Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence of Members who are unable to attend the meeting.

All members of the Committee were present.

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 13 January 2020

The minutes of the Committee meeting held on 13 January 2020 were agreed as a correct record.

The Councillors will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have disclosable pecuniary interests, which would prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items, or any other interests.

No interests were declared

Most debates take place in public. This only changes when there is a need to consider certain issues, for instance, commercially sensitive information or details concerning an individual. You will be told at this point whether there are any items on the Agenda which are to be discussed in private.

All items were considered in public session.

The Committee will receive any petitions and hear any deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also hand in a petition at the meeting but that petition should relate to something on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10 (2), Members of the Public should provide at least 24 hours’ notice of presenting a deputation.

No deputations or petitions were received.

The meeting will hear any questions from the general public.

There were no public questions received.

Councillor Shabir Pandor, the Leader of the Council, to provide an update on his portfolio priorities for the 2019/20 municipal year.

Councillor Shabir Pandor, Leader of the Council attended the committee meeting to provide an update on his portfolio priorities for the 2019/20 municipal year.  The following highlights were noted:-

-      The Budget had been approved in February 2020 and included measures to fulfil priorities and continue investment in the Council moving forward.  There were 3 key areas, namely regeneration, including place based working, climate change and Children’s Services.

-      The Committee were advised that the Council remained one of worst funded local authorities nationally.  A comprehensive spending review was ongoing and Council Leaders across the country were working on a cross party basis, to get the best deal for local government.

-      Place based and partnership working with local communities to deliver the priorities of residents was a key priority.

-      With regards to towns and villages, it was noted that the Dewsbury Blueprint and Huddersfield Masterplan had been launched.  An additional £78m had been identified to continue the investment in towns and villages across the district.

-      In terms of infrastructure, plans were in place with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the Trans-Pennine upgrade would see a £1bn investment in Kirklees. 

-      An example of capital plan development was Spen Valley Leisure Centre where work had commenced on a scheme totalling £30m

-      With regards to housing delivery, a big build event had been launched in September 2019 to build 10,000 new homes by 2023.  This was going to plan and over 100 organisations had been engaged to assist.

-      Cllr Pandor advised that climate emergency was a global issue and he had recently attended a Climate Emergency conference and outlined the work of Kirklees Council.  The Budget in February 2020, had seen investment, including £1m to install 5 new rapid charging points and up to 80 new fast charge points in public car parks.  A further £1m had been allocated to add 50 extra electric vehicles to the Council’s own fleet and £750k would be invested over the next 12 months in trees and woodland.

-      In relation to Children’s Services, it was noted that following the Ofsted report of 2019, the Council was now out of special measures and no longer considered inadequate.  Cllr Pandor indicated that every child deserved an outstanding council and there were elements in the budget to ensure that the improvement journey continued.

-      With regards to flooding, Cllr Pandor referred to the excellent work carried out by staff, the police and fire services and the voluntary sector.  It was noted that 69 domestic properties and 40 businesses had been affected.  A fund had been developed where up to £750 was available to meet cleaning costs and council tax reductions for up to 3 months for households affected by flooding, and £3k and business rate relief for business affected.  It was acknowledged that this was not enough and the Council would continue to work with other partners as well as the Government to address the issues faced.

-      Proposals in relation to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

To receive an update on progress in developing and implementing the Council’s Climate Change and Air Quality programme.

Contact:

John Atkinson, Project Manager, Major Projects Service (Climate Emergency) and Martin Wood, Operational Manager, Public Protection (Air Quality), Tel: 01484 221000

The Committee received a report which provided an update on progress in developing and implementing the Council’s Climate Change and Air Quality programme.

Councillor Naheed Mather, Cabinet Member, Greener Kirklees, John Atkinson, Project Manager (Climate Emergency) Martin Wood (Operational Manager, Public Protection, Air Quality) Rob Dalby (Greenspace Operational Manager), Wendy Blakeley (Head of Public Protection), Alex Carey (Communications) Will Acornley (Head of Operational Services) and Mathias Franklin (Head of Planning and Development) were in attendance for the item.

In introducing the item, Cllr Mather outlined the importance of this work and the additional funding that had been allocated across the council services.  The Committee were advised that for the year 2020/21, Kirklees Council had the largest budget in this respect.

