Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllrs Penny Drayton and Mike Stannard.

There were none.

The minutes of the meeting held on 4^th October 2023 to be confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 4^th October 2023 were agreed as a correct record.

Public questions is an opportunity for people who live, work or study in Buckinghamshire to put a question to a Select Committee.

The Committee will hear from members of the public who have submitted questions in advance relating to items on the agenda. The Cabinet Member, relevant key partners and responsible officers will be invited to respond.

Further information on how to register can be found here: https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/your-council/get-involved-with-council-decisions/select-committees/

There were none.

The Committee will receive an update on the Council’s approach to devolution of services and assets. 

Contributors:

Cllr Arif Hussain, Cabinet Member for Communities

Roger Goodes, Service Director, Partnerships, Policy and Communications

The Chairman welcomed Cllr Arif Hussain, Cabinet Member for Communities and Matthew Everitt, Service Director, Business Intelligence & Community Support to the meeting. Cllr Angela McPherson, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing had also been due to attend and had sent her apologies.

The Cabinet Member gave an overview of the work of Opportunity Bucks, making the following key points:

• Opportunity Bucks had been set up as a flagship programme to improve life chances for those Buckinghamshire residents whose outcomes were considerably worse than the average for the county. Wards had been identified where unemployment and crime were higher, and educational attainment and health outcomes were much lower than the county as a whole.  For these wards, the data was similar to less affluent areas of the country, such as Leicester and Durham.
• The overall aim was that everyone in Buckinghamshire should have good education, career progression, a healthy and active lifestyle and a decent and warm home. Improved outcomes were needed for the current and future generations.
• Opportunity Bucks was launched in December 2022 and had been allocated a budget of £1.5 million per annum.
• The key to the success of Opportunity Bucks was partnership working with local groups from the public and charity sectors and local organisations.

A lot of work to date had focussed on establishing the structure and governance of the Opportunity Bucks programme within which there are three levels of delivery to achieve its aims, Strategic, Community and Individual:

1. Thematic partnerships which focused on education and youth engagement, jobs, careers and skills, the quality of the public realm, standard of living and health and wellbeing at a strategic level.
2. Ward partnerships operated at the community level, where local members, officers and stakeholders identified local challenges and interventions to meet local needs.
3. At the Individual level, the MEAM (Making Every Adult Matter) team had been established to engage with individuals or families in most need and link them with appropriate help and support.

Some significant achievements of the programme so far were:

• A scheme to introduce traffic calming measures and improvements to reduce anti-social behaviour and increase resident satisfaction in Castlefield.
• An initiative where registered social landlords were encouraged to leave any carpets which were in good condition for the next tenant at a nominal fee, rather than automatically disposing of them.
• An additional £2.1 million had been secured from central government to improve numeracy skills which helped residents, particularly with household budgeting.
• Litter picks, area clean-ups and a community café organised by ward partnerships.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member for this overview and invited Members’ questions.  In response to questions and during subsequent discussions, the following main points were noted:

• The Cabinet Member emphasised that ward members and local organisations knew their wards well and were trusted by local residents, which was key in identifying targeted interventions that would be effective.
• A Member asked what was being done to advertise and promote the work of Opportunity Bucks.  The Cabinet Member gave details of a recent  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Committee will receive an update on Opportunity Bucks – the Council’s local ‘levelling up’ initiative which is supporting residents in ten specific wards in Aylesbury, Chesham and High Wycombe. 

Contributors:

Cllr Arif Hussain, Cabinet Member for Communities

Cllr Angela Macpherson, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing

Matt Everitt, Service Director, Business Intelligence and Community Support

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member for Communities for staying and welcomed Roger Goodes, Service Director, Policy and Communications to the meeting.  The Cabinet Member outlined Buckinghamshire Council’s commitment to localism, which included the establishment of the Community Boards and a Town and Parish Charter. Town and Parish Councils and local groups had been invited to submit expressions of interest for devolution of assets or services and the Council had chosen six initial pilot projects, as follows:

1.      Prestwood Recreation Ground – This had been completed recently, with a 25-year lease granted.

2.      Aylesbury Christmas lights – a 3-year agreement had been put in place in July 2023.

3.      Green Street Community Centre – negotiations were ongoing but it was hoped that a handover would be completed by 31^st March 2024

4.      Aylesbury Community Centres – three centres were planned to be devolved in 2024 and leases were currently with Aylesbury Town Council for consideration and agreement.

5.      Denham Scout Hut – unfortunately the Scout Hut had burned down during negotiations and the Parish Council had looked at raising funds for a rebuild.

6.      Aylesbury Town Annual Remembrance Sunday Service – this devolution application had been rejected due to the status of the ceremony as a county event.

The Cabinet Member explained that the process of devolution was much more complicated than had been anticipated and required significant legal and property resources, in order to progress the projects. Covid 19 had also contributed to delays.

A revised policy was agreed at Cabinet on 11^th October 2023 which aimed to make the devolution process quicker by undertaking an initial viability assessment of applications.  In addition, car parks would not be included in the devolution programme and the freehold of an asset would not usually be devolved. Cabinet also agreed that in future, no more than two devolution projects will be worked on at any one time.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member for this summary, noting that only two devolution projects had been completed to date and asked him to elaborate on the key challenges. In response to this question and others and during subsequent discussions, the following main points were noted:

• The main delays with the devolution process had been the legal issues involved.  Surveys of properties had been required and, in some cases, remedial work was necessary. It was important that the Council and the new asset owner were clear about their respective liabilities. Roger Goodes gave the example of the Green Street Community Centre where Japanese knotweed and an on-site telephone mast had posed difficulties. With regards to the Aylesbury community centres, the Council had consulted with existing users to ensure that they would be able to continue to use them. 
• A Member gave an example of a field which Westcott Parish Council had asked to be devolved on several occasions.  This was a relatively straightforward devolution request as the field had no utilities etc. but the parish council had not received any feedback. He asked  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee will discuss the work programme and note the items for the next meeting.

Contributors:

All Committee Members

The Chairman reminded members that this was an opportunity to raise potential agenda items.  Any suggestions could also be emailed to the chairman or the Scrutiny Manager at any time. The suggestion of inviting the Anti-Social Behaviour team to a future meeting had been noted.

The Chairman noted that since the last meeting, the Digital Exclusion Group had made visits to adult learning centres in High Wycombe and Aylesbury.  At their next meeting, the group would be hearing about broadband coverage in the county.

The next meeting will take place on 28^th February 2024 at 10am.

28^th February 2024 at 10am.