Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 3 February 2015.

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2015 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tim Inglefield and Tony Lock.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (adopted July 2012), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting. A DPI is defined in The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012 No. 1464) and Appendix 3 of the Council’s Code of Conduct.  A personal interest is defined in paragraph 2.8 of the Code and a prejudicial interest is defined in paragraph 2.9. In the interests of complete transparency, Members of the County Council, who are not also members of this committee, are encouraged to declare any interests they may have in any matters being discussed even though they may not be under any obligation to do so under any relevant code of conduct.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no members of public at the meeting.

This is an opportunity for Members to question the progress on issues arising from previous meetings.  However, this does not allow for the re-opening of a debate on any item not forming part of this agenda.

There were no issues raised.

The Chairman informed members that she had attended the recent meeting of the Somerset Waste Board. She also encouraged members to complete the Scrutiny Feedback Questionnaire which was circulated following last month’s Scrutiny Committee meeting. Information provided would form part of an ‘end of term’ report to be submitted to next month’s meeting.

The Civil Contingencies Manager attended the meeting at the request of members, to provide a debrief following an incident last year when several undocumented migrants were found by police within the district.

Following the presentation, members made the following points:

·      Members thanked officers for their excellent work during this incident

·      Members raised concerns that it seemed inappropriate for district council employees to be responsible for people who were under arrest – should this not be the responsibility of the police?

·      The complexity of delivering multi-agency civil contingency arrangements was noted.

In conclusion, members noted the continued good work of the Civil Contingencies Manager and asked that representations be made to the relevant bodies, including central government, asking for better arrangements for dealing more effectively with any undocumented migrants in the future.

The Chairman noted that the Scrutiny comments had been considered and were included in the District Executive minutes which had been circulated.

Members considered the reports outlined in the District Executive agenda for 5 March 2015. It was agreed that the following comments would be taken forward to District Executive for consideration.

Quarterly Performance and Complaints Monitoring Report – 3^rd Quarter 2014/15 (item 6)

·      Members were pleased to note that whilst PI003 is still showing as an exception, performance is improving. Scrutiny members suggest that it would be helpful if the numbers as well as percentages were reported to provide greater context.

·      Members also suggest that it would be beneficial if future monitoring reports could include data on the number of planning applications determined within time frames and those which are not. Whilst this is no longer a statutory indicator, it would be a useful indicator of overall performance for members. The Strategic Director has informed members that this information can be made easily available.

Adoption of the South Somerset Local Plan (item 7)

·      Members considered the process undertaken to get to this point and noted the significant implications of not adopting the Plan . Scrutiny comments related to the process undertaken to develop the Plan with members noting that Full Council would be an opportunity for wider debate.

·      Members were grateful to Principal Spatial Planner for clarifying that planning policies HG3 and HG4 were more likely than SS2 to be impacted by recent government announcement on the levels at which affordable housing contributions are triggered. Scrutiny sought clarification on how the plan will react to any national policy changes and the results of legal challenges being mounted by other local authorities?

·      Clarification was also sought on the potential for developers to notice that during the life of the plan, the 5 year housing supply could become outdated and were informed that fluctuations will happen and that an effective monitoring process should help manage this situation.

District Wide Voluntary Sector Grants (items 8 to 13)

·      Members sought clarification that the unallocated monies within the Health and Wellbeing fund would be held in reserve for future similar bids and not removed from the budget or used in other areas.

·      Members were pleased note the positive financial position of the SSVCA but requested that more detailed financial information, similar to that which has been provided in the past, is made available to keep members fully up to date.

·      A question was asked about the issue of duplication – SSDC are funding very similar organisations, as well as providing Welfare advice ourselves and Scrutiny seek assurance that every effort is made to avoid duplication.

Access from Memorial Hall Car park to land at the rear of the Dolphin Hotel, Wincanton (item 14)

·      Members asked for clarification on the map – the arrow appears to show the entrance being on the Quaker Meeting House land rather than the Dolphin hotel?

Establishment of the Somerset Growth Board (item 15)

·      Whilst members were supportive of the principle of ensuring the Somerset case is well made to the LEP, there were some concerns expressed as to how the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 126.

The Scrutiny Manager noted that the Council Tax Reduction Group had met for a second time and that work was progressing well.

The Scrutiny Manager informed members that she had attended the inaugural meeting of the Somerset Rivers Authority. It was noted that Scrutiny should keep a watching brief to ensure the positive momentum achieved to date was maintained.

The Scrutiny Manager noted that an ‘End of Term’ report would be submitted to the next Scrutiny Committee meeting, being the last meeting prior to the elections. The report would look to show the key achievements of the Scrutiny Committee over the past 4 years as well as reflect on the challenges and opportunities for the future.

Members noted that the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee would be held on Tuesday 31st March at 10.00 a.m. in the Main Committee Room, Brympton Way.