Agenda and minutes

To receive and note apologies for absence.

None were received.

At this point in the meeting, Members and co-opted members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest, or other registerable interest, they might have in respect of business on this agenda, if they have not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

[Please see the attached sheet for further guidance for Members.]

Members were asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest, or other registerable interest, they might have in respect of business on the agenda, if they have not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests.

None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 2024.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the last meeting held on 9 December 2024 were approved as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered to speak can do so. Members of the public may speak on agenda items or on matters within the remit of the committee.

Please note that our registration deadlines are set as 2 working days before the meeting, in order to facilitate the management of public participation at our meetings. The deadline for registering at this meeting is 5:00pm on Thursday, 16 January 2025.

To register to speak please visit www.york.gov.uk/AttendCouncilMeetings to fill in an online registration form. If you have any questions about the registration form or the meeting, please contact Democratic Services. Contact details can be found at the foot of this agenda.

Webcasting of Public Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this meeting will be webcast including any registered public speakers who have given their permission. The meeting can be viewed live and on demand at www.york.gov.uk/webcasts.

During coronavirus, we made some changes to how we ran council meetings, including facilitating remote participation by public speakers. See our updates (www.york.gov.uk/COVIDDemocracy) for more information on meetings and decisions.

It was reported that there had been one registration to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Flick Williams, a resident, spoke to raise her concerns regarding the York Central project and the recent planning decision to allow occupancy of the Government Hub prior to the completion of step free access for the NRM and station parking to the rear. She stated that the decision failed to meet the public sector equality duty and that it should have been mentioned during the briefing at December’s meeting.

Members will consider the draft City of York Council Social Value Policy.

The Head of Procurement presented her report on the council’s draft Social Value Policy (SVP).  She was joined by the Interim Head of City Development who outlined the Social Value Outcome Framework which had been produced in collaboration with colleagues from the Integrated Care Board (ICB).

Members asked a number of questions on the draft SVP covering the core social value objectives, the percentage of bid scoring allocated to social value, barriers for small businesses, measuring real social value, building social value in to every contract not solely those mandated contracts of £100k or more, notice periods for upcoming procurement contracts, measuring and tracking policy effectiveness and the resources to manage this, metrics vs creativity, clarity of the written policy.

In response to questions, it was reported that SV requirements must relate to the procured item.  The ten percent contribution to SV was the minimum required amount, as per legislation, and can be higher. Procurement officers work with small businesses to ensure that the questions and process are proportionate to the business and what is being procured.  A five-year pipeline of procurement projects would be published, a range of market events including meet the buyers would be held. Measuring the success of the procurement policy through gauging the evidence was an importance piece of ongoing work.

Cllr Lomas noted that the consultation on the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy, which would bring strands included in various other strategies together, was being launched this month.

In relation to the outcome framework, Members asked questions covering the scope and wording of the health and wellbeing criteria, the wording of the in-scope, out of scope table, carbon off-setting, working with smaller orgs, public sector facilities, carbon emissions, biodiversity outcomes in relation to long term sustainability and financial/volunteer contributions.

Members comments were noted, and it was reported that the framework was based on the Health & Wellbeing strategy, CYC was working with public and private organisations, some of whom had national SVP frameworks in place. Contract managers would determine what the priorities are for each procurement exercise.

Resolved:   That the feedback provided by Members be incorporated into the final version of the SVP.

Reason:      To give Members oversight of the SVP.

This report summarises the steps that have been taken to progress the Castle Gateway project, in line with the decisions that were made in November 2023.

The Interim Director of City Development outlined the changes since the item last came to the Committee and the Head of Regeneration highlighted the key points in the report relating to the Castle and Eye of York, noting that there was to be an updated planning application to be submitted and a report due to go to Executive in May.

Members asked a range of questions which covered future funding streams, the allocated budget and what was included for that stage, the event space and the impact any changes made on the projected income, when work would start on the site, secure cycle parking, parking provision, including the plans for Blue Badge Holders and the impact of lost parking revenue, West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) funding review, the plans for the play park, the ongoing maintenance of the site and reliance on volunteers.

