Agenda item

This report summarises the performance of the Council’s Key Measures of Success for April – June (quarter 1) 2013/14 as set out in The Council Plan 2013/15.

The following information is provided against the relevant council’s priorities and two values for this committee

·        Summary of key measures of success (performance indicators)

·        Service comments

·        How our performance compares with other authorities (benchmarking) where this is available

Discussion:

The Performance and Intelligence Manager, Regeneration, Community and Culture introduced the report to Members which provided performance information against the Council’s relevant Key Measures of Success for quarter 1 (April – June 2013).

For quarter 1, 19 out of 25 Regeneration, Community and Culture Council Plan Key measures of success were on target or exceeded their target. The Performance and Intelligence Manager outlined a number of successes under each priority.

Members welcomed the report and raised a number of points and questions including:

Satisfaction with road maintenance – A member expressed concern about the decline in the level of satisfaction with road maintenance. Referring to the previous report from the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, he drew attention that only 9 miles out of 1800 miles had been resurfaced, and therefore it had hardly been surprising that satisfaction levels had dropped. It was stressed that this should be an area that should be closely monitored. Concern was also expressed in the amount of money that had gone into the budget to improve road surfaces, which had subsequently been removed.

The Highways Maintenance and Parking Manager explained that the perception from residents had been that roads were not being maintained, however, there had been snow on the ground when the satisfaction survey had been undertaken.  Snow had caused the road surfaces to break up and these had taken time to be repaired. He also confirmed that Medway was getting a much better return on the money it spends with its suppliers than other local authorities.

Local Development Framework (land at Lodge Hill/Chattenden) – A member noted that following Hearing Sessions held as part of the Examination of the Medway Core Strategy, the Planning Inspector concluded that significant further work was required in relation to the strategic development allocation at Lodge Hill, and she advised the Council to withdraw the plan. Natural England’s proposal to notify much of the Lodge Hill area a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) created significant difficulties, putting the Core Strategy in a precarious position. This could undermine the authority in defending its unbuilt environment from development.

Open top tour bus –A member asked whether the Council had offered concessionary travel on the new open top tour bus to workers across the public sector. They also asked if this was part of a wider project to get people on the bus.

The Director of Regeneration, Community and Culture informed the committee that for events such as Undersiege the Council had issued vouchers to young people so that they could use the bus. In respect of public sector workers, he would check and advise the member direct. However, he stated that as the bus was a funded service, it was available for anyone to use.

Riverside 1 – Customer satisfaction rates – A member commented that it was pleasing to see that customer satisfaction rates were good in respect of services provided at Riverside 1, particularly as during the quarter, there had been welfare benefit changes.

Decision:

The Committee:

1)     Noted the report on the first quarter performance against key measures of success along with the additional comments referred to above; and

2)     Welcomed the benchmarking methodology provided at appendix 1