Agenda and minutes

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

Apologies were received from Councillor Yusra Hussain.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 30 November 2021.

The Minutes of the meeting held on the 30 November 2021 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 the public session.

The Panel 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 by emailing executive.governance@kirklees.gov.uk

No deputation or petitions were received.

The Board will hear any questions from the general public. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, questions should be emailed to executive.governance@kirklees.gov.uk  no later than 10am on 7^th February 2021.

No questions were received from the public.

To provide the Panel with an update on the Small Centres Programme.

Contact:

Simon Taylor, Head of Town Centre Programmes

The Panel received an update on Small Centres Programme from Simon Taylor, Head of Town Centre Programmes, which provided information on:

·         Background and recommendation to Cabinet in March 2021

·         Progress on engagement through place standard exercise

·         Progress on Master/Investment planning

·         Anticipated Next Steps

The Panel noted that in March 2021 Cabinet considered a report which proposed investing in town and village centres outside of Huddersfield and Dewsbury.  The report was based upon an initial investment of £10m across the district.  The initial Cabinet report proposed that 4 key centres – Batley, Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike and Holmfirth be the focus for the initial round of investment, each being allocated £1.5m.

The proposal was matched with clear processes to follow.  Essentially the key elements were:

·         Ward Members at the heart of the programme

·         Place Standard exercise to be undertaken

·         Investment/Master plan to be prepared for each centre with sing off by Strategic Director and portfolio holder

·         Projects to a value of £1.5m were to be agreed.

In addition, the report set out the types of projects that could be funded.  This included:

·         Supporting retail, employment, community and local centre activity

·         Sustainable travel and climate change measures

·         Improved community safety

·         Culture, art and leisure activities

·         Public realm/landscaping, heritage, conservation and better design.

Simon Taylor informed the Panel that part of the process to assemble a programme of investment for each of the identified small centres was to undertake a stage of community engagement.  To ensure this was consistent across all four centres the place standards tool had been utilised.  The questions used were to help build up a picture across a number of themes which ranged from moving around, play and recreation, feeling safe and social contact.

The Panel was informed that as part of the process of developing projects and delivering the Small Centres Programme, Cabinet required master/investment plans to be developed for each of the four identified small centres and two sets of consultants had been appointed to take the process forward.  Once the masterplan was completed it needed to be agreed by the Strategic Director and lead Cabinet portfolio holder.

The anticipated next steps were:

·         To continue dialogue with Ward Members

·         Complete Place Standard reports

·         Develop and agree the investment/master plans

·         Develop project ideas

·         Move to Delivery phases

·         Agree the approach for phase 2 funding

Simon Taylor explained that the other remaining £4m would be available to deliver changes in other town and village centres and a further Cabinet report would be required to outline how this would be administered.

In response to a question from the Panel regarding engagement through the place standard exercise, the percentage of responses received from residents and the quality of the engagement, Simon Taylor advised that a low response rate had been received partly due to covid and the way some of the exercises had taken place, and partly due to other approaches that had been taken in town centres.  Simon Taylor confirmed that he was guided by the Citizens Engagement Team and would raise  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Panel will consider its work programme for 2021/2022.

Contact:

Jodie Harris, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

The Panel considered the work programme for 2020/21 municipal year.

RESOLVED:

That the work programme for the 2020/21 municipal year be noted.