Agenda and minutes

SWT Scrutiny Committee
Wednesday, 3rd June, 2020 6.15 pm

Venue: Webcasting - Virtual. View directions

Contact: Andrew Randell Email: a.randell@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk  Marcus Prouse Email: m.prouse@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk

Webcast: View the webcast

Items
No. Item

1.

Appointment of Vice-Chair

2.

Apologies

3.

Minutes of the previous meetings of the Scrutiny Committee held on 5 February and 13 May pdf icon PDF 279 KB

4.

Declarations of Interest

    To receive and note any declarations of disclosable pecuniary or prejudicial or personal interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

     

    (The personal interests of Councillors and Clerks of Somerset County Council, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes.)

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Members present at the meeting declared the following personal interests in their capacity as a Councillor or Clerk of a County, Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:-

     

    Name

    Minute No.

    Description of Interest

    Reason

    Action Taken

    Cllr N Cavill

    All Items

    West Monkton

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr J Hunt

    All Items

    SCC & Bishop’s Hull

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr L Lisgo

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr D Mansell

    All Items

    Wiveliscombe

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr D Perry

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr D Wedderkopp

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr G Wren

    All Items

    Clerk to Milverton PC

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

5.

Public Participation

    The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

     

    For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

     

    Temporary measures during the Coronavirus Pandemic

    Due to the Government guidance on measures to reduce the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19), we will holding meetings in a virtual manner which will be live webcast on our website. Members of the public will still be able to register to speak and ask questions, which will then be read out by the Governance and Democracy Case Manager during Public Question Time and will either be answered by the Chair of the Committee, or the relevant Portfolio Holder, or be followed up with a written response.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The following members of public submitted the statements summarised below:-

     

    Bryony Chetwode

    TWSW CIC

     

    Please ask the following:

     

    “TravelWatch SouthWest feels that it has not really had an adequate outline of process by which community stakeholders are to be engaged in the transport planning for the town post COVID-19 and the sale of the bus station.  Can this plan for engagement please be delivered as we referred to in our earlier letters where we asked what passenger engagement will set and requested some clear routes to follow?”

     

    Bert wishes

     

    Bryony

     

     

    David Redgewell South West transport Network and Railfuture Severnside. 

     

    Public statements on Taunton bus and coach station. 

    It is very important that from a passengers safety point of view regarding social distancing and at bus stops in Taunton town centre.  At present the government guidance says that only 20 passengers can travel on a double decker bus and 10 passengers on a single decker bus. When the shops reopen on 15th June if the R rate stays below 1 there is a need for progress to be made with Taunton bus station. 

     

    The number of Buses will block the stands in the town centre. Especially at peak times .with departures from castle way to Burnham on sea and Bridgwater on route 21 route 22 to Wellington and Tiverton Connection for Exeter. Also with service s by Hatch green to villages around Taunton and Dartline services to Seaton. In the parade we have to buses on the stands for 1 and 2 route to the wellspring and Monkton Healthfield area and bus route 25 to Dulverton. 

     

    Outside the card shop we have 29 Bus service to Street Glastonbury and well s 

    Connection to Bath spa bus station and Bristol bus station. Town service no 6 

    And bus services to chard 99 and no 30 to chard Axminster for Weymouth. 

    All of the bus stops are not designed for this large number of Bus departures 

    With limited shelter and no castle kerbs for disabled passengers, and passengers cannot social distance or keep dry in wet weather. 

     

    The town centre bus stops under social distancing will require barriers and pavements to be marked out and marshals as per government guidance to the local transport authority .Somerset county council and local councils. 

     

    The only situation to make situation safe for passengers  and to be able  to make  travelling  by public transport in Taunton safe is to reopen the Bus and coach station and  layout the passengers facilities, for social distancing. Part of the waiting room could be used for social distancing. Travel centre facilities will need looking at.

