Agenda and minutes

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

Apologies were received from Councillor John Taylor.

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.

In the interests of transparency, Councillor Hussain advised that she was employed by a Health Trust outside Kirklees.

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 a particular issue of concern, subject to the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 10.  All deputations should be submitted at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

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.

No deputations or petitions were received.

To receive any questions in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.

No questions were submitted.

A report will be submitted which provides the Committee with a progress update on the work of the Lead Councillors - Primary Care Networks and Local Health Improvement.

Contact:

Emily Parry-Harries, Consultant in Public Health

Vina Randhawa, Democracy Manager

A report was submitted which provided the Committee with a progress update on the work of the Lead Councillors - Primary Care Networks and Local Health Improvement.

Richard Parry, Strategic Director for Adults and Health and Emily Parry-Harries, Consultant in Public Health attended to present the report, including the following points:

·       The background to the introduction of Primary Care Networks (PCN) in 2019, as a result of a national requirement.

·       Each PCN should cover a population within the range of 30,000 and 50,000 people and had to make sense geographically.

·       There were nine PCNs in Kirklees.

·       One of the challenges associated with this piece of work was that the areas they covered did not align with Council wards.

·       The Fuller Review, which had considered the progress to date, and direction of travel, for PCNs had emphasised the potential for the development of the community health function of primary care.

·       The Lead Councillor – PCNs and Local Health Care Improvement initiative aimed to help develop PCNs connections with the communities they served through establishing relationships between them and the Lead Councillor. This would allow them to take advantage of the reach and local knowledge of elected members and to benefit from their starting point of how and where people live their lives.

·       It was noted that the relationships were at a relatively early stage, but it was anticipated that opportunities would be realised as they became better developed.

Questions and comments were invited from Committee Members, with the following issues being covered:

·       Prior to the initiative being introduced, a number of conversations had taken place with the Director of Primary Care for the Clinical Commissioning Group (now the Health and Care Partnership). The initial concept had been to allow the working relationships to develop organically, although it was now recognised that a focus on specific outcomes would be beneficial in the early stages.  A more prescriptive approach, using the relevant data packs, was now being taken with the Lead Councillors.

·       In the early stages PCNs had been seen as an opportunity to connect GPs to the wider capacity within communities although subsequent national and NHS requirements had moved them in a different direction. The challenge was working out how best to connect and collaborate.

·       It was questioned whether a public health specialist should undertake the role rather than an elected member, who may not have the detailed knowledge of the wider area covered by a PCN and was likely to have constraints on their time. In response it was explained that it was considered that there was a role for both; elected members brought a specific knowledge of their area and how to/what would work with the communities within.

·       It was acknowledged that it would be beneficial to engage with members of the wider teams delivering primary care, such as health visitors, in respect of the wider wellbeing and inequalities agenda.

·       Engagement with Practice Managers was also proving to be helpful.

·       It appeared that the feedback and learning from Place Standard  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.

A report will be presented which considers progress against the Action Plan of the Kirklees Local Flood Risk Management Strategy and sets out the process for the development of the new strategy, which is due to be adopted in late 2023.

Contact:

Rashid Mahmood – Flood Manager, Planning and Development

A report was submitted which considered progress against the Action Plan of the Kirklees Local Flood Risk Management Strategy and set out the process for the development of the new strategy, which was due to be adopted in late 2023.

Councillor Graham Turner, Cabinet Member and Portfolio Holder for Regeneration

was in attendance at the meeting introduced the report.

Rashid Mahmood – Flood Manager, Planning and Development and Chris Johnson, Operational Manager, Highways, attended the meeting to present the report and answer questions. The report:

·       Summarised the work undertaken within the last twelve months and ongoing projects

·       Set out the process and anticipated timescales in respect of the development and launch of a new Flood Risk Management Strategy.

·       Provided information on the implementation of the new approach in relation to Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDs).

·       Provided an update in relation to the issues that had been raised by the Committee when flood risk management had last been considered.

The Committee also welcomed representatives of partners;

·       Matt Snelling, on behalf of the White Rose Forest project, who gave an overview of the Landscapes for Water programme which was a local authority based joint venture to support tree planting across West and North Yorkshire, funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and aligned with the national England’s Community Forests initiative. He explained that, the creation of woodland in targeted areas would provide significant natural flood management benefits and mitigate flood risk, and provided details on a number of specific projects.

·       Rosie Holdsworth, from the National Trust, in relation to the Growing Resilience Natural Flood Management and Woodland Creation Project. This was a partnership project, led by Yorkshire Water and the National Trust, which aimed to reduce flood risk to downstream communities, through use of natural flood management solutions and sustainable drainage interventions, along with landscape restoration. The project had included community engagement, to raise awareness of the benefits of natural flood management, and volunteers had made a significant contribution to delivery. It also aimed to understand the impacts of the interventions and to share that learning.

Questions and comments were invited from Committee Members, with the following issues being covered:

·       The engagement to establish community flood plans that would be owned by the local community, with support from officers, was at an early stage. Leads for five areas had been secured.

·       The partners included the National Trust, Yorkshire Water, Woodlands Trust Moorlands for the Future and the Environment Agency.

·       ‘Green Streets’ was the urban work undertaken by the White Rose Forest and, in Kirklees, this was undertaken alongside officers from Highways and Streetscene. These schemes came with 15 year funding to support delivery of planting and maintenance.

·       The National Trust worked in close partnership with a wide range of strategic organisations such as Kirklees, other local authorities, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Yorkshire Water, the Woodland Trust, the Environment Agency and Natural England as well as a number of smaller community groups and volunteers. There were also  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

The Lead Members for the Corporate Scrutiny Panel and the Economy and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel will update the Committee on the work being undertaken by these panels.

Contact:

Sheila Dykes – Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer, Legal and Democratic Services

Councillor Yusra Hussain, the Lead Member for the Economy and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel, updated the Committee on the work being undertaken by this Panel, and an update on the work of the Corporate Scrutiny Panel was submitted on behalf of Councillor John Taylor, the Lead Member.

The updates were noted.

The latest version of the Committee’s work programme for 2022-23 will be submitted for Members’ consideration.

Contact:

Sheila Dykes – Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer, Legal and Democratic Services

The current version of the Committee’s Work programme for 2022-23 was submitted for Members’ consideration and was noted.