Meeting documents

To receive any apologies for absence.

No apologies for absence were received.

Councillors are required to comply with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011 regarding disclosable pecuniary interests.

§    Check if there is an item of business on this agenda in which the member or other relevant person has a disclosable pecuniary interest.

§    Check that the interest has been notified to the Monitoring Officer (in writing) and entered in the Register (if not this must be done on the form available from the clerk within 28 days).

§    Disclose the interest at the meeting (in accordance with the County Council’s Code of Conduct) and in the absence of a dispensation to speak and/or vote, withdraw from any consideration of the item.

The Register of Interests is available on Dorsetforyou.com and the list of disclosable pecuniary interests is set out on the reverse of the form.

There were no declarations by members of any disclosable pecuniary interests under the Code of Conduct.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 20 September 2016.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 September 2016 were confirmed and signed.

(a)        Public Speaking

(b)        Petitions

Submissions by members of the public were considered during the following item.

To consider a report by the Service Director – Highways and Emergency Planning.

The Service Director – Highways and Emergency Planning outlined the report concerning the Ironman Weymouth event on 11 September 2016 and made some suggestions for future improvements.

The Committee heard that the event management plan included the requirement for a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO) to cover a schedule of road closures in order to facilitate the event. Both Dorset County Council (DCC) officers and the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) had the opportunity to comment and amend the plan based on the knowledge and expertise of its members. DCC had also opened its traffic control centre and provided 2 officers at the centre on race day.

DCC officers had not been aware that a marshalling company had withdrawn its services until the day of the event and no mention had been made of the revised marshalling arrangements at a pre-race meeting between DCC officers and Ironman staff that took place 4 days prior to the race.

During the event a significant number of incidents occurred across the route and evidence emerged that marshals were not fully briefed on the traffic management proposals, had no local knowledge and were closing roads unnecessarily. Traffic did not flow freely on the highways network and the lack of knowledge contributed towards cars stopping unnecessarily.  Eighty complaints were received from road users following the event.

A "wash up" meeting with Ironman organisers and SAG took place on 27 September 2016 when it was accepted by Ironman representatives that the marshals had played a key factor in the problems experienced on the day.

The Service Director advised that the correct process had not been followed by DCC officers for the TTRO and the Secretary of State had been informed of the error and had decided that no retrospective action would be taken.  Although this had not affected the delivery of the event, he acknowledged that this had resulted in reputational damage to the Council and that a review of the checklist process had since been undertaken to avoid a future occurrence of this nature.   In addition, refresher training would be arranged in order to update staff on processes and practices.

He was disappointed that the highways network had not operated correctly on 11 September 2016 and that proportionate responsibility should be placed on the event organisers.  One of the suggestions in the report included a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to outline the respective responsibilities of each party that would be developed in conjunction with SAG and signed off in February of each year.

With regard to marshalling, DCC had a large staff resource to assist in future events which he hoped would be accepted by the organisers as well as a review of the integration of the DDC traffic control centre and race centre.

The participants viewed the event as a great success and despite the frustrations it was important to acknowledge the financial benefit to the area. 

Submission by Simon King, Senior Economic Regeneration Officer – Dorset Councils Partnership

The Committee heard that both the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

To consider feedback received in response to the local press article concerning the Call to Account. 

NB:  Public feedback that is received following publication of this report will also be circulated to the Audit and Governance Committee.

To answer any questions received in writing by the Chief Executive by not later than 10.00am on Friday 2 December 2016.