Agenda and minutes

Chairman to read webcasting announcement.

The Chairman reminded everyone present that the meeting would be broadcast live to the Internet and that the Council had adopted a protocol for the webcasting of its meetings.

In the absence of the Chairman who had tendered his apologies, the Vice-Chairman became the Chairman and requested nominations for the role of Vice-Chairman.

RESOLVED:

That, in the absence of a Vice-Chairman, Councillor S Kane be appointed as Vice-Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

(Director of Governance) To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

The Select Committee noted that Councillors M Sartin and J Lea were substituting for Councillors N Avey and B Rolfe.

(Director of Governance) To agree the notes of the meeting of the Select Committee held on 29 November 2016.

            RESOLVED:

That the notes of the last meeting of the Governance Select Committee held on 29 November 2016 be agreed as a correct record.

(Director of Governance) To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a pecuniary or a non-pecuniary interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 9 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a non-pecuniary interest in any matter before an OS Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or Sub Committee of the Council, a Joint Committee or Joint Sub Committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 9 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

There were no declarations of interest made pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct.

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report.

The Committee received a presentation from Matthew Lane, Strategic Development Engineer and Matthew Bradley, Strategic Development Manager from the Transportation, Planning and Development Team at Essex County Council Highways in the role of Essex County Council as Highway Consultee. Mr Lane advised that they were invited to the Select Committee to give a brief overview of the work that they were responsible for within the County.

Strategic Development Team Arrangement

The Transportation, Planning and Development team were based in County Hall, Chelmsford and consisted of Engineers and Officers who covered twelve districts within Essex. The work they dealt with varied and could be anything from a vehicle crossover on an unclassified road to thousands of houses as part of the Local Plan strategic site allocations, the work can be very varied and on a huge scale. We are their to provide a statutory response as a consultee to all the local planning authorities within Essex. We also respond to Essex County Council Waste and Mineral planning authority which deal with quarries and schools. Essentially we are there to protect the safety and efficiency of the highways network.

The Role of the Strategic Development Team

Their role was to provide responses to planning applications as a statutory consultee to both Local Planning Authorities and Essex County Council, Waste and Mineral Planning Authority. To protect the safety and efficiency of the highway network and to promote the use of sustainable travel.

Consideration of an Application

EFDC would consult the Strategic Development Department with an application. It was then the responsibility of the team to look through the application in detail and either contact EFDC for more information or if there was sufficient information to determine the application within 21 days of receipt.

Assessing an Application

When considering an application, for the majority of proposals, a site visit would need to be arranged and to take into consideration, if the site had previously been considered and there were no changes then the decision would remain as previously determined and a site visit would not be needed.

Depending on the scale of the proposal a  transport assessment would be required for 50 or more residential dwellings, to take into consideration the junction impact, site access and sustainable travel in the area. The applicant would employ transport consultants to produce a TA and they would conduct a traffic count and speed data and model the impact of the assessment. ECC would assess the modelling and check that it was done within industry standards. That could then lead on to sustainable travel considerations especially where people want to reduce their vehicle movements and there could be better bus services, good footways and cycle route connections.

We consult with a variety of other departments within the Highway Authority for example Passenger Transport and Public Rights of Way to see if traffic calming can be implicated and yellow line provision in developments. Internal roads would be checked with the Essex Design guide making sure they are fit for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

(Director of Governance) Report to follow as a supplementary document.

The Select Committee received a report regarding the Key Performance Indicators 2016/17 – Quarterly Performance Monitoring (Quarter 3) from the Performance Improvement Officer.

The Local Government Act 1999 required that the Council made arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions and services were exercised having regard to economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

As part of the duty to secure continuous improvement, a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relevant to the Council’s services and key objectives were adopted each year by the Finance and Performance Management Cabinet Committee.

A range of 37 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for 2016/17 were adopted by the Finance and Performance Management Cabinet Committee in March 2016. The overall position with regard to the achievement of target performance for all of the KPIs at the end of Quarter 3 was as follows:

(a)        26 (70%) indicators achieved third quarter target;

(b)        11 (30%) indicators did not achieve third quarter target, although 4 (11%) of KPIs performed within the agreed tolerance for the indicator; and

(c)        31 (84%) indicators are currently anticipated to achieve the cumulative year-end target, and a further 3 (8%) are uncertain whether they will achieve the cumulative year-end target.

Five of the KPIs fell within the Governance Select Committee’s area of responsibility. The overall position with regard to the achievement of target performance at the end of Q2 for these 5 indicators were as follows:

(a)          3 (60%) indicators achieved target;

(b)          2 (40%) indicators did not achieve target; however

(c)          0 (0%) of these KPIs performed within the agreed tolerance for the indicator; and

(d)          3 (60%) of indicators were currently anticipated to achieve year-end target and a further 1 (20%) indicator is uncertain whether it will achieve year-end target.

RESOLVED:

That the progress made on the Key Performance Indicators 2016/17 – Quarterly Performance Monitoring (Quarter 3) be noted.

(Director of Governance) Report to follow as a supplementary document.

The Select Committee received a report regarding the Corporate Plan Key Action Plan 2016/17 – Quarter 3 from the Performance Improvement Officer.

The Corporate Plan was the Council’s key strategic planning document, setting out its priorities over the five year period from 2015/16 to 2019/20. The priorities or Corporate Aims were supported by Key Objectives which provided a clear statement of the Council’s overall intentions for these five years.

The Key Objectives were delivered by an annual action plan, with each year building upon the progress against the achievement of the Key Objectives for previous years. The annual action plans contained a range of actions designed to achieve specific outcomes and were working documents and subject to change.

The Corporate Plan Key Action Plan for 2016/17 was agreed in March 2016, progress in relation to all actions and deliverables was reviewed by the Cabinet, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the appropriate Select Committee on a quarterly basis.

There were 49 actions in total for which progress updates for Quarter 3 were as follows:

(a)  26 (53%) of these actions had been Achieved or were On Target;

(b)  13 (27%) of these actions were Under Control;

(c)  4 (8%) were Behind Schedule; and

(d)  6 (12%) were Pending.

There were 8 actions that fell within the areas of responsibility of the Governance Select Committee at the end of Quarter 3 and these were:

(a)  6 (75%) of these actions had been Achieved or were On Target;

(b)  2 (25%) of these actions were Under Control;

(c)  0 (0%) of these actions were Behind Schedule; and

(d)  0 (0%) of these actions were Pending.

RESOLVED:

That the Corporate Plan Key Action Plan 2016/17 Quarter 3 Progress Report be noted.

(Chairman / Lead Officer) The Overview and Scrutiny Committee has agreed the Terms of Reference of this Committee. This is attached along with an ongoing work programme. Members are asked at each meeting to review both documents.

RESOLVED:

(1)  That the Terms of Reference and the Work Programme be noted.

To consider which reports are ready to be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its next meeting.

The Director of Governance advised members that the select committee would be requiring new items for next year’s work programme. The following were suggested:

(a)          Work in relation to complaints to the end of year;

(b)          Development Management Chair and Vice-Chair’s Meeting;

(c)          Review of the Operation of the Council’s Petitions Scheme;

(d)          Analysis of Compliments and Complaints – data identifying trends;

(e)          Review of enforcement across the services of the Governance Directorate; and

(c)        Building Control report for April 2017.

The next meeting of the Governance Select Committee will be held on Tuesday 4 April 2017 at 7.15pm in Committee Room 1.

The next meeting of the Governance Select Committee would be held on Thursday 4 April 2017 at 7.15pm in Committee Room 1.