Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Andrew Wolckenhaar, Bromley Youth Council Representative.

In relation to Minute 32b, Councillor Vanessa Allen, Councillor Alexa Michael and Councillor Peter Dean declared that they were members of Mytime Active, and Councillor Julian Benington declared that his wife was a member of Mytime Active and that he was a member of the Proactive Committee.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to this Committee must be received in writing 4 working days before the date of the meeting.  Therefore please ensure questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5 pm on Wednesday 16 November 2016.

No questions were received.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 20^th September 2016 be agreed.

Report CSD16144

In considering Item 12, a Member requested that the 584 live enforcement complaints reported in the update be divided into two categories comprising new investigations and those that were subject to appeal, and that this be provided to Members following the meeting.

RESOLVED that matters arising from previous meetings be noted.

Report FSD16072

The Renewal and Recreation Portfolio Holder introduced a report setting out the budget monitoring position for the Renewal and Recreation Portfolio based on expenditure to the end of September 2016. 

The total budget was forecast to be in an underspend position of £28k following underspends of £50k and £9k respectively across the Building Control and Land Charges services which was primarily due to staff vacancies and a reduction in hours worked.  Additional income of £225k was projected within the Planning Service, of which £145k had been used to fund additional temporary planning posts to support the increased volume of work from a rise in planning applications and to deal with planning enforcement.  Extra costs of £110k had been incurred for specialist consultancy advice on planning applications for agriculture and ecology matters as well as for planning appeals, and the overall projection for the Planning Service was an overspend of £30k.

In considering the report, a Member suggested that the temporary planning posts within the Planning Service be made permanent, should the increased volume of planning applications be sustained in the longer term.  The Assistant Director: Leisure and Culture advised Members that the Chief Planner would be monitoring work levels closely to identify if it would be appropriate to employ additional planning staff on a permanent basis.  A Member noted the benefit of Planning Officers being employed on a longer term or permanent basis as this supported the development of local knowledge.

In response to a question from a Member, the Assistant Director: Leisure and Culture confirmed that at its meeting on 18^th October 2016, the Council’s Executive had agreed a drawdown of £250k from Central Contingency for the libraries service, as the savings of £250k per annum for the service could not be realised until the procurement process for the library service had been completed. 

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder be recommended to endorse the latest 2016/17 budget projection for the Renewal and Recreation Portfolio.

Report DRR16/082

Representatives of Mytime Active introduced a report setting out the Mytime Active Annual Report 2015/16 and requested that the Committee consider the Local Authority’s report and proposals regarding the investment fund that was provided annually to Mytime Active by the Local Authority.

During 2015/16, Mytime Active had achieved over 4.1million visits across their facilities, which was an increase of 17% on the previous year.  The membership base had also increased by 18% and was now in excess of 16,000 members.  Mytime Active provided a range of initiatives and programmes to support healthy and active lifestyles for all ages including the Primetime programme for older people and a pilot project for people with mild to moderate depression developed in partnership with Bromley and Lewisham Mind and Bromley Mencap.  The MyFuture project which offered young people in disadvantaged areas access to weekly sports and dance activities had been recognised with two national awards, winning the 2015 ukactive Flame Awards ‘Shaping Young Lives’ category and the London Sportivate Awards ‘Project of the Year’.  A range of discounted memberships, promotions and schemes for people from disadvantaged groups or on low incomes continued to be delivered across the Borough.  Mytime Active’s revenues had been £32.6m for 2015/16, which was a small increase on the previous year.

Proposals for a five year rolling programme of spending from the Investment Fund were outlined which represented Mytime Active’s key service areas of improvement and reflected the £200k annual reduction from 2019/20 agreed with the Local Authority.  It was proposed that the Investment Fund be used to increase capacity of the wet-side changing rooms within the Pavilion Leisure Centre, support a repair and replacement programme of customer lifts, fund Phase 3 of the final equipment upgrade and refurbish High Elms Gold Course changing facilities.

Marg Mayne, Chief Executive, Jason Stanton, Operations Director, Adam Smith, Leisure Divisional Manager and Debra Weekes, Partnerships Manager, Mytime Active attended the meeting for the presentation of this item.

In discussion, Members were generally pleased to note the range of initiatives and discounted memberships offered by Mytime Active to people from disadvantaged groups.  A Member queried how community projects were advertised, and Debra Weekes confirmed that Mytime Active promoted community projects in a range of ways including work with local partners such as housing associations, and via social media.  A recent initiative to support older men to become more active had been promoted very successfully through a poster and leaflet campaign with over 800 participants joining the scheme.

In response to a question from the Vice-Chairman around the impact of low cost competitors, Adam Smith reported that Mytime Active targeted the family market by promoting the wide range of facilities it offered, which included swimming pools and soft play provision.  Increased competition had impacted the income from the rental of Beckenham Public Hall, Crofton Hall and The Great Hall, but Beckenham Public Hall and Crofton Hall had recently been refurbished and it was hoped that this would increase rental levels.  In terms of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32b

Report CSD16150

The Committee considered a report outlining the total expenditure of the Local Authority on consultants for 2015/16 for the Renewal and Recreation Portfolio.

