Agenda and minutes
Venue: Council Chamber. View directions
Contact: Democratic Services
Media
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Apologies To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: The Vice-Chair in Chair, Councillor Aldam gave best wishes on behalf of the Committee to the Chair, Councillor Brine and his family. She continued and provided an update on the Cost of Living progress since the last Full Council and explained that a plan had been produced which included six main areas (customer enquiries, mapping gaps, Parish and Town Councils, warm spaces, Household Support Fund, Comms and Tenants Resilience). Finally, she referred the Committee to the printed handout of the Stroud Arts Festival Limited report in front of them who were also looking for Trustees.
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Brine, Craig, Hall, J Jones and Oxley.
As Councillor Brine had provided his apologies for the meeting, Councillor Aldam proceeded as Vice-Chair in Chair for the meeting. |
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Declaration of Interests To receive declarations of interest.
Minutes: There were none.
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To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 15 September 2022. Minutes: RESOLVED That the Minutes of the meeting held on 15 September 2022 were approved as a correct record.
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Public Question Time The Chair of the Committee will answer questions from members of the public submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.
Minutes: There were none.
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Member Questions See Agenda Item 4 for deadlines for submission. Minutes: There were none.
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Performance Monitoring Q1 PDF 310 KB To review the Performance Monitoring Report for Q1. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Robinson asked for an update relating to the Service Level Agreement for Citizens Advice. The Strategic Director of Communities confirmed it had been signed.
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Performance Monitoring Q2 PDF 364 KB To review the Performance Monitoring Report for Q2. Minutes: There were no questions relating to Performance Monitoring Q2.
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Community Services and Licensing Committee Budget Monitoring Q1 2022/23 PDF 171 KB To present the 2022/23 forecast outturn position against the revenue budgets and Capital Programme that the Committee is responsible for, in order to give an expectation of possible variances against budget. Additional documents: Minutes: The Accountant advised Committee that the report had been delayed to December Committee from September as a result of the period of National Mourning following Her Majesty the Queens death. The report outlined the outturn budget variants as at the 30 June 2022.
The following answers were provided to questions asked by Members:
Proposed by Councillor Robinson and Seconded by Councillor Prenter.
On being put to the vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.
RESOLVED To note the outturn forecast for the General Fund Revenue budget and the Capital Programme for this Committee.
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Community Services and Licensing Budget Monitoring Report Q2 2022/23 PDF 192 KB To present the 2022/23 forecast outturn position against the Revenue Budget and Capital Programme that the Committee is responsible for in order to give expectation of possible variances against the budget.
Additional documents: Minutes: The Accountant introduced the report and advised Committee of the forecast return as of the 30th September 2022 and brought Members attention to paragraph 3.2 relating to the gas and electric costs of the Council, including the sport centres as direct result of the Cost of Living crisis. She continued and advised that SDC are liable for and additional charge over the benchmarked consumption at Stratford Park Leisure Centre.
The below answered were given in response to Councillor Prenter’s questions:
Councillor Edmunds asked on progress on Kingshill House Business Plan. The Accountant advised she would contact the Property Manager if there was any further update and circulate outside of Committee.
Proposed by Councillor Edmunds and Seconded by Councillor Robinson.
On being put to the vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.
RESOVLED To note the outturn forecast or the General Fund Revenue Budget and the Capital Programme for this Committee.
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To present to the committee the revised estimated for 2022/23 and original estimated for 2023/24.
Additional documents:
Minutes: The Accountant introduced the report and highlighted the key variances which included increased energy costs to SDC which included the Leisure Centres and Museum in the Park, any proposed budget adjustments and fees and charges growth of 5% in line with the Budget Strategy for 2023/24 (unless dictated in statue).
Councillor Edmunds queried what progress had been made for securing additional funding for the Lido. The Interim Head of Community Services advised quotes were being obtained relating to the immediate essential work that was required at the Lido which would then allow SDC to apply for additional funding.
Councillor Crews advised the Friends of the Lido continued to ask for longer seasonal hours. The Interim Head of Community Services advised the Task and Finish Group would be reformed in January ahead of the forthcoming season.
Proposed by Councillor Robinson and Seconded by Councillor Edmunds.
On being put to the vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.
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Vehicle Emissions Policy for Taxi and Private Hire Vehicles for consultation PDF 136 KB Committee to consider an Interim Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Emissions Policy as proposed by the Taxi Emissions Task and Finish Group and to approve it prior to formal consultation. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Licensing Manager advised Committee the report aligned with the Council Plan to consider moving from an age condition to emission condition policy for Taxi and Private Hire Vehicles. The current policy stated a vehicle could not be more than 5 years old on first licence and could be renewed up to 10 years old with wheelchair accessible, electric and Elite vehicles being exempt from the age policy.
