To receive and, if so determined, to agree as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 21 September 2022.

Councillor Axford noted that costing had not been received for Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller visits and that the finance update requested at the last meeting had also not been provided.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the minutes be agreed as an accurate record.

2)    That the costings requested at the last meeting be chased up.

Members to give notice of any interest and the nature of that interest relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the adopted Code of Conduct.

No declarations were made.

A maximum of 15 minutes will be allocated to public questions submitted in writing to Democratic Services (democratic.services@trafford.gov.uk) by 4 p.m. on the working day prior to the meeting. Questions must be relevant to items appearing on the agenda and will be submitted in the order in which they were received.

No questions were received.

To receive a presentation from the Executive Member for Finance and Systems.

The Executive Member for Finance and Governance gave a brief introduction to the presentation beginning with the budget gap for the year which had increased to £8.25M. The presentation detailed the main areas of the Executive’s draft budget proposals and the Executive Member for Finance and Governance highlighted the key assumptions within those proposals.

Following the presentation Councillor Axford thanked Officers and Executive Member for the work they had done in preparing the draft budget and for the presentation. Councillor Axford then asked whether car parking fees were due to increase and whether consideration had been given car to fees being means tested as a way of increasing revenue.  Councillor Axford also asked about the Council’s position regarding discretionary services, for example the music service, and whether any of them would cease to be delivered by the Council.

The Executive Member responded to Councillor Axford that some answers would be provided at the meeting and others at the budget scrutiny sessions. The Executive Member then answered that consideration had not yet been given to means testing parking fines but that he would ask officers to investigate whether it could generate funds for the Council. With regards to street lighting the executive Member for Finance and Governance assured the Committee that officers would monitor the areas where lighting was to be reduced to ensure that the proposals did not impact public safety. The Executive Member of Finance stated that while discretionary services had been looked at it had not been with a view to reduce those services. The Committee were informed that the music service was struggling with capacity due to the high demand for the service.

Councillor Frass asked the Executive Member for Finance and Governance where the Council was up to on the lobbying programme. The Executive Member for Finance and Governance responded that the Council had approach local MPs and were looking to work with other stakeholders.  The Director of Finance added that the role of the F20 group was not as vociferous as it had been during the previous year. The group was led by Leicestershire Council who had messaged the home secretary on two occasions regarding the funding the twenty Council’s received. Councillor Whetton added that the letter sent to the Government was copied to Graham Brady MP by Councillor Whetton along with additional wording in support. Graham Brady MP informed Councillor Whetton that he had forwarded on the letter and would use his influence to support Trafford Council in their lobbying efforts. Both the Chair and the Executive Member for Finance and Governance thanked Councillor Whetton for his support in lobbying Graham Brady MP.

Councillor Winstanley asked whether the gap reported within the presentation was additional to the savings proposed and whether further details could be given as to the proposed changes to staff terms and conditions. The Executive Member for Finance and Governance confirmed that the budget gap was additional to the savings proposed and that the staff terms and conditions was with regards  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

To receive a report of the Executive Member for Climate Change and Transport Strategy.

The Executive Member for Climate Change and Transport Strategy introduced the report which provided an overview of the work done towards the Councils Carbon Neutral Action plan. The Executive Member for Climate Change and Transport Strategy brought the Committees attention to section 2 of the report which detailed the work that had been completed so far with section 3 putting those projects in the wider context of the actin plan and detailed projects that had fallen behind schedule. Section 4 detailed the difficulties the Council faced in achieving the action plan and why some of the actions were deemed to be at risk. The Executive Member for Climate Change and Transport Strategy concluded by stating that the report showed that many of the easy to achieve actions within the plan had been achieved and those remaining were those which required a larger effort to complete.

The Director of Growth and Regulatory Services added that the Council had come from a low base and had come to the stage where more effort was required to show returns. Section 4 of the report highlighted the difficulties that the area was facing in continuing to move forward. Director of Growth and Regulatory Services asked the Committee to note that there were many areas of the action plan that were reliant upon external bodies such as the delivery of Places for Everyone. 

Following the introduction Councillor Axford stated that she was disappointed the public panel was no longer going ahead and she felt the Council needed to look into harnessing the energy of the public including Trafford youth cabinet. Councillor Axford noted that planning permission had been given to some large developments across the area which would have a high level of emission and asked how the Council could ensure future developments did not have large levels of emissions. Councillor Williams responded that the climate change commission was looking at communications and engagement with the public. There was a section of the website dedicated to climate change, but it was not listed on the front page of the website which would be addressed. The Director of Growth and Regulatory Services added that getting the right planning policy in place was vital in impacting future developments and assured the Committee that places for everyone was going through the final stages and would be in place relatively soon with the Council local plan following on shortly after.

Councillor Carter asked whether anything was being done to ensure future developments had charging points and high EPC levels. The Director of Growth and Regulatory Services stated that the local plan and updating of building regulations would assure that EPCs would be higher. The Principal Sustainability and Climate Change Officer added that the building regulations would require developments to be 30% better from 2022 and 80% better by 2025 the question was whether Trafford wanted developers to reach those targets sooner.

Councillor Carter asked about the enforcement of the EPCs which the report stated was limited in the short  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

To receive a report of the Executive Member for Environmental Services.

The Executive Member for Environmental Services introduced the report which was a follow on from a report that had been given at the previous meeting. The report detailed the resources that it would take to put all the green spaces into fields of Trust. Given the resource cost for putting green spaces into fields in trust the Executive Member recommended that the Council continue to use the range of protections available and place green spaces into Fields in Trust where it was identified that was the best option for protection.

Councillor Coggins noted the resources required and the response provided by the Executive Member for Environmental Services but felt that the sites selected for Fields in Trust were not always the best one. Spoke about the Cow fields that the council were building on as an example of a site that would have been protected. In response The Executive Member for Environmental Services spoke about the sites that had been chosen and noted that they were three distinct sites.

Following discussions, the Chair concluded that the recommendation of the Committee would be to not rule out the use of fields in Trust to protect any areas of land however, the resource requirement meant that it was not feasible for the Council to put all green spaces into fields of Trust and so the Council should continue to use a range of measures to protect its green spaces.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That the Committee’s recommendation be fed back at the next Council meeting.

To consider the items within the work programme for the remainder of the municipal year.

The Committee were informed that the Task and Finish Group on Events at Old Trafford Football Ground were working on a survey for members of the public to fill out to gain their views. The Task and Finish Group would also be looking to get views of GMP, Manchester United, and Amey Officers, along with other local stakeholders. Councillor Carter added that the survey was de to be published on Friday or the following Monday.

Councillor Winstanley spoke about the Disability Access report and how the Executive had given a detailed response to point 2 and 3 of the report but not point one. Councillor Winstanley then asked for an email to be sent from the Committee asking for a further response from the executive covering point 1 of the report, which was agreed.

The Chair noted that a second report was to go to the Executive in December and asked that it come to the Committee.  Councillor Axford asked that it be added to the agenda for the Committee meeting in March.

Councillor Zhi asked if the Climate change action plan could be considered again in March.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the updates be noted.

2)    That an email from the Committee be sent requesting a detailed response to point one of the Disability Access Task and Finish Group report.

3)    That the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller follow on report to the Executive be shared with the Committee.

4)    That the items raised be added to the work programme.