     

     

    It would be possible to reopen the take away cafe with social distancing marking 

    The layout of the bus station for extra buses to operate, as an example 2 buses would be required to operate 28 bus to Minehead to carry just 20 people. 

    3 double decker busses just to carry 60 people to Wellington at a peak times on route 22. Space is required  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Taunton Bus Station and Bus Services in Somerset West and Taunton.

    Cllrs M Kravis (PFH - Asset Management and Economic Development) and Cllr M Rigby (PFH - Planning and Transportation) invited to attend

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Councillors Kravis and Rigby were invited to attend the meeting following the consideration relating to the proposals for the Taunton Bus Station following the Recommendation at the previous Scrutiny Meeting in May. A detailed discussion took place which covered both a temporary opening of the recently closed bus station in light of the Covid-19 pandemic to enable greater social distancing when using public transport; in addition to the long term solution of a bus station.

     

    During the debate the following comments and questions were raised:-

     

    ·         Correspondence had been sent to the minister for transport by a member of the committee on the bus service enhancements, there was broad support for the idea of a task and finish group.

    ·         Temporary use of the bus station during the Covid-19 crisis was considered and requested as an emergency solution and to enable the town the work from a public transport and climate change perspective.

    ·         Following the representation from Alex carter at the previous committee the impression was given the reopening of the station was possible, it was anticipated this could be a 5 week timescale of reopening the bus station.

    ·         Further concerns were expressed that Taunton was the only major town in the operating area in Somerset without any form of bus station, which was a hole in part of transport operations in the County town of Somerset. Clarity was sought on the way forward in the short and long term questions over service provision.

    ·         Suggestion was made for a task and finish group to be set up to consider improved bus services and future improvements in provision, integrated with the local plan.

    ·         Members were reminded that it remained the decision of First Bus to close the bus station and didn’t feel the need for this as part of the ongoing service provision.

    ·         Somerset County Council had experienced financial pressures around transportation. Ongoing conversations had been undertaken with improvements to support the Covid-19 recovery. Conversations around the temporary reopening were still ongoing. Short term extension could be accommodated whilst there was further acknowledgement there was ongoing work required on the park and ride. Further conversations with the County Council were encouraged

    ·         The Loss of bus station impacts negatively on the town’s transport offering, the committee supported the suggestion in consulting with stakeholders, which First Bus recognised was lacking in the original closure.

    Resolved:- The Committee resolved to establish a task and finish group to examine the current provision in relation to public transport in the district and what is required to increase provision and improved modal links including consideration of carbon neutrality

     

7.

Call-in, by Councillors Norman Cavill, Anthony Trollope-Bellew, Vivienne Stock-Williams and Libby Lisgo of the decision made by Executive Councillor Mike Rigby to approve an allocation of £91,518.06 of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funds to provide enhanced materials for the repaving of the forecourt at Taunton Railway Station pdf icon PDF 202 KB

    This has been added to the agenda under Access to Information Procedure Rule 5.2, which states ‘Where there are special circumstances requiring an item to be added to the agenda after publication, the revised agenda will be open to inspection from the time the item was added to the agenda.’

     

    Once the Scrutiny Committee has heard the full debate on this matter, it will have two options open to it:-

     

    (1)  To support the challenge and refer the decision for further consideration (stating the grounds for justifying that request) – where the matter will be considered again by Executive Councillor Rigby.

     

    (2)  To decide to take no further action – in which case the decision of the Executive Councillor Rigby of 21 May 2020 will stand.

