Meeting documents

Apologies had been received from Bill Chapple OBE, Lesley Clarke OBE, Tim Butcher and Tricia Birchley

To disclose any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

Of the meeting held on 8^th September 2015 to be confirmed as a correct record.

The previous minutes were agreed as a correct record.

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 questions from the public.

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

The Chairman welcomed new member, Jean Teesdale to the meeting.

The Chairman reported that the current recent flooding Inquiry has been well-attended with good input from the public; and that the report and recommendations would be presented to the Committee at its next meeting for agreement, and Cabinet in December. Mrs P Birchley and Mrs K Sutherland were thanked for their work on the Inquiry.

The Cabinet Member and Officers will provide the Committee with an update on the development of the new Local Transport Plan 4 (LTP4).  This is an opportunity for Members to highlight transport priorities for inclusion in the draft Plan and to discuss how LTP4 will differ from its predecessor Local Transport Plan 3.

Please find below the link to the existing LTP3 for information:

http://www.transportforbucks.net/Strategy/Local-Transport-Plan/LTP3.aspx

An initial public consultation asking for people’s views on 10 different transport related issues was carried out during the Summer and the Committee will receive feedback on the results of this survey.

Contributors

Mr Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation

Mr Richard Jeremy, Head of Transport Strategy

Mr Ryan Bunce, Transport Strategy Lead Officer

The Chairman welcomed Mr Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation, Mr Richard Jeremy, Head of Transport Strategy and Ms Rebecca Dengler, Transport Strategy Lead Officer to the meeting. The Cabinet Member expressed his support for the proposal and during the presentation the following points were raised:

·         The current plan expires in April 2016;

·         A new LTP would tie in with Strategic Objectives, be succinct, relevant and accessible.

·         An initial snapshot consultation, which in particular was conducted via social media, had been successful, securing 20,000 tweets on the first day with main issues raised involving:

-        maintenance & improvement of existing roads;

-        managing the transport  impacts of new developments and road safety;

-        improving streets in town centres, focusing on pedestrians rather than cars; and

-        improving bus and train services.

·         The following themes would form the basis of LTP4:

-        Connecting Bucks nationally, internationally and with partners;

-        Improving road investment/maintenance;

-        Improving health and safety of our roads and sustainability;

-        Improving access to work, education and social activities to enable communities to grow.

·         Policies would be developed for each form of transport, and also the role of development, technology and ideas on how to improve walking routes would be considered.

·         A separate policy document on Development Management would sit below LTP4 to help developers to identify transport mitigation for potential development sites..

During questions the following points were raised:

·         The expectation is  that LTP4 will last for at least five years, however the Council could extend this if they so wished;

·         Concern was raised that the anticipated HGV strategy outlined in LTP3 had not been developed;

·         The development of town centres and pedestrianisation needed to be considered on an individual basis;

·         A pragmatic approach should be taken to materials used in regenerating towns to ensure a quality environment could be maintained in the long term;

·         LTP4 would include realistic policies which would encourage support from the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP);

·         Area strategies would be developed to sit below LTP4 and consideration would need to be given to the projects taken forward;

·         Alternative funding streams such as Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Government initiatives around innovative technology should be explored;

·         The highest level of responses from the initial snapshot consultation came from the 35-45 age group, with the under 35s providing the fewest responses.

Mrs Jean Teesdale congratulated the Council’s team for the work undertaken on the Oxford Road (A40) in High Wycombe as part of the High Wycombe Masterplan.

The Cabinet Member informed the Committee that the next steps for LTP4 would be a formal consultation process in December/January – with work being conducted with stakeholders to maximise engagement.

The Chairman advised that the Cabinet Member would be attending this committee at least every 6 months to provide an update. and it was agreed that a small working group of the Committee would be formed to meet with officers in the New Year to provide feedback on the draft LTP4 as part of the formal consultation process.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Officers from the Drug and Alcohol Action Team attended the Committee’s meeting in April 2015 to highlight the growing issue with the use of Legal Highs in Bucks and across the UK as a whole. Members requested a further update on actions that partners were taking to combat the supply of Legal Highs and treatment options for users.

Contributors

Mrs Margaret Aston, Deputy Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health

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

Mr Lee Scrafton, DAAT Commissioner & Co-ordinator

Mr Chris Oliver, Community Safety Team Manager

Mr David Pickering, BCC and Surrey CC Joint Trading Standards

Mrs Rebecca Carley, Locality Services Manager

Mr Huseyin Djemil was welcomed to the meeting.  Mr Djemil presented the Legal Highs Action Plan, explaining in particular that:

·         The responsiveness and flexibility of services was being gauged through an audit of services and service user consultation the involvement of the service user lead for Surrey

·         The scrutiny process had enabled a Legal Highs Action Plan to be compiled and any outstanding items would be considered within the Buckinghamshire County Council Substance Misuse Strategy.

·         Public Health had reviewed the governance structure and was hoping to mainstream the work of legal highs

Mr Djemil informed the Committee that a Legal Highs Conference would take place at The Kings Centre in Amersham on 12/11/2015 for all Buckinghamshire County Councillors, District Councillors and key partners, and that an outcome report and workstream would be developed as a result. The Chairman requested that a summary of this conference be provided to the meeting attendees.

Action: Mr Djemil

Mr Djemil brought Members’ attention to the following:

·         A short 5-7 minute version of the recent ‘Off the Concrete’ film project which provided an insight into the world of homelessness would be shown at the conference;

·         A methadrone handbook had been developed for the DAAT; with a focus on history, physical implications and harm reduction measures.

·         A simpler pathway for using service providers had been compiled with the aid of Mr P Spalding and was currently being agreed with partners;

·         A project targeting homeless individuals was being run through the Uptown Coffee Bar at the Strategy Cafe in Aylesbury on Saturday and Monday afternoons between 14:00-18:00;

·         As the Wycombe Winter Warmth programme was only open for the coldest months of the year, longer term solutions were being sought;

·         The effectiveness of a model utilised by an organisation in Oxford was being looked at with a view to seeking internal budgetary approval to enable a 260% increase in support

·         Although the official number of homeless in Aylesbury was 16, the actual figure could be as high as 120. DAAT staff were receiving training from SHELTER to improve the quality of referrals and decisions to improve the situation;

·         A test purchase exercise at a shop in Wycombe had revealed a significant number of people seeking purchase of legal highs within a few hours.  Work was being conducted with both Trading Standards and the Police around this issue;

·         Work was taking place with Thames Valley Police, Milton Keynes Council and potentially Oxford Council to aid development of a school package to increase education and awareness of the issue

·         The passing of the Legal Highs Bill was anticipated;

·         Funding had been secured to develop a Synthetic Cannabanoids Handbook for use within the prison system and further discussions were taking place with the prison lead at Public Health England.

Mr Djemil advised he would send a link for the recent BBC Scotland ‘World Of Legal Highs’ documentary to the meeting attendees.

Action: Mr Djemil

Members are asked to note that the following items will be considered at the November 17^th meeting:

·         12 month Update on the recommendations made in the Public Transport Inquiry report

·         6 month Update on the recommendations made in the S106 Inquiry report

·         Final draft of the Flooding in Bucks 2013-14: Lessons Learned Inquiry report

An informal Work Programme Workshop is planned for 1^st December 2015 at 10am.

Members noted that a workshop had been arranged to discuss possible items for the Work Programme for 2016 on 1^st December 2015.

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 17^th November 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 would take place on 17/11/2015.