Meeting documents

To receive a presentation from Andy Battye, Area Manager for the Chiltern Area South Central Ambulance Service.

Members received a presentation from Andy Battye, from the South Central Ambulance Service to provide an update on work being undertaken by the Service and the performance levels and targets. 

 

Mr Battye explained the categories of response to 999 calls and if the calls were life-threatening they were classified as RED calls and the service was required to meet Government set targets for RED calls.  The targets used were:

 

·       RED1 and RED2 indicated a performance target for an emergency response to reach the incident with 8 minutes from the time the call is connected to the ambulance emergency control centre.  The national target was to respond to 75% of all these calls within 8 minutes. 

 

·       RED19 indicated a performance target for a conveying response (ambulance or rapid response vehicle) to reach the incident within 19 minutes from the time the call was connected to the ambulance emergency control centre.  The national target was to respond to 95% of all these calls within 19 minutes.

 

The actual response rates were reported for Chiltern and also neighbouring areas for comparison.  It was noted that in the first quartile the target was achieved but this had not been maintained over recent months due to the high increase of calls and it continued to be a challenge to improve performance.

 

Mr Battye explained the triage approach to responding to calls to identify the severity of the incident and these were categorised appropriately so that responses can be targeted.  It was reported that the main hospitals for the area were Stoke Mandeville and Wexham Park; and the ambulance service worked closely with the hospitals to avoid unnecessary delays.  Wycombe hospital was also used but was for specialist treatment; and it was important to ensure that patients requiring specialist treatment were transferred quickly to achieve a better outcome.

 

 

A key challenge for the ambulance service, nationally, was the shortage of paramedics which was in the region of 2000 and a national recruitment campaign was underway but the increased length of the degree programme did have an impact on vacancy periods.  The training was now for 2 years and was to be increased to a 3 year programme.  Another impact on recruitment in Buckinghamshire was the high cost of living in comparison to other areas of the country.  Additional work was also being done to recruit more Community First Responders who are able to respond to situations and carry oxygen and defibrillators.

 

The Ambulance Service did also use private providers which enabled more resilience in the service but this did incur additional costs and therefore the use of private providers was continually monitored.

 

Plan for the remainder of the year was:

·       South Central Ambulance Service had entered a period of turnaround across Trust

·       Strong focus on Chiltern & Aylesbury Vale Clinical Commissioning Group areas

·       Review of Rapid Response Vehicles coverage in the area

·       Continued work with hospitals to reduce impact of Handover

·       Focus on South Central Ambulance Service clear-up times to improve availability

·       Focus on staff resources in operations

·       Continued to target recruitment of Community First Responders

 

Questions were received from Councillors on the following issues:

·       Remoteness issues of Chiltern district

·       Dealing with emergency calls from patient with mental health problems

·       Potential impact of HS2 construction work

·       Impact of the closure of Wycombe Accident and Emergency

·       The use of house names rather than house numbers

·       The proportion of 999 calls that were inappropriate calls to the emergency service

 

Mr Battye understood the concerns in respect of the above issues and responded to members to explain how the impact of each was minimised through joint working with other authorities, where possible.

 

The Chairman thanked Andy Battye for his informative presentation.

 

To approve as a correct record and to sign the Minutes of the meeting of Council held on 8 September 2015.

The Chairman welcomed Anita Cacchioli, Interim Director of Services to her first meeting of Council since her appointment

 

The Minutes of the meeting of Council held on 8 September 2015 were approved as a correct record.

 

To receive any announcements from the Chairman, Cabinet Leader or the Head of Paid Service.

Chairman’s Engagements

 

A list of Engagements carried out by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Council between 9 September and 3 November 2015 had been circulated.

 

(b)       Chairman’s Announcements

 

The Chairman made the following announcements:

 

• Sustainable Development PAG meeting due to be held on Wednesday 4 November has been cancelled

 

• Services Overview Committee meeting due to be held on Thursday 5 November has been cancelled

 

• Cake and Coffee Morning on Friday 6 November 2015 between 10am - 12noon at Chiltern District Council Reception Area in aid of Cancer Research UK

 

• Remembrance Day - Wednesday 11 November; there will be a two minute silence at Chiltern District Council main entrance beside the flagpole commencing at 11am

 

• Declaration of Interests and Pre-determination Joint Member Briefing Session, at CDC - Monday 23 November 2015 commencing at 6.15pm

 

• A special meeting of Cabinet has been scheduled to be held on Tuesday 22 December 2015 at 4.30pm

 

(c) Announcements from the Leader of the Cabinet

 

An update on the Refugee Situation

 

The Leader of the Cabinet advised that following the request by Government and various local residents for the Council to consider what support it could provide to Refugees, officers had met with colleagues from Health, the County and District Councils and Police.

