Agenda and minutes

1.1       The minutes were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.

2.1    The following non-prejudicial declarations of interest were declared:

          Councillor Muldoon - Lead Governor of the SLAM NHS Foundation Trust.

          Councillor Wise – Lewisham Homes Board Member

          Councillor R Kennedy - Trustee of theAckroyd Community Centre

3.1    The Chair advised the committee that the timetable outlined at paragraph 4.1 of the report was the proposed timetable for scrutiny of the budget and that the suggested approach was outlined at section 5.3, which would provide flexibility. The Chair advised that all members were welcome to attend all select committee meetings and the appropriate cabinet members would be invited to the meetings. Because of potential overlap and the need for a strategic approach, the Chair advised that task and finish groups might be necessary to consider some areas in more detail.

3.2    The Chair invited David Austin to introduce the substantive report. In response to questions from the Committee David Austin advised that:

·           The appropriate lead officers would be present at each select committee meeting.

·           A response would be provided to Councillor Bell regarding an outstanding question relating to consultants and agency staff: a full report had been considered by the Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee in July 2014 and was available on the website.

3.3    RESOLVED: that the proposed timescale and approach to reviewing the Lewisham Future Programme proposals, to support the effective overall scrutiny of the budget process, be agreed.

4.1       The Chair advised the Committee that Brian Regan had led on pulling together the draft response and that the views of the Committee would be incorporated within the final response before it was considered by Mayor and Cabinet.

4.2       In response to questions from the Committee on Transport and Infrastructure, Simon Moss and Brian Regan advised:

·           The Bakerloo Line extension was a priority for Lewisham and was something that had been lobbied for, for some time.  Officers couldn’t speak for other boroughs, but understood that Bromley Council were concerned about the loss of the Hayes line. There would be a public consultation which would reveal what Bromley Residents thought about the proposals.

·           The future of the Catford Loop was uncertain and the case had been made to TFL when the route was refranchised that it needed to be improved.

·           Bus provision across the borough was variable and officers had been working with TFL to raise the issue of bus access in parts of the south of the borough and felt that the Bakerloo line consultation should trigger a review of bus services across the borough.

·           The Quietways model was favoured over the cycleway method as it enabled less confident riders to cycle.

·           More about walking would be added to the final submission.

·           Detail regarding the previous air track project would be sought and provided to the Chair of the Sustainable Development Select Committee.

·           The Mayor had written to TFL to support the overground extension and the Bakerloo line extension.

·           The  business case to extend the DLR to Bromley was not strong but extending the overground to Bromley would be a better value option and would have synergies with the Bakerloo line extension.

·           The Council responded to the silvertown tunnel consultation last year.

·           The social and cultural infrastructure had not been considered within the plan and the information on governance  and finance was not particularly detailed.

4.3      In response to questions from the Committee regarding Digital Connectivity, Energy, Water and Waste, Duncan Dewhurst, Sam Kirk and Martin O’Brien advised:

·           There was no longer a central fund to pay for the use of solar panels but the feed in tariffs still existed but were much smaller than they used to be.

·           The findings of the Housing Select Committee review into communal heating would be carefully considered.

·           Alternative energy sources were being used on a small scale in the borough already including used cooking oil. Dog waste could also be incinerated to generate energy.

·           Waste prevention was key part of waste management hence campaigns like  “love food hate waste.”

4.4      Members discussed the information provided at length and agreed a number of points they felt should be highlighted within the response.

4.5      RESOLVED: the following points should be included within the final Lewisham response to the consultation and the submission provided by Phoenix Housing should be appended to the Lewisham Submission:

1.    The Committee recognised the importance of a key strategic document for the future London-wide infrastructure by holding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1       None.