Meeting documents

Questions to the Leader or any Cabinet Members must be submitted by 12 noon Thursday 16 February 2017. Questions shall be taken first from the Group Leaders of the political parties who shall be entitled to ask an initial Leader`s question, including the right to adopt another Member`s question form his/her group, of which written notice shall have been given to the Head of Democratic, Legal and Policy Services prior to the meeting.

 

The order of questions shall then permit the first question from each other Councillor to be asked before any subsequent questions from the same Councillor. One question will be taken in turn from the same Councillor unless there are no other questions to be asked.

 

Every Member asking an oral question is permitted to ask one supplementary question without notice provided that it is not substantially the same as a question that was put to a Council meeting during the past six months.

 

The appropriate Member will respond to any questions remaining unanswered at the expiry of 30 minutes in writing. Any question remaining unanswered after 30 minutes will be answered within 10 working days in writing after the meeting by the appropriate Member and appended to the minutes of the meeting.

 

(a)  Question from Councillor R Raja to the Leader of the Council.

 

"WDC, at its meeting on 16 January 2017, opted for a two unitary authority model for Buckinghamshire. The draft proposals are peppered with plenty of ‘sales talk’ but no mention of the gap in educational achievement between the children from well off families and those form economically disadvantaged groups, or how the road infrastructure is to be made fit for purpose or indeed about housing or social care.

 

Would the Leader tell us how and where she believes the new unitary authority will prioritise to raise the quality of core services?"

 

Response from Councillor Ms K Wood (Leader of the Council)

 

"Thank you for your question Councillor Ahmed. 

 

I’m not sure which submission you have read but our Road Map addresses the tests which have been identified by government against which the submission will be measured and Appendix C sets out a detailed model for improving outcomes for children. 

 

Let me read you a quote from the ‘sales talk’  (page 105).

 

‘By broadening the remit of Children’s Centres we will develop ‘Family Hubs’ which will provide support for families with school age children encompassing Health and Children’s  development, School readiness, Employment support and access to childcare, parenting support for families with more complex needs and early identification of Special Educational Needs.  We will take a collaborative approach to co-locating and delivering services using a lead professional and Team Around the Family model.’ 

 

These are recognised models of delivery which have a proven track record and have demonstrated success in other areas in improving outcomes for children.  This section of the report was prepared by an experienced Director of Children’s Services with a strong track record in working with children from disadvantaged backgrounds in London.  It will be my personal ambition to ensure that a new unitary Council of whatever size will give all children the best possible start in life.  It is also important that for the benefit of all residents that our infrastructure from roads to broadband works well and supports housing and business growth to generate a thriving economy. 

 

Supplementary Question

 

"I am pleased to hear that the Leader proposes to ensure quality.  However the impression I get is that sales talk is still being used and I am hoping you will stick to your word?"

 

Supplementary Response

 

"Of course I will Councillor Raja."

(b)  Question from Councillor M Knight to the Leader of the Council

 

"In recent years the dominant service delivery model for both Wycombe District Council and our neighbouring district councils has been that of outsourcing services to external agencies. This model has clearly delivered savings although whether it has always resulted in service improvements is less clear.

 

According to the Modernising Local Government document it appears that this approach would continue to be favoured. Additionally the Labour motion at the last meeting of full council, which was supported by your group, specified the desire for a new unitary authority to deliver only "statutory" services.

 

Can you confirm that services such as adult social care and children's services are at risk of outsourcing, and that non-statutory services will cease to be a priority within the proposed local government structure?"

 

Response from Councillor Ms K Wood (Leader of the Council)

 

"I am surprised that you ask this question of Wycombe.

 

We have had significant success in outsourcing for example our Leisure Service arrangements have achieved significant savings but also a significant increase in the number of people using Leisure facilities which makes a real difference to people’s health and life expectancy. There are also high levels of customer satisfaction.  There is a long list of successful arrangements such as Chiltern Rangers and Sports Development which have expanded to create jobs and provide more services.

 

You will see that the County submission (page 42) proposes ‘a diverse range of delivery models’ including contracting with private sector providers, creation of new organisations or joint ventures.  As they have such a strong track record in outsourcing after all! 

 

It is very sad that the County has announced further cuts to its preventative services.  Our submission has a clear vision statement that says we will redirect resource towards promoting independence for adults; our model for Children’s Services emphasises the benefits of early intervention and prevention.  We would do more prevention not less and will use the resource generated by stronger economic growth, and better financial management to enable us to invest in prevention services to reduce demand on statutory services. This is the District proposal in a nutshell."

