Agenda, decisions and minutes

            Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2018 be agreed as an accurate record.

1.1      Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2018 be agreed as an accurate record.

2.1       There were none.

There are responses from Mayor & Cabinet to the Committee’s comments on:

·         The implementation of the work and skills strategy

·         Home energy conservation

·         The Council’s vision for rail

Resolved: that the responses from Mayor and Cabinet be noted.

3.1       Resolved: that the responses from Mayor and Cabinet be noted.

Resolved: that the report be noted.

4.1      Cecilia Lindstrom and Mark Warren (Studio Egret West) introduced a presentation (attached to the agenda) with an update on the Catford masterplanning development process.

4.2      The Committee commented on the update, the following key points were noted:

·         It was important that the plans for the development of Catford Town Centre took into consideration the aspirations for the future of Lewisham town centre (and other town centres in the borough).

·         Catford should be the civic heart of the borough.

·         Consideration should be given to the infrastructure and services that would be required for the future increase in population planned for the town centre.

·         The Bakerloo line would have a significant impact on the scale of development that could be delivered in Catford. The masterplan should give consideration to the implications for the town centre with and without an extension of the Bakerloo line.

·         In future updates to the Committee, members would be looking for evidence that consideration had been given to the inclusion of mixed housing tenure and improvements to green spaces.

·         Plans for Catford should include consideration of options to design out poor air quality.

·         The Committee expected that a wide range of people would continue to be included in the consultation, including younger people.

·         Improved linkages between the Catford stations and the town centre would be welcomed.

·         The future of the theatre was also a key consideration for the Committee.

·         The Committee would welcome progress towards the cycling and pedestrian ‘A21 spine’ – through the centre of the borough. It was felt that work needed to be aligned between different plans and different teams at the Council.

4.3       Resolved: that the report be noted.

See the budget appendix pack for details of each proposal.

Resolved: that the Committee’s comments would be submitted to the meeting of the Public Accounts Select Committee on 7 November 2018.

5.1    David Austin (Head of Corporate Resources) introduced the report, the following key points were noted:

·           The context for the report was the Council’s medium term financial strategy that was published in July (2018) and considered at Public Accounts Committee and Mayor and Cabinet.

·           The strategy identified that for the next two financial years (2019-20 and 2020-21) the Council needed to find £30m of cuts - £17m in 2019-20 and £13m in 2020-21 to set a balanced budget (as required by statute).

·           Officers commenced a process in May-June 2018 developing proposals for cuts. The proposals had then been considered via an executive management team review process.

·           Proposals totalling £21m had been submitted for scrutiny.

5.2    David Austin responded to questions from the Committee. The following key points were noted:

·           Some spending on local government had been announced in the Chancellors Autumn budget – notably for adult social care - but it was anticipated that there would be more for local government in the Government’s comprehensive spending review on 2019.

·           Further information was awaited about the business rate relief for small businesses that had been announced by the Chancellor. The change would likely have implications for the London business rate pool.

5.3    David Edwards (Environmental Health Group Service Manager) introduced proposal COM08 (Change in the public engagement responsibilities for air quality and dedicated funding). The following key points were noted:

·           There were two sides to the Council’s air quality work: statutory responsibilities and campaign work. The proposed cut of £40k was currently being used for campaign work, including: school audits, green screens and the Lewisham air app.

·           The statutory responsibility for air quality work was currently supported through the Council’s environmental health team. The proposal was to fund engagement activity through the Council’s Public Health budget in future.

5.4    David Edwards responded a question from the Committee, the following key point was noted:

·           The ability of officers to apply for funding and grants for air quality initiatives would be retained.

5.5    Aileen Buckton (Executive Director for Community Services) introduced proposal COM15 (Extend use of the Broadway Theatre) the following key points were noted:

·           The plan was to implement the proposal in 2020-21 in order to give the service time to prepare.

·           There had been investment in the theatre which had allowed a greater range of activities and events to be held there.

