Agenda item

To consider the latest trends, priorities and pressures in terms of departmental performance as reported in the QSR for the third quarter of 2012/13 (October to December) relating to Environment, Culture and Communities.  An overview of the fourth quarter of 2012/13 will also be provided.

Please bring the previously circulated Quarterly Service Report to the meeting.  The QSR is attached to this agenda if viewed online.

The Panel considered the latest trends, priorities and pressures in terms of departmental performance as reported in the Quarterly Service Report (QSR) for the third quarter of 2012/13 (October to December) relating to Environment, Culture and Communities (ECC).

Major variances in revenue had occurred in areas including the Waste Management Refuse Collection Contract, Waste Management Disposal, Car Parking Income, Development Control Income, Cemetery and Crematorium Income, Landscape Services Vehicles, Coral Reef Income/closedown, Licensing Income, Libraries Income, Supervision Fees Adoption Highways, Traffic signals, Concessionary Fares, Building Control Chargeable Account, and Data Capture Tree Preservation Order Files.

Capital schemes identified to be carried forward were: Car Park Maintenance, Local Safety Schemes, Skimped Hill/Market Street Accessibility Improvements Town Centre to Peel Centre, Disabled Facilities Grants, Electronic Document and Records Management System, Westmorland Park, Bridge Structural maintenance, Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace enhancement works, and Forest Road footway.

Key highlights included: improvements to Bracknell, Binfield and Crowthorne libraries; Public examination on the Site Allocations Development Plan Document; Re-opening of Coral Reef; Completion of restoration work at South Hill Park; Green flag applications; Flexible and mobile working; and Working with Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) on Smart Grid.

A £583,000 saving was expected, most of which was from waste management. Coral Reef was re-opened up to five days earlier than planned resulting in income loss of £230,000 rather than the sum of £440,000 expected in December 2012. Although there had been more expenditure than planned on Highways, there were various carry forwards and a significant saving in the devolved staff budget. Tree preservation orders would be inputted onto an IT system.

The 7% staff vacancy level was remaining stable and there had been a low turnover of staff. Staff sickness levels were slightly worse than usual but this was likely due to instances of long term sickness. There had been nearly 4,000 registrations for the brown wheeled bin scheme. The expression public realm referred to highways maintenance, street cleansing, landscape services, street lighting, and the related contract was for around £7-8million.

In response to Members’ questions, the following points were made:

• Coral Reef was very well attended the first weekend following its reopening after a three month closure.
• There would be £56,000 net income from car parking charges at The Look Out and an extra £20,000 from parking tickets. 25% of visitors to The Look Out were parking elsewhere or had ceased to visit the facility owing to limited alternative parking. Work was being undertaken with Natural England to locate potential parking sites.
• Work was being undertaken with Scottish and Southern Energy regarding an ‘Electric Avenue’ project investigating the effect of whole streets using electric vehicles and solar panels, amongst other energy saving measures. Smart meters could detail the energy usage of a household, and information could now be gained at substation level. All of this information was being analysed by the University of Reading. People would be advised regarding grants available for energy saving measures. It was suggested that this work could include consideration of how micro generation of electricity by new housing estates might feed into the national grid to meet demand.
• In relation to the Community Infrastructure Levy, costs could be charged against receipts received in future.
• £35,000 had been used to repair traffic signals as more needed to be repaired than planned. This money may be recovered through insurance over time.
• The last booking at the crematorium was 4pm and bookings were of a two hour duration. The crematorium could open on Saturdays but evening and weekend services were at the discretion of the funeral directors. A number of slots were currently offered and not all of these were taken up. The service was based on demand.
• Progress against promoting the Disabled Facilities Grants scheme was graded as Amber because the government had given more money than expected but this money had not been spent yet. The funding was based on demand and an Adult Social Care needs assessment.
• Performance against indicator L146.2, concerning the percentage of the Borough where environmental cleanliness for detritus fell below the Environmental Protection Act standard, was slightly below target due to the significant amount of Autumn leaf fall in the third quarter of the year.
• Performance indicator L048.2, relating to the ‘Number of days overrun on street works projects’ was monitored, and enforced as much as possible. However, the Council had limited control of overrun and utilities companies often decided it was in their best interests to overrun a project and incur a fine.