Environment Policy and Review Panel - Tuesday, 6th June, 2017 7.00 pm - Agenda and minutes

To appoint a Chairman of the Panel for the 2017/18 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED:  That D.S. Gladstone be appointed Chairman for the 2017/18 Municipal Year.

To appoint a Vice-Chairman of the Panel for the 2017/18 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED:  That Cr. Sophia Choudhary be appointed Vice-Chairman for the 2017/18 Municipal Year.

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 11th April, 2017 (copy attached).

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 11th April, 2017 were approved and signed by the Chairman.

John Trusler, Principal Engineer to advise the Panel on the current position with highway development control and traffic management following the changes to the County Agency Agreements.  Andy Ford, Parks Manager to provide details on the effect the changes have had on the environmental works services (copy of the Cabinet paper setting out the changes is attached for information).

John Trusler, Principal Engineer, advised the Panel on the current position with highway development control and traffic management following changes to the County Agency Agreement and a subsequent reduction in funding.  There had been a number of savings introduced which included the reduction of work on traffic management schemes which were not led by safety or legal requirements.  Traffic management would also no longer include the provision of minor signs and lining.  However, the function of issuing temporary traffic regulation orders had been retained which generated income for the Council.  Rushmoor had also retained the ability to implement on-street parking but funding would need to be identified; no schemes could be implemented without being referred to the relevant County Councillor.

As part of the Parking Strategy Review a Traffic Management workshop had been arranged for Members where the changes would be covered in more detail.  All Members had been invited to attend.  The workshop would also provide an opportunity for Members to learn about the steps required to develop a traffic management scheme, provide the tools to go through the evaluation process with residents and engage with residents to explore options and assess the viability of traffic management schemes.

In order to address the reduction in funding, the traffic management team had been restructured on an incremental basis.  Senior posts had been replaced to reflect the reduced responsibility of the roles which had provided an overall reduction in staff costs.

The funding for the Transportation Strategy Officer post had been reduced which only allowed for 2-days per week, however alternative funding had been sourced for an additional day.  Pre-application charging had been introduced for validation work of applications prior to submission which provided an income stream to supplement the resource.

Andy Ford, Parks Manager, provided details on the changes to the environmental works as a result of the County reductions.  Since 1st April 2017 the responsibility for the inspection and maintenance of highway trees had returned to the County Council.  The County had also reduced the number of weed sprays on the Highway network from two to one annually.  To enable the service to be maintained at the current level the Serco contract had been drawn up to include two additional weed sprays per annum.  The funding for County Council maintenance of grass, shrubs and hedges had been cut by 35% (£47,000 per annum) and options were being considered by the Council which would either maintain the current standards or minimise the impact on the environment.

The Panel discussed the presentation and highlighted that residents were paying more to the County Council yet receiving fewer services.  The Panel NOTED the update on the Highway Agency Agreement.

Nick Irvine, Principal Planning Officer, to update the Panel on the progress of the regeneration of  Aldershot.

Nick Irvine, Principal Planning Officer, updated the Panel on the progress of the regeneration of Aldershot.  The Panel received information on the regeneration of key sites within the town which included The Galleries, Union Street East, Aldershot Station and Princes Hall.  All of the plans were at early stages and further work would be carried out over the coming months.

The Panel discussed the presentation and acknowledged that there was still a lot of work to be carried out before any of the plans could be progressed to the planning application stage.  The Panel NOTED the presentation.

Karen Edwards, Corporate Director and Lorraine Murray, Systems Thinking Analyst to provide an update on the progress of the development of the Car Parking Strategy.

Lorraine Murray, Systems Thinking Analyst, provided an update on the progress of the development of the Car Parking Strategy.  A Member Working Group had been formed to support the delivery of the Council’s new Parking Strategy to address a range of parking issues in the Borough and balance the need to maximise income and support economic growth and town centre regeneration.

The Working Group had developed a programme of prioritised work which included four main areas:  revised standards for residential parking; parking for residents; pay and display; and, school safety.  The parking standards had been considered and surveys had been carried out to gather evidence to identify how well the current standard was working.  The results of the surveys had been evaluated along with other evidence and a number of issues had been identified that needed to be addressed when the parking standards were being revised.  The revised parking standards would be presented to Cabinet on 27th June 2017.

Resident’s on-street parking had also been examined by the Working Group and as a result the Traffic Management Workshop had been arranged as highlighted earlier in the meeting which Members were encouraged to attend.  The next stage for the Working Group was to review parking tariffs which would take into account managing income generation, encouraging more footfall and supporting regeneration.  Work on the review of tariffs was currently underway which would be considered by the Working Group at a meeting on 20th July, 2017.

The Panel NOTED the presentation.

(1)     Mid-Cycle Meetings –

To appoint the Membership of the Mid-Cycle Meeting. In 2016/17, the representatives appointed were the Chairman (Cr. R.L.G. Dibbs) and Vice-Chairman (Cr. Sophia Choudhary) and Cr. J.J. Preece.

(2)     Farnborough Town Centre Working Group –

To appoint the Membership of the Farnborough Town Centre Working Group. The Membership in 2016/17 was Crs. R.L.G. Dibbs, C.P. Grattan, D.S. Gladstone, P.J. Moyle, Marina Munro, L.A. Taylor and P.G. Taylor.

(1)     Mid-Cycle Meetings –

It was agreed that Cr. J.J. Preece would attend the mid-cycle meetings in 2017/18 as the representative of his political group, along with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman.

(2)     Farnborough Town Centre Working Group –

It was agreed that Crs. J.B. Canty, R.L.G. Dibbs, C.P. Grattan, D.S. Gladstone, A. Jackman, Marina Munro, L.A. Taylor and P.G. Taylor would comprise the Farnborough Town Centre Working Group during 2017/18.

To note the Panel’s current work programme (copy attached).

The Chairman circulated a report setting out proposed items for the 2017/18 work programme.  The issues would be discussed at the mid-cycle meeting which would be arranged for mid-July. Members were invited to submit comments to the Chairman on the proposed work programme prior to the mid-cycle meeting.  The Panel NOTED the proposed work programme.