Agenda and minutes

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Venue: Cabinet Room 'B' - County Hall, Preston

Contact: Gary Halsall  Tel: (01772) 533419, Email: gary.halsall@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

County Councillor T Aldridge replaced County Councillor C Crompton for this meeting only.

County Councillor J Jackson replaced County Councillor J Shedwick for this meeting only.

County Councillor A Knox replaced County Councillor B Winlow for this meeting only.

1.

Cabinet Member Attendance

Minutes:

In accordance with the Code of Conduct, the permission of the Committee was sought to allow County Councillor Michael Green, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Environment and Planning, to attend and speak at the meeting.

 

Resolved: That County Councillor Michael Green, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Environment and Planning, be permitted to attend and speak at the meeting.

2.

Constitution: Chair and Deputy Chair; Membership; Terms of Reference of the Scrutiny Committee pdf icon PDF 55 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Resolved: That;

 

  i.  The appointment of County Councillor P Britcliffe and County Councillor P Malpas as Chair and Deputy Chair of the Committee for the remainder of the 2012/13 municipal year be noted;

  ii.  The membership of the Committee following the County Council’s annual meeting be noted; and

  iii.  The Terms of Reference of the Committee be noted.

3.

Disclosure of Personal and Prejudicial Interests

Members are asked to consider any Personal/Prejudicial Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

Minutes:

County Councillors T Aldridge and D Westley declared personal interests in item 5 – Economic Development as they were Members of West Lancashire Borough Council's Planning Committee.

4.

Minutes of the Meeting held on 11 May 2012 pdf icon PDF 41 KB

Minutes:

Resolved:  That, the minutes of the meeting held on 11 May 2012 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

5.

Economic Development pdf icon PDF 55 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed County Councillor Michael Green, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Environment and Planning, County Councillor Michael Welsh, Chair of Lancashire County Developments Limited (LCDL), and Martin Kelly, Director of Economic Development, to the meeting.

 

County Councillor Green gave an update to the Committee on recent economic development activities. It was reported that the council had placed £12m into the Capital Programme for economic development initiatives. The council had also approved a further £10m towards infrastructure projects that would improve the long-term performance of the local economy such as the Superfast Broadband (SFBB) initiative. It was reported that SFBB would provide Lancashire with a competitive advantage, stimulate business growth and attract new investors. A further £10m had also been approved by the council towards increasing the number of apprenticeships, skills and employment opportunities for the residents of Lancashire.

 

The Committee was informed that the council was using surplus property in a strategic manner to support the regeneration of Lancashire through its Strategic Property Regeneration initiative.

 

Early successes with the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership (LEP) were highlighted including the Lancashire Enterprise Zone status for BAE Systems’ Salmesbury and Warton sites and the development of the Growing Places Fund (GPF). It was anticipated that an estimated 80 businesses could be attracted to the zones creating between 4,000 and 6,000 high value jobs. It was also anticipated that the GPF would generate a further 3,000 new jobs through public and private sector investment. It was also reported that the LEP had been successful in bidding for monies from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund to support projects and programmes that would create economic growth and sustainable employment.

 

The Committee was informed that a skills implementation plan as part of the council’s skills framework had been developed which included targets to increase the percentage of qualifications at level 2 (GCSE) and level 4 (Certificates of Higher Education) of the working age population. The Committee was also informed that the Cabinet at its meeting on 7 June had agreed to invest £10m between 2012 and 2017 to fund a five year programme to promote sustainable employment for young people including those identified as Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) and those who were Lancashire’s Looked After Children through a number of initiatives.

 

Councillor Welsh gave an account of progress made on matters relating to Lancashire County Developments Limited (LCDL) since December 2011.

 

Councillor Welsh thanked those staff currently involved in the redevelopment of the Lancashire Business Park which was severely damaged by fire before Christmas 2011. It was explained that this matter was a key priority for the coming year and that it was hoped some positive aspects could be achieved from the redevelopment.

 

The Committee was informed that the restructure of LCDL was now complete and that work was underway to deliver a number of priority actions and key strategic developments including; Cuerden, Preston City Centre, Skelmersdale Town Centre, Rising Bridge, Heysham Gateway and Lancaster Science Park.

 

Concern was expressed regarding a possible  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Task Group Updates pdf icon PDF 57 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a request from the Health Scrutiny Committee to establish a new task group on the issue of Public Health.

 

The Committee was informed that by 2013, the county council would take on a number of new responsibilities for the health improvement function of Public Health for Lancashire as defined in the NHS White Paper – 'Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS' and the Public Health White Paper – 'Healthy Lives Healthy People'. It was hoped that the establishment of a task group would clarify the role of elected members in understanding and the promotion of the public health function. However, a point was made that this matter had already been the subject of deliberations by other Committees and bodies and it was felt that the establishment of the task group should therefore be rejected. It was also suggested that a training exercise on this matter would be more beneficial to members. Following a period of debate, the request for a task group was put to the vote and was subsequently lost.

 

The Committee also received an update on current task groups and their proposed completion dates.

 

Resolved: That;

 

  i.  The update on existing task groups be noted;

  ii.  The request for a new task group on Public Heath be not accepted.

7.

Recent and Forthcoming Decisions pdf icon PDF 58 KB

Minutes:

The committee considered recent relevant decisions made and also forthcoming decisions including those set out in the current Forward Plan.

 

Resolved: That the report be noted.

8.

Workplan 2012/13 pdf icon PDF 54 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The workplan for the committee was presented for noting and comments. The Chair gave an outline of the work to be carried out by the Committee over the coming months including the additional work agreed earlier in the meeting.

 

Resolved: That the report be noted.

9.

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee will be held on Friday 6 July 2012 at 10am at the County Hall, Preston.

Minutes:

The Chair sought approval from the Committee that all future meetings begin at 10:30am instead of 10am.

 

Resolved: That,

 

  i.  All future meetings of the Scrutiny Committee shall begin at 10:30am;

  ii.  The next meeting of the Committee will be held on 6 July 2012 at 10:30am at County Hall, Preston.