Agenda item

Report No: OAS/FH/16/020

The Committee received Report No: OAS/FH/16/020, which updated Members on the current status of its rolling work programme of items for scrutiny during 2016-2017 (Appendix 1). 

The Democratic Services Officer (Scrutiny) informed the Committee of two additional meetings which the Chairman had agreed to take place in October 2016:

-      Tuesday 4 October 2016, Joint Overview and Scrutiny meeting to be held at 6pm at West Suffolk House, Bury St Edmunds.  Item to be jointly considered - Devolution;

-      Thursday 20 October 2016, an Extraordinary Overview and Scrutiny Meeting to be held at 6pm at Forest Heath District Council.  Item to be considered -  Rural Transport.  Transport providers to be invited to the meeting to discuss the rural transport services provided, and their integration in Red Lodge

The Service Manager (Planning –Development) attended the meeting to update Members on the current positon of the New Housing Development Sites Joint Task and Finish  Group.  A briefing paper had been circulated to Members prior to the meeting, which provided an overview; highways adoption/maintenance conditions; and planning conditions and smarter corporate working. 

The Joint Task and Finish Group (the Group) was formed to look into the problems of adoption sometimes encountered on larger housing developments.  The adoptions related to both open space and highways matters.  Problems had been encountered in the past when houses were occupied before the promised open space or access roads had been completed and adopted.  The Group considered ways in which the Development Management Service and other corporate teams such as parks and SCC Highways could work smarter together to avoid these problems in the future with major housing schemes.

The introduction of standard conditions regarding adoption would improve the situation the Council currently had and the good practice of pre-application advice and the development team approach would also provide benefits to address the concerns raised by the Joint Task and Finish Group.  It was reported that whilst the adoption conditions for Highways had yet to be agreed across the Suffolk Authorities, officers would continue to work to achieve this.

The Service Manager (Planning –Development) confirmed that a final report including recommendations would be presented to the Committee on 15 September 2016.

Members considered the update from the Service Manager (Planning –Development) and asked a number of questions in relation to the work of the Joint Task and Finish Group to which responses were duly provided. 

The Committee noted the update on the current status of its forward work programme; the additional meetings schedule in October 2016 and the verbal update on the Joint Task and Finish Group.

Finally the Committee considered a “suggestion for Scrutiny attached at Appendix 2 to the Report, which had been submitted jointly by Councillor Chris Barker and Councillor Robin Millar, Cabinet Member for Families and Communities, suggesting the Committee considers looking at the “lack of parking enforcement”.

Councillor Chris Barker presented the suggestion to the Committee and advised members that Newmarket Town Council was looking at parking as well as the Transport Vision Group.  He explained that the recent press article had created some confusion, which was regrettable.  He questioned why the Council was not looking into taking over the responsibility of parking enforcement from the police.   He felt a decision needed to made as to whether the Council should take over parking enforcement.  He also advised the Committee that Newmarket had a problem with parking especially in the All Saints Ward.  

The Committee was asked to consider whether the issue presented would be appropriate for scrutiny, including potential outcomes and if added to the work programme to decide on appropriate timescales for future reporting.

The Director informed the Committee that the Public Sector Leaders in Suffolk had commissioned a report on civil parking enforcement, which included three options, with the findings to be presented in autumn 2016.

The Chairman felt that the suggestion form was not currently focused enough, and questioned whether the intention was just to focus on parking issues specifically in Newmarket, to which Councillor Chris Barker confirmed that the intention was solely to look at Newmarket.  

The Vice-Chairman informed the Committee that the Committee should not ideally be duplicating the work of others and the consideration of the future decriminalisation of parking was currently being considered by all Councils in Suffolk with the Police.  The Committee was informed in March 2016 by the Police and Crime Commissioner that they had not relinquished their responsibility regarding parking enforcement, just adjusted their resources and priorities. It was suggested that in order to be meaningful the suggestion form needed to be reworded and more specific.  If the issue was about not enough parking being available, that was another issue and the Council had a Parking Strategy in place.

A lengthy debate on the issue was held and taking into account information provided by Councillor Chris Barker, the Committee agreed that a reworded work programme suggestion form should be submitted to the Committee for further consideration in September 2016.     

With the vote being unanimous, it was

          RESOLVED

That a reworded suggestion form be completed by Councillor Chris Barker, with help from Councillors Ruth  Bowman and Brian Harvey so that the revised work programme suggestion contained more detail in relation to the issues faced in Newmarket.  .