Meeting documents

Venue: Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall, Aylesbury. View directions

Note: Please note that this meeting will be webcast - please use the "Webcasts" menu link 

Media

Webcast: View the webcast

Items
Note No. Item

10.00am

1.

Apologies for Absence

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Mrs L Clarke and Mr S Dando.

10:02

2.

Election of Chairman

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Minutes:

Mr R Reed nominated Mr D Carroll as Chairman. This was seconded by Mrs A Macpherson.

10:05

3.

Appointment of Vice Chairman

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Minutes:

The chairman appointed Mr S Bowels as Vice-Chairman.

4.

Declarations of Interest

To disclose any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests.

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Minutes:

There were none.

10:10

5.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 186 KB

Of the meeting held on 13th March to be agreed as a correct record.

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Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on the 13th March were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

10:12

6.

Public Questions

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.  Members of the 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/getting-involved/

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Minutes:

There were none.

7.

Chairman's Report

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

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Minutes:

The Chairman thanked everyone for working well as a team.

10:15

8.

Museum Trust

Members will review the Trusts’ current and planned areas of focus and activity to ensure the long term sustainability of the County museum for residents of and visitors to Buckinghamshire. They will consider recent performance of the Trust, audience development and community engagement going forward and the financial sustainability (funding and income generation opportunities) of the Trust.

 

Contributors:

·         Wendy Morgan-Brown, Head of Culture and Leisure

·         Ruth Page, Culture and Leisure Development Manager

·         Sue Shave, Museum Director

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Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed the following contributors to the meeting to present the report:

 

  • Mr N Brown, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement.
  • Mrs R Page, Culture and Leisure Development Manager.
  • Mrs S Shave, Museum Director.

 

Mrs Shave introduced the item and gave an overview of the current areas of focus and developments for the Museum Trust. The full discussion can be viewed on the webcast. The areas highlighted to Members included:

 

  • The Museum Trust was focussing on its self-sustainability, income generation and alternative income streams over the coming years so it would become more independent with the Management fee received from the Council to reduce over the next 5 years. .
  • A Programme of Commercial Development had been developed which included; the registration of the Museum as a wedding venue; an increase in venue hire income, development of further SLA’s with other organisations and a focus on school holiday events such as the recent Lego exhibition which was hugely successful.
  • Overall visitor numbers had increased, but Members heard that school numbers were lower. Members heard that engagement with schools was an area they were developing. An example of this work was the development of pre-history workshops that were ready to launch.
  • There was an increase in donations income from last year at £400, to over £5000 this year.
  • Venue hire was up 50% from last year.
  • A Community Outreach Officer had just started, who was enhancing community engagement and working with communities to increase awareness and participation.
  • A Commercial Manager would be appointed who would be driving forward the income generation work and the sale of venue hire space.
  • The Council was thanked for their support and pride in the museum.

 

 

Members raised the following areas through their questions and discussion:

 

  • Members emphasised what a great resource our museums in the county were. They were told that a recently appointed Marketing Officer would have a significant benefit to boosting further community engagement, participation and awareness of the museums.
  • Accessibility: Members asked what was being done to support the schools in the South with travelling to the Museum. It was discussed that the museum covered the cost of travel for a few schools and were looking at building a fund for travel and support for more schools. They also heard how HaltonMuseum Resouce Centre, the venue for the prehistory workshops, was an accessible location due to the ability to park coaches there.  Members also heard how the Trust was exploring further workshops on different topic areas such as Victorians and Tudors which could be held at different locations across the County.
  • Marketing: Members asked about Digital Marketing and donations. They heard that the Trust was working on offering Wi-Fi in its café and making the website more user friendly which was a key area of improvement. Facebook and Twitter are being used widely.
  • Food and beverage offer: Food and beverage as an income generating option was also discussed. The museum did not have a kitchen which has prevented them from serving hot  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

11:00

9.

TfB Annual Review

Members will consider the TfB Annual Report for 17/18, the Improvement Plan and the Business Plan for 18/19. Members will review areas of success and challenge, performance of key areas of business and areas of focus within the improvement plan going forward. Members will identify if there are specific areas of business that require further examination within the Committee's work programme.

 

Contributors:

·         Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation

·         Paul Irwin, Deputy Cabinet Member for Transportation

·         Mark Kemp, Director for Transportation

·         Simon Dando, Contract Director, TfB

·         Mark Averill, Head of Highways, Client.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee thanked Mr M Shaw and his team for their work over the weekend in resolving flooding issues caused by the heavy storms in areas of Buckinghamshire.

 

The Chairman welcomed the following contributors to the meeting to present the report:

 

  • Mr M Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation.
  • Mr P Irwin, Deputy Cabinet Member for Transportation.
  • Mr M Kemp, Director of Transportation.
  • Mr D Stewart, TfB.
  • Mr M Averill, Head of Highways, Client.

