To receive Report No. 34/2022 from Penny Sharp, Strategic Director of Places and Roger Ransom, Planning Policy and Housing Manager following the request from Councillors M Oxley, G Waller and G Brown and the Rutland Quarry Forum for a discussion regarding Rutland County Council’s minerals planning service contract.

Report No. 34/2022 was received from Penny Sharp, Strategic Director of Places and Roger Ransom, Planning and Housing Policy Manager following the request from Councillors Oxley, Waller and G Brown and the Rutland Quarry Forum for a discussion regarding Rutland County Council’s minerals planning service contract.  During the discussion, the following points were noted:

·       Paragraph 2.7 detailed the structure in place to monitor the contract. 

·       Paragraph 2.11 detailed the circumstances when the contract could be cancelled but this would only be used as very last resort.

·       Contract performance would be thoroughly managed.  This had not been done over the past 2 years but sufficient resilience had been built into Rutland County Council to monitor and identify any performance issues.

·       Upskilling of staff to improve resilience within the team had been completed by involving officers in site visits, site and operator meetings, additional training courses etc.

·       Communication within the team and with partners had also been improved so as to improve the quality of service.

·       North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) had previously reported that they did not have the staff or resilience to undertake monitoring of the quarry but they now stated that they did have the staff and resilience.  As a result, residents were concerned about the monitoring of the contract and the impact on the localities and Rutland residents. 

·       It was requested if the SMART objectives regarding the contract could be distributed to the Committee and that monitoring, enforcements and development updates be given to the Scrutiny Committee.  It was also proposed that there should be a single point of contact within the Planning Team regarding this contract and that a representative from NNC should attend the meetings of the Rutland Quarry Forum.  Planning and Housing Policy Manager stated that the performance indicators or SMART objectives were detailed in the contract but that NNC had to confirm the release of contract details before any information could be shared and were currently awaiting legal advice.

·       It was noted that the NNC Development Control Manager had confirmed to Councillor G Brown that he would be retiring in the near future and it was queried if this fact was known whilst the contract was being commissioned. The Planning and Housing Policy Manager reported that the contract had been commissioned by Welland Procurement on the 6^th December 2021 so RCC was not aware of the NNC Development Control Manager retiring.  If this had been known at the time, then safety measures would have been included in the contract.  However, NNC had confirmed that they had the necessary staff to undertake the contract and meet the identified performance indicators.  Should the performance indicators not be met then financial sanctions and ultimately cancellation of the contract had been built into the contract. 

·       It was proposed that officers from NNC should give an update briefing to this Committee and that Cabinet should review the monitoring arrangements, consider the outcomes to date and evaluate the effectiveness of the contract within the next 6 months.

RESOLVED

That the Scrutiny Committee:

a)    NOTED the decision that had been made to award the contract to provide minerals and waste planning advice to the Council.

b)    COMMENTED on the arrangements set out in the report as to how the contract would be monitored to achieve the required performance and ensure value for money.

c)    REQUESTED that Penny Sharp, Strategic Director of Places circulated the contract including SMART objectives to members of the Growth, Infrastructure and Resources Scrutiny Committee.

d)    REQUESTED that Penny Sharp, Strategic Director of Places produced an update report to be presented to the Growth, Infrastructure and Resources Scrutiny Committee within six months.

e)    RECOMMENDED that Cabinet considered and evaluated contingency plans should the contract fail.

f)      RECOMMENDED a single point of contact within the Planning Team regarding the contract.

g)    RECOMMENDED that a representative from NNC should attend the meetings of the Greetham Quarry Forum.

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Marie Rosenthal and Justin Johnson left the meeting at 20:01

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