No apologies were received.

There were no declarations of pecuniary interests.

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as an accurate record.

A verbal update will be provided at the meeting.

Christine Parsloe, Leisure and Culture Development Manager, provided an up-date on the Morden Leisure Centre development:

·         Archaeological works have taken place on site with a number of trial pits.  A report is anticipated. Some findings may be expected given Stane Street, the Roman Road, is known to run through the area. 

·         Seven Great Crested Newts have been found on site.  This is a material finding requiring an extra two weeks of consultation for planning and a licence from the European Union.  Pre-screening is now happening with Natural England to speed up the process of applying to the EU.  Work is on-going with an ecologist to carry out the necessary procedures and to put in place any required mitigation;

·         The development will go to the Planning Application Committee on Thursday 16 June 2016;

·         Meetings are continuing to be held with the Morden Park Playing Fields Community Trust; and

·         The contractor procurement is on-going which when finalised will be notified to residents and Councillors through another newsletter. 

In response to Councillors’ questions, Christine Parsloe clarified:

·         An on-site turning circle for coaches will be provided and incorporated into the landscaping whilst retaining the barrier to the Registry Office;

·         Meetings will be held with residents to discuss the treatment of the old site.  This is currently being planned with ecologist and landscape architect expertise and will include an orchard; and

·         The newts were found around pond one.  Plans are on-going to enhance their environment and obtain an EU licence that will allow the development to continue undisrupted.  This work is all achievable within the existing timeframe allowing works to start in September as planned, providing all progresses without any unforeseen issues.

Chris Lee (Director of Environment and Regeneration) introduced the Department’s performance monitoring report by highlighting three key measures.  It was noted that it is early in the municipal year meaning quarterly reporting isn’t yet available:

·         (SP414) volume of planning applications: this measure exceeded last year’s target and is already 20% over the estimate for the year.  This is putting pressure on a service that is already lean and is being considered for a shared service.  Additionally highlighted the percentage of minor planning applications determined within eight weeks (CR052/SP115) where the target is not being achieved and is an area of concern.  Noted the Government is considering setting two year retrospective targets for this measure and therefore it is an area of concern (no information is yet available on what this target might be);

·         Street cleaning (page 11 of the agenda pack): measures are falling just short of the target.  This is a key issue for resident happiness and therefore one which will be carefully monitored.  Noted that payment of Fixed Penalty Notices is just ahead of target and that the contract with Kingdom to deliver the service started in April 2016; and

·         Commercial waste (SP046): target has been exceeded by £150K reflecting the value of this business and that this is a growing success.

In response to Panel member questions, officers provided the following clarification on the Environment and Regeneration Department’s performance report:

·         Live in Wimbledon Park: the financial exposure on this event to the Council is £130K if no tickets are sold.  This compares to an exposure of £120K last year that resulted in £78K loss.  This year the event is bigger (spread over four days rather than one including during the day), is being held earlier in the year and in association with other events (ie: the food festival).  Based on last year, the event now has a track record meaning it is easier to promote to sponsors and for commercial opportunities.  Also, the event will feature content targeted at a range of different audiences.  Promotion has started three months earlier than last year and a professional marketing agency has been engaged.  It is expected that the event will break even this year whilst it continues to become established.  Ticket sales will be reviewed in July 2016.  This is the last point when the event can be cancelled whilst incurring minimal costs;

·         (SP407) percentage of Fixed Penalty Notices (FNP) that have been paid: these are part of the Kingdom contract.  Those that want to challenge a notice firstly make a representation to Kingdom and it has the authority to review and quash.  Subsequently, representations can be made to the Council (to the Department itself).  It can uphold or decline notices.  Subsequently, court action can be brought.  It was noted this can be a costly route for those objecting to a FPN; if a judgement is found against them, they are liable for the FNP cost plus court costs in full which can be in excess of £1K.

·         (SP380)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The draft work programme presented to the meeting was agreed subject to the following comments:

·         Air quality will be considered as the topic for the next task group.  This will be considered further at the next meeting based on a scoping document;

·         Consideration of the renewal of the highways maintenance contract is likely to need pre-decision scrutiny earlier than planned and will potentially be included on the agenda for the next meeting (September 2016)

·         It was noted that this will make the agenda for the September meeting very full.  It was therefore proposed to move the update report on town centre regeneration to November (and the subsequent update from February to March); and

·         The meeting with representatives from Crossrail2 should happen as part of a Public Transport Liaison Committee meeting sometime in the autumn to coincide with the next round of Crossrail2 consultation being due in October 2016.