 

The Cabinet Member provided and overview of the Transport for Buckinghamshire annual review. The full discussion can be viewed on webcast. The areas highlighted included:

 

  • That Council had invested £120 m from its own budget into the road network.
  • The impact of the severe weather over the winter on our road network.
  • The extra £3m received from government was being used to fix potholes and plain and patch work.

 

Areas raised through Member questions and discussions included:

  • Quality and Inspection of repairs: Members heard that the quality and guarantee of the potholes which were repaired by Velocity were guaranteed by Velocity. The quality was dependent on the weather and the road structures. Quality also depended on whether it was a temporary or permanent repair, for example if a road closure was required, a temporary repair would be carried out in the meantime, in the interests of safety a quick repair would be put in place.
  • Members heard that this year the plain and patch programme would enable larger areas to be fixed so that by next year TfB would have caught up with pothole repairs from the destructive winter.
  • Communication Issues: Members highlighted that access to information on timings of programmes of works was required by Members to manage public expectations. Members were encouraged to speak with their Compliance Officers who had been briefed to address this with their staff to avoid future repeat issues.
  • Grass cutting frequency: Members raised concern over the number of grass cuts and the time it had taken for some of the first cuts to be completed, e.g. in South of county.  Members heard that there would be 4 cuts completed which were started at the end of April through to October. Rural areas only get one cut a year unless there were exceptional safety circumstances that meant that an area required a further cut. Members were concerned about the safety of footpaths that were over grown and used by school children. TfB advised that they would focus on the school paths if they were reported. The Cabinet Member encouraged Members to feed back their local knowledge of areas that posed safety risks, so that that information could be used to schedule additional cuts where appropriate.
  • Contract management and customer expectations: Members heard how the contract management team has increased from 1 person 3 years ago to 5 now providing much more effective contract management.  The customer experience would see an improvement due to the Member’s portal going live to all Parish Councils in July. Roadshows were being rolled out to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

11:45

10.

Draft Freight Strategy pdf icon PDF 471 KB

Members will review the purpose of the Strategy, the consultation activity that has helped inform the Strategy and the agreed approach to its implementation.  Members will examine how the strategy will provide the best possible protection for our local communities, while balancing the needs of the freight industry. They will consider how it will address existing concerns raised by communities, how it addresses the scale of growth facing Buckinghamshire, and how it will help to realise the potential benefits brought about by future partnerships with the freight industry.

 

Contributors:

Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation

Paul Irwin, Deputy Cabinet Member for Transportation

Mark Kemp, Director for Transportation, TEE

Anthony Swift, Transport Strategy Officer

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Mr A Swift to the meeting and commended him on his great work done so far.

 

Mr P Irwin provided an over view which included:

 

  • The need for a holistic strategy which balanced the needs of the economy with those of the environment and communities. The new strategy was a long term and would evolve.
  • Funding had been received to appoint an officer to deliver and implement the strategy. This role and a dedicated budget allocated would mean that BCC would be prepared and on the front foot in it’s planning for this.
  • It was predicted that the amount of LGVs would double by 2040.
  • A members briefing was to be held on the 27nd June.
  • TfB had a dedicated Parish Liaison Officer working hand in hand with HS2.
  • The draft freight strategy had been acknowledged for its vision and simplicity.

 

Areas raised through Member questions and discussion included:

  • The use of S106 contributions to mitigate the impact of HGVs from developments on the road network: Members were told that the Highways Development Management Team was looking at this and a new guidance document covering this was being produced.
  • How we were working with neighbouring authorities. Members were told that the Council had consulted with neighbouring authorities and had addressed cross county movement within the strategy. They also heard that the team was commissioning modelling work to look at the impacts of cross county movements with HGV flow. 
  • Governance: Members asked whether the key decision should be taken by Cabinet as a whole rather than the Cabinet Member. The Cabinet Member told Members that he was confident that an open governance process had been followed and that an all Member briefing was being held on the 27th June to ensure all Members were aware.
  • Engagement with HS2: Members asked how this work will link with the HS2 team. Members were told that the new Liaison Officer post will work directly with the HS2 team to address issues of HGVs resulting from HS2 to help mitigate impacts on communities and businesses. HS2 team have been involved in addressing this issue within the strategy development.

 

The Chairman thanked all involved for their report and feedback. 

 

12:10

11.

Select Committee Inquiry Proposal

Members will consider the proposal for an inquiry on Street Lighting.

 

Contributor:

Kama Wager, Committee and Governance Advisor

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee agreed that they would like to examine the topic of street lighting within the formal committee meetings as a detailed agenda item.

 

12:20

12.

Committee Work Programme pdf icon PDF 86 KB

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Minutes:

Members agreed Street Lighting and Gulley Cleaning ass future detailed agenda items. Ms K Wager to develop these items.

 

Members agreed they would send any further suggestions to Ms K Wager.

 

12.30pm

13.

Date of the Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on the 17th July at 10:00 am in the Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The next meeting will be held on the 17th July at 10:00 in Mezzanine Room 1.