Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies were received from Cllr C Adams as he would be arriving late.

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications.

There were no substitute members.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest made on this occasion.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting held on 19 July 2023.

The minutes of the meeting of the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 19 July 2003 were approved as a correct record.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeID=151&Info=1&bcr=1

The deadline for the submission of public questions is mid-day 3 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

There were no public issue requests received for this meeting.

Request from Chairman to report on the progress of the FCERM service since Cabinet approved (Sept 21) the re-structure of the service to meet aspirations of growing a regional delivery model.

The Head of Flood Risk Management presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book. The Committee was advised that In September 2021, Cabinet agreed for the re-structuring of the Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) service to allow growth in line with needs for the FCERM capital programme, aspirations for climate resilience and expertise sharing across the South-West region. Proposals were set out against the expectation that growth could be enabled at no additional cost to the Council due to the ability to secure central government grant in aid. A number of issues were raised in the subsequent discussion including:

A query was raised regarding the balance between a focus on the BCP area and the ability to be involved with the wider region. It was noted that there was increased capability but that over 90 percent of programme was BCP focused. Expanding out allowed the service to reduce costs and increase the income as well as building greater resilience. Which would hopefully make the service more attractive and see more people applying for jobs in the services.

In response to a query regarding funding the Committee was advised that some of it was local lending as well as grant funding, which was bid for through the Regional Flood and Coastal Committee. It was confirmed that it was all funding brought in which staff time could be charged against. It was therefore at zero cost to the Council.

The Committee enquired about the skills resource available and if this was now in a position to ensure preventable measures were put in place or if there were any concerns around acknowledge gap. The Committee was informed that there was now a role in the strategy and policy environment team of a principal engineering geologist and geotechnical engineer. They were now in the middle of developing a strategy which would provide a really good framework for decision making. Because there was significant risk in the cliff lift area it was suggested that a board made up of all decision makers within the cliff lift zone would help as a lot of the issue around there was from surface water and this would help ensure that there would not be problems with cliff slips.

·       The committee also received an update on ongoing projects for the FCERM service including future strategies around beach/cliff management.

·       In response to a question, it was explained that beach management would help prevent cliff erosion. It was noted that the service was looking to source supplies for the beach management campaign more locally. It was clarified that previous comments referred to looking at long term sea level rise and the impact on beach management.

·       The Portfolio Holder explained that a lot of effort had been put into building this team and he had been really impressed with the quality of staff. He also commented on the role of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To provide Environment and Place Overview & Scrutiny Committee with a presentation on the progress to develop a BCP Greenspaces Play & Wheeled Play Strategy 

BCP Council does not currently have a strategy in place for play and as such does not have any tangible foundation from which to support the development and provision of play opportunities. The Council’s fixed play assets are ageing and in decline. Given the financial context the Council is facing it is vital that data and evidence captured as part of the strategy development is used to support future decisions in terms of play location, investment and maintenance.  

The Council is committed to the development of the strategy recognising the importance of play to the physical, social and psychological wellbeing of children and young people living and visiting the conurbation. The strategy will set out:  

·        A vision for play

·        A design standard

·        An evidence base of current provision

The Strategic Lead for Green Spaces and Conservation presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book. The Committee was advised that the presentation provided information on progress to develop a BCP Greenspaces Play & Wheeled Play Strategy.  It was noted that BCP Council does not currently have a strategy in place for play and as such does not have any tangible foundation from which to support the development and provision of play opportunities. The Council’s fixed play assets were ageing and in decline. Given the financial context the Council was facing it was vital that data and evidence captured as part of the strategy development is used to support future decisions in terms of play location, investment, and maintenance.  The Council remained committed to the development of the strategy, recognising the importance of play to the physical, social and psychological wellbeing of children and young people living and visiting the conurbation. It was explained that the strategy would set out:  

·       A vision for play

·       A design standard

·       An evidence base of current provision

In the following discussion a number of issues were raised by the Committee which included:

·     There were lots of play assets across the BCP area. These were subject to annual independent inspections for safety checks but funding for maintenance and repairs was limited. There had been no additional government funding since the Play Builder programme.

·     The paper was welcomed and there were concerns raised regarding the very limited budget available for maintenance and repair of a large number of sites. It was suggested that there could be some community involvement in trying to improve them. It was noted that the cost of play equipment was significant, and everything needed to meet specified standards and budgets for repair were not always sufficient which has meant equipment has needed to be approved.

·     Residents frequently raised concerns about the condition of play sites but without additional funding it difficult to do much beside paint, remove litter and clear shrubs. It was suggested that there should be a method by which residents could set up support groups for individual parks but Councillors advised that they had heard reports of residents being told they could not do certain things. 

·     Friends groups/support groups – There needed to be some sort of Council facilitation and limited by resources. Would need to get some sort of agreement in place to ensure that everyone is aware of roles and responsibilities.

·     Request for ward councillor involvement in the development of the play strategy. It was noted that it would need to be considered how

Ward Councillor involvement would be done as this would affect every ward across the borough in different ways.

·     Emphasising the ability of children to independently and safely access these areas. It was suggested that there needed to be a method within the documentation highlighting this and increasing accessibility. It was noted that everyone  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Corporate and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee is asked to consider and identify work priorities for its next meeting pending a wider review of its forward plan at a future meeting. 

The Chairman presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book. The Environment and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee was asked to consider and identify work priorities for its next meeting pending a wider review of its forward plan at a future meeting.

A request was received for scrutiny into the training provided around the Council’s declaration of a climate and ecological emergency. It was suggested that there should be a structured training programme to outline what this is and the impact of this. It would be useful to consider what training should be happening. Climate should be part of the communications portfolio and climate support delivered to different depatments. The Chair advised that the Committee would be looking at the Council’s annual climate report at a future meeting and it would be helpful to bring in the climate team as a whole. It was suggested that this request could form part of the Committees future consideration around progress on the climate action plan.

It was noted that these issues could be considered further through the planned workshops.

The Chair advised that an informal update to the committee from the Portfolio Holder on the lifts at Pokesdown Station had been requested.

The Committee considered the provision agreed at the last Council meeting for the Committee to appoint 2 independent co-opted members to the committee. It was agreed that a report should come to the next meeting of the committee for further consideration of this issue.

The Committee are asked to note the dates for future meetings as follows:

·       6 December 2023

·       28 February 2024

The date of the next meeting was noted as Wednesday 6 December 2023.