Agenda item

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 a kiosk within the new Rochester Station had been referred to Network Rail for consideration.

·         Rochester Airport – A Member referred to the pending judicial review of the Rochester Airport planning application and asked whether this delay would have any implications for the approved funding. The Director of Regeneration, Community and Culture confirmed that the judicial review would be held later in the year and that the funding would not be jeopardised.

·         Libraries – A Member referred to the Strood Community Hub and the 24.6% increase in footfall and he asked for information as to the number of books issued compared to when the Hub had first opened. The Director of Regeneration, Community and Culture confirmed that the Community Hubs provide a wide range of services to the public beyond loaning books, not least access to IT/the internet. He agreed to provide information on the number of books issued direct to the Member, outside of the meeting.

·         Waste Services and commencement of refresh of the Medway Waste Strategy - In response to a question, the Assistant Director, Front Line Services confirmed that new recycling bags had not reduced in size/capacity.

A Member referred to the refresh of the Medway Waste Strategy and asked whether this would result in any changes to the weekly collections. The Assistant Director, Front Line Services stated that it was too early to comment upon the revised waste strategy but the Council would be looking to maintain waste sustainability.

·         Parks and Open Spaces – In response to a question as to whether alleyways fell within the remit of parks and open spaces, the Assistant Director, Front Line Services clarified that this would depend upon land ownership. Some alleyways were the responsibility of Highways and some were owned by developers or in private ownership

·         Play Area at The Esplanade, Rochester   - In response to a question as to whether there were planning or development briefs for the development of the play area at The Esplanade, Rochester, the Director of Regeneration, Community and Culture stated that whilst there were no specific plans for the development of this particular play area, the Council had aspirations and ambitions for all play area sites and a number of sites had been identified for works to be undertaken, should external funding or Section 106 funding be available.

·         Medway Innovation Centre -  A Member sought clarification as to a discrepancy in the rate of letting detailed in this report and the percentage quoted by the Portfolio Holder for Planning, Economic Growth and Regulation. The Assistant Director, Housing and Regeneration stated that the actual rate of letting at the Centre varied day by day as and when vacant spaces became available.

·         F4 – User satisfaction with events – In response to a question, the Director of Regeneration, Community and Culture confirmed that the satisfaction scores were taken for individual events.

·         LRCC1 – Number of Visitors to tourist attractions in Medway - In response to a question, the Director for Regeneration, Community and Culture advised that the target had been maintained at the same level as the previous year, partly because a number of tourist attractions in Medway were currently undergoing works and were therefore closed or partially closed to the public. This would affect visitor numbers for these particular attractions.

·         HP26 Satisfaction with road maintenance – In response to a question as to level of target for this performance indicator and the level of public satisfaction achieved in Quarter 1, the Performance and Intelligence Manager advised that the Committee had had a lengthy debate on this performance indicator at its meeting on 6 August 2015. Arising from discussions at that meeting, a report would now be submitted to a future meeting on the Road Maintenance Budget and the National Highways and Transport Survey.

Decisions: 

The Committee noted the Quarter 1 2015/16 performance against Key Measures of Success used to monitor progress against the Council Plan 2015/16 and agreed:

a)            Details of the 5 routes used to measure performance indicator NI 167 be circulated to Members of the Committee.

b)            The Assistant Director, Front Line Services ensure that the suggestion that Arriva may wish to consider increasing the frequency on bus services to parts of Walderslade on one day a week is factored into the discussions between Arriva and the petitioners referred to at Minute 370 above.