Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Surrey Heath House, Knoll Road, Camberley, GU15 3HD. View directions

Contact: Katharine Simpson  Senior Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

28/PF

Minutes of Previous meeting pdf icon PDF 82 KB

To receive the minutes of the meeting of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee held on 5th December 2018.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee held on 5th December 2018 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

29/PF

Portfolio Holder Update: Assets pdf icon PDF 65 KB

To receive an update from Councillor Richard Brooks on his work during 2018/19 in his capacity as Portfolio Holder for Assets.

Minutes:

Councillor Richard Brooks presented an update on the work carried out to date during the 2018/19 municipal year in his capacity as Executive Portfolio Holder for Assets.

 

It was reported that the Council took a cautious approach when making decisions about which assets to invest in; for example over the past year officers had investigated between 30 and 40 investment opportunities but proceeded with only two. When looking at property, the Council either invested in a property because of its long-term income generation potential or because it fell into the Council’s regeneration strategy. 

 

It was clarified that the Council was working with retailers to identify appropriate alternative locations they could move to once the regeneration of the London Road Development started.  The Council worked closely with its professional advisors, Montagu Evans to maintain existing, and attract new retailers to the SQ.

 

The Committee commended the work that officers had done to date to improve Camberley town centre and sought clarification on what was being done to support the retailers in the villages.  The pressure that rent rises were having on independent retailers was acknowledged. However, the Council had limited powers to intercede where private landlords were responsible for setting rent levels.

 

The Committee thanked Councillor Brooks for his update.

 

 

 

 

 

30/PF

Portfolio Holder Update: Environment & Health pdf icon PDF 95 KB

To receive an update from Councillor Mrs Vivienne Chapman on her work during 2018/19 in her capacity as Portfolio Holder for Environment and Health.

Minutes:

Councillor Vivienne Chapman presented an update on the work carried out to date during the 2018/19 Municipal Year in her capacity as Executive Portfolio Holder for Environment and Health.

 

The Environment and Health Portfolio covered a range of statutory and discretionary services including: environmental heath, business continuity and emergency planning, air quality, health and wellbeing and a number of community services including meals at home, home improvement facility grants and the provision of community alarms.

 

Arising from the committee’s questions and comments the following points were noted:

 

·         It was agreed that appropriate telephone numbers would be circulated to members so that officers could be alerted to events requiring urgent action out of hours.

·         The Air Quality Monitoring Station in Castle Road provided real time information which could be viewed through the Council’s website. 

·         In addition to real time monitoring stations, a number of Passive Diffusion Tubes were located around the borough.  These tubes were exposed to the air for one month and the information gathered was analysed to produce an annual reading.  These annual readings were all calibrated and checked before they were submitted to Defra.  Differences between Council measurements and those taken by local residents were attributed to the length of time that Air Quality Diffusion Tubes were being exposed for.  It was agreed that a briefing note explaining how the air quality was measured would be circulated to members.

·         Highways England were monitoring pollution levels along the widened section of the M3.  It was agreed that the results of this monitoring work would be shared with members.

·         Frimley Green and Mytchett had fallen outside the remit of the A331 Air Quality Study.  It would be possible to site a passive air monitor in the area and the timescales for this would be confirmed with members.

·         It was confirmed that air quality monitoring station SH7 was located in Brick Hill in Windlesham near the M3.

·         A feasibility study on the possible impacts that extending the 50mph speed limit along the A331 had been submitted to Defra for consideration and a decision was expected in March.

·         Surrey Heath Clinical Commissioning Group held seven meetings a year which the public could attend and participate in.

·         The Community Services Team had linked into Surrey County Council’s Adult Social Care Team working with Frimley Park Hospital to provide care packages for elderly and infirm patients due to leave hospital.  This partnership also enabled any necessary adaptations to patients’ homes to be progressed so that people were able to return to their own homes without undue delay.

·         Work was taking place to identify and secure alternative income streams to help support the continuing delivery of non-statutory community services for example working with Runnymede Borough Council’s Community Transport Section to provide transport to youth groups and schools.

·         It was questioned what was being done to ensure that the physical and mental health and wellbeing of residents was built into new residential developments as part of the planning process.  It was agreed that the matter would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30/PF

31/PF

Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee Work Programme pdf icon PDF 60 KB

To consider the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee’s work programme for the remainder of the 2018/19 municipal year.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received and noted a report setting out the Committee’s proposed work programme for the remainder of the 2018/19 municipal year.

 

It was queried when the next meeting of the Camberley Town Centre Working Group would be taking place.  It was confirmed that a date had not been set but a meeting was expected to take place in March 2019.  It was agreed that Councillor White and Councillor Malcaus Cooper would be included in the meeting appointments to enable the Committee to have an input into the development of a holistic car parking strategy.

32/PF

Date of Next Meeting

The next scheduled meeting of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee will take place on Wednesday 20th March 2019 at 7pm.

Minutes:

It was noted that the next scheduled meeting of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee would take place on 20th March 2019.