Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 3 - Council House. View directions

Contact: Michelle Salmon, Governance Services,  Tel: 024 7697 2643, Email:  michelle.salmon@coventry.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

2.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 88 KB

(a)  To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 3rd April 2019

 

(b)  Matters arising

 

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 3rd April 2019 were agreed and signed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

3.

Tree Wardens pdf icon PDF 49 KB

Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

 

(Note: Kathy Fletcher, Tree Warden, has been invited to attend the meeting for this item.)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a presentation by a Tree Warden, Kathy Fletcher, on the work of the Tree Wardens.

 

The Coventry Tree Warden Network was constituted in the Spring of 2014. Tree Wardens could get involved with a range of activities, from practical projects such as planting and caring for trees, to gathering information about local trees and developing imaginative projects to encourage others, including schoolchildren, to value their local trees and woods. The organisation was run and managed by volunteers.

 

The Network aimed to:

 

·  Raise the profile of trees and hedgerows around Coventry and its environs.

·  Provide a forum for tree and hedgerow related issues.

·  Gather and disseminate information about trees and hedgerows to aid proper

·  Management and maintenance.

·  Promote the benefits of trees and hedgerows by raising awareness and through education.

·  Liaise with statutory bodies and other organisations to influence policy and decision making.

·  Encourage, promote and support practical projects associated with trees, woods and hedgerows.

·  Raise public awareness of the Network, its objectives and activities.

 

Activities that the Network had been involved in included:

 

·  Tree Council Forum at Coombe in October 2018

·  Heritage Open Days, September 2018

·  Godiva Festival, September 2018

·  Kingsfield Gardens (aka Kingsway orchard)

·  Cut and sold mistletoe (Lord Mayor’s Charity)

·  Monthly training

·  Commented on planning applications

·  Grant applications

·  Trips and events

·  Tree evaluations

·  Answered questions

·  Planted trees

 

The Local Authority supported the Wardens daily with advice and information, provided tools and equipment, and consulted them where Council projects would affect trees or hedgerow. They had an excellent working relationship with the Tree Wardens.

 

The Board questioned the Tree Warden and officers and discussed the following issues:

 

·  Encouraging the inclusion of landscaping in industrial and urban developments

·  The health and wellbeing benefits of trees and hedgerows

·  Innovative examples of urban living that includes green space and landscaping, across the world

·  Tree evaluations – most expensive evaluation £500,000

·  The location and species of the oldest trees in the City

·  The diversity of tree species that the City offers that combat a range of issues i.e. pests and diseases

·  Further planting for the City Centre area

·  The Local Plan’s Tree Protection Policy

·  Mapping of the city’s trees and identification of areas for new tree and hedgerow planting

·  Working with schools

·  Creating woodland environments where appropriate/where there are no development proposals

·  The need for financial modelling in addition to tree planting

·  The established working relationship between the Local Authority and the Tree Wardens

·  Review of the Tree pollarding schedule

·  Review of grass growth around trees - limiting the growth of grass to a distance from the base of the trunk that would offer better protection for trees and their roots.

 

The Board thanked Kathy Fletcher for her attendance at the meeting and the interesting presentation she provided for Members and acknowledged the good working relationship that the Tree Wardens had established with the City Council.

 

RESOLVED that the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3):

 

1)  Notes the presentation by Tree Warden, Kathy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

Draft Green Space Strategy pdf icon PDF 75 KB

Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) considered a Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) on the draft Green Space Strategy, attached as an Appendix to the Note.

 

Evidence demonstrated how the City’s Green Spaces including parks, recreation grounds, playing fields, children's playgrounds, ornamental gardens, golf courses, and woodlands, directly contributed to people's health and wellbeing. They help create thriving communities providing significant them with opportunities to develop and enhance their social, recreational, environmental, educational and economic wellbeing.

 

The importance of Councils developing a strategy for greenspaces was  recognised and promoted as good practice by a number of bodies including The Design Council (formally CABE Space) and Mayor of London's Open Space Strategies Best Practice Guidance. Social and demographic changes, reductions in government spending and budgets affecting parks and open spaces along with environmental changes such as the impacts of global warming and the strains on wildlife, policy changes and changes in greenspace provision, meant that the city was in a different place to that of 10 years ago. The role and importance of greenspace was increasing, and it needed to meet the changing needs and demands placed on it and provide value and benefit to the community into the future.

 

Through its action plan, the Greenspace Strategy adopted by the City Council in 2008 for a period of 10 years, delivered significant achievements. These included an increases in customer satisfaction with the city’s greenspaces and in the number of voluntary groups supporting parks, the achievement of 6 national awards, the establishment of successful partnerships, improvement made to over 60 park sites, an increase in sites designated as important to wildlife, the production of management and maintenance plans and success in obtaining external income. The 2019 - 2024 Strategy builds on those achievements setting the scene for the management and development of our greenspaces over the next 5 years.

