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 and Jonathan Milner Co-optee.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 18^th October 2022.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 18^th October 2022 were agreed as a correct record.

Chris Friend, Co-optee highlighted page 7, item 6 and asked for some clarity in relation to the recruitment of external climate champions in the ‘longer term’.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes be approved 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.

No deputation or petitions were received.

The Panel will hear any questions from the general public in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.

No questions were received from the public.

The Panel will consider an update on the status and outcome of the commissioned review of the Kirklees Housing Allocations Policy.

Contacts:

Paul Howard, Acting Head of Housing, Housing Services
Michelle Anderson-Dore, Head of Housing Management and Partnerships, Homes and Neighbourhoods

Paul Howard, Acting Head of Housing, Policy and Strategy, provided a verbal summary in relation to the updates to the Housing Allocations Policy, and advised the Panel that:

·       It was a Legal requirement of the Council to have a Policy in place relating to Housing Allocations.

·       The current Policy had not been reviewed since 2011 and there was a need to ensure it was compliant.

·       The Housing Quality Network were appointed to consider the Policy and identified that the existing policy was broadly compliant, and following consultation, it was agreed that minor amendments be made.

·       The amendments included new guidance in relation to domestic abuse and a new Band (B9) relating to home loss which supported existing tenants to secure alternative accommodation.

·       The main consideration of the Housing Quality Network was the number of people on the housing register which varied between 19,000 and 20,000 and the number of properties available to people within bands A to E.

·       There were around 30 properties that became available each week which highlighted that there were a number of people on the register who would not secure a property within the near future.

·       People on lower bands were signposted to other areas of housing.

·       It was decided that all housing bands would remain and also the register of people with varying housing needs.

·       There was a lack of age designation, but the tools within the existing Policy (Local Lettings Plan) would ensure greater flexibility and address the issues.

·       A further consideration of the Housing Quality Network was for the Local Authority to make better use of Management lets, to address it’s responsibilities in relation to better meeting the needs of children leaving the care system.

The Panel noted the update and asked a question in relation to military families and veterans highlighting that they should not be disadvantaged by the allocation of housing.

Paul Howard, Acting Head of Housing responded to advise that information relating to Military families and Veterans was covered within the existing Policy and remained compliant, so no changes were required.

In the discussion to follow the Panel highlighted the following concerns:

·       That if a tenant died, there was no policy in place that allowed other family members to remain in the property.

·       That consultation had taken place with Cabinet Members / relevant Portfolio Holders but not with Ward Councillors.

·       That age designation caused problems, especially in areas that were originally designed for the elderly and vulnerable, and that careful consideration needed to be given in terms of location and property type.

Paul Howard clarified the point regarding consultation and confirmed that Officers had made the decision in conjunction with Cabinet Portfolio Holders. In response to a question in relation to a discrepancy in the figures on page 18 regarding lettings, he further advised that this was because of the time the figures were recorded as this data varied day to day.

Michelle Anderson-Dore, Head of Partnerships, Growth and Regeneration, advised in relation to age designation that there were areas  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Panel will consider a presentation on Highway Safety

Contacts:

Graham West, Service Director - Highways and Streetscene

Mark Scarr, Head of Highways

The Panel received a presentation in relation to Highways Safety presented by Mark Scarr, Head of Highways. It was highlighted that:

·       The Council had statutory responsibilities set out by the 1988 Road Traffic Act which included:

o   The monitoring of all collisions reported to the police.

o   Analysing and investigating circumstance and contributory factors.

o   Developing yearly programmes of work and interventions.

o   Undertaking road safety audits.

o   Developing education and training packages.

·       Revenue funding was available from the Council to address road safety concerns on a priority basis

·       This was the first year of a five-year City Regional Sustainable Settlement of £900k per year, with an additional Council Capital borrowing of £250k per year and Highway Safety revenue funding of £577k per year.

·       The total capital and revenue was £1.7 million per year.

·       An additional bid had been put forward to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority for the outcome of the speed limit review.

·       Data presented showed an increase in incidents for 2021 across West Yorkshire but there were no indications why.

·       Data showed there had been a dip in 2020 but this was during the COVID -19 Pandemic when fewer cars were on the roads.

·       Kirklees Serious Injuries (KSI’s) matched in comparison to West Yorkshire in relation to all severities but were higher in relation to motor vehicles but lower in relation to children up to the age of 16.

·       The Vision Zero ambition was to eliminate road deaths and serious injuries (KSI’s) to zero by 2040 and improve road safety for everyone using a safe systems approach.

