Agenda and minutes

No apolgies for absence were received for this meeting.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and / or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests, and any Party Whip.

Councillors, Akbar, Ashley, Clayton and Harrison declared an ‘Other Disclosable Interest’ in respect of minute item 43 due to their involvement as formal volunteers for a Community Speedwatch Group in the Borough. It was agreed that these Members would remain present for consideration of this item.

There were no other declarations of interest nor of any Party Whip. 

The minutes of the meeting held on 21^st October 2021 were presented for Members’ consideration.

RESOLVED that

 the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 21^st October 2021 be approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chair.

To invite members of the public who have registered in advance of the meeting to speak to the Committee.

There were no public speakers registered on this occasion.

The Chair welcomed members of the West Mercia Police Road Safety Team, who were in attendance on Microsoft Teams. During the presentation the following was highlighted for Members’ attention:

·       The West Mercia Police Road Safety Team were based at Droitwich Police Station and covered the whole of the West Mercia region which included 4 upper tier Local Authorities. It was clarified that the team was funded solely by the funding from Speed Awareness courses and not from an existing Police budget. Members were informed that any revenue received from the enforcement of fines was returned to the Treasury.

·       All of the campaigns undertaken by the team were data driven and a specialist collision data analyst worked as part of the team to analyse the wealth of data available.

·       There had been 129 people killed on the roads in West Mercia during the previous three years and 1313 people had been seriously injured. In the past five years the number of those killed on the roads specifically in Redditch was 6 people and 111 people had been seriously injured.

·       The role of the team did not solely focus on enforcement but also on education and engineering including traffic management. It was explained to Members that the following groups were targeted in education campaigns:

­   Motorcyclists

­   Pedestrians

­   Cyclists

­   Drink / drug drivers

­   Young drivers and passengers

­   Older drivers

­   Drivers of HGV and LGV vehicles

­   Business drivers

­   Rural road users

·       Currently several initiatives were underway including the National Drink Driving campaign, ‘Dying to Drive’ and a ‘Be Safe, Be Seen’ initiative which, it was explained, was a data led campaign launched during the darker months to encourage pedestrians and cyclists to wear bright clothes. The campaign also provided free lights and reflective items to pedestrians and cyclists who were identified by the Police whilst out patrolling across West Mercia.

·       The West Mercia Police Road Safety Team provided engineering advice through the Traffic Management Advisors to Local Authorities and occasionally were also involved in planning applications.

The Chair thanked the West Mercia Road Safety Team for their detailed presentation and the Committee were invited to ask any questions regarding the information that had been provided. Members were pleased to see that the numbers of road collisions had decreased over the past year and were interested in whether these might be attributed to traffic calming measures that had been introduced across the Borough. The West Mercia Road Safety Team indicated that the officer that would have further insight in this particular area had unfortunately not been able to attend the meeting. However, they undertook to request the information and distribute to the Committee at a later date.

The ‘Dying to Drive’ initiative and associated event was raised by Members. It was queried whether there would be a possibility of holding a similar event in Redditch to the one held in Wyre Forest. In addition to this, Members questioned whether schools within the Borough were invited to such  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

The Chief Executive presented the 6-monthly update in respect of the Redditch Town Deal Investment Plan and in doing so the following was highlighted for Members’ attention:

·       The Towns Fund was a government funding scheme intended for towns across the country to improve their economy. In 2019, Redditch was identified as one of the towns eligible to bid for up to £25m from the Towns Fund.

·       The Town Investment Plan (TIP) was submitted by the Town’s Deal Board in January 2021 and the funding and Heads of Terms were announced in June 2021. As Members were already aware, not all of the funding for the projects had been awarded. Therefore, as a result of the shortfall, a reprioritisation exercise had been undertaken in August 2021, using the reprioritisation tools provided by central government. Prior to the reprioritisation sessions, several parameters were put in place by the Town’s Deal Board that were to be considered as part of the reprioritisation process. Once the reprioritisation had taken place, the confirmed projects were submitted to Government at the end of August 2021. The Grant Offer letter was received in November 2021 which confirmed that a grant amount of £15.6m had been awarded and the requirements of Redditch Borough Council as the accountable body were outlined.

