Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Mr Chapple OBE, Mr Dhillon and Mr Lambert.

To disclose any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests.

Mr Gomm declared an interest for Agenda Item 7 as Chairman of Crimestoppers.  Mr Carroll also declared an interest for Agenda Item 7 as the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for the Thames Valley.

Of the meeting held on 17^th March 2015, to be confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17^th March were confirmed as a correct record.

The Chairman asked if the Sustainable Drainage (SUDS) report has been taken on to Cabinet.  It was agreed that the Committee Adviser would check on the progress of the report.

ACTION: Committee Adviser

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 welcomed Mrs Kelly Sutherland to the meeting in her new role as Committee Adviser and reminded members that Miss Kama Wager, Committee Adviser would attend the meeting later to discuss the draft Section 106 report with members.  The Chairman had recently attended a member briefing on Legal Highs.  It was also noted that the Business Unit Plan for Transport, Environment and Economy 2015/16-2017/18 had been agreed by the relevant Cabinet Members. It was agreed that this would be circulated to members and a link to the Plan would be included in the minutes.

ACTION: Committee Adviser

https://democracy.buckscc.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=3896

For members to consider the current arrangements for the management of the County’s Country Parks and understand the business unit’s plans to review the current arrangements and opportunities for considering different delivery models.

Members will consider whether they wish to carry out any further work on this topic.

Mrs Lesley Clarke OBE, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment

Mr Andrew Fowler, Head of Country Parks

Mr Tim Williams, Service Lead Officer

The Chairman welcomed Mrs Lesley Clarke OBE, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment, Mr Andrew Fowler, Head of Country Parks and Mr Tim Williams, Country Parks Lead Officer to the meeting.  The Cabinet Member commented that the Country Parks were jewels in the crown of Buckinghamshire County Council and Andrew Fowler and Tim Williams had come up with creative ways of increasing the income generated by the Parks over the years. 

The Chairman asked Mr Fowler to provide a brief introduction for members before inviting members’ questions.  The following main points were noted:

·         As Head of Country Parks, Andrew Fowler was responsible for the strategic direction and finances of the Parks and Tim Williams was responsible for the day to day management.

·         BCC has four parks, all in the South of the County, totalling 800 acres. Black Park and Langley Park had complicated ownerships arrangements with Slough Borough Council, South Bucks District Council and London County Council also owning a proportion of the property.

·         The Parks were officially designated as Country Parks circa 1968 and were some of the first to be designated in the UK.

·         Since 1999 the Country Parks were meant to be self-financing.  This proved difficult at first but since 2005 this had been achieved and since 2010 an annual income target has been set for the Parks, over and above their operating costs.

·         Black Park was the largest park, 535 acres attracting 570,000 visitors per year with 95% positive comments posted on Trip Advisor’s website.  Go Ape have both an Adult and Junior course on offer at Black Park and Segway hire and bike hire are also available.  In addition there is a very successful café overlooking the lake and Evergreen Forest Tots also offer pre-school activities in the Park.

·         Langley Park is 151 acres, made up of more formal gardens including a large rhododendron collection which is of international importance. Langley Park recently benefitted from a £3.1million restoration project financed mainly by the Heritage Lottery Fund. There are also 178 veteran trees in the park so the site could potentially be designated as a Site of Scientific Importance (SSI). Langley Park features a small café and children’s play area and attracts 170,000 visitors per year.

·         Denham County Park is more informal, covering 69 acres between the River Colne and the Grand Union Canal.  The Colne Valley Visitors Centre is there and the Park attracts 127,000 visitors per year. Thorney Park at 47 acres features a lake for angling.  This Park was previously a landfill site.

·         BCC have developed a number of projects to generate income from the Parks, but the main income is from the café, which has a turnover of approximately £500,000 and generates an income for BCC in the region of £100,000, filming licences, BCC events and income from Go Ape.

·         In 2011, Martin Tett who was the Cabinet Member at the time, made provision for a development fund of £300,000 per year, over a three year period to assist with income generating  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

This item is for Members to receive an overview of the issues related to legal highs, the prevalence in Bucks, the financial and social implications of legal high use and the activity and services commissioned by the Council and partners.

Members will consider whether or not there is scope to do more detailed inquiry work on this topic.

