Agenda item
Minutes:
The following topics were raised:
Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment
The Cabinet Member provided an update on household waste collections in the south of the Council area that had for many weeks been problematic due to the re-organisation of rounds with the new contract. The Cabinet Member again apologised to residents and advised that as of Monday there were less than 100 missed bins still left in the system. It was expected that the service would be back to business as usual by next week.
The Leader, on behalf of the Council, also apologised to all those residents who had been affected by missed collections.
Cabinet Member for Transport
The Cabinet Member referred to the decision taken by Cabinet a few months ago to apply to the Department of Transport for a Designation Order to enforce moving traffic offences. The Cabinet Member was pleased to announce that the Council was one of a handful of councils to have received these powers in the first tranche of approvals. The Council would now proceed with the procuring of cameras and would begin using these powers at the 14 identified sites across Buckinghamshire from December.
Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration
The Cabinet Member provided an update on the call for more brownfield sites. The Council’s two previous calls for brownfield sites had produced around 330 sites. At present the number of sites submitted through these calls for brownfield sites significantly underachieved the amount of land anticipated to be required in order to meet the housing requirements as set out in the Local Plan. Whilst on 13 June the Council expanded the call for brownfield sites to a call for all sites, the Council maintained its strong brown before green aspiration and encouraged all and any brownfield sites to be submitted as part of the current call. The current call for all sites was due to last until 11 September, following which the appropriateness and deliverability of all the submitted sites would be assessed.
The Cabinet Member reported that in June this year, the Government published up-to-date enforcement statistics for the financial year ending March 2022 and that these showed that Buckinghamshire was the 5th most active authority in England in relation to issuing Planning Enforcement notices and the number one most active authority outside of Greater London. In April, the Council also took the first direct action as an authority clearing five caravan pitches from a site in Little Chalfont. The Leader added that the Council had also made some significant decisions about enforcement in the north of the county, particularly the north of Buckingham area and stressed the importance of ensuring that people were aware that there were consequences if they breached planning control rules.
Nominations were currently open for the Buckinghamshire Design Awards 2022. These bi annual awards have been running for nearly 30 years and celebrate well designed new places and spaces that help make Buckinghamshire the best place to live, raise a family, work, and do business. More information was available on the Council’s website (Design Awards).
Cabinet Member for Communities
The Cabinet Member reported that 3 more wardens had joined the street wardens team at the beginning of July. There were now 6 street wardens to undertake enforcement work and deal with anti-social behaviour (ASB) issues in Aylesbury and High Wycombe Town Centres.
The Public Space Protection Order consultations for Aylesbury Town Centre, Buckingham Town Centre, West End Road High Wycombe, Winslow and Steeple Clayton closed this Monday (11 July) having run for four weeks. The consultations were undertaken to give stakeholders, councillors and community members the opportunity to comment on the current orders in place and would inform the decision on whether to review, amend or extend the provisions contained within them.
With regards to the Grants Review, the first meeting of the Grants Member Task and Finish Group took place on 23 June. This group would be overseeing phase 2 of the Corporate Grants Review, which would be looking at how the Council funded voluntary sector organisations to ensure a consistent approach across services.
The Cabinet Member provided an update on Helping Hands and the Household Support Fund. The Council had used just over £1.5m of the current Household Support Fund, which would run until 30 September. These funds had enabled the Council to support approximately 12,000 eligible young people during the May half term. During the summer holiday period, the Council would be distributing a £50 digital supermarket voucher for each eligible child. The Council was still awaiting clarification on the further extension to the Household Support Fund announced by the Government in May, but work continued through the Financial Insecurity Partnership to develop approaches to build financial resilience across Buckinghamshire residents. Thanks were expressed to the Helping Hand team for their excellent work.
Cabinet Member for Homelessness and Regulatory Services
The Cabinet Member reported that severe weather emergency provisions had been implemented to support rough sleepers during the current extreme hot weather. This included the provision of any additional support that rough sleepers might need during this period. It was noted that the Customer Access Points in the Council’s offices had been made available during opening hours to anyone who needed to find shelter off the streets and access to water. Detailed messaging had been cascaded to Town and Parish Councils and Members regarding rough sleepers and extreme hot weather over the summer. The Cabinet Member advised that if someone found themselves sleeping rough or if someone saw anyone sleeping out on the streets of Buckinghamshire, they could contact Street Link online or phone 0300 500 0914. If someone saw anyone they believed to be under the age of 18 and/or were concerned about the health or welfare of anyone sleeping rough, they should call 999.
With regards to the extreme hot weather, the Leader also stressed the importance of using all possible forms of communication to advise residents, especially the vulnerable, on what to do in the extreme weather. The Chief Executive advised that the NHS have significant amounts of advice in relation to what we all should do, particularly those people who were older or vulnerable, in incidences of extreme weather. The Council had already put information out through social media and Richard Barker, Corporate Director for Communities, would be chairing a meeting later today to consider what more might be done, taking advice from the Director of Public Health.
The Council undertook a workshop last week with local registered providers to discuss how the Council and providers could best work together to maximise affordable housing delivery across Buckinghamshire. Council officers from housing, planning and property & assets attended the session and the feedback from the discussions was being reviewed to identify options and opportunities to develop the Council’s joint working arrangements with registered providers going forward.