Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee Will Meet on Friday, 23 July 2004 at 9.30 A.M
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to 14 July 2004 Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee Will meet on Friday, 23 July 2004 at 9.30 a.m. in Derwent Room, Allerdale House, Workington Membership: Councillor Derek Thompson (Chairman) Councillor John (Binky) Armstrong Councillor Lillian Baldry Councillor Elizabeth Barraclough Councillor Trevor Fee Councillor Jeffrey Gardner Councillor John Heathcote Councillor Alan Hobbs Councillor Margaret Jackson Councillor Joan Minto Councillor Keith Sproat Councillor Martin Wood Members of the public are welcome to attend the meeting. If you have any questions or queries simply contact Tracy Graham on 01900 326302. AGENDA 1. Order of Joint Chair To agree the order of Joint Chair 2. Minutes (Pages 1 - 6) To agree as a correct record the draft minutes of the meetings held on 26 June and 9 July 2004. (Wards Affected: All Wards) 3. Apologies for absence. 4. Declaration of interests Councillors/Staff to give notice of any personal or prejudicial interest and the nature of that interest relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the adopted Code of Conduct. 5. Questions To answer questions from members of the public – 2 days notice of which must have been given in writing or by electronic mail. 6. Call-In (Pages 7 - 28) To consider a briefing paper and report on the Call-In – Managing Residential Development to meet Housing Targets. (Wards Affected: All Wards) 7. Decriminalised Parking Enforcement (DPE) (Pages 29 - 32) To consider a draft report following the Review of DPE. (Wards Affected: All Wards) 8. Executive Minutes To consider the draft executive minutes held on 14 July 2004 (to follow) (Wards Affected: All Wards) 9. Forward Plan (Pages 33 - 38) To consider the forward plan for the period 1st August 2004 to 31 November 2004. (Wards Affected: All Wards) 10. Work Plan (Pages 39 - 40) To consider the work plan for 2004. (Wards Affected: All Wards) Borough Solicitor DATE OF NEXT MEETING Friday, 6 August 2004 at 9.30 a.m. Derwent Room, Allerdale House, Workington Agenda Item 2 At a meeting of the COMMUNITY OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE held in Derwent Room, Allerdale House, Workington on Friday, 25 June 2004 at 9.30 a.m. Members Mr J Armstrong Mrs J Minto Miss E D Barraclough Mr D K Thompson Mr J Heathcote Mr M G Wood Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs L Baldry, Mr T M Fee, Mr J Gardner, Mr R A Hobbs, Mrs C M Jackson and Mr K Sproat Staff Present T Graham, A Miller and S Owen 54 TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRES - SITE VISIT Members and Officers visited the following Tourist Information Centres: Workington Cockermouth Keswick Silloth Maryport The purpose of the site visit was to compare the services offered at the different Centres. This included the range of products and information available, location, accessibility, suitability and signage. AGREED: That the outcome of the Site Visit be discussed at the next meeting. The site visit ended at 1.30 p.m. Page 1 This page is intentionally left blank Page 2 At a meeting of the COMMUNITY OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE held in Derwent Room, Allerdale House, Workington on Friday, 9 July 2004 at 9.30 a.m. Members Mrs C M Jackson (Chairman) Mr J Armstrong Mr J Heathcote Mr T M Fee Mr R A Hobbs Mr J Gardner Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs L Baldry, Miss E D Barraclough, Mrs J Minto, Mr K Sproat and Mr M G Wood Staff Present T Graham, A Miller and S Owen 56 TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRES At the last meeting of the Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 28 May 2004 Members agreed to attend a site visit to the TIC’s in Workington, Cockermouth, Keswick, Silloth and Maryport to compare the services offered at the different Centres. Members of the Committee and the Public Services Manager attended the Site Visit on the 30 June 2004 and agreed to provide feedback to the Committee at the following meeting. Councillor J Armstrong provided a report with his feedback to the Committee and Members discussed this along with the feedback from the Public Services Manager and Members who attended the site visit and commented as follows:- • The TIC in Keswick was in a good central location with clear signage and a variety of retail displays which included an extensive range of ‘Made in Cumbria’ products to promote the area. • The location of the Cockermouth TIC was not central and it was suggested that visitors to the area may find it difficult to locate due to limited signage. A large map emphasising the Western Lakes and Coast was prominent in the centre but it did not include all of the Allerdale area including some vital routes. • The Workington TIC was in a central location with limited space and combined with the Council Office. Members did not believe that the signage was adequate and a wider variety