Agenda and minutes

Apologies for the meeting were received from Councillors S Fletcher, M Robinson and G Scott.

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 May 2022 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any disclosable pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interest in respect of matters contained in the agenda.

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary, other registrable and non-registrable interests.

There was no public participation.

Report of Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report on the capital project to replace the pool filters at Ribblesdale Pool with a suggested amendment to the scheme.

Members were reminded that an allocation of £44k had been made in the capital programme for the replacement of three pool filters at Ribblesdale Pool. However, since this bid was submitted, the actual cost of replacement had risen to over £80k and increasing the budget made no economic sense on a building 50 years old.

Upon investigation refurbishment was not an option and replacement would also involve substantial amendment to the pipework and take approximately 2 months to complete with no guarantee that a failure on another aspect of the building would not require an enforced closure.

An alternative was to replace the filter media instead at a cost of £21 - £28k and split the budget to allow some much-needed replacement tile work to be carried out at the same time whilst the pool was drained.

Members asked questions regarding the longevity of the pool, how effective continued maintenance was, and any plans for replacement.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.    Approve the proposed amendment to the capital programme as outlined, and

2.    Ask Policy and Finance committee to amend the capital programme to enable the filter and tiling work to be completed as proposed.

Report of Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report updating members on current car parking issues, replacement of car park pay machines and bicycle lockers at Chester Avenue car park.

Committee were reminded that following a study carried out in 2017 that provision for additional parking in Clitheroe was required as parking was at capacity during peak times. A bid had therefore been put into the capital programme and officers worked on finding a suitable site.

However, during the Covid 19 pandemic national shopping habits had changed, so a follow up survey was commissioned to establish whether demand had changed locally. The study showed that although Lowergate car park reached capacity on Saturdays none of the other short stay car parks reached more than 75% capacity at any time. The Car Park working group had therefore reached the conclusion that, presently there was no need for extra town centre parking provision, but that the LCC continue to be lobbied to assist in improving the access to the underutilised market car park.

Consideration had also been given by the Car Park working group to replacement of pay machines with ones that included payment options of coins, contactless, Apple and Google pay. In all but two locations where there was no mobile phone signal, it was agreed that the machines should be replaced, and better signage included promoting the use of the pay by phone method of Mi Permit.

The Director of Community Services also asked committee to consider renting out the cycle lockers on Chester Avenue that had been left when LCC handed back the park and ride bays on the car park.

Members asked again about the possibility of having a free permit for those using Roefield to encourage their continued use of the facility. The Director of Community Services explained that this would require a change to the Car Park Order and would mean that the car park was not managed properly with turnover of vehicles.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.    Approve the removal of the provision of an extra car park in Clitheroe Town Centre from the capital programme as recommended by the Car Park working group and support officers lobbying LCC to assist in making the market car park more easily accessible;

2.    Support the Car Park working group in their recommendations to replace the car park machines with new machines offering more payment methods, and

3.    Agree to the hiring out of the cycle lockers on Chester Avenue car park to residents and at a nominal annual fee of £52 to be included in fees and charges.

Report of the Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report updating members on the Food Festival held on 30 July 2022 in Clitheroe.

The event had been organised and managed by Council staff together with volunteers on the day from Rotary and Lions. It had been attended by around 100 businesses and organisations and was of a similar size to the pre-covid event in 2019. The event had proved difficult to organise because of problems with suppliers for the services used to stage the event, and costs associated with these services were significantly higher than in previous years.

The event was a success for the Council and for the Borough as a whole. A review of the event would take place in due course along with options in future for a two day/Sunday event and outturn costs calculated.

He reminded members that in future, the staging of the event would be under the remit of Economic Development committee.

Members were pleased with the way the festival had gone and complimented officers on their efforts.

Councillor Austin was given permission to speak on this item.

Report of the Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report providing committee with an update on the provision of swimming instruction at Ribblesdale Pool.

Members were reminded that the provision of swimming lessons had been suspended at the onset of the Covid pandemic in March 2020. Once allowed to restart, difficulties had been experienced in recruitment both internally and by an external provider.

