Public Document Pack A G E N D A OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE Monday 9 February 2015 at 6.30 pm Committee Room A, Town Hall, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 1RS Members: Councillor Rankin (Chairman), Councillors Hills (Vice-Chairman), Chapelard, Dawlings, Derrick, Gray, Hill, Ms Palmer, Rogers, Scholes, Waldock and Woodward Quorum 3 Members 1 Apologies for Absence Apologies for absence as reported at the meeting. 2 Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations of interest by Members in items on the agenda. For any advice on declarations of interest, please contact the Monitoring Officer. 3 Minutes of Previous Meetings (Pages 1 - 18) Minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting dated 1 December 2014 and the minutes of the special Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting dated 12 January 2015. The Chairman will move that the minutes of the previous meetings be signed as a correct record. The only issue relating to the minutes that can be discussed is their accuracy. Procedure rules applicable to all meetings Part 4, section 6. 4 Items Called in under Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 13 If there are any ‘Call-in’ items, details will have been circulated to Members under separate cover. 5 Chairman's Introduction 6 Relative Position of the West Kent Economy (Pages 19 - 40) Councillor Jane March, Portfolio-holder for Tourism, Leisure and Economic Development, and Hilary Smith, Economic Development Manager, will attend the meeting to provide an update on the work of the West Kent Partnership. Issued on Friday, 30 January 2015 Contact Officer: Mike McGeary, Democratic Services Officer Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Town Hall, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 1RS Telephone: 01892 554105 [email protected] 2 Their presentation will include the recently-commissioned Partnership report that examines the success or otherwise of West Kent in drawing in external resources to support economic development in West Kent and what might be done to attract additional investment. 7 Portfolio -holder Plans and Progress (Pages 41 - 46) Councillor Alan McDermott, Planning and Transportation Portfolio-holder, will attend the meeting to provide an update on his portfolio area. 8 Contract Management Procedures (Pages 47 - 52) Gary Stevenson, Head of Environment and Street Scene, and Paul Shipley, the new Contracts Manager, will attend the meeting, to explain the authority’s contract management procedures. 9 Key Decisions To consider a report on the issue of what defines a ‘key decision’, following the motion to full Council on 10 December 2014. (Report to follow) 10 Work Programme 2014/15 (Pages 53 - 54) 11 Date of the next meeting The next meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee will take place on Monday 13 April 2015 at 6.30pm. Please note that there is also a provisional date of Monday 23 February 2015 for a ‘co-located’ meeting with Maidstone and Swale Borough Councils, which will be held at Maidstone. William Benson Chief Executive All visitors wishing to attend a public meeting at the Town Hall between the hours of 9.am and 5.00pm should report to reception via the side entrance in Monson Way. After 5pm, access will be via the front door on the corner of Crescent Road and Mount Pleasant Road, except for disabled access, which will continue by use of an ‘out of hours’ button at the entrance in Monson Way. Notes on Procedure (1) Members seeking factual information about agenda items are requested to contact the appropriate Service Manager prior to the meeting. Agenda Item 3 1 OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE Monday, 1 December 2014 Present: Councillor Catherine Rankin (Chair) Councillors Hills (Vice-Chairman), Chapelard, Derrick, Gray, Hill, Ms Palmer, Scholes, Waldock and Woodward Officers in attendance: Lee Colyer (Finance Director), Holly Goring (Policy and Performance Manager) and Mike McGeary (Democratic Services Officer) Other member in attendance: Councillor Webb Member of public registered to speak: Tony Pawson Other member of public in attendance: Michael Doyle APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE OSC38/14 Apologies for absence were reported from Councillor Rogers. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST OSC39/14 There were no declarations made, within the provisions of the Code of Conduct for Members. