Agenda and minutes

To note any changes to the Membership.

1.1      Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Julia Alexander, Thomas Crockett and Louise Hyams.  Councillor Thomas Crockett was replaced by Jacqui Wilkinson.     

To receive declarations of interest by Members and officers of any personal or prejudicial interests.

2.1      Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of item 5 on the agenda that he owns a flat in Marylebone Road.  The Chairman declared that he had previously worked in the utilities industry but not for any of the organisations that were in attendance at the meeting.

To sign the minutes of the Business Planning and Transport Policy and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on Wednesday 15 November 2017.

3.1      RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Business Planning and Transport meeting held on Wednesday 15 November 2017 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record of proceedings.

Written updates from the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Business, Culture and Heritage (Appendix 1), the Cabinet Member for City Highways (Appendix 2) and the Cabinet Member for Planning and Public Realm (Appendix 3).

Question and Answer session at the meeting with the Cabinet Member for City Highways, Councillor Danny Chalkley.

4.1       The Committee received written updates from the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Business, Culture and Heritage, the Cabinet Member for City Highways and the Cabinet Member for Planning and Public Realm on significant matters within their portfolios.  

4.2       The Chairman welcomed Councillor Danny Chalkley, Cabinet Member for City Highways, to the meeting.  The Committee put questions to and received responses from Councillor Chalkley on a number of matters that were relevant to his portfolio.  Kevin Goad, Director of City Highways, was also in attendance for this item.  The matters raised included the following topics:

·           Surface Water Management – Councillor Chalkley was asked for an update on the maintenance of gulleys.  He replied that there had been issues regarding gulleys being blocked last winter.  A new contractor had since been employed and was doing a very good job.  A combination of the new contractor and an investment of £250,000 in the current Highways Programme approved in April 2017 had led to significant improvements in respect of the gulleys.   

·           The Cabinet Member was asked to provide further clarification on the removal of vehicles on single and double yellow lines by a recovery vehicle in order to access gullies.  Councillor Chalkley replied that he had re-instated the ability to relocate any vehicles which block gulleys as the cost of clearing gulleys on a reactive basis is approximately four times the price of a planned process.  The removal/recovery vehicle is shared with the Parking team.

·           Were there any measures which could be taken to move foreign owned vehicles which are parked illegally for extensive periods of time?  Councillor Chalkley advised that the Council’s options in this regard are very limited.  The Council could not be expected to pursue and fund cases against owners of foreign vehicles through international courts.      

·           When would the annual highways programme be published?  Councillor Chalkley replied that this would be published shortly and would take into account a report from the lay panel which he had established in order to ensure that the programme was more reflective of the needs and experience of residents and businesses.

·           Effective Neighbourhood Working Programme – Clarification was sought on the Programme.  The Cabinet Member responded that staff in City Management and Communities, Growth Planning and Housing and Public Health were being consulted on the remodelling of the structure of their sections until 7 March 2018.  He added that the purpose of the Programme was to improve the all-round skills of individuals in order to provide a better service for residents.  He also informed the Committee that there would not be a loss of City Inspectors.  One aspect was to improve the skills of City Inspectors so that they were able if necessary to carry out highways inspections.

Councillor Chalkley was asked about the likelihood of significant redundancies and whether there was the potential for the service to be less effective as a result.  He replied that there would be some people leaving the organisation.  In relation to the posts  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Report of the Director of City Highways.

5.1       The Committee received a report which looked at the possibility of the principle of lane rental being applied to streets managed by Westminster Council.  It highlighted the potential benefits and risks of such a change whilst setting out details of the existing scheme operated by TfL.

5.2       The item was introduced by Jonathan Rowing, Head of Road Management.  He referred to the two lane rental pilot schemes that were being operated by TfL and Kent County Council.  He advised that the item was timely for bringing before the Committee as a consultation had been undertaken by the Department for Transport (‘DfT’) on the potential to extend the schemes to other authorities.  With the agreement of the Cabinet Member for City Highways, officers had responded to the DfT consultation that lane rental schemes would create a positive pressure to reduce the duration of works and drive a technological change.  There were concerns about the impact on residents as a result of encouraging works taking place at night, restrictions on spend within the legislation and potential bureaucracy from having 33 different funds for the spend across London if all the boroughs introduced a lane rental scheme.  The consultation had now closed and DfT were now considering the responses to it.  