At its meeting on 7^th September 2016, the Executive and Resources PDS Committee considered a report on Local Authority expenditure on consultants across all Council departments for both revenue and capital budgets and requested that this expenditure be considered by the PDS Committees for each Portfolio.  Within the Renewal and Recreation Portfolio, revenue expenditure which was focused on the need for one-off specialist advice, to respond to insufficient in-house skills or resources and planning services had totalled £344,174 in 2015/16 and £30,805 in 2016/17 to date.  Capital expenditure on consultants totalled £52,290.70 in 2015/16 and £66,654.00 in 2016/17 to date.

In considering the report, a Member was concerned at the significant increase of capital expenditure on consultants in 2016/17.  The Assistant Director: Leisure and Culture explained that a number of major capital schemes were being delivered in 2016/17 including the Biggin Hill Memorial Museum and works at Crystal Palace Park and that the full cost of these schemes, including any necessary expenditure on consultants had been presented to Members when the schemes had been considered for approval. 

Members generally discussed the planning pre-application advice service and requested that a report be provided to the next meeting of Renewal and Recreation PDS Committee on 26^th January 2017 around whether the income received for this service covered the costs of delivering it, including any use of temporary Planning Officers to meet demand and the success rate of applications where the planning pre-application advice service had been used.  It was noted that the planning pre-application advice service was purely advisory and the usual quasi-judicial process still applied to applications developed using advice from the service.  A Member suggested that this service possibly compromised the independence of Planning Officers and should no longer be offered.

In response to a question from a Member, the Assistant Director: Leisure and Culture confirmed that consultants were used where specialist advice was required for individual planning appeals, but that consideration would be given to increasing in-house expertise where particular types of specialist advice was required on a regular basis.  With regard to planning appeals, another Member suggested that Planning Officers should not make recommendations in planning reports that were for consideration by Members as this was often used as a supporting factor in appeals against the Local Authority’s decision.  Members requested that an updated list of applications refused by the Local Authority that had been appealed in the past year, including the outcome of these appeals as well as details of the initial recommendation by the Planning Officer and whether the decision was made under delegated powers, be provided to Members following the meeting.

The Vice-Chairman advised the Committee that the consultancy costs related to the proposal to vary the operating hours of London Biggin Hill Airport would be recharged to London Biggin Hill Airport which had agreed to meet all  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

Report DRR16/083

The Committee considered a report providing the results of a two year post-scheme evaluation of the public realm improvements to Bromley North Village which focused on assessing the impact of the improvements on businesses and town centre users, particularly bus users.

Public realm improvements to Bromley North Village were a key part of the improvement programme for Bromley Town Centre as set out in the Bromley Town Centre Area Action Plan.  The improvement works to the original scheme area had been substantially completed in November 2014 in accordance with the project timetable, following which additional funding had been secured from Transport for London to extend the scope of the improvement works to include Widmore Road. 

An initial evaluation of the scheme had been undertaken by Regeneris Consulting in February 2015 as part of the Outer London Fund post-scheme evaluation.  This found that the improvement scheme had directly improved the leisure offer in the Bromley North Village area including the promotion of a café culture, and that there had been an increase in the number of high profile lettings and new residential investment in the town centre.  Footfall counts conducted before and after the scheme implementation in High Street North had indicated average increases of 67% in footfall for weekdays and 116% on weekends.  The two year post-scheme evaluation supported these findings and concluded that whilst a number of uplift targets such as the creation of new jobs were yet to be met, there had been a number of positive signs regarding footfall and vacancy rates.  A number of learning points had also been identified for the delivery of future projects including the scale of delivery, officer resource, delivery structures, business communication, target setting and ongoing project monitoring.

The Chairman noted that the initial evaluation of the scheme had taken place in February 2015 and requested that in future, details of any initial evaluations be provided to the Committee when available in addition to the longer term post-scheme evaluations, and that the full post-completion report be provided to Members when available.  It was also requested that an update be provided to Members around the number of jobs created and secured by the public realm improvements following the meeting.

Members generally discussed the impact of bus stops that had been moved as a result of the scheme and whether additional bus stops could be installed in the Market Square to encourage the flow of pedestrian traffic through the town centre, potentially with a change of use of the Bromley North Village taxi rank.  Feedback from town centre users gathered as part of the evaluation process had been mixed with 36% supporting the new location of the bus stops with 31% against.  It was noted that there had been no loss of parking through the scheme and that there had been an increase in loading bays.

In response to a question from a Member, the Head of Renewal confirmed that work was being undertaken with Environment and Community Services to arrange  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

Report DRR16/085

The Committee considered a report providing an update on the proposed public realm improvements to Bromley town centre and the potential reconfiguration and future management of the town centre market, and possible timescales for the delivery of these linked projects.

