Agenda and minutes

Members of the public are welcome to attend our meetings to watch them in person at any of the venues across the County. Publicly accessible meetings held in County Hall will be webcast, which means they are available to be watched live or recorded on our website. Please see our webcasting notice here. The Committee may, in certain circumstances, resolve to hold part of the meeting in private. If this is the case, you will be required to leave the meeting.

Venue: Teams Virtual Meeting - Teams. View directions

Contact: Gary Halsall  Tel: 01772 536989, Email  gary.halsall@lancashire.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

County Councillor Barrie Yates replaced County Councillor David Stansfield on a permanent basis.

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from County Councillor Liz Oades.

2.

Constitution: Appointment of Deputy Chair

The External Scrutiny Committee is asked to note the appointment of County Councillor John Shedwick as Deputy Chair for the remainder of the 2020/21 municipal year.

Minutes:

Resolved: The External Scrutiny Committee noted the appointment of County Councillor John Shedwick as Deputy Chair for the remainder of the 2020/21 municipal year.

3.

Disclosure of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

Minutes:

None were disclosed.

4.

Minutes of the Meeting held on 12 January 2021 pdf icon PDF 209 KB

Minutes:

Resolved: That the minutes from the meeting held on 12 January 2021 be confirmed as an accurate record.

 

5.

Joint Draft Lancashire Local Flood Risk Management Strategy 2021-2027 and Progress Report on Strengthening Flood Risk Management and Preparedness pdf icon PDF 124 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed to the meeting Rachel Crompton, Principal Flood Risk Officer; Laura Makeating, Principal Flood Risk Officer; and Marcus Leigh, Highways Service Manager (Infrastructure).

 

A presentation was delivered to the committee on the joint draft Lancashire Local Flood Risk Management Strategy 2021-2027. In addition, members were presented with a progress report on the implementation of agreed actions following the recommendations of the Strengthening Flood Risk Management and Preparedness Task and Finish Group report as adopted by the External Scrutiny Committee.

 

During the presentation, the following points were highlighted:

 

·  The strategy was the scene setting for all the flood risk management work that the county council did with its partners across Lancashire.

·  The new draft strategy was now out for public consultation to seek views on the strategy's proposals.

·  The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 stated that a local authority must develop, maintain, apply and monitor a strategy for flood risk management in its area. The strategy had to align with the national strategy.

·  The Local Flood Risk Management Strategy was a strategic level document which set out how Lancashire County Council intended to manage local flood risks across Lancashire until 2027.

·  Feedback from the consultation would be analyzed and changes made where necessary. The strategy would need Cabinet approval and then Full Council approval in late summer 2021.

·  The vision was that by 2027 Lancashire would be a flood resilient place responsive to risks, challenges and opportunities supporting a sustainable future for the people of Lancashire.

 

In response to questions and comments from members, the following information was clarified:

 

·  There was concern about the Flood Risk Management Team being overwhelmed with the number of requests for advice from local planning authorities. Lancashire County Council were a statutory consultee on all major planning applications and tried to respond to them within the statutory timescale. Significant improvements had been made on response times. The county council had no control on the publication of its responses by local planning authorities. There was a request for relevant county councillors to be copied into the county council's responses.

·  Regarding the listing and mapping of Lancashire's water courses, members enquired if the delivery date for this of March 2027 could be improved on.

·  Lancashire County Council good contact with around 50 Lancashire flood action groups and local resilience groups. It was important to ensure these groups received the advice and support they needed.

·  On the draft culvert policy, it was acknowledged that the county council could not progress this until the strategy had been approved.

·  On United Utilities not being a statutory consultee for planning applications it was noted that all comments received by local planning authorities had to be treated equally irrespective of where they came from. Making water companies statutory consultees wouldn't give them any additional powers. United Utilities were very proactive in reviewing planning lists as applications could pose a business risk to their assets.

·  It was highlighted that the Flood Risk Management Team was not an emergency service but  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Chair's update

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed County Councillor Michael Green, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Environment and Planning to the meeting.

 

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Environment and Planning pointed out that Lancashire County Council was proud of what it had achieved in terms of carbon reduction. The authority was committed to moving towards net zero carbon emissions as soon as possible.

 

The Cabinet Member had put forward a new Environment and Climate programme for Lancashire County Council, which had been approved by Cabinet in March 2021, to tackle environmental and climate issues. The programme would look at reducing carbon emissions from county council properties, large scale tree planting, local air quality management, encouraging active travel, improving green spaces, and peat land restoration and carbon capture. The budget had now been set out for the programme.

 

In response to questions and comments from members, the following information was clarified:

 

·  The county council was currently reviewing its fleet of vehicles in terms of going electric or hybrid. The council was not at the stage where it could replace all its fleet with such vehicles as it had to ensure the vehicles were cost effective and fit for purpose.

·  More and more charging points for electric vehicles were being established by Lancashire County Council and its partners. Although the lack of charging points at the county hall complex was noticeable.

·  The committee was informed that the Highways Team had made significant reductions in carbon.

·  On whether Lancashire County Council was taking the lead on carbon reduction and energy conservation, it was noted that this work was being done in conjunction with district councils as part of the Greater Lancashire Plan. Internally the council was currently establishing an inter-directorate management group to co-ordinate and manage activity and working relationships with Lancashire businesses, landowners and housing developers.

·  It was acknowledged that more should be done to promote the activity the council was engaged in with carbon reduction and energy conservation, and the contributions it had made.

·  On the committee's previous recommendation to hold a Green Summit, it was acknowledged that this would probably take place in a virtual format.

·  On embracing new technologies, the county council had to ensure they were the correct technologies.

 

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Environment and Planning for his update.

 

 

County Councillor Gillian Oliver and Joanne Barker, Welfare Rights Manager, presented initial findings from rapporteur activities in relation to Universal Credit in Lancashire as agreed by the committee at its previous meeting held on 12 January 2021.

 

In February 2020 five recommendations had been formulated by the External Scrutiny Committee and put to the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, County Councillor Shaun Turner. By January 2021 no response had been received.

 

In February 2021 County Councillor Oliver had met with County Councillor Turner and Joanne Barker with a view of moving forward with the five recommendations. It was decided to concentrate on four areas which were:

 

·  To commend the work of the Welfare Rights Service.

·  To  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 22 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

In considering the work programme for the remainder of the 2020/21 municipal year, it was suggested that given the context of this meeting and the updates provided the next meeting scheduled for Tuesday 13 April be cancelled and that the new committee after the elections consider continuing the review of Flood Risk Management, Carbon Reduction and Universal Credit.

 

Resolved: That the External Scrutiny Committee in the new administration continue to review Flood Risk Management, Carbon Reduction and Universal Credit.

 

8.

Urgent Business

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading.

Minutes:

There was no Urgent Business.

9.

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting of the External Scrutiny Committee will be held on Tuesday 13 April 2021 at 10am.

Minutes:

The next meeting of the External Scrutiny Committee would take place on Friday 16 July 2021 at 10:00am.