Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed all those in attendance.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Brook, Kirk and Tincknell. 

Councillor Mead substituted for Councillor Brook.

To note any declarations of interest from the Councillors.  They are asked to indicate the relevant agenda item, the nature of the interest and in particular whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Any declarations of interest made at the meeting which is not on the register of interests should be notified to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion.

There were no declarations of interest.

-        18^th December 2017 – to follow

-        12^th February 2018

It was agreed that due to late circulation approval of the minutes from the meeting on 12^th February 2018 would be deferred until the next meeting on 10^th April 2018.

RESOLVED; That approval of the minutes of the meeting on 12^th February 2018 April be deferred until the meeting on 12^th April 2018.

To note any announcements from the Chair

There was no Chair’s Business.

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item

Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum.  The detailed arrangements for so doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at the back of this agenda.  Public Forum items should be emailed to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk and please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:-

Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the meeting.  For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in this office at the latest by 5 pm on *name deadline date*

Petitions and Statements - Petitions and statements must be received on the working day prior to the meeting.  For this meeting this means that your submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on *name deadline date*.

The following items of public forum business were received and a copy placed in the minute book;

Statements

Questions

RESOLVED; That the public forum submissions be added to the Minute Book.

The report of updates from the Task and Finish Group Chairs was noted. 

RESOLVED; That the report of updates detailing progress of the Task and Finish Group Chairs be noted.

The meeting was adjourned for 15 minutes.

The Board were provided with an update regarding the Arena development, following which Members commented on the information provided and asked for additional details in a number of areas.  The key points were as follows;

• It was noted that the site known as Brabazon Hanger, Filton Airfield was currently designated as a Principal Industrial and Warehousing Area and confirmed that any consideration of change of use would be assessed as part of the normal planning application process. It was further noted that the council was going through a local plan review so there was an opportunity to revise current designations of sites where appropriate.
• It was noted that a petition was in circulation asking for the Arena to stay at Temple Meads which had enough signatures to trigger a debate.
• It was confirmed that the National Planning Policy Framework  (NPPF) referred to a sequential test which promotes a town centre first approach. The test would ask if there is an available site in the town centre and would therefore include the Diesel depot site. However, any developer would have the right to make a case for an alternative location and all aspects of the application would need to be assessed.  The NPPF goes on to say that, when considering edge of centre and out of centre proposals, preference should be given to accessible sites that are well connected to the town centre. Where an application fails to satisfy the sequential test or is likely to have significant adverse impact, it should be refused.
• It was confirmed that a full planning application had been received and planning permission granted for an arena on the Diesel depot site.  In addition, there had been a separate planning application received for a residual piece of land at that site for a mix of uses, and which had been granted outline planning permission at the same time. An application has been received for a university campus in the same location encompassing Cattlemarket Road, with a proposal for student accommodation on the residual land at the diesel site. It was confirmed that these proposals did not infringe in any way on the arena permission that had been previously granted.
• It was clarified that disabled parking was included as part of the full arena planning application.
• It was confirmed that an existing planning permission on a piece of land would not prevent further planning permissions for different uses on the same site and therefore would not prevent an alternative use being built out on that site. 
• It was expected that KPMG in their report would outline the source of their benchmarking information, to include reference sites, stakeholders that had been engaged as part of that process. it was confirmed that  the options appraisals
• It was noted that a further meeting may need to be convened prior to the Cabinet meeting in May to engage with the executive on the new report when available as it could be fundamental to informing the decision made. 
• It was welcomed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Board were provided with an update regarding the review of the library service, following which Members commented on the information provided and asked for additional details in a number of areas.  The key points were as follows;

