Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve as a correct record theminutes of the meetings held on 9 January 2017

The minutes of the meeting of the 9^th January 2017 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

There were no questions from the public.

To receive any petitions and deputations provided that no such petition or deputation is in relation to:

·         Matters relating to individual Council Officers, or

·         Matters relating to current or pending legal proceedings

There were no petitions or deputations.

To receive the latest version of the Committee’s work programme and the Council’s Forward Plan.

The Chair outlined the Overview and Scrutiny work programme to the Committee and provided an update regarding the planned special Overview and Scrutiny Committee to receive a verbal update on the deployment of resources from the Community Safety Partnership and the Chief Constable. He informed the Committee that an invitation had been sent to the Chief Constable and Community Safety Partnership to attend a meeting in March and that responses were awaited. The Chair noted that the Chief Constable had recently announced her retirement so it could not be guaranteed that she would be available for the meeting.

The Committee discussed inviting community group representatives to attend the special meeting, so they could share experiences and concerns with the Community Safety Partnership. There were differences of opinion on this matter. Some Members viewed that extending this invitation would detract from the purpose of the special meeting and lead to an unfocussed meeting. Other Members stated that inviting the community group representatives would enable the experiences of local citizens to be expressed and provide a greater opportunity to scrutinise public safety. The Chair stated that due to the obvious strength of feeling from Members on this topic, a decision on the matter would be made once the date and attendance for the special meeting had been agreed.

To receive the report of the Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economy that proposes that the draft of the ‘Gloucester Public Realm Strategy 2016’ be approved for a six week period of public consultation

The Chair welcomed Councillor Paul James (Leader of The Council and Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economy) and Anthony Wilson (Head of Planning) to share the proposal that the draft “Gloucester Public Realm Strategy 2017” be approved for a six week period of public consultation.

Councillor James explained the importance of the Public Realm Strategy and urban environment to attracting private investment into the City. He said that key to the strategy was a consistent approach to both the quality and appearance of the public realm throughout the City. He said that as the public realm would be part funded by the Council and part funded by the private sector, the Council would consult stakeholders for input during the six week consultation. He said that after this consultation, the Public Realm Strategy would become part of supplementary guidance to the City Plan.

Anthony Wilson informed the Committee of an amendment to the document in the agenda. He explained that Section 3.8 of the Public Realm Strategy had been removed from the strategy and added to an action plan to be acted upon in the short term.

Councillor Dee stated that the linkages to the City Centre were of great importance and that he had concerns that the linkage beside the old prison was not mentioned in the Public Realm Strategy. He stated that as this was one of the flatter linkages, it needed to be developed in an attractive manner. Councillor James noted Councillor Dee’s comments and explained that this linkage would be part of the Blackfriars redevelopment.

Councillor Lewis praised the City’s current provision of seating but requested this be expanded, as this would be of particular benefit to older members of the community and would make the city appear busier. He stated a preference for seating made from warm materials rather than cold materials such as stone.

Councillor Haigh asked for clarification regarding Paragraph 4.1 of the report, as she said that this paragraph did not meet its stated purpose of addressing ABCD considerations. Councillor James stated that it referred to the public having a say on the document, not suggesting they install the public realm themselves.

Councillor Hawthorne stated that the maps contained within the Public Realm Strategy required clarification and that the lack of landmarks and road names made it difficult to orientate oneself. The Chair agreed with this and Councillor James said this would be looked into.

Councillor Hawthorne asked for further details regarding engagement with vulnerable groups, as outlined in section 4.9 of the Public Realm Strategy. He particularly wanted to raise concerns regarding the impact upon people with dementia of new and modern street furniture which can compound the confusion they experience. Councillor Hawthorne asked for clarification on what considerations had been given to this and how the disability user audit in section 4.9 of the strategy would be undertaken. Councillor James explained that vulnerable groups would be consulted on a project by project basis to assess the impact and necessary adjustments required.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77.

