Venue: Sparkenhoe Committee Room, County Hall, Glenfield
Contact: Mr. S. J. Weston (Tel: 0116 305 6226) Email: sam.weston@leics.gov.uk
No. | Item |
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In Attendance: Mrs. L. A.
S. Pendleton CC, Cabinet Lead Member for Environment and Transport (for Minute
170) Mr. J. Catt,
Co-opted Parent Governor Representative of the Children and Young People’s Service
Overview and Scrutiny Committee (for Minute 172) |
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Minutes: The minutes
of the meeting held on |
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Question Time. Minutes: The Chief
Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 35. |
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Questions asked by members. Minutes: The Chief
Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order
7(3) and 7(5). |
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Urgent Items Minutes: The Chairman advised the Committee that he had agreed to
consider as an urgent item on the impending sale of paintings by |
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Declarations of interest. Minutes: The
Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interest in respect
of items on the agenda for the meeting. The
following members declared an interest in the Local Transport Plan 3 (LTP3)
item as members of district/borough councils (minute 170 refers):
* |
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Declarations of the Party Whip. Minutes: There were no
declarations of the party whip. |
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Presentation of Petitions under Standing Order 36. Minutes: The Chief
Executive reported that no petitions had been received under Standing Order 36. |
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Urgent Item: Art Collection at Brooksby College. Minutes: The
Commission considered this matter, the Chairman having decided that it was of
an urgent nature due to the imminent sale of paintings by The
Director of Adults and Communities reported that It was
suggested that, as the County Council had worked with the College in the past
on a Robert Bakewell exhibition, there was a possibility that the paintings may
have at one stage been loaned to the College from the Council’s collection.
However, following investigatory work into the ownership of the paintings,
there was clear evidence that the paintings were not in County Council
ownership. The Chief Executive of Brooksby College had agreed to work with the
County Council in future if other paintings of significant Leicestershire
provenance were intended to be sold. Members
commented on the need to be vigilant on this issue in future, as it was
possible that some schools might wish to sell pieces of art that formed part of
the Council’s collection. RESOLVED: (a)
That
the position with respect to the impending sale of artwork at Brooksby College
be noted; (b)
That
the need to continue to monitor the sale of artwork that had a Leicestershire
provenance be recognised. |
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Final Draft Local Transport Plan 3 Proposals. The Cabinet Lead Member for Environment and Transport has
been invited to attend the debate on this item. Additional documents:
Minutes: The
Commission considered a report of the Director of Environment and Transport
concerning the final draft version of the Local Transport Plan 3. A copy of the
report, marked ‘B’, is filed with these minutes. The Director
reported that the latest version of the Strategy was being considered by the
Commission, prior to submission to the Cabinet on 8 March and then the full
County Council meeting on 23 March. An up-to-date version of the Strategy,
which included the latest amendments following consultation, was circulated to
members at the meeting. A copy of this document is filed with these minutes. A
briefing had been held for members on 1 March to explain the purpose of the
Strategy and where funding would be allocated. The
Director highlighted the following key points: ·
The
Strategy would have to be in place by ·
The
principal drivers for the Strategy were the need to support the local economy
in light of: à The present economic conditions and
reduced levels of funding; à Accessibility; and ·
The
Strategy would feed into the Council’s Sustainable Community Strategy and other
key activities of the Council, such as the new Local Economic Partnership; ·
The
Implementation Plan would be taken forward on a three yearly basis, with a
yearly refresh. It was suggested that the incremental basis of implementation
would enable the Council’s Strategy to evolve and respond to threats and
opportunities as they emerged; ·
The
emphasis of the Strategy was based around ensuring the reliability of the
network. £9 million of capital funding had been allocated to highway
maintenance; ·
Though
Government was discouraging large capital schemes prior to 2015, the externally
funded The
Chairman welcomed to the meeting the Cabinet Lead Member for Environment and
Transport, Mrs. L. A. S. Pendleton CC, who was present to respond to any
questions the Commission had on the Strategy. Arising
from discussion, Mrs. Pendleton and the Director made the following key points: ·
