Agenda item

Scrutiny Reviews - Draft Terms of Reference

Minutes:

The Committee Services Officer (Scrutiny) presented Members of the Committee with the terms of reference for the two Scrutiny reviews selected by the Committee:

·         Review of Street Cleanliness, littering, and Fly-tipping throughout the Borough.

·         Review of Gravesham Borough Council's Maritime Strategy.

Members of the Committee were invited to consider, comment, amend (if necessary) and agree the Terms of Reference for the two reviews as attached at Appendix 2 and Appendix 3 to the report.

The Committee commended the Committee Services Officer (Scrutiny) for his good work on the two scrutiny reviews and for pulling together the draft terms of reference.

Following a request from the Committee at the last meeting; the Director (Planning and Development) presented the Committee with the GBC’s Management Team’s assessment on the deliverability of the original six proposed topic reviews:

-          Review of Access to Health Services in Gravesham.

Management Team view:

Management Team is aware that Gravesham residents have raised this topic as a matter of concern. Management Team is also aware that there will be a significant number of GP retirements in coming years and the ability to attract new GP’s into the area is also a concern.

 

-          Review of Planning Conservation Guidance.

-          Review of Open Spaces/ village greens and GBC’s guidance / policies in this area.

Management Team view:

Management Team felt that both of these areas would be covered during the review of the Local Plan and to have a review being conducted in two different places was not an appropriate way forward.

 

-          Review of GBC’s Maritime Strategy.

Management Team view:

Management Team knows the river is one of the town’s most important assets and this view is held by both the Council and Gravesham residents.

There have been significant changes to the local geography in proximity to the river and now is a good time to explore this area and seek to increase river access and usage.

 

-          Review of the Town Centre / Asset based regeneration of the High Street.

Management Team view:

Planning applications have either come forward or are expected to come forward that are aimed at significant regeneration of the town centre and the appropriate place for those to be considered is at the Regulatory Board (Planning) as part of the planning process.

 

 

-          Review of Fly-tipping / Littering in the Borough.

Management Team view:

Management Team is conscious that this is a high profile area of activity. There are several pieces of work involving corporate working groups that are- ongoing and Management Team feel that this review would tie in nicely with existing projects.

 

Management Team concluded that the following three topics were considered deliverable, due to the reasons stated above:

-          Review of Access to Health Services in Gravesham

-          Review of GBC’s Maritime Strategy

-          Review of Fly-tipping / Littering in the Borough

 

The Committee thanked the Director (Planning and Development) for attending the Committee and providing Management Team’s view on the Scrutiny Review topics. The Committee requested that it would be helpful if the Management Team would provide their views to the Committee on any future review topics at the initial stage of topic consideration.

The Director (Planning and Development) apologised for the oversight and explained he would feed the Committee’s comments back to the Management Team.

The Chair of each Scrutiny review sub-group (Cllr Steve Thompson for the Review of Street Cleanliness, littering, and Fly-tipping throughout the Borough and Cllr Jordan Meade for the Review of Gravesham Borough Council's Maritime Strategy) updated the Committee on the meetings they have had so far in order to design the draft Terms of Reference.

The Committee considered the draft Terms of Reference for each scrutiny review, as attached at Appendix 2 and 3 to the report.

The Vice-Chair highlighted the importance of involving / consulting the workforce for the Review of Street Cleanliness, littering, and Fly-tipping throughout the Borough.

The Chair noted the Committee’s view that the Review of Gravesham Borough Council's Maritime Strategy should consider the night time economy in relation to the river and seek expert advice when conducting the review (e.g. Port of London Authority, Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Thames Estuary Partnership).

Resolved that:

1.    The Committee agreed the draft terms of reference for the two Scrutiny Reviews, as attached at Appendix two and three to the report.

2.    The Committee agreed that the composition of the two review sub-groups should consist of 5 Members for each review:

·         Chair (Cllr Steve Thompson for the Review of Street Cleanliness, littering, and Fly-tipping throughout the Borough and Cllr Jordan Meade for the Review of Gravesham Borough Council's Maritime Strategy)

·         Two Conservative Members (TBC)

·         Two Labour Members (TBC)

The Chair of each review will decide the members for each sub-group and notify the Committee / officers accordingly.

3.    The Committee noted the rationale behind the GBC Management Team’s assessment on the deliverability of the original six proposed topic reviews, as detailed in paragraph 3.1 of the report.

 

Supporting documents: