Agenda item

Councillor Naomi Tweddle, Portfolio Holder for Inclusive Economic Growth:

a)    presented a report to Performance Scrutiny Committee covering the areas:

·         Climate Change

·         Inclusive Economic Growth

·         Innovation and Inward Investment

·         Cornhill Market and City Square

·         Public Realm

·         Regeneration

·         Small Business Support

·         Tourism and Marketing

·         Infrastructure

·         Heritage

·         Development Management

·         Building Control

·         Planning Policy

·         Car Parks and Parking

·         Events in Lincoln

b)    invited members’ comments and questions

Question: How was the footfall at the Lincoln Live event monitored? Could the footfall of 60,0000 people have included people who were walking past the event as well as those who were actively engaged with the event?
Response: The footfall was monitored by the CCTV system, which counted everyone who passed through the Cornhill. A lot of people walked through the event and engaged with it. There was a lot of social media engagement for the event, with a reach of 280,000 on Facebook. Satisfaction survey results were still being returned, there had so far been 150 responses with a 91% satisfaction rate. The survey results could be shared with members once they were collated.
Question: Could better footfall data be recorded for those stood watching the event?
Response: This would discussed with Officers in the CCTV team for future events.
Question: Was there comparable footfall data for the city centre, which  compared 2022 to 2023 over the weekend of Lincoln Live?
Response: This could be provided following the meeting.
 
Question: What was the district heat network proposal for the Western Growth Corridor?
Response: A heat map had been produced by Local Authorities to identify where heat was coming from. There were two companies interested in utilising the heat and providing a more sustainable heat network. A policy would be produced to provide information on the district heat network.

Question: Would it be compulsory for new properties to be linked to the ground source heat pumps?
Response: It was still in its early stages so could not be confirmed at the moment, however, we would expect it to be mandatory for properties on the Western Growth Corridor Development. Sustainable energy and heating was a good selling point.

Question: What was the current situation with funding for the spine road for the Western Growth Corridor?
Response: The project was on the programme for Homes England and discussions were taking place to obtain funding.
Question: If Homes England decided not to provide funding then how would the spine road be funded?
Response: There were some other options available such as securing investment via the development or the Strategic Highways Authority and paying back over time.

Question: The report stated that “the Council should look to the future with regard to the relationship between parking in the City and supporting and encouraging sustainable modes of transport. What did this mean?
Response: The Council would be looking at car parks and how sustainable transport could work alongside them to future proof the City. For example the structure of the old car parks needed to be considered as electric vehicles were significantly heavier. 

Question: Would the Council be proposing to introduce an Ultra Low Emissions Style congestion charge as part of the sustainable transport objectives?
Response: No, there was no proposal to introduce this.

Question: How many people had visited the Visitor Information Centre since May 2023?
Response: The figures could be provided following the meeting.

Question: Had there been any issues regarding hospital visitors using the Greetwell Place car park?
Response: The staff at Greetwell place had the vehicle registration details of the tenants and their visitors. Spot checks did take place during normal working hours.

Question: What was the budget for the 2024/25 Lincoln Events Programme?
Response: The budget had not been set yet and would be confirmed in January 2024. At the moment we were working to the same budget as 2023/24, if more money was required it would be requested via the budget process.

Comment: The temporary traffic lights for the Western Growth Corridor works were not in sync.
Response: Smart cameras were used to keep the traffic flowing, if someone ran the red light, it took time to re set and caused delays on the timer. The camera re set due to safety reasons.

Question: What did ‘digital city’ mean?
Response: The Council had been working with partners to encourage investment into upgrading digital connection speeds, coverage, accessibility and affordability. This was an ambition of the Council and a huge amount of from companies was required investment to achieve this. This digital strategy would be refreshed in due course.

Question: Tourists tended to focus on the Cathedral and Castle rather than other heritage sites in the City. How could we better promote other heritage assets?
Response: Work was being undertaken to look at how we could make the best use of the heritage assets in the City. There was a lot of scope and potential and this was an area of focus.

Question: Could more information be provided on the City Centre Greening?
Response: A piece of work was ongoing to look at improving existing green spaces and also the creation of new city centre greening. A consultation would be undertaken in due course.

Question: Who was responsible for implementing the district heat network?
Response: It would depend on the business. The Councils role was to facilitate businesses where it made sense to do so.

Comment: There had been good feedback from the Lincoln Live event and it was good to give local artists an opportunity to perform.
Response: It was important to support local artists.

Question: There was a poor quality of services/events on offer at the Cornhill, who owned the land and ran the events?
Response: The Council owned the land and it was leased to Lincoln BIG. For the summer holiday period, BIG had leased the area for 3 years to a Lincoln company who have placed activity in the area. There was one year left on the lease and concerns had been expressed to Lincoln BIG regarding the quality of the events on offer.

Question: Was the Western Growth Corridor currently on schedule and within budget?
Response: Yes, it was a fixed price contract and was ahead of programme.

Question: When was the work on the Western Growth Corridor bridges due to commence?
Response: The work would commence in June 2024 and would be completed in 2025.

Question: The central market was due to open in September but was still not complete. When would it open?
Response: There was 6 weeks of rain which delayed the external work. The market would open in time for the Christmas trading period.
Question: Would there be an opening ceremony for the market?
Response: Yes, there would be an opening ceremony and invites would be sent out shortly.

Question: How were the objectives in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy being monitored and achieved?
Response: There was work ongoing to develop some KPI’s based on the data which would be published in due course.

Questions: Had residents been involved in the Council Parking Strategy consultations?
Response: The Citizens Panel had been sent a survey on the car park strategy, there had also been consultation with car park users. There had been a good response rate and the results were currently being collated.

Question: Could a wide range of genres be included in the Lincoln Live event such as folk music and brass bands?
Response: Yes, a wide variety of music would be considered for future events.

Comment: It was important for the report to include performance measures. Could some more performance measures be developed?
Response: Proposals for performance measures could be developed and presented to a future Performance Scrutiny Committee. It wasdifficult to identify measures on economic development as success was often around the outcomes.

Question: The overall percentage utilisation of all car parks was showing red, what did this mean?
Response: The graph showed that the income from car parks was ahead of budget, however the utilisation of the car parks was not at the same stage as before the pandemic.

Question: Had the introduction of the residents car parking scheme in the Sincil bank been assessed to see the impact on car park usage in the City?
Response: The residents parking scheme was implemented on 1^st September 2023. Anecdotally more parking season tickets had been issued however this had not been reconciled yet.

Question: How much did it cost to equip staff to work from home?
Response: There was an initial significant investment to equip staff to work from home at the start of the covid outbreak and hence was funded at that time. The council continued to see the benefits of that investment,
Question: What was the impact of staff working from home and would it continue?
Response: The workforce and organisation development team was undertaking a piece of work on this. Nationally those Councils that offered hybrid working had better staff recruitment and retention rates.

Comment: There was a lack of performance data included in the report in relation to the UKSP Fund, Towns Fund and the Western Growth Corridor. This needed to be reported to Performance Scrutiny Committee.
Response: These would be incorporated into the quarterly monitoring report once appropriate measures had been agreed.

RESOLVED that the report be noted with thanks.