Officers reported the following:

·       Immediate funding routes were in place and work was ongoing with the Mayoral Combined Authority to identify future sources of funding from the mayoral fund.

·       The stage three cost plan had been subject to an external assessment by Turner and Townsend and updated to £16m to account for inflation, subject to the start date.

·       Changes to the entertainment space meant that it was smaller in scale and there would be no hard paved area.

·       Work was expected to start in 2026, subject to Council approval and the procurement of a contractor to undertake the works.

·       The bridge and Castle Mills area was a separate part of the scheme. Funding remained in place for the bridge. 

·       The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) review related to internal projects and no concerns had been raised.

·       The details for the play park had not been finalised and residents would be involved in shaping the plans.  Landscaping would be kept simple to ensure maintenance was manageable and it was anticipated that a paid element would be necessary alongside the support of volunteers and external organisations.

Cllr Kilbane, the Deputy Leader and Economy & Culture Executive Member, noted the changes in the project and the alternative options for an event space.  He highlighted the work with external partners such as YMT, the Minster and the Civic Trust to develop the city centre spatial strategy covering all of city centre.   

He explained that there were plans to reduce parking in the city centre but not displace altogether and that scheme improvements to the Park and Ride and opening Coppergate car park for longer would mitigate a reduction in parking.  He noted that it was important to reduce reliance on parking revenue.

Cllr Lomas, Executive Member for Finance, Performance, Major Projects, Human Rights, Equality and Inclusion explained that the plan was to re-provide a similar level of blue badge parking spaces, she noted the inherent difficulties in calculating the usage levels of blue badge parking.

Resolved:  That the report be noted.

Reason:      To keep the committee apprised of progress to date.

[7.24 pm, the meeting adjourned]

This report provides a summary of the key research findings relating to carbon offsetting/insetting. It defines a draft set of best practice principles to underpin any emerging strategy. It also identifies an approach the council could take to directly address its organisational residual emissions and contribute towards addressing city-wide residual emissions using carbon offsetting/insetting.

The Interim Director of City Development and the Head of Carbon Reduction presented the report and gave a presentation on developing a carbon offsetting/insetting strategy.  Members were invited to ask questions or provide comment to assist in determining the direction of the strategy.

Members raised questions or concerns on the likelihood of achieving net zero by 2030, the number of community woodlands needed to offset local carbon emissions, the amount of time allocated to developing the strategy, CYC transport emissions and employee use of EVs through the Enterprise car rental scheme, partnership / Combined Authority working, the links with this strategy and biodiversity net gain strategies, and the likelihood of buying agricultural land for insetting.

Cllr Kent, Executive Member for the environment noted that the focus would be on projects within York and North Yorkshire, and as the 2030 target becomes closer this would be reassessed with improved data.  The main priority was to reduce carbon emissions.

Officers reported that CYC was working with the Combined Authority on the latest available data to more accurately assess 2030 targets.

There was scope to use credits from the woodland to offset CYC emissions by 2030.  Purchasing more agricultural land to create additional woodland was an option.  The Executive Member noted that the benefits for local organisations to buy in to community woodland projects were more than financial and included improving employee well-being.

Decarbonising the HGV fleet was difficult and there was not yet a plan for this.

There were opportunities to work with the Combined Authority to meet carbon reduction targets through developing natural capital, and to work with city partners to correctly capture and quantify their carbon reduction projects.

[8.30 pm, Cllrs Widdowson and Healey left the meeting. 8.32 pm, Cllr Coles left the meeting]

Resolved:  That the report be noted.

Reason:      To ensure Members have oversight of the possible offsetting/insetting strategy.

To consider the work plans for the committee and for scrutiny overview.

Members considered the Committee’s work plan and the scrutiny overview work plan for the four scrutiny committees.

It was noted that the scrutiny review item would be received in March and requests were made for the following:

·       a briefing from officers on the changes to Business Rates and

·       a task and finish group on the subject of Procurement be further considered.

Resolved:             That the work plan be noted.

Reason:                To ensure an overview of the scrutiny work programme.