Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 3 July 2014.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 3 July 2014 were approved by the Chair and signed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Councillors and Officers to declare any interests which they have in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

Councillors and Officers were invited to declare any interests which they had in

any of the agenda items for the meeting.

The following interests were declared:-

Personal Interest

To consider call-in items (if any).

There were no call-in items to consider.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration

The report updates the Scrutiny Committee on the Bridgefield Redevelopment Scheme.

The Scrutiny committee is invited to comment on the report.

Officer Contact: Henrietta Achampong on 0161 474 4406 or email: henrietta.achampong@stockport.gov.uk

The Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report (copies if which had been circulated) updating the Scrutiny Committee on the Bridgefield Redevelopment Scheme.

Significant progress had been made as follows:

·         Outline Planning Permission reference DC/050705 had been granted in May 2013 for a scheme that included a 250-space multi-storey car park, 100-bed hotel, 10-screen cinema with associated food and beverage units, shops and an improved public realm.

·         Detailed design work had been commissioned for improvement to the highways and  the rear of properties on Princes Street to improve the amenity from Bridgefield Street,

·         Expressions of interest had been sought to operate the new car park;

·         The scheme had been developed to RIBA Stage C standards and a tender notice had been issued for a contractor to build out the scheme.

·         A significant improvement had been made by agreeing to re-route buses from Bridgefield Street to Great Egerton Street to allow a greater degree of pedestrianisation and link the development more effectively with the wider town centre.

·         A detailed planning application would be submitted for the multi-storey car park, cinema and leisure complex and associated public realm improvements in September 2014.

·         An Agreement for Lease had been prepared for execution with a proposed cinema operator.

The report updated the Scrutiny Committee on the development of the design proposals for the scheme.

The development proposals could accommodate implementation in two or three distinct phases. It was anticipated that he highway and bus re-routing works would form the first phase (scheduled for early 2015) followed by the multi-storey car park and cinema block which would be developed as a single phase (from mid-2015). This would result in the remodelling of the Great Egerton Street car park to provide an at grade temporary car park on the hotel plot. The third phase of the development would deliver the hotel on the site of the temporary car park.

The Executive Councillor (Economic Development and Regeneration) (Councillor Patrick McAuley) and Rob Shackleton from Building Design Partnership attended the meeting to respond to Members’ questions.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         The contracts with the cinema operator had not yet been exchanged and the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration agreed to write to Members of the Scrutiny Committee as soon as this had occurred. The exchange of contracts with the cinema operator would be the trigger for the scheme to take place.

·         The market was being tested with external operators with regard to who would operate the car park. Whether the Council appointed an external operator or awarded the contract ‘in house’, the Council would retain tariff control and the hours when the car park operated.

·         There had been no interest from operators to build a hotel on the site and this had been deleted from the scheme.

·         In order to facilitate the development and give the Council leverage within the area, an acquisition and land assembly strategy was being pursued by the Council. The aim was that Princes Street would become an integrated part of the town centre, well connected to the new development and to Merseyway.

·         It was acknowledged that the management of construction works from this and other potential schemes over the next few years was problematical. A report would be submitted to a future meeting of the Scrutiny Committee on co-ordinating the schemes and incorporating a plan for communicating with members of the public.

·         Hoardings could be used to manage the construction site around Bridgefield Street.

·         Officers were working to try and manage the access arrangements and minimise the conflict between vehicles and pedestrians.

·         The design team was examining the phasing of the development proposals and this would be the subject of a further report to a future meeting of the Scrutiny Committee. The car park at Heaton Lane was under-used and it would be examined whether it could be used more whilst the new car park at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration

The report provides information on the Stockport Town Centre access package and transport interchange major transport schemes. These schemes are both included within the Greater Manchester Growth Plan prioritised list of major transport schemes and funding has been allocated for their delivery from 2015. The report summarises the key features of the schemes and the work required to gain approval from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to deliver these schemes.

The Scrutiny Committee is requested to comment on the report, prior to its consideration by the Executive Meeting on 12 August 2014.

Officer Contact: Sue Stevenson on 0161 474 4351 or email: sue.stevenson@stockport.gov.uk

The Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing information on the Stockport Town Centre access package and transport interchange major transport schemes. These schemes had both been included within the Greater Manchester Growth Plan prioritised list of major transport schemes and funding had been allocated for their delivery from 2015. The report summarised the key features of the schemes and the work required to gain approval from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to deliver the schemes.

The inclusion of both schemes within the recently announced Greater Manchester Growth Deal had been a significant success for the Council. The Stockport allocation was £114.959m, made up of £107.627m of grant and a local contribution (match funding) requirement of £7.332m. This represented 10% of the Town Centre Access Package funding allocation, but just over 6% of the total investment.

The Stockport Town Centre access package would improve access to the area around the town centre for more sustainable modes of transport, for example bus, cycle and pedestrian improvements. It would also rationalise and resolve traffic movements and conflicts throughout the area by providing additional capacity on some routes to allow traffic to be reduced on others.

The scheme would deliver the following benefits and outcomes:-

·         Reduction in the volume of traffic on the A6 through Stockport Town Centre;

·         An enhanced environment along the A6 through Stockport Town Centre, creating a positive sense of arrival for this linear gateway;

·         Lessen the impact of the A6 vehicular corridor as a barrier between the east and west of the Town Centre for pedestrian movement;

·         Improve linkages between the Town Centre and public transport interchanges;

·         Improved bus priority facilities, notably along the A6 but also on east /west routes into the town centre;

·         Improve access to/ from the M60 motorway;

·         Congestion relief to key routes such as St Mary’s Way/ Hempshaw Lane and around Junction 1;

·         A more resilient highway network better able to respond to incidents and accidents by virtue of increased network capacity and a new link road between the A6 and Travis Brow;

·         High quality access to key developments notably Stockport Exchange, Bridgefield, Knightsbridge and Gorsey Bank as well as longer term development aspirations at Heaton Lane and Stockport Interchange;

·         Better wayfinding through an improved signing strategy; and

·         Reduction in conflicts between vehicles and vulnerable users through improved pedestrian and cycle linkages between the Town Centre and surrounding areas.

