Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Adam Boyden (substituted by Cllr Mike Rigby) Cllr Matt Martin and Cllr Alex Wiltshire. 

To receive and note any declarations of interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

(The other registrable interests of Councillors of Somerset Council, arising from membership of City, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes: City, Town & Parish Twin Hatters - Somerset Councillors 2023 )

No declarations of interested received.

There were no declarations of interest received. 

To approve the minutes from the previous meeting

Resolved that the minutes of the Scrutiny Committee - Climate and Place held on 17^th January 2024 be confirmed as a correct record.

Resolved 

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 17^thJanuary 2024 be approved as a correct record. 

The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

We are now live webcasting most of our committee meetings and you are welcome to view and listen to the discussion. The link to each webcast will be available on the meeting webpage, please see details under ‘click here to join online meeting’.

There were two members of the public registered to speak at the meeting.

1)     Nick Hall – Glastonbury Festival Traffic Management

2)    Eva Bryczkowski- Full Council meeting venue and Bus Services

The committee heard the public questions and the verbal responses from Somerset Council officers, and both members of the public were advised that they would receive a full written response within 5 days of the meeting.

The Chair welcomed two public speakers to the meeting. The speakers presented their questions which had been submitted and printed alongside the agenda in advance of the meeting(in italic below) and the officer responses(in bold below) were read out to the committeeas follows: 

PQT 1 Nick Hall 

Q1 

Good morning – my name is Nick Hall. I am a Pilton Parish Councillor. Today, I am speaking in a personal capacity about Glastonbury Festival Traffic Management  

As you may recall from when I spoke in January, some members of our community, including myself, have raised a number of issues with the management of traffic associated with the Festival.  

Most of those issues have not been addressed by the Festival operating company Glastonbury Festival Events Ltd (GFEL). Hence we are relying on Somerset Council to encourage GFEL to engage.  

In recent years there hasn’t been direct contact between our community and the Somerset Council’s traffic management team. Mr O’Dowd-Jones’ commitment to have that team come and speak to our community is much appreciated. We need to progress this meeting to ensure we can have an impact on this year’s Festival.  

Somerset Council officerresponse: 

As detailed at the scrutiny committee when this was last raised; Somerset Council Traffic Management team are in regular dialogue throughout the year with the Glastonbury festival off-site traffic management team to discuss and agree the festivals traffic management plan. Following every festival, an off-site traffic de-brief meeting is held to ensure that any learning is captured, and improvements incorporated for future years events.   The community are free to contact the Council’s traffic management events team at eventstm@somerset.gov.uk if they have any concerns regarding the festivals traffic management plan.   To date, and following our previous response, Somerset Council have not received any contact from the Parish Council with regards to any concerns regarding the traffic management plan.  Somerset Council are also aware that GFEL continue to engage with the local community by holding regular meetings with local Parish Councils and also have dialogue with individual residents on numerous matters with the village liaison team who are available for one to one meetings.   

There is however a meeting between Pilton Parish Council and the Glastonbury festival off-site team on the 24th April where the Somerset Council traffic management team will also be present.  Any concerns that the Parish Council have can then be discussed with all parties concerned.  At this time, we believe that the plan reflects the best options for the majority of the village and the requirements of the festival and but are happy to take on any further view points so long as the majority of the community as represented by the Parish Council are in agreement.     

Q2 

I still haven’t heard back from the traffic management events team on the issues of:  

·           Temporary Traffic Restrictions Orders and the insufficient consultation on public roads and footpaths.  

GFEL have had two meetings  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

To receive an update from the Service Manager, Governance Scrutiny. To assist the discussion, the following documents are attached: -

(a)   Outline of Approach to Forward Plan for Climate and Place Scrutiny

(b)  The Committee’s Outcome Tracker

Please use the following link to view the latest Somerset Council Executive Forward Plan of planned key decisions that have been published on the Council’s website:

Somerset Council Executive Forward Plan

The Committee received and noted the Forward Plan, Outcome tracker and Executive Forward Plan.

The Scrutiny Manager advised that:

·         An additional meeting to discuss ‘Water Quality in Somerset’ has been confirmed for Friday 26^th April to be held at 1.30pm in Deane House, Taunton.

·         The schedule of meetings for the year 2024/2025 has not yet been finalised, but when it has this detail will be included in the committee’s Forward Plan.  

·         The intention is that the Forward Plan will include quarterly budget monitoring and performance reporting going forward.

The Committee received and noted the Forward Plan, Outcome tracker and Executive Forward Plan.

