Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Jim Clifton and

Tom Munro.

To note any urgent items of business which the Chairman has consented to being considered under the provisions of Section 100(B) 4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of business to consider.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a)  any business on the agenda

b)  any urgent additional items to be considered

c)  any matters arising out of those items

and if appropriate, withdraw from the meeting at the relevant time.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To consider the minutes of the last meeting held on 7^th August 2019

Moved by Councillor James Watson and seconded by Councillor David Dixon

RESOLVED that the Minutes of a Growth Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 7^th August 2019.

(Members should contact the officer whose name appears on the List of Key Decisions for any further information.  NB: If Members wish to discuss an exempt report under this item, the meeting will need to move into exempt business and exclude the public in accordance with the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 and Local Government Act 1972, Part 1, Schedule 12a for that part of the meeting only).

Moved by Councillor Tricia Clough and seconded by Graham Parkin

RESOLVED that the List of Key Decisions and items to be considered in private be noted.

Growth Scrutiny Committee had agreed to undertake a Review of Income Generation as part of their 2017/18 work programme following consideration of a range of topics suggested at the Annual Scrutiny Conference.

Committee agreed the scope of the Review early in 2017/18 but made further refinements in January 2018 which allowed Members to re-focus on assessing how the Council had generated income to date and identified new ways of increasing income to the Council.  Committee agreed to continue the review into 2018/19 to ensure a full investigation was completed.

The aims of the review were;

·         to consider what has already been done to generate income

·         to consider what other authorities have done to generate income

·         to make recommendations on ways for the authority to generate income

A number of areas of investigation had been incorporated into the Transformation Plan 2018 and Committee acknowledged that there was now a specific route for delivery of initiatives via the Transformation Governance Group.  Committee had requested officers involved to look at the initiatives identified as a priority for further exploration over the twelve month monitoring period.

Committee had agreed 11 recommendations which would hopefully assist the Council in identifying new investments and mechanisms for income generation.  Executive had approved the recommendations and the report acknowledged progress to date by officers implementing them. 

To date 1 out of the 11 recommendations had been achieved.  7 had commenced and were on track to complete by their target dates.  3 had not yet commenced as they were dependent on the completion of other work.  Details regarding progress and actions relating to the recommendations were included in an appendix to the report.

In response to a Member’s query regarding replication of the Tangent ‘model’ at other sites within the District, the Scrutiny & Elections Officer noted that officers were currently looking at what types of businesses were developing in the District and what businesses were demanding, for example, core areas and size of business units etc.  The Member suggested that Economic Development officers be invited to a future meeting of Committee to provide Members with information on what the Council’s Industrial Strategy was for the District and also reports and/or a representative from the Local Enterprise Partnership and D2N2.

In response to a Member’s query regarding Pleasley Vale Mills, the Scrutiny & Elections Officer noted that a funding bid application submitted a few years ago for the refurbishment of Pleasley Vale Mills into a tourist attraction to include overnight accommodation, had been unsuccessful.  However, this was being looked at in detail again as there may be more scope for it to go forward due to a Countywide project linking into cycling trails etc.

In response to a Member’s query, the Scrutiny & Elections Officer would enquire with officers as to the availability of overnight accommodation across the District.

A Member referred to the proposal of a Service Pack which suggested selling services as part of the Transformation Programme and queried if there was a list of services that could be provided.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 303.

Committee considered their work programme 2019/20.

Moved by Councillor Tricia Clough and seconded by Councillor Chris Kane

RESOLVED that the Work Programme 2019/20 be noted.

Councillor James Watson abstained from voting.

As the meeting was moving into informal business, the Scrutiny & Elections Officer requested Councillor Watson to stop recording.

The formal part of the meeting concluded at 1100 hours and Members then met as a working party to continue their review work. The working party concluded at 1125 hours.