Agenda and minutes

Apologies for the meeting were received from Councillors G Mirfin and S Rainford.

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 August 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.

Councillor J Alcock declared an interest in Agenda Item 9 – Edisford Riverbank Bathing Water Designation as a trustee of Ribble Rivers Trust.

There was no public participation.

Report of Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report providing committee with an update on Mardale playing pitches in Longridge. These pitches had suffered from poor drainage for many years. The ditch on the southern boundary had been cleared which had contributed to better drainage but the pitches were still in need of further work.

Committee were informed that a S106 contribution of £80,400 had been allocated from the Dilworth development for the improvement of the pitches. Tenders had been sought but had come back considerably higher than the budget sum available. The window for carrying out the work had already passed for this year, so it was important to get plans ready for doing the work as soon as the season finished.

The two options presented to committee were to consider asking Policy and Finance committee for the additional £100k sum or to carry out vertidraining and sand slitting/filling ourselves up to the budget sum available. The latter option would allow sand to be applied over two consecutive seasons, thereby improving the pitch quality significantly.

Members discussed the options presented and the current state of the pitches, as well as the need for this work to be carried out as soon as possible to ensure that matches can be played throughout the season.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE

1.    Ask officers to prepare a drainage improvement scheme based on vertidraining and sand slitting/filling over a one or two year period;

2.    Request a report to a future meeting of this committee with an update on the scheme, and

3.    Agree to prepare for the implementation of the scheme as soon as the 2022/23 football season is complete.

Report of Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director od Community Services submitted a report updating members on current car park issues, including the replacement of the parking machines and the cycle lockers on Chester Avenue car park.

He informed committee that an order had been placed for 22 machines that would have the capacity to take coins, contactless, and Apple and Google payments. Better signage promoting the use of Mi Permit as a pay by phone method of paying would also be provided. One request for a cycle locker had been received.

Committee were also consulted on the need to include council car parks on Parson Lane and Lowergate, Clitheroe currently used by lessees in the Car Park Order to enable enforcement of misuse.

The current problems around the use of Highmoor car park were also discussed.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE

1.    Agree to include Parson Lane and Lowergate car parks, Clitheroe in the Council’s Annual Parking Order and approve the enforcement plan if required, and

2.    Request a report to a future committee on Highmoor car park.

Report of Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report outlining the work the Council does for LCC and seeking committee’s views on a proposal for some of the work.

Committee were reminded that the Council undertakes some work that LCC has responsibility for such as weed spraying, verge cutting and road sweeping for a financial contribution. For some time, the Director had been trying to negotiate a higher financial contribution to enable the Council to carry out the work requested without having local taxpayers subsidise the costs. LCC had now made an offer of an additional £16,141 contribution for road sweeping in the current financial year, with an additional sum of £39,433 being proposed for weed spraying.

Committee were informed that LCC had cut back on the frequency requests of weed spraying and verge cutting and this Council had carried out some road sweeping as part of its amenity cleansing function, specifically in areas prone to flooding.

LCC were also pressing all Districts to sign a Public Realm Agreement that would place a further financial burden on this Council to carry out LCC functions, with no increase in payments proposed. It was therefore proposed that the Council not sign the agreement but inform LCC that they would carry out the weed spraying work based on the improved offer of funding, and that work on road sweeping and verge cutting would only be carried out up to as much as the budget received allowed for.

Members discussed the financial settlements received from LCC both to us and other districts that appear to receive much higher amounts. They also discussed the state of road signs and hedges throughout the borough.

Members asked officers to highlight to the public wherever possible the different responsibilities of LCC and RVBC.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE

1.    Approve that the Council accepts the additional County Council funding offered this year for road sweeping and weed spraying;

2.    Approve the funding received from LCC be used for verge cutting and road sweeping up to the value of the budget given to RVBC;

3.    Agree that the Council does not sign the Public Realm Agreement, and

4.    Confirm that the Council will only agree to do work up to the level of funding received from LCC.

Report of Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report asking committee to consider amending the grant criteria for Culture and Recreation grants to provide greater clarity for applicants.

