REPORT FROM THE CHAIR OF THE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE TO THE MEETING OF
- Our January and February committee meetings took formal evidence for our Car Parking enquiry, including from Cllr Ward this month. This enquiry is proceeding expeditiously and should report in April. The January meeting also had an excellent session with Cllr Brown regarding planning enforcement policy, which stimulated keen interest from parish and town council members. We will not be initiating an enquiry on this subject just yet as Cllr Brown assured us of his commitment to improvement.
- The
February meeting last week agreed a final report for the Members Allowances enquiry. This
was an excellent piece of work by our lay member
- The 2006 School Attainment enquiry should be in a position to report next month. Also the Supporting People enquiry. The Outside Consultants enquiry will be concluded in April.
- The committee was able to avoid a ‘call-in’ of the recent Cabinet decision on future 14-19 Educational Provision, which only allowed for a very short consultation period, as the Cabinet member (Cllr Joyce) has now agreed to extend this by one month.
- We are now initiating enquiries into Recycling; Planning & the urban environment; and the Local Area Agreement. Unfortunately the responses to our recent newspaper advert, in the main prompted individual grievances, generally about planning.
- There
are still 7 vacancies on the
committee – the longstanding LibDem place, the layperson vacancy
(hopefully soon to be filled), and the 5 places for Conservatives that are
deliberately not taken to ensure a
non-Conservative majority. Cllr
- Finally apologies if I have been a little low profile lately. I am currently being treated for a minor health problem, which has left me rather lacking in energy, but I hope to be back in full form in the near future.
Cllr
Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee