Agenda, decisions and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interest they may have in the business on this agenda.

The Chair invited Members to declare at this point any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.  No interests were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Executive meeting held on 7 November 2006.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Executive meeting held on 7 November 2006 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Executive’s remit can do so.  The deadline for registering is 10:00 am on Monday 20 November 2006.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

To receive an update on those items which are currently listed on the Executive Forward Plan.

Members received and noted an updated list of items included on the Executive Forward Plan at the time the agenda for this meeting was published.

This reports presents recommendations to improve the delivery of Street Scene services, developed following a review of the service during the summer.

Members considered a report which presented recommendations to improve the delivery of the Street Scene service, following a review of the service over the summer.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the implementation of the new service, commencing with a pilot zone in December 2006, be approved.

(ii)               That the zones be as described in Annex A to the report.

(iii)             That the pilot zone be the West Zone.

(iv)              That the name for the new service be “York Neighbourhood Pride Service.

(v)                That a review of the pilot be presented to the Executive, with the intention that the service be rolled out to other zones by March 2007.

(vi)              That the Executive record its thanks to all staff involved in creating the new service.

REASONS:    In order to improve the actual and perceived condition and appearance of the City’s streets, housing estates and publicly accessible services, building on the improvements already achieved under the York Pride initiative.

Members considered a report which presented recommendations to improve the delivery of the Street Scene service, following a review of the service over the summer.

The review had been carried out by a team comprising frontline staff, managers and representatives from trades unions and City Centre Management.  The team had considered what was good and what was bad about the current service, in the light of current best practice guidance and the recommendations arising from the 2003 Audit Commission’s review of York’s Street Scene services.  As a result, a number of key changes to the service were proposed, including:

• Managing the new service within 5 zones (North, South, East, West and City), each with its own Customer Champion;
• Different methods of cleaning within the zones, e.g. hand sweeping;
• Creating a visible ‘brand’ for the service;
• Creating a dedicated enforcement team to deter ‘enviro’ crime;
• Transferring budgets to the service Directorate to maximise efficiency;
• Producing customer standards and performance managing the service;
• Working closely with the York Pride Initiatives.

The new Street Service was planned to commence in December 2006, by going ‘live’ with the West Zone.  If this pilot proved successful, the next zone would go ‘live’ in March 2007 and the remaining zones in stages thereafter.  Members were asked to approve this approach and to agree on a name for the new service.  In response to questions raised, Officers confirmed that Street Environment Officers could continue to be known as such (with the strapline “Customer Champion”) and that a detailed rota for street sweeping in the pilot zone would be made available shortly.  Members also asked that work on the new service be co-ordinated where possible with the “clean up” strategy for highways related items.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the implementation of the new service, commencing with a pilot zone in December 2006, be approved.

(ii)               That the zones be as described in Annex A to the report.

(iii)             That the pilot zone be the West Zone.

(iv)              That the name for the new service be “York Neighbourhood Pride Service.

(v)                That a review of the pilot be presented to the Executive, with the intention that the service be rolled out to other zones by March 2007.

(vi)              That the Executive record its thanks to all staff involved in creating the new service.

REASONS:    In order to improve the actual and perceived condition and appearance of the City’s streets, housing estates and publicly accessible services, building on the improvements already achieved under the York Pride initiative.

This report invites Members to decide whether to proceed with recruitment to three permanent officer posts that were created, but not filled, when proposals for restructuring the Chief Executive’s department were considered by the Urgency Committee in August 2006.

Members considered a report which invited them to decide whether or not to proceed with recruitment to three permanent posts that had been created, but not filled, when proposals for re-structuring the Chief Executive’s department were considered at Urgency Committee in August 2006.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the post of Safe City Co-ordinator be deleted (realising recurring budget savings of £35,000 from 2007/08) but that the Director of Neighbourhood Services be asked to refine the internal structures of the Neighbourhood Unit, together with those staff employed within the Safer York Partnership, to deliver more effectively in this Council priority area.

                        (ii)        That:

a)     The post of Scrutiny Officer, at SO1/2, be deleted and a post of Scrutiny Assistant, at Scale 4/5, be created, realising a recurring budget saving of £8,700 from 2007/08;

b)     Appointment to the post of Scrutiny Assistant be suspended, pending an assessment of the effect of the new processes and procedures that have been introduced, together with further information about the implications of the White Paper for the scrutiny service (including government funding proposals);

c)      Officers be invited to report back to the Executive in due course, either to highlight pressures within the service and apply to recruit to the post or, if evidence demonstrates that the team is managing within existing resources, to delete the post

                        (iii)       That an appointment be made to the post of Partnership Officer, subject to the Director of City Strategy agreeing a detailed job description for the post with the Executive Leader.

REASON:      In order to balance the requirements to support Safer City, Partnership working and Scrutiny against the needs of other service areas, in view of the Council’s current financial position.

