Agenda and minutes

Up to 15 minutes are allowed for public participation.  Participants are restricted to 3 minutes each.

There was no public participation.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the Prosperous Communities Committee held on 5 June 2018.

(a)          Meeting of the Prosperous Communities Committee – 5 June 2018.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Prosperous Communities Committee held on 5 June 2018 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Setting out current position of previously agreed actions as at 9 July 2018.

Members gave consideration to the Matters Arising Schedule which set out the current position of all previously agreed actions as at 9 July 2018.

Members’ attention was drawn to the Appendix which had been included and which related to reciprocal arrangements in respect of household recycling sites, in response to questions and comments posed at previous meetings.

RESOLVED that progress on the Matters Arising Schedule, as set out in the report be received and noted.

Members may make any declarations at this point but may also make them at any time during the course of the meeting.

Councillors Gillian Bardsley, Sheila Bibb, Owen Bierley and Paul Howitt-Cowan, all declared a personal non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 6 (ii) – Health Commission Review as they all sat on the Health Commission.

Councillor Owen Bierley made a further personal non-pecuniary declaration, in respect of this agenda item, in that he was also the West Lindsey Representative on the Rural Services Network and Age UK Lindsey, both of which were referenced within the report. In respect of the latter organisation, Councillor Bierley also declared that he was a Trustee and the Treasurer.

Members gave consideration to a report which presented the Customer First Programme – Strategy, Ethos and Transformational Journey, for endorsement.

In presenting the report Officers explained that the Council faced twin pressures to continually improve the services it offers to residents, businesses and visitors whilst at the same time trying to reduce its costs as budgets become tighter. In order to do this it was proposed that two principal methods were adopted. Firstly, that the council transformed the services which dealt directly with customers so that they put the customer at the heart of everything the Council did (the “customer centric organisation”) and secondly, where appropriate, it utilised technology to improve the overall speed and accuracy of the service the customer received at a cost that was sustainable and affordable in the long term.

This would be a major transformation programme and had the potential to deliver significant savings over the long term as well as greatly increase the levels of customer satisfaction with the Council.

Technology alone would not deliver the changes required, and work would be undertaken to address the culture of the organisation, including increased Leadership around the importance of the customer and investing in staff training.  A clear understanding of what the customer wanted would be established through the Customer Insight work being undertaken, and processes would be re-designed based on customer requirements.

Customers receiving consistent service delivery, every time they contacted the Council, regardless of how they made contact was also important.  Comments, Compliments and Complaints received would be made greater use of as a learning tool and used to improve processes.

Debate ensued and in responding to a Member’s comments all were in agreement that communication was key.  The Strategy which sat behind the Executive Summary contained much more detail.  Establishing regular communication points was a strategy to be employed and would avoid customers having to re-contact the Council for an update.

Members welcomed the Strategy and in doing so welcomed the fact that customers would be at the heart of service delivery.  It was commented that currently this was not the case for all teams across the board.

The need to include Elected Members in their Ward Councillor capacity and capture the information they gained and enquiries they dealt with was accepted and could be built into the Strategy as part of phase 3. The technological solutions would also assist with this.

In responding to Member’s comments regarding ensuring Council priorities aligned with Customer priorities and that consultation on any matter was undertaken in a meaningful way, Officers advised that a lot of work had been undertaken through the Customer Insight programme and data collected directly from the customer as to how they would wish to receive a service.  Staff’s operation and delivery knowledge had also been utilised to redesign processes but with the customer at the heart.  It was accepted that historically processes had been set around a service’s priorities, they were now being designed around the customer’s priorities using the information  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

Members of Committee gave consideration to a report regarding the work and progress of the Health Commission. Members were provided with the background to the Health Commission and it was explained that the Health Commission sought to be part of the solution to improving the health and wellbeing of communities in West Lindsey.

The Health Commission had been operational for sixteen months, Membership of the Commission was stable and working well, with individual members leading on the thematic areas as agreed and reporting back to the Commission.

Members were advised that it was apparent from work undertaken by the Health Commission and the Government’s agenda at a national level that there would be a continuing role for district councils to identify and promote the delivery for the health needs in their areas.

The experience of running the Health Commission for the last two years had been that it was benefiting the District by focusing on specific issues and helping partners understand the needs in West Lindsey.

The report therefore proposed that a further paper be brought to the Committee in the Autumn cycle of meetings on how the work the Commission had started could be continued through the establishment of a Strategic Health Partnership.

Debate ensued and at the request of a Member, the Chairman of the Health Commission summarised what had been achieved over the past 2 years, indicating that greater detail was contained in Appendix 2 of the report.  Assurance was sought that the Authority could achieve results in this area, with a Member citing a number of original drivers, for example access to GPs, where little progress had been made and service provision had continued to decline.

In responding it was acknowledged that a number of areas of concerns had continued and this was why there was a need to re-structure and re-focus the Group.  Establishing a Partnership would give those appointed the authority and mandate to keep pursuing and chasing partners to deliver the services the District needed.

Whilst not responsible for Health Services directly Members cited a number of ways in which they considered the Authority could influence Health internally, including ensuring major planning applications had to give consideration to health outcomes in their design and nature; and by creating a cycle plan for the District and ensuring the infrastructure for such was provided.  Such provision would go some way to underpinning healthy communities.

In responding Officers indicated their agreement, particularly in respect of planning applications and Members were advised that nationally the Town and Country Planning Association were driving an agenda to achieve just that.  The suggestion of including health outcomes within Committee reports could also be investigated. 

The Public Realm Working Group established by the Challenge and Improvement Committee was also assisting by auditing services such as bridle ways, cycle paths, sports fields etc, within local communities and its work had been influenced by and was supporting the Health Commission.