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING OSC40/14 The minutes of the meeting dated 13 October 2014 were submitted. The Chairman, Councillor Rankin, referred to minute OSC28/14 – minutes of the meeting dated 11 August 2014 – under which Councillor Webb had queried the wording in respect of minute OSC89/13 (Call-in of Public Access Car Club). She advised that she had given Councillor Webb the opportunity to clarify his view but that, in the absence of such discussion, she felt the minutes of the 13 October meeting – whereby the Committee agreed the minutes of the call-in – should now be accepted as a true record. The Chairman provided a short update on minute OSC31/14 – Portfolio- holder plans and progress – under which Councillor March had reported. Councillor Chapelard had been absent from the October meeting; knowing of his concerns about the contractor’s maintenance standards in Grosvenor and Hilbert Park, the Chairman had raised this issue with Councillor March. The Chairman therefore asked Councillor Chapelard whether he was content with the proposed way forward. Councillor Chapelard advised that the contractor had been given a deadline of spring next year to ensure full compliance with the specification and it was therefore agreed that no further action was necessary at this stage. In respect of minute OSC14 – health overview and scrutiny – the Chairman reminded the Committee that there would be a member briefing taking place on Tuesday evening on the topic of ‘Health & the Clinical Commissioning Group’, presented by its Chairman, Dr Bob Bowes. The Chairman urged attendance at the briefing, which she felt would benefit Committee members in their Overview and Scrutiny responsibilities. Page 1 Agenda Item 3 2 Finally, in respect of minute OSC34/14 – electoral review – the Chairman advised that the recommendations of this Committee had been accepted by the full Council. She added that it would therefore be necessary for the Electoral Review Task and Finish Group to meet and progress the further actions necessary, before it reported back to the full Council in the Autumn 2015. Councillor Rankin then invited the Vice-Chairman, Councillor Hills, to provide a short update on the work of the Mid-Kent Improvement Partnership (MKIP) Joint Task and Finish Group. Councillor Hills explained that the Task and Finish Group was reviewing two specific issues within the Group’s remit, namely governance and communications. Councillor Hills reported that, so far, the Group had held five evidence- gathering sessions, with a further meeting scheduled for the following week. He advised that the main purpose of that meeting was to formulate a set of recommendations acceptable to the Group’s members from the three partnership authorities, namely: Maidstone, Swale and Tunbridge Wells. A full report would then be drafted and agreed, before being presented to the tripartite meeting of the three Overview and Scrutiny Committees, arranged for Monday 12 January 2015. RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Committee meeting held on 13 October 2014 be approved as a correct record. ITEMS CALLED IN UNDER OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY PROCEDURE RULE 13 OSC41/14 There were no items which had been called in that required discussion. SEWERAGE CAPACITY AND NEW DEVELOPMENT OSC42/14 The Vice-Chairman, Councillor Hills, had led the task and finish group appointed to examine the general issue of foul and surface water drainage in the Borough. He explained that the matter had been brought to the Committee’s attention by Mr Pawson, Chairman of the Warwick Park Area Residents’ Association and their concerns about issues affecting residents in their area. Councillor Hills wished to thank the former Overview and Scrutiny officers involved in writing the report, namely Ben Bix and Neil White. He added that, although the report had taken some time to evolve, the recommendations had identified practical ways to address the issues that had created the past problems. It was therefore important to ensure these recommendations were carried through, he emphasised. The Chairman stressed the importance of the group’s work, explaining that it had not been clear how issues of sewerage capacity had been approached historically. Attention was drawn to the recommendations of the task and finish group, set out on page 11 of the agenda papers. Councillor Webb, who had registered to speak on this item, addressed the Committee. He felt that, while the recommendations would help to address Page 2 Agenda Item 3 3 the issues raised, they were not being directed to the right people or authorities, as they were not all within the ambit of the Planning Committee. The Chairman said that Councillor Webb had mis-read the recommendations and that only (A)(1) and (2) were directed towards the Planning Committee. Mr Tony Pawson, Chairman of the Warwick Park Area Residents’ Association, who had first raised the issue of sewerage capacity in the Warwick Park area of Tunbridge Wells, had also registered to speak at the meeting. He summarised the problems being caused to residents by the inadequate sewerage system and the unsatisfactory response he had received from Southern Water. His request for Borough Council support for the affected property-owners was in two parts: (i) help in applying pressure on Southern Water to address the problem; and (ii) in respect of the wider issue, securing a commitment that, where new development was approved, a planning condition should be applied, requiring additional sewerage capacity to be provided, to prevent further overloading of existing pipework; this, Mr Pawson added, was not least because it was an old, ‘combined’ system, that had to accommodate both foul and surface water.