Agenda and minutes

Councillor Mason welcomed members of the public and press watching the livestream of the Overview & Scrutiny meeting via YouTube due to Government guidance on social distancing. The meeting was held in accordance with the provision set out in the Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 and with Fenland District Council’s Virtual Meeting Protocol.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of 12 October 2020.

The minutes of the meeting of 12 October 2020 were confirmed subject to the following amendment:

·         Councillor Booth asked that the words “to some degree” be removed at point 11. (OSC17/20).

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Presentation attached.

Councillor Mason welcomed members of Cabinet and Russell Beal from Anglian Water to the meeting. He also thanked Russell Beal for providing a presentation prior to the meeting.  

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows: 

1.    Councillor Miscandlon asked how COVID-19 had affected the Fenland projects. Councillor Mrs Laws said that from a Whittlesey perspective, approval has already been gained for the interactive flood signs; land has been awarded and permission given for the power source, with 24/7 staff support. It will not affect the installation as the contractors are still operating following social distancing and safety guidelines. Should approval be given for the Heritage Centre and Heritage Walk then these will have to go out to tender and we will have to wait to see how the contractors will manage that.

2.    Paul Medd said that it is remarkable that given the unprecedented nature of the pandemic all the projects have continued with the minimum of disruption. There was some impact during the first lockdown when the trades and builders’ merchants had to shut but this  second lockdown some of the original restrictions do not apply so we are hopeful that these projects will be able to continue without much further disruption.

3.    Councillor Mrs French said that March had put £100k towards civil parking enforcement but they were not aware until recently that they may have to match fund the High Street bid, for which a bid had been put in for £11.3m. However, the Mayor of the Combined Authority has agreed to give another £1.1m, so we have £2m hoping to match fund and wait anxiously to see if we will get anything.

4.    Councillor Booth said he was frustrated over the lack of detail about anything being done for the villages in Fenland, saying they make up over a quarter of the population yet are scantly mentioned. The applications on the few projects stated in the report have been generated through those local communities. He pointed out that he has also repeatedly commented in respect of Wisbech 2020 Vision; it is not just Wisbech but also the surrounding area where there are also areas of multiple deprivation. Also, the primary schools in the surrounding area feed into the secondary schools at Wisbech. The issue of attracting the best teaching talent is one across the whole of the north of Fenland. More attention needs to be paid to the villages who are the poor relatives when it comes to receiving funding in our area.

5.   Councillor Yeulett said given the current and future national funding problems, how sure are we that these projects will come to fruition and is the funding readily available for them? Councillor Boden said the funding for the county council projects has already been set aside in the budget for this year so is guaranteed; the money put forward for the Combined Authority has also been budgeted for so is also confirmed as available.

6.   Councillor Boden addressed Councillor Booth’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC20/20

Briefing note attached.

Councillor Mason thanked Rowland Potter for providing members in advance with the progress update report on this item

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows:

1.    Councillor Booth said he wanted to explore the point in the update regarding feasibility, i.e. aspirations on services per hour to Cambridge. He said that Greater Anglia had recently announced they were going to cut services until there was an intervention, so what safeguards or guarantees can be put in place to ensure that once funding is received and the rail line is delivered there are no cuts to services later on, particularly in respect of protecting the public purse. Rowland Potter said unfortunately he cannot give any guarantees, however he is a passionate defender of maximising capacity through the Ely Junction and will continue to argue for that case. He is also passionate about the Wisbech to March rail link and is arguing strongly for that maximum service, also he will continue to fight for the Wisbech rail line to be developed and built. It is a complex process, but he will continue to engage positively with the various bodies involved.

2.    Councillor Mason said there are two strong business cases, one for trains from Wisbech to Cambridge and the other a shuttle service between Wisbech and March, and he asked for more detail on the benefits of both. Rowland Potter advised the most commercially viable is the two trains per     hour direct to Cambridge however there is a medium business case value for the shuttle service for at least ten years pending that availability. Network Rail creates the capacity and the Department of Transport approves the timetabling for the train operating companies. Unfortunately, services have been cut lately due to the pandemic and we have been arguing the need for those services to at least be reinstated and for additional services to be provided. Our strongest case is for the two trains to Cambridge however there is a case for an interim solution. Post COVID-19 we do not know what the timetable will look like, but he argues for a railway line between Wisbech and March going onto Cambridge and will continue to do so.

3.    Councillor Topgood said the Ely North Junction is one of the biggest projects that will help capacity on the line but there is also the plan to replace the signalling of the whole line which will also increase capacity. We must remember that this project is far wider, it is a major infrastructure improvement to Growing Fenland. Fenland has been starved of investment for many years and we are now beginning to see major investment coming in. The shuttle service is going to be the first phase, and future extensions could see trains from Wisbech to further north, and he thinks this is a great idea for the future growth of Fenland.

4.    Councillor Skoulding asked Rowland Potter if he knew the numbers of people travelling by bus from Wisbech to March onto  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC21/20

To consider the Draft Work Programme for Overview & Scrutiny Panel 2020/21.

Councillor Mason confirmed representatives from Anglian Water will be attending the December meeting to answer questions.

