensing. Historically there has been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Members will receive an update on the draft proposals/business plans for the joint trading standards service with Surrey County Council for comment as requested at the 13th May meeting.

Amanda Poole, Trading Standards Manager, BCC

Steve Ruddy, Surrey County Council

Martin Phillips, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement, Amanda Poole, Trading Standards Manager, BCC and Steve Ruddy, Surrey County Council, were welcomed to the meeting.

Ms Poole began by explaining there is a slight discrepancy in the covering report and business case.  Paragraph 5 of the report advises ‘the cashable savings (removing 10% of generation)’.  This figure should be 11% as stated in the business case.

In terms of developments since the proposed plans to create a Joint Trading Standards Service with Surrey County Council were presented at the May meeting of the ETL Committee, a Project Board has been set up to oversee the development of the joint service.  Membership of the Project Board includes the Members and Officers from each of the two Local Authorities. Some of the more contentious areas of the joint service have been taken to the Project Board for discussion and debate i.e. the governance structures and preferred options for the Joint Service. The Board meets on a monthly basis.  Legal advice can be sought between meetings if required.  The Inter-Authority Agreement is the legal document which underpins the Joint Committee. Detailed discussions have taken place to discuss the financial and legal aspects of the joint service. Engagement has also taken place with members and officers.

During the update, the following questions were asked.

There are two governance models in the report.  What was the thought process behind these models? Ms Poole explained that the two governance models in the report are Joint Committee and Lead Authority Merged Services.  Initially a variety of governance models were looked at i.e. could Trading Standards be its own Trust and delivery vehicle which was separate to the County Council and could contract services. Unfortunately there are complications around regulated services such as the employment of staff where a private delivery of this vehicle is not allowed. North Tyneside is part of a wider group of services where some Trading Standards staff are seconded.  The Barnet model is also part of a wider group where there is joint contracting between the Local Authority and Capita.  Whilst this was felt to be theoretically and practically possible, it would take longer to deliver this model and would not bring in benefits.  It was also felt that the Joint Committee model was more Authority managed.

In comparison to BCC, Surrey County Council is larger by half.  The staffing levels are also different. How can assurance be given to BCC staff that the plan is to TUPE them over, taking into account future budget reductions and that they are not the first on the list if any redundancies were to be made. Mr Ruddy explained that the model is designed to be a partnership; hence the Joint Committee model which would deliver services locally and generate efficiencies. Any cuts to overheads would be governed through the Joint Committee i.e. policies.  It is difficult to imagine a scenario or reason why the joint services and partnership would be unbalanced.

Ms Poole said her understanding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Members will be examining the progress towards the committee’s recommendations of the Transport for Bucks inquiry.  As part of this they will be monitoring and reviewing the progress of the various improvement strands/reviews that have been undertaken over the past year.

Ruth Vigor-Hedderly, Cabinet Member for Transportation

Gill Harding, Service Director, Place

Mike Freestone, Interim Contract Manager

Yogesh Patel, Business Improvement Director, Ringway Jacobs 

Ruth Vigor-Hedderly, Cabinet Member for Transportation, Gill Harding, Service Director, Place, Mike Freestone, Interim Contract Manager and Yogesh Patel, Business Improvement Director, Ringway Jacobs and Lee Mercers, Ringway Jacobs were welcomed to the meeting.

The Cabinet Member for Transportation thanked the Chairman and Members of the Committee for the opportunity to introduce team members and provide an update on Transport for Bucks.

The Chairman asked for an overview of work that has taken place.

The Cabinet Member for Transportation reported the following.

‘I was appointed as Cabinet Member for Transportation on the 1st April 2014. I was fairly familiar with the contractor, Ringway Jacobs (RJ) and had some idea of how BCC worked as RJ as the client.  I was also very aware of public dissatisfaction which related to the day to day delivery of the front line operational side of Ringway Jacobs and BCC as the client.

In April, I instructed Gate One, an independent consultant to carry out a full health on the contract between RJ and BCC which included transparency of the findings. The contract was five years old and legislation had changed considerably over the past five years.

In terms of the Localism Act, it was important to empower Members, officers and public to have an opinion and voice and to put forward new ideas to the client and contractor.  

Gate One were instructed on a 6 week contract.  Bart Smith was the appointed as the consultant for the review.

Whilst the health check of the contract was being undertaken, we still had to "keep the show" on the road, in respect of the day to day operational delivery.

The decision was made to go "back" to the old way of working.

Amersham depot was re-opened with David Molyneaux appointed as interim manager. The Handy Cross depot was re profiled. Wayne Pickford been appointed as the interim manager. Tim Fowler has been appointed as the interim Manager for depot at Griffin Lane.  An open evening is taking place at the depot on the 1st October during which new way of working will be demonstrated.

The new way of working allows the depots to have a wider range of freedom to be able to understand the need for change in each area they cover.  This is important as each area is so diverse; one size does not fit all. The LATs are based in at the depot in the area they represent.

Benefits of local delivery include:

·         a cost effective approach due to a higher volume of skilled operatives in one area at any one time

·         visible impact which creates confidence in the local communities

·         a more effective approach in terms of scheduling, simplifying the programme for ease of understanding

·         a personal approach and higher level of ownership will allow the LAT to take responsibility and to be held to account

·         KPIs will be set in each depot at local level allowing better management of the process in terms of monitoring the output locally.

The area based  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Verbal Update from the Chairman

The Chairman reported the following.

During the two day ETL Public Transport inquiry sessions, evidence was received heard from Senior Officers, the Strategic Client, Commissioners and Providers, contractors of public and passenger transport, Commercial Bus Operators, the Passenger Transport Executive, non-traditional transport providers, Community Transport providers, healthcare transport providers and Transport User Groups.  This included information about the taxi token scheme, public transport and economic growth and employment, assessing transport needs and solutions and sustainable travel schemes. A number of themes have emerged from the evidence sessions.

A further meeting is taking place on the 16 September to discuss the findings and the draft report.  The report will be presented at the October meeting of the ETL Select Committee for agreement, following which it will be taken to the November meeting of Cabinet.

Members of the Committee NOTED the Work Programme.

Members of the Committee AGREED that the item on S106 Developer Contributions should be moved to the November meeting.

The next meeting is due to take place on Tuesday 14 October 2014 in Mezzanine 2, County Offices, Aylesbury at 10.00am.  There will be a pre-meeting for Committee Members at 9.30am.

Future meeting dates for 2014

Tuesday 18 November

Proposed meeting dates for 2015

3 February

17 March

14 April

19 May

23 June

21 July

8 September

6 October

17 November

The next meeting is due to take place on Tuesday 14 October 2014 in Mezzanine 2, County Offices, Aylesbury.  There will be a pre-meeting for Committee Members are 9.30am.

Future meeting dates for 2014

Tuesday 18 November

Proposed meeting dates for 2015