To
agree the minutes of the previous meeting of the Communities,
Environment and Highways Select Committee as a true and accurate
record of proceedings.
To
share details of the Cabinet Members’ priority areas of work
including strategy and policy developments and provide an overview
of the budget position and performance of services within his/her
portfolio.
Cabinet
Member for Communities Update – Report to follow
Natalie Bramhall, Cabinet
Member for Environment and Climate Change
Denise Turner-Stewart, Cabinet
Member for Communities
Katie Stewart, Executive
Director – Environment, Transport and
Infrastructure
Steve Owen-Hughes, Chief Fire
Officer and Head of Surrey Community Protection Group
Key
points raised during the discussion:
CABINET MEMBER FOR TRANSPORT
The Cabinet Member
was asked to provide additional information on the streetlight
private finance initiative (PFI) renegotiation. The Cabinet Member
stated that negotiations had been underway for the last year and
LED roll out was proceeding, after which a discussion on
refinancing would take place. The Cabinet Member stated that this
was scheduled to be discussed at the next cabinet
meeting.
The Chairman queried
how much of the first tranche of government funding for active
travel had been spent or allocated. The Cabinet Member stated that
twenty of the twenty-three tranche one schemes had been delivered
and the remaining three would be completed by the end of September
2020. Some schemes had been withdrawn and this was largely due to
lack of support from divisional Members. This had been anticipated
and alternative schemes were in place to replace them. All tranche
one schemes and all proposed tranche two schemes had been uploaded
on the Council’s Commonplace transport map. The Department
for Transport would confirm tranche two funding at the end of the
month.
A Member remarked
that there had been good public engagement with Active Travel and
asked how public responses would be integrated into the
council’s Active Travel response to COVID-19. The Cabinet
Member stated the top one hundred public comments on the Surrey
COVID transport website that received the most support from other
residents and were deemed viable by the Council were put on
the Commonplace transport map. Active
Travel would be a rolling programme of which public engagement was
an ongoing component.
A Member asked for
further information on the timescales for new road surface trials.
The Cabinet Member informed the committee that the previous two
trials had been a hydroblasting trial -
using water to remove shiny elements from a road surface to improve
surface grip – and an oil emulsion trial – an
alternative to surface dressing. More recent trialling had been on
plastic pellets in utility reinstatements trial, however there was
a concern that there was a lack of understanding on the long-term
performance of plastic. In the coming months, there would be an
alternative road marking trial with the aim of reducing use of
microplastics. A new thermal patching
method had been successfully trialled on one of the worst areas of
potholes in the county; it would also be trialled as a reactive
treatment. Trial sites would be returned to in 12- and 24-month
periods for monitoring purposes. The Cabinet Member stated that
Members were informed of progress within updates at full
council.
A Member asked
whether more electric vehicle charging points could be installed in
areas which were accessible to all Surrey residents. The Cabinet
Member stated that ...
view the full minutes text for item 27.
The Select Committee
was provided with a report on progress of the implementation of
theMaking Surrey Safer
– Our Plan 2020 – 2023for the meeting held on the 24th March
2020. This report provides a further
update.
Denise Turner-Stewart, Cabinet
Member for Communities
Steve Owen-Hughes, Chief Fire
Officer and Head of Surrey Community Protection Group
Sarah Kershaw, Chief of Staff
and Deputy Head of Community Protection
Group
Key
points raised during the discussion:
The Cabinet Member
stated that detailed work had been undertaken since the March
meeting of the Select Committee. Phase one making surrey safer plan
had been successfully implemented despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The annual statement of assurance had been published and refreshed
in an engaging format to fully inform the public. Performance of
the service had consistently improved since implementation of phase
one. The service was awaiting the outcome of the Brunel University
external validation assurance later this month.
A Member thanked
Surrey Fire and Rescue Service for its hard work during the Chobam
wildfires and asked what welfare provision was provided for
firefighters working in harsh conditions such as those at Cobham.
The Chief Fire Officer stated that there was good welfare provision
in place; a contract ensured that rapid relief were in place at
major incidents. Welfare, including water and provisions, was
provided on every fire engine and all firefighters carried a credit
card to purchase additional supplies if desired. SFRS had received
feedback from other fire and rescue services stating that the
provision of welfare for their firefighters when working for SFRS
had been very good.
A Member questioned
whether firefighter welfare was reviewed on a regular basis,
especially for future major incidents. The Chief Fire Officer
stated that a welfare review was under way and processes were being
checked. The Chief Fire Officer assured the Committee that all
concerns voiced by firefighters were listened to. The Cabinet
Member gave assurance that welfare was prioritised in the
service.