Confirmation has been received from Councillor Hay that she will be attending the December meeting in her role as Chairperson of the Member led review into the Anglia Revenue Partnership. The review meetings have concluded, and a review report is being written. 

Councillor Booth said that although the Panel had recently met with representatives from Clarion he asked if we would be seeing them early next year.  Councillor Miscandlon said it was not on the list and raised the possibility of an additional meeting being arranged. They had been due to attend the meeting in March 2020 which had been cancelled due to the pandemic and the programme was already looking very full for next March. Councillor Mason said an additional meeting could be arranged if members required it and asked them to contact him with their preferences.

Councillor Skoulding said that members had been expecting Clarion to provide a telephone number for councillors and asked if that had been provided. It was confirmed that Clarion had previously provided an email tat had been recirculated to members.

Presentation attached.

Councillor Mason welcomed Ivan Horsfall Turner, Dan Palframan and Matt Hunt from Freedom Leisure to the meeting and for the presentation that had been provided in advance.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows: 

1.    Councillor Miscandlon asked how COVID-19 had affected overall business and the future business plan of Freedom Leisure in the Fenland area. Ivan Horsfall Turner said it has impacted on them hugely both as a company and within Fenland. Membership had grown substantially in the first year of 2019/20 but has now dropped, and income in the last month or two has been around 40% of what would have been received previously. The second lockdown will impact even further. He thanked the Council, particularly Carol Pilson and Phil Hughes, for their support since March. He said the support of all 20 local authorities has been crucial to maintain Freedom Leisure’s viability and sustainability. Income and customer numbers are likely to be extremely low at least until next March so it is a very challenging time.

2.    Councillor Miscandlon said when the original lockdown ended, there was negative press over Freedom's handling of the swimming teaching clubs, particularly in Whittlesey and asked Ivan Horsfall Turner if he felt this could have been handled better and what has been done to ensure it does not happen again. Ivan Horsfall Turner agreed that in hindsight this situation could have been handled better; the reality is that it has been a challenging year and perhaps what was a significant change for the programming of the swimming clubs would have had more corporate oversight, and communication and discussion through FDC officers in a normal series of events. Matt Hunt confirmed that dialogue with the clubs is ongoing; they are working hard with one club which was specifically unhappy with the situation and hopefully what Freedom put in place on reopening was a reduced programme reflective of the level of support that Fenland was offering. It meant changes for all their customers, but we all have to accept changes, and work is ongoing to ensure the club is as happy as can be in this scenario. Councillor Miscandlon thanked Freedom Leisure for the answer, saying we can all move forward.

3.    Councillor Booth referred to the audit scores for reviews that have been conducted and said it was concerning to see an external audit raised some red and amber issues. He asked what the nature of those issues are and if they have been rectified. Matt Hunt said the area manager audit is an internal audit conducted by a manager from another area and we would generally expect an audit in the first year of operating a new contract to be lower, the benchmark being against a site that has been operating since 2002 where systems and procedures have been embedded. There is some room for improvement on the leisure client scores across the sites and the biggest issues are always in relation to safety and customer service but  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC23/20

Councillor Mason advised Members that this update encompasses agenda items 9 and 10.  He advised the Overview and Scrutiny Panel that he was asked as Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny to waive the Forward Plan notice period and subsequent call in period in relation to the Portfolio Holder decision, to enable the Cabinet Member, Councillor Sue Wallwork, to take a decision in relation to four Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPO’s) in Wisbech.

The PSPO’s in Wisbech were agreed by Cabinet in 2017. These orders need to be reviewed every three years to be either extended, amended or deleted. A consultation has taken place and all stakeholders including the Town Council unanimously agreed the Orders should be extended for a further three years.

It was originally thought this was an officer decision as an extension to the original Order that was agreed in 2017, however, to ensure we are taking a legal decision, officers decided the decision is required to be taken by a Cabinet Member. All key decisions are required to be advertised on the Council’s Forward Plan for 28 days, however due to change of mind on the most appropriate governance process, this item did not appear on the Forward Plan for the full 28 days. It would have been on the forward plan for 20 days.  

The reason this decision was so urgent is the Orders expired on 20th October 2020 therefore a decision was required before then to extend the Orders otherwise they would have lapsed, and the powers would no longer be enforceable to control alcohol related issues in Wisbech.

Councillor Mason added that he was keen for Members to understand the rationale behind his decision to utilise his delegated urgency powers in this instance.

Carol Pilson added that this had been an unfortunate set of circumstances and she was very grateful to Councillor Mason for his consideration on the matter and making that decision so that we did not have to go back through consultation and allow those powers to lapse.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows:

1.    Councillor Booth said he agreed the Order should have been put through and the use of emergency powers was appropriate, but this was the third instance this year where the orders had to be used. He understands that the pandemic has been in part responsible but as a long-term member of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel these powers have not really be used up until this year. He would not like to see this become a regular occurrence and asked for assurance from officers that this is not going to become the norm. There should be a series of checks and balances to ensure Council business is conducted in the appropriate manner. Carol Pilson said that officers do their utmost not to call upon these urgency powers and the appropriate provision is set out in the constitution which for this situation has a defined set of rules, which includes the reporting today as  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC24/20