Agenda, decisions and minutes

1.1       RESOLVED: To confirm Cllr Liam Curran as Chair and Cllr James-J Walsh as Vice Chair.

1.1       RESOLVED: To confirm Cllr Liam Curran as Chair and Cllr James-J Walsh as Vice Chair.

2.1       RESOLVED: That:

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 March 2015be signed as an accurate record of the meeting.

2.1       RESOLVED: That:

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 March 2015be signed as an accurate record of the meeting.

3.1       There were no declarations of interest.

4.4      RESOLVED: That the Committee agree that the Committee’s suggestions be added to the provisional work programme for submission to Overview and Scrutiny Business Panel.

4.1      Roger Raymond introduced the report.

4.2      The Committee discussed the work programme and agreed:

§  The inclusion of an ‘Enforcement Review’ – a one-meeting review in conjunction with Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee looking at all aspects of enforcement since the reorganisation.

§  To add an element of ‘enforcement policy’ for recycling, alongside the Waste Strategy once it comes back to the Committee (scheduled 26 Nov 2015).

§  To conduct an in-depth review focused on the Catford Regeneration Scheme. The Committee will be looking for witnesses/evidence from the following:

o   Internal Officers

o   Deputy Mayor of Lewisham: Cabinet Member for Growth and Regeneration

o   TfL

o   Network Rail

o   Tesco

o   Work being carried out by Allies & Morrison

4.3       In response to questions from the Committee, the following was noted:

§  Some items may move after further discussions with Planning and Transport Division officers.

§  Officers to look at moving the May meeting to either the 11 May or 14 May.

§  The Committee asked not to be in Committee Room 4 for their meetings if at all possible.

§  The Chair to write a letter on behalf of the Committee to the Mayor in respect of upgrading the ICT equipment in the Civic Suite.

4.4      RESOLVED: That the Committee agree that the Committee’s suggestions be added to the provisional work programme for submission to Overview and Scrutiny Business Panel.

5.5       RESOLVED: That the Committee:

            a) Note the evidence presented.

b) Consider the evidence as part of the Modern Roads Review.

5.1      Alex Williams, (Director of Borough Planning, TfL), gave a presentation to the Committee. The key points to note were:

§  His role is pan-London, working with all London boroughs, in liaison with the Greater London Authority (GLA) and TfL.

§  Up to an extra 1.6m people are expected to be living in London by 2031 and London’s economy is expected to grow by 42%. As a result, by 2031, TfL expect to see increases in:

o   Vehicle km by 10%

o   Bus travel by 30% (& capacity by 10%)

o   Cycling to triple in volume

o   Freight traffic by 22%

o   Demand for road-space, for both movement and place-making.

§  This will bring challenges, such as congestion, estimated to be an increase of 15-25% in Lewisham.

§  The Mayor of London commissioned the Roads Taskforce (RTF) in 2012 to help develop a new strategy to tackle the challenges facing London's streets and roads, such as congestion, pollution and ease of travel by foot, bike and public transport.  The RTF is an independent body, which brought together a wide range of interests and expertise, to develop a new approach to improving urban roads in the UK. The RTF report, published in July 2013, set out a vision of how London could cope with major population growth while becoming a more vibrant, accessible and sustainable world city.

§  The RTF advised that defining London roads on the basis of how many vehicles they carried was not practicable for London going forward, and as well as allowing people and vehicles to travel around London more efficiently, they also needed to transform the environment for cycling, walking and public transport. There also needed to be an improvement in the public realm and provision of better and safer places for all the activities that take place on the city’s streets, and provide an enhanced quality of life.

§  Street types can be grouped into nine categories, according to their local or strategic significance as places and for movement:

o   Arterial

o   High Road

o   City Hub

o   Connector

o   High Street

o   City Street

o   Local Street

o   Town Square

o   City Place

§  TfL are working with Lewisham officers on the classification of their roads to match with the nine categorises.

§  There are a broad range of tools to get the most out of the road network, for example the more efficient and flexible use of space, intelligent systems and management, changing behaviour and managing demand.

§  TfL has a Roads Modernisation Plan that consists of £4bn of investment across the capital up to 2020-21, which will:

o   Ensure our roads assets are fit for the future

o   Deliver a programme of major highway improvements to:

§  unlock economic growth & regeneration

§  optimise use of road space (for all modes)

§  improve pedestrian, cycling and bus facilities

§  enhance urban realm and ‘place’ function

§  deliver safety improvements

o   Deliver the Mayor’s vision for cycling

o   Deliver a further 40% reduction  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.5      RESOLVED: That the Committee:

            a) Note the evidence presented.

b) Consider the evidence as part of the High Streets Review.