During the Redditch Town Deal Investment Plan update,Members were further informed that the following projects had been approved and allocated Towns Deal funding. It was explained that specific conditions for the approved projects were detailed as part of the Heads of Terms and would be fully developed and addressed at the business case development stage. Further clarification on each project was presented for Members’ information. This included the following:

Redevelopment of Redditch Library Project

·       Worcestershire County Council (WCC) were fully engaged in the Redditch Library project and Members were assured that the needs of the service and infrastructure would be considered prior to any relocation, ensuring accessibility for all customers. It was confirmed that WCC understood that one of the requirements for relocation of the library was that it must be a Town Centre location. Members were also assured that a full consultation would be undertaken once relocation options were known.

Further detail regarding the Library project was reported to Members in respect of the inclusion of the broader range of project outcomes which were as follows:

­   Perceptions of place by residents and businesses – this would involve the design of new and improved public spaces that connected the ‘old town’ with the main shopping centre and would include the establishment of a new and attractive public space for residents and businesses to use.

­   Increased land values through increased demand around the new public space.

­   Increased visitors to the town by providing a new space for events and activities.

­   Improved permeability for residents and visitors through the provision of easier access to key nodes in the town and by opening up access between the ‘old town’ and the main shopping centre.

­  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.

An updated version of the Executive Work Programme is due to be published on the Redditch Borough Council website on 1^st December 2021. This version will be tabled at the meeting.

The Minutes from the Executive Committee meeting held on 26^th October 2021 and the Executive Committee’s Work Programme were presented for Members’ consideration.

RESOLVED that

Executive Committee Minutes of the meeting held on 26^th October 2021 and the Executive Committee's Work Programme were noted.

RESOLVED that

Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme be noted.

a)          Budget Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Jenny Wheeler

b)          Performance Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Jenny Wheeler

a)          Budget Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor
Jennifer Wheeler

The Chair reported that the last meeting of the Budget Scrutiny Working Group, due to take place on 8^th November 2021, had been cancelled due to lack of available reports. Councillor Wheeler expressed her disappointment that there had only been one Budget Scrutiny Working Group meeting this municipal year and felt that this posed a risk to the Council and its finances for the future. Although she understood that there had been pressures placed on officers due to the Covid-19 pandemic, staffing issues and the implementation of the new Enterprise Resource Planning system it was vitally important that this group met regularly and received the relevant reports in order to effectively scrutinise the Councils’ budget.

Councillor Wheeler informed the Committee that she hoped that the working group meetings would take place in 2022 in order that this important scrutiny function be carried out regularly.

Members were informed that the next meeting of the group would take place on 6^th December 2021.

During consideration of this item a request for nominations was made for a new Member of the Budget Scrutiny Working Group. Councillor Chalk was nominated, however it was confirmed that, as he was already a member of the group, he did not need to be nominated. It was decided that nominations would be requested again at the first meeting of the Committee due to be held on 6^th January 2022.

b)          Performance Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor
Jennifer Wheeler

The Chair updated the Committee and reported that a meeting of the group had taken place on 2^nd November 2021 and had included a discussion of the development of the New Measures Dashboard. In addition to this, a presentation of the new system was provided to Members.  It was hoped that the new Dashboard would be easier for Members tonavigate and provide a useful tool in Performance Scrutiny in the future.

RESOLVED that

The Task Groups, Short Sharp Reviews and Working Groups Update Reports be noted.

a)        West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Overview and Scrutiny Committee – Council representative, Councillor Chalk; and

b)        Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) – Council representative, Councillor Chalk.

The External Scrutiny Bodies Update reports were presented by Councillor Chalk to the Committee for their consideration. He explained that there were no additional updates, however it was expected that there would be updates from all of the External Scrutiny Bodies, at the Committee’s next meeting due to be held on 6th January 2022.

RESOLVED that

The External Scrutiny Bodies Update reports be noted.