Agenda and minutes

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

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests, other than the standing declarations that they might have in the business on the agenda.

Councillor D’Agorne declared a personal and non prejudicial interest in relation to Agenda Item 6 (Report- Draft Work Plan for the Economic & City Development Overview & Scrutiny Committee 2011/12), under which discussions of homelessness in York took place, as a trustee of York Action on Youth Homelessness.

No other interests were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Economic & City Development Overview & Scrutiny Committee held on Tuesday 5 April 2011.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the Economic and City Development Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 5 April 2011 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

It is at this point in the meeting that members of the public who have registered their wish to speak can do so. The deadline for registering is Monday 20 June 2011 at 5.00pm.

To register please contact the Democracy Officer for the meeting, on the details at the foot of this agenda.

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

This report highlights this Council’s current structure for the provision of the Overview and Scrutiny function and the resources available to support it. It also details the agreed terms of reference for the individual Overview & Scrutiny Committees.

Members received an introductory report in relation to arrangements for Overview & Scrutiny in York.

RESOLVED:             That the report be noted.

The three Assistant Directors whose work areas fall within the remit of this Committee will be in attendance at the meeting to present on ongoing and future planned work within the Directorate.

There are no papers attached with this item.

Members received a presentation from the three Assistant Directors whose work areas fell within the remit of the Committee. The presentation informed them of ongoing and future planned work within the City Strategy Directorate. Slides from the presentation were attached to the agenda after the meeting, which was subsequently republished online.

Members were informed of the challenges that Climate Change posed to the city in relation to developments. It was noted that the medieval street pattern, along with the Green Strategy from the Local Development Framework should be noted in future developments.

In relation to Local Enterprise Partnerships(LEPs) and their funding from the Regional Growth Fund (RGF), Officers informed Members that money from the RGF was spread nationally and that there was a greater need to be creative in seeking funding for development in the city. Officers explained to Members how the LEPs also did not have an established staffing structure, and existed as a partnership which relied on officers who worked within the Local Authority structures. Members noted that future updates on LEPs, would be presented to the Committee.

One Member asked a question about the possible timescale for development on the York Central Site. Officers replied that current discussion between the Science Museum and Network Rail was taking place and an overall masterplan would be completed at a later date.

The Chair thanked Assistant Directors for their presentation to the Committee.

RESOLVED:             That the presentation be noted.

This report presents the Committee’s draft work plan for the forthcoming year for consideration. It asks Members to consider any additions and/or amendments they may wish to make to it. The draft work plan is attached at Annex A to this report.

Members considered a report which presented them with the Committee’s draft work plan for the forthcoming year. It also asked them to select several broad topic areas for possible future consideration by the committee. These topics would be presented to a future meeting between Scrutiny Members, Cabinet Members and Chief Officers. At this meeting it would be decided which topics should go ahead and which committee, they would be allocated to.

The topics that were put forward by the Committee were;

• How to address current and prevent future homelessness in the City.

• The City Centre Economy;

Ø     Identify success factors

Ø     Decisions key players need to make to achieve long term stability

Ø     Early evening economy

Ø     Level of growth

Ø     Mix of retail

Ø     How the Council can support the city centre economy

Ø     Are there any quick wins?

• Air Quality in York

Ø     Low emissions zone

Ø     Trans-shipment

Ø     Are policies developing quickly enough?

Ø     Scrutiny helping to form policies

• Energy efficiency

Ø     Reducing carbon footprints at a domestic level relating to domestic energy use and production

Ø     Lessons to be learned

RESOLVED:             (i)            That the work plan be noted

(ii)That the aforementioned list of topics be put forward to a future meeting of Scrutiny Members, Cabinet Members and Chief Officers.