Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Panel meeting held on 13 March 2014 (enclosed)

RESOLVED – that the minutes of the last meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Panel meeting held on 13 March 2014 be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda.

If you have a pecuniary 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.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report of Chief Executive (enclosed)

Councillor Adrian Lowe - Executive Member (Streetscene Services) will be in attendance at the meeting,

Members had expressed an interest in scrutinising the performance of Streetscene Services, with a particular focus on grounds maintenance, street cleansing and parks and open spaces. They considered a report of the Chief Executive which gave key performance indicators for Streetscene Services and summarised project delivery, budget investment, modernisation and customer satisfaction information.

Councillor Adrian Lowe, Executive Member for Streetscene Services attended the meeting and presented the report and also answered Members questions in the following areas:

Performance

·         In tackling off target PIs, new IT systems were in place to try and improve performance. Callbacks figures had improved following a change in mobile devices from Blackberries to iPads with a significant reduction in repeat requests.

·         In terms of the length of time taken to answer Contact Centre phone calls at busy times, Members were encouraged to log into My Account through the website to register service requests/issues as Members will be informed via email of progress and when requests etc. are resolved. This initiative was currently being promoted with Members, Parish and Town Councils and the public.

·         In response to multi issue or multi street queries which Members wanted to report, these issues appeared to take a longer time to resolve. Jamie Dixon reported that they were looking at ways to improve this.

Project Delivery

·         In response to queries regarding the prioritisation of neighbourhood projects and the length of time they were taking to deliver, Jamie Dixon reported that streetscene services were managing over 35 projects. As part of managing capacity, the projects have been staggered so that they will be delivered over a year and some would not start until September 2014 but were on course to be completed by the end of the Council year.

Budget Investment

·         Investment in new litter bins had received good feedback with larger capacity bins that could also take dog waste.

·         In terms of Buckshaw, issues with unadopted areas meant that siting litter bins was not straight forward   due to the different landowners and developers involved. However, work was ongoing in Main Square to locate bins just prior to the area being adopted.

·         In delivering the Astley 2020 project, car parking was raised as an issue. Car park infrastructure is in the current year’s programme and this will require a feasibility study and planning permission and therefore could not be completed until 2015/16.

Modernisation

·         Comments were made on the need to either cut grass more frequently or to collect the cuttings whilst mowing grassed areas. Both of these issues had cost implications. The Council could look at hotspots where this was a problem, but was also looking to start grass cutting earlier in the year and this will also help.

·         In relation to public realm improvements, LCC would not enforce obstructions on the highway unless there was a highway safety issue.

Customer Satisfaction

·         In response to queries regarding actions to improve customer satisfaction, Members were advised that IT solutions and calling cards were in place. In looking at customer feedback, officers looked for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.OSP.56

Report of the Chief Executive (enclosed)

Summary of Corporate Strategy Projects 2013/14 (enclosed)

Members considered the Council’s Performance Monitoring for the fourth quarter of 2013/14 which had been reported to the Executive Cabinet in June.

Rebecca Huddleston and Natalie Taylor-Proctor of the Policy and Performance Team presented the report.

The report set out performance against the Corporate Strategy, with a summary of the performance of key projects – all of which were on track or scheduled to start later in the year. 72% of corporate strategy measures and 86% of key service measures were performing on or above target or within 5% tolerance. The report listed those projects which were performing below target and in each case action plans had been developed to improve performance.

Members raised a number of questions relating to progress on a number of specific projects and their timeline for delivery, and it was agreed that more detailed information would be provided to Members following the meeting.

RESOLVED that report be noted and in response to queries raised at the meeting, the following information be circulated to Panel Members as soon as possible:

1. Project Delivery  

·         Deliver the Chorley Youth Zone - an update was requested on this project and clarity as to what is expected to be delivered and when and whether a risk register been developed.

·         Friday Street Health Centre - an update was requested as to progress on this project.

·         Change working practices to fit neighbourhood working and public health priorities – an update providing clarity as to the status of this project, including timeline for delivery.

2. Quarter 4 Performance  

·         Working Together with Families   

o   information was requested as to how housing professionals are engaging and the location of families being supported

o   information was requested around partner engagement

·         Establishing a Chorley Youth Council/Youth Ambassador Scheme

o   An update on the current status of this project, including initiatives to encourage sign up, which wards have representation and the future management of the project.

·         Develop an Offer at Chorley’s Credit Union

o   Members requested an update on this project, specifically what we are doing to extend the offer.