• The Mutual Ventures library report was expected to be formally received by the Council in early April, and could then be shared with the Libraries Scrutiny Task Group.  It was noted that the report would be for internal use only.
• The Cabinet member asked that her thanks be recorded to all the individuals and organisations that had put forward ideas for libraries in their communities and confirmed that these would be considered as part of any community offer.
• It was noted that there was no current cabinet date or timeline, with the aim to go to cabinet with a proposal between June and September 2018. However this would be dependent on agreement on the proposal and financing, and advice from Legal on whether re consultation was necessary.
• It was confirmed that the number of libraries that would make up the core service had not been decided.
• Discussions were being held with Bristol Music Trust and with other Local Authorities regarding the future storage solutions for the stock of Bristol’s music library but no final decision had yet been made.
• Once a decision on libraries had been made, a process would be put in place to allow communities and organisations to engage in formalising their community library offer.  It was important that the process was communicated effectively so this could be progressed in timely way.
• Councillors needed further information to be able to talk with residents and volunteers about was happening with the library service and the timeline for future action.   The Cabinet member agreed to put forward a position statement setting out the direction of travel, which could be circulated to councillors and shared with constituents. Action: Cllr Craig/Patsy Mellor

RESOLVED; that the update on the review of the Library Service be noted.

Members considered the report detailing outcomes from the workshop that had taken place on 22^nd February 18 and were asked to agree the recommendations as set out in the report.  The key points were as follows;

• Members considered the findings of the Scrutiny Ways of Working Workshop and the range of challenges and opportunities had been experienced in the recent trial. 
• Members recognised that an agile scrutiny system was needed that was flexible enough to cope with shifting priorities and supported the structure of the hybrid model proposed in the paper.
• It was important that training and briefing for councillors was developed outside of scrutiny. It was important to be clever in how to use the hybrid model and it was agreed that this would be a work in progress.
• Members were asked to consider whether OSMB should be responsible for commissioning the working groups or the Commission leads/ chairs. There was a suggestion that these members could meet between formal meetings for planning/informal sessions to agree these types of matters. 
• It was suggested that the Chair of the Budget/MTFP working group, and the Chair of the Commissions would get an SRA.

Work programme setting

• The work programme setting should be evidence based, ensuring there was flex in the system for arising issues. 

Member Development

• Officers confirmed that a Member Development Steering Group had been set up to consider the direction of future training opportunities and that the LGA had offered to run a series of bespoke training courses in Bristol including chairing and influencing skills. 

RESOLVED; that the proposed hybrid model be confirmed as the structure for future scrutiny.

Councillor Massey, Chair of the People Scrutiny Commission, provided the Board with an update from the meeting in common that had been held with South Gloucestershire Council on 30^th January 2018 to consider the Benjamin Condon case.  Full details regarding the meeting, including the minutes can be found here.  The Board noted that a progress report would be provided to the People Scrutiny Commission in approximately January 19 and that a further meeting to consider progress would be arranged at that point if necessary.

RESOLVED; that the update be noted, including that the People Scrutiny Commission would be receiving a report on progress following the Benjamin Condon case in approximately January 2019 and that a further meeting to follow up on outcomes would be arranged at that point if necessary.

The Board received the update report on the process for dealing with exempt materials from the Service Director, Legal and Democratic Services and asked for additional details in a number of areas.  The following points arose during the ensuing discussion;

·         The Council were committed to  ensuring information was ‘open’ wherever possible and would adopt

use of exempt appendices wherever possible in place of restricting full reports.  It was agreed that sensitive material needed to be separated out as soon as possible when the report was initially drafted in order to streamline the process.

·         The Chair of OSM and relevant Scrutiny Chair currently had a roll in ‘signing off’ any decision to treat material in Cabinet reports as exempt, with the final decision in the event of any challenge resting with the Monitoring Officer.  The Board noted that there was potential for the sign off decisions to be politicised but agreed that on balance the risk was low since the positions would almost certainly be from different parties and it prevented too much control laying with one person.

RESOLVED; that the update report be noted.

To note the work programme

During discussion of the Work Programme the following was noted;

·         Waste Company collection methodology (including proposed schedule and type of vehicle) -April 18

·         The City Council’s Business and Service Plans - April 18

·         Scrutiny of the Housing Company tbc

·         Bristol Arena tbc

An OSMB meeting to be scheduled at the start of May.Action Officers.

RESOLVED; that the work programme be noted.

The Forward Plan was noted.

The P9 Finance Report was noted.