Agenda and minutes

To approve the record of the meeting held on 6 August 2015.

The record of the meeting held on 6 August was signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Cooper, Stamp and Tejan.

The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

There were none.

The Chairman, supported by the Committee extended congratulations to Richard Hicks following his appointment to the post of Director of Regeneration, Community and Culture.

The Chairman also welcomed Laura Caiels, Legal Advisor  who was in attendance at this meeting as an observer.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

Councillor Griffiths declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in Item 10 relating to Lorry Parking on Gillingham Business Park on the basis that he is a Non-Executive Director of Medway Community Healthcare and he left the meeting for the consideration and determination of this item. 

Other interests

There were none.

Whipping

There were no declarations of whipping.

This report advises the Committee of any petitions received by the Council which fall within the remit of this Committee including a summary of the responses sent to petitioners by officers.

Discussion:

The Committee received a report setting out petitions received by the Council which fell within the remit of the Committee, including a summary of the responses sent to petitioners by Officers.

The Committee was advised that two petitioners had requested that their petitions be referred to this Committee and the Chairman welcomed Mrs Jeeves and Mrs Lovell to the meeting. He also welcomed Mrs Gibbs, who was in attendance to support Mrs Lovell.

On the basis that Mrs Jeeves and Mrs Lovell’s petitions related to changes to bus services operated by Arriva in the Walderslade area, the Chairman welcomed Glen Shuttleworth, Head of Operations and Robert Patterson, Commercial Development Manager from Arriva to the meeting.

The Chairman drew attention to Item 6 on the agenda and advised the Committee that he intended to take both items 5 and 6 together as they related to the same topic.

The Chairman then invited the petitioners to address the Committee on their concerns regarding the changes made by Arriva to bus services in the Walderslade area.

Both Mrs Jeeves and Mrs Lovell, supported by Mrs Gibbs outlined petitioners concerns that in July, without any consultation, residents in the Walderslade area, many of whom were elderly, had found that their bus services had been reduced in frequency. They stated that as a result of these reductions, many elderly and disabled individuals, who were reliant on public transport, were no longer able to participate in their usual activities such as attending clubs or shopping and were becoming isolated.

The petitioners advised that their area of Walderslade had previously been served by 3 buses per hour and that this had been reduced to 3 buses per day and, unless they were able to walk half mile to and from the nearest bus stop at Poachers Pocket they were required to catch the last bus at 14.10pm back to Walderslade from Chatham. This was not considered acceptable by the petitioners particularly as others areas of Medway had seen an increase in the level of buses provided on certain journeys.

The petitioners accepted that Arriva was a commercial company and was therefore required to run services for profit but requested that if Arriva could reconsider its decision to reduce the bus services to the Walderslade area and increase the number of buses by just two or three more buses per day, this would be helpful to the residents.

The Committee noted that following representations from both Councillors and the public, Arriva had recently made a number of changes to the 176 and 179 timetables and an additional commercial 179 journey had been introduced from Walderslade at 09.05 Monday to Saturday. Details of these changes were set out in Item 6 on the agenda.

In response to the petitioners concerns, Robert Patterson from Arriva accepted that the Company’s consultation processes on the changes to the bus services earlier in the year had not been adequate and he offered apologies for this.

Glen Shuttleworth from Arriva reassured the Committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 370.

This item outlines concerns raised as to changes made by Arriva to a number of bus services in Medway and sets out the Council’s position in response to petitions from residents.

Decision:

The Committee noted that this item had been considered jointly with Item 5 on the agenda (see minute 370 above).

This report sets out progress made within the areas covered by the Portfolio Holder for Planning, Economic Growth and Regulation which fall within the remit of this Committee.  

Discussion:

Members received an overview of progress on the area within the terms of reference of this Committee and covered by the Portfolio Holder for Planning, Economic Growth and Regulation as set out below:

·         Economic Development

·         Local Plan

·         Markets

·         Planning Policy

·         Regulation – Environmental Health/Trading Standards/Enforcement and Licensing (executive functions only)

·         Social Regeneration

·         South Thames Gateway Building Control Partnership.