 

Supplementary Question

 

"Would you agree with me that the most vulnerable children and adults in our community are at risk if services are outsourced to private companies and non-statutory support and preventative services are cut as part of efficiency savings?"

 

Supplementary Response

 

"No, the best options and systems will be put place and we can learn from the best that have already used those systems."

 

(c)  Question from Councillor B Pearce to the Cabinet Member for Environment

 

"Does the member responsible for the environment agree with me that the attitude of the crews on the waste disposal vehicles is counter-productive by their ridiculous attitude of basically sorting out what is in the bins at the roadside, removing items, throwing them onto the grass verge, surely this can be sorted out at the relevant recycling facility because I am convinced that sometimes a member of the public walking by the bin must chuck in an ordinary bit of litter, also refusing to take green bins unless there is nothing in any way overhanging.

 

Do you agree with me that this can alienate residents, and is counter-productive when we are all trying to make an effort and do our bit to save the environment?"

 

Response from Councillor Mrs J Teesdale (Cabinet Member for Environment)

 

"The recycling crews are instructed to carry out a visual inspection of the contents of the recycling bins, prior to emptying them, in order to see whether the bins contain items which are not permitted.   While Cllr Pearce has reported that in his experience, collection crews had removed the wrong items from the recycling bins and had thrown them on to the grass verge, the procedure they should be following is that that if a bin contains the wrong items, a contamination tag should be left on the bin and the bin left un-emptied. We believe that the crews were trying to be helpful by removing the items and by continuing to empty the bin, but clearly they were going about this the wrong way.  This matter is with Serco’s Operations Manager who has addressed this with the relevant collection crews.  The crews generally empty bins from over 1000 properties per day, so they do have to work quickly but that does not condone throwing items on the ground and that point has been made clear to them.

 

Unfortunately, if we collect items which are not acceptable, this does mean that they are rejected at the Material Recycling Facility (MRF) where they are sorted. For every load of recyclable material which is delivered to the facility, a sample quantity of it is checked for quality and a reject percentage is applied to the whole load based on the element which is sampled.  A high reject rate will have a negative impact on the council's recycling rate and the amount of income that is received as a recycling credit from the County Council.  Recycling credit income helps to offset some of the collection costs. The MRFs are obliged to follow a MRF Code of Practice to monitor and assess the quality of materials delivered to them.  For our part, we need to work to make sure that we are not collecting the wrong items which is why we communicate this in the waste literature which is provided to residents and why collection crews are instructed to check for contamination and to not empty bins which contain the wrong materials.

 

We do appreciate that residents can be confused by what can and can't go into the bin.  We distributed the most recent waste collection calendar to all residents in October and tried to make it very clear and visual in this respect."

 

Supplementary Question

 

"Do you agree questions should asked, residents have contacted me where crews are not behaving correctly when residents are trying to do their best?"

 

Supplementary Response

 

"I have only had one resident come to me regarding this.  We don’t condone this behaviour if they are doing this.  If anyone has this problem please let me know and I will make sure things are done properly.  Most of the crews behave well and it is sad to hear this.  If there are problems these will be dealt with."

 

(d)  Question from Councillor M Hanif to the Cabinet Member for Housing

 

"After perennial failure and countless announcements, the housing crisis is getting worse. The Secretary of State has admitted that the housing market is broken and local councils and developers need to "get real" to the scale of the challenge we are facing. I am sure that the cabinet member will agree with the Secretary of State and accept that this is the biggest social issue we are facing today, which cannot be left to fester. She will also share my views that this council has failed young people for not having sufficiently robust policies to get the young on to the housing ladder and into affordable rented homes.

 

In view of the current situation what is planned by WDC to address the problem highlighted by the Secretary of State?"

 

Response from Councillor Mrs J Langley (Cabinet Member for Housing)

 

"Good evening Councillor Hanif and thank you for your question.

 

The Secretary of State, as you rightly say has admitted that the housing market is broken.

 

Whilst it may be fair to say that nationally the housing market may be broken, locally we are doing all we can to meet the needs of our residents in regard to affordable housing.  I can assure you that compared to other neighbouring authorities the housing team here at WDC are doing an excellent job.

 

I am sure you are aware Councillor Hanif that we have a five year homelessness strategy in place to ensure we assist all households facing homelessness, including but not limited to young people.

