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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Cabinet & Committee Room, 52 Derby Street, Ormskirk, L39 2DF

Contact: Julia Brown 

Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor Sutton. 

2.

MEMBERSHIP OF THE COMMITTEE

To be apprised of any changes to the membership of the Committee in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4.

Minutes:

There were no changes to membership of the Committee.

 

 

3.

URGENT BUSINESS, IF ANY, INTRODUCED BY THE CHAIRMAN

Note:  No other business is permitted unless, by reasons of special circumstances, which shall be specified at the meeting, the Chairman is of the opinion that the item(s) should be considered as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

4.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST pdf icon PDF 299 KB

If a member requires advice on Declarations of Interest, he/she is advised to contact the Borough Solicitor in advance of the meeting.  (For the assistance of members a checklist for use in considering their position any particular item is included at the end of this agenda sheet.) 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

5.

DECLARATIONS OF A PARTY WHIP

In accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Committee Procedure Rule 16, Members must declare the existence of any Party Whip, and the nature of it, when considering any matter in the following categories:

 

-        The review of any decision of Cabinet or

-        The performance of any Member of the Cabinet

 

N.B. The Secretary of State believes whipping is incompatible with Overview and Scrutiny.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of a Party Whip.

6.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 311 KB

To receive as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 7 March 2019.

Minutes:

Referring to minute no. 65 B (Criteria for the Situation of Bins) it was noted that the deadline for receipt of comments on the draft policy had been extended until the end of July and that the final draft policy will be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee on 10 October 2019.

 

 

RESOLVED              That the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 7 March 2019 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

7.

PUBLIC SPEAKING pdf icon PDF 180 KB

Residents of West Lancashire, on giving notice, may address the meeting to make representations on any item on the agenda except where the public and press are to be excluded during consideration of the item.  The deadline for submissions is 10.00am on Friday 5 July 2019. A copy of the public speaking protocol and form to be completed is attached.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no items under this heading.

 

At this point the Chairman changed the order of business to enable agenda items 12 (Litter Bin Policy Review) and 17 (BTLS Annual Review 2018/19) to be considered prior to agenda item 8 (Quarterly Performance Indicators Q4 2018-19). 

 

Note:   The Committee agreed to exclude the Press and Public during consideration of agenda item 17 (BTLS Annual Review 2018/19) on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 (financial/business affairs) of Part 1 of Scheduled 12A, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 and as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption under Schedule 12A outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information. 

 

Following consideration of agenda item 17 the meeting was re-opened to the press and public and Councillor Currie left the meeting.

 

 

8.

QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS Q4 2018-19 pdf icon PDF 218 KB

To consider the report of the Director of Housing and Inclusion.

(Relevant Portfolio Holder: Councillor I Moran)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Housing and Inclusion, as contained on pages 13 to 29 of the Book of Reports, which presented the performance monitoring data for the quarter ended 31 March 2019.      

 

The Partnership & Performance Officer provided an update in relation to indicators HS28 (properties with a valid Electrical Installation Condition Report) HS30 (non-domestic properties with fire risk) WL18 (use of leisure and cultural facilities) and WL121 (sickness management training).              .

 

Comments and questions were raised in respect of the following:

 

·         B1 (Time taken to process Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit new claims and change events).

 

·         WL108 (average answered waiting time for callers to the Contact Centre) – charges to residents waiting on a call following notification of a call-back request, length of time for a call-back/how call-backs are prioritised, working patterns of residents contacting the Council.

 

The Deputy Director of Housing and Inclusion reported that within the last 8 weeks performance had been above the indicator and that shift patterns and flexible lunch breaks for high volume call times are to be reviewed.  He referred to the increase of residents accessing the customer portal.

 

·         N192 (% of household waste sent for reuse, recycling and composting) – numbers fallen, mixed waste units at the tipping sites.

 

The Director of Leisure and Environment responded to the comments on the above indicator and advised that she would refer relevant comments Lancashire County Council.