A Vice chairman
expressed concern about emergency response time and asked how
COVID-19 had impacted this negatively. The Chief Fire Officer
stated that although the start of lockdown traffic was
significantly reduced, road traffic collisions that did occur
during this period were more impactful and required a greater level
of intervention. Lockdown had caused different incidents requiring
different responses.
A Member asked how
the Service performed on recruitment and retention of staff and
asked how many current vacancies there were in the Service. The
Chief Fire Officer stated that of 664 posts, there were 59
vacancies which included 17 whole time firefighter vacancies.
Across the whole service, there were 67 new members of staff
recently employed. The recruiting cycle was ongoing however had
stalled during the COVID-19 period. The Service was now able to
recruit and train at all levels in the service. Internal promotions
were encouraged as were pursuing different career paths within the
service. Exit interviews were conducted with staff and the Chief
Fire Officer informed the Committee that the most common reasons
for staff leaving the service were personal issues, new external
opportunities and taking retirement. A Member requested that the
Chief Fire Officer provide a breakdown of the number of serving
firefighters and support staff.
The purpose of the
report is to provide the Communities, Environment and Highways
Select Committee with an update on progress since the Surrey
Climate Change Strategy was endorsed by Cabinet in April
2020.
Natalie Bramhall, Cabinet
Member for Environment and Climate Change
Katie Stewart, Executive
Director – ETI
Carolyn McKenzie, Director
– Environment
Katie Sargent, Environment
Group Commissioning Manager
Key
points raised during the discussion:
The Cabinet Member
stated that the council had been working hard to engage with its
borough and district partners; the Cabinet Member had held meetings
with climate change portfolio holders and officer leads from eight
of the district and boroughs, with the remaining three meetings
scheduled. The meetings had been positive and confirmed a shared
desire for joint working to tackle the climate crisis. Many
district and borough councils, however, now did not have the
funding to continue their climate work and were turning to the
County Council to lead on, and fund, carbon reduction
activities.
The Cabinet Member
continued that work was underway to greater understand the
council’s carbon reduction targets, how they would be
achieved, and the financial impacts of them. Consultants were being
commissioned to produce a series of costed carbon reduction targets
for the council’s estate and the county.
The £300m
Greener Futures investment programme was endorsed at March cabinet
and would make a significant contribution to deliver on the climate
change ambitions. A dashboard reporting the resulting emissions
reductions would enable performance reporting to occur.
An urban tree
planting fund had been launched and members had been asked for
suggestions. Finally. The council had put a bid into the
government’s green homes local authority delivery programme
(GH LAD) which, if successful, would bring £6.2m into the
county to improve energy efficiency in low income inefficient
housing, reducing fuel poverty in the county as well as stimulating
Surrey’s green economy. In order to improve the
council’s chances of being awarded this funding, the council
allocated £750,000 capital funding to act as a top up fund
for more costly energy efficiency measures.
A Vice Chairman
expressed concern that the COVID-19 pandemic and unitarisation of local authorities could impact on
the delivery of the council’s climate strategy. The Cabinet
Member stated that a unitarity
authority could be better placed to deliver climate ambitions. In
the interim, cooperation and communication with district and
boroughs would be key in bringing forward the strategy. The Cabinet
Member could not yet state what impact COVID-19 would have on the
climate change agenda but hypothesised that the biggest bearing
would be on public transport.
A Member asked how
many Surrey residents had used the interactive carbon footprint
tool. The Cabinet Member informed members that the green microsite
on World Environmental Day and it had 1,700 hits in the first
month.
A Member asked
whether the council could assist the health sector to meet climate
targets. The Group Manager assured the committee that the
directorate was engaging with the health sector, mainly through the
Surrey Heartlands Board, Heartlands Sustainability Network and The
Estates Board.
A Member stated that
transport was the largest source of emissions in Surrey and asked
what plans were in place to address this. The Executive Director
stated ...
view the full minutes text for item 29.
For the Select Committee to review the
attached recommendations tracker and forward work programme, making
suggestions for additions or amendments as appropriate.
1.
The Scrutiny Business Manager stated that there were many items to
be scoped and prioritised before the end of the municipal calendar.
This would be discussed with the Committee in due course.
2.
The Scrutiny Business Manager stated that there would be a climate
change item at the November meeting of the Select Committee.
The Committee noted its next meeting would be
held on 25 November 2020.
Meeting ended at
12:30.
32.
PRIVATE WORKSHOP
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·
Climate Change Delivery Plan: discussion of the draft Climate
Change Delivery Plan prior to public scrutiny of the final draft at
the December meeting of the Select Committee.
·
Budget Scrutiny: review of the council’s current financial
position and core planning assumptions.