| 784 | RECORD OF THE MEETING |
| | | The record of the meeting held on 25 February 2009 was signed by the Chairman as correct with the following amendment:
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| Minute 672 Work Programme - the second sentence of the first paragraph to be amended to read: "Councillor Tony Goulden also requested a report on traffic flow in Chatham town centre (including whether problems had arisen as a result of the removal of the Sir John Hawkins flyover and what actions are proposed to deal with them) to be submitted to a future meeting in Autumn 2009."
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| 785 | APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE |
| | | An apology for absence was received from Councillor Mrs Haydock. |
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| 786 | CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENT |
| | | The Chairman announced that he wished to vary the order of business on the agenda to take item 5(E) Petitions after item 5(B) Portfolio Holder for Strategic Development and Economic Growth in attendance.
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| 787 | ATTENDANCE BY THE LEADER OF THE COUNCIL |
| | | The Leader, Councillor Rodney Chambers, addressed the Committee about regeneration matters within his portfolio which included:
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| | • | Current and future funding for regeneration projects in Medway
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| | • | Audits for Medway Renaissance - achieved green status for government assessment on performance (only top 10% of organisations receive this) and Audit Commission inspection result due in May 2009
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| | • | Development briefs had been adopted for central Chatham, Strood Riverside, Gillingham centre and Corporation Street
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| | • | A study was being carried out for the whole of Strood
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| | • | The Design Champion for Medway Sir Terry Farrell had launched his 'Five Towns make a City' document
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| | • | A developer had been appointed for the Rochester Riverside development
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| | • | Medway Innovation Centre had opened at Rochester Airport
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| | • | Medway Park development was underway and due for completion in early 2010
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| | • | The remodelling of Chatham's road system had begun and there would be significant changes in June 2009
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| | • | The Council was working with Network Rail on the redevelopment of Chatham, Gillingham Rochester and Strood stations
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| | • | An outline planning application for Temple Waterfront had been unveiled, including 620 new homes, 12,000m2 of employment space and community facilities.
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| The Leader responded to Members' questions regarding:
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| | • | The number of developers being approached for the development at Rochester Riverside
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| | • | Modern Pentathlon in 2010 - sponsorship and funding from SEEDA
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| | • | Future funding streams from central government - contingency plans if reduced or withdrawn
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| | • | Chatham road system - the order of works progressed with regard to The Brook and the Sir John Hawkins flyover
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| The Leader was thanked for his presentation.
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| | > Attendance by the Leader of the Council (pdf file 231.3kb) |
| 788 | PORTFOLIO HOLDER FOR STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN ATTENDANCE |
| | | Councillor Mrs Chitty, the Portfolio Holder for Strategic Development and Economic Growth, addressed the committee about the following matters in her portfolio:
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| | • | Development Control - new service available called Planning Performance Agreements (PPA) with major developers. A customer satisfaction survey rated the quality of service as good but requested upgrading of facilities at Gun Wharf
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| | • | Rural issues - inclusiveness with urban Medway
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| | • | Tourism - major area for economic growth and number of visitors to the area had increased in 2008. Provision of further hotel rooms was required
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| | • | Building Control Partnership - a consultancy service was being developed to help bring funding to the partnership in the current economic downturn. Review of website was being undertaken and employment of a fully qualified assessor for sustainable homes
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| | • | Economic and Social Regeneration - Phase 2 of the Innovation Centre was ready for marketing. Phase 1 had created 42 new jobs. Loan applications under the 'Partners for Growth' scheme would no longer require a contribution from a bank, due to the current economic circumstances, in order to assist businesses. Young enterprise initiatives had expanded and an Economic Development Strategy was currently being developed.
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| Councillor Mrs Chitty responded to Members' questions regarding:
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| | • | Social Regeneration Strategy
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| | • | Local Development Framework
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| | • | Impact of economic downturn on Building Control Partnership
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| | • | Development Control relationship with major house builders
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| | • | Visitor Information Centre
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| | • | Retention of green field sites
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| | • | Tourism on the Peninsula
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| Councillor Mrs Chitty was thanked for her presentation.
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| | > Portfolio Holder for Strategic Development and Economic Growth in attendance (pdf file 235.7kb) |
| 789 | PETITIONS |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Chairman welcomed Vivienne Parker, the lead petitioner for the petition referred for the committee's consideration. Ms. Parker addressed the committee stating that although she had read the Director's comments that had been circulated separate to the agenda, she still felt that air quality was a serious issue at the Davis Estate roundabout, although it was only nitrogen dioxide that had been measured. The ward that the roundabout was in had the second lowest life expectancy, despite being a relatively affluent area but there was a lot of pollution from lorries using City way to and from the M2 motorway. Many residents complained of heavy lorry traffic including overnight. She advised Members that this had to be suitable area for traffic management as it already had a safety camera located there because of the number of traffic accidents.
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| The Assistant Director for Frontline Services responded that when the Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) was first established it was assessed on a wider number of pollutants but all the AQMAs across Medway were now monitored for nitrogen dioxide levels as this was a specific issue about volumes of traffic rather than traffic flows. The safety camera was installed to reduce speeds along the dual carriageway and was not linked to traffic circulating around the roundabout. He advised that the Council spent a significant amount of money on highways and road safety and Medway was exceeding national targets (in reducing the numbers) of people killed and seriously injured on roads.
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| Members commented that petitioners seemed to have misjudged the issue, as they had requested traffic lights but stationary vehicles were a major contributor to air pollution and if traffic lights were to be installed this would work against the petitions objectives.