·           Income at the theatre was steadily increasing, which had facilitated the employment of a marketing officer.

5.6    Aileen Buckton responded to a question from the Committee, the following key point was noted:

·           Officers were confident that the proposal could be delivered in 2020-21.

5.7    Ralph Wilkinson (Head of Public Services) introduced proposal CUS14 (Parking service revenue review) the following key points were noted:

·           There should be some surplus in the future parking service budget.

·           The Council could not make profit from the service to meet its budget deficit.

5.8    The Committee discussed the proposal – the following key points were noted:

·           Fines from people breaking the rules were welcomed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Resolved: that the report be noted.

6.1    Alex Crush (Transport Policy and Development Manager) and Nick Harvey (Transport Planner) introduced the report, the following key points were noted:

·           The Local Implementation Plan (LIP) had been in development by officers (with the support of consultants) over the past 8 months.

·           Councillors had been involved during the development of the plan.

·           Public consultation was currently ongoing – this would lead to a finalised report for Mayor and Cabinet in February 2019 – to be followed by submission to Transport for London (later in February 2019).

6.2    Alex Crush and Nick Harvey responded to questions from the Committee (including a written submission from Cllr Ingleby), the following key points were noted:

·           The new programme for the LIP included a healthy neighbourhood project – which partially corresponded to the major schemes approach taken in the previous LIP.

·           The Council had a vision for rail but this did not include detailed planning and access requirements for all of the stations in the borough. Aspirations for key transport hubs were included in the LIP and in the developing Local Plan – but not in the level of the detail requested by the Committee. Further work (and funding) would need to be identified to undertake this level of assessment for all of Lewisham’s stations.

·           The A205 and A21 were TfL roads. The Council supported improvements for cyclists on both routes. However, due to the volume of traffic on the roads, space constraints and the costs involved, it would be difficult to create consistent provision for cycling on both routes. Although this was not to say that this issue should not be highlighted, and there were a number of opportunities to improve provision, such as the future redevelopment of Catford town centre.

·           Some work was taking place with TfL regarding the development of the A21 cycling corridor. It was likely that this would be split into sections/projects to be delivered in phases as funding became available. Officers were pushing for as much feasibility work as possible to be completed as soon as possible to help tie in with the Catford work.

·           Officers were developing a prioritisation process for determining work on healthy neighbourhood schemes. A large amount of information and feedback had been gathered from the Commonplace consultation, which officers were currently working through. 22/23 different factors had been identified for prioritisation process. The finalised process would be completed in time for the production of the final LIP.

6.3    In Committee discussions the following key points were also noted:

·           The current Mayor of London’s focus on cycling and walking was welcomed.

·           It was felt that the issue of air quality was not significantly nor consistently highlighted in the draft LIP.

·           The LIP should be more ambitious in terms of its plans for emissions reductions from traffic.

·           Further work should take place to support cycling on the A205 – especially through Forest Hill. Additional consideration should be given to options for an orbital route for cyclists going west through the borough.

6.4    Resolved: that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To follow.

Resolved: that the update be noted.

7.1       Resolved: that the update be noted.

Resolved: that the Committee’s work programme for its meeting on 12 December 2018 be agreed.

8.1    The Committee discussed the work programme for the meeting on 12 December 2018. It was agreed that:

·           A further update on Catford would not be considered unless there had been significant progress on the programme.

·           The annual parking report and an update on the parking policy would be considered and that prior to the meeting, Members would submit requests for information and casework queries for written answers from officers.

·           The Committee would consider an update on the Bakerloo line

·           The item on Beckenham Place Park would be moved to the Committee’s programme in January.

8.2    Resolved: that the Committee’s work programme for its meeting on 12 December 2018 be agreed.

Resolved: that the Committee’s comments under item five be referred to Public Accounts Select Committee.

9.1    Resolved: that the Committee’s comments under item five be referred to Public Accounts Select Committee.