·       The five pillars to a safe system approach were:

o   Safe vehicles

o   Safe speeds

o   Safe roads

o   Safe behaviours

o   Post collision learning and care.

·       Kirklees was just one of the internal road safety stakeholders involved in the Kirklees Road Safety Partnership.

The Panel highlighted the trends and benchmarking and suggested it would be helpful to be presented with the numbers. The Panel also shared their concerns regarding the ‘vision zero’ highlighting that the largest cause of accidents was driver behaviour. The Panel questioned how individual choices and behaviours could be changed and that more emphasis was needed in relation to enforcement, the actions being taken by the Council and making sure that this was a priority of the Police.

Mark Scarr, Head of Highways responded to agree that individual’s behaviour was an important aspect and should be supported, influenced, and encouraged through partnerships. In relation to funding for school crossing patrols, Mark Scarr advised that funding was available but there had been issues with recruitment.

Graham West Service Director, Highways and Streetscene further advised that a review of each location would need to take place to check it met the criteria and to identify the type of crossing required.

The Panel highlighted the Community Partnership Strategy and the limited information relating to road safety and suggested it would be useful to understand in more detail what the Community Partnership Board did and its priorities.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Panel will consider a report setting out an update on the creation of three new inter-related strategies: a Cultural Strategy; a Heritage Strategy; and a Tourism Strategy.  

Contact: 

Kath Wynne-Hague, Head of Culture & Tourism

The Panel considered a report setting out an update on the creation of three new inter-related strategies: a Cultural Strategy, a Heritage Strategy and a Tourism Strategy presented by Adele Poppleton, Service Director, Culture and Visitor Economy.

Councillor Will Simpson, Cabinet Member for Culture and Greener Kirklees was also in attendance and introduced the Strategy as being new, clear and ambitious, and would help to bring additional funds to Kirklees. Adele Poppleton, shared with the Panel a presentation and highlighted that:

The Cultural Strategy:

·       The Cultural Strategy would be developed over the next 12 months and the focus of the Strategy was on arts, museums, archives and libraries.

·       The Cultural Strategy was the overarching Strategy which provided clarity on what was to be achieved, why and how, and included:

o   The Heritage Strategy.

o   The Tourism Strategy.

o   The Libraries Plan.

o   Everybody Active Strategy.

·       The Strategy had involved collaborative planning with partners and citizens and provided clarity regarding how Culture, Heritage and Tourism supported economic and social regeneration.

·       Reputation management was important and identified that buildings at risk were being cared for and re-purposed.

·       The strategies fed into other key strategies such as health and well-being, inclusive communities’ framework etc.

·       The Strategy complemented the Mayor of West Yorkshire’s Culture, Heritage and Sport Framework.

·       50k had been funded from West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the Art Council to support the development of the Cultural Strategy and the delivery.

Heritage Strategy:

·       The Draft Heritage Strategy had been produced and the consultation period would continue until the 8^th January 2023.

·       The Strategy reflected the Council’s ambitions for Regeneration in relation to the town centre Blueprints, the Cultural Heart, and the vision and outcomes for improving people’s lives in Kirklees.

·       Kirklees were the only Local Authority within West Yorkshire who had developed a Heritage Strategy.

·       The National Lottery Heritage Fund requested the production of the Heritage Strategy and provided funding through the Bringing out the Best Programme 2019-2021.

·       Engagement had already taken place with local communities and underrepresented groups, and further engagement was planned.   

·       The museums and galleries service were a National Portfolio Organisation for Arts Council England for the next three years which brought in additional funding each year.

·       The vision of the Strategy was a strong sense of identity, high positive profile, to raise conditions for heritage to thrive, support community needs, be inclusive and provide an award-winning heritage offer.

·       It was important to take a confident approach, have strong business plans in place to ensure sustainability, be ambitious and engage with communities to find out what was important to them.

·       Further funding was also being sought for the Strategic Action Plan (3 years initially).

·       The Strategy was scheduled to go to Cabinet for approval in 2023.

The Tourism Strategy was at a Draft stage, and external Consultants had identified that:

·       There was a need to define the produce base and the national positioning of Kirklees.

·       Revenue needed to increase year on year from tourism.

·       There was a need to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The Panel will consider its work programme for 2022/23.

Contacts:
Jodie Harris, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

RESOLVED: The Panel noted the work programme 2022/23 and agreed that:

1.    Arrangement be made for further information to be shared with the panel in relation to public consultation.

2.    The item in relation to bus patronage be considered at a future Economy and Neighbourhoods meeting within the 2022/23 municipal year.