Councillor Mather stated that it was important that everyone felt part of the conversation and to ensure that the most vulnerable residents weren’t left behind.

One of the Committee members sought clarification as to Cllr Mather’s earlier point as to Kirklees having the largest budget. In response, the Committee were advised that there had been a national review of how much councils were spending on climate change and in this current year, Kirklees Council’s budget was one of the largest. The Committee requested further information in this respect.

The Committee received a presentation which provided an update on the Council’s Climate Emergency and Air Quality programme since the November 2019 reports and provided detail on the progress of the Phase 1 programme, the proposed next steps for Phase 2 and how this fit into the established regional working structures.

The key areas of the Committee’s discussion and responses to questions are summarised below:

-      The Council was working with the National Trust on the work to boost the woodland and green infrastructure via the White Rose Forest.

-      The Committee were advised that lessons had been learned in relation to air quality management zones (AQMA) although it was recognised that individual areas had different pollutants, topography and layouts.  An example of lessons learned was cited as one of the original air quality management zones in Bradley, which was a traffic management solution using advanced technology on the traffic lights to move vehicles through the junction more effectively.  One of this year’s costed budget proposals was to expand and develop this trial and roll out into other areas.

-      As part of the heat network, work had been ongoing with the Future Highways Research Group and SSE to see if the Council could become a pathfinder.  This would mean that while trenching was being done for the heat network, private wiring from the Council’s own power network could be added which would also link into the delivery of 5G and the LED street lighting network, as well as on street charging.  This would ensure that disruption in digging up roads would be minimised.

-      The heat network would be done in Phase 1 and once the core was established, it would be possible to develop add-ons.  It was noted that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.

To consider annual progress against the action plan of the Kirklees Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (the Strategy), approved by Cabinet on 15 January 2013 and updated in November 2016 and February 2019).

Contact:

Rashid Mahmood, Flood Manager, Planning and Development, Tel: 01484 221000

The Committee received a report which outlined annual progress against the action plan of the Kirklees Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (the Strategy), approved by Cabinet on 15 January 2013 and updated in November 2016 and February 2019.

Rashid Mahmood, Flood Manager, Planning and Development and Mathias Franklin (Head of Planning and Development) were in attendance for the item. 

The key areas of the Committee’s discussion and responses to questions are summarised below:

-      A Committee Member referred to the important role of drainage clearance in minimising the risk of flood and local community solutions such as flood walls.  Whilst the Committee were advised that that sandbags would not have been effective against the type of flooding recently experienced, a request was made for a distributed supply of sandbags at a community level.

-      It was acknowledged that community engagement was crucial and it was important to educate residents about risk and how they could best manage that in order to make communities more resilient.  It was hoped to develop a flood warden initiative which would also assist in flood warning intelligence across the district. 

The Committee highlighted the need for effective communications and referred to the recent instances where residents had struggled to get through to the Council via the telephone.

-      The telemetry referred to was a form of technology which provided a remove picture as to whether a gulley had silted up.  This would indicate which gulleys required a higher frequency of maintenance and the Direct Operations Team could be allocated accordingly. It was hoped to extend this in order to collect further knowledge and maximise efficiency maintenance.

-      There had been a number of studies within the Kirklees district and a consultant’s study in relation to surface water flood risk within the entire Kirklees district was expected in April 2020. 

-      In response to concerns raised as to the information provided to Planning Committees by the Environment Agency in order to assess the impact of housing in a particular area, it was noted that the Environment Agency provided the strategic flood risk maps which identified the highest levels of risk.  This was a crucial piece of data in informing where land was allocated for housing and employment. 

It was agreed that technical issues in relation to assessing planning applications and flood risk would be picked up with Planning Committees in their annual and refresher training.

-      In terms of main river, which was the responsibility of the Environment Agency, the lead local flood authority would advise on  planning applications.  The general principal was that development should not add to flood risk on site, add to flood risk elsewhere and should wherever possible and practical reduce flood risk.  The Committee were advised that most fields were unmanaged and an uncontrolled environment and development could introduce a managed storage system for water.  New design could improve drainage from an unmanaged field, being mindful of the challenge to get the water from the site to an appropriate water course.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

To note that the next scheduled meeting of the Committee will be held on Monday 6 April at 2.00 pm in Huddersfield Town Hall

It was noted that the next scheduled meeting would be held on 6 April 2020 at 1400.