Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies had been received from Mr W P Gretton and the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Economy, Skills and Infrastructure, Mr S E Geraghty

Agenda Item 6 (Flood Risk Management Annual Report) – Cllr Amos declared an interest as Chairman of Worcester City Council's Planning Committee.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by email indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 24 November 2015).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/email address below.

None.

Previously circulated

The Minutes of the meetings held on 30 September 2015 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

In attendance for this discussion were the Director of Business, Environment and Community (BEC), Finance Manager for BEC, and the Cabinet Members responsible for Highways and Environment.

The Panel's discussion would form part of the Council's process for consultation on the 2016/17 budget, and the Director and Cabinet Members had been invited to discuss the budget challenges facing services in 2016/17 and how these were being addressed.

Cabinet's discussion on 19 November had considered the development of the Corporate Plan, FutureFit, and savings proposals which had emerged from the annual corporate strategy planning event. The Agenda papers included links to this information and the Director gave a presentation to provide further information on:

·         BEC FutureFit savings

·         Shape and structure of 'Economy and Infrastructure'

·         Strategic Economic Plan

·         Environmental Strategy

·         Demand Management in Economy and Infrastructure

BEC FutureFit Savings

BEC FutureFit savings totalled £23.120 million, of which £13.939 million remained to be delivered. The Panel was shown a chart to demonstrate the progression and status of savings over the period 2013/14 to 2017/18. Savings delivered totalled £9,181,000, £8,686,000 were on target, £2,281,000 were 'at risk amber', and £2,974,000 were 'at risk red'.

The Director outlined areas of financial risks within the projected savings:-

Previous years' financial risks:

·         Council's Corporate Information Management Unit - hopes to make savings had been hindered by the complexity involved 

·         Libraries re-modelling – although successful overall, this was taking longer than anticipated because of the decision cycles involved

2015/16 financial risks:

·         The Hive – savings opportunities had proved more difficult because of the complexity of the financial structure with other partners

·         Children's Transport – targeted savings from the project to persuade parents to take a grant rather than using Council transport provision had been brought forward. Take up was increasing year on year.

2016/17 financial risks:

·         Worcestershire Regulatory Services / Trading Standards – Cabinet had recently approved plans to bring the service back in-house,  to be able to maximise the service with the available budget

·         Project Optimise – work to create more seamless local service delivery was taking longer than expected to deliver savings

·         Libraries – it was taking time to increase the numbers of volunteer staff whilst fulfilling required cover for the service

2017/18:

·         Children's Transport – as previously

·         Libraries – as previously

·         Waste Management – targeted with a £0.5 million saving, from a budget of £3 million. Opportunities were being looked at but were not yet certain.

Economy and Infrastructure Directorate

Recent Council approval for directorate re-structuring meant that from 1 January 2016, the BEC Directorate would become Economy and Infrastructure. The new Directorate would be structured around 'strategy', 'projects' and 'operations'. Community Services would move to the newly structured Directorate of Families and Communities.

The new structure was designed to streamline decision-making and ensure additional responsibilities were being added to heads of service portfolios only when value would be added.  It was intended to separate day to day operations from long-term strategic planning.  The structure would also allow focus on delivery of Worcestershire's economic  ...  view the full minutes text for item 229.

In attendance for this item were the Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy, the Strategic Planning and Environmental Policy Manager, the Flood Risk and Gypsy Service Manager, and the Cabinet Member responsible for Environment.

The Chairman asked for comments on the draft Flood Risk Management in Worcestershire Annual Report 2015, discussion of which which formed part of scrutiny's role in reviewing Worcestershire's plans, as a lead local flood authority.

Discussion points

Cllr Amos declared an interest as Chairman of Worcester City Council's Planning Committee – and voiced concerns about the number of housing developments being built near flood plains, particularly on marginal land.

It was explained that plans for 10 houses or more needed to be accompanied by a statutory flooding assessment and detailed plans to manage flood risk. Some recent applications included land at risk in the development site, but not where homes would actually be built. Officers worked with all local authorities within Worcestershire to address any issues.

The County Council was now a designated statutory consultee on major planning applications with surface water implications in order to secure the appropriate inclusion of sustainable drainage systems for development sites. The district councils listened and collaborated with the County Council's officers, and to their knowledge, none of their recommendations had been ignored

It was accepted that it was a question of assessing the risk, frequency and how to adapt what was built.

Regarding the county-wide Surface Water Management Plan, a flood spot was defined as an area of water not normally there, which has some impact on property, business, infrastructure etc.  Appropriate prioritisation would be given to investigation of locations identified as being at risk of flooding. 

Cllr Tuthill asked about resolution of problems for unadopted roads; within Malvern problems with swales remained unsolved.  It was explained that since April 2015 developers were required to set out plans for sustainable drainage systems, how any problems would be managed and by whom.  However it was an on-going problem to deal with Worcestershire's legacy of situations where systems were not in place and there was no current mechanism to require developers to do so retrospectively.  The Panel noted this issue needed to be referred to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.  It was confirmed that concerns were being voiced nationally, including with Severn Trent. There was potential for a move to introduce retrospective requirements.

Panel members discussed the option of the parish lengthsman scheme offering a practical way to keep an eye on local drainage problems – however the relevant management company should fulfil this role as part of its contract.

Figures for numbers of applications for land drainage consent masked the amount of time spent with potential applicants to make sure plans were fit for purpose, which was in everyone's interests. Inclusion of sluices was a common element of this.

Views were sought on any impact on flood management of restructuring of the Environment Agency (EA) due to public sector funding cuts.  The Directorate of Business,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 230.