 

 

RESOLVED:     That the Council's performance against the indicator set for the quarter ended 31 March 2019 be noted.

 

9.

ITEMS FROM THE MEMBERS' UPDATE INCLUDED ON THE AGENDA AT THE REQUEST OF A MEMBER

There are no items to receive.

Minutes:

There were no items under this Heading.

10.

MEMBERS ITEMS / CCfA (COUNCILLOR CALL FOR ACTION)

There are no items to receive.

Minutes:

There were no items under this heading.

11.

'COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN SERVICE DELIVERY' - REVIEW OF RECOMMENDATIONS pdf icon PDF 127 KB

To review the recommendations from the 'Community Involvement in Service Delivery'.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Leisure and Environment which outlined the progress made since the conclusion of the ‘Community Involvement in Service Delivery’ review.  

 

A report on recommendation (2) (Abbey Lane Playing Fields) within Appendix 1 to the report was considered at minute no. 12 below.

 

A revised appendix to the report was circulated at the meeting.

 

 

RESOLVED              That progress on actions undertaken since the completion of the ‘Community Involvement in Service Delivery’ review, be noted.

 

 

 

 

 

12.

ABBEY LANE PLAYING FIELDS - REVIEW OF FUNDING pdf icon PDF 131 KB

To consider the report of the Director of Leisure and Environment.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Leisure and Environment as circulated and contained on pages 35 to 41 of the Book of Reports which reviewed the £15,000 revenue funding provided annually to Burscough Dynamo Football Club to support the maintenance of Abbey Lane Playing Fields.

 

During the ensuing discussion members raised questions/queries in respect of the Football Clubs financial position and asked that a further report be submitted to the Committee in this regard.

 

 

RESOLVED              That a further report be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee outlining the Club’s financial position and that a representative of the Club be invited to attend the meeting.

13.

LITTER BIN POLICY REVIEW

To consider the following items in relation to the review 'Litter Bin Policy':

 

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the following 3 items in relation to the review undertaken by the Committee entitled 'Litter Bin Policy'.

 

.    

14.

Presentation from Egbert Taylor

To receive a presentation from Egbert Taylor (an organisation that provide compaction litter bins).

 

 

Minutes:

The Committee received a presentation from Emmett Reidy of Egbert Taylor on BigBelly, a smart, solar-powered, sensor-equipped waste and recycling station that can communicate real-time status to waste collection operatives in order to enable and increase efficiencies.

 

He referred to efficiencies in respect of reduced number of collections, operation time, vehicle allocation to bin collection, co2 emissions, street clutter, street cleaning and trade dumping and to the transformation of public places.

 

He explained how the waste and recycling stations particularly referring to the compacting of the material deposited, how they are supported by cloud or wifi hotspot option, the safety aspects of the design of the station, the compactor design and the data derived on collection requirements. 

 

He went on to provide an illustration of the current locations of these waste and recycling stations and of local authorities with stations and their collection/location performance, fullness frequency data and to the availability of advertising on the stations. In concluding he referred to variations of the product e.g. Telebelly.

 

Questions and comments were raised in respect of the following:

 

·         Request for data from local authorities similar to West Lancashire Borough Council.  It was noted that data from Keighley would be provided to Members

·         Recycling models – double/single stations

·         Siting stations on narrow pathways

·         Vandalism e.g. graffiti

·         Charging in relation to pilot study/trial

·         Cash savings

 

 

The Chairman expressed thanks to Emmett Reidy for his attendance and presentation.

 

RESOLVED              That the Director of Leisure and Environment submit a report to the next meeting of the Committee on the implementation of a pilot/trial of a BigBelly waste and recycling station in the Borough.

 

 

15.

Condition Survey

To receive feedback from the Condition Survey.

Minutes:

The Director of Leisure and Environment reported upon the findings of the condition survey of the litter bins in the Borough that had been undertaken.

 

 

RESOLVED              That the report be noted.

16.

