Agenda, decisions and minutes

To appoint a Chair for the Committee.

That Councillor Hilary Isherwood be appointed Chair for this meeting.     

The Member Engagement Manager sought nominations for the appointment of Chair for this meeting.  Councillor Carolyn Thomas nominated Councillor Hilary Isherwood and this was duly seconded.

            RESOLVED:

            That Councillor Hilary Isherwood be appointed Chair for this meeting.     

To appoint a Vice-Chair for the Committee.

            That Councillor David Evans be appointment Vice-Chair for the Municipal year 2015/16. 

The Member Engagement Manager sought nominations for the appointment of Vice-Chair for the municipal year.  Councillor Ian Dunbar nominated Councillor David Evans; the proposal was duly seconded.

            RESOLVED:

            That Councillor David Evans be appointment Vice-Chair for the Municipal year 2015/16. 

Councillor Richard Jones declared a personal and prejudicial interest but indicated that he had dispensation from the Standards Committee to be able to speak at this meeting.  

Councillor Richard Jones declared a personal and prejudicial interest but indicated that he had dispensation from the Standards Committee to be able to speak at this meeting.  

A decision of the Cabinet meeting on 21 April 2015 relating to Flintshire Parking Strategies has been called in.  Attached is a copy of the procedure for dealing with a called in item. 

The Member Engagement Manager explained the procedure for the Call-in of a Cabinet decision.  

To assist Members, the following documents are attached:-

·         Copy of the report of the Chief Officer (Streetscene and Transportation) – Flintshire Parking Policies

·         Copy of the Record of Decision

·         Copy of the Call In Notice

            That having considered the decision, the Overview & Scrutiny Committee was satisfied with the explanation that it had received and therefore the decision could be implemented. 

The Member Engagement Manager referred to the Call-in to the decision of the Cabinet from its meeting held on 21 April 2015 relating to Flintshire County Council’s Car Parking Strategy.  The Call-In notice had been signed by five Members of the Council.  To assist Members, the following documents had been circulated with the agenda:-

                        (a)       A copy of the procedure for dealing with a called-in item.

(b)       A copy of the report considered by Cabinet on 21 April 2015

(c)        A copy of the Cabinet Record of Decision No. 3157

(d)       A copy of the Call-in notice signed by Councillors Mike Peers, Neville Phillips, Arnold Woolley, Carol Ellis and Dennis Hutchinson.

The Member Engagement Manager explained the procedure for a Call-in meeting and detailed the four options available to the Committee.

The Chair invited the Call-in signatories to address the Committee.  Councillor Mike Peers, as the first of the signatories, detailed the reasons for the Call-in.  He explained that the decision had been called-in as the signatories felt that the Parking Strategy did not take into account the impact of parking charges on the vitality and viability of each town and community.  They also felt that the impact of out of town shopping centres with free parking on existing town centres had not been considered.  He said that a blanket approach had been taken in the introduction of parking charges which did not take account of the needs of the individual town centres.  Civil Parking Enforcement had been introduced in Flintshire in October 2013 and this had included a residential parking scheme.  Councillor Peers commented that scheme did not appear to be in place, except in Mold, and was therefore not generating the required income for the Council.  He spoke of local parking hotspots and indicated that he had requested information about the number of tickets that had been issued and had been advised that this was one.  He commented on the parking strategies for each individual town in Flintshire and highlighted the section on the proposed improvements to the car parks; he did not feel that the erection of pay and display signage and motorbike designated spaces was an improvement.  Councillor Peers felt that each town should have been considered individually to highlight issues of vitality and viability for the towns rather than applying a blanket approach across the County.  He felt that introducing a period of free parking should be offered in all of the Council owned car parks. 

In referring to comments from Mold Town Council and Denbighshire County Council on the issue of Broughton Retail Park, Councillor Peers said that there was evidence that out of town retail parks did have an impact on local towns, which was a concern.  He referred to a document from the Federation of Small Businesses and asked if the Cabinet Member or Chief Officer were aware of it; they were not.  Councillor Peers also spoke of a recent Welsh Government commissioned report and assessment on the impact of town centre  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

                        There was one member of the public and one member of the press in attendance.