Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Sue Vincent.

Members will be asked to declare any pecuniary, non-pecuniary and any other interests in respect of items on the agenda.

In respect of item 9, Review of Camden Medium Term Financial Strategy, Councillor Henry Newman declared for transparency that he was a member of Better gyms in light of the proposals in the report regarding leisure facilities and fees.

Webcasting of the Meeting

The Chair to announce the following: “In addition to the rights by law that the public and press have to record and film public meetings, I would like to remind everyone present that this meeting will be broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and can be viewed on our website for six months after the meeting.  After that time, webcasts are archived and can be made available on DVD upon request.

If you are seated in the room it is likely that the Council’s cameras will capture your image and you are deemed to be consenting to being filmed and to the use of those images and sound recordings for webcasting and/or training purposes.”

Any other announcements

Webcasting

The Chair announced that the meeting was being broadcast live to the internet and would be capable of repeated viewing and copies of the recording could be made available to those that requested them. Those seated in the room were deemed to be consenting to being filmed.

The Chair has accepted one deputation in respect of Item 10, Camden Draft Transport Strategy, from John Chamberlain, Co-ordinator of the Camden Cycling Campaign.

The Chair announced that he had accepted one deputation from the Camden Cycling Campaign in respect of item 10, Camden Draft Transport Strategy. He proposed and it was agreed that the agenda order be amended to take item 10 after item 7, Call-in – Consultation Draft of the Camden Clean Air Action Plan, and hear from the deputation during consideration of the item.

There was no urgent business.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 30^th October 2018.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 30^th October 2018 be approved and signed as a correct record.

Report of the Executive Director Supporting People.

On 15 November 2018, the Cabinet Member for Improving Camden’s Environment considered a report, reference (SC/2018/63), which provided the consultation draft Clean Air Action Plan for 2019-2022 for approval prior to public consultation.

The Cabinet Member approved the decision to publish the consultation draft on 24 November.

On 23 November 2018, Councillors Oliver Cooper, Steve Adams, Maria Higson and Andrew Parkinson called in the decision and the consultation process was stopped. A copy of the call-in notice is attached as Appendix 1.

This report sets out the grounds for the call-in and officer advice to the Committee.

An early draft of the Clean Air Action Plan was considered by Culture and Environment Scrutiny Committee on 30 October and comments from that meeting were incorporated into the draft Clean Air Action Plan subject to the call-in.

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Director Supporting Communities.

Councillors Oliver Cooper and Maria Higson presented the call-in commenting on points made in the officers’ report in response to the call-in. Responding to questions on the proposal in the call-in to raise engine idling fines to £80, they suggested that there should be flexibility in how Camden approached the issue of engine idling, but considering how few people were caught engine idling the current threshold of £20 fine appeared too low to be a deterrent. A higher threshold did not need to be consistent across the borough, with fines potentially being higher in certain areas where there was a cumulative impact for example. Other boroughs were using creative measures to address engine idling and it was worth looking at those.

The Strategic Lead - Sustainability, Air Quality and Energy commented that the Council had been piloting engine idling fining and was assessing the best way to progress this. The draft Clean Air Action Plan (‘the Plan’) was deliberately open on this point so different options with respect to level of fines and legislation to be used, including potentially by-laws, could be used to come up with the best approach.

It was clarified that the intention of the call-in was not to prevent consultation of the public taking place on the draft Plan. Councillor Higson emphasised the intention was to introduce more high-level targets to try and give the Plan more impetus.

Committee members noted strong commitments from the Mayor of London on introducing ultra-low emission and electric buses and acknowledged officers’ comments that lobbying for something that would be introduced during the course of the Plan did not seems a good use of resources. Councillor Cooper remarked on inconsistency between this approach and the action point to support the introduction of the Ultra Low Emission Zone, which was notionally also guaranteed. Committee members, whilst noting that bus routes often crossed many boroughs, remarked that there may be some merit in lobbying the Mayor on the deployment of ultra-low emission and electric buses to ensure they were used in Camden as early as possible. Officers noted this and remarked on the links between the Plan and the Camden Draft Transport Strategy, agreeing that the lobbying approach proposed in the Strategy could potentially be refined to reflect this.

