LOCAL ECONOMY & ENVIRONMENT
SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
RECORD OF MEETING HELD ON 12th FEBRUARY 2008
Present:
Councillor P A Hallett (Chairman);
Councillors M Campbell, R Cartlidge, A
Crawford, A C Johnson, S J S Mottram, S Roberts, R Stafford and L T
Wood.
Officers in Attendance (for whole or
part):
K
Boughey
Climate Change Officer, Direct Services
P
Burns
Business Development Manager, Direct Services
A
Leah
Project Officer
A
Millington
Strategic Manager, Planning & Development
G
Roberts
Economic Development and Estates Manager
J Smith
Democratic Services Officer
In Attendance (for whole or
part):
Councillor J Hammond
E
Biggs EMB
Consultants
I
Bright EMB
Consultants
A
Bertram
Bertram Hyde
L
Hyde Bertram
Hyde
Apologies:
Councillors K Healey, M A Hollins and R W
Parker.
82. DECLARATIONS OF
INTEREST
No Member declared any personal or
prejudicial interest in respect of any item of business on the
agenda.
83. RECORD OF
MEETING
AGREED: That the record of the meeting
held on 8th January 2008 be approved as correct.
84. WHIPPING
DECLARATIONS
In accordance with Paragraph 18 of the
Performance and Overview Procedure Rules, Members were invited to
declare in respect of items where the whip had been applied.
No such declarations were made.
85. RESPONSES FROM
THE BOARD
No comments were forwarded to the Board from
the Committee’s meeting on 8th January 2008;
therefore there were no responses to report.
86. REFERRALS FROM
THE BOARD/COUNCIL
The Committee noted that there were no
responses/referrals from the Board/Council on this
occasion.
87.
FORWARD PLAN OF BOARD DECISIONS
The Committee received the Board’s Forward
Plan for 21st February and 6th March
2008.
88. QUEEN’S PARK
RESTORATION PROJECT
Allan Leah, Project Officer together with
members of the Project design team were in attendance to make
a presentation to Members on the Queen’s Park
Restoration Project.
The presentation provided the latest
information on progress with design work and contracts
together with images of work in progress and illustrations
of proposed design and landscaping.
The presentation covered the following
elements:
v
Dredging Contract: Images of work in progress and
outline of the solution to disposal of clay arisings;
v
Bridge Design and Lake Works: Latest position
regarding tenders;
v
Coronation Walk Valley: Landscape design with
images of old maps, illustrations of appropriate planting styles as
at Lister Park;
v
Gates and Railings: including the latest
information on tenders, drawings;
v
Depot Proposals: including minor amendments
requested by Direct Services;
v
Bandstand: Image of restored bandstand in another
park and update on progress with tenders, bat survey and proposed
habitat and the planning application;
v
Lodges: Drawings, image of restored lodges in
other parks, clarification of the extent of works and description
of internal works;
v
Next Steps: information in respect of the rolling
programme of planning applications, contracts and projects to be
completed.
The following comments/queries were raised by
Members of the Committee:
Bridge Design and Lake
Works
Q: Would the fishing points around the
lake be re-instated?
A: Yes these would be re-instated and the
access to the landing stage would be improved.
Gates and Railings
Q: Was there a decision on the colour of
the railings for the perimeter of the Park?
A: No paint sampling had been done and it was
difficult to ascertain the colour of the original
railings. The railings were produced in the 1920’s and the
most popular colour for that period was Buckingham Green.
It was suggested that the use of the LMS
Railway colours could be considered for the Queen’s Park
railings.
Bandstand
Members discussed the proposals for the bat
habitat and the need to schedule the restoration work to ensure
minimal disruption. The Project Officer explained that the
Consultants would carry out further monitoring in March and that
other structures in the Park would also be monitored. Members
requested further details on the Bat Survey and the Project Officer
stated that he would ensure that copies of the survey were
distributed to Committee Members.
Other issues
The need to promote community/youth involvement
was highlighted.
The Project Officer and the external Design
Team were thanked for the presentation.
89. BEST VALUE PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
– PROGRESS REPORT
(QUARTER 3 -
2007/08)
The Policy and Performance Officer was in
attendance to present her report which summarised the performance
activity of the Committee’s key basket of Performance Indicators
during the third quarter of the financial year 2007-2008 (up to
31st December 2007).
90. AMENDMENTS TO CAR
PARK ORDER
At its meeting on 8th January 2008
the Committee requested further information on the
proposals for amendments to the Car Park Order which were scheduled
for submission to Board on 6th March
2008.
The Business Development Manager, Direct
Services was in attendance and provided a briefing note on the
proposed Car Park Order amendments for the Committee.
Councillor S Roberts expressed reservations
over the proposals for Thomas Street Car Park, Crewe as he did
not think that the objections raised had been resolved
adequately.
91. CREWE TOWN CENTRE
UPDATE
The Economic Development and Estates Manager
provided a brief progress report on town centre matters covering
the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) and Section 106 Agreement
associated with the Modus development, new office accommodation and
the development of Market Square, Crewe.
92. VACANCY PANEL
DECISIONS
The Committee received the report of the Human
Resources Manager and noted the decisions of the Vacancy Panel
which fall under the remit of the Committee.
93. WORK PROGRAMME
2007-08
93.1
Climate Change Task Group
The notes of the meeting held on
17th January 2008 had been submitted with the agenda.
Councillor Cartlidge provided a brief update on the work of the
group.
93.2 Town
Centres Task Group
A paper was submitted to the meeting which
provided an update on items which fell within the remit of the task
group.
93.3 Waste
Management Task Group
There was nothing to report back from this
group.
94. DATE OF NEXT
MEETING
18th March
2008.
……………………. Chair