Review Project Plan pdf icon PDF 219 KB

To review the Project Plan.

Minutes:

The project plan as circulated and contained on pages 43 to 45 of the Book of Reports was considered by the Committee.

 

 

RESOLVED              That the Project Plan be approved.

 

17.

REVIEW OF THE PUBLIC SPEAKING PROTOCOL pdf icon PDF 230 KB

To consider the report of the Borough Solicitor.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Solicitor as circulated and contained on pages 43 to 54 of the Book of Reports which reviewed the current protocol for public speaking at meetings of Cabinet, Overview and Scrutiny Committees, Audit & Governance Committee and Standards Committee.  

 

The report detailed the number of public speaking requests that had been received since the implementation the Protocol and advised on feedback that had been received since the last review.

 

 

RESOLVED  A.      That Cabinet/Council be requested to consider the following proposed revisions to the Public Speaking Protocol:-

 

i)         Include reference to Parish Councils

 

ii)        Provide for a resident to be represented by a Borough Councillor

 

iii)       Provide for written representations to be considered without the need for the resident to attend

 

iv)       Extend of public speaking to Council meetings and meetings to commence at 7.00pm in order to accommodate this.

 

                        B.      That a further review of the Public Speaking Protocol be undertaken in 12 months from implementation.

 

                       

 

 

 

 

18.

WORK PROGRAMME OF THE COMMITTEE pdf icon PDF 151 KB

To consider the Work Programme of the Committee for 2019/20.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the Work Programme, as contained on pages 67 and 68 of the Book of Reports.

 

RESOLVED  A.      That the timetable attached at Appendix ‘A’ for establishing the Work Programme for the Corporate and Environmental Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2019/20 be agreed.

 

B.     That arrangements be put in place to request items for the Work Programme for 2019/20 from Members, the Corporate Management Team (CMT), by inviting members of the public to submit topics via a press release and by the inclusion of an article on the Council’s web-site.

 

C.     That all potential topics received by the deadline be published on the Council’s web site for Members of the public to comment or make suggestions.

 

D.     That following the deadline for receipt of potential topics the Lead Officer, in consultation with the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Conservative Spokesperson be requested to score each of the topics using the agreed selection criteria set out at Appendix B.  It was noted that the meeting for this process would be held on 20 September 2019.

 

E.      That a report on the Work Programme for 2019/20 together with the results of the scoring exercise, be considered at the next meeting of the Corporate and Environmental Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Committee select one topic for Review.

 

 

19.

MINUTES OF MEMBER DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION pdf icon PDF 289 KB

To consider the minutes of the Member Development Commission held on 14 March 2019.

Minutes:

The minutes of the Member Development Commission meeting held on 14 March 2019 were circulated.

 

RESOLVED              That the minutes be noted.

20.

EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

It is recommended that members of the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act and as, in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption under Schedule 12A outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Minutes:

RESOLVED              That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 (financial/business affairs) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of that Act and as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption under Schedule 12A outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. 

21.

BTLS ANNUAL REVIEW 2018/19

To consider the report of the Director of Housing and Inclusion and to receive a presentation from representatives from BTLS.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Housing and Inclusion as contained on pages 73 to 94 of the Book of Reports that detailed the Annual Review 2018/19 of services provided by BT Lancashire Services as part of the partnership agreement with Lancashire County Council.

 

The Chairman welcomed the representatives from BT Lancashire Services (BTLS).

 

The meeting was attended by Mr Mark Orford (Director of ICT Services) and Ms Claire Hall (Director of Transactional Services) who provided an overview of the work that had been undertaken over the previous 12 months under the partnership agreement.

 

Comments and questions were raised in respect of the following:

 

·         Infrastructure, deficient wifi in Council Offices, Ormskirk

·         The support provided to residents with council tax arrears

·         Waiting times for NNDR rebate

·         Data on password resetting of Councillors devices

 

 

RESOLVED           That the BT Lancashire Services Annual Review 2018/19 be noted.