It was agreed at the topic selection workshop that in addition to regular performance monitoring (happening at the September and March meetings), Circle Housing representatives will be invited to attend Panel meetings in September and November to answer questions on the planned merger with Affinity Sutton (September) and repairs and regeneration (November). 

Panel members took the opportunity to agree the questions to be put to Circle Housing representatives at the September meeting on the planned merger with Affinity Sutton:

1.    What is the timetable for the merger?

2.    What consultation is expected to happen on the merger; with which audiences and how will this be conducted?

3.    How are current levels of resident satisfaction and the time taken on rectifying issues informing the merger and the service levels the new entity will aspire to achieve?

4.    How will the integration be managed and what measures will used to ensure that service levels are maintained during this process?  The Panel is interested in how the satisfaction of staff and residents will be measured and managed during the integration.

5.    Given the Panel’s interest in maintaining and driving up levels of service, what performance management measures will be maintained after the merger?

6.    Is the merger aiming to achieve cost reductions?  Will this be achieved through redundancies?  How will quality standards be sustained in the light of both of these eventualities?

7.    Do the governance arrangements of the new entity include a commitment to attend this Panel every six months to discuss performance? 

8.    Will resident and Council representation be maintained through the governance structures of the new entity?

9.    Will the new entity fulfil Circle’s pre-existing commitments to the Council and its community grants programme?

10. How will the new entity accommodate the new waste collection service being achieved through the South London Waste Partnership procurement?

It was noted that there is still time to consider these questions further and that they should be agreed by the end of July 2016 and shared with Circle at this point allowing it time to prepare to ensure the session is informative.

RESOLVED: to review the questions before the end of July so that they can be despatched to Circle Housing in a timely way for its attendance at the Panel’s September meeting.

Chris Lee provided an introduction:

·         The report on the South London Waste Partnership is provided in two parts; a report for scrutiny and a draft Cabinet report;

·         This process of decision making is happening across all four boroughs that comprise the partnership with the bidder selection having just been endorsed by the partnership board;

·         Identification of the preferred and reserve bidders is a significant milestone but it isn’t the end of the process; this will happen in December when contracts will be signed following a period of fine tuning; 

·         Pleased to be recommending two different preferred bidders for Lots 1 and 2 that have the relevant waste management and horticultural experience;

·         The savings that will be realised from the shared service are currently greater than initially planned but these won’t be confirmed until the contract is signed in December;

·         The preferred and reserve bidders have been selected as part of a competitive dialogue process focused on agreeing the outcomes to be achieved through the contract;

·         Noted that this builds on the success of the wheeled bin pilot which saw an increase in recycling and decline in street waste;

·         Staff engagement in the process has been important.  It is hoped that the preferred bidders will become approved bodies to the Local Government Pension Scheme.  Once the contracts are in place, work will start on the TUPE process; and

·         A client structure is being established to manage the contract.

Terry Downes of the GMB was then invited to address the Panel specifically on the implications of Lot 2;

·         Thanked the Panel for allowing him to speak;

·         Highlighted that the Council’s negotiations with the bidders over reducing TUPE rights is in breach of regulations and that staff affected by Lot 2 are not happy to move to annualised hours;

·         The new client contract structure means establishing three new positions costing £150K but it is not stated in the documentation whether the projected savings do or don’t take this into account;

·         Highlighted that other Councils (Croydon) have outsourced services to benefit from economies of scale but that this hasn’t come to fruition and services have ended-up coming back in-house.  This demonstrates that savings are not guaranteed;

·         Noted that staff were not able to bid because they weren’t able to be part of the competitive dialogue process but that proposed cost savings could have been achieved through the introduction of fortnightly waste collections and better utilisation of available transport; and

·         Stated that staff satisfaction is very low and that the proposed solution by the preferred bidders represents a reduction in service to Merton residents.

EXEMPT SESSION

It was proposed by Councillor Sargeant, seconded by Councillor Makin and accepted by the other members of the Panel that it should start its discussions in exempt session given the need of Councillors to refer to information in the exempt agenda.  As a result members of the public left the meeting.

Some members (Councillors Sargeant, Holden and Badenoch) expressed dissatisfaction because they hadn’t been provided with the detailed scoring  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.