The Task and Finish Group recommended an interim measure policy based on Euro 6 compliance (latest compliance level for vehicle emissions from 2015 car registrations onwards) on renewal of the licence and to remove the current exemption for Elite vehicles. The group recognised there currently was not the Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure in the district, there were higher costs to purchasing electric vehicles and there was limited second hand purchase availability to enforce mandatory electric taxi and private hire vehicles at this current time. The group also recommended new wheelchair accessible vehicles licences be exempt from the 5 year age policy on first licence but must be Euro 6 compliant and there would be no change to any existing wheelchair accessible licenses. The report sought approval for consultation and to report the findings in March 2023.
In response to Councillor Prenter’s question, the Licensing Manager confirmed Uber did not operate in Stroud and they would be required to operate using an operator licence or use a neighbouring authorities operating licence to expand into Stroud.
Proposed by Councillor Prenter and Seconded by Councillor Edmunds.
On being put to the vote, the Motion was passed unanimously.
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CCTV in Taxi and Private Hire Vehicles PDF 101 KB Consider the results of the survey on whether there are local circumstances that would make it proportionate to impose mandatory CCTV in Stroud licensed taxi and private hire vehicles. Additional documents: Minutes: The Licensing Manager advised the report had been produced following a recommendation from the Department of Transport for Licensing Authorities to consult on whether CCTV should be mandatory in Taxi and Private Hire Vehicles. A public consultation was undertaken in the Summer where 63% of respondents agreed CCTV would improve public safety. Several comments raised concerns around privacy for both the passengers and drivers and taxi drivers raised concerns regarding the cost for purchasing CCTV. A question regarding if there ‘were local circumstances to make it proportionate to impose mandatory CCTV’ was inconclusive with respondents split equally on their responses as 50% ‘yes’ and 50% ‘no’. The reports decision therefore recommended that there was not enough strong local evidence to make CCTV mandatory and to review and reinforce the current optional CCTV policy.
In response to Members questions, the Licensing Manager responded with:
Proposed by Councillor Tucker and Seconded by Councillor Prenter.
Councillor Tucker commended the report and gave thanks to the Officers involved. He continued and recommended that an annual report is provided to Committee regarding the welfare of Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle drivers.
On being put to the vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.
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Appointments |
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Appointment to Know Your Patch Minutes: Two nominations were received from Councillor Cornell and Drury-Layfield who were duly appointed.
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Appointment to Woodchester Park Mansion Minutes: A nomination for the second appointment was received from Councillor Pearcy who was duly appointed.
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Member/Officer Reports (To Note) |
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Museum in the Park (Cowle Trust) PDF 754 KB Minutes: The Member report had circulated prior to Committee. There were no further questions raised.
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Police and Crime Panel PDF 107 KB Minutes: The Member report had circulated prior to Committee.
Councillor Robinson advised he spoke with the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) as Chair of the Gloucestershire Panel who advised they would appreciate SDC’s Community Safety Partnership to draw down on the funding provided to them on rollout of SOLACE in rural areas for an Officer to be responsible for persistent anti-social behaviour.
Councillor Edmunds asked Councillor Robinson regarding funding available for speed watching. Councillor Robinson advised funding was available for Parish and Towns where they do not already have a speed indicator display, however Parish and Towns can apply for free of charge for the ’20 is plenty’ signs from the Road Safety Partnership at Gloucestershire County Council. He continued and advised the office of the PCC had funding for Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras.
Councillor Tucker informed Committee the formal rollout of the new Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership were meeting on the 2 December and he would provide a report to Committee.
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Citizens Advice Minutes: There was no update to provide.
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Mental Health Champions PDF 1 MB Minutes: The Member report had circulated prior to Committee. There were no further questions raised.
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Additional documents: Minutes: The Member report had circulated prior to Committee. There were no further questions raised.
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Woodchester Park Mansion PDF 86 KB Minutes: The Member report had circulated prior to Committee.
Councillor Edmunds asked for more information relating to the concerns on the bats. Councillor Robinson advised it was linked to the energy cost and there being no funding from Natural England to keep the area heated.
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Progress update on Stroud Lido PDF 95 KB Minutes: The Member report had circulated prior to Committee. There were no further questions raised.
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Progress on Local Authority Trading Company (LATC) Information Sheet PDF 92 KB Minutes: The Member report had circulated prior to Committee. There were no further questions raised.
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To consider the work programme. Minutes: The Vice-Chair in Chair, Councillor Aldam asked for the Cost of Living Crisis be added as an Officer report for future Committees.
RESOLVED To note the above update to the Work Programme.
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