Agenda item

Medway’s Council Plan 2021/22 sets out the Council’s three priorities. This report and appendices summarise how we performed in Q2 2021/22 on the delivery of the two priorities relevant for this Committee: Place and Growth.

This report also presents the Q2 2021/22 review of the Council’s Strategic Risk Register.

Discussion:

The Committee noted that this would be the last meeting attended by the Corporate Head of Performance and Business Intelligence as she was due to leave Medway Council to take up a post elsewhere. Members expressed their best wishes and thanked her for supporting the Committee over past years.

The Committee received a report setting out performance for Quarter 2 against the Council's two priorities Place and Growth insofar as they fell within the remit of this Committee, along with a review of the Council’s Risk Register.

The following issues were discussed:

·         Discontinuation of a new shared cycle route connecting Cuxton to Medway Valley Park – A Member sought further information on the discontinuation of a new shared cycle route connecting Cuxton to Medway Valley Park and the Assistant Director Front Line Services offered to meet with the Member concerned to discuss this outside of the meeting.

·         Strategic Plans – A Member referred to the number of strategic plans in place across the Council and requested a list of all current plans along with information as to how they connect to each other. In response, the Corporate Head of Performance and Business Intelligence advised that a diagram showing all the various strategies and their relationship to each other had been drawn up a few years ago and she planned to refresh this diagram and publish online. She agreed to circulate a copy to the Committee.

·         NI 167 – Average journey time along 5 routes across Medway – A Member sought clarification as to the method by which the average journey times were calculated for this performance indicator. In response the Corporate Head of Performance and Business Intelligence explained that this was calculated using vehicle GPS and that this topic had been the subject a briefing note to the Committee. She agreed to send this to the Member concerned.

·         Risk Register – A Member asked whether the risk register was being updated to reflect the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The Corporate Head of Performance and Business Intelligence confirmed that this was a new risk that had been added to the risk register and would cover all risks relating to Covid-19, including the new variant.

·         Street lighting and street cleansing – A Member complimented the provision of LED street lighting in his Ward but referred to issues concerning street cleansing which still needed to be addressed. The Director of Place and Deputy Chief Executive advised that the issue of street cleansing had been discussed in detail by Committee on 14 October 2021 and was being investigated but if there were any new areas of concern these should be drawn to the attention of officers.

Decision:

The Committee considered and noted the Quarter 2 2021/22 performance against measures used to monitor progress against the Council’s priorities and:

a)            noted that the Assistant Director Front Line Services will meet with the Member concerned to discuss the discontinuation of a new shared cycle route connecting Cuxton to Medway Valley Park and that the outcome of the discussions be fed back via email to all Members of the Committee.

b)            noted that the Corporate Head of Performance and Business Intelligence will be refreshing the current list of Council Strategies with a view to publishing this information online and circulating a copy to Members of the Committee.

c)            the Corporate Head of Performance and Business Intelligence will provide a copy of the briefing note relating to NI 167 (average journey time along 5 routes across Medway) to the Member concerned.