Agenda and minutes

To receive any Declarations of Interest from Members.

Councillor David Rendel declared an interest in Agenda Item 4, but reported that, as his interest was personal and not prejudicial, he determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

To consider an item called-in by the requisite number of Members following an Individual Decision taken by the Executive Portfolio Holder on 28 April 2011.

ID2266: The Three Year Highway Improvement Programme 2011/12 – 2013/14.

The Three Year Highway Improvement Programme 2011/12 – 2013/14

The Commission considered the call-in of the Individual Decision (ID2266) taken by the Executive Member for Highways, Transport (Operations) and ICT on 28^th April 2011 relating to the Three Year Highway Improvement Programme 2011/12 – 2013/14 (agenda Item 3).

Councillor Jeff Brooks, one of the Members that had called the decision in, made the following two main points in support of the reasons for calling-in the Individual Decision:

·         He was concerned that the consultation process had not been robust.  The consultation period, initially provided only one day to respond and then that period was extended without making all Members aware, which was inappropriate within an election period when Members were necessarily distracted by the campaign itself and unable to give the item the attention it had required. The consultation process did not include any evidence or comments from town and parish councils and had excluded the emergency services.

·         The programme did not reflect the requirement to concentrate on the poor state of urban area roads and was unbalanced in favour of rural areas.  The programme of repairs in the Highways Improvements Plan as described in Appendix A of the report  did not reflect adequately those roads in most need of repair or take into account the volume of traffic that was using the roads in most need of repair. 

Councillor David Betts (Executive Member for Highways, Transport (Operations) and ICT) responded by saying the initial consultation period was one week not one day and following the receipt of Councillor Brook’s letter, consultation was extended by a further week.  All Members had been notified by email.  The balance of rural versus urban roads in the report was 1/3 rural to 2/3 urban.  There had been no comments received during the consultation process regarding any issues of balance between rural and urban roads in the report.

Mark Edwards (Head of Highways and Transport) confirmed that the consultation process started with an e-mail sent to all Members on 14^th April requesting comments by 15^th April which was initially extended to 21^st April and following a letter from Councillor Brooks was extended again to 28^th April.  Consultation on the Highways Improvement Plan had taken place in the same period over the last few years.  The plan had been on display in the Members room.  The main reason the timescale for consultation was at short notice was the delayed publication of the Government settlement of £200m grant for the repairs of potholes which was finally published on the 13^th April.

Regarding the balance of rural and urban roads in the Highways Improvement Plan, all roads were assessed by condition.  The condition of each road was scored under a consistent methodology used across all councils. The point scoring system was used to generate a list of roads in priority order (worst first) for maintenance and the improvement programme was then determined by drawing a line in the list at a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Purpose: To discuss and approve the Membership and Terms of Reference for the Health Scrutiny Panel.

Councillor David Rendel declared an interest in Agenda Item 4, but reported that, as his interest was personal and not prejudicial, he determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

Terms Of Reference for The Health Scrutiny Panel.

The Chairman confirmed the membership for the Health Scrutiny Panel was as follows:

Panel Members were Councillors Quentin Webb, Carol Jackson-Doerge, Sheila Ellison, Howard Bairstow, Dominic Boeck, Tony Linden, Alan Macro and Gwen Mason.

Substitutes were Councillors George Chandler, Andrew Rowles, Roger Hunneman and Julian Swift-Hook.

Councillor Quentin Webb was proposed and seconded as Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Panel. 

In considering the above proposal Members voted to approve Councillor Quentin Webb as Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Panel.

Councillor Gwen Mason was proposed and seconded as Vice-chairman of the Health Scrutiny Panel. 

In considering the above proposal Members voted to approve Councillor Gwen Mason as Vice-chairman of the Health Scrutiny Panel.

The Chairman asked if Members were in agreement with the Terms Of Reference for the Health Scrutiny Panel. 

The Chairman proposed that the Terms of Reference be approved.  Councillor Quentin Webb seconded the proposal.

In considering the above proposal Members voted to approve the Terms Of Reference for the Health Scrutiny Panel.

RESOLVED that

(1)       Councillor Quentin Webb would be appointed as the Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Panel

(2)       Councillor Gwen Mason would  be appointed as the Vice-Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Panel.

Purpose: To discuss and approve the Membership and Terms of Reference for the Resource Management Working Group.

Terms Of Reference for The Resource Management Working Group

The Chairman confirmed the membership for the Resource Management Working Group was as follows:

Group Members were Councillors David Holtby, Laszlo Zverko, Richard Crumly, Jeff Beck, Roger Croft, Andrew Rowles, David Rendel and Tony Vickers.

Substitutes were Councillors John Horton, Garth Simpson, David Allen and Alan Macro.

Councillor Tony Vickers was proposed and seconded as Chairman of the Resource Management Working Group. 

In considering the above proposal Members voted to approve Councillor Tony Vickers as Chairman of the Resource Management Working Group. 

Councillor David Holtby was proposed and seconded as Vice-chairman of the Resource Management Working Group. 

In considering the above proposal Members voted to approve Councillor David Holtby as Vice-chairman of the Resource Management Working Group. 

The Chairman asked if Members were in agreement with the Terms Of Reference for the Resource Management Working Group. 

The following amendments were discussed and agreed:

Paragraph 3.1.1 was re-worded to read – The setting and monitoring of the Council’s revenue and capital budgets.

Paragraph 3.1.6 was re-worded to read – The impact of resources on services, clients and performance.

Paragraph 3.1.10 was added to read – The effective use of information.

Paragraph 3.1.11 was added to read – The setting and monitoring of the Council’s Timelord programme, asset management and organisational strategy.

Paragraph 4.1.4 was re-worded to read – There has been a pattern of significant budgetary underspend or overspend in service delivery.

The Chairman proposed that the revised Terms of Reference be approved.  Councillor Emma Webster seconded the proposal.

In considering the above proposal Members voted to approve the revised Terms Of Reference for the Resource Management Working Group. 

RESOLVED that

(1)       Councillor Tony Vicers would be appointed as the Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Panel

(2)       Councillor David Hotby would  be appointed as the Vice-Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Panel.

(3)       The Terms of Reference would be amended as agreed.