At its meeting on 2^nd December 2015, the Council’s Executive endorsed the concept designs for the next phase of the Bromley Town Centre Public Realm improvements which aimed to improve the quality of the high street experience and create distinctive spaces or squares, and approved funding for the detailed design phase.  The original scheme designers, Studio Egret West had subsequently worked with the Local Authority’s Highway Engineering term contractor, FM Conway to progress the detailed engineering design, provide full scheme costings and develop an implementation plan.  The detailed design of the ground plane had now been substantially completed and included a number of High Street Character areas comprising the Elmfield Arrival Space, High Street Garden Space, Churchill Square and Market Square, with structural features to include pavilion canopy structures and retail units, raised planters, pop-up market stalls and Market Square Kiosks.  In parallel, Officers had been assessing options for the future development of the street market in Bromley town centre.  The Local Authority had commissioned market specialist, Quarterbridge to undertake a review of the current street market which had made a number of recommendations including that the market be relocated to a more northerly position incorporating Market Square, that it be rebranded and refocused to appeal to a wider demographic, and that the number of stalls be limited to no more than 30 with a maximum of 15 stalls having a food and beverage offer. 

Indicative timescales for works relating to the two proposed projects had suggested that the works would take a total duration of twenty months to be completed by November 2018, and would have an overall total cost of £5m, including Elmfield junction reconstruction and relocation costs associated with the street market.

In response to a question from a Member, the Head of Renewal confirmed that the traders operating from Market Square Kiosks or units open for more than three days per week would be subject to business rates.  The new market arrangement would be of benefit to existing retail units as the stalls would be situated in a single line and would not channel customers away from the shops.  The relocation of the street market would be assisted by previous works in the Market Square area which had identified the location of utilities and during which a number of electrical supply points had been installed.  Members highlighted that the parking needs of traders should be recognised as part of the development of the scheme, and a Member suggested that it might be possible for a parking space in a local car park or parking zone to be allocated to each kiosk or stall for use by the trader.  It was noted that further information around the economic benefit of the market and the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

Report DRR16/084

The Committee considered a report providing an update on progress in delivering the Town Centres Development and Growth Programme.

Progress across the sites that made up the Bromley Town Centre Area Action Plan included a procurement exercise to select a preferred development partner to deliver a residential-led scheme as part of the next phase of development of Site G: West of High Street.  Two bids had been received from shortlisted bidders on 21^st October 2016 and were being evaluated with the expectation that an award of tender report would be submitted to the Council’s Executive in early 2017.  The Local Authority continued to engage with all stakeholders around an appropriate development for Site A: Bromley North Station, and the Draft Local Plan would include a revised policy for the site that would be published for consultation in Autumn 2016.  Three provisional offers had been received for 9^th Floor, Bromley Central Library which had been identified as suitable to offer flexible workspace for start-up businesses.

In considering development across the Borough, at its meeting on 18^th October 2016, the Council’s Executive had approved the overall scheme design and budget for the Beckenham town centre public realm improvements which had now entered the implementation phase, and the Local Authority was working with partners to develop a Regeneration Strategy for Orpington to provide a direction for growth over the next ten years.  The New Homes Bonus Public Realm Scheme was funding a range of projects including public realm improvement schemes for the Walnut’s Shopping Centre and Penge town centre.  The Local Authority continued to work with a range of private developers around the potential redevelopment of key sites across the Borough including the Klingers site.  The Council’s Executive had also met on 1^st November 2016 to agree a number of strategic property investments in Bromley Town Centre and the Walnut’s Shopping Centre which had been funded from the Growth fund and were expected to offer significant business rate growth potential as part of ongoing redevelopment plans.  The Local Authority had appointed conservation experts to produce a conservation assessment and repair report in relation to Shortlands War Memorial which had been damaged by a car accident on 8^th July 2018.

The Vice-Chairman suggested that 9^th Floor, Bromley Central Library would make an excellent restaurant, and requested that this be considered as part of the review around the longer term use of this facility.

In respect of information concerning the development of Site B: Tweedy Road in the Bromley Town Centre Area Action Plan, it was agreed that this be considered under exempt proceedings under the Part 2 (Closed) agenda.

RESOLVED that progress on the delivery of the Town Centres Development and Growth Programme be noted.

Report CSD16145

Members considered the forward rolling work programme for the Renewal and Recreation PDS Committee and requested that the Contracts Register and reports on Site A: Bromley North Station and the pedestrian area in Bromley town centre be considered at the next meeting of Renewal and Recreation PDS Committee on 26^th January 2017.

RESOLVED that the Recreation and Renewal PDS Committee Work Programme be noted.

RESOLVED that the Press and public be excluded during consideration of the items of business listed below as it was likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings that if members of the Press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information.

RESOLVED that the exempt minutes of the meeting held on 20^th September 2016 be agreed.

The Committee considered the Part 2 (Exempt) information.

The Committee considered the Part 2 (Exempt) information.