Resolved: That all items on the agenda be web-cast.

Councillors FitzGerald and Ash sent their apologies.

There were no substitute members.

It was noted that Councillor Christopher Garland was a visiting Member interested in agenda item 8. 

a) Election of Chairman

b) Election of Vice-Chairman

Resolved: That

a)  Councillor Burton be elected Chairman for the Municipal Year 2011/12; and

b)  Councillor English be elected as Vice-Chairman for the Municipal Year 2011/12.

a)  Disclosures of interest.

b)  Disclosures of lobbying.

c)  Disclosures of whipping.

There were none.

Resolved:  That all items be taken in public as proposed.

Interview with:

Sue Whiteside, Team Leader Spatial Policy; and

Flo Churchill, Interim Head of Core Strategy Development, Spatial Planning.

The Chairman welcomed Mrs Churchill to the Scrutiny Panel, and invited her to present the Local Development Document.

Mrs Churchill informed the Scrutiny Panel that in June 2011 the Cabinet agreed that the Local Development Framework (LDF) would comprise of the Core Strategy and a number of supplementary planning documents (SPDs). The Parking Strategy and Cycling Strategy had been presented to the Scrutiny Panel with a view to allow Members an opportunity to examine the issues and to look at the structure of the LDF looking forward, by commenting on the documents.  Mrs Churchill informed the Scrutiny Panel that Greg Macrdechian was the lead officer for the Parking Strategy and invited him to present the document.

Mr Macrdechian stated that the Parking Strategy will become evidence based and used for the Integrated Transport Strategy as well as provide evidence to support the Core Strategy’s aspirations. The Parking Strategy looked at the existing and new Park & Ride sites and on and off road residential parking. The aim of the document was to co-ordinate and meet the demand for all users including commuters, residents and shoppers and provide support for sustainable transport. The document looks at: SPDs for parking standards; live feeds through off road long and short stay car parks; current demand; charges for short stay car parks; redevelopment of sites ; and electric car charging points.

The Scrutiny Panel was reminded that this was a draft version of the Parking Strategy, and the Spatial Team acknowledged that more work was required. The Scrutiny Panel noted that the Parking Strategy needed to focus more on being a vision, rather than a monitoring tool.

The Scrutiny Panel noted that this was a good draft, however it was felt that it lacked direction and enquired how accurate the motorcycle figures were within the draft parking strategy, giving an example using the motorcycles bays in Medway Street. Mr Macrdechian informed them that figures had been taken from the appropriate web sites, however he will get the figures verified. In response to a question on the timing of the park and ride survey Mr Macrdechian agreed that it would be useful to have an afternoon and morning survey at the park & ride sites, and would take the comments onboard.

The Scrutiny Panel highlighted that further attention should be made to the rural service centres, and Mr Macrdechian acknowledged this.

The Scrutiny Panel enquired what the proposed plan for redeveloping sites was, and asked if they had given consideration to finances and the strain on other car parks. Mr Macrdechian noted these points and assured the Scrutiny Panel it would be looked at.

In response to a question, Mrs Churchill informed the Scrutiny Panel that the difference between a Parking Strategy and the Parking Standards SPD was that a Parking Strategy was the vision for the Borough, whereas a Parking Standard was necessary for development, and the Borough can no longer rely on the County Standards thus created their own. The Chairman enquired about  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Overview and Scrutiny Officer explained that the next Scrutiny Panel meeting was due before the documents were presented to Cabinet. These would now be presented to Cabinet on 10 August 2011, and the Scrutiny Panel was asked to agree to a new meeting date.  It was agreed that Wednesday 3 August 2011 would be the next meeting for the Scrutiny Panel.

Resolved: That the Local Development Document Task & Finish Scrutiny Panel meeting dated 25 July 2011 is postponed until Wednesday 3 August 2011, at 6.30pm in the Town Hall.

6.30pm to 7.34pm.