Agenda and minutes

County Councillor S. Jones declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest under the Members Code of Conduct as a Director of the Welsh Retail Consortium.

County Councillor S. White declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest under the Members Code of Conduct as a member of Monmouth Town Council, and a family member is a blue badge holder.

County Councillor declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest under the Members Code of Conduct as a member of Abergavenny Town Council.

County Councillor D. Dovey declare a personal, non-prejudicial interest under the Members Code of Conduct as a member of Chepstow Town Council, and the Chamber of Commerce.

County Councillor D. Evans declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest under the Members Code of Conduct as a member of Caldicot Town Council.

There were no members of the public present.

The minutes of the Economy and Development Select Committee held on 3rd March 2016 were confirmed as an accurate record and signed by the Chairman, with the following amendment:

We acknowledged that the problems of the Velothon 2015 had been addressed and looked forward to the 2016 Velothon event.

Superfast Cymru Update

We welcomed visitors from BT Superfast Cymru, who were in attendance to discuss progress of the programme.

The Head of People and Commercial Development highlighted that we were at an important stage of the Superfast Cymru roll-out, with around 15 months left on the contract.  There was significant remaining infrastructure to be put in place, and officers were working closely with Welsh Government, BT and other providers to ensure connectivity.

Following a presentation from the Superfast Cymru Programme Manager Members were invited to comment and discuss.

The Chair noted that the presentation was a welcome follow on from an iCounty Item discussed at a previous meeting, and recognised the importance that in order to meet our aspirations under our digital strategy we need the infrastructure to be in place.  The Chair then asked who had determined the intervention areas of the roll-out of the programme, and expressed that as a gateway to Wales, Monmouthshire would have liked to have been further up the plan.

In response we heard that Welsh Government had requested that all local authorities had submitted feedback on priorities, and due to the response time Monmouthshire had been a latter area to get started.  There was also consideration of the way the infrastructure was built, Monmouthshire would be a later area for roll-out.  The amount of people benefitting from FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) would have also meant Monmouthshire would have been at the back end of the programme.

A member raised a question regarding the lack of access to broadband.  It was explained that there should be no reason for lack of access, and BT advisors would address any technical issues.  There was a misconception that people would automatically get an increase in speed.  This was not the case, as an order needed to be placed with the provider.

A Member expressed that the progress was pleasing, and added as a point of interest that Abergavenny was embarking on an Agri-Urban Project, a European project aimed at generating sustainability and innovation in the agricultural industry in Abergavenny town.  It was stressed that the availability of broadband was a vital element of this project.  Assurances were requested that, in respect of the updated pavements in the town centre, work would be inter-linked with MCC Operations department.  In response, Members were reassured that BT would engage with the local authority prior to infrastructure works, resulting in extended planning periods, hence why projects may be delayed.

The Chair suggested that in order to improve communication, it would be beneficial for Councillors to receive correspondence of updates in their wards.  The Head of Operations advised that as a Highway Authority we publish a weekly list of works within highways, and would ensure officers distributed this to Members accordingly.

The Cabinet Member for Enterprise expressed disappointment with regards to the comment made suggesting that MCC had not seemed interested in the uptake of the roll-out.  We were informed that MCC had been at the forefront at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Context:

We received a report from the Head of Operations in order for Members to scrutinize the feedback arising from the statutory consultation exercise in relation to the proposed new car park order for MCC public car parks and comment as members see fit.

Key Issues:

In 2014 the Economy and Development Select Committee scrutinized proposals to introduce numerous changes to the MCC car parking regime.

Following scrutiny proposals went to Cabinet for approval in September 2014.

Various recommendations were approved (new car parks, increase in charges) including the drafting of a new car park order.

The proposed car park order has been published and is presently in a statutory consultation period, the formal consultation process closes on 22nd April 2016. The feedback from the consultation exercise showed a few predominant themes:

·         Charging blue badge holders: 24 of the 62 pieces of correspondence have been received. The consistent response has been that to charge blue badge holders is unfair. In some instances mitigation has been suggested such as the first hour of parking being free.

·         Creating short term (no return within 2 hours) car parks: The withdrawal of the opportunity to park all day in a short stay car park means that those wishing to park all day must now use an alternative car park which may be less convenient.

·         Charging (Monday to Saturday) in Byefield Lane, Abergavenny: concern that this removes the only free car park in Abergavenny (other than Tuesday) resulting in those regularly using the car park moving to park on street to avoid charges.

·         Charging for the station car park, Chepstow: concern that this might deter travellers from using the train and prompting drivers to park on street to avoid car park charges.

Member Scrutiny:

The Chair noted that a progress report would be received at future date.  We were now given an opportunity to reflect upon the responses from the consultation.  On the basis of the responses received today, Members should decide if they wish to comment further before the draft order is presented to Cabinet.

Members expressed concern surrounding the issue of blue Badge holders being charged for car parking, particularly as one of the Councils priorities is the protection of vulnerable people.  In the Abergavenny area there were concerns from the police that this may result in parking on yellow lines, frustrating an already difficult situation.  It was recommended that Cabinet reflect on the values, and contributions, and seriously reconsider the need to charge blue badge holders.

The Cabinet Member for Community Development explained that the issue had been a struggle and after the previous meeting in 2014, Committee had agreed to the recommendation with a proviso that committee comments were included in the Cabinet report.  Since the previous scrutiny Welsh Government had issued new criteria for blue badge holders, considerably tightening who can receive a badge.  A full year set of figures show that 20-25% of renewals are being declined.  We heard that Cabinet have serious reservations around introducing the charges and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

We noted the next ordinary meeting would be Thursday 9^th June 2016 at 2.00pm to discuss:

·         Events update

·         Monmouthshire Business and Enterprise Update

·         Possible Chief Officer Annual Report

We confirmed a Business Breakfast would be held at County Hall, 4^th May 2016.

We noted the date of the next meeting as Thursday 9^th June 2016, 2.00pm.