Agenda and minutes

Venue: Picket Twenty Community Hall, Picket Twenty Way, Andover SP11 6TY

Contact: Caroline Lovelock - 01264 368014  Email: clovelock@testvalley.gov.uk

Note: The meeting will start streaming below at 5.30pm 

Items
No. Item

26.

Appointment of Vice Chairman

To appoint a Vice-Person until the first meeting of Annual Council in 2022.

 

Minutes:

 

Councillor Celia Dowden proposed that Council Procedure Rule 17.3, the requirement to vote by a show of hands so that a paper ballot may be carried out, be suspended.  This was seconded by Councillor Warnes. 

The criteria for those present and those voting in favour were met.

Resolved:

That Council Procedure Rule 17.3 be suspended.

Councillor Gwynne and Councillor Matthews gave a 5 minute presentation in support of their proposition to stand for the position of Vice-Chairman of the Committee.

 

Resolved:

 

That Councillor Matthews be appointed as Vice-Chairman until the first meeting after Annual Council in 2022.

 

27.

Public Participation

Minutes:

There was no public participation.

28.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

29.

Urgent Items

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.

30.

Minutes of the meeting held on 21 April 2021

Minutes:

Resolved:

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 21 April 2021 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

31.

Call in Items

Minutes:

There were no call in items.

32.

Urgent decisions taken since last meeting

Minutes:

There were no urgent decisions.

33.

Annual Review of the Corporate Plan

 

To receive a presentation from the Leader on the annual review of the Corporate Plan (30 minutes)

Minutes:

The Leader gave his annual update on the Council’s Corporate Action Plan (CAP) 2019-2023 ‘Growing Our Potential’.

 

He explained that the CAP sets the direction and provides a focus for activities and services.  Each year a review is undertaken by Cabinet to update the CAP to ensure it continues to highlight the significant projects that the Council is taking forward in pursuit of its four corporate aims; growing the potential of town centres, communities, people and local government. 

 

The Leader updated members on current and new projects such as;

 

·  Town Centres

·  adoption of a masterplan for Andover

·  Adoption of a masterplan for the South of Romsey Town Centre

·  Appointment of a Regeneration Manager

·  Town Mills Riverside Park

 

·  Communities

·  Support for over 50 local volunteer groups

·  Covid Emergency Grants

·  Covid-19 Helpline

·  Review of the Member and Community Group workkplan

·  DEFRA Funding

·  Support for events and projects

 

·  People

·  Affordable Housing Target

·  Ban on Evictions

·  Emergency Accommodation

·  New Tenancies

·  Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document

·  Private Rented Sector Access Fund

·  Private Rented Sector Innovation and Enforcement Grant

·  Business Incentive Grants and Independent Retailer Grants

·  Completion of the interim Economic Development Strategy 2019-2023

 

·  The Local Environment

 

·  Climate Emergency Action Plan

·  Tree planting

·  Refuse collection vehicles saving carbon dioxide

·  Recycling rates

·  Behavior change

·  Environmental Bill

·  Abbotswood sports site

·  New outdoor sports hub

·  Green spaces

 

The Leader also updated members on the Covid-19 Recovery Plan which looks at ongoing work to ensure the safety of the population and workforce, review future working, providing a sustainable mechanism of recovery through place-based and community focused approach, identifying opportunities to do things differently and adapting to the changing situation.

 

Members discussed;

 

·  How to keep communities and volunteer groups engaged following the enormous response during the pandemic.

·  Grant and support for Unity.

·  Impact of the pandemic on young people and how the Council can support them.

·  Impact of evictions during the pandemic and future support.

 

The Chairman thanked the Leader for his informative presentation.

34.

Covid-19 Recovery Update

To receive a verbal update on the work being undertaken as part of Covid-19 Recovery (20 minutes)

Minutes:

The Head of Strategy and Innovation updated members on the Covid-19 recovery.  He explained that the data for Test Valley shows and total cases were up 11 cases for the 14 days to June 1.  People vaccinated in Test Valley during the 4 months to 1 June were 81,471 (76%) first dose and 52,015 (48.5%) second dose.

