Agenda item

In attendance for this item were:

Paul Smith, Assistant Director for Highways and Transport Operations

Steph Simcox, Head of Finance

Dave Corbett, Management Information Analyst

Performance Monitoring – Quarter 1 (April to June 2020)

The Chairman referred to a number of outstanding queries from the report for the previous meeting concerning Quarter 4 (the recording of the percentage of potholes fixed on time, and secondly, confirmation of steps being taken to improve the performance of days taken to approve Development Control technical submissions) and was advised that the information had been compiled and would be finalised following this meeting.

·         It was clarified that some PIs such as ‘condition of highways’ were updated annually, hence the reason for some unevenness between the graphs; this PI was due to be updated between now and the autumn

·         Another Panel member who was a frequent cyclist, highlighted the exceptional quality of Worcestershire’s roads and the positive feedback he had received about the speed of action to repair potholes.

·         An update was requested on what was being done to respond to issues affecting countryside access, in view of the increased number of calls and whether more use could be made of volunteers? The Panel was advised that a post was being recruited to. The increase in calls could be attributed to people getting out more during COVID-19 and the Assistant Director undertook to consider how to respond to this growing need, including the scope of the volunteer scheme which was acknowledged as very helpful and enjoyed by those who participated.

·         Referring to the enquiries from public (PEMs), a panel member pointed out that around 45% were related to roads/footpaths/cycle paths and suggested a more detailed breakdown would help to identify the issues involved?  The Management Information Analyst explained that this was not possible with the current PEMs categories, but he would check if it was possible to drill down.

·         The Directorate was congratulated on reducing the number of outstanding public enquiries (PEMs)

·         A number of services were praised for their continued work during the current pandemic, including maintenance of drains and ditches, prompt attention to fallen trees during recent storms, highway maintenance (Ringway) and the Highways Liaison Engineers.

·         A member asked what was being done to decrease household waste overall, for example encouraging more recycling, since although the decreasing level of waste to landfill was pleasing, waste sent to Worcestershire’s incinerator generated emissions. The Assistant Director was aware of initiatives to reduce food waste but undertook to provide a comprehensive answer for the Panel.

·         The new legislation to collect household food waste was discussed and the concerns about collection costs and escalating food waste from panic buying during the pandemic. A Panel member recalled that collection costs in Wychavon had exceeded £600,000 a year, with less than 25% of the public using the service. The Panel encouraged greater promotion of composting and educating the public to avoid food waste.

·         The Panel was advised that the considerable increase in highways and utilities permits granted for June was attributed to being input to a new management information system, therefore levels should decrease for July.

·         The Assistant Director would follow up a question from the previous meeting about the kilowatt-hour (kwh) cost of electricity compared to the market rate.

Budget Monitoring – Quarter 1 (April to June 2020/21)

The Head of Finance summarised the slides contained in the Agenda.

The Economy and Infrastructure (E&I) Directorate was forecasting an underspend of £84k up to the end of period 3, with a couple of areas showing a slight overspend. All COVID-19 related expenditure and loss of income was being accounted for with other sources of funding; so far this had been fully funded by Government grants but monitoring would continue.

·         The Chairman praised the budget performance and asked about savings from services which had paused during COVID-19 which were likely to be significant, however, was advised that although there were small savings from staff mileage, a number of transport providers such as school bus operators were still being paid in order to potentially avoid losing providers, in a similar approach to adult social care. The Government had provided grants for the Council to deal with additional costs associated with social distancing.

·         It was confirmed that no staff had been furloughed, apart from a small number involved in afterschool care.

·         In view of the considerable costs from COVID-19, the Chairman asked whether there had been sufficient funding to address expenditure so far, and this was confirmed to be the case, but there may be a gap between the funding allocated and the spend by the end of the year, which would be reviewed on a monthly basis.

·         In relation to monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on budgets, the Panel learned the approach was to take a long-term view and try to kickstart activity and schemes.

·         Regarding confusion about use of the Severn Card (student bus pass), the Panel was advised that initially Officers were concerned about the number of students to be conveyed whilst adhering to social distancing requirements, however students should now be able to use the Seven Card, or to seek a reimbursement if no longer required.

·         The Assistant Director would liaise with Cllr O’Donnell regarding concerns raised with him about the impact of funding cuts for community transport, which appeared to contradict the Here2help scheme.