 

There had been no decision by Members in any of the local authorities in Buckinghamshire on how many people may be assisted. There was however the recognition that no single authority in Buckinghamshire can provide the totality of services required by refugees and that the Buckinghamshire position needs to be a partnership response. Refugees would need to be supported to access a range of services including: housing, health, education, welfare and counselling etc.

 

Partners had been asked to gather and share information about the services they provide and what resources had been offered locally, which would meet the anticipated needs of refugees, (accepting that some individuals may have very specific needs) to help the Council to develop a view of what sort of capacity may be available in Buckinghamshire.  All partners were gathering information about costs and availability of the above services and or resources which would be required to meet the needs of these very vulnerable people.

 

In relation to residents offering a home to refugees, current guidance indicated that Government would be seeking to accommodate refugees in self-contained homes; flats or houses and that providing rooms in a family home would not be suitable.

 

The Council had received several kind offers from residents but no self-contained housing accommodation.  The Council were continuing to collate offers of assistance from residents which will be included in the partnership discussion to determine the resources available across Buckinghamshire.

 

A further meeting of the relevant agencies was to be held next week to assess the level of resources across Buckinghamshire that may assist Refugees if placed in Buckinghamshire. 

 

Petition - An email reply had been sent to the lead signatory and to Cllr Peter Jones and an update would be presented to the next Cabinet, on Tuesday 1 December 2015, on how the Council may respond to the Refugee situation.

 

(d) Announcements from the Head of Paid Service

 

The Chief Executive had no announcements to make.

 

Members considered the recommendation from the meeting of the Audit & Standards Committee meeting held on 9 September 2015, which requested that the Council’s Contracts Procedure Rules were amended.

 

It was moved by Councillor J Gladwin and seconded by Councillor D Phillips

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the Council’s Contracts Procedure Rules are amended, as detailed in Appendix A to the report, to comply, and better align, with the Public Contracts Regulations.

 

Councillor Darby sought members’ agreement for the consideration of the recommendations arising from the Planning Policy shared services review referred to in Agenda Item 7.2 to be considered in conjunction with Agenda Item 8.1 - Local Development Scheme Review.

 

RESOLVED -

 

That the consideration of the Planning Policy Shared Service Review Reconsideration be undertaken in conjunction with Agenda Item 8.1 - Local Development Scheme Review.

 

Members considered the recommendations arising from the Local Development Scheme Review report considered by Cabinet on 20 October and the Chiltern and South Bucks Joint Committee on 26 October 2015.

 

It was moved by Councillor I A Darby seconded by Councillor P E C Martin and

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.    That Subject to agreement by South Bucks District Council, the preparation of a joint Chiltern and South Bucks Local Plan (2014 - 2036) under Section 28 of The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and for the preparation of a joint Chiltern and South Bucks Local Development Scheme to this effect be agreed.

 

2.    Subject to approval of Recommendation 1 above and agreement by South Bucks District Council, that a joint Chiltern and South Bucks Local Development Scheme timetable be approved, such that the timetable comprises the following:

 

a)                  public consultation on a joint Local Plan in accordance with Regulation 18 of The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 commencing in January/February 2016 incorporating an ‘Issues and Options’ consultation

 

b)                  a preferred options consultation commencing in October/November 2016

 

c)                  pre-submission consultation on the Local Plan in accordance with Regulation 19 of The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 commencing in March/April 2017

 

d)                  submission of the Plan to the Secretary of State in accordance with Regulation 22 of The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 in September 2017

 

e)                  anticipated examination in December 2017

 

f)                   anticipated adoption in June 2018

 

g)                  on-going Duty to Co-operate

 

h)                  review the need for a combined Chiltern and South Bucks community infrastructure levy at the most relevant point between September 2016 and July 2017.

 

3.    The establishment of a Joint Planning Policy Member Reference     Group be agreed, with:

 

a)                  The Group to consist of equal membership from the two councils, namely respective cabinet members with responsibility for planning plus up to five other members nominated by each council.  Other than for the cabinet members there will be no substitutes and the cabinet members will be free to nominate a substitute member as and when necessary.

 

b)                  Meetings will not be open to the public and agendas, reports, documents and any notes of the meeting will be kept confidential amongst the two councils.

 

c)                  Other members of the councils will be able to attend the meetings and will be able to contribute to the meeting with the agreement of the Chairman.

