MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE HELD AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON THURSDAY, 17 MAY 2007 COMMENCED AT 6.00 PM

Present :

Cllrs Geoff Lumley (Chairman), Anne Bishop, Ivan Bulwer, William Burt, Vanessa Churchman, Barbara Foster, Heather Humby, Lady Pigot, Diana Tuson, Margaret Webster

Co-opted Member (voting):

Mrs Sue Poston, Mr Charles Rogers

Co-opted Member (non-voting):

Mr Bob Blezzard

Apologies:

Cllr Brian Mosdell

The Chair referred to changes to the membership of the Committee. He welcomed Cllrs Ivan Bulwer, Vanessa Churchman, Lady Pigot, Diana Tuson, and Margaret Webster as new Members to the Committee and indicated that Cllr Deborah Gardiner was no longer on Committee.

9. MINUTES

RESOLVED:

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 19 April 2007 be agreed.

10. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Mr Bob Blezzard declared a personal interest in Minute 11-16 as he was a Member of Sandown Town Council and the Isle of Wight Association of Town and Parish Councils. Mr Blezzard also declared a personal interest in Minute 12 as he was the clerk to Yarmouth Town Council.

Cllrs Anne Bishop and Vanessa Churchman each declared a personal interest in Minute 13 as they sat on the Committee for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Cllr William Burt declared a personal interest in Minute 13 as he was a Member of the Local Access Forum.

11. PUBLIC QUESTION TIME

There were no public questions.

12. ELECTION OF VICE CHAIR

Nominations were invited for a Vice Chair of the Committee. With the names of Cllr Vanessa Churchman and Mrs Sue Poston being separately proposed and seconded a secret ballot took place. Cllr Vanessa Churchman was elected as Vice Chair for.

Members thanked Mrs Poston for her work as Vice Chair over the past year.

RESOLVED:

THAT Cllr Vanessa Churchman be elected as Vice Chair for the ensuing year.

13. PROPOSED DELEGATED DECISION – TENNYSON TRAIL TRAFFIC REGULATION ORDER

Members invited the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, Cllr Tim Hunter-Henderson, and the Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods, Stuart Love, to answer questions from the Committee on the proposed delegated decision.

The Chair reminded all those present that the Scrutiny Committee had no decision making powers and could only request that a delegated decision be reconsidered through the call in process.

Members asked the Cabinet Member to explain the reasons why the decision had not yet been taken. The Cabinet Member explained that following the advertisement of the proposed decision in January 2007 there had been a number of objections and the delay was due to the consideration of these. The Committee was informed that all objections had now been considered and a revised document was currently being prepared. Once the final report had been prepared the Cabinet Member would be briefed on the new decision and this would be advertised in accordance with the Council’s procedures. The Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods further explained that the delay was also due to an officer leaving the authority and another officer picking up the work.

The Committee asked the Cabinet Member to comment on the changes to the decision that would appear in the revised document. The Cabinet Member explained that the original decision had intended section one of the trail to remain open with sections two and three being closed as these were Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The new decision would involve the establishment of a permit scheme for sections two and three so to allow some responsible users to use the trail.

It was noted that a public meeting in the village of Carisbrooke would be held to allow people in the area to comment on the proposed decision. Questions from residents in the areas would be forwarded to the Cabinet Member for a response.

Members asked the Cabinet Member and the Director detailed questions regarding who would be allowed access to the trail and how access would be monitored.

The Director stated that adherence to the criteria would be a condition of the permits. Potential permit holders would include people with disabled family members, taxi companies, and the trail bike riders association. Monitoring would be carried out by the Police.

Members requested to see the list of objections to the decision and the Director agreed to forward these to the Committee.

Members expressed concern that the Police were already overstretched and enforcement of any traffic regulation order would add to their capacity problems. The Director informed the Committee that he had been talking to the Police regarding options and stated that there would be enforcement issues for the Police whether vehicles were permitted to use the trail or not.

RESOLVED:

THAT the update be noted and the list of objections to the decision be forwarded to the Committee.

14. USE OF CONSULTANTS SC10/06

The Committee received the final report from the task and finish group on the Use of Consultants enquiry. Members of the task and finish group included Cllrs Anne Bishop and Deborah Gardiner and Mrs Sue Poston.

Members of the task and finish group introduced the report highlighting the background to the enquiry and the proposed outcome. The Committee were informed that there had been delays in obtaining information from some directorates.

Members’ attentions were drawn to the recommendations in the report. There was an amendment to the first sentence in paragraph 2 of the report to reflect that the Cabinet Member title had changed. The report would be amended to delete ‘and Town and Parish Empowerment’ from the Cabinet Members title.

One of the recommendations referred to a protocol on the engagement of consultants being formulated similar to that adopted by Bath and North East Somerset Council.

Members were informed that the scope of the enquiry excluded ICT, legal and Engineering services and concentrated upon corporate areas.

Findings had revealed that there was no specific reference to consultants in the Council’s Contract Standing Orders and that the current system was not transparent and robust enough. It was suggested that training be given to staff employing consultants. Consistency was required across Directorates, and it was suggested that better control of procedures could result in the Council achieving better value for money. The enquiry had revealed an issue with recording money spent on consultants. The coding of expenditure made it difficult to identify how much money had been spent on consultants.

Members wanted to see the Bath and North East Somerset document before agreeing the report.

RESOLVED:

THAT the report be deferred to the next meeting to enable the Bath and North East Somerset document to be seen by all members of the Committee.

15. PROGRESS ON CURRENT ENQUIRIES

It was noted that the Committee had originally intended to commence and enquiry on public access to public services but it had subsequently been agreed that this enquiry would not be pursued.

The Committee were informed that a final report had been compiled by the Lead Member on the Supporting People enquiry and was currently with the Director of Community Services. A final report had also been compiled on the School Attainment enquiry and was with the Director of Children’s Services.

The Committee were informed that an enquiry was now underway on waste and minimisation. The enquiry would raise awareness about how Island waste was processed and would consider commercial waste and look at issues associated with landfill. The Committee were encouraged that the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport was considering recycling opportunities for commercial waste.

16. FORWARD PLAN

Members considered the Forward Plan for the period June – September 2007 and noted that a decision was to be made by the Cabinet Member for the Economy, Tourism, Assets and Planning on the pre planning application process. The Committee noted that Cllr Brown would attend a Scrutiny Committee meeting at a later date to provide progress on planning enforcement issues.

RESOLVED:

That the Forward Plan be noted.

At the end of the meeting the Chair announced that he would formally submit his resignation as the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee effective from Monday, 21 May 2007. Members praised the Chair for his work over the past 14 months.

CHAIRMAN