Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Bill Chapple OBE, Lesley Clarke OBE and Avril Davies.

To disclose any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests.

There were none.

Of the meeting held on 14^th October 2015 to be confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 14^th October 2015 were confirmed as a correct record subject to the following minor changes:

Under Item 6, first bullet point should be amended to read ‘The current plan expires in April 2016’, the fifth bullet point should be amended to read ‘Policies would be developed for each form of transport’ and under Item 7, in the second bullet point the word ‘for’ should be deleted so it would now read ‘A methadrone handbook had been developed.’

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 none.

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

The Chairman reminded the Committee that a Work Planning workshop would be held on 1^st December and he hoped to see as many Members in attendance as possible.

The Cabinet Member and Community Safety Manager will update the Committee on the progress of developing the Safer Bucks Plan for 2016/17.  This is an opportunity for Members to feedback on the suggested areas of priority for the Community Safety Team for the coming year.

Contributors

Mr Martin Phillips, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Public Health

Mrs Cath Marriott, Community Safety Manager, CHASC

The Chairman welcomed Mr Martin Phillips, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Public Health and Mrs Cath Marriott, Community Safety Manager, Communities, Health and Adult Social Care (CHASC) to the meeting.

The Community Safety Manager advised the Committee that the Safer & Stronger Bucks Partnership Board have a duty to produce the annual Safer Bucks Plan, and the public and partners, such as Thames Valley Police and Probation are consulted on the draft.  Before the draft Plan can be produced, priorities have to be identified for the coming year, so currently evidence and emerging issues were being considered, with a view to the priorities for 2016-17 being agreed by the Safer & Stronger Bucks Partnership Board (SSBPB) at the end of November.

The Committee were asked for their feedback on the list of issues and how they had been ranked using a common approach (currently adopted by Thames Valley Police) of assessing Harm, Opportunity and Threat (HOT), which were included in their agenda pack.  During the discussion the following points were noted:

·         Members noted that rural crime was not mentioned despite it being a priority of the Police and Crime Commissioner.  It was noted that rural crime did not rank high in terms of prevalence per 1000 population or actual volume and the Cabinet Member commented that he was aware that two or three years ago famers were concerned about static metal equipment being stolen, but more recently their priority was slow response times from Police.  It was agreed that rural crime should be added to the list for consideration.

·         It was noted that Wycombe District Council hold a rural forum twice a year and a Member suggested that it might be useful for the Community Safety Officer to attend the March 2016 meeting to get feedback from farmers.

·         A Member asked about outcomes and how the Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) could really make a difference to an issue like cyber- crime, which was ranked as high risk.  In response, Mrs Marriott explained that the list included issues which could impact our communities and then the CSPs would prioritise the issues, considering where they could have an impact.  For example, young people and older people tend to be disproportionately targeted in cyber-crime and therefore the CSPs could work to educate & support these groups.

·         The SSBPB has a budget from the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) of approximately £500,000 although this is due to be cut significantly next year.  This is used to commission services including domestic violence, gangs prevention work, ‘Chelsea’s Choice’ - a drama workshop highlighting child sexual exploitation (CSE). BCC also contributes through its Community Safety budget, especially to domestic violence.  The SSBPB also co-ordinate with the PCC and the Community Safety Managers across the Thames Valley meet quarterly to share experiences and intelligence, in addition to liaising closely with cross border police forces such as the Met, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

·         A Member commented that it would be useful to see outcomes and how often a priority has been repeated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee will receive an update on the recommendations made in the Public Transport Inquiry report which were made to Cabinet on 10^th November 2014.

Members will then be asked to assess if the Committee’s recommendations have been successfully implemented and allocate a RAG status accordingly.

Contributors

Mr Paul Irwin, Deputy Cabinet Member for Transportation

Mr Martin Tugwell, Programme Director, TEE

The Chairman welcomed Mr Paul Irwin, Deputy Cabinet Member for Transportation, Mr Martin Tugwell, Programme Director, TEE and Mr Andrew Bluck, Head of Client and Public Transport to the meeting.  The Committee had received and noted the 12 month Progress Report on the Public Transport Inquiry recommendations which was included in the agenda pack.  In response to questions and during the subsequent discussions the following main points were noted:

·         Mr Tugwell, Programme Director, TEE highlighted three key areas which encompassed the Committee’s recommendations for Public Transport – i) establishing an Integrated Transport Unit, ii) identifying and delivering ‘quick win’ improvements and iii) developing a completely new model of service delivery.

·         An Integrated Transport Unit would be operational from April 2016 and Andrew Bluck had recently been appointed to oversee a smooth transition of services which were being brought back in- house from AMEY and Ringway Jacobs and integrated into the new unit.  The benefits of bringing this in-house include savings on management costs in the short term and providing the foundation for developing a new method of service delivery for the future.

·         Mr Tugwell explained that BCC’s current model for transport is not financially sustainable in the long term therefore there is a need to engage communities in understanding their transport needs, the finance that is available and how we can work together to meet the transport needs more efficiently and effectively.  This may include co-designing community transport models.  The aim was to meet the aspirations and needs of communities but with less resource.

·         To this end, four pilot projects would be undertaken in early 2016, one for a rural area, one for an urban area, one in the North of the county and one in the South.  The aim of the projects would be to develop a system of engaging with communities to identify their transport needs and co-design potential solutions. The approach needed to be cost-effective and capable of being rolled out across the county.  The Deputy Cabinet Member encouraged members to get involved.

·         Ahead of work on the pilot projects beginning, a piece of work was underway to ensure that the data held across the Council is used more smartly to help inform needs analysis and ultimately service provision.  Through this, the Council can show communities a baseline of what is already known about their transport needs and ask them for their feedback.  Members again highlighted research undertake by a previous Cabinet Member, Peter Cartwright, on bus routes in the County which would be helpful.

·         In addition, Mr Bluck would be leading on making interim improvements and delivering ‘quick wins’. He gave examples of some hybrid services currently operating for Home to School transport and public buses, an approach which could be further optimised.  There might also be scope to speed up internal processes.

·         Members were reassured that business as usual would be maintained when the AMEY business was brought back in-house from 1^st April 2016.

·         The Committee welcomed the move to establish an Integrated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Committee will consider and agree the final version of the Flooding Inquiry report prior to its presentation to Cabinet.

A copy of the report will follow.

The Committee considered the final draft of the Flooding Inquiry report.

RESOLVED

That the Committee agreed the report and recommendations unanimously and agreed for the report to go forward for Cabinet consideration on 7^th December 2015.

Action: Select Committee Chairman & Inquiry Chairman

Members are reminded that there is a Work Programme Workshop at 10am on 1^st December 2015.

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 1^st March 2016 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury. There will be a pre-meeting for Committee Members at 9.30am.

Members are reminded that there is a Work Programme Workshop at 10am on 1^st December 2015.

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 1^st March 2016 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury. There will be a pre-meeting for Committee Members at 9.30am.