Council and democracy

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Training Room, The Beehive Community Resource Centre, West Street, Grays, RM17 6XP

Contact: Grace Le, Senior Democratic Services Officer  Email: Direct.Democracy@thurrock.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

21.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 253 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the Planning, Transport, Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committeemeeting held on 5 October 2021.

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 October 2021 were approved as a true and correct record.

22.

Items of Urgent Business

To receive additional items that the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency, in accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972. To agree any relevant briefing notes submitted to the Committee.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

 

The Committee confirmed that they had received and read the Thurrock Interim Transport Strategy Briefing Note that had been circulated on 4 October 2021.

23.

Declaration of Interests

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

24.

Fees and Charges Pricing Strategy 2022-23 pdf icon PDF 441 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report was introduced by Leigh Nicholson.

 

Councillor Kerin stated that he was pleased to see a good level of detail in the report. He referred to pages 17 – 21 and asked why the increase for charges was so high and what formula had been used to assess the increase. David Kleinberg referred to parking charges and explained that no formula was used as the service looked at former benchmarking. He said that no set figures were used but the service looked at parking across the county to find a way to manage this.

 

Councillor Kerin highlighted his concerns that people’s wages were not enough to cover parking permit charges as well as other expenses. He referred to page 21 and asked if the service had assessed the impact of the charges to local businesses specifically in Darnley Road and Argent Street.

 

Due to technical issues with the Wi-Fi connection, the Chair moved onto item 6 of the agenda to allow time for the connection to improve.

25.

Highways Term Maintenance and Street Lighting Contract Procurement pdf icon PDF 249 KB

Minutes:

The report was presented by Peter Wright.

 

Councillor Kerin asked if the scheme would include Seabrooke Rise. Peter Wright answered that Seabrooke Rise would not be included as it was allocated under housing assets.

 

Councillor Watson noted that it was an 8 year contract and asked how this would fit in with highways and with private housing developments. Peter Wright explained that it would enable the service to work with colleagues in Planning and Highways to deliver their work for example element Tilbury Town works could be possible through the contract. In regards to works delivered through external organisations there was an option which the service did not currently do, although they delivered works for other Directorates such as Housing.

 

Councillor Watson noted the small amount allocated for gritting each year and thought that it was not enough. She pointed out that most roads did not have enough gritting to help with road calming measures. She asked if the amount allocated was enough to accommodate gritting each year. She also said that gritting should be focused on priority 1 network which were strategic roads. Peter Wright explained that the season had started and 8 actions approximately completed this season. He explained that the service had allocated enough costs for gritting which would allow for growth. He said that Thurrock gritted more than other local authorities and that there were contingency plans in place to manage gritting.

 

The Chair asked if the £250,000 allocated for gritting was the expected spend every year and if this was enough for the coldest years. Peter Wright answered that the figure had been based on the coldest year so far and that there was room in the figure for growth. The service had also factored in the increase of materials cost in this figure.

 

Councillor Kerin said that 8 years was a long term investment for a contract and asked if the service would be able to terminate the contract if it was not working well. Peter Wright explained that contracts had an evaluation process which looked at Quality elements and were scored accordingly.  Also that the contract would be awarded for 5 years with an extension. The extension would be triggered if the provider met the KPIs within the contract which would be rigorously managed.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That Planning, Transport & Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

 

1.1         Noted the contents contained within the report and;

1.2         Provided Cabinet with any relevant observations or comments to aid their consideration of the proposals contained within this report.

 

Due to the unresolved technical issues, the Committee agreed to postponed this meeting and defer the rest of the items to the next meeting.

26.

Introduction of additional Pay and Display sites within Thurrock pdf icon PDF 260 KB

Minutes:

Deferred to the next meeting.

27.

A13 Widening Project pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Minutes:

Deferred to the next meeting.

28.

Stanford-le-Hope Interchange Report pdf icon PDF 279 KB

Minutes:

Deferred to the next meeting.

 

29.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 220 KB

Minutes:

Deferred to the next meeting.