Meeting documents

To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on

·        20 March 2017

·        23 May 2017

The minutes of the meetings of held on 20 March and 23 May 2017 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

To receive a presentation from Savills on the Strategic Asset Review which all Members are welcome to attend.  The Strategic Asset Review document is attached.

As no members of the public were present at the meeting the Committee agreed to amend the order of business so that a presentation on the Strategic Asset Review could be considered before other items in order to facilitate the attendance of external attendees.

The Chairman welcomed Tim Doughty and Simon Martin (Savills) to the meeting, who gave a presentation to Members reporting on the strategic asset review, an independent market assessment of the Council’s property portfolio, to consider how property could be used to meet the Council’s wider objectives.

The presentation covered the following key areas:

• The objectives of the review were to identify: best alternative uses of property; opportunities for generation of income; the provision of affordable housing; and, provide practical advice on how those objectives could be delivered.
• The methodology used for the assessment of property assets.
• The Planning Policy context.
• Results of the study.
• Conclusions.

One of the conclusions of the study was that the Council could consider establishing a residential property/development company to help meet its aims. A report considered by the Resources Policy Advisory Group meeting on 15 June set out the business case for setting up a local authority trading company, focusing on property development and management, which the Group recommended to the Cabinet and Council that formal agreement be given to the set up the company.

Following the presentation there was a discussion and during which the following key points were made:

·         That the key findings identified opportunities at some of the Council’s sites to meet the aims of providing additional affordable housing and generating income.

·         The estimated land and construction costs for a number of the sites were noted.

·         That a mix of both retail and residential property could be considered at each of the potential sites.

·         The provision of parking was an important consideration and a combination of different options may need to be considered at specific sites in order to realise potential opportunities.

Following the discussion it was RESOLVED that the Strategic Asset Review presentation be noted.

The Committee received an update on the implementation of recommendations arising from an audit of the planning enforcement arrangements reported to the Committee on 3 October 2016.

The Committee were pleased to see that improvements had been made in planning enforcement in particular the greater use of technology within the service.

In response to a question regarding how Members could track the progress of planning enforcement at specific sites it was noted that an enforcement register would be available via public access. A facility enabling Members to track enforcement progress also could be explored; however certain information on investigations may need to be kept confidential. 

Following a question on staff retention it was noted that the team previously had a flat structure, but there were now a range of grades to facilitate career progression. The implementation of the improvements in the report would also help to promote staff retention and create a high performing team.

It was also noted that the team received approximately 3 cases each day relating to legitimate enforcement queries. Around 40% of the enquiries received by the team were not actionable by planning enforcement officers. This was usually caused by public confusion regarding responsibility for different planning issues and was exacerbated by the complexity of planning legislation.

Members recognised that improvements had been made to the planning enforcement service and welcomed the development of a local enforcement plan that could provide metrics on service performance.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Note: Councillors Pepler and Read left the meeting at 7.00pm, and Councillors Bastiman and Smith left the meeting 7.15pm.

The Committee received a report providing an overview of the annual performance of Council services as measured against performance indicators and service objectives for 2016/17 that would be considered by the Cabinet meeting on 28 Jun 2017.

It was RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee are asked to consider the attached report and make any comments to Cabinet as part of the Budget and Policy Framework

The Committee considered a report requesting that the Cabinet recommends to Council that the Corporate Enforcement Policy be approved. Since the Regulator’s Code came into effect the Council was required to have an enforcement policy and have mechanisms in place to engage with those organisations that it regulated in the review of its policies and service standards. Following consultation with internal and external bodies a draft policy have been developed which Members were asked to consider.

It was RESOLVED that the report be noted, and

Overview and Scrutiny Committee are asked to consider the attached report and make any comments to Cabinet as part of the Budget and Policy Framework.

Members received a report seeking the Cabinet to recommend to Council that the joint Food and Health and Safety Service Plan for the year 2017/18 and the Food and Health and Safety Enforcement Policies be approved.

It was noted that the Health and Safety Executive and Food Standards Agency required local authorities to publish a service plan annually, and councils were also required to publish their enforcement policies.

Members received an update on the service, and noted in particular that:

·         South Bucks was a high performing area where 97% of all eligible rated food premises had a food hygiene rating of 3 or more.

·         Flexible mobile working had been introduced in the service.

·         Projects had been developed for 2017/18 to help prevent work place accidents.

It was RESOLVED that the report be noted, and

To receive:

Members received the Minutes of the meetings of the Buckinghamshire County Council Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee held on 21 February, 14 March and 28 March 2017.

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Buckinghamshire County Council Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee be noted.

Members received the Minutes of the meeting of the Buckinghamshire County Council Children’s Social Care and Learning Select Committee held on 21 March 2017.

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Buckinghamshire County Council Children’s Social Care and Learning Select Committee be noted.

An opportunity for Members to raise questions about items:

• during the meeting
• written questions submitted previously
• raised by information items

There were no questions.

To note the work programme timetable.

Members reviewed the Work Programme, and after noting that the Chief Executive of the Frimley Park Health Trust would provide an update at a future meeting, it was

RESOLVED that the Work Programme be noted.