Committee were reminded that the criteria had been changed several times over the years to reflect changes in the way that people seek funding and the way in which they match it to other sources in a bid to keep it relevant.

He highlighted the proposed changes to the form that focused on helping applicants understand the grant system and what was expected from them as part of the process.

A FAQS sheet had also been produced to provide further clarification for applicants that would sit alongside the application form on the website.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE

Approve the proposed amendments to the grant criteria.

Councillor J Alcock declared an interest in the next item of business and took no part in the debate or vote.

Report of Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report seeking committee’s views on the proposed application to the designation of Edisford Riverbank as designated bathing waters.

The Ribble Rivers Trust (RRT) had informed the Council of its intention to apply for the waters of the River Ribble in the area around Edisford riverbank as shown on the plan in the report to be designated as bathing waters. The Council has been consulted as both the landowner of the riverbank and the Local Authority as this support was required. RRT were in the initial stages of gathering evidence needed for the designation that would be submitted by application to DEFRA.

Committee were informed that should the designation be awarded, there would be implications and statutory responsibilities placed upon local authorities including the Council and the Environment Agency to establish a monitoring programme and react in the case of a pollution incident.

Members were pleased with this initiative that would have a positive impact on the users of the river at Edisford and contribute to both the Council’s overall tourism objectives and the environment.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE

Approve the Council’s support for the application proposed by Ribble Rivers Trust.

Report of Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report for information on persistent organic pollutants (POPS) in upholstered domestic seating which are used as flame retardants in covers and foams.

The Environment Agency had confirmed the widespread presence of very large quantities of POPS and other hazardous chemical in both the textiles and foam of upholstered domestic seating. Under new legislation (effective from 1 January 2023) waste containing POPS must not be landfilled, mixed with other non-POPs containing wastes or be re-used or recycled. It must only be sent for incineration or used as a fuel eg in a cement kiln.

For the Council this means that it cannot be collected with normal residual waste but be collected as a ‘special’ collection and taken either to the Clitheroe Household Waste Recycling Centre where, should capacity be available, it would be taken to Farrington to be shredded and incinerated or taken to Farrington directly at the expense of the Council.

As ‘special’ collections were charged for this may well lead to more fly-tipping, or another vehicle being required to carry out the extra collections this may generate.

The legislation was timetabled to be introduced in January 2023 but it was more likely to be April 2023, although there had been some adverse reaction from LARAC (the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee).

Report of Director of Resources enclosed.

The Director of Resources submitted a report for information on the progress of this committee’s capital programme for the period to end of August 2022.

£445,923 had been spent or committed which equated to 18.3% of the annual capital programme budget for this committee.

Of the nineteen schemes in the capital programme five schemes were complete, eleven schemes were currently expected to be completed in-year, two schemes would not be completed in-year and one scheme had been removed from the programme.

Report of Director of Resources enclosed.

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

The comparison between actual and budgeted expenditure showed an overspend of £51,776 for the first five months of the financial year 2022/23. After allowing for transfers to/from earmarked reserves the overspend was £67,060.

Report of Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report for information providing an update on the TaAF project which the Council is a partner in across Pennine Lancashire.

The two Ribble Valley themes of Rural Impact and Creating a Connection were outlined. Local partners with key expertise were being engaged to help with these projects.

The TaAF project was viewed by Sport England as an important element of their new Ten-Year Strategy, which was based on Place Based working, placing the emphasis on involving people in the communities of an area to determine what works for them in terms of sport and physical activity. This approach would also help determine future investment for Sport England.

Report of Director of Community Services enclosed.

The Director of Community Services submitted a report for information giving an update on Edisford grass football pitches, Draw Clitheroe, Ribblesdale Pool, Platform Gallery and the proposed free parking on town centre car parks in Clitheroe and Longridge on the four Saturdays in December.

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.