Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Lesley Clarke.

To disclose any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

Of the meeting held on 23^rd June 2015 to be confirmed as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 23 June were agreed as a correct record.

In the Minutes there is an action relating to the Cabinet Member for Transportation. A report was tabled titled the Local Area Forum TfB Scheme Delivery Review and was presented by Simon Dando, TfB. There were a number of recommendations within this paper.

The recommendations were follows:-

·         Increase the current resources to address the backlog.

·         Establish and publish the programme to address the current schemes

·         Formalise the communication advising customers of the impact

·         Ensure the applied fees are clear and visible to customers

·         The Budget Estimate sheet should be amended to show the different project phases in the correct sequence

·         Each phase should clearly indicate whether that project element is a quotation to undertake work or a provision to determine a budget

·         The scheme management protocols should be amended to a ‘gateway’ approach allowing budget estimates to be updated at each gateway point

·         The contingencies and risk should be detailed within a scheme register and included within the budget estimate

·         The process of scheme change needs to be formalised with the customer to aid understanding and avoid confusion in changing scheme outputs/costs/

·         Ensure that the fee breakdown is transparent on budget estimates.

·         Provide visibility of the supply chain partners approach to undertake the work.

During questions the following points were noted:-

·         £10m of the capital programme next year will be delivered through a new market testing tender process which will help provide TfB client with valuable market intelligence, aid benchmarking and help the client access value for money. The cost for £10million worth of schemes had come back at £6.9 million so there is flexibility in providing additional works. Tenders would be awarded from mid-August to November. A Member commented on the open market being cheaper and the response was that there were risks in going to the open market with less stringent rules and regulations.

·         A Member expressed concern about contingency. This was in line with Her Majesty’s Treasury recommendations. The contingency percentages tend to relate to generic non-specific project delivery risks and are intended to determine a budget level and are not applied as actual cost.  A detailed breakdown would be given on each Project.

·         Concern was expressed about the right of an automatic extension of the contract if satisfactory KPI performance is delivered. This had been removed but an extension to the contract could still be awarded based on satisfactory performance.

·         A Member asked if LAF schemes could be combined with maintenance in the same area to co-ordinate both programmes and to make savings. Simon Dando agreed to review this although it was complex with delivery dates and extensive consultation, which was sometimes required by LAFs.

Action: Simon Dando

·         Concern was expressed about disrupting major roads with patching work and whether it was better value for money to resurface the road with the disruption to local businesses.

Simon Dando was invited back in six months time to give an update on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

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 advised that a presentation was held in High Wycombe last week in respect of legal highs which was an issue also noted at the recent full County Council meeting and will come back to this committee.

This item is the first evidence gathering session for the Committee’s Flooding Inquiry, focussing on evidence from the Council’s officers around the County Council’s responsibilities for managing flood risk and responding to flooding emergencies.

This will also be an opportunity for members to learn about the specific flooding incidences that occurred in the Winter of 2013-14, the environmental context and the effectiveness of partnership working at operational level.  Officers will also be able to advise the Committee about their own reviews of the flood events, the learning they have shared and any improvements that have already been introduced as a result.

Contributors:

Mrs Karen Fisher, Strategic Flood Management Team Leader, BCC

Mr Andrew Fyfe, Resilience Manager, BCC

Reports:

Update Report from Karen Fisher p11

Spreadsheet tracking S19 post-flood actions p21

Update Report from Andrew Fyfe p61

Bucks Flooding Flow Chart p65

Suggested Background Reading:

BCC Local Flood Risk Management Strategy 2013-18 Summary

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/media/2274929/flood_risk_strategy_finalpart1.pdf

Section 19 reports – particularly The Willows

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/environment/flooding/strategic-flood-management/flood-investigations/

LGiU Scrutiny of Flooding Toolkit – Sent separately to members on email

LGiU Managing Floods: Supporting local partnerships

http://www.lgiu.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/MANAGINGFLOODS.pdf

Tricia Birchley took the Chair for the Flooding Inquiry. Karen Fisher, Strategic Flood Management Team Leader, Andrew Fyfe, Resilience Manager and Simon Dando, Transport for Buckinghamshire were welcomed to the meeting. The aim of the Inquiry was to ensure that the lessons learned from the 2013-14 flood experiences would lead to improved responses from the Council and relevant partners in the event of flooding incidents in the future.

Karen Fisher provided information for Members on the statutory duties for the Council as a Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) which were outlined on page 12 of the agenda.

The main points of the presentation were as follows:-

·         A good example of follow up work from the flood investigations is on the Willows Estate in Aylesbury where the District Council, County Council, Environment Agency, Town Council and Thames Water with local residents have worked together to deliver a trash screen on the river, some flap values on outlet pipes and some temporary defences and pumps to be deployed in a flood situation. Repair and Renew Grants were pooled together to increase resources for the locality and there was a launch day in September.

·         The Cabinet Member referred to the DEFRA funded Pathfinder Project in Chesham called Flood Smart which has raised flood awareness and established a Flood Action Group and some innovative advice from planners on how to consider flood/drainage issues during the planning process.

·         The Cabinet Member sat on a Regional Flood Committee and Buckinghamshire was covered by two companies Anglian and Thames Water.

·         17 flood investigations were carried out following on from Winter 2013/14. The Council have a responsibility to write reports but not follow up action. However, this is undertaken on a systematic basis to help partnership working. Page 13 of the agenda shows work undertaken with partners and page 14 work undertaken with the support of communities.

·         A piece of work has commissioned by Jacobs to provide detailed maps of ground water and chalk valleys which have been given to communities, TfB and planning authorities. These maps have helped steer a decision against development in Monks Risborough.

·         The Council is a statutory consultee in relation to planning applications and 50 have been received since mid-April which equates to 160 a year. The Council only have resources for this quantity. It was important to enforce conditions on planning applications to control flooding but this remains the responsibility of the Districts as LPAs.

·         The Marlow Flood Alleviation Scheme was going ahead with some initial road raising and the Project will last 3-4 years.

·         The Local Flood Risk Management Strategy does not have to be revised until 2018 but this is being undertaken during 2015/16 financial year because of changes in legislation and updating the sustainable drainage information.

·         Funding was a key issue as resources in the team were limited. Other pots of funding would need to be found for delivering schemes on the ground and there were also opportunities to look at charging for aspects of the work but the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Members will discuss the Work Programme and forthcoming items.

The work programme noted.

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 8^th September 2015 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury. There will be a pre-meeting for Committee Members at 9.30am

Tuesday 8 September 2015 at 10am