To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Cllrs Di Martin, Bernie O’Neill and Don Pugh (Cllr Frank Baynham substituted for Cllr Pugh) and Sue Pangbourne, Head of Paid Service.

To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on 10 January 2013, and 18 February 2013.

The minutes of the meetings held on 10 January and 18 February 2013 were signed as an accurate record.

The chairman to identify any items of urgent business.

The chairman identified no items of urgent business on this occasion.

To receive any declarations of interest in any matter to be discussed at the meeting.  Members and officers are requested to identify the nature of the interest.

Cllr James Bevan declared an other interest on item 9.2 as he was a Bus Operator in the district.

To consider questions from members of the public in accordance with the published protocol. To submit a question contact Democratic Services on 01594 812625 or email democratic.services@fdean.gov.uk. All questions must be submitted in writing at least two working days prior to the meeting.

There were no public questions received.

Kevin Stannard, Forestry Commission, to present the annual update on the strategy and to take questions.

The chairman Phillip Burford welcomed Kevin Stannard, Forestry Commission and invited him to update the committee on the boar strategy.

Kevin Stannard advised that a meeting had taken place in September of last year, between the Forestry Commission  and the Friends of the Wild Boar group.  That meeting had been chaired by HM Verderers.  At that meeting no agreement was reached as to what the wild boar population was, what the target population should be, and thus no agreement could be reached on how many should be culled.  As a result he had set a cull target of 100.  That target had been met in January, with 78 animals culled by FC staff and 22 animals killed through road traffic accidents attended by FC staff.  The number of animals killed in road traffic accidents continues to grow. He stated that it was difficult to put a figure on the population of the boar in the district but the FC estimated that there were between in excess of 500 and probably 600 boar in the Forest of Dean.  He said a further meeting would be held with the H M Verderers in August 2013, and that the management of boar would be discussed.  Whilst he did not want to pre-empt that meeting he suggested that a higher target on culling the boar would be recommended by the FC and hoped consensus on the issue would be met.

Cllr Gethyn Davies referred to the damaged verges in the district where the boar had been and asked if landowners could cull the boar if they were on their land.  He also asked if boar meat could be contracted locally.

Kevin Stannard said that it was legal for neighbouring landowners to cull the boar, if they were on their land, providing the owners had shooting rights to that land and the appropriate fire arms licence was held and endorsed for boar.

Cllr Davies asked what happened to the boar after they had been culled.

He advised that when the boar and deer are culled they are put into a larder and inspected. Carcasses were then sold to national game dealers, the revenue does go back to the district in that costs exceed income.  The revenue received for venison off-sets the cost of the culling work, which is far from profitable.

Cllr James Bevan enquired if the excrement from the boar was harmful.

Kevin Stannard replied that it was no more harmful than deer or sheep faeces.

Cllr Marion Winship asked if the work which the Forestry Commission had undertaken in the Redbrook and St Briavels area had, had an affect on the habitat of the boar there.

Kevin Stannard did not accept that the timber operations necessarily changes the woodland habitat to the extent of driving the animals out of the forest in to adjoining communities.  Wild boar do not hold territories as you’d expect for deer instead they circulate through the area making use of food resources for a few days or weeks  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Solicitor to the Council, Marie Rosenthal to present report LD.439.

The chairman Phillip Burford presented report LD.439.  He advised that the Strategic Overview and Scrutiny Committee was established by Full Council in May 2011 following an earlier review in 2011/12.  In July 2011, the committee decided on an interim basis to create four informal scrutiny panels to assist it in its work subject to a full governance review in April 2012.

This review was postponed pending the outcome of the work of the Governance Options Group established to review options to change the current cabinet system and revert back to a committee style of governance under the Localism Act 2011.  This work had taken longer than originally planned and any changes would be active after the annual meeting of the Council next May 2013, and endorsed in the Constitution.

Members of the committee discussed each recommendation and gave their views on each.

The Committee agreed and recommended to Full Council that a Protocol be established as part of the Scrutiny Procedure Rules in the Constitution as follows:

(a)To recognise that much of scrutiny business in most authorities is conducted away from formal committee meetings, at task and finish groups and in more informal settings. There is nothing in legislation, or at law, that prohibits the transaction of scrutiny business at informal task and finish groups. At this Council, scrutiny work is carried out at three different types of meeting:

·        Formal Committee and/or sub committee meetings

·        Informal Scrutiny panels

·        Informal Task and Finish Scrutiny inquiries

(b)   To establish up to four Scrutiny Panels as informal working groups with the terms of reference set out at Annex A to the report.

(c)   That Panel membership is limited to a umber (11 named members) so as to provide a seat for all non- executive members of the Council

(d) That Cabinet members only attend scrutiny Committee and Panel meetings by invitation and only for the purpose of answering questions and then leave and that these sessions always be held in public ( unless considering exempt business).

(e) The practice whereby the Leader [or the Leader and Deputy Leader] is invited to attend a Q and A session of the Committee twice a year in public is formalised in the Scrutiny procedure rules with a similar requirement for each cabinet member to attend a public meeting of the relevant Scrutiny Panel/sub-committee twice a year.

(f)            Members who work with the executive as Cabinet champions or as a member of a Cabinet portfolio group should not conduct scrutiny inquiries or challenge in relation to this work.