of products was needed to include a ‘Made in Cumbria’ Brand. Members also discussed the most prominent location for the TIC and an area within the Workington Town Centre Redevelopment was suggested. • The Maryport TIC had recently relocated to the existing Town Hall on one of the main streets in Maryport. A major disadvantage of the location was the poor state of repair of some nearby properties. In addition to this, Page 3 Town and the retail selection was mainly limited to local souvenirs. • The Silloth TIC was situated on the main street of Silloth. The shop front was dedicated as a TIC with good information available and a basic range of retail goods but included no ’Made in Cumbria’ section, which was located in the Discovery Centre. Members discussed the possibility of relocating the TIC into the Discovery Centre (responsibility of Solway Rural Initiative) as this was a superbly restored building in a prime location on the main road leading to Silloth. It was suggested that this would make more financial sense to utilise the premises and staff, reduce operating costs and substantially increase the number of visitors to the Discovery Centre. Members of the Committee had a general discussion regarding whether or not TIC’s should be incorporated into existing council offices or located in the most beneficial areas for both locals and visitors. At the moment, due to limited space the TIC’s operated by the Council and located within existing council buildings restricted the product range available and the opening times. The Committees initial thoughts were that purpose built TIC’s would be more beneficial and successful as the location, signage and product would be chosen with the visitors in mind. The Public Services Manager reported that she had attended a meeting with the Cumbria Tourist Board (CTB) and discussed the Best Practice for TIC’s which included branding, marketing, and the best location. A report had been produced by the CTB. Members were advised that a new Communication and Marketing Officer had been recruited who would be involved in the development of a tourism strategy for the Council. The involvement of Members in developing the Strategy was discussed. The Committee also considered their Project Plan and compiled an interim report on their review of the service provided by the Council at the 3 TIC’s which included the scope, the people and stakeholders contacted and the base line data received so far. RESOLVED – That (a) The Interim report be considered by the Committee at a future meeting (b) The Public Services Manager provide the Cumbria Tourist Report on best practices for TIC’s and provide details of any customer satisfaction surveys that had been undertaken to a future meeting (c) The Portfolio holder be requested to attend the Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee to discuss T.I.C’s (d) Councillors C M Jackson and J Gardner be involved in discussions with staff regarding the development of a Tourism Strategy 57 EXECUTIVE MINUTES The Committee considered the draft minutes of the Executive held on 2 June and 30 June 2004. Page 4 Members expressed concern regarding minute number 34/2004/05 of the Executive Meeting held on 30 June 2004 entitled ‘Managing Residential Development to meet Housing Targets’ . The recommendation of the Executive was: ‘’That Council requested to approve the new Interim Housing Policy for development control purposes with immediate effect and targeted consultation, prior to consideration of its adoption as supplementary planning policy’’. RESOLVED – That (a) The minutes of the Executive held on 2 June 2004 be noted. (b) Minute number 34/2004/05 of the Executive Meeting held on 30 June 2004 entitled ‘Managing Residential Development to meet Housing Targets’ be called in for the following reason:- ‘’The Community Scrutiny Committee would like further clarification on the decision. The new Interim Housing Policy should be examined further to ascertain whether it is valid that new housing should be accepted in Workington, Maryport, Silloth and Aspatria rather than the whole of Allerdale on the limited base that has been accepted. Further consultation should be entered into with the interested parties.’’ 58 WORK PLAN The Committee considered their work plan to date. AGREED - That (a) The Democratic Services Administrator provide a report on the Committees findings of the Decriminalised Parking Enforcement Review at the next meeting of the Committee (b) The interim report on Tourist Information Centres and information requested be considered on 6th August 2004. 59 FORWARD PLAN Councillors were provided with the Forward Plan for the Period 1 July 2004 to 31 October 2004. AGREED – That the contents of the Forward Plan be noted. The meeting closed at 11.35 a.m. Page 5 This page is intentionally left blank Page 6 Agenda Item 6 COMMUNITY OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE – 23 JULY 2004 CALL-IN – MANAGING RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT TO MEET HOUSING TARGETS.