Agenda item

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

Declarations of interest:

None.

Witnesses:

None.

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    The Committee was presented with a list of proposed items for meetings until January 2014 and were asked to provide comment.

2.    The Chairman explained that after the Committee Induction on 19 June 2013 Members’ priorities were ranked with Highways Maintenance and Project Horizon being the Committee’s first priority, followed by waste and recycling, flooding and congestion. The Scrutiny Officer confirmed many of the priorities were already scheduled on the Forward Work Programme for the coming year and that he was in discussion with officers regarding when to schedule flooding, customer services and aviation on the Forward Work Programme.

3.    The Chairman explained that he hoped to use the Forward Work Programme to ensure discussions at future meetings were focused and Members questions were answered by the right officers. The Chairman asked Members to discuss their questions for the items programmed for the September meeting.

4.    Members requested information on what concessionary fares were mandatory for the County Council to provide, the start and finish times for concessionary fares, and the use of Oyster cards in Surrey. In addition, they requested information on concessionary fares for students. Specifically, whether there was any scope for these to be extended for use on trains.

5.    For the item on the Surrey Rail Strategy Members requested the document consider rail in Tandridge and the effect that the electrification of rails in Reigate & Banstead would have on the local road network due to level crossings in the area. Members requested the strategy consider the issue of buses to train stations as many did not run after 6pm and this increased parking problems at stations. The Committee additionally requested clarification on which stations and services were part of the London Zone 6.

6.    It was raised by Members that a meeting with all public transport providers in Surrey would encourage a unified approach, and this may be something that should be considered in the future. The Committee furthermore suggested that rail subsidies be reviewed in the near future.

7.    For the item on Water Quality scheduled for the September meeting Members suggested they would like to scrutinise officer process. They queried whether a breakdown of the water quality from each water company in Surrey could be produced, which could be scrutinised by the Committee at a future meeting. The Cabinet Member confirmed the aim was to have all the water companies aligned to the County Councils five year programme, and at the time it was hoped Thames Water would be by October 2013.

8.    The Winter Maintenance Task Group was confirmed to be meeting the following week with Councillors David Harmer, David Goodwin and Stephen Cooksey as Members.

Recommendations:

None.

Actions/further information to be provided:

Members were requested to consider items scheduled for future meetings and what they would like to discuss during the meeting. This would ensure appropriate officers were present at the meetings and the reports considered Members concerns.

Committee next steps:

The Committee will consider the Forward Work Programme and Recommendations Tracker at its next meeting.