Turning to electric charging points, Councillor Cooper commented that urgent action was required to significantly increase the number of charging points, citing the large-scale increase being implemented in a single ward in Wandsworth by way of comparison. Committee members commented on a need to have an aspirational target, albeit 1000 seemed too high in light of the comments in the report, as well as aiming to use the most up to date technology with regard to installation of any charging points. The Strategic Lead - Sustainability, Air Quality and Energy acknowledged these points and reiterated that while there was openness in the Plan currently to give sufficient flexibility as it progressed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Promoting Culture and Community Services.

The Cabinet Member for Promoting Culture and Community Services will provide the Culture and Environment Scrutiny Committee with his annual report for discussion.

Consideration was given to the report of the Cabinet Member for Promoting Culture and Communities.

Committee members queried the target of 50 clients to be seen by the Camden Community Law Centre during 2017/18 versus the actual number of clients seen which was almost 2000, and whether this was in part due to legal aid cuts. The Cabinet Member and the Director of Community Services commented that the threshold had been set low in light of the very difficult and complex types of cases, for example, on immigration that the Law Centre, would be dealing with. The actual number of people seen was a reflection of the number of people needing advice on a wide range of challenging issues, for example, on Universal Credit. More funding was being provided to the Law Centre in light of the numbers.

It was commented by Committee members that more careful use of language was needed in terms of the exercise on referral and adult weight management programmes as the targets on weight loss were not being met. Therefore, it was not clear the programmes were going from “strength to strength.” The Director of Community Services outlined that the targets were stretching targets and the programmes had taken some time to establish which approaches worked and which did not. Having passed through this initial phase the programmes were now building on that learning.

Answering further questions the Cabinet Member outlined:

-       There were break clauses in the Music Walk of Fame contract;

-       While Camden was one of the most active boroughs in the country it was accepted that many residents did not feel leisure centres were for them. Therefore part of the next leisure management contract would be about providing leisure facilities more in the community, such as through use of community centres;

-       The move towards grants to the voluntary and community sector (VCS) being awarded on an outcomes basis had entailed a move away from paying rents for VCS organisations. Rent levels were being looked at as part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy;

-       The new approach to VCS grant awards had had mixed outcomes. The Council was reviewing this and was keen to build on work with those organisations where it had proved successful;

-       Officers were continuing to work with VSC organisations on building resilience and developing grant bidding, for example, by ensuring reporting of work so those organisations had greater evidence in support of grant bids; and

-       He was keen to work with ward councillors on building neighbourhood hubs, such as at Swiss Cottage library, where there was unused space that could be developed to benefit the local community.

Committee members enquired about the Cabinet Member’s role in tackling youth safety issues. The Cabinet Member confirmed that the Cabinet Member for Young People and Cohesion led on youth safety issues, but the Community Impacts Fund had invested in two projects with the Roundhouse and New Horizons Youth Centre where work was undertaken with young offenders when  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation.

Continued austerity coupled with rising cost pressures and disproportionate growth in demand for services mean that the Council is projecting a budget deficit of between £35m and £40m by 2021/22. This report presents an overview of the Council’s financial position. It provides details on how we have developed our financial strategy to address the challenging medium-term financial outlook while ensuring that the Council’s limited resources are aligned to achieving the ambition for our borough, residents and communities as set out with Our Camden Plan.

The report sets out the decisions required to ensure the Council continues to operate on a sound financial footing over the medium-term. It sets out a range of proposals that aim to meet the forecasted financial deficit by 2021/22 and seeks a wide range of approvals and delegations to Chief Officers to allow proposals to be developed and delivered on time.

Many of the proposals will have a significant impact on the way services are delivered and consideration has been given as to which of these require an equalities impact assessment to ensure any changes do not unfairly impact on particular people, groups or communities without mitigating measures being put in place. For those proposals that require consultation and/or equality impact assessments to be considered, whilst the associated budget reductions are being decided now, the final decision on how or whether to implement those specific savings will be made at a later date through delegation to relevant Directors or through a further decision by Cabinet. There are also some proposals that are ready for immediate implementation. The decision sought for each proposal is set out in Appendix 1.

Consideration was given to the report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation.