6.1      Andrew Rawlings (Senior Portfolio Manager, Land Securities), gave a presentation to the Committee. The key points to note were:

§  As Senior Portfolio Manager, he manages a number of sites, including the 02 Centre in Camden, West 12 Shopping Centre in Hammersmith and Fulham, and the Lewisham Shopping Centre.

§  High streets and regional centres are continuing to evolve, with some of the drivers for the evolution are:

o   Shoppers are shopping less often but spending more: Land Securities are seeing frequency down but conversion up to 55% in some of their locations

o   catering and leisure uses are becoming ever more critical to location decisions – 40% of Land Securities’ customers eat or drink in their centres

o   more choice of brands is the number one requirement of Land Securities’ shoppers

o   Access and environment becoming more important

o   Destination marketing and digital offers are also becoming important

§  Some of the innovations Land Securities have tried at its Trinity Leeds Shopping Centre have included: 

o   46 new brands to Trinity Leeds

o   Boar Lane car park purchased with 635 car spaces

o   Later Opening times

o   Trinity Kitchen –  dedicated street food in the centre

§  Research has shown that customers will shop for 50% more goods if they also have something to eat while shopping.

§  The high street is going through a structural change, with more internet shopping, more price comparison and more discount shopping – but this also has meant that there is more spending on better quality items rather than quantity.

§  Some of the factors that have changed retail behaviour are as follows:

o   Multi-channel TV shopping; therefore less stores needed

o   There are now less retailers in each sector

o   Some sectors disappearing or downsizing – for example in the areas of  music, insurance, video hire

o   Also customers are able to check pricing via the internet to ensure they get the best deal

o   The UK’s biggest towns are now competing with European rivals as locations to shop and for business.

§  Land Securities have attempted to diversify into other areas such as Printworks in Manchester, and expand in the retail sector, for example acquiring a 30% share of Bluewater Shopping Centre.

§  In terms its management of Lewisham Shopping Centre, Land Securities have tried to reduce the Centre’s void rates (availability of retail units) and aged debts as well as improving the retail mix.

§  Lewisham has tried innovative approaches, such as the Street Feast’s Lewisham Model Market, which was very successful.

§  They have also looked to bring in different types of shops to the Shopping Centre, improving the shop front and displays, encouragement of ‘Pop Up shops in the Shopping Centre and in-shop refurbishments. They would also like to reconfigure the space in the Shopping Centre to incorporate larger units, for example, and Land Securities are in discussions with retailers about redesigning some of the stores.

§  Land Securities are also in negotiations with a number of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.3       RESOLVED: that the Committee refer the following to Mayor and Cabinet:

The Committee recommends that the Mayor reviews the Asset Management Strategy (Highways) and ensures it is aligned with Lewisham’s commercial revenue from shop front licensing; and that the Council is maximising income where appropriate.

7.1       The Chair noted that this was originally an information item, but the relevant officers were in attendance to answer questions from the Committee if necessary.

7.2       In response to questions the following was noted:

• The Council conducted a research programme that has identified 75 roads on the highway network for resurfacing and maintenance. The list of work was devised using an evidence based assessment to categorise road condition and establish the maintenance/resurfacing priority in line with the available funding. There will also be liaison with Members to identify local roads that need to be added to the programme. Officers are also open to liaising with Ward Assemblies if Members feel that it is appropriate.
• Officers would check on whether the correspondence to Members could be sent in the purdah period.
• The responsibility of licensing of shop fronts resides with the Licensing Team.
• The Highways Team would look at working with the Licensing Team to help coordinate their work to help improve income from shop front licensing.
• Insurance claims are more difficult to calculate as, due to the nature of the legal process, claims won’t be settled for some years.
• There was a spike in the highways budget in 2013-14 because of works such as the Sydenham Town Centre scheme and some Section 106 agreements.

7.3       RESOLVED: that the Committee refer the following to Mayor and Cabinet:

The Committee recommends that the Mayor reviews the Asset Management Strategy (Highways) and ensures it is aligned with Lewisham’s commercial revenue from shop front licensing; and that the Council is maximising income where appropriate.

8.1       The Committee made a referral to Mayor and Cabinet at 7.3.

8.1       The Committee made a referral to Mayor and Cabinet at 7.3.

The meeting ended at 10.30pm

Chair:

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Date:

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