Agenda and minutes

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting of 12 July 2024.

The minutes of the meeting of 12 July 2024 were confirmed and signed.

To receive a presentation on Road Safety Partnership and Vision Zero.

Members received a presentation from Simon Burgin, Road Safety Manager, joined by Alan Boughen and Dan Horn from Fenland District Council.

Members made comments, asked questions, and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Sennitt Clough stated the presentation was very data lead after accidents have happened and asked how the Police get ahead of potential danger areas? She further asked when describing serious offenders how does this skew data in terms of accident hot spots as it might not be the road but an area with higher drug or crime rates. Simon Burgin responded that potential danger areas are looked at by the Local Highways Authority to assess white lines and skid risks, this is carried out by local highways engineers who make sure the road itself performs as it should do and everything is in place as a matter of routine, depending on the classification of the road, be it an A, B or C class road, will depend on how often that road gets visited. He added that when it is a skid risk issue that information will come from a screen test which tests the friction of the road and it is then down to the highways engineer to maintain that area and there is a change coming to the way white lines are monitored especially at night time as this is something that up to now has not been looked at and historically white lines are most effective at night time for drivers especially on dark country roads. Simon Burgin referred to the question about where collisions were occurring and stated that data is collected about where the people are from that were causing the accidents, looking at if there was a correlation between who was involved and what the causation factors were.

·         Councillor Roy stated presentation slide 17 states ‘a cluster site is identified as a junction or 100 metre length where there’s been six or more injury collisions of any severity or three or more serious or fatal collisions’ and asked why there has to be a time span to wait for these accidents to happen before prevention is put in place, with there being continued issues around school parking with no back up from the Police. He asked if there is a long term policy being introduced to stop people from parking around school areas at school times, there are already 20mph speed limits in place but could a hatch box junction be put in place to clear the ways for schools? Simon Burgin responded there is a two prong approach to this, firstly work is carried out with Junior Travel Ambassadors who are the children within the schools themselves that identify the problem then work on a solution, work is also carried out with School Streets to look at further measures to restrict people having access to the road at the time when schools are likely to be arriving and leaving but this does depends on the location and what that road effectively  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC9/24

To consider an update on the CPCA Growth Service and the impact on Economic Development in Fenland.

Members received a presentation from Steve Clarke, Domenico Crillo, Alexis McLeod and Preshalin Govender from the CPCA, together with Anna Goodall and Simon Jackson from Fenland District Council.

Members made comments, asked questions, and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Sennitt Clough stated she would like to understand from the slide where it said there was 57% of the Fenland postcode learners employed, what percentage was this taken from overall and what about the homeschooled pupils, the excluded pupils and the privately educated pupils in real terms? Alexis McLeod responded the 57% of postcode learners that were employed shows that a percentage of the 44 were recruited into wave four giving an indication of the upturn in employers using boot camps to upskill existing members of staff in a balanced way and to recruit talent for the future, with the percentages coming from states schools who score themselves using the Gatsby Framework, this is the way Careers Enterprise Company and the DFE have designed the funding. Councillor Sennitt Clough requested some dialogue to be sent out after the meeting.

·         Councillor Gerstner asked if there was any benchmarking exercises carried out between them and other combined authorities? Steve Clarke responded there is on certain programmes, there is a growth hub nationally which shows rankings around levels of engagement and levels of success. Domenico Crillo added that although there is no ranking on performance in terms of combined authorities the team is part of the Mayoral Network and the Mayoral Ten which includes all ten combined authorities coming together with the mayors and senior management on a regular basis.

·         Councillor Imafidon asked how much the total grants were and for which towns in the Fenland area? Steve Clarke responded he did not have the information for the towns, but the biggest grant award was £150,000 of which there were two awarded and the smallest grant given was £20,000 with a range in between the 12 SME CapEX grants awarded

·         Councillor Imafidon asked which areas of the CPCA received grants? Steve Clarke answered the Capital Grant programme was awarded across the whole Combined Authority of which Fenland did very well.

·         Councillor Booth stated in the presentation 40 apprenticeships were created and asked would these apprenticeships have been created anyway by companies as part of organic growth and are these apprenticeships being promoted within the Combined Authority? Alexis McLeod responded that the apprenticeships that were recorded in previous deliveries are all supported by diagnostics and action plans that were taken directly from the employers, with levy transfers being championed to SMEs that are struggling to access additional funding to pay for the cost of apprenticeships. She added that there are webinars and workshops in partnership with various business leaders, plus marketing campaigns that have specific targets through social media like Linkin and other various routes. Councillor Booth stated that he observed that 40 does not seem that many apprenticeships across the whole of the Fenland area but he was pleased to hear the additional  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC10/24

To consider progress in delivering the Economy Corporate Priority.

Members considered the progress of delivering the Economy Corporate Objective, including Planning, presented by Councillor Chris Boden, Mark Greenwood, Anna Goodall, Simon Jackson, Councillor Mrs Laws, Matthew Leigh, Carol Pilson and Ann Wardel.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows: 

·         Councillor Sennitt Clough stated she would like to understand why no business has benefited from the business rate relief scheme that is in place, is this due to lack of advertising or lack of suitability? Councillor Boden responded the discretionary business rate relief is a mechanism which can be used to try to attract businesses into Fenland which otherwise would not come to the Fenland area, it is a useful tool which can be used by the Economic Growth Officers in those circumstances. He added that the danger of setting this up was if it is used as a blanket policy anyone could apply for it, even those who were not going to come into the Fenland area, which is why it was made into a discretionary policy to be used sparingly and appropriately and to date no businesses have come to fruition but the tool is there and will be used when necessary. Simon Jackson added there are new businesses coming into Fenland and everything is looked at on a case-by-case basis.

·         Councillor Sennitt Clough stated she receives questions about hiring the Boathouse on a regular basis at weekends, but she understands that it is not open for hire at the weekends? Mark Greenwood responded that due to staffing issues it is difficult to staff the Boathouse at weekends which is also the same for South Fens. Councillor Sennitt Clough asked if this could be clarified with residents as there seems to be some confusion around the hiring of the venues. Mark Greenwood stated he would take that away and make availability clearer.

·         Councillor Nawaz stated he would like a breakdown of the 59 companies and why they did not come to the Fenland area. Simon Jackson responded that a breakdown can be provided but some are commercially sensitive. He added that enquiries come through directly to Fenland District Council or via other routes like the Government using its networks with other embassies around the world and there is also some proactive marketing through the CPCA. Simon Jackson stated that in terms of servicing these enquires, the biggest problem is there is not a lot of land available with the infrastructure and road networks needed to house these projects which then pushes these businesses to look outside of the Fenland area, when developments do become available companies are contacted and local buildings are occupied very quickly. Anna Goodall added the types of businesses coming into the Fenland area translate into investment into the area.

·         Councillor Nawaz stated he would like to understand what the UKREiiF exhibition and soft-landing package is, and the proposition created for a target market per annum is this per one year or per every year? Simon Jackson responded UKREiiF is a UK  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC11/24

To receive an update on the previous meeting’s Action Plan.

Members considered the update on previous actions.

It was noted that a report from Clarion was received 26 June 2024 regarding oil fire burners. Councillor Booth requested to know, despite the report received, how many boilers are oil?

To consider the Draft Work Programme for Overview and Scrutiny Panel 2024/25.

Members considered the Future Work Programme and no changes were made.