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| | > Petitions (pdf file 221.2kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | The committee noted the petition referral and officer response and agreed that no further action is taken. |
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| 790 | CCTV ENFORCEMENT VEHICLE |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Head of Highways and Parking Services introduced the report setting out the background to the introduction of the CCTV vehicle and where and how it operated. The result of its work over the past year had been 1500 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) issued outside schools and 8,000 PCNs issued across the rest of Medway. A key benefit had been a 40% reduction of physical and verbal abuse to enforcement officers. Monies received from the PCNs totalled £200,000 and the operational cost of the car was £95,000 and the £105,000 difference was reinvested into the parking highway service area.
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| The committee asked how the car was deployed, especially with regard to enforcement outside schools and the transparency of the process used around how schools were chosen for a traffic enforcement visit, especially as a second car was soon to be used. Members also discussed public perception of the CCTV vehicle particularly with regard to it being an income generator for the Council and anecdotal stories of public opinion of it abusing its powers.
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| Officers advised that most of the requests for enforcement outside of schools came from the schools themselves. All requests, not just those from schools, were listed and prioritised. Officers were trained to a national accredited level on highway law and the range of offences the car could enforce against. Officers could only enforce the legislation that existed on a road at the present time and in some locations a review of road restrictions might be necessary.
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| Members asked about the second CCTV vehicle and whether there were any plans to reduce the number of staff in each car to one officer or whether more staff would be employed. Officers confirmed that a driver would be employed for each car and one of the current fully trained officers would continue the enforcement work.
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| | > CCTV Enforcement Vehicle (pdf file 2.0Mb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | The committee:
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| | (a) | endorsed the work carried out by the CCTV enforcement vehicles and staff;
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| | (b) | requested that a risk-based approach for the CCTV enforcement vehicles to visit schools was implemented.
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| 791 | MEMBER'S ITEM: FREE SWIMMING |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The report was introduced by Councillor Godwin, who had requested the report. He advised that he had received representations from the public that their perception was that a free offer had been introduced but had now been withdrawn, (this was specifically 4pm - 6pm each weekday at the Strood Leisure Centre) as it now stipulated that a young person had to be accompanied by an adult. A number of teenage children who had benefited from the scheme were now turned away as they were not accompanied by an adult. Parents saw this as a retrograde step. He asked that officers investigate this and look sympathetically on allowing older children admittance without an adult.
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| The Assistant Director for Customer First, Leisure, Culture, Democracy and Governance responded that the success of the scheme had meant 100% increase in the number of under 16's using the facilities and officers had to be mindful to have a balanced programme and meet the needs of all customers. The Strood Leisure Centre programme held a number of classes between 4pm - 6pm and the increase in numbers of young people attending at that time had caused the classes problems and officers had received representations from people attending those classes. All programmes were under weekly review with the weekly dates and times widely advertised.
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| Officers advised that they would be happy to take away the specific details discussed above and would look at the options for future use but could not undertake to guarantee that the programme would revert back to the previous arrangement. The Black Lion Leisure Centre in Gillingham was now fully open and this would help to alleviate the situation at Strood.
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| Members asked whether neighbouring authorities also offered the free swimming programme and if the influx of users became more of a problem across Medway could the scheme be restricted to Medway residents only. Officers responded that Shepway and Thanet authorities ran the same scheme as Medway whilst Canterbury, Dover and Gravesham ran the scheme for people over 60 only. There was provision in the scheme to restrict the offer to Medway residents but the leisure centres were currently able to run the scheme successfully without having to implement this.
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| | > Member's item: Free Swimming (pdf file 244.1kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | The committee agreed to:
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| | (a) | endorse the actions taken to ensure the continued success of the free swimming programme in Medway;
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| | (b) | request that the weekday afternoon programme at Strood Leisure Centre is reviewed by officers including consideration given to whether teenagers may attend without an adult;
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| | (c) | request that Members are advised of the outcome to the Strood Leisure Centre programme via a briefing note.
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| 792 | WORK PROGRAMME |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Chairman advised that there were some additions to the recommendations set out in paragraph 6.1 of the report. He advised Members that the Sports and Leisure Strategy, due to be reported in July 2009, had been withdrawn from the work programme as it would become incorporated into the Cultural Strategy which would be reported to the Committee on 27 August 2009.
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| The Chairman also advised that there was to be a new item added to the Cabinet's Forward Plan for 'Rochester Castle Conservation Plan' and asked whether the Committee wished to consider it as pre-decision scrutiny. Another committee had also referred to all Overview and Scrutiny Committees the 'Older People's Plan' with each Committee asked to consider matters within its remit. For this Committee it was issues such as transport, fear of crime, etc. However, officers were exploring the potential of a joint event across all committees.
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| Members stated their concern about the option in recommendation 6.1 (ii) that the task group considers the final contract report to Cabinet on the new waste contract, as this was such an important report and requested that Members consider this matter at a special Committee meeting, to be arranged.
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| | > Work Programme (pdf file 284.2kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | | (a) | that a special meeting is held at 6pm on 19 May 2009 to consider the CTRL Route Utilisation Strategy and the Local Development Framework - Issues and Options reports;
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| | (b) | that a special meeting is held in mid-June 2009 to consider the waste contract report as pre-decision scrutiny;
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| | (c) | to note that the Sports and Recreation Strategy had been removed from the work programme and that it would be included in the Cultural Strategy due to be reported in August;
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| | (d) | that a report is added to the work programme as pre-decision scrutiny for the 7 July meeting on the 'Rochester Castle Conservation Plan';
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| | (e) | to note that the Older People's Plan had been referred to the Committee for consideration and would be added to the work programme for 7 July 2009 meeting, if no other event to deal with the referral to all Overview and Scrutiny Committees was arranged before this time.
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