 

d)                  The Group to have no decision making powers but to provide advice and a steer on the preparation of planning policy matters.  Meetings will be arranged as required in order to progress the joint Local Plan to the Local Development Scheme Timetable, associated matters and other Local Plan related matters after the Local Plan has been adopted with due notice being given.

 

e)                  To be quorate, the meeting will require at least two appointed members from each Council to be present.

 

f)                   The terms of reference for the Group to be agreed at the first Group meeting.

 

g)                  Meetings as far as practicable will generally alternate between Chiltern and South Bucks offices.  Both councils to elect a Chairman at the first meeting, with the chairmanship of meetings alternating between the two Councils (i.e. one chairing one meeting and the next chairing the next meeting at the respective Councils).

 

4.      That the nominations for the Chiltern member places on the Group be agreed, with those members to remain in place unless otherwise determined by Council.

 

5.      The funding of £400,000 additional expenditure to be met from the Council’s Planning reserve be agreed.

 

The Council reconsidered the recommendations arising from the Planning Policy shared services review.

 

It was moved by Councillor I A Darby seconded by Councillor P E C Martin and

 

RESOLVED:

 

i)     That delegated authority to the Head of Sustainable Development to carry out staff and Unison consultation, consider the consultation responses, determine the review outcome in consultation with both Council Cabinet Members for Sustainable Development and Personnel Committee Chairmen and to carry out all necessary action to implement the Planning Policy shared service be agreed;

 

ii)    That subject to consultation with staff and a formal agreement between the Councils, the services of staff in Chiltern District Council’s Planning Policy Service be put at the disposal of South Bucks District Council under Section 113 of the Local Government Act 1972 so they can work across the two local authority areas; and

 

iii)   That the Acting Chief Executive in consultation with the Cabinet Leader and the Head of Legal and Democratic Services be authorised to finalise the terms of any legal documentation required to give effect to recommendation 2 above.

 

Members considered the recommendation arising from the HS2 Update Report, attached as a private appendix.

 

It was moved by Cllr I A Darby seconded by Councillor N Rose and

 

RESOLVED -

 

That up to £140,000 be transferred from the General Reserve to the HS2 Reserve for the next stage of work relating to AP2 and AP4 work on petitions and related work at least until July 2016 with the resources identified in the report.

 

To receive and consider reports from the Cabinet Leader, Cabinet Members or Chairman of a Committee and receive questions and answers on any of those reports in accordance with Rule 9.1 of the Procedural Rules.

a)            Councillor Wilson - Virgin Smart Pavement in Chesham

 

Councillor Wilson reported that Virgin had chosen Chiltern and in particular the High Street of Chesham to install the UK’s first Smart Pavement which delivers high speed Wi-Fi at 166 megabytes per second of download speed. 

 

b)        Councillor Wilson - Small Business Saturday

 

Councillor Wilson reported that Small Business Saturday would be held in Amersham, Chalfont St Peter, Little Chalfont and Great Missenden in Chiltern on Saturday 5 December 2015.  The event was in connection with a non commercial UK wide campaign.  Further information was available on the Council website and from David Gardner, Community Projects and Revitalisation Officer who was leading on this event.  Councillor Wilson encouraged members to publicise and attend the event; and he thanked David Gardner for all his hard work on this event.

 

c)         Councillor Martin - Sustainable Development Policy Advisory Group 

 

Councillor Martin reported that the next meeting of the Sustainable Development Policy Advisory Group was due to be held on 9 December 2015 and all members of the Council were encouraged to attend.  

 

d)        Councillor Stannard - Support Services Policy Advisory Group

 

Councillor Stannard reported that all members of the Council were encouraged to attend the next meeting of the Support Services Policy Advisory Group due to be held on Tuesday 17 November 2015.

 

e)         Councillor M Smith - Aylesbury Crematorium

 

Councillor M Smith reported that the Chilterns Crematorium Joint Committee, which operate the crematorium at Amersham, had been granted planning permission to build a new crematorium at Bierton in Buckinghamshire.

 

f)          Councillor Harris - Affordable Housing

 

Councillor Harris reported that a joint member briefing to consider Affordable Housing provision in Chiltern and South Bucks was being arranged and was to be held on 3 February 2016.  Members were to receive further information in due course.

 

g)           Councillor Gladwin - Audit of Accounts

 

Councillor Gladwin reported that the Council had received a positive response to the Audit of Accounts and he thanked officers responsible for their continued hard work in this area of work.

