Agenda item

The Director of Planning Development and Transportation, the Director of Tourism, Culture and Inward Investment and the Director of Estates and Building Services submit a presentation, providing the Commission with an overview of the portfolios.

Members of the Commission are asked to note the presentation and forward any questions and queries to the Directors.

The Deputy City Mayor for Climate, Economy and Culture introduced the item and noted that the work delivered through the portfolios that were to be presented were delivered for the economy to thrive.

The City Transport Director provided an overview of the Transport Strategy, and the City Highways Director provided an overview of the Highways Service. as part of the discussions, it was noted that:

·         The Environmental impacts be clearly assessed as part of planning for new proposals.

·         The introduction of 20MPH schemes which had been delivered across cities had not proven to be effective whereas the approach to capture certain streets and blocks had proven to be a more effective approach, with a further programme of streets being developed.

·         Members of the Commission suggested that the bus services had improved and that the current cost of journeys were fare although these were set to rise at the end of the year.

·         It was suggested that there were business reasons behind bus companies operating certain routes and that recent changes on how bus services were tendered could consider the possibility for alternative routes to connect neighbourhoods in the city.

The Head of Planning delivered an overview of the Planning Service. As part of the discussions, it was noted that:

·         Members of the Commission requested information on the Knighton conservation area review and it was suggested that there was a programme of appraisal that would review the conservation area in Knighton, the team was now fully staffed, and more information could be provided to the Member of the Commission if requested.

·         There were an increasing number of applications for external insulation of buildings and that there were ongoing conversations with contractors and Trading Standards for improved detailing of installations and the use of appropriate designs. Half of the enforcement cases had been dealt with by the team.

The Chair and Members of the Commission suggested that an active approach to informing residents on the rules surrounding the external wall insulation and the alternative internal options in local areas would be beneficial and reduce the need for enforcement.  

The Programme Manager provided an overview of the Waterside regeneration and noted that the focussed approach around the riverside stimulated development in the area.

As part of the discussions, it was noted that:

·         Members of the Commission commended the Waterside regeneration

·         The redevelopment at Ashton Green continued to be delivered with other infrastructure work being delivered alongside the various building work at various patches on the site and there was competitive bidding and delivery was based on the best value for money

·         The redevelopment of the railway station was in progress and the funding had been secured. There had been dissatisfaction with the current layout of the station and the main constraint was the size of the ticket gates which the redevelopment would address delivering a larger gate line and concourse.

·         In response to the Chairs query on future targets and goals in other parts of the city, it was noted that there were ongoing conversations around what parts of the city would benefit from council intervention

·         Carbon Monitoring was part of all development proposals.

The Change Manager (Climate Emergency), provided an overview of the Sustainability Strategy and action plan. It was noted that the Draft Climate Emergency Action Plan would be added to the work programme and come to Commission in due course.

As part of the discussions, it was noted that:

·         Following the flooding events which effected certain parts of the city in June, investigations were ongoing and it was suggested that the sewer systems were overwhelmed and that an update would be provided on this.

·         Members suggested that with ongoing change in weather, information on how to protect properties from incidents such as flooding should be circulated to help keep people’s properties safe in such incidents.

·         The Deputy City Mayor noted that environmental education was being delivered across the city and the city was leading the way across the country

·         Some Members of the Commission suggested that with the ongoing climate concerns, green spaces need to be protected and some of the proposals in the local plan needed to be reviewed.

It was also suggested that the Bio-Diversity Net Gain item could be a potential item to come to the Commission at a future meeting and was proposed to be added to the Work Programme.

The Director for Tourism, Culture and Inward Investment delivered a presentation providing an overview on Economic Development. As part of the discussions, it was noted that:

·         LLEP were managing less money what they were use to and this was a live area at the moment with ongoing changes with a desire for more control to locally elected authorities

·         The rebranding of the city was delivered in consultation with over 200 partners

·         More focus on the fashion technology profiles and sustainability and the potential to bring this to Commission indue course.

·          The Shared Prosperity Fund assessment was yet to be done and could be bought to commission at a future date

·         Councillor Haq addressed the Commission at the Chairs discretion and spoke in relation to interventions designed to get people back into the labour market and better paid jobs.