 

Officers meeting quarterly with numerous agencies and services across the district to ensure we are doing all we can to prevent and relieve homelessness.  Joint work is also done with planning to ensure affordable rented and home ownership products are provided in new build developments."

 

Supplementary Question

 

"When will Wycombe speed up their house building programme?"

 

Supplementary response

 

"As you know there are no quick fixes and there will always be challenges and we will explore all possible avenues.  Developers also have delaying tactics which are not helpful. I am confident that this will in part at least be addressed by the white paper. 

 

If you have any suggestions I would be happy to hear them and tell me how to move forward. 

 

In light of the white paper my colleague Councillor David Johncock and I are having a joint PAG which I am sure will not be short on ideas."

 

(e)  Question from Councillor S Graham to the Leader of the Council

 

"Can the Leader of the Council tell me how much money Bucks County owes to Wycombe District Council for works to be carried out as part of the improvement to our High Street, and if money is owed, when will the work commence?"

 

Response from Councillor Ms K Wood (Leader of the Council)

 

"I think your question refers to maintenance of the paving and other surfacing of the High Street and other parts of the historic town centre.

 

Buckinghamshire County Council does not owe Wycombe District Council any money for works to the High Street. I understand that the maintenance contract between BCC and Transport for Bucks (TfB) only gives them responsibility for keeping the highway safe and owing to budgetary considerations this invariably involves ‘temporary’ tarmac patchwork repairs. The District Council is keen that the fabric of these areas are maintained in a good condition as it supports the economic life of the town centre and helps make it a place that people want to visit and in which businesses wish to invest. When the Council has funded improvements or ‘enhanced maintenance’ funds are transferred after the works have been completed, so there is no question of the District Council being owed money.

 

In July 2015 the District Council funded almost £19,000 of ‘enhanced maintenance’, for example re-grouting of slabs to prevent and pavement repairs using like for like materials. Since then discussions have taken place about what further works would be appropriate to ensure that the appearance and the vitality of our town centre are maintained and we are aiming to agree a further package of works for implementation later this year; the timetable is not in our control but is down to TfB and their contractors. We hope that it will take place during spring or summer, and we are also working with the market operator to ensure that their operations minimise any risk of damage to surfaces.

 

Supplementary Question

 

"If Bucks County Council doesn’t owe money then why stop washing the high street.  Do you agree the high street is in need of repair and the Council has been given a raw deal?"

 

Supplementary Response

 

"As far as I am aware it is washed every day.  Going forward, in view of the undoubted budget constraints that Councils face, and the importance of maintaining the historic town centre, I think it will be important that funding from different sources is available to support the continued upkeep of the town centre in a way that we all want to see, and I am pleased to see that a report is going forward to Town Committee recommending that some of the local CIL allocation (£15k) be allocated towards upkeep of the town centre in terms of maintenance and access."

 

(f)   Question from Councillor K Ahmed to the Leader of the Council

 

"The ANPR system has cost the taxpayers of Wycombe around £1.28 million, if one includes the cost of the system, damage and theft from machines due to vandalism, judicial review costs and costs associated with reverting back to pay display, but excluding the loss of £500,000 due to poor forecasting.

 

The fact that WDC installed a system which has failed to perform as intended begs the question as to why no due diligence appears to have been undertaken.

 

Rather than extolling the virtues of the system would the leader not agree that the basic homework was not done and as a result the people of Wycombe have been short changed and is it not time that she came clean and accepted her own party’s culpability in this fiasco?"

 

Response from Councillor Ms K Wood (Leader of the Council)

 

Thank you for your question Cllr Ahmed.

 

You will have heard my Cabinet member colleague give an overview of the investment and costs associated with the installation of the ANPR system and the change to pay and display. You will also have heard that those figures just aren’t the same as the ones that you refer to in your question.

I feel I must also take issue with your comment around vandalism. Yes it’s true that our payment machines, like any other parking operator, have been the subject of mindless vandalism and thefts. And yes, it’s also true that we have incurred significant costs as a result of the vandalism to the payment machines – a cost which exceeds the amount actually stolen. But I don’t accept that the costs that we’ve unfortunately incurred as a result of vandalism is in any way related to the system that we’re using and reject your suggestion to the contrary.

 

As my cabinet colleague also said earlier, we have recently announced that due to restrictions in being able to access register keeper details, we are changing to a pay and display system in the majority of our car parks this weekend. This will happen in Marlow on Saturday, when we’ll also be offering free parking, and in High Wycombe, Bourne End and Princes Risborough on Sunday, when the majority of car parks are also free.