 

h)           Cllr Nick Rose - HS2 Update

 

Councillor Rose reported that the HS2 Select Committee had resumed on 12 October 2015 to receive evidence with a particular focus on landscape and a reduced land take.  There had been assurance that an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Review Panel was to be established and authorities would be notified of representatives to sit on the Panel.

 

It was noted that the impact of traffic movements was much wider than originally envisaged and MPs had been alerted to this as a major issue.  The key points raised were in respect of the impact on the Chilterns and use of landscape valuation experts to provide evidence.  Other community engagement events on HS2 were being held within the County to ensure that residents were aware of the potential impact.

 

The Leader of the Council highlighted that many councillors were involved in the HS2 work through their roles as District Councillors both through attending Council led meetings but also the significant involvement many had in representing their communities.

 

To receive questions and answers of the Cabinet Leader, Cabinet Members or Chairman of a Committee (if any) in accordance with Rule 9.2 of the Council Procedure Rules.

Councillor A Bacon requested a response to the following question:

 

Could councillors please be given details of the results and trends from the air quality monitoring in the Air Quality Management Area in Broad Street, Chesham? What response is CDC making to DEFRA's "Consultation on Draft Plans to Improve Air Quality"?

 

 

The question was for Councillor G Harris, Cabinet Member for Community, Health & Housing and had been received by the Proper Officer on 28 October 2015.

 

Councillor Harris responded that since 2012 there has been a 16-21% reduction in levels of Nitrogen Dioxide within the Air Quality Management area.

 

Three out of the eight monitoring points are still indicating that the annual average level of Nitrogen Dioxide is higher than the DEFRA guidance level of 40 μg/m3 with levels ranging from 40 - 44 μg/m3.

 

Actions include the introduction of 12 retrofitted low emission buses, tree planting and traffic management and ‘walking to school’ campaigns.

 

The Council will also be submitting a written response to the Government Air Quality consultation following input from the wider Buckinghamshire Authorities. However the consultation aims to create Clean Air Zones that will restrict access from the most polluting vehicles (diesel cars and lorries).  The powers include the designation of low emission zones within a regional transport policy, which may not be possible locally.

 

Concerns have also been expressed in relation to the impact of major transport infrastructure projects on local air quality especially during the construction phase. The Shared EH team will review its air quality monitoring points and consider a Capital allocation and or application for funding from HS2 etc for additional passive or real time monitoring points. Such monitoring could be used to identify the impact of construction vehicles on the air quality.

 

Councillor P Jones requested a response to the following question:

 

Following the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that councils are to retain business rates by the end of this decade, but that distribution of core grant from Whitehall will also end, what affect will this have on a) Chiltern DC's finances and b) the level of Council Tax paid by our residents?

 

The question was for Councillor M Stannard, Cabinet Member for Support Services and had been received by the Proper Officer on 28 October 2015

 

Councillor Stannard responded that the Council awaited the details of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Autumn Statement on 25 November to confirm the impact of the retention of business rates and the proposals for the distribution of the core grant.

 

To receive questions without notice from any Member of the Council to the Cabinet Leader, Cabinet Members or Chairman of a Committee (if any) in accordance with Rule 9.1 of the Council Procedure Rules.

 

There were no questions without notice received.

 

To receive petitions and/or deputations (if any) from members of the public including provisions allowing members to ask questions of clarification at the discretion of the Chairman and restrictions on deputations covering the same subject or by the same speakers.

There were no petitions presented.

To receive reports about and receive questions and answers relating to any joint arrangements or external organisations.

No Motions had been received.

 

Members were asked to agree a change of membership to the Services Overview Committee, to note a change to the Customer Services Policy Advisory Group, and to agree a change to the Council’s representation to the Chesham & District Community Association.

 

It was moved by Cllr I A Darby seconded by Cllr M J Stannard and

 

RESOLVED:

 

g)   That Councillor P Jones replaces Councillor Lacey on the Services Overview Committee.

 

ii)    That it be noted that Councillor Allen has replaced Councillor Lacey on the Customer Services Policy Advisory Group.

 

iii)   That Councillor MacBean replaces Councillor D Varley as the Council’s representative to the Chesham & District Community Association.

 

 

To resolve that under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

55          HS2 Update

 

Councillor Berry expressed concern that the deadline for submission of petitions in response to AP4 was Friday 13 November 2015 and whether the Council had sufficient resources to achieve the deadline.  Councillor Rose confirmed that further consideration was to be given to an extension to the deadline but ensured that the Council’s petition on the AP4 would be submitted in any event.  As a priority sufficient resources would be in place to ensure a response would be submitted on time.