Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2019 be confirmed.

Parking on Grass Verges

The Legal and Democratic Services Manager advised that she had spoken with the relevant Officers regarding a potential report to Policy Scrutiny Committee on parking on grass verges/fields. She explained the current process eg. when an issue was raised, Officers would write to the local residents and if the problem continued further action such as bollards etc would be considered. The Tenancy Services Manager had recently undertaken some ward walks with Members, including Councillor Metcalfe, to identify issues. At present there was no policy, nor an intention to introduce one, and it was felt by officers that it could not be fully scrutinised at this time.

Members discussed the issues and stressed that the continued problems occurred in all grassed areas in the City. The bus companies had stopped services through some estates as the buses could not get through due to vehicles parked on the verges. They proposed that a report be brought to committee to discuss the options available.

The Strategic Director Communities and Environment responded that there would be different solutions to the issues in different areas but remained a resource intensive piece of work. He suggested in line with Member direction, that a position statement be brought to a future meeting of the Policy Scrutiny Committee, which was agreed. 

Councillor Pat Vaughan declared a Personal Interest with regard to the agenda item titled 'Acquisition Policy Addendum'. Reason:His granddaughter worked in the Finance Section of the City of Lincoln Council

The Assistant Director of Housing Investment and Strategy

a.    presented the Council’s Acquisition Policy and explained that it was implemented in June 2019.

b.     advised that a more streamlined process was required for the acquisition of private dwellings which were not former local authority dwellings, but were of strategic importance to the Council.

c.    added that now the Policy was in use, minor changes to the Acquisition Policy were required and asked for Policy Scrutiny Committees comments prior to submission to Executive.

d.    detailed the proposed amendments to Section 3 and Section 4 of the Acquisition Policy as detailed at paragraph 3.1 of the report and advised that these changes would bring the Policy in line with the process of acquiring former council dwellings.

e.    highlighted some minor amendments to the report since  it was published.

f.     invited members questions and comments.

Comment – This was a good policy and it was important to buy freehold properties.

Response – The Council would consider buying leasehold properties but only if they were within a building that the Council already owned.

Question – Asked for clarification on the right to first refusal on a property?

Response – The right to first refusal only applied to former Council properties that were purchased under the right to buy scheme and the property was put on the market within 5 years.

Question – Would the properties be used for lettings or for the homeless?

Response – They would be used for both, some would be used for temporary accommodation for families instead of using B&B’s.

RESOLVED that the proposed minor policy and process amendments to the Acquisition Policy be supported and referred to Executive for approval.

The Strategic Director of Communities and Environment

a.    presented the proposed interim Air Quality Action Plan for comments prior to referral Executive.

b.    advised that the City of Lincoln Council currently had one declared Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA), which was in place due to non-compliance with the national annual mean air quality objective for nitrogen dioxide, a road traffic related pollutant.

c.    explained that when a local authority had declared an AQMA, it had a duty to produce an air quality action plan (AQAP) aimed at improving pollution levels within the AQMA. The Council’s current AQAP was produced in 2006 and required updating to reflect the current air quality challenges within the city.

d.    advised that due to the ongoing review of the Lincoln Transport Strategy (LTS) led by Lincolnshire County Council, it was proposed that an interim Air Quality Action Plan would be published detailing those measures that could be implemented, irrespective of the outcomes of the LTS review.

e.    advised that when the LTS was complete it was proposed to review the AQAP to seek to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by the updated LTS.

f.     highlighted the key priorities of the interim Air Quality Action Plan as detailed at paragraph 4.7 of the report.

g.    advised that due to the close association between air quality and climate change, the City Council’s Low Carbon Task Force had provided a steering group role in terms of developing the interim Action Plan. It was proposed that the group would oversee the implementation and monitoring of the actions contained within the proposed interim Action Plan.

h.    advised that Equality and Diversity had been considered and the report to Executive would be updated to reflect this,  also an Equality Impact Assessment would be produced for each action on interim Air Quality Action Plan.

i.      invited members questions and comments.

Comment – Staff should be encouraged to cycle to work.

Response -  There was a cycle to work scheme where staff could purchase a bike and the payment would be deducted from their wages over a year.

Question – Would areas around schools and nursery’s where there was standing traffic be a focus point to be looked at?

Response – Only the area in Broadgate exceeded the national limits and this was only at certain times of the day. The Lincoln Transport Strategy would make a significant difference to the traffic movement in the city and this policy would be reviewed once the Lincoln Transport Strategy was in place.

Question – Referred to priority 2 and asked how would taxi drivers be encouraged to use lower emissions vehicles as this would be expensive.

Response – It would be a requirement over a period of time.

Question – Could there be a limit on heavy goods vehicles going through the City Centre?

Response – It could be considered by the County Council as part of the Lincoln Transport Strategy once the by-pass was in place.

Comment – The  cycle infrastructure needed improving  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

The Vice-Chair of Policy Scrutiny Committee updated members of the business that had been discussed at the Health Scrutiny meeting held on 10 July 2019 these were:

·         United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust – Update on Care Quality Commission Inspection.

·         United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust – Children and Young Persons Services Update.

·         Mental Health, Learning Disability & Autism Services – Case Change for Emerging Options.

·         General Practise Access and Demand.

·         Glebe Medical Practice Consultation on Proposal to Close Skellingthorpe Health Centre.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Democratic Services Officer:

a.    presented the report ‘Policy Scrutiny Work Programme 2019-20 and Executive Work Programme Update’.

b.    presented the Executive Work Programme August 2019 – August 2020.

c.    requested councillors to submit what items they wished to scrutinise from the Executive Work Programme and policies of interest.

d.    invited members questions and comments.

RESOLVED that:

1.    a Position Statement on Parking on Grass verges be added to the work programme.

2.    the work Policy Scrutiny work programme be noted.

3.    the Executive work programme be noted.