Members considered a report which invited them to decide whether or not to proceed with recruitment to three permanent posts that had been created, but not filled, when proposals for re-structuring the Chief Executive’s department were considered at Urgency Committee in August 2006.

The posts in question were:

• Safe City Co-ordinator (Scale PO1-4)
• Partnership Officer (Scale PO1-4)
• Scrutiny Officer (Scale SO 1-2)

Comments from the relevant Chief Officers on the roles that the postholders would undertake and the implications of deleting each post were set out in paragraph 7 of the report.  In respect of the Scrutiny Officer post, it was now proposed that this be replaced by the post of Scrutiny Assistant, at Scale 4/5. 

It was noted that the costs of appointing to the posts in the current financial year (estimated at £28,750) could not be accommodated within the 2006/07 budget and would have to be requested from reserves.

Members agreed that the three posts did address priority areas and that, in any other financial position, they would be recommended for approval.  It was noted that a report would be brought to the Executive asking them to agree a response to consultation on the forthcoming government White Paper.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the post of Safe City Co-ordinator be deleted (realising recurring budget savings of £35,000 from 2007/08) but that the Director of Neighbourhood Services be asked to refine the internal structures of the Neighbourhood Unit, together with those staff employed within the Safer York Partnership, to deliver more effectively in this Council priority area.

                        (ii)        That:

a)     The post of Scrutiny Officer, at SO1/2, be deleted and a post of Scrutiny Assistant, at Scale 4/5, be created, realising a recurring budget saving of £8,700 from 2007/08;

b)     Appointment to the post of Scrutiny Assistant be suspended, pending an assessment of the effect of the new processes and procedures that have been introduced, together with further information about the implications of the White Paper for the scrutiny service (including government funding proposals);

c)      Officers be invited to report back to the Executive in due course, either to highlight pressures within the service and apply to recruit to the post or, if evidence demonstrates that the team is managing within existing resources, to delete the post

                        (iii)       That an appointment be made to the post of Partnership Officer, subject to the Director of City Strategy agreeing a detailed job description for the post with the Executive Leader.

REASON:      In order to balance the requirements to support Safer City, Partnership working and Scrutiny against the needs of other service areas, in view of the Council’s current financial position.

This report informs the Executive of the consultation exercise carried out in respect of the draft licensing policy agreed by the Licensing Act 2003 Committee on 7^th July 2006, and asks them to recommend the revised policy to Council for approval.

Members considered a report which informed them of the consultation carried out in respect of the draft licensing policy agreed by the Licensing Act 2003 Committee on 7 July 2006, and asked that the revised policy be recommended to full Council for approval. 

Under the Gambling Act 2005, the Council was required to consult on and publish its statement of policy before 3 January 2007.  The policy would come into effect on 31 January 2007.  Consultation had been carried out over a period of 12 weeks, finishing on 6 October 2006, and had resulting in 38 responses, details of which were attached as Annex 2 to the report.  The draft policy, revised to take account of minor clarification issues raised during consultation, was attached as Annex 1.

Attention was drawn to specific issues on which decisions were required for insertion in the draft policy.  These included whether or not to adopt a “no casino” policy for York, whether or not to adopt a statement on permits for unlicensed Family Entertainment Centres and/or permits for prize gaming, and whether or not to adopt more prescriptive definitions of “interested parties” and location of premises. 

Officers confirmed that the draft policy at Annex 1 also incorporated the amendments suggested by the Licensing Act Committee at their meeting on 3 November 2006.

This report advises of the ongoing work on the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) and asks the Executive to recommend the draft SCI to Full Council for approval.

Note:   The draft SCI is available to view on the Council’s website, at www.york.gov.uk.  Copies are available, if required, from Democratic Services – contact details at the foot of this agenda.

Members considered a report which informed them of the ongoing work on the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) and asked them to recommend the draft SCI to full Council for approval.

Consultation on the draft SCI had been carried out between 22 February and 10 April 2006.  In total, 238 comments had been received.  These were summarised in Annex A to the report, together with Officers’ responses.  The draft had subsequently been revised to deal with issues raised during consultation.  The Council was required to carry out further consultation once the draft SCI had been approved for submission to the Secretary of State.  A statement of consultation must also be submitted; this would be a factual description of consultation undertaken to date, with details of how the issues raised had been addressed in subsequent drafts of the SCI.

The revised draft had been considered by the Local Development Framework (LDF) Working Group at their meeting on 7 November.  The Group had recommended a number of further changes, details of which were attached as Annex B to the report. 

RESOLVED:             That the making of any incidental changes to the document that are necessary as a result of the Executive’s recommendations be delegated to the Director of City Strategy, in consultation with the Executive Member and Shadow Executive Member for City Strategy.

REASON:      So that all necessary changes to the document can be made without delay, subject to Council approving the Executive’s recommendations.