There
was some concern amongst the bus companies about the changes in the way the
concessionary scheme was now being run and what they perceived to be reduced
funding. It remained a priority to work effectively with bus companies to
ensure that services were provided commercially; ·
There
was a clear identified need for journey times to be “predictable”. It was felt
that any aims to speed up the network would only produce marginal benefits; ·
The
Council’s commitment to delivering a network of Monday to Saturday daytime bus
services operating to an hourly or better timetable within 800m of 95% of
County residents was no longer viewed as a target which was affordable; ·
It
was recognised that there was only one Park and Ride scheme proposed in the
Strategy, despite a desire to encourage public transport use. A ·
The
Department would continue to be alert to the potential for funding through the
new Community Infrastructure Levy and the new borrowing powers available to
local authorities through the Tax Increment Financing measures, recently
announced by the Coalition Government; · Education remained a priority in respect of efforts to ensure road safety. Evidence suggested that ‘Speed Awareness’ courses were more effective than ‘Reducing the Impact of Traffic’ ... view the full minutes text for item 170. |
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Licences for Street Cafes - Update. Additional documents: Minutes: The
Commission considered a report of the Director of Environment and Transport
concerning the Policy for charging for licences for Street Cafes as a result of
a recommendation by the Commission to establish a ‘Light Touch’ Review of the
Policy. A copy of the report, marked ‘C’, is filed with these minutes. The
Director reported that the intention was to proceed with the reduction in
charging from £300 to £150. The annual renewal fee would be £100. The Policy
had been developed in accordance with national guidance. The matter required the
approval of the Cabinet at its meeting on 8 March in order to implement new
charges in the new financial year. Mrs. Page
and Mrs. Posnett had been appointed by the Commission to look at the Licencing
Policy and, further to the conclusions outlined in the report, highlighted the
following issues: ·
It
was felt necessary to stress in the Policy that it covered the whole of the
County, rather than just the County’s market towns; ·
The
extent to which the Policy should cover other premises that traded or provided
services on the street, such as pubs and green grocers. The
Director clarified that the Policy should only relate to street cafes, as
licensing laws for certain premises, particularly those that sold alcohol, were
administered by district/borough councils and the issues would have to be
considered within that context. RESOLVED: (a)
That Mrs. Page and Mrs. Posnett be thanked
for their work on the ‘Light Touch’ review of the Street Café Policy and that
the Policy be forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration at its meeting on 8
March; (b)
That the Scrutiny Commissioners be asked to
consider with officers whether there is merit in scrutiny considering the
question as to whether the street café licencing policy could be extended to
cover other premises that trade or provide services on the street. |
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Light Touch Scrutiny Review on Forced Marriages. Additional documents:
Minutes: The
Commission considered a report of the ‘Light Touch’ Scrutiny Review Panel
setting out the conclusions of the Review of Forced Marriages. A copy of the
report, marked ‘D’, is field with these minutes. The
Chairman invited Mr. Lewis and Mr. Catt, who had both served on the Review, to
introduce the report. Mr. Lewis and Mr. Catt hoped that the report dealt with
the matter sensitively and that the County Council could take the lead on this
issue. They thanked Members
were in agreement that ‘the law of the land’ should take priority on issues of
this nature and that the conclusions reached by Mr. Lewis and Mr. Catt were
important. The report had received some positive press in the Leicester Mercury
and it was felt to be important that the report was stimulating some debate.
However, the extent to which the Council was in a position to progress some of
the issues raised in the report was unknown, given that many of the
recommendations were to be taken forward directly by schools and other
agencies. For this reason, it was felt appropriate for the Scrutiny
Commissioners to discuss the issue with the Director of Children and Young
People’s Service. RESOLVED: (a)
That
Mr. Lewis and Mr. Catt be thanked for producing a comprehensive report; (b)
That
the Scrutiny Commissioners be asked to discuss the report with the Director of
Children and Young People’s Service with a view to establishing the extent to
which the Council can actively take the conclusions of the Review forward. |
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Date of next meeting. The next meeting of the Commission is scheduled to take
place on Minutes: It was
NOTED that the next meeting of the Commission would be held on Wednesday 20
April 2011 at 2.00pm. |