Agenda and minutes

Decision: That the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 25 July 2019 be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chair.

The Chair asked if there had been an update on the Our Health Our Care Joint Scrutiny with South Ribble Council. Members were advised that South Ribble were also keen to pick this up again and following a meeting with officers at South Ribble, Preston City Council had been contacted to see if they wanted to be involved. LCC and Our Health Our Care were also informed. A further update would be provided once the response had been received.

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 received.

There were no public questions for consideration.

To consider the Executive Cabinet minutes of the meeting held on 1 August 2019.

Decision: That the minutes of the Executive Cabinet meeting held on 1 August 2019 be noted.

To view the latest notice of Executive Decisions click here: https://democracy.chorley.gov.uk/mgListPlanItems.aspx?PlanId=899&RP=115.

The document is also attached and correct as of 18 September 2019.

Members of the Committee considered the Notice of Executive Decisions for September 2019 which gave notice of key and other major decisions Executive Members are expected to make. The Notice is reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that it is up to date and fit for purpose.

To consider the Work Plan of Lancashire County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee. The Council’s representative on the Committee, Councillor Margaret France, will give a verbal update.

Councillor Margaret France, as Chorley Council’s representative on Lancashire County Council’s Health Scrutiny updated Members on the recent LCC Health Scrutiny Steering Group meeting.

At the meeting on 24 September, the main focus was on the health service reorganisation with the integrated care system (ICS) and an update on Our Health Our Care.

At present, it was understood that there was not enough detail with regards to the reorganisation and the Steering Group would be asking the ICS for more information before they could make a formal decision. With regards to Our Health Our Care, the Clinical Senate had recently visited both Chorley and Preston and would be making a final decision on the proposals that would be moving forward. Once shortlisted, the proposals would be going out for public consultation.

Decision: That the update be noted.

To receive and consider the report of the Director (Policy and Governance).

Vicky Willett, Service Lead (Transformation and Partnerships) presented the report of the Director (Policy and Governance) which updated Members on the current position of the subsidised bus routes across the borough. Following an Executive Member Decision in July to continue subsidising bus routes in the borough, it was recommended that an update on the current subsidised services be brought to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to review and consider the current position and the provision for residents in rural districts.

In July 2019, the daytime 109A daytime service was withdrawn by Stagecoach due to a lack of commercial viability; this had implications for the services funded by Chorley Council (357, 109B and 4A). Previously, bus subsidies had been reactive and cost a significant amount, but in this instance the Council worked with LCC to come up with a more viable solution that would incorporate the majority of the provision within the subsidised routes. The reconfigured services would deliver a replacement for the 109A within existing resources. The services created were the 118/119 and the 24A. As a result of these changes there has been a reduction of £27,000 in funding for subsidised bus services compared to 2018/19.

Chorley Council provided a contribution towards the delivery of the 118/119 and 24A services. The contribution was split with LCC; with the Council providing 25% funding for the day services (LCC 75%) and 75% funding (LCC 25%) for the evening services. The approximate cost to the Council per annum was £65,731. This was agreed through an Executive Member decision and funding was committed towards these services for a 12-month period from 1 September 2019 – 31 August 2020.

The report also outlined the approximate current bus provision within the rural areas into the town centre and surrounding areas. Findings indicated that there were bus services reaching most areas of the borough, however the Council were looking for alternatives and ways to better use funding in rural areas such as the dial-a-ride service.,

The Chair queried whether residents in Astley Village were happy with the new replacement service. It was understood that there had been initial issues, but these had been addressed. Following questions regarding the amount per passenger that was being subsidised by the council, Members were advised that calculating cost per passenger was complex due to the way fare data was recorded and presented by LCC with costs varying depending on the location and frequency of the service. Generally buses are operating significantly under capacity.

Members of the Committee agreed that work needed to be done to get more people on the buses and discussed how a reduction in costs could achieve this. It was also suggested that some of the 125 services be rerouted to accommodate more residents in Adlington. It was subsequently agreed that Stagecoach be invited to a future meeting to discuss these issues and the potential solutions.

Decision: That the report be noted.