Responding to questions about rough sleeping and how hostel commissioning efficiencies would work with increasing demand, the Director of Place Management acknowledged the significant rise in rough sleeping. It was noted that the Council would be investing around £910,000 to maintain the multi-agency hotspots pilot in 2019/20, thereby continuing the positive work in mitigating the challenges of rough sleeping. Of that investment, £340,000 had been secured from the Greater London Authority (GLA). The trialled approach using that money would be assessed and further funding sought to continue tackling rough sleeping. The issue was Londonwide and it was important to have a coherent approach for the whole region so that rough sleepers were not simply displaced from one area to another.

On the proposed installation of LED lanterns, the Director of Place Management outlined that the approach was to replace the lamps – the lanterns in the professional terminology – rather than the whole post. External funding options and what other boroughs were doing had been looked at and it was considered that the best approach was for the Council to directly fund the installation rather than through other mechanisms to borrow and fund the works through some of the schemes available. Committee members remarked that it was important in supporting this conclusion that when more detailed proposals were brought forward that the full range of alternative funding options such as the London Energy Efficiency Fund were explored.

The Strategic Lead - Sustainability, Air Quality and Energy commented that no electricity for sale was being generated from Somers Town Energy yet, but once it was then the surplus could be sold for income.

On treasury management, the Head of Finance – Supporting Communities confirmed the strategy would continue to have security of investment and liquidity as its key priorities. The intention was not to have a speculative policy as demonstrated by the small saving being suggested through the change.

The Committee enquired about what impacts would result from a no deal Brexit on the Strategy and how the Council was preparing. The Director of Place Management outlined that while work was being undertaken with London Councils on the impacts no detailed work had been undertaken on the implication for specific strands of the financial Strategy. In light of recent political developments, more preparation for a no deal Brexit would be undertaken. This would be a large piece of work for the Council and involve more work with partners across London. Updates would be provided to the Resources and Corporate Performance Scrutiny Committee as necessary. Committee members emphasised the importance of preparation so the Council was not in the position of having to plug any unexpected finding gaps arising as a result.

The Head of Finance – Supporting Communities outlined that due to the current four-year funding settlement from the Government, the last year of which was 2019/20, the Council could be relatively confident on its funding position  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Report of the Director of Regeneration and Planning.

This report provides details of Camden’s draft Transport Strategy (CTS). The draft CTS also comprises Camden’s statutory Local Implementation Plan (LIP3) submission to Transport for London (TfL), and supports four focus areas in Our Camden Plan, including housing and homes; strong growth and access to jobs; clean, vibrant and sustainable places; and healthy, independent lives. 

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Regeneration and Planning.

The Committee listened to the deputation of John Chamberlain, Co-ordinator of the Camden Cycling Campaign, in support of the draft Transport Strategy (‘the Strategy’) and the suggestions on how he felt it could be improved. Responding to questions, Mr Chamberlain outlined:

-       Streets with low motor traffic levels needed little intervention to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists. Therefore keeping motor traffic low was important;

-       Places such as Waltham Forest and Hackney had good examples of cycling works and traffic filtering that would be worth looking at;

-       Delivering good quality cycling facilities were important. Poorly drafted targets could undermine this as there may be a temptation just to paint cycle lanes on the road to meet a target;

-       Reporting of minor injuries may be increasing due to improved reporting rather than an actual increase. Many cyclists did not report minor injuries;

-       The Campaign was supportive of cycle hire schemes as these facilitated access to bikes. Generally, these were used responsibly, but the Council was good at dealing with issues caused by such bikes when reported;

-       Scooters were also generally supported as a form of human-powered transport. Electric scooters raised some concern; and

-       Modal filtering was important to ensure local traffic stayed on certain roads and through journeys were limited to strategic roads. Encouraging people to avoid a motor journey entirely was important though. This was difficult in the age of taxi-hailing apps.

The Principal Transport Planner (Policy and Road Safety) commented that 40% of all cars in central London were private hire vehicles, which were licensed by Transport for London (TfL). The Council had responded to the recent congestion charge proposals put forward by the Mayor and while cleaner vehicles were welcome this did not necessarily mean a reduction in traffic, which was also sought.

