Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

(a)  To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 11^th April, 2018

(b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 11^th April, 2018, were signed as a true record.

Further to Minute 43/17 headed ‘Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)’ the Board were informed that, at their meeting on 18^th April 2018, Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee had agreed to the Board’s request that the Committee lead on LEP scrutiny for the Council, and had agreed to invite Jonathan Browning, Chair, and Martin Yardley, Chief Executive, to a future meeting of the Committee.

Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Board considered a briefing note and received a presentation of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) which informed of the current activity in relation to the development of the St Mary’s Guildhall offer and the establishment of shared office space in the Council House. Councillor O’Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration attended the meeting for the consideration of this item along with Councillor Clifford, Deputy Chair of Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee.

The briefing note indicated that in January, 2018 the café in the Undercroft at St. Mary’s closed to enable works to take place to improve the physical environment and customer experience. Works were carried out to the staircase, bar area and lighting in the café. In March ‘The Undercroft at St Mary’s’ was relaunched offering an improved café experience, a new menu and a re-focused promotional campaign. The Board were informed that customer numbers had improved since the relaunch and the performance of the café was being closely monitored to support its ongoing success. 

The Board noted that Coombe Abbey Hotel had been engaged around providing insight and/or advice around the customer offer and experience across the wider St Mary’s complex.

As part of the work on implementing Coventry’s Cultural Strategy and to support the City’s preparations for being UK City of Culture 2021, a review of potential cultural capital projects had commenced. This included exploring the capacity of projects to contribute to widening access to the city’s cultural offerings and growing culture and leisure tourism. The work would support the ongoing work on the development of a new Coventry Destination Management Plan.

In relation to the wider commercial opportunities at St Mary’s Guildhall and the Council House, in March, 2018 initial proposals for the Wheelhouse to open a partnership co-working community space were progressed into a preferred option for delivering the opportunity within the Council House. The Wheelhouse 

(Coventry) opened in April, 2018 within the former Communications Team offices which had been converted to offer dedicated desk spaces; co-working desk spaces; relaxed working spaces; and meeting room spaces. The Board were informed that the Wheelhouse reported that they were on course for achieving targets in membership growth.

The presentation provided further details on the relaunch of the Undercroft at St Mary’s; the events potential at St Marys and the engagement with Coombe Abbey Hotel; the cultural capital opportunities and the Destination Management Plan; and the opening of The Wheelhouse.

Members raised a number of issues in response to the briefing note and presentation and responses were provided, matters raised included:

·  An update on the recent petition concerning the option to white wash the ceiling at the Undercroft, a decision on which had not been made

·  Support for the relaunch of the Undercroft but a concern that existing customers were being lost 

·  An assurance about the Wheelhouse, that the Council would not be incurring costs

·  Any future plans for the old police cells at the Council House

·  The requirement to get a cross section of visitors to St  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

Report of the Task and Finish Group

The Board considered a briefing note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator which set out the recommendations from the Canal and Basin Task and Finish Group which had been established to look at creating the canal and canal basin as a destination point. Councillor O’Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration attended the meeting for the consideration of this item along with Nick Cleaver and Ian Lane, Canal and River Trust, Alan Dyer, Coventry Canal Basin Trust, Robert Nash, Coventry Canal Society, and Elaine Tierney, The Tin. Councillor Mal Mutton, Radford Ward Councillor and Member of the Task and Finish Group and Councillor Clifford, Deputy Chair of Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee were also in attendance.

The briefing note indicated that at their meeting on 20^th September, 2017 the Board had considered an item on the canal and canal basin and had agreed to set up a Task and Finish Group to facilitate improvements to and better use of the canal and canal basin. The scoping document for the Group was tabled at the meeting. The Group comprised Councillors Auluck, Hammon, Mal Mutton, McNicholas and Bally Singh.

The briefing note set out the history of the canal and the Board noted that many of the buildings and the site of the canal basin were restored between 1993 and 1995 with the canal and surrounding area from the basin to Hawkesbury junction being designated as a conservation area. Coventry’s Green Space Strategy was in the process of being refreshed and the canal was to be considered as a ‘blue corridor’ as part of the strategy.

The briefing note referred to the Group’s visit to the Canal where they heard from Alan Dyer, David Moore from Valley Cruises, Elaine Tierney and representatives from the Canal and River Trust. The main activity and infrastructure issues raised by these representatives were outlined. Reference was made to the meeting with the CAN project, with Helen Cuthill from Coventry University and representatives from The Tin. The plans for developing the building owned by the Canal and River Trust was discussed and was to be part of the vision for the Canal Basin to be a creative hub for the city 

Members of the Task and Finish Group went on a journey from the canal basin to Swan Lane to experience the canal from the water which gave a different perspective on the canal. Members identified a number of issues as part of the visit which were highlighted. Councillor McNicholas, Chair of the Group, also had several meetings with the Chair of the West Midlands Partnership, Canal and River Trust, and the Waterway Manager to discuss some of the issues that had arisen during the Task and Finish Group meetings.

The briefing note concluded with comments from the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services and the Director of Highways and Infrastructure along with comments from the Cabinet Members for Jobs and Regeneration and City Services and the Cabinet Member/ Deputy Cabinet Member for Public Health and Sport who met on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

There are outstanding issues.

The Board noted a briefing note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator concerning a recommendation approved by Cabinet at their meeting on 4^th October, 2017 ‘that the Cabinet Member for City Services undertake a review of Council vehicle usage, particularly during school hours, to see whether the vehicles could be used to support the transport requirements of vulnerable, ill and elderly people in the city’. The recommendation was one of the recommendations arising from Transport Select Committee. Councillor Lakha, Deputy Cabinet Member for City Services carried out the review and his report outlining his findings was set out at an appendix to the briefing note. Councillor Lakha attended the meeting for the consideration of this item.

Arising from his review, the Deputy Cabinet Member concluded that there was not a big vehicle capacity available for supporting other Coventry residents outside of the Council’s current remit. In addition, there were complexities associated with the passenger operator’s licence that would be required to do additional works, the Council currently operated using a permit system. Also the situation was further complicated by a current Department of Transport consultation on the permit system with potential proposals for change.

RESOLVED that the content of the report by Councillor Ram Lakha, Deputy Cabinet Member for City Services be noted.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Committee noted their final work programme of the year and that any outstanding items would be carried forward to the new work programme for 2018/19.

There were no additional items of public business.