Central Area Committee – 12th July 2016
Central Area Secretary: Paula Harding
St Catherines Farm
Old Sherborne Road
Cerne Abbas
Dorset
DT2 7SJ
Tel: 07765 241914
E-mail:
Dorset Association of Parish and Town Councils
(Affiliated to the National Association of Local Councils)
WEBSITE: www.dorset-aptc.gov.uk
Minutes of the Central Area Committee Meeting held on Tuesday
12th July 2016 at Digby Hall, Sherborne.
Present: Cllr Jury Broadmayne PC
Cllr Griffiths Broadmayne PC
Cllr Beeson Charminster PC
Cllr Harris Crossways PC
Cllr Bowditch Evershot PC
Cllr Williams Evershot PC
Cllr Dolder Folke PC
Cllr Grazebrook High Stoy PC
Cllr Wall Holwell PC
Cllr Gibbs Holwell PC
Cllr Felce Long Bredy and Kingston Russell PC
Mrs Eastment Melcombe Horsey PC (Clerk)
Cllr Clements Maiden Newton PC
Cllr Falkingham Maiden Newton PC
Cllr Goff Maiden Newton PC
Cllr Lock Piddle Valley PC
Cllr Wild Portland TC
Cllr Hall Sherborne TC
Cllr Broxley Sherborne TC
Cllr Baker Toller Porcorum (from 7.45pm)
Also Present: Cllr Thacker Chairman - Central Area Committee DAPTC
Paula Harding Secretary – Central Area Committee DAPTC
Matthew Hall Dorset County Councillor
Haydn White Chairman DAPTC
Robert Gould Leader, Dorset County Council
Andrew Martin DCC Highways Team (+4 officers)
Hilary Trevorah DAPTC Chief Executive
Stephen Hill Director – Dorset Councils Partnership
13/16) Apologies
Apologies for their inability to attend the meeting were received from:
Cllr Diamond Broadmayne PC
Cllr Cuff Buckland Newton
Cllr Barry Cerne Valley PC
Cllr Mailer Piddle Valley PC
Cllr Wiltshire Winterborne St Martin
Cllr Bennett Winterborne St Martin
14/16) Minutes of the Meeting held on 12th April 2016
The minutes of the meeting held on 12th April 2016 were agreed and signed by the Chairman.
15/16) Updates on the minutes of the meeting held on 12th April 2016.
It was noted that the public consultation regarding the proposals for Local Government Reorganisation for Dorset would be made available soon and continue for at least 8 weeks.
16/16) Speaker: DCC Highways Team, “The future of minor highways maintenance and options going forward for Parish and Town Councils”.
The Head of the DCC Highways Team, Mr Andrew Martin, addressed the meeting and introduced the members of his team who were also in attendance.
Mr Martin gave a PowerPoint presentation on the current work of the Highways team and how this would have to change in light of future funding reductions in the Revenue Support Grant (RSG). The following areas were covered:
1) Staff Structure
2) Performance Management
3) Operational and Service Highlights
4) Working Together
Staff Structure
The Highways liaison team staff structure was presented and Mr Martin explained that each Parish or Town should be aware of who their particular liaison officer was, if not they can contact the team and they will be given the relevant details. The Community Highways officers should be a Parish or Town Councils first point of contact on all highways issues.
Performance Management
A service plan has been produced and all Councils have been sent a copy, if you do not have one then please contact your Community Highways officer. Targets have been set and clear criteria set for how these are to be measured. The top 12 key performance indicators will be monitored quarterly and forwarded to all DCC councillors and Parish and Town Councils, if you are not getting these you should let the Community Highways team know.
There is also an annual Town and Parish Council Highways survey, this will be issued in the next 6 weeks and all councils should participate if possible to help inform the service interaction in the future.
Operational and Service Highlights
The restructure so far has delivered £750,000 in savings from the back office function – not from the operations itself. Several large projects such as the A338 improvements and Dinah’s Hollow have been completed and major road management for events such as the Great Dorset Steam fair undertaken.
An Asset Management plan has been developed, this is a living document and a clear statement about what can and cannot be carried out within the new budget restrictions. It was made clear that from now on only ‘safety defects’ on the highway would be maintained, proactive work would no longer be carried out.
Working together
A working together document has been drafted and will be finalised in the next few weeks which looks at how the DCC highways team can work closer with Parish and Town Councils to provide the service requirements. Within the document there is a list of possible activities that Parish and Town Councils can agree to take on which the Highways team can no longer afford to provide.
There are 3 ways in which a Parish or Town Council can take on some of the work previously undertaken by Highways.
Option 1) By using volunteers or an in-house workforce
This is where a council develops a programme of works that they will undertake in their area which will be co-ordinated by the Highways team. It is important to liaise before works are carried out in case they are already included in the main DCC Highways repairs schedule.
The legality of power to carry out these works, insurance and health and safety are currently being finalised and further details will be issued as soon as they are clarified.
Option 2) Directly commissioning a contractor or partnering with a neighbouring council.
A programme will be set up after liaison with the Highways team and a contractor would do the work. Again the legal basis for this is being clarified.
Option 3) Commission DCC highways to carry out works.
