Agenda item

(a)       That the officers be thanked for their portfolio presentations;

(b)       That the Forward Work Programme, as submitted, be approved;

(c)       That the list of topics identified during the meeting be analysed by the officers to produce a range of combined topics, for consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair;

(d)       That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises; and

(e)       That the Committee notes the progress made in completing the outstanding actions.

The Democratic Services Manager presented the current Forward Work Programme for consideration.  The Chief Officers give a brief presentation on services within their respective portfolios to assist the Committee in identifying future agenda items.

The following topics were suggested:

·         Building Control - including the impact of changes to the building inspection market and exploring further opportunities to carry out services for other councils

·         Sustainable drainage systems

·         Countryside Service

·         Minerals and Waste Planning - including provision of external services across the region

·         Digital connectivity

·         ‘Green Council’ theme of the Council Plan including Energy Services, solar panels, street lighting and plastics

·         Council’s response to the Climate Change agenda

·         Enterprise/Town Centre regeneration - including the Business Improvement District (BID) process to be scheduled for early 2020

·         Battery parks - helping to educate communities on the impacts

·         Fleet electrification

·         Cemetery provision and strategy

·         Winter maintenance review

·         Commercial services

·         Waste permitting and data flow

·         Contact Centre

·         Car parking - charges, enforcement and maximising income by prompt repair of faulty machines

·         Charging/indexation policy

·         Service standards

·         Enforcement

·         Grass-cutting policy and performance (including re-circulating the agreed standards) - including managing wildflowers

·         Effect of roadworks by utility companies

·         Dropped kerb policy and practices

·         Garden waste bins - size, charges and potential for providing a second bin free of charge

The Chairman asked that the Chief Officer (Planning & Environment) provide Members with the updated version of the draft ‘Who’s Who’ document once finalised.  Councillor Evans suggested that the final document include more useful contact numbers if it was to be made available to the public.

The Chief Officer explained that this was an interim document until those services were incorporated into the Contact Centre.  He noted Councillor Hughes’ point about sharing work mobile phone numbers of officers.

Councillor Bibby said that a similar document with contact details of other portfolios would be useful.

Councillors Dolphin and Hardcastle commented on the availability of officers and response times.  The Chief Officers explained the benefits of the Contact Centre central number (701234) in logging calls and follow-up actions.  Options were being considered to reduce the call waiting time, and the collation of different teams into a single corporate Contact Centre based in Ewloe would provide greater resilience.  Local Members were reminded to report specific issues to their Area Co-ordinators whose contact details had previously been shared.

The Chairman thanked both Chief Officers for their detailed presentations and asked that the Streetscene team be thanked for their work in helping communities during the recent severe weather.  This was endorsed by Councillor Carolyn Thomas.

During discussion on the suggested topics, the Chief Officer (Streetscene & Transportation) explained the need for grass-cutting services to be undertaken by various teams due to the variety of equipment required.  On garden waste bins, he clarified that the purpose of the report to the Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee was to set the indexation policy.  Councillor Evans said that the report should have been considered first by this Committee.

The Democratic Services Manager suggested that the list of topics be considered by officers, in consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair, to produce a range of combined topics to populate the Forward Work Programme.  This was moved by Councillor Bibby and seconded by Councillor Shotton.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the officers be thanked for their portfolio presentations;

(b)       That the Forward Work Programme, as submitted, be approved;

(c)       That the list of topics identified during the meeting be analysed by the officers to produce a range of combined topics, for consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair;

(d)       That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises; and

(e)       That the Committee notes the progress made in completing the outstanding actions.