Agenda and minutes

The Chair will welcome County Councillor Keith Young (Executive Member for Highways and Transport), Jo Turton (Executive Director for the Environment) and Rick Hayton (Traffic and Safety Network Manager) from Lancashire County Council. 

The Chair welcomed Jo Turton, (Executive Director for the Environment), Rick Hayton (Traffic and Safety Network Manager) from Lancashire County Council and Councillor Keith Iddon to the meeting. 

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor Roy Lees and County Councillor Keith Young (Executive Member for Highways and Transport).  

To confirm as a correct record the enclosed minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group - Highways issues held on 3 August 2009.  

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group - Highways issues held on 3 August 2009 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any personal interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda. If the interest arises only as result of your membership of another public body or one to which you have been appointed by the Council then you only need to declare it if you intend to speak.

If the personal interest is a prejudicial interest, you must withdraw from the meeting. Normally you should leave the room before the business starts to be discussed. You do, however, have the same right to speak as a member of the public and may remain in the room to enable you to exercise that right and then leave immediately. In either case you must not seek to improperly influence a decision on the matter.

No Members declared an interest in respect of items on the agenda.

The scoping document has been amended as agreed at the last meeting.  Members are requested to consider the document and approve it for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  

Members considered the scoping document, which had been updated to reflect the amendments made at the last meeting.  

RESOLVED – The document be approved for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

To consider the following information:

·              Extracts of other Scrutiny inquiries undertaken by Lancashire Authorities (enclosed)

·              Extract from Lancashire County Council Sustainable Development Overview and Scrutiny Committee - 15 July 2009 (enclosed)

·              Highways maintenance plan (to follow)

·              Customer Contact information from Lancashire County Council and Chorley Council (enclosed)

At the suggestions of the Chair it was AGREED to consider this information at the next meeting of the Task and Finish Group to enable the focus of this meeting to be the following item. 

To discuss issues and future plans with County Councillor Keith Young (Executive Member for Highways and Transport), Jo Turton (Executive Director for the Environment) and Rick Hayton (Traffic and Safety Network Manager) from Lancashire County Council. 

Jo outlined that the services provided in this area were being named “public realm”, although it was difficult to find a name for this “green and black” area that was so important to customers and had reputational issues for the County Council. 

The customer doesn’t care how as long as the service is delivered – the challenge was how to deliver the best services and between LCC and Chorley Council.  Clear accountability on service delivery and the provision of good services were needed.

Relationships were not as good as they should be following the termination of the Highways Partnership.  A pilot had recently been undertaken with South Ribble, funded by Team Lancashire; to see how alternative arrangements could work.  The two authorities considered the services to be delivered, the budget available and between them worked out how best to deliver them.

South Ribble now do all the grass cutting and maintenance of shrubs and trees.  LCC previously delivered five cuts per year whilst South Ribble could deliver ten cuts per year and tailor the service to different parts of the district.  There was better co-ordination, for example, litter was picked before the grass was cut.  LCC still maintain the roads and pavements, and co-ordinate road closures with other agencies.

The customer satisfaction figures had not yet been received but positive anecdotal evidence had been received.  The challenge now was how to roll this out with other Districts.  A report would be presented to the LCC Cabinet on 8 October 2009 setting out project plan for this with the aim being to have agreements with all twelve districts by October 2010.

The Locality Plan was discussed as the potential monitoring mechanism for this, to enable monitoring from LCC, the District and the Lancashire Local.  Members were keen to progress this project with a drive to work closely with districts.  The Environment Directorate would need to look forward on how to be organised and deliver on a district footprint going forward.

The aim was to roll out with Districts, then have the option in the second year to involve parishes.  In response to a query Jo agreed to take parish views on planning applications and highways comments through the public realm strategy negotiations.

Members suggested a pilot for Chorley, although the key would be in the detailed arrangements.  There were particular areas where the Council would like to be proactive during a pilot, such as highway or footpath obstruction, parking on footpaths, shops in town centre encroaching, advertising boards etc. 

Internal communication between offices would be an area of improvement in the coming months.  The Directorate could work more efficiently with the contact centre and done some work had been undertaken relating to street lighting which had improved service efficiency.  The contact centre would be relocated from the Hub to Preston City centre.  The LCC website had been used by several Councillors to report issues. 

Jo distributed a document containing key contacts for use by Chorley Councillors and undertook to forward  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

To consider and determine:

·              the enclosed project plan,

·              dates for future meetings,

·              dates to interview outstanding witnesses and draft questions for the interview sessions,

·              information to be presented to future meetings.

Members noted that communication between all partners would be vital going forward and that the proof would be in the delivery.  There

would be a need to be clear on performance measures, costs and accountability.  Officers advised that Chorley have been assured consultation on LCC spending plans.

It was AGREED to review the information considered so far to enable Members to review the inquiry objectives at next the meeting.  This would ensure any points that have been missed to be picked up, this would include budget implications in time for next budget round.