Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Brunswick Room, Guildhall, High Street, Bath BA1 5AW

Items
No. Item

1.

Committee membership update

To note the committee’s membership as set out on the agenda.

Minutes:

The Committee membership for Municipal Year 2022/23 was noted.

2.

Apologies for absence

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence had been received as follows:

 

Cllr Brian Allinson (Cllr Trevor Jones attended as substitute)

Cllr Brenda Massey (Cllr Katja Hornchen attended as substitute)

Cllr Ed Plowden

Cllr Steve Pearce

Cllrs Huw James and Peter Crew (North Somerset Council)

3.

Election of Chair of the committee for 2022-23

The Committee is invited to elect a Chair for Municipal Year 2022/23

Minutes:

It was proposed by Cllr Gollop, seconded by Cllr McFie and

 

Agreed:

 

That Cllr Winston Duguid be elected as Chair of the Committee for Municipal Year 2022/23.

 

(Cllr Duguid was in the Chair for all subsequent items)

4.

Election of Vice-Chair of the committee for 2022-23

Having chosen a Chair, the Committee is invited to elect a Vice-Chair for Municipal Year 2022/23

Minutes:

No Vice-Chair was elected.

5.

Declarations of Interest under the Localism Act

Members who consider that they have an interest to declare are asked to: a) State the item number in which they have an interest, b) The nature of the interest, c) Whether the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, non-disclosable pecuniary interest or nonpecuniary interest. Any Member who is unsure about the above should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer prior to the meeting in order to expedite matters at the meeting itself.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest declared.

6.

Committee terms of reference

To note the committee’s terms of reference which are as follows:

 

The functions of the Overview and Scrutiny committee primarily relate to scrutinising the work of the West of England Combined Authority and the West of England Joint Committee (“Joint Committee”) and making appropriate recommendations as to the discharge of its function.

 

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee shall have the power to:

 

1.     Review or scrutinise decisions made, or other actions taken, in connection with the discharge of any functions which are the responsibility of the Combined Authority or the Joint Committee;

2.     Provide advice and challenge on policy and programme delivery to help

ensure the region meets its climate commitments, including monitoring the delivery of the authority’s Climate Emergency Action Plan.

3.     Make reports or recommendations to the Combined Authority or the Joint Committee (as appropriate) on matters that affect the Combined Authority area or the inhabitants of the area;

4.     Make reports or recommendations to the Combined Authority or the Joint Committee (as appropriate) with respect to the discharge of any functions which are the responsibility of the Combined Authority or the Joint Committee;

5.     In so far as the business of the Local Enterprise Partnership Business Board (LEP) relates to the discharge of functions of the Combined Authority or the Joint Committee, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee shall have the power to scrutinise the LEP as set out in 1. – 3. above.

Minutes:

The terms of reference for the Committee had been attached for information.

7.

Minutes of previous meeting pdf icon PDF 191 KB

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 4 April 2022 as a correct record.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 4 April 2022 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair, subject to the correction of removing Cllr James Arrowsmith from the list of attendees.

8.

Items from the public (questions; statements; petitions) pdf icon PDF 326 KB

WRITTEN PUBLIC QUESTIONS (written procedure)

 

1. Any member of the public can submit a maximum of two written questions in advance of this meeting.

 

2. The deadline for the submission of questions is 5.00 pm, at least 3 clear working days ahead of a meeting. For this meeting, the deadline for questions is 5.00 pm on Tuesday 21 June 2022.

 

3. Questions should be addressed to the Chair of the meeting and e-mailed to democratic.services@westofengland-ca.gov.uk

 

4. Under the direction of the Chair, wherever possible, written replies to questions will be sent to questioners by the end of the working day prior to the meeting.

 

5. Please note - under the Combined Authority’s committee procedures, there is no opportunity for oral supplementary questions to be asked at committee meetings.

 

6. The written questions and replies will be circulated to committee members in advance of the meeting and published on the Combined Authority website.

 

PUBLIC STATEMENTS

 

1. Any member of the public may submit a written statement (or petition) to this meeting.

 

2. Please note that one statement per individual is permitted.

 

3. Statements must be submitted in writing and received by the deadline of 12 noon on the working day before the meeting. For this meeting, the deadline for statements is 12 noon on Friday 24 June 2022. Statements should be emailed to democratic.services@westofengland-ca.gov.uk

 

4. Statements will be listed for the meeting in the order of receipt. All statements will be sent to committee members in advance of the meeting and published on the Combined Authority website.

 

5. Please note:

 

If any member of the public wishes to attend the meeting to orally present their statement, they are asked please to notify the Combined Authority’s Democratic Services team of this at the point when their statement is submitted and by 12 noon on the working day before the meeting at the very latest.

 

For those presenting their statements at the meeting, up to 3 minutes ‘speaking time’ is permitted for each statement. The total time available for the public session at this meeting is 30 minutes.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

One statement had been received from a member of the public for this meeting. Full details were available on the Authority’s website.

9.

Review of items for 1 July 2022 West of England Combined Authority Committee & West of England Joint Committee pdf icon PDF 152 KB

To review the reports / decisions due to be considered at the 1 July 2022 meeting of the West of England Combined Authority Committee and West of England Joint Committee and formulate any comments to refer to the committees.

Minutes:

Metro Mayor Dan Norris attended the first part of the meeting. The following points were made:

 

·         The Government had made no indication that the monies set aside for the Portishead line were in jeopardy although a number of schemes had been officially scrapped;

·         The Metro Mayor welcomed the work of Western Gateway and stated the importance of reaching out to as many partners as possible. He confirmed that there were no Western Gateway staff embedded at the Authority;

·         A review of the transport network as a whole was needed so that the best value could be brought from the train and bus networks. A report on rail services would be brought forward as soon as possible;

·         The Committee requested that the Committee papers be published as soon as possible, ideally five clear working days (10 clear working days before the Committee and Joint Committee) in order that the Overview & Scrutiny Committee members had adequate time to review them;

·         The Metro Mayor stated that he did not think that the number of staff that had left the organisation was excessive, in fact it had been lower than he had expected;

·         The withdrawal of work on the SDS meant that the local authorities would revert to local plans;

 

The Committee thanked the Metro Mayor for his attendance.

 

The Committee considered the reports for the meeting of West of England Combined Authority Committee and Joint Committee on 1 July 2022. These comments were collated and attached at Appendix 1.