Members voiced their disappointment at some of the decisions taken by heath care  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

At their meeting in January 2018, the Committee had given consideration to a report which advised of an ongoing public consultation in respect of the Lincolnshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Management Plan 2018-2023 and at that meeting Members had been provided with a final opportunity to agree any additional comments to be included in the final consultation response.

The Committee were now asked to consider a report which presented the final version of the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB Management Plan 2018-2023 following the consultation period, for adoption.

In presenting the report, Officers outlined the process which had been undertaken in carrying out the review, noting that the final plan presented had now been endorsed by Lincolnshire Wolds Joint Advisory Committee (JAC) at their meeting on 12^th April 2018 and had been approved and validated by Natural England, the statutory consultee on all AONB and National Park matters.

The key changes to the Plan, as set out in Section 4.1 of the report were shared with Members, together with details of those Policies and Objectives which had been amended, as detailed in Section 4.3 of the report

Referring to the earlier debate regarding health and well-being, it was noted that the plan recognised the importance of the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy and this was considered as a key related strategy.

Members were supportive of the Plan and of investing, protecting and promoting the Lincolnshire Wolds.

RESOLVED that the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB Management Plan 2018-2023 be approved as the statutory plan for West Lindsey required by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.

Members gave consideration to a report which assessed the performance of the Council’s services and key projects through agreed performance measures, as at the end of Period 1.    Members were asked to review performance and recommend areas where improvements should be made, having regard to any remedial measures already included within the report.

The report summary was structured to highlight those areas that were performing above expectations, and those areas where there was a risk to either performance or delivery.

Areas described as performing well included:

*           Benefits

*           Economic Development and Town Centre Management

*           Garden Waste

*           Healthy District

*           Trinity Arts Centre

Those areas described as risks included:

*           Council Tax and NNDR.

*           Development Management

*           Enforcement

*           Home Choices

*           Markets

*           Regulatory Services 

Further information was given on each of the above.

Debate ensued and Members welcomed the revised format.  Much concern was expressed over the pro-active food inspections performance level and Members sought further information regarding the risks this posed, the extent of the problem, whether this was a resourcing issue and what a premise needed to do to achieve a 3 star plus rating. Clarification was also sought has to how, when and if the Audit Committee needed to be looking more closely at this area.

In responding the Executive Director of Operations, advised indication from the service was that the risk currently posed was not of too great a concern and the resources within the team were comparable to similar size authorities. Regarding the role of the Audit Committee, an audit plan was agreed at the beginning of year and was linked to issues identified in the AGS, if food inspections continued to remain an issue then an audit may be an option.  However the Challenge and Improvement Committee also had remit to further investigate service areas where performance had been poor over two consecutive periods.

In the absence of the Team Manager being present at the Meeting, the Executive Director of Operations undertook to provide Members with a full briefing note, regarding the service in response to the questions posed by Members.  This would be circulated outside of the meeting.

Concern was again expressed over the performance of the Market which continued to decline. It was suggested the inclusion of Direction of Travel indicators would also assist Members in better assessing performance. A Member sought indication of when this matter would be brought before the Committee and an update in respect of the ongoing Procurement process.

In response it was noted that the outcome of the procurement process was expected in the Autumn.  In hearing the response there was a brief discussion regarding what decisions the committee had previously made with some Members being of the belief the process had not been agreed by Members.  Assurance was offered that it had been agreed at a meeting in December 2017 that a procurement exercise to identify a market operator be undertaken. Officers had been undertaking the procurement process as requested,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

Members gave consideration to a report which sought approval to revoke West Lindsey District Council’s Supplementary Planning Guidance for Off Site Contributions For Affordable Housing, adopted March 2006 (2010 Tariff Update).

The reasons for the revocation were outlined within the report together with details of the Supplementary Planning documents which had been adopted by the Central Lincolnshire Joint Planning Committee on 25^th June 2018 and thus superseded the previous Affordable Housing SPG from 2006.

RESOLVED that the West Lindsey District Council’s Supplementary Planning Guidance for Off Site Contributions for Affordable Housing Adopted March 2006 (2010 Tariff Update) be revoked.

Consideration was given to a report which sought to appoint Member Champions for the 2018/19 civic year.

Historically Member Champions had been appointed by Council, at their Annual Meeting, however following changes to the Constitution, agreed by Council in May 17, the responsibility for appointing Champions, now sat within the remit of the relevant Policy Committee.

A further review of the role had been undertaken during 2017/2018 and the nominations put forward sought to enact those decisions reached at the end of the review, documented in a report to Prosperous Communities Committee on 2018.

The following Members had been nominated for the Member Champion roles that sat within the remit of the Prosperous Communities Committee:-

It was also noted that as part of the review, appointed Members Champions would be required to submit an update report on the work undertaken in their role every six months.

RESOLVED that:-

(a)     those Members named above and as detailed in Section 1.5 of the report be appointed as Member Champions for 2018/19; and

(b)     the information contained in section 2 of the report be noted, namely: -

*      Member Champions to provide a report for the West Lindsey Newsletter every 6 months; the first of these reports will be due for the January 2019 newsletter;

*      The appointments above to run until the next Annual Council meeting in May 2019.

*      A review of Member Champion roles be carried out every two years from May 2019. 

Members gave consideration to the Committee Work Plan.

In response to a Councillor’s request and following communications outside of the meeting, the Executive Director of Operations confirmed that the item entitled “South West Ward Waste Collections Review Scope” would be brought forward to the September meeting, not the October meeting as indicated.

RESOLVED that the workplan be received and noted, subject to the above amendment.