5.3       Also in attendance at the meeting were Kevin Goad, Director of City Highways; Jerry McConkey, CEO, Joint Authorities Group(UK); David Capon, Joint Authorities Group(UK) Manager; Peter Loft, Secretary, London Joint Utilities Group; Martin Zelder, New Roads and Street Works Act Compliance Manager, Cadent Gas and Keith O’Brien, Fixed Network Specialist, Vodafone.  The Committee heard from Mr McConkey.  He explained that JAG(UK) was the link between Central Government and every highway authority in the United Kingdom on all matters pertaining to roadworks and street works.  It also assisted Central Government in drafting relevant legislation and regulations and worked with colleagues from the utilities companies in writing code of practice guidance.  JAG(UK)’s aims included supporting the management of all maintenance events on the highway, maintaining public safety, improving journey experience and reducing levels of congestion whilst protecting the assets.

5.4       Mr McConkey stated that JAG(UK) promoted permit schemes.  He referred to an example of the benefits with Sefton Council having saved over 45,000 days in terms of the highway not being occupied.  He expressed the view that lane rental schemes offered significant additional benefits to the existing permit schemes as a result of behavioural changes.  One aim was to reduce the length of time that sites are unoccupied.  If a lane rental charge was being paid on a daily basis, it was less likely to be unoccupied.  Another objective was to improve planning and coordination so that it was known before companies were on site exactly what they needed to do so the work was carried out quickly and efficiently.  Works should take place outside peak periods when most disruption is caused.  The intention should be to try to complete the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Report of the Director of Economy.

6.1      The Committee received a report which provided an overview of apprenticeships, recent apprenticeship reforms including the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy and the activities planned to promote and stimulate apprenticeship growth across Westminster.

6.2         The item was introduced by Greg Ward, Director of Economy.  He stated that the Council was trying to address two specific issues in particular with the services provided.  The first was that London has a very low level of apprenticeship take up.  Parents in the city often did not want their children to become apprentices and companies often did not want to take on apprentices.  It was important to inform both parties of the benefits of apprenticeships.  Secondly, despite the new Apprenticeship Levy having been introduced which was designed to fund apprenticeship training and increase the number of high quality apprenticeships, there had been a fall nationally in the number of apprentices.

6.3      The Committee in scrutinising this item also heard from Eileen Gallagher, Apprenticeship Development Officer and Ben Drain, Head of Apprenticeships at The Knowledge Academy.  The matters raised included the following:

·           Would a communications led approach persuade the public that vocational apprenticeship training was as valuable as learning provided at university?  Mr Ward replied that communications was one element in a number of significant strands to an overall strategy.  There was also scope to improve the integration of the work of the Economy Team with the education careers services.  This would enable young people to be aware of the available opportunities.  The Apprenticeship Levy also gives incentive to companies to employ people (for instance ten apprentices  are already working for the Council) who are quite mature in terms of age and their careers and decided to take on apprenticeships later in life. 

·           What was the gender split of the 54 apprentices within Council services and were there people who had applied to be apprentices who had been rejected?  Mr Ward said that he would obtain this information for the Committee.  He advised Members of the Committee that over the past two years the number of local residents who have become apprentices working for the Council has increased from around 10% of all apprentices to 25% and this proportion is growing.  When candidates who were local residents were not successful in securing an apprenticeship, they received strong support from the Westminster Employment Service and the Westminster Adult Education Service and were assisted in applying for future roles.  

·           The point was made that there are world class creative, cultural and technical industries in Westminster that offer the best possible start for any apprentice.  A question was also muted on whether the Council could support  external apprenticeship schemes such as at The Goring Hotel.  The Goring Hotel was helping homeless people get into employment and they were learning skills from world leading chefs. 

·           Mr Drain stated that the biggest challenge in terms of encouraging young people into apprenticeships was parent perception.  Most parents of children who would currently be considering their career had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee to consider whether it wishes to issue any press releases in relation to its work.

7.1      The Committee decided not to produce a press release at this time in relation to the items on the agenda.

Report of the Director of Policy, Performance and Communications

8.1      It was agreed that a discussion on potential items for the next meeting on 12 April 2018 would take place between the Chairman and Ms Kassi, Policy and Scrutiny Officer, following the current meeting.  Members of the Committee were invited to consult the Chairman and Ms Kassi during the next seven days in the event that there were any items, including in the unallocated list, that they wished to be included for the April meeting.     

8.2      RESOLVED: That (i) a discussion on potential items for the next meeting on 12 April 2018 would take place between the Chairman and Ms Kassi;

That (ii) Members of the Committee were invited to consult the Chairman and Ms Kassi in the event that there were any items that they wished to be included for the April meeting; and

That (iii) the action tracker be noted.

9.1      There was no additional business for the Committee to consider.

12 April 2018, 6 June 2018, 20 September 2018 and 21 November 2018.

10.1    The dates of future meetings are 12 April 2018, 6 June 2018, 20 September 2018 and 21 November 2018.