To receive the report of the Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure that proposes the 2017-18 Festival and Events Programme

THIS ITEM HAS BEEN MARKED TO FOLLOW AND WILL BE CIRCULATED AS SOON AS IT HAS BECOME AVAILABLE.

The Chair welcomed Councillor Lise Noakes (Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure) and Jonathan Lund (Corporate Director) to present the report which proposed the 2017-18 Festival and Events Programme to the Committee.

Councillor Noakes shared details of the 2016-17 Festival and Events Programme and commented how incredible it had been. She said that the 2017-18 programme would continue this trend. She informed the Committee that Marketing Gloucester Limited (MGL) remained a key partner in delivering events for the City and that they had begun to monitor events to gauge their success, as shown in the report. However, she informed the Committee that due to financial constraints, Gloucester City Council would be reducing their contribution to MGL by £100,000 for 2017-18. Due to this, MGL would be given greater flexibility in deciding how to spend the funding it received and would not be given expected spends for individual events, but would be given direction as to what was required at each event.  Councillor Noakes concluded her presentation by stating that the Council was aiming for UK City of Culture status for 2025 and as part of working towards this had recently submitted a bid for Great Place Scheme, which would bring £1.5 million of funding into the City over 3 years. She explained that the results of this bid were expected by the end of March 2017.

Councillor Hampson welcomed the monitoring of events and that their success was being measured. He queried the details of paragraph 3.12 in the report and asked for clarification for how the Summer Sound event had been scheduled against Gloucester Quays food festival. Councillor Noakes explained that Gloucester Quays had rescheduled their event, as the weekend was a key weekend for footfall. She explained that clashes like this should be avoided in future as a shared diary had been put in place.

Councillor Wilson asked why some events in the report were marked TBC. Councillor Noakes apologised for this, as these were now confirmed but the information in the report was from before Christmas 2016.

Councillor Wilson praised some of the smaller and cheaper occurrences around the City, such as the installation of pianos in the city centre, and asked why this was not mentioned in the report. Councillor Noakes said that this had been an initiative of MGL and was not a Council event so was not in the report.

Councillor Hilton asked for clarity as to the ambition of the festivals over the following years. He stated that although all the events added vibrancy to the City, he was concerned that they did not act as an attractor for visitors. He asked if the Council should be looking to expand the scope of the festivals, to a potentially global audience. Councillor Noakes explained that part of the Great Place Scheme’s remit was linked to growing festivals and linking to heritage. She explained that as such the Gloucester History Festival was a key component of the Council ongoing festival programme and there were hopes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78.

To resolve:-

“That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the following item of business on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public are present during consideration of this item there will be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended”.

Agenda Item No.               Description of Exempt Information

10                                           Paragraph 3: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the Authority holding that information).

11                                           Paragraph 4: Information relating to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the authority or a Minister of the Crown and employees of, or office holders under, the authority

RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the following items of business on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public are present during consideration of this items there will be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended for Agenda Item 10 and as defined in Paragraph 4 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended for Agenda Item 11.

To approve as a correct record the exempt minutes of the meetings held on 28 November 2016 and 9 January 2017

The exempt minutes of the meeting of the 28^th November 2016 and the 9^th January 2017 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

To receive a verbal report from the Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources regarding the proposed organisational redesign.

The Chair welcomed Councillor David Norman (Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources), Jon McGinty (Managing Director) and Colin Parkin (HR Representative) to share an update with the Committee regarding details of the “Together Gloucester” restructure.

The Committee received the report and discussed the proposals.

SUSPENSION OF COUNCIL PROCEDURE RULE 6

On the motion of the Chair, and in accordance with the Constitution, the Committee resolved that the meeting be extended beyond two hours.

The Chair thanked Councillor David Norman, Jon McGinty and Colin Parkin for their presentation.

RESOLVED – That the update be noted.

Monday 27 February 2017 at 6.30pm

27 February 2017 at 6.30pm