Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 22 June 2021 be confirmed.

Please note that, in accordance with the Members' Code of Conduct, when declaring interests members must disclose the existence and nature of the interest, and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) or personal and/or pecuniary.

Councillor Thomas Dyer declared a Personal Interest with regard to the agenda item titled 'Central Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee/Local Plan Annual Report 2020/21'. Reason: He sits on the Central Lincs Joint Planning Committee

Toby Forbes Turner, Planning Policy Manager:

a)    presented members with an annual report detailing work undertaken by the Central Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee (CLJSPC) over the period 1 April 2020 through to 31 March 2021

b)    explained that the Joint Planning Committee reached its eleventh year over the course of 2020/21. This year had been very challenging due to the Covid-19 pandemic which had significantly impacted on the local plan process, but more importantly on the planning and development sector, introducing uncertainty over what would be deliverable in the short term and what measures were necessary to address Covid-19 in local plans

c)    reported that substantial progress had been made with the development of the plan which had led to the Consultation Draft Local Plan being produced ready for public consultation starting the end of June 2021

d)    highlighted the following progress in 2020/21:

·         the Local Plans Team Annual Report

·         the Local Plan Progress Update; and

·         the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan Budget Update

e)    explained that in the coming year, it was anticipated that the local plan would enter the final stages of the plan-making process. This included:

·         commencing the Regulation 18 Consultation on the Draft Local Plan in the summer, subject to approval by the Committee.

·         consideration of the responses and amending the plan where needed.

·         finalising the plan and supporting evidence.

·         seeking approval from the Committee for the submission version of the plan before undertaking the final Regulation 19 public consultation; and

·         submission of the plan for examination.

f)     reported that the budget for 1020/21 was set out in Appendix 1 of the report which represented the second year of a three year budget approved by members of the Joint Planning Committee on the 13^th January 2020, which was designed to ensure that the joint partnership was adequately supported to facilitate the Local Plan making process. Overall, the Local Plans budget was in a healthy position.

g)    invited members’ comments and questions.

Question: Members asked what Lincolnshire County Council was contributing.

Response: Originally £30k-£40k was contributed but instead of a monetary contribution, Lincolnshire County Council offered officer time/contributions.

Question: Members asked whether the consultation process was easy to comment on and how many comments were received from the public.

Response: The Local Plan consultation process met the statutory guidelines for consultation. Members of the public were able to write in or call. Last time there was a consultation on the Local Plan there were circa 3500 comments from the public.

Question: Members asked if any face to face consultation would be taking place.

Response: Face to face consultation was not needed this time and there were not the resources to do so. If a member of the public had a specific query, they could request to speak to an officer.

Question: Members asked if the budget could be reduced.

Response: The budget was reviewed on a partnership basis. There were different aspects of the process that would cost more than others. The budget would look different  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Councillor Chris Burke, Portfolio Holder for Customer Experience and Review:

a)    presented a report to Performance Scrutiny Committee covering the following main points:

-       High Performing Services – the Council had been doing all it could to minimise the effects of the financial and Covid-19 pandemic related challenges that it faced for residents. Services were prioritised to ensure that effective and efficient services were delivered to all.

During 2019/21 the Council had been working on plans for the ‘One Council’ approach, which would replace the current ‘High Performing Services’ theme in the next phase of Vision 2025

-       General Performance – this was to ensure that there was a process for producing good quality key operational data that was available to those who needed it on a regular basis

-       Local Performance Management Framework – this was to ensure that appropriate measures were in place to monitor performance. The framework was due to be reviewed in 2021/22 and would incorporate a move towards a more performance driven culture

-       The Performance and Information Management System – this system was successfully launched at the end of 2018/19. Performance targets were reviewed annually to reflect changes in the marketplace as well as current outturn achievements.

-       Quarterly Performance Monitoring – the Council reported through a quarterly performance report which covered around 70 strategic measures, some quarterly and some annual. During the early stages of the pandemic in 2020 it was difficult for some services to provide numerical performance information as they were initially invoking emergency plans and then gradually completing recovery plans.

-       Lincoln City Profile – the profile painted a unique picture of what it was like to live and work in Lincoln. It contained eight chapters containing statistical data on the following subjects:

o   Population

o   Education

o   Economy

o   Housing

o   Welfare

o   Crime

o   Health

o   Environment (including climate change)

-       Audit Arrangements – the latest annual Internal Audit Report (2020/21) established that overall, the Council was performing well across areas of governance, risk and internal financial control and performing adequately on internal control.

-       Democratic and Electoral Services – the Electoral Services Team successfully delivered a complex set of elections on 6 May 2021 whilst adhering to Covid-19 restrictions.

The temporary legislation which allowed formal meetings of the Council to be held virtually came to an end in early May 2021. The Democratic Services Team had made arrangements for a number of in-person committee meetings since the lifting of the temporary legislation.

-       Business Development and IT – throughout the pandemic the focus of the Business Development and IT Team had been in sustaining business as usual, but with extra support provided to the Authority’s by the Covid-19 pandemic response. Within days of the first lockdown being announced, nearly all staff were able to work remotely and continue to deliver services.

-       Customer Services -  the team had maintained an accessible service for customers throughout the restrictions that had been in place and had ensured that residents  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

Councillor Bob Bushell, Portfolio Holder for Remarkable Place:

a)    presented a report to Performance Scrutiny Committee covering the following main points:

-       Allotments – across all allotment sites, occupancy had remained high, with the occupancy level of lettable allotment plots hovering consistently around 97%.

-       Equipped Play Areas – the Council continued to maintain 28 equipped play areas across the city, ensuring that British Standards were maintained at all times for installation, inspections and maintenance.

-       Parks and Open Spaces – three Green Flag Awards had been achieved in 2020.

-       Boultham Park – the main restoration of Boultham Park was completed in 2019 but there were one or two outstanding tasks to finish before the project could officially be declared at closed. These were planned for 2020 and were delayed due to Covid-19 and were planned to be completed during 2021.

-       Hartsholme Country Park and Camp Site – Covid-19 impacts had taken a toll on Hartsholme in a way that had not been seen at other parks. Not only had visitor numbers risen so high that significant additional damage had been seen to pathways and general infrastructure, but it had been necessary to close the Visitor Centre and Caravan/Camp Site in line with government guidance.

-       Commons – further and ongoing work was hoped to take place to refresh the Commons Management Plan and associated work programme, but this was subject to progress on other work streams and the availability of suitable staff.

-       Arboriculture – in 2020 the Council dealt with 1094 tree ‘cases’, some of which were small, but many were larger complex cases in relation to planning issues

-       Travellers – last year saw four unauthorised encampments on parks (2 on the South Common, 1 at the Lawn and 1 at Skellingthorpe Field). Whilst the number was half that of the previous year, the time stayed was much longer in some cases due to lockdown.

-       Street Scene – this included the provision and maintenance of street name plates, bus shelters and art installations. The city currently had 111 bus shelters (66 Adshell/ 45 City Council) and 16 art installations of varying sizes.

-       Waste/Recycling – the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership had been active this year in the delivery of the action plan underpinning the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy for Lincolnshire. This document prioritised the work which drove change for waste services across the country and ensured a joined-up approach was taken, so reducing any risks of confusion.

Domestic general (residual) waste disposed of had increased by around 9.9%, with the average household disposing of an average 137kg per quarter, compared with 125kg in the previous year.

The number of residents using the garden waste service was 15,415 at the end of March 2020, compared with 15,841 the previous year.

-       Street Cleansing – Fly tipping continued to be an issue this year in certain areas of the city. The Sincil Bank area had been the area of highest demand, although fly tipping had become  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.