Responding to the deputation, the Head of Transport Strategy welcomed the support adding that TfL had advised that the Strategy was considered to strongly align with the Mayor of London’s with just a couple of areas to potentially revise. Officers did not consider it appropriate to remove all traffic from local roads as suggested by the deputation. Each road had to be considered on its own merits and issues with displacement factored in. However, there was a commitment to modal filtering and ensuring main roads were where the bulk of the traffic was. She highlighted the schemes in Kentish Town and Camden Town on reducing traffic and outlined the bids for similar schemes for Holborn and Kilburn. The second suggestion in the deputation to strengthen the Cycling Action Plan by saying that being a link in the network should be an important criterion in selecting a street for modal filtering was welcome and would be progressed.

The Chair commended the Strategy, but expressed concern that as drafted it lacked nuance in terms of parking and seemed to be taking a blanket approach to trying to reduce parking spaces  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation.

This report seeks approval for the procurement strategy for Camden’s new gas and electricity supply contracts for the October 2020 – September 2024 supply period.

The report presents the different procurement options for Camden’s energy contracts for the corporate, housing and schools estates.  It recommends that procuring energy from the wholesale market should continue with this facilitated through a Central Purchasing Body (CPB). Using this approach effectively manages the risk of price fluctuations and offers the most economically advantageous purchasing strategy, through the aggregation of large public sector estates within a portfolio of requirements. It also explains that were the Council to procure energy in isolation from a CPB, this would place significant resourcing pressures on the organisation and limit our ability to secure lower cost energy through aggregation.

The proposed procurement strategy supports the strong financial management theme within Our Camden Plan.  The report also describes how the procurement strategy benefits residents directly by controlling household energy costs.  This supports Our Camden Plan aim to ensure that homes are kept affordably warm at a time of increasing financial uncertainty.

The report asks Members to delegate authority to the Executive Director Supporting Communities, to appoint the CPB through an evaluation of their services, and to award energy contracts procured on behalf of the Council by the CPB. 

Consideration was given to the report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation.

Answering questions, the Strategic Lead - Sustainability, Air Quality and Energy outlined that by aggregating volumes through a central purchasing body it was believed that sustainable tariffs could be secured at competitive prices. The current market testing on a Londonwide offer supported this. A risk in procuring alone was that as the energy spend was mostly on housing, any additional costs would fall on residents. There could be scope to split the spend into corporate and residential and approach and stagger a sustainable tariff approach.

He added that while this paper concerned the procurement, a wider paper would look at targets including potentially a 2050-type carbon commitment as suggested by Members. There was a corporate programme for reducing the Council’s carbon footprint and a fund that could be bid into for initiatives that would support this. A structural survey was being undertaken at the York Way depot, which may allow electric vehicle charging and solar panels were being looked at for larger housing estate roofs. Wider solar energy projects were also under consideration.

Regarding the potential for the Council to establish its own energy company, the Committee was informed that this had been looked at in detail. Benefits such as local employment were noted, but on balance these were outweighed by the risks. When a number of councils had entered the market with their own companies, wholesale energy prices had been low, which allowed them to offer low tariffs at the outset. The big six energy companies had been able to hedge their pricing enabling them to absorb increased wholesale prices. New entrants could not do this and eight had already folded. Nottingham City Council’s Robin Hood Energy was losing money, Portsmouth City Council’s company had folded and Bristol City Council had ceased buying energy from its own company. The mooted energy company for London being looked at by the Mayor of London was being pulled back from. As such, it was clear that residents were better protected by bulk buying as per the procurement model suggested.

In terms of potentially joining with Islington to offer energy, officers outlined that Islington’s Angelic energy was a white label – a rebrand of another company – in this case Nottingham’s Robin Hood Energy. Islington were required to advertise the company extensively and received a fee for every sign-up under the terms of their deal. If Camden joined Islington the same reputational risks would be inherent, but Camden would have no control over the costs and prices of the offering. Committee members noted the importance of the Council’s brand versus a potential company brand. They also noted how daily fluctuations in wholesale prices and tariffs had to be factored into the procurement approach.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

Report of the Director of Place Management.

