Agenda and minutes

The following substitutions were made:-

Councillor Hoptroff for Councillor Barks

Councillor Johnson for Councillor Boone

RESOLVED: That the minutes from the previous meeting held on 23 January 2024 be approved.

·         Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

·          Other Interests

No interested were declared.

Members discussed desired outcomes for topics of scrutiny and the benefits of inviting external experts to meetings for items that were not the direct responsibility of the District Council.

RESOLVED:

1)    The Committee approved the draft Work Programme for 2024-2025.

2)    For the Vice-Chair to draft a document containing details of external representatives to be invited to future meetings for circulation to all committee members for comment.

The Committee gave consideration to a presentation on the preparation of the Staffordshire Local Transport Plan which covered the following topics:-

·       Overview

·       Documents

·       Government Policy

·       Why Update the LTP?

·       Governance and Stakeholder Engagement – Strategic Plan

·       District Integrated Transport Strategies

·       Consultation with SMDC – Strategic Plan

·       Timeline

·       Timeline Summary

·       Brief Outline of LTP4 and Progress

·       Guiding Principals

·       LTP4 Implementation Plan

County Councillors advised that senior officers at the County Council were keen to work with the Council and had offered to attend a meeting at Moorlands House in relation to the Bus Strategy.

The differing transport needs of the Moorlands compared to other parts of the County were highlighted, along with the importance of the County Council taking into account how transport could help to improve the economy of the area. It was suggested that an external specialist in transport could assist the Committee with this matter.

Members were concerned about the timescales for the consultation of the LTP, the membership of the LTP Board and that SCC may not be engaging at an early enough stage.  They stressed the importance of the LTP supporting the economic growth of the Moorlands and wished to ensure their representations were fed into the process early enough and taken into account before Cabinet approval in December. 

Discussion took place around the A50/A500 Growth Corridor, visitor/leisure economy,  growth aspirations of the District and the need for internal expertise in understanding transport needs from an economic point of view.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the presentation be received;

2)    For the Principal Regeneration Officer to clarify how the Moorlands was represented and the objectives of the Project Board;

3)    The Committee recommended that the Leader of the Council raise the comments of the Committee in terms of engagement with the District Council at an early stage at the SCC Leaders Board;

4)    For an external specialist to be invited to attend a session for all councillors in relation to transport and how this can assist the Council with its aspirations as part of the Growth Strategy.

The Chair to move:

“That pursuant to Section 100A (2) and (4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or nature of the proceedings whereby it is likely that exempt information as defined in Section 100A (3) of the Act would be disclosed to the public in breach of the obligation of confidence or exempt information as defined in Section 100I (1) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act would be disclosed to the public by virtue of the paragraphs indicated.”

The Chair moved:

“That pursuant to Section 100A (2) and (4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or nature of the proceedings whereby it is likely that exempt information as defined in Section 100A (3) of the Act would be disclosed to the public in breach of the obligation of confidence or exempt information as defined in Section 100I (1) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act would be disclosed to the public by virtue of the paragraphs indicated.”

The Committee received a Housing Delivery update in the form of a presentation.