Works such as gully clearing and grass cutting can be commissioned directly. A list of charges and indicative work for each charge e.g.: 10 gully’s a day for £x.
Other community involvement opportunities are also listed such as flood prevention, snow planning, drain clearance and litter picking. These can be co-ordinated and managed with Dorset Highways.
Questions were asked by members as follows:
1)Why should parishioners pay again through their Parish Council precept for something covered by the DCC precept, this is double taxation?
Mr Martin replied that the budget for highways is being cut and that the services that parishioners will receive will reduce in the future. The only way to continue to have non-essential highway work carried out is for it to be funded from elsewhere.
2) Considering the restrictions on the highways budget can highways supervisors be provided at the weekend for Parish projects or will this cost too much?
Mr Martin stated that providing the parishes liaise with the Highways team about the work and level of supervision required the staff hours can be scheduled to include the weekend cover as part of the working week.
3) Will verge cutting on bends and junctions still be maintained and how will they collate a list of the most dangerous to prioritise?
The highways team are committed to maintain the safety of the highway however the number of areas that are currently being cut will need to be reduced. Work is being undertaken to collate a list of which are to be maintained regularly. The Highways team are reliant on Parish Councils reporting areas of concern which require work.
4)Some smaller areas, Parish Meetings, don’t set precept so how will they be able to carry out any highways work.
This is a great example where Parish volunteers with a highways supervisor will be able to undertake small works such as litter picking and drain clearance.
The Chairman thanked Mr Martin and his team for their comprehensive presentation and interaction with those in attendance. It was noted that the working together plan would be forwarded to Clerk’s by the team when complete.
17/16 REPORTS
i) DAPTC Chief Executive Report
A copy of this report can be seen as Appendix A to these minutes.
The Chief Exec read presented her report and highlighted progress with the Working Together project, of which the presentation tonight was one of the outcomes.
The latest training dates were promoted and details of the next round of CCG presentations were announced.
ii) Dorset Councils Partnership update
Mr Stephen Hill, Director handed out copies of the Dorset Councils Partnership update report for July 2016. A copy of this report can be seen as Appendix B to these minutes.
Key points of the report are:
Combined Authority
There is some confusion about what constitutes a combined authority and a unitary authority. A combined authority is a group brought together to run a particular service or area or service across two or more authorities and is a separate legal body – currently Dorset does not have any combined authorities. This has nothing to do with the proposals for Local Government reorganisation and a one or two tier unitary authority.
Local Government Reorganisation
A consultation paper will be issued shortly in Dorset for You and open to all to have their say. Each sovereign council will then make a decision on which they prefer and this will be put forward to Central Government early in 2017.
Devolution
Discussions are still taking place about what powers may be passed to local councils in the future.
Referendum into Committee Structures
The referendum at WDDC resolved that the majority who voted would like the Council to move to a committee system rather than leader lead. This will be changed over the next 9 months and be in place by May 2017.
Land Charges and Development Control
Work is ongoing to speed up application processing times and an improvement plan is now in place.
Concern was raised by several members that getting hold of the planning service is almost impossible with calls and e-mails remaining unanswered. Cllr Wild also reported that planning officers no longer attend meetings at Portland Town Council as they used to.
Mr Hill reported that a trial was currently taking place relating to using electronic access to planning applications at Parish and Town Council meetings. Many members agreed that this was admirable but that the access to any kind of broadband connection was often lacking and that if this was ever going to work connectivity issues MUST be addressed. Mr Hill agreed to forward this concern to the pilot group for discussion.
Action: Stephen Hill
iii) Dorset Broadcasting Action Group (DorBAG)
Cllr Falkingham presented her report a copy of which can be seen as Appendix C to these minutes.
It was reported that the Breakfast show on BBC Dorset is getting lots of input from Dorset County Council but not much from the Dorset Councils Partnership. The programme is on between 6.30am and 9am and has an increasing audience.
iv) Community Safety Update
Crime remains generally low in the West Dorset and Weymouth area. The District and Borough councillor representatives still have to be elected. Cllr Thacker attended the last meeting of the Community Safety partnership and reported that this is still working well as a source of information for local authorities.
Cllr Wild reported that the PSCO’s no longer attend Portland Town Council meetings and Cllr Thacker has agreed to follow this up to find out what has changed.
Action Cllr Thacker
v) Superfast Broadband
A report had been issued by the Superfast team and was read to the meeting. A copy of the report is attached to these minutes as Appendix D.
18/16 - Members items
Cllr Wild reported that Superfast Broadband on Portland is none existent and the following the Olympics the Superfast connection hubs were removed. Even Sunseeker have had to set up a satellite link in order to get any Wi-Fi signal. It was requested that reassurances be sought that the Superfast Broadband team would be moving towards installing a network on Portland in the near future.
Action – Secretary to Superfast team
There being no other business the meeting closed at 9.45pm with notice that the next meeting (AGM) would be the held on Tuesday 11th October 2016 at Stratton Village Hall.
Signed______Date______
Cllr Alan Thacker
Chairman
Chairman: Cllr Haydn White President: David Jenkins DL Chief Executive: Hilary Trevorah
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