(g) To include provision for a chairman’s briefing meeting to be held at the discretion of the chairman before a scrutiny meeting and solely for the purposes of planning questions, plans, protocol, procedures and surprise inclusions (late information or urgent items). These briefings should not debate any item on the agenda and will only be open to members of the Committee or relevant Panel with a Democratic Services Officer if requested

      (h) The Council consider appointing members to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To note items for future committee and panel meetings and consider items for discussion at future meetings including relevant issues on the Cabinet Forward Plan March to June 2013.

Future items from the Cabinet Forward Plan

The committee agreed that the:-

• Allocations Development plan
• Leisure management strategy

Would be items at the 6 June 2013 committee meeting

Cllr Bill Evans presented members with a Scoping document on Procurement he explained that the purpose of this document was to scrutinise and evaluate the Forest of Dean District Councils’ procurement Strategy/contract procedure rules.

Members agreed that this subject should be scrutinised and appointed Cllr Bill Evans as chairman of this group. Which would  be open to comprise all members of the committee.

Cllr Marion Winship to update members of the community panel.

The next meeting will be held on 8 April 2013.

Cllr Marion Winship advised that the next Community Panel meeting would be held on 8 April and would be open to the public, Cabinet members for Community would be invited for a question and answer session.  She invited members to forward any questions they may have.

Cllr Carole Allaway Martin to update members on the Environmental panel. Cllrs Marion Winship and Clive Elsmore to update members on the Bus transport in the district. (update report attached)

The next meeting will be held on the 22 April 2013.

Cllr Allaway Martin advised that the next Environmental Panel meeting would be held on 22 April 2013.

Cllr Marion Winship referred to a report from Gloucestershire County Council Integrated Transport Unit which had been circulated to members.  She also thanked Cllr Clive Elsmore for all his hard work he had undertaken as Transport Champion.

Cllr Elsmore presented his update on transport in the district.  He said that he would be attending a meeting next month with Network Rail.  He referred to the report from Gloucestershire County Council and said that he was disappointed to read that Herefordshire was looking to reduce the amount of subsidy paid.

Cllr Bernie O’Neill to update members on the Finance and Internal Affairs Panel. 

The next meeting will be held on 25 March 2013.

The Finance and Internal Affairs Panel meeting was due to meet on 25 March 2013. Unfortunately this meeting had to be postponed a new date would be arranged.

Cllr Bill Evans, panel chairman, to present an oral update on the panel’s meeting regarding the third quarter performance report 2012/2013 and the revised Customer Feedback Policy. (attached)

The next meeting will be held on 10 June 2013.

Cllr Bill Evans read out the following report

 This was a busy session. We began by acknowledging the highlights of the quarter (increase in re-cycling and a drop in the amount of waste sent to landfill. We scrutinised the Group Summary Service plans for all directorships we noted that two departments were overspent however in general we recognised that, since quarter two the council was now projecting an underspend.

Single Status We were pleased to hear that agreement had been reached on this subject. The negotiating team was congratulated for bringing a challenging subject to a conclusion. We noted that Cabinet had approved the same.

A member asked whether figures for household waste re-cycling centres, run by GCC were included within this percentage? An answer would be circulated after the meeting.

Arising from a member question we were advised that---The Community Infrastructure levy would be replacing the majority of Section 106 monies.

Vacancy Management and the impact on customer service? There were currently two vacancies in planning officer posts and the business apprentice. An answer was promised after the meeting. Now received.

The panel expressed concern about the large number of planning decisions reversed at appeal. It was explained that recent changes in planning law had distorted this data.

Strategic Risks Members noted that none of the strategic risks had increased during the quarter. Once risks had reached their target level they would not be included in the register.

The Corporate Support Manager presented the revised customer feedback policy.

The main changes were:

1)      The overall process had been clarified:

2)      It had been made clearer where the complaints policy did not apply, where other appeals or complaints policies existed;

3)      The roles of councillors had been clarified;

4)      That residents could go directly to their councillor(s);

5)      Councillors could also act as advocates for a complainant, including providing written submissions on their behalf;

6)      The complaints panel would now notify local ward members of complaints when they reached stage three; and

7)      Guidance was also provided about vexatious complaints.

Members spent considerable time addressing this issue generally.  They agreed that the complainant’s representational position needed some reinforcing. They felt the complainant should be entitled to a face to face meeting as part of the process.

Members of the Strategic Overview and Scrutiny Committee discussed the issue  and agreed that there should be direct representation at Stage 2. of the process.

Resolved:-

To recommend to Cabinet that the revised Customer Feedback Policy be amended to include that the complainant had a right to make a direct representation in a face to face meeting at Stage 2 of the process.

TO CONSIDER, AND IF SO AGREE, TO RESOLVE that under section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in schedule 12A of the said act

RESOLVED that under section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in schedule 12A of the said act

Ian Baker, SWAP to present report LD.454.

The chairman Philip Burford advised that at the Strategic Overview and Scrutiny committee meeting on the 10 January at Newent, the committee had requested more details relating to the award of the Street Cleaning Services contract.

Jacqui Gooding, Senior Auditor for the Forest of Dean Council, and Francis Wykes, Senior Auditor, and Paul Jones GO Shared Services, Head of Finance 151 Officer presented report LD.454.

Resolved:

To note the report.

All at 6.00pm with a chairman’s briefing for members at 5.30pm

 6 June 2013

25 July 2013

12 Sept 2013

14 Nov 2013

 9 Jan 2014

All at 6.00pm with a chairman’s briefing for members at 5.30pm

6 June 2013

25 July 2013

12 Sept 2013

14 Nov 2013

9 Jan 2014