     

     

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The following Call-in was considered by the Scrutiny Committee:-

     

    Details of decision:   In January 2015 a working group comprising TDBC, SCC, GWR and Network Rail submitted a strategic case to the Local Transport Board of the LEP and successfully secured funding towards the overall cost of the redevelopment of Taunton Station comprising the following elements:   

    • Ticket Office moved to south side of the station for improved access and orientation towards the town centre

    • Transport interchange created - Improved capacity, efficiency and amenity for users facilitating more journeys

    • Provision of a multi-storey car park - Additional parking spaces to facilitate modal switch and forecast increase in rail demand

    • An environment for redevelopment of land around the station – efficient use of space, enhanced facilities and economic growth   

     

    The project includes the repaving of the entire station forecourt and adjoining areas. Since the time of going to tender for the work, Somerset West and Taunton's Garden Town Design Guidance has been developed which identifies the forecourt area as a Core area where the Council should aim to achieve high standards in public realm. However, there is a difference of £91,518.06 in the cost of using the standard materials for the paving which were costed out in the original tender and the higher standard York Stone advised in the guidance.     The project is therefore requesting that £91,518.06 of CIL funds are made available to ensure that the highest standards of public realm can be achieved.

     

    Reasons for proposed decision:  

     

    The proposed decision to provide enhanced materials for the station forecourt aligns with the Council’s draft Public Realm - Design Guide for Taunton Garden Town. This funding will ensure higher design standards are met in the identified ‘Core Area’ in the draft design guide, where the station is a key gateway to Taunton. 

     

    The proposed CIL allocation falls within the £500k CIL budget for Taunton town centre regeneration, approved by Full Council as part of the Capital Programme on 21/02/20.

     

    Detailed reasons for challenge: 

     

    We would like to call in the above decision on the grounds that all the relevant facts have not been taken into account and properly assessed.

     

    The original plans included the total area outside the new entrance to the Station. The investment outlined in the PFH Decision shows that this is no longer the case, leaving a section unimproved will detract and be to the detriment of the whole scheme. As far as I am aware there has been no debate of the subject prior to the decision. It would be beneficial for Scrutiny to have the opportunity to review the plans. Furthermore failure to complete the whole scheme will adversely affect the Historic setting of the Great Western Hotel and area.

     

     

     

    During consideration of this item the following points were raised:-

     

    ·        Council were included to assist the GWR project, planning permission for their scheme was not required. SWT offered CIL funding to use York stone as opposed to composite stone for the station concourse. There  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

SWT Performance Update - For Information Report (to defer)

9.

Scrutiny Committee Action Plan

10.

Scrutiny Committee Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 60 KB

    To receive items and review the Forward Plan.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    (Copy of the Scrutiny Committee Forward Plan, circulated with the agenda).

     

    Councillors were reminded that if they had an item they wanted to add to the agenda, that they should send their requests to the Governance Team.

     

    Resolved that the Scrutiny Committee Forward Plan be noted.

11.

Full Council Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 53 KB

12.

Executive Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 61 KB

13.

Access to Information - Exclusion of the Press and Public

    During discussion of the following item(s) it may be necessary to pass the following resolution to exclude the press and public having reflected on Article 13 13.02(e) (a presumption in favour of openness) of the Constitution.  This decision may be required because consideration of this matter in public may disclose information falling within one of the descriptions of exempt information in Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.  The Committee will need to decide whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption, outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

     

    Recommend that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the next item of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 respectively of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).   

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Resolved that the press and public be excluded during consideration of agenda item 12 on the grounds that, if the press and public were present during the item, there would be likely to be a disclosure to them of exempt information of the class specified in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended as follows:

    The item contained information that could release confidential information that related to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information). It was therefore agreed that after consideration of all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

     

14.

Commercial Investment Update

    This has been added to the agenda under Access to Information Procedure Rule 5.2, which states ‘Where there are special circumstances requiring an item to be added to the agenda after publication, the revised agenda will be open to inspection from the time the item was added to the agenda.’  This will be a verbal update from the Chief Executive or other appropriate Officer.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The Chief Executive Officer set out to the Committee that due to delays with the Covid-19 pandemic, progress had been stalled in respect of the Commercial Investment Update.

     

    Commitment was given to provide further details of projects in the pipeline to the committee. The committee voiced their unease about commercial investments outside of the public and community interest, details impacts of Covid-19 on potential decisions were also requested.