The Portfolio Holder for Planning, Economic Growth and Regulation responded to Member’s questions and comments as follows:

·         Dovetail Games – In response to a question as to the background to this company, the Portfolio Holder explained that Dovetail Games was a newly created company in Medway specialising in computer games. Located at The Observatory in Dock Road, at start up, the company had 6 employees but now employed over 100 individuals.

·         Rochester Farmers Market – A Member asked whether the Rochester Famers Market had been successful at its new location. The Portfolio Holder confirmed that the farmers market had recently been temporarily relocated to Blue Boar Lane Car Park. Whether the market would return to its previous site would depend upon the views of the traders once they had had an opportunity to trade at the new site for a period of time.

·         Strood Market – In response to a question as to the viability of the Strood Market, the Portfolio Holder confirmed that whilst the Saturday Strood Market was very successful, the Tuesday Market was less so. She referred to planned investment in Strood and stated that this may help to improve the Tuesday Market. The Portfolio Holder confirmed that the total gross income from markets in 2014/15, set out at paragraph 2.2.1 of the report, did not include the Christmas Market as this was a leisure event and therefore did not fall within her portfolio. 

·         Innovation Centre – In response to a question as to the success of the Innovation Centre, the Portfolio Holder confirmed that the Centre had been incredibly successful and was now fully occupied housing 55 individual businesses.

·         South Thames Gateway Building Control (STG) – In response to a question as to why the STG was planning to spend its budget surplus of £30,000 on the development of a new website, it was explained that this funding was not just for the development of a website but to help STG develop its consultancy service.

·         Provision of Workspaces in Strood – A Member questioned whether the future occupiers of the new workspaces at Watermill Wharf would be offered low rent to help them become established. The Portfolio Holder agreed to supply information outside of the meeting relating to the likely rents to be levied for the workspaces at Watermill Wharf in Strood.

·         Medway Local Plan – A Member sought information on the progress of the new Medway Local Plan and whether the Portfolio Holder considered that not having an up to date Local Plan had a detrimental effect on defending developments in Medway. The Portfolio Holder confirmed that work was well underway on provision of a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 372.

This report summarises the performance of the Council’s Key Measures of Success in Quarter 1 for 2015/16.

Discussion:

The Performance and Intelligence Manager outlined the performance summary for Quarter 1 2015/16 against the Council’s priorities for the Committee:

·         Safe, clean and green Medway

·         Everyone benefitting from the area’s regeneration

The Committee noted the following:

·         NI167- Average journey times across Medway – A Member asked for information as to the 5 routes that were being used for this performance indicator.

·         NI 192 – Percentage of household waste sent for refuse, recycling and composting – A Member referred to the suspension of the hard plastics recycling at the beginning of Quarter 1 and sought clarification as to whether these items were continuing to be collected. The Assistant Director, Front Line Services confirmed that Veolia were continuing to collect these items as part of the weekly recycling collections.

·         Eastgate House Project – The Director for Regeneration, Community and Culture advised that following the current contractor having gone into Administration, a new contractor was now undertaking due diligence on the project and it was hoped that work would resume in the near future.

·         Integrated Transport  - A Member expressed concern that as a result of recent changes to bus service operated by Arriva from Rochester to the Medway City Estate, many people were now using cars to get to work. She explained that prior to the changes, the journey could be completed on one bus but that this journey now required two buses, operated by two different companies which had doubled the cost of the bus fare. In response, the Assistant Director, Front Line Services confirmed that generally the Council had a good working relationship with Arriva. However, the Council had received less than one weeks notice from Arriva of the recent changes to bus services in Medway. He acknowledged that there was a need to undertake improvements to the road links to and from the Medway City Estate to improve traffic flow and he outlined a number of initiatives that were in hand. In addition, he confirmed that funding had been received from the Local Enterprise Partnership to improve both pedestrian and cycles routes on the Medway City Estate. A Consultative Group involving companies on the Medway City Estate would be set up to consider options.

