Agenda and minutes
Venue: Pittville Room, Municipal Offices, Promenade
Contact: Saira Malin, Democracy Officer
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Apologies Minutes: No apologies were received. |
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Declarations of interest Minutes: No interests were declared. |
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Agreement of minutes of meeting held on the 11 May 2011 PDF 63 KB Additional documents: Minutes: The minutes of the last meeting had been circulated with the agenda.
Upon a vote it was unanimously
RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on the 11 May 2011 be agreed and signed as an accurate record. |
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Public Questions These must be received no later than 10am on the fifth working day before the date of the meeting - Wednesday 6 July
Minutes: The following response was given to the public question received;
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Matters referred to Committee
Minutes: No items were referred to the committee. |
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Cabinet Member Briefing Cabinet Member Sustainability Cabinet Member Built Environment Minutes: The Cabinet Member Sustainability, in light of the public question, started his update with news on Imperial and Montpellier Gardens. The matter was discussed at Council on the 27 June and the principle message had been the importance of good maintenance and restoration of turf. At the end of the season the Council would assess what restorative work was necessary and Cheltenham Festivals (CF) would pay any costs. Although a number of alternative design ideas had been suggested, he was confident that the proposed design was the right one. This sentiment had been reaffirmed by the endorsement given to the design by Friends of Imperial Square and Gardens, who had commended officers on the design. The spotlight had now been turned on Montpellier Gardens in a bid to avoid reproducing issues there and discussions were ongoing with CF. Drill seeding was the topic of much debate but this had to be undertaken at a suitable time of year and for the best results it needed to be done on good quality turf and as such some areas would need to be replaced.
The Cabinet Member Sustainability gave the following responses to questions from members of the committee;
The Chair reminded members that the committee were scheduled to consider the final design of Imperial Gardens at the next meeting (14 September) and agreed to schedule a review of the remedial issues after the next Festival season.
There was little update to offer in relation to the new waste scheme, which the Cabinet Member Sustainability felt was going well. Issues were being worked through, the garden scheme take-up would be reviewed and the working group would be providing an update at the next meeting. The Local Authority Company was in the initial administrative stage and despite Tewkesbury Borough Council not having signed up to the agreement, joint working at the depot continued. A proposal to form a Joint Waste Board, joining waste authorities under a single committee would be tabled with the committee prior to Cabinet in October.
The Cabinet Member Sustainability and the Director of Operations gave the following responses to questions from members of the committee;
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Second annual review of the Gloucestershire Airport - Green Policy 2010-2011 PDF 64 KB Report of the Joint Airport Scrutiny Working Group Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Wheeldon, a member of the Joint Airport Scrutiny Working Group (JASWG) introduced the report as circulated with the agenda. The development of the Airport’s Green Policy formed part of the conditions of the Runway Safety Project and this was the second annual review.
Three key points contained within the report were, firstly, noise. In the period 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011, 587 complaints were received, of which 524 were from a small group of regular complainants. In an initiative to reduce the number of formal complaints received, the website is to be improved, to include details about the use of the Airport for military and emergency aircraft, especially out-of-hours. Councillor Wheeldon had personally lobbied the Civil Aviation Authority to highlight the issue of silencers and the high level of formalities and expense associated with having them fitted to helicopters and small aircraft in the UK.
Whilst aircraft CO2 emissions were down, so were flights. There had been 7,000 less flights on the previous year and this was as a result of weather, the economic climate and a change of focus by the Airport from small light planes to business flights. Emissions from ground operations had also reduced and an innovative Green Travel Plan had been developed, but accurate baselines have still to be established. The Airport had been urged to establish baselines soon, as it is impossible to accurately measure performance without them.
Councillor Fletcher, a member of the Airport Board, advised members that there had been some further developments since the report was produced and circulated. Cycle parking sheds had now been erected. Given that Stagecoach were not prepared to reroute a bus to the Airport, a local company had indicated they would be interested and were awaiting the results of the survey, which at present were very positive. Aircraft silencers were an issue. At present, aircraft entering from the continent had to disable them on entry to the UK. Construction to the runway was now underway.
The members of the JASWG and the Climate Change and Sustainability Officer gave the following responses to questions from members of the committee;
Upon a vote it was unanimously
RESOLVED that the review report and the recommendations contained within it be accepted by the committee. |
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Built Environment Commissioning Project PDF 30 KB Report of the Cabinet Member for Built Environment Additional documents: Minutes: Cabinet Member Built Environment introduced the paper as circulated with the agenda, which was an extensive report due to the complexity of the project.
Delivery of statutory services such as Planning were often taken as a given but the review was looking at outcomes and considering whether a service was being delivered in the most effective and efficient way. A number of opportunities were being discussed, which could include the devolution of powers to Parish Council’s, though this would be problematic in areas of Cheltenham not served by a Parish Council.
One of the big issues being considered as part of the review was finance. The Government were receptive to councils setting their own fees, in order that they more closely reflect the costs of running the service. The exact detail of how this would work was yet to be finalised, but the review group were aware of the new charging regime and hoped that the announcement would be made before the end of the review. The review would be forced to consider what level of support the council tax payers of Cheltenham could reasonably be asked to provide, which would be an issue if the Planning service was to be delivered solely on fees.
Systems thinking could identify significant efficiencies and whilst not necessarily financial savings it could help streamline the process without impacting the democratic process or customer service. There was a need to make the process more straightforward and therefore accessible for residents.
The Cabinet Member Built Environment hoped that the issue over fees would soon be resolved and the outcome of the review was a streamlined, more customer friendly service.
The Cabinet Member Built Environment gave the following responses to questions from members of the committee;
In relation to fees, one member suggested that there was a case for increasing the fee for retrospective planning approval.
The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member Built Environment for the update. The committee looked forward to considering the final report. |
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Street Cleansing Satisfaction PDF 134 KB Discussion paper of the Environmental Maintenance Manager Additional documents: Minutes: The Environmental Maintenance Manager introduced the paper as circulated with the agenda, which detailed the results of the survey used to measure the level of satisfaction with Town Centre cleansing operations by members of the public. The survey, by way of a questionnaire was carried out in the Regent and Beechwood Arcades over a 4 day period.
The results were shown in appendices 1 to 5 and generally were good, however, a number of residents responses were rather influenced by the change to the refuse collections and charging for garden waste collections, etc and scores were lower, presumably as they were unhappy with other aspects of the council.
The service was currently being reviewed in an effort to identify improvements and ultimately deliver a more efficient and effective service.
The Environmental Maintenance Manager and the Director of Operations gave the following responses to questions from members of the committee;
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Environment Overview & Scrutiny Work Plan 2011-12 PDF 45 KB Minutes: The Chair referred members to the work plan as circulated with the agenda.
Councillor Fletcher suggested that the committee may like to reconsider the plastic bag issue after her recent observations that the use of plastic bags was on the increase. The committee agreed for this item to be added to the work plan. The Chair proposed that this be scheduled for November. |
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Any other business the Chairman determines to be urgent and which requires a decision Minutes: There were no urgent items for discussion. |
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Date of next meeting 14 September 2011 Minutes: The next meeting was scheduled for Wednesday 14 September 2011. |