This report provides information on the delivery of the Winter Maintenance Service by Camden Environment Services and Veolia ES (UK) through the Severe Weather and Winter Service Plan.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Place Management, who in response to questions advised:

-       The grit supply maintained was purely for Camden. The Council, even during years of heavy snowfall, had never come close to running out. When the grit supply dropped below a defined threshold then it would be replenished;

-       While the grit was best used prior to snow starting to fall, a balance had to be struck so it was not used before needed;

-       Officers and contract staff from the across the Council worked to try and ensure that people were supported during snowy spells. Free snow shovels were available and neighbours were encouraged to help one another. A balance was needed between what the Council could assist with and people taking action themselves;

-       Each year the Council learnt more about where there were specific and acute issues during winter. As far as possible, staff would try to visit and assist vulnerable people; and

-       Resources were focussed on key places to minimise problems such as steep hills and outside schools and hospitals.

The Committee welcomed the assurance provided by the measures in place, but queried how rough sleepers were made aware of the options for them during cold weather. The Director of Place Management advised that there was a lot of work to publicise the winter service for rough sleepers through the Camden Safer Streets Team, advertising and social media, the latter to bring it to the attention of those who may want to refer rough sleepers to the service.

In terms of developing the service in accordance with weather patterns, the Director of Place Management outlined that in recent years there had been weather extremes and a mix of mild and severe winters. Fundamentally, accurate weather forecasting remained limited to 10 days.

Committee members noted that ungritted pavements and steps could be dangerous. It would be worthwhile encouraging residents as part of the publicity of the service to take measures themselves and set out what they could do, for example, using salt from their own homes on their steps. The Director of Place Management confirmed that advice was provided to residents through the Camden Magazine annually, including the availability of free snow shovels, for example. Staff and Veolia operatives would also grit some pavements but this was time consuming as it could not be done by a vehicle. It also had to be limited in order to preserve grit for the road network, with the London Transport Road Network having to be kept gritted.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

Report of the Executive Director Supporting Communities.

This is the quarter 2 2018/19 performance report focused on performance relating cultural and environmental services, this covers the period July to September 2018.

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Director Supporting Communities.

Committee members requested that future iterations have ten quarters of data in to make to easier to identify patterns and anomalies

            ACTION BY:             Head of Strategy – Supporting Communities

Officers agreed to provide more detail on why there had been a downward trend in leisure centre visits since quarter 4 of 2017/18 and acknowledged the Committee’s concern that the trend being listed as upwards appeared misleading in light of that. However, seasonal changes in leisure centre visits were normal.

            ACTION BY:             Head of Sport and Physical Activity

Committee members commented that increasing the proportion of black and minority ethnic claimants as a proportion of all Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimants was worrying, but acknowledged the issue that this was only JSA claimants and did not include those claiming Universal Credit. The full spectrum of data was needed to be able to assess the data in its full context, including the difference between inner and outer London.

After discussion, officers agreed to look into measures to capture economic inactivity beyond JSA claimants. Metrics on under-employment such as those on zero hours contracts or self-employed in the gig economy would be difficult to provide but could be explored, albeit what metrics were available may not be able to widely distinguish between the number of hours actually being worked.

ACTION BY:          Head of Placeshaping and Economic Development

Responding to questions, the Head of Strategy – Supporting Communities advised:

-       Indicators suggesting a poor or downward trend would be flagged with relevant directors and Cabinet Members, with a view to the drivers behind those measurements being understood and improvements made;

-       Actions resulting from performance issues were not currently included in the report, but as the performance framework was refreshed this could be picked up on; and

-       Transport for London provided the statistics for killed and seriously injured figures and did so on a time lag basis, hence the lack of up to date data. Options to provide more up to date information could be examined.

ACTION BY:             Head of Transport Strategy

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

Report of the Executive Director Supporting Communities.

This paper provides an update on the work programme for the Committee.

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Director Supporting Communities.

It was agreed that in light of membership clashes a new date for the next meeting be sought.

            ACTION BY:             Committee Services

The Committee noted that a report on Cycle Superhighway 11 may not be brought to the next meeting. It was suggested that reports on the rollout of LED lanterns and an update on rough sleeping be pencilled in for the next municipal year.

RESOLVED –

THAT subject to the changes above the work programme for the Committee be noted.

            ACTION BY:             Senior Strategy Officer

There was none.