Minutes for Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regeneration and Environmental Services) meeting, Nov 24 2009, 6.30PM official page

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Roberts

Members and Officers are requested to give notice of any personal or prejudicial interest and the nature of that interest, relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the relevant Code of Conduct.

The following declarations of interest were received:-

Member

Minute No.

Reason

Action

Councillor Weavers

45

Personal Interest – he is a Member of Sefton Chamber of Commerce and Industry and his business is involved in environmental issues

Took part in the consideration of the item and voted thereon.

Councillor Webster

47

Personal Interest – she is an allotment holder

Took part in the consideration of the item and voted thereon.

Minutes of the meeting held on *

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 20 October 2009, be confirmed as a correct record.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Health and Social Care) considered the attached Annual Report of the Director of Public Health (Minute No. 44 refers) and recommended that the report be forwarded to this Committee in view of its impact on all the Council’s portfolios.

Mrs C. Warlow (Head of Health improvement Partnership) will attend the meeting and give a presentation on the report.

Further to Minute No.45 of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Health and Social Care held on 13 October 2009, the Committee considered the Annual Report of the Director of Public Health outlining progress made in public health during the previous twelve months and the on-going work in relation to long-term health inequalities within the following key areas:-

• Employment;
• Education;
• Housing;
• Healthy environments;
• Climate change and sustainability;
• Community cohesion; and
• Flu pandemic.

The Annual Report of the Director of Public Health – ‘Invest for the Future’, which focused on tackling health inequalities in the long term was circulated to Members and it was suggested that, in order that Members had time to fully consider its implications, the report could be taken away for consideration and any issues or particular views could be reported back to the next meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)       the Annual Report of the Director of Public Health be received; and

(2)            Members report any issues which they would like to raise or be considered to the next meeting of this Committee.

Presentation by the Planning and Economic Regeneration Director and the Chief Executive of the Sefton Chamber of Commerce.

The Planning and Economic Regeneration Director and the Chief Executive of the Sefton Chamber of Commerce and Industry gave a presentation on the current position of local businesses. The presentation outlined details on the following:-

(i)            Recent economic progress;

(ii)            Regional information;

(iii)            Local information;

(iv)            Information on the Sefton Chamber of Commerce;

(v)            The general situation;

(vi)            Information on retail Closures; and

(vii)            The potential outlook.

An update was given on activities over the past 12 month period and the following developments were highlighted:-

(i)            Stella Nova;

(ii)            Tesco Lanstar site;

(iii)            No1 Atlantic Park;

(iv)            Caspian House;

(v)            Vesty Business Park; and

(vi)            Convention Centre Southport.

The presentation also detailed a number of activities carried out to help and advise local businesses and particular attention was drawn to the recent Bootle Festival at the Bootle Strand Shopping Centre and proposed Christmas Activities at the Strand Shopping Centre including:-

RESOLVED:

That the Planning and Economic Regeneration Director and the Chief Executive of the Sefton Chamber of Commerce and Industry be thanked for their presentation and the matter be received.

A presentation will be given by the Mersey Partnership.

Dave Moorcroft, the Mersey Partnership’s Director of Economic Development gave a presentation on the Partnership’s activities in the Liverpool City Region and specifically within Sefton.

The report set out details of activities within the following “Transformational Actions”:-

(i)            Visitor Economy;

(ii)            Low carbon Economy;

(iii)            Super Port; and

(iv)            Knowledge Economy.

In terms of the Visitor Economy, details of the following activities which were targeted within Sefton were given:-

(i)            Funding;

(iv)            Developing the Southport Offer; and

(v)            Business Tourism.

The presentation concluded by setting out the specific investment support provided to Sefton by the partnership which included:-

(i)            A proactive Investment Sales Team;

(ii)            A dedicated Investor Development Manager for Sefton;

(iii)            A pipeline of prospective investments; and

(iv)       A close working relationship with the Sefton Council Team on investment.

Details of jobs created across the Merseyside region were set out by local authority area together with adjusted figures which took account of jobs being taken up in one local authority area by workers from another area.

RESOLVED:

That Mr Moorcroft be thanked for his presentation and the matter be received.

Report of the Leisure Director

The Committee considered the report of the Leisure Director updating on the progress with the Allotment Strategy.

The report had been presented to the Cabinet Member - Leisure and Tourism on 4 November 2009 (Minute No. 57 refers), following a number of requests for new allotments and some difficulties which had been encountered on the existing sites.

It was reported that the Council currently had 950 allotments on 14 sites spread throughout the Borough and there were presently 1300 people on the waiting list for an allotment.

Members discussed the report in detail and made particular reference to the following:-

(i)      the cost of developing a new allotment site;

(ii)     the level of existing annual fees;

(iii)    the possibility of the extension of the Kew site in Southport;

(iv)      indications that a local Garden Centre had expressed an interest in providing an allotment site (it was noted that this would be likely to be provided at a commercial rate in respect of annual fees);

(v)     the possibility of the development of “community gardens” as an alternative to traditional allotments;

(vi)      existing Self management arrangements;

(vii)      sharing or dividing allotment sites;

(viii)      eligibility for allotment holders;

(ix)      whether the provision of allotments should be a core service of the Council; and

(x)     the need to enforce letting conditions.

RESOLVED: That

(1)       the report updating on the progress with the Allotment Strategy and the Preliminary Report of Issues be received;

(2)       the robust approach being taken in the development of the Allotment Strategy be supported;

(3)       the views of the Strategic Asset Management Group that capital resources are unlikely to be available for the creation of new allotments be noted; and

(4)       the Leisure Director be requested to submit a further report updating the Committee on the progress with the Allotment Strategy in due course.

Report of the Legal Director

In order to keep Overview and Scrutiny Members informed, it had been agreed the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board to submit relevant Cabinet Member Reports to Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

Accordingly, the Committee received the latest reports from the Cabinet Members for Environmental, Leisure and Tourism, Regeneration and Technical Services.

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet Member reports be received.

Report of the Leisure Director

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Leisure Director on the progress in achieving the Department’s objectives for the period April to September 2009.

The report gave a detailed summary of the activities carried out by each section of the Department.

RESOLVED: That

(1)       the progress made by the Leisure Services Department towards achieving its Departmental and Corporate Objectives be accepted;

(2)       the tasks that have been cancelled be noted and the new tasks to be added to the Departmental Service Delivery Plan be accepted; and

(3)       the new risks added to the Departmental Risk Register be noted.

Report of the Legal Director

The Committee considered the report of the Legal Director attaching the latest Key Decision Forward Plan which contained all the Key Decisions which the Executive was anticipated to take during the above period. The Committee was advised of its right to pre-scrutinise any Key Decision which fell under its remit.

The Chair informed Members that a work programme session had been held earlier in the day and that as a result it was hoped to look at the “Low Carbon Economy” at the next meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)       the contents of the Forward Plan for the period 1 December 2009 to 31 March 2010, be accepted; and

(2)       the progress and actions of the Working Groups to date be approved.