Agenda item

Report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services.

Summary

To agree topics for future meetings, to identify issues arising from the Forward Plan (February – May 2010) and to monitor the status of items on the work programme.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Street Scene and Rural, the Head of Urban and Rural Services and the Head of Head of Safer Communities & Community Development will be present at the meeting to discuss progress against the scrutiny recommendations on Markets and Concessionary Travel.

Recommendations

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee is recommended to:

(1)               Note the current overview and scrutiny work programme for 2009/10 and make amendments as necessary;

(2)               Note the contents of the Forward Plan and identify any possible topics for scrutiny;

(3)               Note the progress against the scrutiny recommendations on the future of markets in the district;

(4)               Note the progress against the scrutiny recommendations on Concessionary Travel.

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services on the overview and scrutiny work programme 2009/10.

Existing Work Programme

The Committee noted the contents of the report and the existing work programme for 2009/10.  Members noted that the Task and Finish Group on Anti-Social Behaviour would be meeting on 11 February 2010 to consider the Group’s recommendations to Executive.  Members requested that the report be brought to their March meeting for discussion prior to submission to the Executive as there appeared to be a number of areas that overlapped with the Committee’s review on youth engagement.

Forward Plan

The Committee did not identify any further items from the Forward Plan for inclusion on their work programme.

Scheduling

Tackling Deprivation

The Committee observed that “tackling deprivation” was too broad an area to be included on the work programme as a potential scrutiny topic.  However, they agreed that they would consider deprivation at their next meeting but only in relation to planning policy issues and Houses of Multiple Occupancy.

Built Environment Conservation Areas

The Committee noted that the Portfolio Holder Planning and Housing, the Strategic Director Planning and Housing and officers from Housing and Planning would attend the March meeting to brief Members on this issue.  The briefing would cover the existing planning policies and regulations applicable to conservation areas; additional policies and controls that might be applied to conservation areas; and the relationship between Houses of Multiple Occupancy and deprivation.  

Following the briefing the Committee would be in a position to determine whether to make recommendations to the Executive or to add the topic to their work programme for more detailed scrutiny in 2010/11.

The Chairman asked Councillor Bonner, who had raised the topic, to produce a short note outlining her concerns and issues with regard to this topic.  The Scrutiny Officer would circulate the note to the Committee and officers in advance of the March meeting.

Phone Access and Telephony Review

The Scrutiny Officer advised the Committee that their request for the Executive to consider this item at their later March or April meeting to enable the Committee to consider the report had not yet been confirmed. The Scrutiny Officer agreed to progress this and advise Members once a decision had been reached.

Monitoring

Markets

The Portfolio Holder Community Safety, Street Scene and Rural and the Head of Urban and Rural Services updated Members on the progress with regard to the district’s markets, in particular the appointment of a market operator for Banbury market, since the Committee’s meeting on 10 November 2009.

In response to questions, the Head of Urban and Rural Services advised Members that the newly appointed market operator would assume formal responsibility for Banbury market on 1 April 2011.  He confirmed that although the Council and the market operator would be working in partnership to deliver improvements to Banbury market, the relationship was underpinned by a formal contract that included appropriate break clauses and termination options.  He reassured Members that the market traders had been given the opportunity to meet the new market operator at “drop in sessions” and make their views known.

The Committee asked whether the corporate risk register included an entry for the possible insolvency on the part of the market operator.  The Head of Urban and Rural Services reminded Members that the Council had appointed the market operator following a rigorous tendering process but undertook to check and if necessary add an entry to the risk register.

Concessionary Travel

The Portfolio Holder Community Safety, Street Scene and Rural and the Head of Safer Communities and Community Development updated Members on progress with regard to the scrutiny recommendations on Concessionary Travel.  The Committee noted that the responsibility for administering both the statutory minimum concession and discretionary concession for travel will transfer from district to county councils on 1 April 2011.  Consequently no further action would be taken in relation to the recommendations on the introduction of a smart card reader scheme (Recommendation 1), the promotion of a concessionary travel consortium in Oxfordshire (Recommendation 6) or any changes to the start time of the discretionary scheme in 2010/11 (Recommendation 8).

The Head of Safer Communities and Community Development advised Members that the concessionary fare service providers were now providing monthly management information and that there was no evidence that mis-ticketing was either fraudulent or prolific. 

Commenting on the research report on Community Transport provision in Cherwell District the Portfolio Holder Community Safety, Street Scene and Rural said that this had been an interesting piece of work that highlighted the differences between dial-a-ride and other voluntary schemes.  He informed Members that he would be taking this work forward with officers in 2010/11.

The Committee expressed some concern that there was as yet no guidance on the financial implications or operational practicalities of the transfer of responsibility for concessionary travel from district to county councils.  They encouraged the Portfolio Holder to initiate discussions with his counterparts at the county council, as they felt a pro-active approach from Cherwell would do more to safeguard the interests of Cherwell residents.

Residents’ Parking (Banbury)

Some Members of the Committee requested an update on this topic. The Portfolio Holder Community Safety, Street Scene and Rural reported that the Executive had considered this at their February meeting. Detailed plans were currently being developed for all of the consulted zones, however the timeframe had not yet been finalised. The Committee was advised that civil parking enforcement would pass from the County to Cherwell District Council in April 2011.  The Portfolio Holder Community Safety, Street Scene and Rural advised the Committee that he would be in a position to bring further information to the Committee in the summer.

Resolved

1)                 That the current overview and scrutiny programme for 2009/10 be agreed.

2)                 That the contents of the Forward Plan be noted.

3)                 That the progress against the scrutiny recommendations on the future of markets in the district be noted.

4)                 That the progress against scrutiny recommendations on concessionary travel be noted.

5)                 That the Portfolio Holder Community Safety, Street Scene and Rural be asked to initiate discussions with the county council regarding the financial implications and operational practicalities arising from the transfer of responsibility for concessionary travel from district to county councils.