The Executive would be requested to approve the report, approve the proposals for identifying and securing the local contribution (match funding requirement) and request that officers work with Transport for Greater Manchester to develop the Stockport Town Centre Access Package and Transport Interchange major schemes business cases including consulting on the proposals and undertaking the analysis and appraisals of the schemes.

The Executive Councillor (Communities and Sustainability) (Councillor Martin Candler) attended the meeting to respond to Members’ questions.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         A detailed report on the Town Centre Access Package would be submitted to the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee.

·         The final business case for the Town Centre Access Package would be submitted to the Scrutiny Committee prior to its approval by the Executive in December 2014. This would include a more detailed profile of the Council’s local contribution (match funding requirement).

·         Additional borrowing would only be undertaken as a last resort. It was currently anticipated that not all of the £7.332m would be required as new funding and work had commenced to mitigate this requirement.

·         A Member enquired as to the amount of prudential borrowing currently undertaken by the Council and it was agreed that a written response would be sent to all Members.

·         It was clarified that the large level of contingencies at this moment in time was in accordance with Government guidance.

·          Members expressed concern about the potential disruption to the borough by the volume of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration

The report requests the Scrutiny Committee to consider the allocation of additional resources for investment in play before the final decision is taken by the Executive Councillor (Communities and Sustainability).

Officer Contact: Megan Black on 0161 218 1410 or email: megan.black@stockport.gov.uk

(NOTE: The Chair was of the opinion that this item, although not included on the agenda, should be considered as a matter of urgency in accordance with Section 100 B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 in order that the Scrutiny Committee’s comments could be considered as soon as possible by the Executive Councillor (Communities and Sustainability) enabling him to make a decision on how additional resources for investment in play were to be allocated as soon as possible.

The Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) requesting the Scrutiny Committee to consider the allocation of additional resources for investment in play before the final decision was taken by the Executive Councillor (Communities and Sustainability).

The Executive Councillor (Communities and Sustainability) (Councillor Martin Candler) attended the meeting to respond to Members’ questions.

Officers had reviewed the sixteen play areas without impact attenuating surfacing (IAS), considered other play areas that had known safety concerns and also taken into account the likely recommendations from the strategic review of play area provision and proposed the following investments:-

·         Windlehurst Rd (Marple South) - The design and installation of a low cost, low maintenance natural playscape. £0.018m

·         Cherry Tree Drive (Hazel Grove) - The design and installation of a low cost, low maintenance natural playscape. £0.018m

·         Norris Hill Farm (Heatons South) - The design and installation of a low cost, low maintenance natural playscape. £0.018m

·         Houldsworth (Reddish North) – Replacement of play equipment recently removed due to metal fatigue. £0.022m

·         Gotherage Lane (Bredbury Green and Romiley) – The re-supply of a complete play area. The cost of which would be dependent upon whether the current bid for external funds is successful. Should this bid fail the total cost to re-supply the play area would be £0.060m

·         Replace of all loose-fill safety surfacing (play bark) with more appropriate, low maintenance surfacing. Loose-fill safety surfacing requires high levels of maintenance. This is specifically proposed as the existing material needs to be regularly checked for contaminants and requires frequent forking through to maintain its impact attenuating properties. The reduced number of grounds maintenance staff, including many of those who were permanently placed in parks, means that it is unsustainable to retain loose-fill safety surfacing. The estimated cost of this work is in the region of £0.080m however any poor ground conditions could add to this sum.

The sites affected were:

-   Bradshaw Hall

-   Heathbank Road Play Area

-   Peak Street Play Area

-   Hollywood Park

-   Walnut Tree Play Area

- St Thomas’s Recreation Ground

- Bruntwood Park

- Great Moor Park

·        £0.064m be allocated to the future play requirements of:

-  Bruntwood Park

-   Bramhall Park.

In addition, the Executive Councillor (Communities and Sustainability) had requested that a review take place to consider the sustainability, quality, policy and accessibility of all of the Council’s 130 play areas, which set out an analysis of future investment requirements. Any costs associated with this review would be considered within the overall allocation.

Members expressed their support for the proposals and request that Officers work with the relevant Friends of Parks Groups in implementing the proposals.

RESOLVED – That the Executive Councillor (Communities and Sustainability) be recommended to approve the proposed allocation of additional resources for investment in play as detailed in the report.

To consider a report of the Democratic Services Manager.

The report requests the Area Committee to consider the process for the selection of Scrutiny Review topics to be carried out during the 2014/2015 municipal year.

The Scrutiny Committee are requested to consider and comment on the report.

Officer Contact:  Craig Ainsworth on Tel: 474 3204 or email: craig.ainsworth@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Democratic Services Manager submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) requesting the Scrutiny Committee to consider the process for the selection of Scrutiny Review topics by Scrutiny Committees to be carried out during the 2014/2015 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED – That consideration of the report be deferred until the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee.

To consider a report of the Democratic Services Manager

The report sets out planned agenda items for the Scrutiny Committee’s next meeting and Forward Plan items that fall within the remit of the Scrutiny Committee.

The Scrutiny Committee is invited to consider the information in the report and put forward any agenda items for future meetings of the Committee.

Officer Contact: David Clee on 0161 474 3137 or email: david.clee@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Democratic Services Manager submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) setting out the planned agenda items for the Committee’s next meeting and Forward Plan items which well fell within the remit of the Scrutiny Committee.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.