Technical, Economic and Environmental Services Scrutiny Panel

Minutes of the Meeting held on 8th March 2010

Commenced: 2.05pm
Terminated: 3.20pm

Present:

Councillor Robinson (Chair)
Councillors Brazil, Cartwright, M Downs, A Holland, Kelly, D Lane and
Roberts

Mr A Moss - Citizens’ Panel

Apologies for absence:

Councillor S Smith

Please note that Minutes are numbered consecutively throughout the municipal year

46. Minutes

The minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Panel held on the 8 February 2010, having been circulated, were taken as read and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

47. Review of Parking and Traffic Management in Town Centres

The Members of the Scrutiny Panel:-

1. Considered the contents of the first draft of the report which related to the parking element of the scrutiny review, and discussed the conclusions and recommendations thereon.
2. Reported on traffic management issues pertinent to their respective town centres.

Resolved

That a final draft report of the Scrutiny Panel’s Review of Parking and Traffic Management in Town Centres be considered for approval at a future meeting.

48. Local Government Act 2000 – Urgent Items

The Chair reported that the following items of business required consideration as a matter of urgency due to time constraints.

49. Scrutiny Performance Monitoring – Tameside Local Area Agreement Targets 2008-11 : Quarter Three

The Scrutiny Manager informed the Scrutiny Panel that in accordance with the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, responsible local authorities had a duty to prepare a Local Area Agreement (LAA) in consultation with partner organisations. The LAA Executive and Steering Group had negotiated and monitored the LAA on behalf of the Tameside Strategic Partnership Board. The Act also placed a duty on local authority overview and scrutiny committees to monitor the progress towards the achievement of the LAA targets and on partners to co-operate in this process. It had been agreed that in Tameside this would be done on a systematic basis each quarter, with each Scrutiny Panel receiving monitoring information that was relevant to its terms of reference. The Chair and Deputy Chair would in addition, receive information on the 198 performance measures from the National Indicator Set that were relevant to their respective Panels.

The Scrutiny Manager shared the third quarter’s monitoring report of the LAA targets relevant to this panel with members and that it was agreed that in support of its responsibility to monitor Worklessness rates a representative from Job Centre Plus be invited to a future meeting of this Scrutiny Panel.

Resolved

That the report be noted.

50. Mr Howard Boots - Head of Scrutiny

The Chair reminded the Members of the Panel that this was to be the last meeting to be attended by Mr Howard Boots, Head of Scrutiny as he was retiring on the 26th March 2010.

The Chair referred to Mr Boots’ significant influence and hard work which had been a major contributing factor of the success of Tameside’s Scrutiny Support Unit. Through his leadership, the Unit had become nationally recognised as one of the best in the country. He added that Mr Boots had been a tremendous asset to the Council.

Councillor Holland also contributed to the Chair’s good wishes and referred to the many year’s service that Mr Boots had undertaken in her ward during the local elections.

Finally, the Panel Members wished Mr Boots a long and happy retirement.

Resolved

That the report be noted.

Chair