Agenda and minutes

The Chairman noted that the Vice-chairman had sent his apologies for the meeting and therefore the committee would need to elect a Vice-chairman for the meeting.

It was proposed by B Goringe seconded by B Heatley

Decision

That D Tooke be elected Vice-chairman for the meeting.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 25 May 2023.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 May 2023 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To disclose any pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interests as set out in the adopted Code of Conduct. In making their disclosure councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action they propose to take as part of their declaration.

If required, further advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive any updates from the Chairman of the Place and Resources Scrutiny Committee.

There were no updates from the Chairman on this occasion.

Representatives of town or parish councils and members of the public who live, work, or represent an organisation within the Dorset Council area are welcome to submit either 1 question or 1 statement for each meeting.  You are welcome to attend the meeting in person or via MS Teams to read out your question and to receive the response.   If you submit a statement for the committee this will be circulated to all members of the committee in advance of the meeting as a supplement to the agenda and appended to the minutes for the formal record but will not be read out at the meeting. The first 8 questions and the first 8 statements received from members of the public or organisations for each meeting will be accepted on a first come first served basis in accordance with the deadline set out below.  Further information read Public Participation - Dorset Council

All submissions must be emailed in full to lindsey.watson@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk  by 8.30am on 29 June 2023.

When submitting your question or statement please note that:

•         You can submit 1 question or 1 statement.

•         a question may include a short pre-amble to set the context.

•         It must be a single question and any sub-divided questions will not be permitted.

•         Each question will consist of no more than 450 words, and you will be given up to 3 minutes to present your question.

•         when submitting a question please indicate who the question is for (e.g., the name of the committee or Portfolio Holder)

•         Include your name, address, and contact details.  Only your name will be published but we may need your other details to contact you about your question or statement in advance of the meeting.

•         questions and statements received in line with the council’s rules for public participation will be published as a supplement to the agenda.

•         all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.

There were no questions or statements from members of the public or local organisations.

To receive questions submitted by councillors.  

Councillors can submit up to two valid questions at each meeting and sub divided questions count towards this total.   Questions and statements received will be published as a supplement to the agenda and all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting. 

The submissions must be emailed in full to lindsey.watson@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 8.30am on 29 June 2023.

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13

There were no questions from councillors.

To consider a report of the Climate and Ecology Policy Officer.

The committee received and considered a report of the Climate and Ecology Policy Officer which provided a review of progress made in delivering the original climate and ecology action plan during the first phase of the programme and some of the challenges ahead.  It was noted that the strategy and action plan were long-term programmes that would evolve over time.  The committee’s views would be used to inform the shape of the next phase of the programme for delivery of the refreshed 2023 strategy and action plan.

Councillors considered the issues arising from the report and during discussion, points were raised in the following areas:

·       Funding issues including the receipt of Shared Prosperity Funding to continue major programmes such as Low Carbon Dorset and the need to secure long-term funding in this area, particularly external funding.  This would continue to be explored.

·       Resources and staff capacity to undertake work including the preparation of bids for funding.

·       Clarity sought on the council’s strong performance on waste and recycling rates.  It was noted that the council compared its performance to other unitary councils as they both collected and disposed of waste.

·       A request for further information to be provided on areas in progress regarding climate adaptation and resilience in future reports.  Officers provided information on work taking place to better understand the council’s climate resilience and a government national adaptation programme.

·       The need to understand the particular circumstances of Dorset in undertaking a resilience assessment.  It was noted that the next national adaptation programme was expected to provide more relevant local data.

·       Opportunities within the Council’s estate to support work including tree planting. It was noted that an opportunity assessment was being developed for a wide range of opportunities, including climate and ecology.

·       Issues around EV charging and the impact of grid infrastructure capacity.

·       Issues around nitrate mitigation and proactive work that was being undertaken by the Council.

·       A link to the associated action plan would be sent to committee members following the meeting.

·       Differing views were expressed relating to emissions around land and agriculture and the strategy for this.

·       Detail of continuing engagement being undertaken with other bodies including town and parish councils, schools and statutory housing providers.

·       Further detail of engagement with housing providers would be provided to committee members following the meeting.

·       Understanding of the impact of increasing numbers of electric vehicles on roads.

·       Issues around the placing of photovoltaic panels in car parks and on highways land.  This could be raised at a meeting with Highways England to be held shortly.

·       Issues around renewable energy on industrial parks.

·       The importance of making links with the emerging local plan.

·       Issues around travel to schools and colleges considered and improvements that could be made locally.

·       An update provided on the Canford renewable energy green hydrogen project and other opportunities across the county.

·       The communications strategy for raising awareness of work and progress in the area including successes in achieving grant funding.

·       A request to consider needs and opportunities regarding reservoir  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

A review of the relevant Dorset Council performance dashboard to inform the scrutiny committee’s work programme and identify items for deep dives.

The following link is the dashboard for the committee:

Place and Resources Scrutiny Committee dashboard

Committee members to flag up if any areas for potential review.

Operational – Corporate: Councillors Piers Brown, Barry Goringe and David Shortell

Operational – Place: Councillors David Tooke and Jon Andrews

HR: Councillors Rod Adkins, Andy Canning, Brian Heatley and Bill Trite

The Chairman, Councillor Shane Bartlett, maintains an overview of all the above areas.

The committee considered the performance dashboard and highlighted some areas of interest. These included:

·       Short- and long-term sickness levels across the council – a report on the direction of travel was requested.

·       Staff turnover – a further report to be brought to the committee.

·       Collection of Council Tax and Business Rates – to be reviewed in 3 months and issues raised as required.

·       The processing and input of data into the performance dashboard was being reviewed.

To review the Place and Resources Scrutiny Committee Work Programme.

Councillors reviewed the committee’s work programme and noted items to be considered at forthcoming meetings.  An informal session was to be held for committee members to review the committee’s work programme.

To review the Cabinet Forward Plan and decisions taken at recent meetings.

The Cabinet Forward Plan and decisions of recent meetings are provided to members of the Place & Resources Scrutiny Committee to review and identify any potential post decision scrutiny to be undertaken, by scheduling items into the work programme to review after a period of implementation.

The committee noted the Cabinet Forward Plan and decisions taken at recent meetings, which the committee could use to identify potential areas for post decision review.

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

There were no urgent items.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph x of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered.

There is no scheduled exempt business.

There was no exempt business.