A Member referred to the discussions about the changes to Arriva Bus Services at Minute 370 above and suggested that one way forward may be for Arriva to discuss with the petitioners the possibility of increasing the frequency of buses to the Walderslade area on one specified day a week. The Assistant Director, Front Line Services agreed to ask Officers within the Integrated Transport Team to factor this suggestion into the discussions between Arriva and the petitioners.

·         New Rochester Station – A Member asked whether there would be an opportunity for the existing independent sandwich seller located at Rochester Station to be offered the opportunity to continue to trade at the new Rochester Station. In response, the Assistant Director, Housing and Regeneration confirmed that the possibility of the existing independent sandwich seller being offered  ...  view the full minutes text for item 373.

This report sets out progress on the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy, adopted and published in Autumn 2014 and includes an Annual Action Plan for the forthcoming year for its continued implementation.

Discussion:

The Flood, Drainage and Special Projects Officer outlined progress on the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy.

She advised the Committee that the Regeneration, Community and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee had considered a report at its meeting on 26 June 2014 on the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 and associated requirements and responsibilities and the report had referred to the Annual Action Plans that would be produced to review progress on the strategy and to provide updates as required as a result of new information, further studies or legislation.

Appended to the report for consideration were:

·         Objectives and measures from the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy and information relating to the progress of such objectives;

·         A list of new responsibilities included within the Annual Action Plan 2015/16 to reflect Local Flood Authorities having been made a statutory consultee for major development in relation to surface water drainage; and

·         A list of specific actions relating to coastal flood risk applicable to Medway Council in its remit as Coastal Protection Authority.

Decision:

The progress of the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy and the 2015-16 Annual Action Plan be noted.

This item has bee referred to this Committee from the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee. It concerns a suggestion that a vacant area on Gillingham Business Park be used for the parking of lories that currently park on the highway close to MCH House.

Discussion:

The Committee was informed that at its meeting on 11 August 2015, the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee had considered the issue of lorries being parked close to the Medway Community Healthcare’s premises on Gillingham Business Park and the problems that this was causing. At that Committee, it had been suggested that consideration be given to the possible use of a vacant area on Gillingham Business Park for parking of lorries.

The Assistant Director, Housing and Regeneration outlined the background to the request and advised the Committee that no suitable site was available for lorry parking on the Gillingham Business Park. Discussions had taken place with the owners of a vacant site on the Business Park but the owner was not willing for the land to be used for the parking of lorries. However, he confirmed that Officers were continuing discussions.

The Assistant Director, Front Line Services advised upon enforcement action currently being taken by parking and community wardens and confirmed that this would continue.  

Decision: 

The report be noted and Officers be requested to continue to monitor the situation via the parking and community wardens as outlined in the report.

This item advises Members of the current work programme and allows adjustments in the light of latest priorities, issues and circumstances. It gives Members the opportunity to shape and direct the Committee’s activities over the year.

Discussion:

The Democratic Services Officer reported on the Committee’s work programme and drew attention to the following:

·         It was proposed that the item on the Road Maintenance Budget for the next 6 years along with the information on the National Highways and Transport Survey was now scheduled for submission to the Committee at its meeting on 29 March 2016;

·         An update to the Forward Plan had been issued on 29 September 2015 relating to the inclusion of an item on ‘Placing Objects on the Highway’. The timeline for this report included referral to this Committee on 29 January 2016 if this was supported; and

·         The Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 22 September 2015 would be putting forward Employment Opportunities for 18 – 21 year olds including apprenticeships as its Task Group for 2015/16. This would be a cross cutting task group between the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee and this Committee.

Decisions: 

The Committee

a)            noted that a report on the Road Maintenance Budget for the next 6 years along with the information on the National Highways and Transport Survey would be submitted to the Committee on 29 March 2016;

b)            agreed that the report on ‘Placing Objects on the Highway’ be added to the Committee’s work programme for 29 January 2016; and

c)            noted that the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be putting forward Employment Opportunities for 18 – 21 year olds including apprenticeships as its Task Group for 2015/16 and that this would be a cross cutting task group between the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee and this Committee.