Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Mr D Dhillon, Mrs L Clarke OBE and Mr R Reed.

To disclose any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests.

Mr S Bowles declared that he was the Vice-Chairman of Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership.

Of the meeting held on 12^th September 2017.

The minutes of the meeting held on 12^th September were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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/

The Chairman advised that a question had been received from a Member of the public but was received too late to include in the agenda for the meeting.

However, the Chairman confirmed that the issue had been passed onto the Cabinet Member to action and would be brought to the Committee meeting in December.

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

The Chairman informed the Committee that the Growth Inquiry Report had been presented and discussed at Cabinet where all of the recommendations had been accepted.

The Chairman confirmed that the Committee’s next inquiry would be on Modern Slavery and that the Chairman for the inquiry would be Mr S Lambert.

Members will review and assess the progress towards completion of the Inquiry recommendations before agreeing the RAG status of implementation.

Contributors:

John Rippon, Head of Growth and Strategy (BCC)

Philippa Batting, Bucks Business First

Ian Barham, BTVLEP

This item was deferred to the next meeting on 12^th December 2017.

Members will review the National Infrastructure Commission’s Interim Report with a view to understanding what it is and how it might impact on Buckinghamshire and the County Council.

Members will hear how England’s Economic Heartland Strategic Alliance is providing leadership on strategic infrastructure. They will examine how the Council is working with the Alliance to identify issues of strategic importance for the County, drawing on work that the Council has been undertaking to identify the infrastructure requirements arising from the planned growth.

Contributors:

·         Bill Chapple, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment

·         Mark Kemp, Director of Growth and Strategy

·         Martin Tugwell, Programme Director, Growth and Strategy (England’s Economic Heartland)

·         Ian Barham, BTV LEP

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

·         Mr W Chapple OBE, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment.

·         Mr I Barham, Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership.

·         Mr M Tugwell, Programme Director, Growth and Strategy (England’s Economic Heartland).

·         Mr N Gibson, Executive Director Transport, Economy and Environment Business Unit.

The contributors presented an overview of the National Infrastructure Commission’s interim report to the Committee from the perspective of each of their respective organisations.

During the presentation, Members of the Committee asked questions and sought assurance about the following:

·         The definition of the corridor in terms of geography, particularly in relation to the North / South perspective.

·         Ensuring the County Council engaged with all decision makers in the project to make sure communities within the corridor benefited from the development of infrastructure and housing.

·         Governance arrangements given that there were around 35 different bodies involved.

·         The benefits and risks to the Council of being the Accountable Body for the England’s Economic Heartland Strategic Alliance (EEHSA) and management of these.

·         The role and membership of the EEHSA Core Programme Team.

·         Plans for improving connectivity North to South through the County.

·         What the many strategic plans for growth and development across the County would mean for local residents in the short to medium term.

·         Communication to the public on the impacts of the infrastructure developments.

The following points were made in response to the Committee’s questioning:

·         In terms of potential and opportunity for economic growth, the geographical area was not fixed and it was the Local Enterprise Partnership’s (LEP’s) role to ensure all of Buckinghamshire benefitted.

·         The Council would work with all necessary partners and neighbouring authorities to realise the infrastructure needed.

·         The EEHSA were used to working with a wide range of neighbouring authorities and sub regional bodies to make sure a strategic view was taken and promoted to central government in relation to key infrastructure development needs.

·         In developing new sustainable communities, the Council had a responsibility to ensure that development benefitted existing communities too.

·         It was important that communities were involved in decisions about infrastructure and development.

·         There needed to be collaboration between central government and local councils on where development and growth would happen but the process and timescales for this still needed to be agreed.

·         Partners were already working well together as part of the EEHSA and it would be important for all partners to present a single vision and policy framework to central government and funding agencies, for example through a joint position statement.

·         North South connectivity across the County would be paramount as growth, particularly in north of county, took place and there were plans to scope some technical work to look at the issue.

·         There were only minor financial risks to being the accountable body for the EEHSA which were covered as contingencies in the budget.

·         There would be increased funding from central government for local authorities to invest in the major road network from 2020/21.

·         Residents would see  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

For Members to consider and agree the draft Inquiry scope, following a scoping meeting held on the 17^th October 2017. The scoping meeting was attended by Mr D. Carroll (Chairman), Mrs A. Macpherson and Mr S. Lambert.

Contributor:

Mr S Lambert (Inquiry Chairman).

The Chairman asked Mr S Lambert to present the item.

Mr Lambert introduced the draft scoping document for the Committee’s proposed in depth inquiry into the issue of Modern Slavery.

Mr Lambert explained that there would be a number of key lines of inquiry and evidence would be gathered from a number of Council services as well as from a wide range of external partners and organisations.

Mr Lambert stressed that the inquiry could take a number of months to complete but hoped it would be completed by April 2018, although interim findings could potentially be produced earlier. 

The Committee were keen to publicise the inquiry as widely as possible including at each Local Area Forum and the Health and Wellbeing Board. They were also keen to involve the Council’s other Select Committees as appropriate.

The inquiry members were confirmed as Mr S Lambert, Inquiry Chairman, Mr D Carroll, Mrs A Macpherson, Mr P Martin, Mrs L Clarke OBE and Mr S Bowles. 

Members will discuss the Committee’s upcoming Committee items and identify any areas they would like to consider adding to the work programme.

The Committee noted the work programme.

The next meeting will be held at 10:00am on the 12^th December 2017 in the Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall.

The next meeting was confirmed as taking place at 10:00am on the 12th December 2017 in Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall.