Agenda and minutes

There were no Declarations of Interest made at this meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public or the press.

There were no items to report.

Resolved:- That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Improving Places Select Commission, held on 16th September, 2014, be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chairman.

presentation at the meeting

The Select Commission received a presentation from the Director of Planning, Regeneration and Culture and the Economic Development Manager entitled “Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership Combined Authority”, providing an overview of the Local Enterprise Partnership. The presentation and Members’ discussion highlighted the following issues:-

- this subject had been identified, during the scrutiny review of support for Rotherham’s local economy, as a matter about which Members required further information;

- a structure diagram was provided of the Local Enterprise Partnership and the Sheffield City Region Combined Authority;

- the principal strands of housing/residential, infrastructure, HS2, skills for growth and partnership and business growth;

- the complicated nature of the arrangements and the need for clear lines of accountability;

- the Sheffield City Region – a “functional economic area” (accommodating 1.8 million people; supporting 700,000 jobs);

- start-up rates of new businesses, productivity, private sector employment – all are below national averages, although there have been improvements in recent years;

- it is acknowledged that there ought to be improvement in the economic performance of the Sheffield City Region;

- history and development of the Local Economic Partnership and of the Combined Authority (the latter being formally established on 1st April 2014);

- the Combined Authority’s remit for transport arrangements, including the management of the region’s 10-years allocation of major transport scheme funding; the allocation of funding for transport from the ‘Growth Fund’;

- the Combined Authority’s remit for economic development, providing accountability and ‘holding’ the public money (including Growth Fund allocations); the Local Economic Partnership leads on strategy and delivery;

- the Combined Authority’s remit for Planning – the duty to co-operate; aligning the work of the Local Plans (the district councils retain the role and function as the Local Planning Authorities); details of the Strategic Economic Plan;  economic and demographic forecasting to aid future integrated infrastructure across the City Region;

- the staffing structure of the Combined Authority/Local Economic Partnership and its total, annual operational costs (Members asked to be provided with these details);

- comparison with previous regimes (eg: Yorkshire Forward; English Partnerships; the Dearne Valley project; etc);

- the availability of brownfield sites, across the region, for future industrial development;

- the Local Enterprise Partnership is still in its infancy, therefore any judgement of its value and effectiveness may be premature; some benefits have already accrued (eg; the Growth Fund, with local businesses able to access grants; establishment of the new Enterprise Zones);

- the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) – a strategic body established to drive forward economic growth (the LEP comprises Council Members and private sector representatives from across the Region, with a private sector representative taking the chair); operation of the Inward Investment Team, which attracts new businesses to the Region;

- the Strategic Economic Plan – to transform the local economy during the next decade;  used to bid for central Government funding from the Growth Deal;

- the LEP Growth Deal – supporting infrastructure projects; skills bank;  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

Further to Minute No. 36 of the meeting of the Improving Places Select Commission held on 27th November, 2013 and Minute No. 25 of the meeting of the Improving Places Select Commission held on 16th September, 2014, consideration was given to a report, presented by the Director of Streetpride, concerning progress with the implementation of the action plan arising from the scrutiny review of this Council’s Grounds Maintenance and Street Cleansing services. A copy of the updated action plan was included with the submitted report.

The report also included an explanation of the difficulties experienced with grass cutting, across the Borough area during the Summer of 2014. An important aspect had been the ‘perfect’ grass growing conditions created by the mild Winter during late 2013 and early 2014.

The Select Commission’s discussion highlighted the following issues:-

: the type of grass cutting machinery being used (the detailed contractual arrangements were noted);

: complaints received by the Council about various quality issues, such as the frequency of cutting, non-removal of grass clippings; reference was made to the examples of specific sites about which complaints were being made by members of the public;

: requests from the public for grass cutting to happen more frequently;

: the 28 sites, located in various areas across the Borough, upon which there was only limited grass cutting, leaving longer grass and sometimes having a pathway cut through the grass (this arrangement enabled cost savings to be made);

: reduced grass cutting frequency as a budget/cost reduction exercise (it was noted that the arrangement of five cuts per year was acknowledged to be the minimum amount);

: Housing Revenue Account funding for sites which are Council-owned and funded from that account; there has been improved frequency of grass cutting at these sites (ie: intervals of two weeks, whilst other Borough Council-owned sites have been cut at intervals of four weeks); details were provided of the arrangements and funding for the grounds maintenance of HRA sites during the Winter 2014/2015 and later in the year 2015, involving specific selected sites across the Borough;

: the impact of very wet weather upon grass cutting; the hindrance also caused to grass cutting by the construction of fencing in and around sites;

: the intention to commence grass cutting during March 2015 (depending upon weather conditions), in accordance with the agreed budget;

: ‘gateway’ sites to the Rotherham town centre and also to other towns and villages around the Borough area, where it is important for grounds maintenance to be undertaken regularly in order to enhance the attractive appearance of these areas;

: the quality of cutting is usually dependent upon the type of mower used (eg: flail, rotary and cylinder mowers); the different types of machinery are used on all sites, although at different times of the cutting season, to try and maintain a consistent standard of grass cutting across all sites;

: the arrangements of the Council’s grass cutting teams of operatives, who  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.