The Chair invited Jamie Jackson, the Governance Manager, Scrutinyto present the Scrutiny committee Climate and Place Forward Plan and Outcome tracker. The Governance Manager, Scrutinyadvised that: 

·        An additional meeting to discuss ‘Water Quality in Somerset’ has been confirmed for Friday 26^th April to be held at 1.30pm in Deane House, Taunton. 

·        The schedule of meetings for the year 2024/2025 has not yet been finalised, but when it has this detail will be included in the committee’s Forward Plan.   

·        The intention is that the Forward Plan will include quarterly budget monitoring and performance reporting going forward. 

The Governance Manager, Scrutiny invited comments, questions and suggestions from members and one member had several concerns regarding the length of time the committee had waited for this forward plan,he felt that the forward plan was not member led, andthat the use of ‘information only’ items is bad practice for a Scrutiny committee. The Cllr added that the committee ought to be concerned with items such as performance monitoring of the Councils Climate change ambitions,Public Transport, Active Travel, The Somerset Waste Board Business Plan and the known issues around broadband rollout in Somerset.  

The Governance Manager, Scrutiny thanked the Cllr for his valuable and constructive feedback on the Forward Plan and advised that the Forward Plan is a working, evolving document and he would take all the Cllr's comments away to be considered going forward. He added that the Climate Change service was intending to bring quarterly performance monitoring to this committee and that this would starting soon. The Service Director, Economy Employment and Planning advised that a report regarding the Connecting Devon and Somerset broadband contracts would be ready to bring the next meeting of this committee, adding that there had been some recent challenges, details of which could not be disclosed in today’s public meeting due to their commercial sensitivity. 

The Chair thanked officers for their continued efforts with the committee’s Forward Plan and Outcome Tracker. 

To note the report.

The Scrutiny committee received the Annual Report of the Trading Standards Service. A brief question and answer session took place, during which members were reminded that the detail around casework could not be discussed in public session, and the committee noted the report.   

The Chair welcomed Dolores Riordon, Operations Manager, Heart of the SouthWest Trading Standards Service to the meeting to present theupdate report to the committee. The report summarises the annual Strategic Assessment which analyses the last three years of Service activity to identify key issues and likely trends. The report identifies five key enforcement priorities for 24/25. 

·         Scams.  

·         Doorstep crime and rogue trading.  

·         Animal health and welfare including disease control.  

·         Illicit tobacco and vapes.  

·         Food allergens and standards. 

A brief discussion took place, during which members were reminded that thedetail of current/live investigations could not be disclosed in public session. Members thanked the Operations Manager for the update and agreed that this is wide ranging and very interesting work. Members queried why the recent government ban on single use plastics is not mentioned in the report, and the officer explained that Trading Standards is taking a light touch enforcement approach to this currently, and therefore it is not one of the five high priority issues.  

The Chair thanked Dolores Riordon for bringing the 2023/2024 Trading Standards update and the committee noted the report. 

To consider the reports

The committee received a presentation on the Section 19 Reports from 2020-2022 Flood Events and the officer invited comments and questions from members.

During the discussion there was concern regarding the difficulties faced when applying for planning permission to install flood defences on listing buildings.  At the end of the debate the committee unanimously agreed to recommend that:

1.     The Scrutiny Committee- Climate and Place recommends that the Somerset Council Planning Service review its policies and advice to residents regarding the application of flood defence mechanisms to listed buildings.

Proposed by Cllr Henry Hobhouse, seconded by Cllr Steve Ashton.

The Chair welcomed Neil O’Gilvie, Service Manager Flood and Water Management and Anna Mears, Flood Impact Reporting Officerto the meeting and invited them to give a presentation to summarise the findings from the backlog of Section 19 Reports from 2020-2022 Flood Events. The Service Manager Flood and Water Managementinvited comments and questions from members and the following points were discussed -  

·         Flood prevention on listed buildings and the need for more flexibility on rules and regulations surrounding this. 

·         The need for a common-sense approach to decision making, with small scale decision making at a local level. 

·         The role of the Somerset Rivers Authority in facilitating discussions around funding for flood prevention projects.  

·         The issues with farming and crops such as maize which are known to contribute to increased flood risk 

During the discussion several members expressed concerns regarding the difficulties faced when applying for planning permission to install flood defences on listing buildings. At the end of the debate Cllr Henry Hobhouse proposed that:  

The Scrutiny Committee-Climate and Place recommends that the Somerset Council Planning Service review its policies and advice to residents regarding the application of flood defence mechanisms to listed buildings.  

The proposal was seconded by Cllr Steve Ashton and the committee voted unanimously in favour.  

To consider the report

The committee noted the Preliminary report for the 2023 Flood events, and were advised that this report sets out the methodology for the full S19 Flood Investigation report.   

