ITEM EN3(a)ENVIRONMENT SCRUTINY COMMITTEE – 16 OCTOBER 2002Minutes of
the Meeting commencing at 10.00 am and finishing at 3.35 pm Present: Voting
Members: Councillor
Alan Bryden Other
Members in Attendance: Officers: Whole of meeting: D. Mitchell (Chief Executive’s Office). Part of meeting: D. Bishop (Chief Executive’s Office); L. Moore and S. Ohlenschlager (Strategy Directorate); C. Blackwell, K. Haines, P. Staley and J. Winstanley (Environmental Services).
The Scrutiny Committee considered the matters, reports and recommendations contained or referred to in the agenda for the meeting and agreed as set out below. Copies of the agenda and reports are attached to the signed Minutes.
47/02. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND TEMPORARY APPOINTMENTS
Apologies for absence and temporary appointments were received as follows:
48/02. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Councillor Hook declared a personal interest in Item 9 – Residential Road Guide by virtue of his business premises in Headington.
49/02. MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 18 September 2002 were approved and signed.
50/02. SCRUTINY COMMISSIONED WORK PROGRAMME
(Agenda Item 5) At the last meeting, on 18 September 2002 the Committee had received presentations on Cycling and Energy Saving in Oxfordshire County Council and had agreed to invite officers to give presentations on the Corporate Environmental Policy and Biodiversity in Oxfordshire at this meeting. The first presentation was made by Craig Blackwell of Environmental Services. He outlined the benefits of preserving biodiversity sites throughout the County, including protecting many rare plants and rare species of birds. He further outlined the benefits of clarifying the range of habitats and species in the County in order that the County Council could see what it should be doing in those areas. He pointed out that a way of addressing the need to look at biodiversity in the County would be to include appropriate policies in policy plans such as the Structure Plan and Minerals and Waste Local Plan and include biodiversity in the planning process. Further resources were also needed for biodiversity to allow for continuing support for partnerships working and biodiversity projects. The second presentation was made by Liz Moore, Environmental Management Officer. She outlined the Council’s Corporate Environmental Policy, assessing its effectiveness and implementation thus far. She stressed that it was hoped that the changes proposed in Growing Our Corporate Capacity, along with the introduction of, for example, the new Management Information System, would facilitate the culture change and management structure needed to accelerate environmental improvement, and the tools to monitor progress. The implementation and effectiveness of the Council’s environmental policy depended on the corporate will and capacity to:
She further outlined the need to provide recycling facilities at workplaces and schools; provide proper facilities for staff who wanted to cycle or walk to work; measure resource use when urging the public to reduce waste; lead in efficiency and environmental good practice in new buildings; and make routine environmental impact assessments of major projects, as with the Cogges link road. Following the presentations the Committee was asked whether it would wish to identify any matters for inclusion in the future Work Programme and to consider the scope and development of the review briefs, their timescales and the resources required, and the appointment of members to the Review Panels.
Following a lengthy debate on all four presentations, the Committee AGREED to identify the following areas and member for possible future review:
Councillors: Bryden, Joslin and Fooks.
Councillors: Hudson Fooks and Greene.
Councillors: Roy Mold and Bulley
51/02. SCRUTINY REVIEWS
(Agenda Item 6) The Committee received updates on the various Reviews under way as follows:-
Councillor Joslin reported that good progress had been made on the Review and that it was hoped that the final report would be presented to the next meeting of the Committee.
Councillor Bryden spoke to the Scoping Document which was now before the committee for approval. The Committee then reached consensus on the following amendment: to include supervision under the Rationale Section of the document. AGREED: to approve the scoping document for the highway Repairs and Drainage Review.
Councillor Hudson reported that the review was making steady progress, and that the Consultants report on options and a way forward would be placed in the Members’ Resource Centre for members' information.
52/02. CALL IN OF EXECUTIVE DECISION: PROPOSALS FOR TOUCAN CROSSINGS - WITNEY (Agenda Item 7) The Executive had decided to approve a proposal for the implementation of the Curbridge Road and Mill Street Toucan Crossings. The Executive resolved to: On 25 September 2002 the Assistant Chief Executive had received a request signed by ten members of the Council in accordance with the Council’s Scrutiny Procedure Rules in the Constitution in the following terms:- "We request that the Proper Officer of the Council calls in the decision of the Executive taken on 17 September 2002 and listed at Item 17 of the list of decisions – to approve the implementation of the Curbridge Road and Mill Street Toucan crossings (etc.). The reason for request is that we believe that this decision of the Executive is premature and should be deferred, pending the opening of the first phase of the West End Link, and until an assessment is made of the effects of changes to the Dark Lane and Corn Street access and egress arrangements and of the reconfiguration of the Mill Street/High Street junction."
Councillor Cooper addressed the Committee as local member speaking against the recommendations set out in the Executive’s report, on the basis that the site was dangerous and needed further risk assessment: that the site would cause further congestion to an already very congested road and that the scheme was premature and should not be carried out until all other schemes in the area had been decided upon. The Executive Member for Strategic Planning & Waste Management, Councillor Anne Purse answered members’ questions in relation to the Executive’s decision. She believed it would be more detrimental to not provide a safe crossing in the area, than to have to move it in the future should one of the other schemes necessitate it. The Scrutiny Committee had material concerns about the Executive’s decision on the implementation of a Toucan Crossing in Mill Street, and AGREED (by 9 votes to 1, there being 1 abstention) to refer the decision back to the Executive for reconsideration on the basis that the decision to implement a toucan crossing in Mill Street was premature and should be considered in conjunction with all other measures proposed for Mill Street/Burford Road.
53/02. HIGHWAY MANAGEMENT POLICIES
(Agenda Item 8) The Committee had agreed to ask that the Executive consult the Committee, prior to consideration by the Executive where possible before any final decision was made on the Highway Management Policies. The Committee considered a report (EN8) which presented the draft Highway Management Policy Manual and summarised the responses received to consultation thus far, together with the Director of Environmental Services’ comments and recommendations. The Committee AGREED to endorse the Highway Management Policy Manual and recommend it to the Executive, with the following comments (attached).
54/02. RESIDENTIAL ROAD GUIDE
(Agenda Item 9) The Committee agreed to ask that the Executive consult the Committee, prior to consideration by the Executive where possible before any final decision is made on the Residential Road Guide. The Committee had before them a report (EN9) which presented the Residential Road Guide. The Guide encouraged developers to ensure that housing layouts contributed towards encouraging more sustainable travel by minimising the need to use cars particularly for shorter trips to local facilities, by providing high quality safe and direct pedestrian and cycle links to the local facilities. The Committee made a number of observations which Mr Staley undertook to take into account when finalising the document for publishing. The Committee AGREED to endorse the publishing and use of the document for the achievement of the objectives defined, subject to a greater emphasis being placed on Home Zones.
55/02. FORWARD PLAN
(Agenda Item 10) The Committee were asked to identify any Environment items on the current Forward Plan on which the Committee wished to ask the Executive to consult the Committee.
The Committee AGREED to ask that the Executive consult the Committee prior to consideration by the Executive where possible on Parking Standard for New Development (2002/2003) and in the event that time or circumstances did not allow for prior consultation, to ensure that the Committee were consulted before any final decisions were made.
in the Chair Date
of signing 2002
|