Minutes:
(A) Mr
Bray asked the following question of the Leader or his nominee:-
“Can the Leader
please provide an update on progress towards providing pedestrian crossings in
the Lancaster Road and Mount Road areas in Hinckley to serve the new leisure centre
and Crescent developments?”
Mr Osborne
replied as follows:-
“Raised junction
tables at Lancaster Road /Station Road and Mount Street/Station Road were
implemented as part of the County Council’s LTP3 Hinckley Area Project (Zone 2)
to manage speed and make it easier for pedestrians to cross the road and access
the new developments.
In March 2016 the
County Council submitted a £11.9m funding bid, via the Leicester and
Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership to Central Government’s Local Growth
Funding towards the development and implementation of a fourth phase of
transport improvements in the Hinckley area.
The provision of further walking and cycling routes/crossings across
Hinckley town centre is included in this bid including a pedestrian crossing on
Lancaster Road.
A decision on the
success of this bid is expected to be announced in the Government’s 2016 Autumn
Statement. In the event that the bid is
unsuccessful, it will still be important to proceed with early consultations and
further design work to ensure that proposals have been fully developed, within
the resources available, to ensure that the authority is best placed for any
future bidding or to secure developer (Section 106) contributions.
A report was
submitted to the County Council’s Cabinet on 16th September and approval given
to begin key stakeholder consultation on priority measures identified in the
bid.”
(B) Mr
Hunt asked the following question of the Leader or his nominee:-
“Noting the recent survey by the Chartered Institute of Trading
Standards citing a sharp decline in resources available to Trading Standards
departments nationally, could the Leader inform Council:
(a) by how much our
Trading Standards department has shrunk in terms of budget and professional
staff year by year since 2010?
(b) how service to
consumers have been affected?
(c) how many
investigations of regulatory compliance have been undertaken year by year since
2010 (in whatever metrics are available)?”
Mr
Orson replied as follows:-
“(a) As
at 1st September 2016, there are 27.2 permanent FTE posts and 4 FTE
agency staff in the Trading Standards Service.
A national workforce study undertaken by the Chartered Trading Standards
Institute has identified a shortfall in suitably qualified trading standards staff. To meet this shortfall, and to ensure the
County Council has appropriate trading standards expertise for the future, a
further 3 FTE trainee positions will be in post by the end of October 2016. Taking these appointments into account there
has been a 32.8 % reduction on the 2010/11 establishment which provided for
50.9 FTEs.
The budget
allocation approved by the County Council for the Service is as follows:-
|
2010/11 |
£2,024,400 |
|
2011/12 |
£1,827,940 |
|
2012/13 |
£1,788,700 |
|
2013/14 |
£1,672,070 |
|
2014/15 |
£1,548,060 |
|
2015/16 |
£1,466,910 |
|
2016/17 |
£1,422,190 |
(b) The reduction in resources referred to above has resulted in
a more ‘intelligence led’ approach in which the Service focusses on unfair
trading practices which present the risk of greatest collective harm to
consumers and seek to undermine the economic wellbeing of legitimate
businesses. There is a need to balance
the available resources between preventive strategies, such as providing
business advice, and proactive enforcement, for example, tackling rogue traders
who seek to prey on vulnerable members of society.
The consumer protection
landscape has developed over the last 5 years.
The National Trading Standards Board (NTSB) was set up in 2012 and
provides influence, support and resources to help combat consumer and business
detriment nationally, regionally and locally.
It brings together trading standards representatives from England and
Wales to prioritise, fund and coordinate national and
regional enforcement cases.
Leicestershire contributes and benefits from this collaboration. An example of this can be found at East
Midlands Airport where Leicestershire officers work alongside UK Border Force
officials, preventing unsafe goods from entering the marketplace. Over 27,000 unsafe or non-compliant consumer
goods were prevented from entering the marketplace.
The National Audit Office
is meeting with various Heads of Regulatory Services as part of a national study which seeks to
examine how the current system for protecting consumers identifies problems and
uses its resources to respond effectively to detriment. The report is expected to be published later this
year.
(c) The following table
provides the number of incidents between financial years 2011/12 to 2014/15. An
incident is an activity rather than a measure of demand and encompasses
activities relating to the investigation of complaints, the gathering of
intelligence, legal proceedings, referrals from
partner agencies, self-generated intelligence-led projects and requests
received from local businesses for advice.
|
Year |
Total number of incidents |
|
2011/12 |
6302 |
|
2012/13 |
5673 |
|
2013/14 |
5714 |
|
2014/15 |
5521 |
|
2015/16 |
5073 |
The number of incidents
or investigations in any given period is not an appropriate indicator of
enforcement activity as each case varies in terms of scale and complexity. Trading standards investigations may also
result in advice, warnings, simple cautions, undertakings, legal proceedings or
other alternative enforcement actions.”
Mr
Hunt asked the following supplementary question:-
“In view of the importance of the service, would
the Lead member bring forward progress reports more often?”
Mr
Orson replied as follows:-
“I will get back to Mr Hunt with a full
answer in the next few days.”
(C) Mr
Bray asked the following question of the Leader of his nominee:-
“People in East and
West Closes in Burbage often find it very difficult to access their properties
and find parking near to their properties.
This is because of the close proximity to the railway station and people
currently use the area as an unofficial “park and ride” scheme when catching
trains.
Can the Leader
please ask officers to look at this and work with the Rail authorities to try
and alleviate the problems faced by local residents?”
Mr
Osborne replied as follows:-
“I am pleased to
inform Mr Bray that County Council officers have reviewed parking around the
train station as part of the Hinckley Area Project.
Through this review
officers have identified a number of residential areas, including East and West
Close, where parking controls could potentially be introduced, subject to
funding and scheme support, to address day-time commuter and shopper parking.
In March 2016 the
County Council submitted a £11.9m funding bid, via the Leicester and
Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership to Central Government’s Local Growth
Funding towards the development and implementation of a fourth phase of
transport improvements in the Hinckley area.
The provision of residents parking forms part of this bid.
A decision on this
bid is expected to be announced in the Government’s 2016 Autumn Statement. In the event that the bid is unsuccessful, it
will still be important to proceed with early consultations and further design
work to ensure that proposals have been fully developed, within the resources
available, to ensure that the authority is best placed for any future bidding
or to secure developer (Section 106) contributions. It may also be possible to
explore opportunities for other local third party funding for measures to be
introduced.
A report was
submitted to the County Council’s Cabinet on 16th September and approval given
to begin key stakeholder consultation on priority measures identified in the
bid. Officers will work closely with the Borough Council to ensure that any
parking proposals developed are carefully aligned with the Borough Council’s
emerging parking strategy for off-street car parking in the town.
At the same time
the County Council is looking to encourage more passengers to walk and cycle to
the train station. Cycling and walking improvements have already been
introduced in the Burbage area as part of the Hinckley Area Project. Officers
are also continuing to work with East Midlands Trains to produce a Travel Plan
for the station, which has led to East Midlands Trains introducing new improved
cycle parking facilities and better travel information at the station.”
(D) Mr
Bray asked the following question of the Leader or his nominee:-
“Can the Leader advise me of the number of officers currently employed in the
Environment and Transport Department dealing with Highways matters as compared
to the number employed in 2010/11?”
Mr
Osborne replied as follows:-
“The Environment
and Transport Department has undergone a number of structural changes since
2010/11 including the merger of the previously separate Transportation Branch
and Highway Branch into the current Highways and Transportation Branch and the
ending of the previous highways works alliance contract, which make it
difficult to make like for like comparisons, or for such comparisons to have
much value.
However the number
of staff employed in Highways and Transportation dealing with Highways matters
in 2016/17 compared to the structure in 2010/11 is shown below:
|
Year |
2010/11
(estimated) |
2016/17 |
|
Full Time Equivalents |
546 |
484 |
These figures
exclude passenger transport, school transport, and SEN/social care transport
and the council’s in-house fleet transport service.”