 

The Council decided to invest in ANPR following a review of its parking service in 2011/12, at a time when the previous machines needed changing. We chose to invest in a modern and innovative system that offered many customer benefits and was being used widely by both the private and public sector, including other councils.

 

The ANPR system was rolled out to a total of 20 car parks following a trial in two car parks, external counsel advice on a lawful way of using ANPR for enforcement, and a conversation with the DVLA who at that time saw no problem with us rolling the system out.

 

Subsequently, as you know, the government decided to restrict our access to registered keeper data which has obviously impacted how we have been able to run the service.

 

Following that decision, we worked very hard to try and resolve the issues with the government and had been led to believe that they are working on a parking package which includes wider ANPR usage for the public sector. This has yet to be implemented and there is no clear timescale for when it will.

 

As you can see Councillor Ahmed we thoroughly investigated the options prior to full rollout and I do not accept that this is a "fiasco", as you call it as we have invested in car park machinery which we will still be using.

 

However, I would like to re-echo Councillor Teesdale’s disappointment that we’ve had to make the decision to bring in these changes and to say to our customers that I’m sorry that they won’t be able to benefit from the ANPR system after the weekend.  We have been keeping a log of the comments that we’ve received and will be passing these onto the government for their information."

 

Supplementary Question

 

"You can dress it up as you want, call it what you want but it was not me who called it a fiasco.  A year ago we were told to wait a year and have done.  Is the Cabinet Member going to do the decent thing and resign?"

 

Supplementary Response

 

"It is not a "fiasco" and have done all we can.  Our customers are at a disadvantage.  There is no need for anyone to resign.

 

(g)  Question from Councillor Ms A Baughan to the Cabinet Member for Environment

 

"In the Swan and Easton Street Multi Storey Car park, over the last few months there have been speakers installed playing music. The volume is variable. I would be interested to know the purpose and cost for this scheme?

 

It has attracted both positive and negative comments on social media, although for children and adults with processing disorders I do believe it does cause some distress and discomfort."

 

Response from Councillor Mrs J Teesdale (Cabinet Member for Environment)

 

"The council is playing music in the stairwells in our multi-storey car parks to add some ambiance and make using our car parks a better experience for the 9,000 plus customers who park their vehicles in them every week.

 

People expect us to keep our car parks – and any other public building or space we control – clean, safe and welcoming, and so we are playing the music throughout the day and the evening to improve the visitor experience.

 

When we initially switched on the music system in the Swan car park, we received one comment about the volume disturbing a child and so the volume was reduced as a result. We continue to review the system as a matter of course.

 

The cost of installing the system was £6,000 per car park but the long term system license is £25 per month per car park."

 

Supplementary Question

 

"Thank you Councillor Teesdale.  I do know about the incident in question, it was in the press.  Could you confirm that it is not the case that music is being used to deter homeless people from sleeping in the car parks?"

 

Supplementary Response

 

As a result of music being playing in the car parks, it may well discourage people from using them as a shelter but the main aim is to improve the atmosphere and experience for visitors to the town and the people who park their vehicles in the car parks.

 

We have received 40 complaints in the last two years associated with rough sleepers in the car parks and a large number of other comments from people who have told us they would like us to discourage people from using the car parks as a shelter, which we know is a sensitive issue and it leaves us between a rock and a hard place.

 

Our goal is to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place and if people require our help, our housing team does all it can to support people in need. But we also have customers who expect a clean, safe and welcoming car park to be used for its intended purpose.

 

However, I strongly believe we are doing all we can and more to assist anyone who is sleeping rough and needs our support.

 

We work closely with a number of partner organisations including Wycombe Homeless Connection, Wycombe Women’s Aid, YMCA and the Wycombe Rent Deposit Guarantee Scheme. The Connexions outreach service, funded by the council, is also on hand to help people who are sleeping rough.

 

We also work closely with our neighbouring councils and were part of a consortium that was awarded a £625,000 trailblazer grant from the Government in December to enable ambitious new ways of preventing homelessness to be piloted.

 

Homelessness is not just about rough sleeping. Not all cases can be prevented and not everyone can be assisted, but we work closely with our partner agencies to do all we can to assist anyone who is, or is likely to become homeless."

 

Questions 8-13 were not put as the 30 minutes time period had expired.  In accordance with Standing Orders, as written reply would be sent to the questioner by the appropriate Member within 10 working days, and would also be appended to the minutes of the meeting.