Minutes for South Bucks Partnership meeting, Jan 27 2010, 6.00PM official page

South Bucks District Council

Adrian Busby (Chairman)

Naomi Arnold, Maureen Royston. Shorne Tilbey and Alan Walters 

Buckinghamshire County Council

Trevor Egleton (Vice-Chairman) and Bill Lidgate

Parish’s / Town Councils

Deborah Sanders (Beaconsfield Town Council)

Margaret Skelton & David Quinton (Denham Parish Council)

Michael C. C. Saxby (Fulmer Parish Council)

Ian Gordon, & David Peters (Gerrards Cross Parish Council)

Sue Cooper & Michael Rice (Hedgerley Parish Council)

Julian Wilson (Iver Parish Council)

Kathie Webber (Stoke Poges Parish Council)

Mary Trevallion (Taplow Parish Council)

Thames Valley Police

Paul Cook   Chief Inspector   South Bucks LPA Commander

Voluntary/Community Sector

Diane Rutter Chief Officer Voluntary Action Chiltern and South Bucks

Barbara Davis           Chairman South Bucks Youth Forum

Bucks Fire and Rescue Service

Jeremy Williams Bucks Fire and Rescue Service

 Officers

South Bucks District Council

Chris Furness            Chief Executive

Bob Smith                  Director of Services

Marjorie Weaver       Democratic Service Officer

Alex Rowland             Policy & Performance Manager

Peter Beckford          Head of Sustainable Development

Ian Gillespie               Principal Planning Officer

Joanna Faul               Planner

Buckinghamshire County Council

Sue Imbriano (Strategic Officer / Liaison role – Director of Children’s Services)

Stephen Young (Area Co-ordinator Locality Services)

Apologies for Absence: -

PC/TC: -        Janet Simmonds (Beaconsfield) Bob Slater (Burnham), Graham Easton & Peter Smith (Dorney), Peter Cathcart  &  Diane Needham (Farnham Royal),Chris Brown & Peter Chapman (Gerrards Cross), Carol Gibson (Iver) and Marion Dunstall (Wexham Parish Council)

SBDC: -         Ken Brown, Santokh Chhokar, Damon Clark and Guy Hollis

BCC: -           Dev Dhillon, Peter Hardy, Lin Hazell, Roger Reed and Ruth Vigor- Hedderly

Bucks Primary Care Trust: -

Clare Blakeway-Phillips       Assistant Director - Partnership Development Buckinghamshire Primary Care Trust

Faith Community: -

Revd Brian Griffiths (St Peter’s Church, Iver)    Faith Representative

Business and Learning Sector

Alastair Pike    Chairman Wycombe and South Bucks Chamber of Commerce

Lynne Cairns    Bucks Economic and Learning Partnership

Thames Valley Police: -

Inspector Bobbi Rai South Bucks Neighbourhood Inspector

Business and Learning Sector: -

Ian Johnson    Vice Chairman Wycombe and South Bucks Chamber of Commerce

Bucks Fire and Rescue Service

Bryan Dugdale   Bucks Fire and Rescue Service

(a)      To confirm the minutes of the South Bucks Partnership held on 7 October 2009        

(b)      To receive any notes from locality forums: -

The minutes of the meeting of the South Bucks South Bucks Partnership held on 7 October 2009 were received.

Arising there from minute 49 [The Recession and the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS)]

Diane Rutter, the co-ordinator for Voluntary Action Chiltern and South Bucks, again requested that if any Members had any ideas on how to improve the support in the Volunteer sector either in kind, cash or recognition please could they email her direct on diane.volaction@googlemail.com  noting in particular that many Partners had already helped in different ways.

None Received

None received.

To consider the report of Chris Furness, the Chief Executive of SBDC 

The Partnership considered a report of the Chief Executive on the delivery of the new Sustainable Community Strategy.

The new Sustainable Community Strategy was published in November 2009 having been approved by the Partnership in July 2009; by both SBDC and BCC’s Cabinet and Council in September 2009. A copy of both the South Bucks Sustainable Community Strategy and the County wide Sustainable Community Strategy was sent to all partners and were also available on the South Bucks District Council website and the Bucks Strategic Partnership website.

The Sustainable Community Strategy would be delivered in many ways, these include via existing strategies such as the Local Development Framework, the Cohesion and Inequalities Strategy and the South Bucks Community Safety Strategy.  The South Bucks Partnership Implementation Group would oversee the delivery of progress against outcomes in the Sustainable Community Strategy and feedback to the partnership. 

