The report of the Strategic Director, Place,
(Document “U”) presented budget
proposals pertaining to the Environment and Waste Overview and
Scrutiny Committee which were approved for consultation by the
Executive on 6 December 2016.
Comments on the budget proposals were
requested to inform the consultation process.
The Strategic Director, Place, provided the
background to the report including the rationale for the proposals;
the message from the Executive regarding the Council’s
revenue and capital spending plans from 2017/18 to 2020/21 and the
alignment of resources to the Council’s
priorities.
The Assistant Director, Planning
Transportation and Highways presented the proposals in detail for
transport issues and the Strategic Director, Place, detailed the
impact on Waste and Street Scene Services. The proposals were appended to Document
“U”.
Following a detailed presentation a number of
issues were raised:-
- Were street lighting reductions
achieving the savings anticipated and would the programme be rolled
out across the district?
- Bradford had the highest rate of
child deaths on the road. Consideration
of areas for street lighting reductions and other proposals should
be calculated taking into account the activities in that
area. To allocate reductions in one
ward may impact on children from other areas who access that area
to school. Finances should be targeted
objectively and proposals should be considered on nature of the
area not by ward.
- It would be difficult to explain the
proposals to residents and communication should be upfront and
inform residents of the likely impact.
- It appeared that the West Yorkshire
Combined Authority (WYCA) was not enduring the level of cuts that
Bradford was. It was hoped that
Bradford would make a case about the impact of the cuts in
Bradford, for example, teaching children to cross the road may have
to cease and all residents were being asked to pay more for
less.
- Had there been sufficient
significance given to the provision of public toilets for visitors
to the area? It was good to see that
discussions were in place with Town and Parish Councils regarding
that provision.
In response it was explained:-
- The budget proposal related to an
extension of the street lighting limited switch-off programme which
was already underway. The size of the
saving proposed represented approximately two more areas being
considered. There were a
lot of criteria involved in selecting sites suitable for limited
switch-off and careful consideration must be undertaken to ensure
areas with specific problems were not included in the
programme. Any criminal occurring in
these areas would be monitored using data from West Yorkshire
Police and that information would be brought to Members as it
became available. The savings achieved
were dependant on the type of lights and energy consumption and
there were a range of different cost models which were not
contained in the report.
- Identifying areas of risk by
location not ward was a good point and would be fed back to
Executive Colleagues.
- The Enforcement Team had now been
amalgamated into the Neighbourhood Teams and resources were
allocated by place. The change had made
a demonstrable difference and, as an example, the increased numbers
of prosecutions for fly tipping were reported.
- Fifty per cent of WYCA commitments
were mandatory. At the end of the four
year period the reduction in discretionary spend would be 20%.
- Discussions would continue to
consider how the Council could work with Town and Parish Councils
to assist them with the provision of public toilets.
Resolved –
(1)
That officers be thanked for their informative report
and presentation.
(2)
That the report be noted.
ACTION: Strategic Director, Place
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