 

The Government’s roadmap to unlocking was in 4 steps and currently the UK is on step 3 with step 4 scheduled from 21 June.

 

The recovery plan priorities are;

 

·  Town Centres

·  Re-opening public spaces

·  Community Recovery

·  Economic Recovery

·  Wellbeing and mental health

·  New ways of working

 

Members discussed the following;

 

·  Learning to live with Covid.

·  Funding for recovery.

·  Impact on community organisations.  The Head of Strategy and Innovation will compile some data on the closure of volunteer organisations and those having difficulty restarting.

 

The Chairman thanked the Head of Strategy and Innovation for his interesting presentation.

35.

Planning Enforcement Panel Scope pdf icon PDF 100 KB

To consider the scope for aa Planning Enforcement Panel (20 minutes)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Burley explained that he wished to set up a panel to look at Planning Enforcement.  The review will result in a report to Overview and Scrutiny outlining any key recommendations for consideration.  Should any areas for consideration fall outside the scope then the panel will seek approval from the committee.

 

Enforcement is one of the most complex parts of the planning system and an issue that concerns many members of the public.  Some public involvement will be required to gain feedback on this function to ensure that planning enforcement is being conducted professionally, consistently, efficiently and expediently.

 

Members made suggestions and comments on the scoping document as follows;

 

·  The transition between committee decisions and enforcement.

·  Planning procedure changes.

·  Engagement with Building Control and enforcement.

·  The Panel should pay particular attention to the public perception of Planning Enforcement.

 

Councillor Burley advised that the scoping document would be amended and agreed by the panel and brought back to Committee for final approval.  He asked any members interested in joining the panel to let him or the Senior Committee Officer know.

36.

Appointment to Audit and Budget Panels

To appoint members to the Audit and Budget Panels.

Minutes:

Resolved:

 

1.  That Councillors Borg Neal, Bailey, Burley, Gwynne and Neal and be appointed to the Audit Panel with Councillor Borg Neal as Lead Member.

 

2.  That Councillors Baverstock, Borg Neal, Brooks, Burley, Lodge, Matthews, Parker and Swain and Ward be appointed to the Budget Panel with Councillor Matthews as Lead Member.

 

37.

Updates on Panels

Lead Members to update the Committee on the progress of their Panels (10 minutes)

Minutes:

Budget Panel – Councillor Lodge reported that the next meeting of the Budget Panel will be held on 28 June 2021.

 

Audit Panel – Councillor Borg Neal reported that the next meeting of the Audit Panel will be held on 26 July 2021.

 

Review of Outside Bodies – Councillor C Dowden reported that the panel were waiting for input from the Member and Development Group and hoped to report back to the committee at its meeting on 14 July.

 

Climate Emergency Action Plan – Councillor Gwynne reported that the panel had held their first meeting and planned monthly meetings at 6pm on;

 

·  Wednesday 16th June on MSTeams

·  Wednesday 21st July on MSTeams 

·  Monday 16th August on MSTeams

·  Wednesday 22nd September at Beech House (Council members only)

 

38.

Programme of Work for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee pdf icon PDF 118 KB

To enable Members to keep the Committee’s future work programme under review and to discuss the Away Day (10 minutes)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman took the committee through the work programme.  He suggested that the Portfolio Holder presentation schedule to take place in July be the Housing and Environment Portfolio Holder and that the presentation should focus on the effects of Covid on homelessness, the ending of protection from evictions and furlough scheme for staff.

 

It was noted that the meeting in October has a large number of items and August and November have none.  This was due to the rescheduling of the committee dates to reflect the new six weekly cycle.  The rescheduling of items in October will be discussed and brought back to the next meeting.

 

The committee considered and agreed the Work Programme as follows;

 

·  Move the work of the Community Safety Management Group to August.

·  Add  in initial thoughts on the Committee’s Away Day in July.

·  Move Places for People annual report to August.

 

Resolved:

 

That the future work programme, as amended, be approved.