 

The revised strategy has been developed through stages, including: Policy Review; An assessment of greenspace quality, quantity and accessibility; Stakeholder Consultation; Analysis and Evaluation; and recommendations and Action Plan.

 

The Strategy presented key recommendations which sought to:

 

  Ensure parks remained safe and vibrant spaces to visit, supporting community use and made an important contribution to the delivery of the City of Culture programme.

    Address barriers to use and encourage greater usage and value through   the better reporting and recording of anti-social behaviour including issues relating to the management and maintenance of greenspaces and dog fouling and control.

  Increase park use, promoting greenspace as venues for activities, developing event and activity programmes, creating community hubs and community champions and provide facilities that appeal to all sections of the community.

  Address deficiencies in the quality, quantity and accessibility of greenspace and playing pitch provision through the adoption of local standards, improve community access to education facilities, increase provision for young people.

  Address deficiencies in greenspace and quality of facilities through the development of local standards and measure changes delivered through the strategy.

  Establish effective  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Air Quality Action Plan pdf icon PDF 79 KB

Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

Minutes:

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief executive (Place) on the development of the Coventry Local Air Quality Action Plan and the current position in relation to the Plan.

 

Coventry had been identified by Government as one of 40 towns and cities in the UK where roadside nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels are likely to exceed legal limits by 2021. The Government issued a Direction instructing the City Council to develop and submit a Local Air Quality Action Plan setting out how the Council intended to reduce NO2 levels within the city below legal limits in the shortest possible time. The Board received progress reports on the development of the Action Plan July 2018 (minute 4/18 referred) and November 2018 (minute 18/18 referred)

 

The Action Plan, outlining the preferred package of measures that would achieve the objective of reducing NO2 levels, and which did not propose a Clean Air Zone, was approved by the Cabinet in February 2019 (their minute 106/18 referred) and submitted to Government. The Board received an update on the Action Plan in April 2019 (Minute 50/18 referred), when they requested a further report once Government feedback on the Plan had been properly reviewed.

 

Government responded to the Action Plan in March 2019 with a new Direction imposing the following duties upon the Council:

 

·  Duty to implement the benchmark option [this being the implementation of a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) Category D as set out in the LAQAP submission] – to achieve compliance with the legal limit for nitrogen dioxide by 2023 at the latest.

·  Duty to submit additional documentation–covering revised air quality modelling by 14th June at the latest. This modelling should demonstrate the applicable class of a charging CAZ, and outline the additional measures that would be required to achieve compliance in the shortest possible time.

·  Duty to prepare and submit a full business case by 27th September 2019 at the latest. 

 

A Clean Air Zone Category D would result in a charge being imposed upon non-compliant vehicles entering the zone, including all categories of vehicle (bus, taxi, vans, lorries, motorcycles and cars). The Cabinet has consistently opposed the principle of putting a CAZ in place in the city, and this has been supported by the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) in their previous meetings. 

 

The Council was complying with the latest Direction by undertaking additional air quality modelling work testing different options for the Action Plan which would result in an updated Action Plan being submitted to Government later in 2019. The aim remains to deliver an Action Plan that achieves the reduction in NO2 levels in the shortest possible time without the need for the imposition of a CAZ. 

 

The Holyhead Road route into the city records the highest levels of NO2 therefore, the Council was developing a revised package of measures that focussed upon reducing traffic flows on Holyhead Road, including removing a pinch point at Spon End to provide greater capacity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Outstanding Issues

There are no outstanding issues

Minutes:

There were no outstanding issues.

7.

Draft Work Programme 2019/2020 pdf icon PDF 83 KB

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

Minutes:

RESOLVED that:

 

1)  The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) Work Programme for 2019/2020 be updated to include the following items of business, as discussed at the Informal meeting of the Board held prior to this meeting:

 

a)  Tourism Strategy 2019-2023 – Progress

b)  Progress on City Centre South

c)  St Mary’s Guildhall

d)  Canal and Canal Basin - Progress

e)  Very Light Rail - Progress

f)  Ring and Ride – Review delivery of service

g)  Electric Vehicle Charging Points – Review of installation and usage

h)  Air Quality Action Plan – Progress updates

i)  Coventry and Warwickshire LEP – Work of the LEP including grant funding

 

2)  The following items of business be considered for future meetings of the Board:

 

a)  Very Light Rail test track in Dudley

b)  A canal basin where development has taken place, for example Sheffield or Leeds

8.

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

Minutes:

There were no other items of business.