Agenda item

To consider a report of the Director for Place Management.

The report sets out the draft 2022/23 Portfolio Agreements for the Communities & Housing, Climate Change & Environment and Highways, Parks & Leisure Services Portfolios, the portfolio priorities, delivery plans and budgets for the current year.

The Scrutiny Committee is asked to comment on and note the report.

Officer contact: Mark Glynn, mark.glynn@stockport.gov.uk

The Director of Strategy submitted a report of the Director of Place Management (copies of which had been circulated) detailing the draft 2022/23 agreements for the Communities & Housing, Climate Change & Environment and Highways, Parks & Leisure Services Portfolios for consideration by the Scrutiny Committee.

Policy priorities for 2022/23 were set out within the Council Plan, which was adopted at the Budget Council Meeting in February. This incorporates the shared outcomes from the Borough Plan alongside specific priorities of the Cabinet. These priorities are articulated within the Portfolio Agreements, which form the basis for regular in-year reporting.

The Cabinet Member for Communities & Housing (Councillor Helen Foster-Grime), Climate Change & Environment (Councillor Mark Roberts) and Highways, Parks & Leisure Services (Councillor Grace Baynham) attended the meeting to respond to questions from the Scrutiny Committee.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

Communities & Housing

·         Proposals were in the process of being brought forward to assist residents through the winter period including the development of a ‘warm spaces’ project.

·         The warm spaces project would include the development of digital mapping and leaflets to assist with the dissemination of this information in the wider community.  Members of the scrutiny committee requested that details of the proposed facilities included in the scope of the project be circulated to members.

·         The increased robustness of the data being provided by Greater Manchester Police was welcomed.  It was stated that it was important that the police were held to account for their performance, but that this needed to be done in such a way as to not incentivise poor recording practices.  In response, it was commented that the police were challenged and supported at meetings of the Safer Stockport Partnership, and police attendance at local area committee meetings in the Borough was being reintroduced.

·         A discussion took place in relation to the decision-making process for the pause in the consultation on the Local Plan.

·         It was commented that Greater Manchester Police had recently undertaken activities in relation to Operation Lioness within the Marple area that was designed to tackle violence against women and girls.  It was suggested that the community rooms in place at many fire stations throughout Greater Manchester could be used as a safe space to support this initiative.

·         In response to a question regarding the administration’s prioritisation of district centres, it was stated that the Institute of Place Management were due to submit their report on the borough’s district centres which would be brought to a future meeting of the Scrutiny Committee.

·         It was suggested that the performance of Greater Manchester Police should be measured in their ‘clear-up’ rate rather than the simple number of crimes that were being recorded.

·         It was noted that the Mayor of Greater Manchester had recently rolled out a fare reduction initiative and residents were encouraged to take advantage of this to ensure that this remained sustainable into the future.

·         Concern was expressed in relation to the capacity of the town centre to provide ever increasing volumes of housing.

·         It was suggested that the official count of rough sleepers in the borough did not accurately represent the extent of the problem in the town.

Climate Change & Environment

·         It was suggested that the target around the rate of recycling was insufficiently ambitious.  In response, it was stated that the proposed figure took account of the scarring from the covid-19 pandemic that had inflated levels of residual waste.

·         It was noted that some authorities collected materials for recycling that Greater Manchester did not.  In response, it was stated that some of this material was turned into pellets for incineration as there wasn’t the market for the materials being collected.

·         There had been a reduction in the weight of paper materials collected resulting from a reduction in newspapers and magazines.  While waste from boxes and wrapping materials had taken up some of the volume, this was insufficient to compensate for the reductions elsewhere.

·         It was noted that there had been longstanding challenges at TLC for some time in relation to consistency in waste collection services, however resilience had improved significantly.  It was further commented that there would always be unforeseen circumstances that prevented a collection round from being completed that were unrelated to the pressures at TLC.

·         It was commented that there were difficulties in collecting data around greenhouse gas emissions from Council owned premises, but consideration was actively being given to to the energy efficiency of these buildings.

·         The Council was working with the Cheshire Wildlife Trust to increase the number of pollinators in the borough.

·         A report would be brought to a future meeting of the Scrutiny Committee in relation to the work being undertaken to increase the number of EV charging points.

·         It was important that the existing stock of highway trees were properly maintained and replaced where appropriate.

·         It was suggested that the Council should give consideration to setting aside more land for allotments.

·         The cost of retrofitting existing homes with heat pumps was beyond the reach of many homeowners and it was suggested that the Council could consider grants or loans to homeowners to assist with this.

Highways, Parks & Leisure Services

·         It was suggested that the trial of 20mph zones should be extended beyond residential streets to district distributors roads.  In response, it was stated that the Reddish trial was intended to assess the impact of two different approaches to 20mph zones; specifically a scheme with traffic calming measures and one without.

·         It was noted that there were 20mph zones without traffic calming measures elsewhere in the borough which would have provided a working example of what could be achieved or an understanding of why they were not working.  In response, it was stated that the trial aimed to establish an existing baseline and an assessment of the impact following the introduction of the scheme.

·         Concern was expressed that a report was due to be submitted to the meeting of the Corporate, Resource Management & Governance Scrutiny Committee in relation to the future of the Central Library building.  It was noted that library services fell within the Highways, Parks & Leisure Services portfolio that was within the scrutiny remit of this committee.  It was stated that it was a matter of some regret that this committee had not been afforded the opportunity to scrutinise this matter in advance of its consideration by the Cabinet.

·         Further information was requested in relation to future plans for the maintenance of the borough’s highways following the forthcoming conclusion of the 10-year Highway Investment Programme.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.