Mr Huseyin Djemil, Drug & Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) Commissioner

Mr Lee Scrafton, DAAT Commissioner & Co-ordinator

Ms Amanda Poole, Trading Standards and Community Safety Manager

The Chairman welcomed Mr Huseyin Djemil, Drug and Alcohol team (DAAT) Commissioner, Mr Lee Scrafton, DAAT Commissioner and Co-ordinator and Ms Amanda Poole, Trading Standards and Community Safety Manager.  Ms Poole also introduced Mr Chris Oliver who was taking over as Community Safety Manager following a career in the Police.  The Chairman invited the officers to provide an overview of the work they had completed to date in relation to Legal Highs and the following main points were noted:

·         In 2013, Legal Highs or New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) were mainly used by festival goers and were purchased on the dark web using Bitcoin.  Now the market has matured and become more mainstream.

·         In 2014, BCC commissioned a Needs Analysis which was undertaken by a team of Academics who were able to generate their own dataset.  This has led to an increased understanding of the issues and the prevalence in Bucks.

·         Bucks organised an inter-authority group with Northants, Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire and Bedfordshire to share intelligence on Legal Highs and it became apparent that Bucks were leading the discussions.

·         BCC have delivered training to partners such as Probation and Floating Support providers.as been retained and will deliver more training in future. A Legal Highs trainer has been retained and will deliver more training in future. A practitioner forum was also held in February.

·         A key issue is finding a way of contacting NPS users as they are unlikely to present at treatment centres. BCC have supported an Engagement Café in Aylesbury and are exploring the best way of establishing an online presence.

·          Drug testing procedures are also being reviewed as NPS do not show up on traditional drug tests, which has implications for Safeguarding and Integrated Offender Management (IOM)

·         Public Health and the Police and Crime Commissioner helped to fund the research.  Public Health have shared the findings with Public Health England and John Moores University have asked to undertake a secondary analysis.

·         The DAAT have delivered a members briefing and produced a short video about NPS.

·         The DAAT conducted a joint operation with Trading Standards at a head shop in High Wycombe.  Test purchases were made and substances were tested but nothing illegal was found.  Amanda Poole reported that the South East region had been working over the last few months to identify supply routes and gather intelligence across the region.  Members felt it was important to disrupt the supply chain.

·         It was noted that Mephedrone, a stimulant which had previously been a legal high was now illegal and classified as a Class B drug or a Class A drug if prepared for injection.  A small cohort in Aylesbury were injecting mephedrone in significant quantities and needles were being shared, leading to serious health risks.

·         A member asked if it were not possible to arrest someone for causing harm if they were sharing needles, but officers explained that a virus like Hepatitis C can incubate for up to three months, so it is not immediately apparent. In addition,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

This item is for Members to consider and agree the draft S106 Inquiry Report, prior to its presentation to Cabinet on 11^th May 2015.

Miss Kama Wager, Committee Adviser

The Chairman welcomed Miss Kama Wager, Committee Adviser to the meeting and the Committee considered the draft S106 Inquiry report.

A member commented that he felt the Executive Summary could be stronger as it had missed a key point that the Inquiry group were very concerned about the lamentable loss of a number of officer roles which led to a loss of oversight, direction and income for Buckinghamshire County Council, in relation to S106.

The wording of Recommendation 3 was amended to read ‘We recommend that the Cabinet Member sets out clear criteria for how he or she will ensure Buckinghamshire County Council allows for appropriate local member involvement at early stages …..’

A member expressed concerns through his recent experience with dealing with S106 locally that when Transport for Buckinghamshire (TfB) submit proposals for S106 work their quotes are not properly market tested and he asked if a further recommendation about market testing quotes to ensure value for money could be added to the report. Another member reported that he had experience of S106 monies being inadequate for what was needed on the ground. In response, Kama Wager, Committee Adviser explained that as this issue had come up outside of the Inquiry it could not be used as evidence in the report.  However she reported that internal Audit were doing some work on S106 so this could be investigated by them or alternatively the Finance, Performance and Resources (FPR) Select Committee could be asked to look into this further.  The Chairman noted that TfB had signed up for a lot S106 work this year so this could be reviewed by this Committee or FPR Select Committee in a year’s time.

The Committee agreed the draft report with the amendments discussed and it was agreed that the Chairman would finalise the report with Kama Wager in time for it to be presented at 11^th May Cabinet.

ACTION: Chairman and Kama Wager

Members will discuss the Committee Work Programme and forthcoming Committee items.

The Committee noted agenda items for forthcoming meetings which were itemised on the Work Programme. Members were asked to send any further suggestions of issues for consideration to Kelly Sutherland, Committee Adviser.

ACTION: All members

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 19^th May 2015 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury.  There will be a pre-meeting for Committee Members at 9.30am.

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 19^th May 2015 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury.  There will be a pre-meeting for Committee Members at 9.30am.