To receive and consider the report of the Director (Business, Development and Growth)

Mark Lester, Director for Business, Development and Growth, welcomed Portia Taylor-Black, Business Engagement Officer, to the meeting and presented the report which updated the Committee on the implementation of the recommendations made by the inquiry which reported to the Executive Cabinet in August 2017.

Officers had experienced difficulty in receiving any updates from LLC and BT and therefore the report contained the latest updates received from September 2018. It was agreed that officers would continue to try and get an update and a further monitoring report would be brought back to the Committee in March 2020.

Updates had been received internally for Chorley Council and highlighted numerous positives for Chorley including;

·         fibre broadband for all new developments

·         policy inclusion within the new local plan

·         voucher schemes for SME’s to support with fibre broadband installation

·         work undertaken to link to the Council’s digital agenda

·         digital skills training

·         the introduction of town centre and corporate/guest Wi-Fi

·         plans to extend the Wi-Fi range going forward as works take place to extend out fibre network (e.g. towards Primrose Gardens)

Following queries regarding the take up of the digital skills training, Members were advised that 1041 learners attended the training in 2018/19. Members thanked Simon Charnock for all of his hard work in delivering these sessions. Cllr Platt also gave special thanks to Simon for his work in extending the Wi-Fi at Euxton Community Centre to ensure it was accessible throughout.

Decision – That the update be noted.

Overview and Scrutiny Task Group – Developing the Council’s Green Agenda

To receive a verbal update on the inquiry from the Chair, Councillor Steve Holgate.

Members of the Committee received a verbal update from Councillor Steve Holgate on the work undertaken by the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group looking into Developing the Council’s Green Agenda.

At the first meeting of the Task Group which took place on 12 September, Councillor Paul Sloan was made Vice-Chair alongside Cllr Holgate as Chair. The Task Group received two presentations; one from Vicky Willett (Service Lead – Transformation and Partnerships) providing background and context and one from James Hoskinson (Local Plan Technical Officer) on the Council’s Sustainable September initiative for staff.

The Task Group considered the scope of the inquiry and discussed their objectives, outcomes, and who they wanted to interview as part of the review. The scoping document was drafted from this and would be a working document that would be brought back to each meeting.

Members of the Task Group acknowledged how big the issue of climate change was and therefore in order to consult with as many people as possible, the Task Group would split into smaller groups to interview and gather information from the stakeholders. Any information would then be reported back to the next meeting scheduled for 7 November. It was also hoped that some site visits would take place.

Following queries regarding completion of the Task Group, the Committee were advised that this had not yet been confirmed but it was proposed that an interim report be submitted prior to the consideration of the budget for 2020/21.

Decision: That the verbal updated be noted.

To consider the Scrutiny Work Programme for 2019/20.

Members considered the work programme for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Performance Panel and task group topic areas for 2019/20.

The Chair highlighted the busy schedule and recognised the need to look at neighbourhood working and neighbourhood area meetings prior to the all-out elections in May 2020. It was agreed that this be discussed at the next meeting in January with a view to schedule an additional meeting to address this.

Decision: That the work programme be noted.

To consider the exclusion of the press and public for the following items of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

By Virtue of Paragraph 3: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

Condition:

Information is not exempt if it is required to be registered under-

The Companies Act 1985

The Friendly Societies Act 1974

The Friendly Societies Act 1992

The Industrial and Provident Societies Acts 1965 to 1978

The Building Societies Act 1986 (recorded in the public file of any building society, within the meaning of the Act)

The Charities Act 1993

Information is exempt to the extent that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Information is not exempt if it relates to proposed development for which the local planning authority may grant itself planning permission pursuant to Regulation 3 of the Town & Country Planning General Regulations 1992(a).

Decision: To exclude the press and public for the following items of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

To receive and consider the report of the Director (Customer and Digital).

Asim Khan, Director (Customer and Digital) and Councillor Adrian Lowe, Executive Member (Customer, Advice and Streetscene Services) presented the confidential report which updated Members on the new waste and recycling collection contract that was implemented in April 2019.

The Committee were satisfied with the new service and thanked officers for all their work in delivering this.

Members were also reminded of the recycling changes being implemented from 1 October which would make it easier for residents to recycle more plastic waste. Additional items such as clean plastic pots, tubs and food trays could also be recycled from this date.

Decision: That the update be noted.</AI12>

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