Bucks Strategic Partnership (BSP) held a workshop on the 11^th November 2009 run by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDEA) to begin a conversation which would lead to agreement about a strategic approach to joint local delivery across the County.  The aim was to achieve a multi-agency approach that met the whole needs of the place as set out in the family of Sustainable Community Strategies. 

The workshop identified five principles for joint working. 

·   Flexibility

·    Efficiency (balanced with need)

·    Customer Focus - A “no wrong door” approach, good customer insight and engagement

·    Keep it Simple

·    Building Trust between partners based on transparency and a commitment by all organisations

The workshop then continued to explore how partners could work together in three areas: -

·    Customer Services

·    Joined up services

·    Resident-led engagement

Implementation Group debated the five principles for joint working at their January meeting

The BSP requested the Partnership to identify a pilot project for improving partnership working and it was further suggested that the Implementation Group proposed the pilot project the Partnership put forward be linked to a project identified through the Performance through Partnership Central Fund and which was delivered with help of the Innovation Fund.

Members asked a number of questions about detailed aspects and sought clarification and explanation of certain issues and after considering all the information available it was

            RESOLVED that the: -

(1)               5 principles of partnership working across Buckinghamshire to help with the delivery of the Bucks family of Sustainable Community Strategies be endorsed as put forward by Bucks Strategic Partnership and as set out in section 4.4 of the report;

(2)               Project identified for improving partnership working in South Bucks be linked to the Performance through Partnership delivery planning workshop on providing support to those with a vulnerability as set out in section 4.5 of the report;

(3)               Three areas of focus chosen for Performance through Partnership delivery planning workshops be as follows: -

·                    Providing support to those with a vulnerability

·                    Supporting residents and businesses to get the most from the Olympics 2012

·                    Reducing the District’s carbon  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

To consider the report of the Director of Services   - to be tabled

The Partnership considered a report of the Director of Services on the progress made with infrastructure planning, as part of the South Bucks Local Development Framework process.

From the report Members noted the following: -

o       Last Partnership meeting in October – presentation on the Core Strategy, with particular reference to affordable housing and infrastructure planning.

o       The short Report tabled this evening provided an update.

o       The Core Strategy would be the most important document in the South Bucks Local Development Framework – a suite of documents that would eventually replace the Local Plan.  It was anticipated that South Bucks Core Strategy would be published in March, and be subject to independent Examination during the summer and early autumn.  The final version of the Core Strategy was programmed for adoption in March 2011.

o       Infrastructure planning was a central part of the Core Strategy process…. what was needed, who would provide it, where and when. 

o       A range of service providers had been consulted over the past few months, with a view to understanding the range of new or improved infrastructure that was likely to be needed to service planned future development.  The responses received to date were summarised in the schedule appended to the Report.

o       Comments on the scope of the infrastructure requirements identified, potential funding options and the organisations likely to be involved in delivery were welcome and should be directed to Sabella Wallace  - sabella.wallace@southbucks.gov.uk   Tel:- 01895 837298.

o       Looking ahead – the Infrastructure Planning work undertaken to date would be written up into a report, and would form part of the ‘evidence base’ for the Core Strategy.  In the medium term, the current intention was to develop the Infrastructure work into a Delivery Plan, alongside the preparation of a Charging Schedule to collect contributions under the proposed Community Infrastructure Levy.  Further work would be needed to ensure there was sufficient evidence to support the infrastructure needs identified, that the estimated cost of delivery was correct and that careful consideration had been given to all available funding sources.  There would also need to be a discussion on priorities – but that was certainly a debate for another day….

o       a Glossary to accompany the Infrastructure Planning Schedule would be put on Web site.

RESOLVED that the report be noted

To consider the report of Chris Furness, the Chief Executive of SBDC 

The Partnership received the summary of the Thriving Economy Theme, which was one of the five themes in the new Sustainable Community Strategy, and was debated at the October meeting of the South Bucks Partnership.  

Noting in particular that it was agreed that the Thriving Economy sub-group would co-ordinate the delivery of outcomes within this theme and report back to the partnership via an action plan to the next meeting in January.  Unfortunately the meeting of the Thriving Economy Sub-Group was postponed due to snow and was now not due to meet until February. 

          RESOLVED that: -

(1)              the summary of the discussion which took place during the Thriving Economy debate on 7 October 2009 be noted; 

(2)              an action plan for the Thriving Economy theme be agreed by The sub-group identifying a few key areas of focus that partners can work together and which will be brought back to the next meeting of the South Bucks Partnership in May.