However, following sustained efforts to recruit teachers a ‘learn to swim’ programme for juniors would re-commence in September 2022. This has been achieved with the assistance of Swim England and the Institute of Swimming and their Recruitment Academy Programme to support three current members of staff to become qualified to teach.

Report of the Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report updating members on the RV3G facility at Edisford for the 2021/22 season.

The facility had proved to be an excellent investment for the Borough, with the demand for space showing that the interest from users was not diminishing.

The report outlined the users and types of use the 3G facility was accommodating and the usage of the education room. The 3G facility averages 400 participants per day and has received good feedback on its quality. Income also exceeded its target by £25k for the year, in part due to creative programming employed to maximise pitch use.

Report of Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report providing members with an overview of the latest Sport England Strategy, as it applied to the work of the Council in helping residents to live an active and healthy life.

The 10-year vision aims to transform lives and communities through sport and physical activity, helping people and organisations recover from the challenges raised by the coronavirus pandemic and ensuring positive planning for sport by enabling the right facilities to be provided in the right places based on robust and up-to-date assessments of need for all levels of sport and sectors of the community.

The report evidences the inequalities at the core of Uniting the Movement and sets out its proposals to create the right conditions for enabling the changes required to include all sectors. The report referred to specific capabilities, information, approaches, and relationships that would make the progress possible across the people, organisations, and partnerships with the potential to contribute and help turn shared plans and ideas into action.

The document would present an opportunity for the Council to consider its content and reflect upon the extent to which any contribution as catalysts for change might be made.

The Local Government Association also offer support to councils in the form of a range of programmes and tools to help tackle the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities for culture and sport improvement. Following their process in developing a local outcomes framework would be a timely opportunity to review the direction of sport and leisure services in the Ribble Valley.

Report of Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report updating members on the consultations launched for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and Consistency of Collections by DEFRA.

EPR placed the cost of managing products once they reach end-of-life on to producers, however, the Government had dropped plans to make producers responsible for the cost of business waste until at least 2026/27 and not responsible for litter on the ground. The cost of litter would therefore fall to the local authority. Implementation had been delayed from 2023 to 2024.

The responses to the DRS and Consistency Collections consultations had yet to be published.

He reported that one of the biggest issues around consistency collections for this council would be the call for separate collections of food waste as additional receptacles would need to be provided as well as different vehicles, and potentially drivers to collect the waste. Storage of this waste stream at the depot would also require a different method than that of other waste or to be delivered directly to an alternative facility.

Committee would be informed once the outcome of the consultations was received.

Councillor Austin, the Council’s representative on the Lancashire Waste Partnership was given permission to speak on this item.

The Director of Resources submitted a report on the outturn for the financial year 2021/22 in respect of the revenue budget for this committee.

There had been a considerable number of variations in both income and expenditure during the year that had given rise to an overall underspend of £208,072 on the net cost of services. After transfers to and from earmarked reserves there was an overall underspend of £207,695 that had been added to General Fund Balances. Details by cost centre were outlined in the report for information.

The Director of Resources submitted a report informing committee of the position for the period April to June 2022 of this year’s revenue budget for this committee.

The comparison between actual and budgeted expenditure showed an underspend of £24,284 for the first three months of the financial year 2022/23. After allowing for transfers to/from earmarked reserves the underspend was £18,628. Details of the variances were included in the report for information.

The Director of Resources submitted a report for information on progress on the 2022/23 capital programme for the period to the end of June 2022 for this committee.

At the end of June 2022 £422,310 had been spent or committed when equated to 17.4% of the annual capital programme budget for this committee. Of the nineteen schemes in the capital programme, one scheme was complete, sixteen schemes were currently expected to be completed in-year and it was unclear whether one scheme would be completed in-year.

It had been resolved earlier in the agenda that the scheme relating to the Clitheroe Town Centre Car Park be deleted from the capital programme.

Copy enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report for information giving an update on the Clitheroe Town Wells, car park charging points and the identified priorities of the Climate Change working group.

None.

There were no minutes of working groups.

None.

There were no reports from representatives on outside bodies.

None.

There were no items under this heading.