Councillors and committees

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Ashcombe, County Hall, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, KT1 2DN

Contact: Huma Younis, Room 122, County Hall, Kingston upon Thames 

Items
No. Item

12/15

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

    Minutes:

    Apologies were received from Pat Frost and Ken Gulati.  There were no substitutions.

13/15

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING: 11 JUNE 2015 pdf icon PDF 149 KB

    To agree the previous minutes as a true record of the meeting.

    Minutes:

    The Minutes were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.

14/15

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

    To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests from Members in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.

    Notes:

    ·         In line with the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012, declarations may relate to the interest of the member, or the member’s spouse or civil partner, or a person with whom the member is living as husband or wife, or a person with whom the member is living as if they were civil partners and the member is aware they have the interest.

    ·         Members need only disclose interests not currently listed on the Register of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.

    ·         Members must notify the Monitoring Officer of any interests disclosed at the meeting so they may be added to the Register.

    ·         Members are reminded that they must not participate in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest. 

     

     

    Minutes:

    There were no declarations of interest.

15/15

QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS pdf icon PDF 23 KB

    To receive any questions or petitions.

    Notes:

    ·         The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (Thursday 3 September 2015)

    ·         The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (Wednesday 2 September 2015).

    ·         The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.

     

     

    Minutes:

    ·         A member question had been received from Cllr Denis Fuller. A copy of the response was tabled at the meeting and is attached to the minutes.

16/15

RECOMMENDATIONS TRACKER AND FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 56 KB

    The Board is asked to monitor progress on the implementation of recommendations from previous meetings, and to review its Forward Work Programme.

     

    The Board will also receive a verbal update on the work of the winter performance task group, customer service excellence member reference group and highways for the future member reference group from their respective Chairmen.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

                Key Points Raised During the Discussion:

               

    1.    The Board noted the Actions and Recommendations Tracker and agreed its provisional Forward Work Programme.  An informal forward work planning session was scheduled to be held on conclusion of the formal Board meeting.

    2.    The Chairman reported that at the initial meeting of the Performance & Finance Sub-Group there had been a discussion about ways of working and an outline work programme had been agreed.  There had been an issue about the timeliness of information submitted to the Sub-Group for the meeting, and it had been agreed that meetings would in future be adjourned if papers weren’t received at least two days in advance.  The Chairman would provide an oral update on the work of the Sub-Group at each Board meeting.

    3.    The Chairman updated the Board on progress with the Superfast Broadband project, and it was noted that the target of 95% of properties in the programme area having superfast broadband by the end of the year was set to be exceeded.  A copy of the performance and finance sub group update report would be circulated to the board.

    4.    The Board received updates from the Chairmen of its Member Reference Groups as follows:

    Customer Service Excellence
    The Members had visited the Council’s Call Centre and had asked that resources for this service be protected because it provided a key first point of contact which was vital to the reputation of the Council.  The Member Reference Group was reviewing highways contractors’ response systems and had also commissioned studies into specific highways projects such as Project Horizon.  A visit to the Kier control centre had also been held.

    A key on-going issue for the Member Reference Group was in relation to communications about highways work, including signage and letters to affected individuals and businesses.  Members were encouraged to let the Group know about any examples of failings in the process.  The issue of inadequate weights being used to secure temporary road signs was raised, and this was noted by the Cabinet Member.  The importance of Members receiving a short bulletin about road works in their division was also highlighted, as good information significantly reduced the number of enquiries and help to set expectations.

    10.40 Peter Hickman arrived at the meeting


    Highways for the Future
    Recent work of the Group had focussed on development of the five-year Highway Business Plan, which aimed to ensure alignment between the Services’ goals and the Council’s Corporate Priorities.  The Group had also reviewed the Asset Management Consultation toolkit, which was used to inform future spending decisions.

    A visit to Northamptonshire had been held to see how Kier operated their highways contract there.  This had highlighted initiatives which could be introduced in Surrey, particularly in relation to the social value agenda such as providing employment opportunities for disabled people.

    The Group was currently reviewing its findings, and recommendations would be presented to the Board at its meeting on November 2015.

    Actions:

     

    The Board to receive oral updates from its  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16/15

17/15

REPORT OF THE WINTER PERFORMANCE TASK GROUP pdf icon PDF 36 KB

    Purpose of the report: Policy Development and Review

     

    To outline to the Board the recommendations made by the Winter Performance Task Group.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

                Declarations of Interest:

     

    None.

