Agenda item

Simon Walters, Director of Communities and Environment:

(a)       Presented a report which provided the Committee with an update on progress towards the ‘Let’s enhance our remarkable place’ strategy priority in Vision 2020.

(b)       Reported that the Remarkable Place Vision Group led on delivering the Council’s aspirations under the ‘Let’s enhance our remarkable place’ strategy priority which included:

·         let’s show the world what Lincoln has to offer;

·         let’s cherish and enhance our natural environment;

·         let’s preserve the unique character of our city;

·         let’s deliver a rich and varied cultural experience;

·         let’s provide interesting, exciting and vibrant places to enjoy.

(c)        Reported that the position statement attached to the report at Appendix A captured the ‘day to day’ work by the Council that was integral to delivering this strategic priority. This ensured that the current baseline was understood for delivering the priority and to recognise how staff across the authority had a role in delivering Vision 2020.

(d)       Highlighted that a Remarkable Place project monitoring table was appended to the report, which provided an overview of the projects being delivered in the first phase of the strategic priority.

(e)       Highlighted a number of key achievements in the first phase of Vision 2020, as set out in paragraph 5.3 of the report.

(f)        Reported that of the 15 projects included as part of the priority, one had already been completed, ten were on track for delivery, two had slightly slipped their milestones and two had either stalled or intentionally been put on hold to prioritise resources elsewhere. Those projects that had slightly slipped their milestones were:

·         the Birchwood Leisure Centre renovation project. Despite completion of the internal works and successful opening to the public, a number of works to the outside of the building were ongoing. This, in part, was due to discovery of asbestos in a number of locations;

·         the CCTV installation project. Despite successful implementation of the new CCTV system, the free public Wi-Fi system for the city centre had not yet become operational due to a need for further work to ensure General Data Protection Regulation and other data protection legal requirements compliance. A suitable partner company had been identified and was awaiting confirmation that the system they proposed was acceptable to the Council.

Those projects that had stalled or intentionally been put on hold were:

·         the project to explore options for a new leisure village. This was intentionally placed on hold to prioritise work on Birchwood Leisure Centre and Lincoln Transport Hub;

·         the Christmas lights replacement project. Despite successful delivery of phase one, talks were ongoing to secure agreement with partners regarding funding of phase two.

(g)       Highlighted that a monitoring table was attached to the report at Appendix C which provided an update on the Sincil Bank regeneration project. This was a large programme of work which cut across all four strategic priorities but was most closely aligned to the strategic priority of ‘let’s enhance our remarkable place’. The scheme had seen a number of successes over the last year, including development of the partnership-led Sincil Bank Place Shaping Strategy. Overseen by the Sincil Bank Revitalisation Partnership, three working groups had been created to drive forward the recommendations made in the Place Shaping Strategy.

(h)       Reported that, of 17 projects associated with the Sincil Bank regeneration project, 14 were on track for delivery and three had some slippage on their milestones which were:

·         the Portland Street houses in multiple occupation and Hermit Street project. This had been delayed following a dispute with a landlord regarding access rights which had delayed the project until a resolution could be identified;

·         the project to remove the damaged safety barriers at the High Street and Portland Street junction had been delayed due to Lincolnshire County Council prioritising resources to repair pot holes;

·         the project to identify a suitable community use of the former playground site at Archer Street had been delayed due to partner capacity issues.

(i)         Invited members’ questions and comments.

Comment: There had been lots of meetings in the community with regard to the Sincil Bank regeneration project and the community was really onside with what was being proposed for the area. The work being undertaking with the community was really commendable.

Question: In relation to the project to improve biodiversity in green spaces, were there any objectives in place as to how the volunteering aspect of the project could be improved? In addition, a comment was made that the planning process was not always as ‘green’ as it could be which sometimes did not assist with the wider objective of improving biodiversity in green spaces.

Response: All wildlife sites in the city had been surveyed and in total Lincoln had 50 individual wildlife sites allocated in its Local Plan, which accounted for 26% of the makeup of the city. The last time this assessment took place was 2006 so a lot of work was taking place to establish what had changed at each site since that last assessment. This had fed into management plans for those sites, which in turn would feed into the Council’s volunteering scheme to ensure that necessary works could take place as part of a programme of works. It was agreed that a list of the 50 wildlife sites would be circulated to members.

Question: Would the survey works be undertaken in a few months? There were lots of other green spaces in the city that were undeveloped. Were these being looking into and was there anything the Council could do with them in respect of biodiversity?

Response: A few months for the surveys to be completed was optimistic and it would take some time to ensure that each site was properly surveyed. This would be done as quickly as possible. In respect of the planning process, conversations should be taking place before the submission of a planning application to offset any detrimental impact associated with wildlife sites or other green areas.

Question: With regard to the city centre master plan, could something be done about empty shops to make them look more aesthetically pleasing?

Response: Lincoln BIG was seeking to address this issue. The city centre master plan would be rolled out this year, which would become a supplementary planning document providing it with more weight in planning terms.

Question: Would the Council achieve its offer of free Wi-Fi in the city?

Response: Most of the infrastructure was in place to achieve this, however, a number of issues needed to be addressed in response to the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulations to ensure that the Council was compliant. It was anticipated that free Wi-Fi would be available in the summer.

RESOLVED that the report be noted and referred to the Executive for consideration.