Agenda item

This report sets out the Quarter 4 / Year End Council Plan performance management report. 

Discussion:

The Performance Manager advised that this report set out the progress of the Regeneration, Community and Culture Directorate performance for year end 2011/2012 in achieving the outcomes agreed in the Council Plan. The actions and performance measures that were shaded in grey were not relevant to this Committee but had been provided to give context and clarity of how the priorities as a whole had been performing.

The Committee was advised that the key highlights were:

·        Love Medway App

·        £370,000 EU funding to the Interreg programme

·        residual waste to landfill sites had reduced

·        over £900,000 of capital investment projects had been delivered by Greenspaces Services

·        the opening of the new Chatham Waterfront Bus Station

·        the Urban Traffic Management and Control Centre had become fully operational

·        Medway Park leisure centre was officially opened

·        8,000 unemployed people had accessed Employ Medway facilities.

The Committee was also notified of the recent recommendations and referrals of the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 21 June 2012. These were:

·        a request that the performance indicator for satisfaction with the work of the Community Officers is re-instated into the monitoring reports for 2012/2013

The Performance Manager advised that they would re-instate the performance indicator for satisfaction with the work of Community Officers but that this would now be measured by asking service users, rather than as a question in a more generalised survey of residents.

·        that officers investigate the charge to schools of an administration fee to set up a walking bus scheme

The Performance Manager advised that a Briefing Note would be sent to Members in response to this request.
 

·        a request that the performance indicator for visitor numbers is
re-instated into the monitoring reports for 2012/2013 and includes the results of tourism marketing promotions

The Performance Manager advised that officers would consider this as part of the Tourism Strategy.

·        that the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committees are requested to investigate why some targets for 2012/2013 have been set below the current performance levels

The Assistant Director, Customer First, Leisure, Culture, Democracy and Governance advised that when the targets for 2012/2013 had been set, consideration was given to the current year’s performance but that this was alongside a number of other factors, including the issues for that service moving forward. The targets were therefore challenging but also had to be realistic.

The Committee advised that it was pleased to see that the indicator for satisfaction with the work of Community Officers was to be re-instated and asked that officers focus on ensuring that the role of the Community Officers was clear and easily understood by all Medway residents.

Members discussed performance indicator ‘TRAV1b - non-principal classified roads where maintenance should be considered’ (page 48 of the agenda) and advised that this was a big issue of public concern. Members acknowledged the current budget pressures but advised that if the roads had worsened because there were less resources, then the commentary in the report should reflect this.

The Committee agreed that it would welcome further information into the variable scenarios of road maintenance depending on future weather conditions and budget increase/decreases in order that Members could make ‘smart’ decisions on how best to spend the resources. Officers advised that this budget also included pathways, structures and signals and that the maintenance of these had to be considered alongside road maintenance.

Members raised the issue of utility companies not leaving the roads in an acceptable condition once they had completed their works. Some roads seemed to require maintenance work shortly after the utility works had been completed. The Committee was advised that there was a new measure in the Council Plan for 2012/2013, ‘TMRS7 - Number of notices received to carry out works on the highway’ and that the officer employed to inspect the re-instated roads following utility works would report where he had inspected and any areas of particular concern in each of the quarterly monitoring reports.

A Member advised that the public did not understand the current marketing campaign for the Love Medway App. Officers informed the Committee that this had been recognised and that there would be a re-launch of the promotion later in the year. A Briefing Note would be circulated to Members when the new campaign strategy had been finalised.

A Member asked about the information provided in Appendix 4 (page 67 of the agenda) with regard to the 392 jobs created and protected in 13 businesses and asked if there was any indication whether these were permanent or seasonal jobs. Officers advised that they did not have this data but would try to acquire it in the future from the companies concerned.

The Committee discussed the performance indicator W8 – satisfaction with street cleaning (on page 43 of the agenda) advising that satisfaction may have reduced because there were no teams following the refuse collection service to remove any remaining detritus once the main rubbish collection had been taken. Members also believed that the condition of pathways could influence people’s views on cleanliness of the street scene. Officers advised that the main areas within Medway were targeted but that there were other areas that required further work. There was particular difficulty with the cleanliness of privately owned land and ‘no man’s land’ but officers were confident that there would be a visible improvement by the same time next year.

A Member asked for information concerning indicator IT1 ‘Satisfaction with buses’, querying the passenger numbers and whether they had increased from the previous year. Also, whether the number of bus routes had increased.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to:

(a)   note the outcomes achieved against the priorities in the Council Plan and the revised targets for the forthcoming year;

(b)   add a report to the work programme on detailed information on road maintenance funding and to include details of the integrity of the utility companies re-instatement works;

(c)   request a Briefing Note on bus usage and the number of routes in Medway.