Following a short comfort break, the Chair welcomed all back to the meeting and invited Neil O’Gilvie and Anna Meares to present the Preliminary Report for the major flooding events that took place across Somerset in 2023/early 2024. 

The Service Manager, Flood and Water Managementexplained that this report sets out the methodology for the full S19 investigation for the flood events and that the aim of this approach is to enable the teamto undertake future S19 investigation reports within a target of 6 months of the event. He invited comments and questions from members and the following points were discussed -  

·         The issues around the insurability, and under reporting of incidents on land and property in high flood risk areas. 

·         One member asked about the validity of S19 reports and was advised that S19 reports do not go out of date as such, but can be superseded by newer events,  and any new S19 investigation begins by reviewing any previous S19 investigations that have been carried out in the area, analysing any previous actions or recommendations that may or may not have been implemented. 

·         Community Engagement drop in events immediately following events is an opportunity for the COuncil and its flood management partners to work with communities to implement flood prevention measures quickly. 

·         One member felt that members need more information around how to help and advise people on flood prevention. 

·         Changes to Schedule 3 of the 2010 Flood and Water Management Act is expected soon which is focused on attenuation ponds, SUDS and urban drainage systems.  

The Chair thanked the officers for their attendance and the committee noted the S19s preliminary report. 

To consider the report

The committee noted the report from the Task and Finish Group, chaired by Cllr Mansell.

The committee unanimously agreed to accept the recommendations as set out in the report, with the addition of:

1.     The Scrutiny Committee - Climate and Place recommends that the Planning Service reports back to this committee on the efficacy of providing;

a)    A supplementary planning document on how we approach energy efficiency developments in listed buildings, as per BANES. (Bath and Northeast Somerset Council)  

b)    A policy like Bristol City Council’s BCS14: The heat hierarchy.

The Chair invited committee member Cllr Dave Mansell, the Chair of the Task and Finish Group to presentthe findings and recommendationsfrom the Somerset Energy Plan Task and Finish group (Appendix B)which had met six times over the period Oct 23-Feb 24. Members heard that the group had worked with Somerset Council officers and external consultants Regen and UK100to steer andput forward a‘critical friend’ challengeto the development of the Somerset Energy Investment Plan (Appendix C).  

The Chair thanked Cllrs Ashton, Kravis, Boyden, Mansell, Bradford and Hobhouse for their time and input into the development of the Plan and invited comments and questions from the wider committee.  

Members discussedthe Somerset Energy investment Plan (Appendix C), Cllr Mike Rigby requested for more information on several aspects of the plan, including other small nuclear power stations under development in the UK, ambitions around tidal energy generation opportunities and EV car registrations,and was advised that written responses would be obtained from the report author after the meeting. 

Following the discussion, The Chair asked the committee to vote to accept therecommendations as set out in Appendix B Task and Finish Group report, with the addition ofa further proposal as follows-  

The Scrutiny Committee - Climate and Place recommends that the Planning Service reports back to this committee on the efficacy of providing;    

a)    A supplementary planning document on how we approach energy efficiency developments in listed buildings, as per BANES. (Bath and Northeast Somerset Council)    

b)    A policy like Bristol City Council’s BCS14: The heat hierarchy.  

This was seconded by Cllr Harry Munt and the committee voted all in favour. 

Cllr Dixie Darch, Lead Member for Climate Change thanked the Task and Finish Group for their input and feedback on the Somerset Energy Investment Plan which is a map of opportunities for this Council. Cllr Darch explained that the Council is acting as an enabler, rather than a main investor in the future of renewable energy generation in Somerset. 

To consider and comment on the report.

The committee noted the Month 10 Budget monitoring update.

The Chair welcomed Christian Evans, Head of Business Partnering to give the month 10 budget monitoring update. He invited comments and questions from members and the following points were received and responded to - 

·         Page 6 – Use of agency staff to fill critical posts is adding pressure. 

·         Page 7 – More information required regarding the clawback of underspend on the Connecting Devon and Somerset contract.   

The Chair thanked the Head of Business Partnering for the budget monitoring report and the committee noted the update.  

This is a standing agenda item and refers to information that has been requested and/or shared with the committee, that cover the Committee’s policy areas.

Since the last meeting the following information has been supplied

a)    Background information on regeneration and UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

b)    SRA Funding – Briefing note

If Committee members have any questions or comments on this information, please contact the Committee Administrator on democraticservicesteam@somerset.gov.uk in the first instance.

The committee noted the items for information.

The Chair asked the committee to note the items for information and invited comments and questions from members.There were none received.