To receive Information to inform the Sustainable Environment Theme Debate – how partners can work together to reduce the carbon footprint of the District

The Sustainable Environment Theme Debate was introduced by Bob Smith – SBDC Director of Services. 

The Partnership noted that the Sustainable Environment Theme had four groupings of outcomes: -

Ø                 Tackle Climate Change

Ø                 Enhance and Protect the local environment

Ø                 Minimise waste by reducing, reusing and recycling as much as possible

Ø                 Efficiently manage and maintain the transport network

Reducing the carbon footprint of the District: -

Ø                Statutory obligation

Ø                Future “polluter pays” penalties likely

Ø                Physical resources are not infinite

It was noted that at the present time: -

Ø                 South Bucks CO₂ emissions were 20% higher per capita than the other Bucks Districts

By 2020, the targets were: -

Ø                  More than 1.2 million people would be in green jobs.

Ø                  7 million homes would be energy efficient

Ø                  1.5 million+ households would produce their own clean energy

Ø                  40 percent of electricity from low-carbon and renewable sources

Ø                  Imports of gas would be half the amount that we otherwise would need

Ø                  The average new car would emit 40 percent less carbon than now. 

By 2050, the targets were: -

Ø                90% of energy from low-carbon and renewable sources

Ø                80% of cars would run on electricity or bio fuel

Ø                no gas-based central heating

Ø                overall energy demand reduced

The Partnership noted in Reducing the Carbon Footprint, it would need to consider: -

Ø                 Sustainability – conserving natural resources for future generations

Ø                 Mitigation – acting to reduce, prevent or avoid emissions

Ø                 Adaptation – preparing to take advantage of both positive and negative impacts of climate change e.g. extreme weather events.

Ø                 What could be done to deliver this outcome?

Ø                 What could each partner organisation commit to, to really make a difference?

Each group was asked to summarise the actions discussed and identify a few key areas of focus where partners working together could make a real difference to the delivery of this outcome.

Following both these discussions the Chairman made the following comments that there were several common themes running through each group which were as follows: -

Ø                Improved education / marketing to “sell” the benefits of energy efficiency, backed by incentives.

Ø                Reduce car emissions – including via lower, enforced speed limits, better more frequent public transport, more energy efficient refuse and fire vehicles, park and ride to work schemes

Ø                Use of planning policies

Ø                Influencing government policy

Ø                Partners to lead by example – concentrate on where can make a difference

It was RESOLVED that the Sustainable Environment Sub-Group would: -

Ø                   Co-ordinate the delivery of outcomes within Sustainable Environment theme and report back to the partnership via an action plan attached in the report to the next meeting in May.

To note / consider the South Bucks Partnership Handbook

annexed separately

The Partnership noted the information contained in the South Bucks Partnership Handbook.

To receive the Newsletter and an oral report on the Bucks Pathfinder –

Chris Furness, the Chief Executive of SBDC           

The Partnership considered an oral update on Pathfinder - Support Services Project, from Chris Furness, the Chief Executive of SBDC

·        The Chief Executive made the following comments on Support Services Project: -

Ø            Aylesbury Vale DC, Wycombe DC and Bucks/MK Fire and Rescue Authority – had pulled out of the project before completion of the tender process;

Ø            Buckinghamshire CC and SBDC, the two remaining councils, could not continue without the other partners because the tenders were not valued under the procurement rules and the project was aborted;

Ø            Alternatives to the project would be looked at to try to deliver the same level of savings leading to additional uncertainly for those involved.

(a)   To consider any other business which the Chairman considers is urgent;

(b)   Items for consideration at future meetings

(a)       (i)         The date of the Delivery Planning Workshop would be emailed

                      to Members when the programme had been finalised;

(ii)               Barbara Davis was congratulated on receiving the MBE in the

New Years Honours List for Services to Youth.

(b)       Items for consideration at future meetings would include:-

(i)                 A review of Youth Services – working in partnership with BCC;

(ii)               Voluntary Services.

The following provisional dates have been made, each on a Wednesday, commencing at 6 00 p.m. but may be subject to change: -

19 May 2010                14 July 2010                  6 October 2010

Members noted that the future meetings of the South Bucks Partnership would be held on Wednesdays, commencing at 6 00 p.m. as follows but may be subject to change: -

19 May 2010

14 July 2010                          6 October 2010

The next meeting of the Committee is due to be held on Wednesday, 19 May 2010

The meeting having commenced at 6.00 p.m. terminated at 7.45 p.m.