Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members will be invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on the agenda.

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.

Councillor Aspden declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 4 (Update on Implementation of Recommendations of Previous Scrutiny Reviews), in relation to the Home to School Transport review, as an employee of North Yorkshire County Council at Tadcaster Grammar School.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 16 June 2008 .

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 16 June 2008 be approved as correct record and signed by the Chair.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Committee’s remit can do so. Anyone who wishes to register or requires further information is requested to contact the Democracy Officer on the contact details listed at the foot of this agenda. The deadline for registering is Friday 25 July 2008 at 5.00 pm.

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

This report provides Members with update information on the implementation of recommendations made as a result of the reviews completed since 2004.

Members received a report which provided them with update information on the implementation of recommendations made as a result of the reviews completed since 2004.

The reviews related to Highways Maintenance Procurement Process and PFI, Home to School Transport, and Reducing Carbon Emissions.  A further update relating to the Reducing Carbon Emissions review was circulated at the meeting (attached as Appendix 1 to these minutes).

RESOLVED:(i)         That all of the recommendations from the Highways Maintenance Procurement Process and PFI review be signed off;

(ii)               That all of the recommendations from the Home to School Transport review be signed off;

(iii)       That recommendations 1, 4 and 8 from the Reducing Carbon Emissions review be reviewed again and the remaining recommendations be signed off.¹

REASON:      To raise awareness of those recommendations which still have to be implemented.

This report asks Members to consider a scrutiny topic registered by Councillor Wiseman to scrutinise the resources available to the Planning Enforcement Team and to look at the timescales for completion of enforcement cases.

Members received a report which asked them to consider a scrutiny topic registered by Councillor Wiseman to scrutinise the resources available to the Planning Enforcement Team and to look at the timescales for completion of enforcement cases.

RESOLVED:(i)         That it be agreed to proceed with the review, commencing in autumn 2008;

(ii)               That the remit at Annex G of the report be agreed with the following amendments:

a)                 To add the words, “including Section 106 Agreements,” to the end of key objective i.;

b)                 To reword key objective iv. to read, “To review the Council’s processes and procedures to improve the handling of planning enforcement cases”;

(iii)       That examining the impact of the Powers of Enforcement – Takeaways Scrutiny Review be included in the review;

(iv)              That the offer of attending a training course, as set out in paragraph 17 of the report, be accepted;¹

(v)                That an ad-hoc Scrutiny Committee be established on a 2:2:1 basis, with a Liberal Democrat chair, and nominations be sought from Group Secretaries;²

(vi)       That the timeframe for the review be agreed as 3-6 months.

REASON:      To progress with a review of the topic.