Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 November, 2020 were agreed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Briefing Note of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services

The Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee will consider the call in indicated below.  In accordance with the Constitution, at least one of those Members must be in attendance at the meeting for consideration of their call in.

Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities – 3 December, 2020

Cabinet Member, Councillor A S Khan, who has been invited to attend this meeting.

The report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services is attached as an appendix to the Briefing Note.

The Cabinet Member has agreed to:-

1.  Consider the objections to the proposed introduction of parking charges.

2.  Subject to Recommendation 1, approve the implementation of the charging structure at the War Memorial Park as detailed in Appendix 2 to this report, noting that this will be undertaken by making of the said variation Order

Decision called in by Councillor A Andrews, R Bailey and G Ridley

Their reason for the call in :-

“Whilst the principle of introducing charges at the War Memorial Park was approved at a meeting held on the 25th February 2020, the public consultation was not held until October 2020. At the Cabinet Member meeting held on December 2020, insufficient information and data was presented to the Cabinet Member in relation to the potential impact of displacement parking in local residential roads.

We would like to consider this matter in further depth including with officers from our highways team.”

The Committee considered a briefing note of the Director of Street Scene and Regulatory Services which indicated that the decision by Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities to grant permission for the introduction of parking charges at the War Memorial Park following the consideration of objections had been called in by Councillors Andrews, Bailey and Ridley. The briefing note detailed the material facts relating to the specific reasons for the call-in. Councillor Bailey attended the meeting for the consideration of this item, Councillors Andrew and Ridley were already present being members of the Committee. Councillors A S Khan and P Akhtar, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities also attended.

The reasons given for the call-in, were as follows:

“‘Whilst the principle of introducing charges at the War Memorial Park was approved at a meeting held on the 25th February 2020, the public consultation was not held until October 2020. At the Cabinet Member meeting held on December 2020, insufficient information and data was presented to the Cabinet Member in relation to the potential impact of displacement parking in local residential roads.”

The call-in concerned the report considered by the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities at his meeting on 3rd December 2020 entitled ‘Introduction of Parking Charges at War Memorial Park – Consideration of Objections Following a Period of Consultation’.

At this meeting, the Cabinet Member had been asked to consider the proposed introduction of parking charges, and subject to the consideration of the objections, to approve the implementation of the charging structure at the War Memorial Park as detailed in the report, noting that this would be undertaken by making of the said Variation Order. Following consideration of the objections, the Cabinet Member had approved the implementation of the charging structure.

The Committee considered the decisions made by the Cabinet Member on 3rd December 2020; the reasons for the call-in; and the determination, along with the contents of the briefing note which included the details relating to the specific reasons for the call-in.

Councillors responsible for the call-in and the Committee Members asked questions in relation to the call-in and received the following responses:

•  The initial decision to charge for car parking was taken by Council as part of the budget setting process so was not therefore part of the call-in

•  The information around capacity issues at the Leamington Road car park, referred to in the Cabinet Member meeting to help inform the decision, was based on visual observations by parks officers, rather than any formal data gathering process.

•  There were concerns raised that charging was being introduced across all car parks at the Park to tackle capacity issues which were predominately only at the Leamington Road car park.

•  Future consultations regarding the Memorial Park would include contact with the Ward Members for Earlsdon and Cheylesmore.

•  Potential systems for reduced charges for park and ride users were discussed to prevent abuse of the system

•  Concerns of dispersal of parking  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

Report of the Director of Law and Governance

The Committee considered and noted their Work Programme for 2020/21. They requested that an item on Brexit be considered at a future meeting at an appropriate time.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no items of urgent public business.