Council and councillors

(KEY DECISION)

Report No. 141/2018

(Report to follow)

(KEY DECISION)

Report No. 141/2018 was received from the Strategic Director for Places.

Mrs L Stephenson, Portfolio Holder for Culture & Leisure, Highways & Transportation introduced the report the purpose of which was to seek Cabinet approval for the Council to adopt a new methodology for considering requests for service, and responding to complaints and concerns raised in relation to highways and transport and provide Cabinet an update on progress in relation to the Integrated Transport Capital fund, to update on the financial position of the fund and to propose a budget allocation for financial year 2018/19.

During discussion the following points were raised:

i.      There was an error in the report on page 17 of the agenda pack where the text above the table should read “On balance, buying vehicles represented better value than leasing the vehicles”;

ii.    The evidence based approach referred to in the report would involve working with partners and carrying out a thorough evaluation to ensure that the solution was based on the actual problem and not perception;

iii.   There had not been specific consultation with Parish Councils, but views and feedback put forward through previous years had been taken into account;

iv.   Parish Councils would be briefed once the recommendations had been approved.  This may be through a Parish Briefing, or at Parish Council Forum;

v.    Mr Brown asked that environmental impacts were considered when looking at the type of vehicles to purchase;

vi.   Mr Brown noted that some of the schemes had been on the list for some time.  Mrs Stephenson confirmed that the benefit of the new processes being proposed was to avoid such lengthy delay in the future.  Mr Tomlinson confirmed that it was the intention to deal with the outstanding schemes as a matter of priority; and

vii.  The new process allowed for progress of specific schemes to be published so that Parishes would be fully informed at all times as to the status of any request.

DECISIONS:

Cabinet:

1)    APPROVED the recommendation to introduce a new process from considering requests for service, as described in Part 3 of Report No. 141/2018.

2)    APPROVED the creation of the Highways and Transport Working Group.

3)    APPROVED the adoption of the Terms of Reference for the Highways and Transport Working Group, described in Appendix B of Report No. 141/2018.

4)    APPROVED the delegation of authority to the Strategic Director for Places, in consultation with the Cabinet Member with portfolio for Culture and Leisure, Highways & Transportation and Communications and the Portfolio Holder for Safeguarding – Adults, Public Health, Health Commissioning, Community Safety & Road Safety, to authorise use of the funding, up to £760,000.00.

5)    APPROVED the delegation of authority to the Strategic Director for places in consultation with the Director of Resources and the Cabinet Member with portfolio for Culture and Leisure, Highways & Transportation and Communications and the Portfolio Holder for Safeguarding – Adults, Public Health, Health Commissioning, Community Safety & Road Safety to set aside Contract Standing Orders for the purchase of the vehicles detailed in Appendix C of Report No. 141/2018.

Reasons for Decisions

·         In respect of the Requests for Service process, it is the view of Officers that the proposal described in this report provides a robust but more dynamic process for responding to issues raised.

The Integrated Transport Capital Fund 2018/19 budget provides resources for a programme which Officers are confident can be delivered. The proposal to delegate authority to spend the budget to the Strategic Director for Places, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder, is in line with the 2017/18 decision to delegate authority and provide for an expeditious delivery process.