     

                Witnesses:

     

         Tony Casey, Highways and Transport Maintenance Team Manager

         John Furey, Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport & Flooding

     

                Key Points Raised During the Discussion:

               

    1     Copies of the Highways Cold Weather Plan for 2014/15 were tabled at the meeting.

    2     Stephen Cooksey introduced the report on behalf of the Winter Performance Task Group and highlighted the key points.  It was noted that the arrangements in the Cold Weather Plan had not been fully tested yet as the last two winters had been relatively mild.

    3     It was reported that the purpose of the weather stations was to measure the road surface temperature, wind speed and air temperature in order to help to plan the response to cold weather.  The Highways Team also received three weather forecasts every day, covering periods of 24 hours, one week and 30 days.  Members commented that they found it helpful to receive email notifications in advance of severe weather, and it was suggested that the provision of information could be extended by using social media to distribute updates about gritting or other work being carried out.

    4     All of the Borough and District Councils were now engaged in the delivery of the Cold Weather Plan and all provided a consistent range of services such as footway clearance.  There was, however, variation in the amount of resource individual councils could allocate to carry out the work.  It was agreed that additional information should be included in the resources section of the Cold Weather Plan, setting out the level of service provided by individual Boroughs and Districts in the event of the Plan being implemented.

     

    5     It was explained that priority gritti­ng routes could be amended but members would need to contact the relevant highways officers to discuss this first.

     

    6     The Board commended the work of the Task Group.

     

     

    Recommendations:

     

    The Economic Prosperity, Environment and Highways board agreed and endorsed the following recommendations for submission to Cabinet,

     

    a)    That the 2014/15 Gritting Route Network, with minor amendments resulting from member, resident and officer feedback, be maintained for the 2015/16 season.

     

    b)    That communities be permitted to purchase additional grit bins at a total cost of £947 for an initial 4 year period and £639 for each subsequent 4 year extension, and that Parish Councils and other statutory bodies may be licensed to install grit bins on the public highway.

     

    c)    That the Highways Cold Weather Plan 2015/16 be approved.

     

    d)    That approval of any future amendments to the Highways Cold Weather Plan be delegated to the Assistant Director Highways and Transport in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Flooding.

     

    Actions:

     

    ·         The task group report will be submitted to Cabinet for consideration.

     

     

    Bob Gardner left the meeting at 11.45am.

18/15

SURREY RAIL STRATEGY UPDATE pdf icon PDF 207 KB

    Purpose of the report:  Policy Development and Review

     

    The report outlines the work undertaken on Surrey’s rail priorities since the publication of the Surrey Rail Strategy. This includes detailed assessments on the North Downs Line and the Crossrail 2 project.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Declarations of Interest:

     

    None.

     

    Witnesses:

     

    Paul Millin, Travel and Transport Group Manager

     

    Key Points Raised During the Discussion:

     

    1     The Board noted that the benefits from the proposed Crossrail 2 scheme would be better connectivity between the County and Central London and reduced congestion on trains, particularly between Wimbledon and Waterloo.  Wimbledon would become a key interchange for passengers travelling to and from Surrey.

    2     Assessment work being completed by the County Coucnil demonstrated a case for Woking Station to be incorporated into the Crossrail 2 proposals.  Research underway suggests that improved journey opportunities could be achieved by the inclusion of Woking Station in the scheme. Analysis currently suggests that no benefits would be derived from the inclusion of Guildford.

    3     A Network Rail report on the electrification options, including the  North Downs Line was expected imminently, and details would be shared with the Board in the next update report.  The access issues at Dorking Deepdene Station were discussed, and it was noted that Mole Valley District Council planning officers had stated that the options for the provision of lifts and fully accessible ramps were very limited due to the lack of space available.  However, the Travel and Transport Group Manager would raise this again with First Great Western to see if a solution could be found and how this could be funded.

    Actions:

     

    ·         It was agreed that a further update report would be brought to the Board in the new year.

     

    ·         It was also agreed that a copy of the County Council’s formal response in relation to the devolution of rail services in London would be circulated along with the Minutes (attached to the minutes).

19/15

DATE OF NEXT MEETING: 21 OCTOBER 2015

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    The next meeting of the Economic Prosperity, Environment and Highways board will be held on 21 October at 10.30 am in the Ashcombe Suite, County Hall, Kingston upon Thames. 

    Minutes:

    It was noted that the next meeting would be held at 10.30am on Wednesday 21 October 2015.