Agenda item

9.1       The committee discussed the work programme and the following points were made.

Highways Maintenance Issues

9.2       It was agreed to set up a scoping board to examine the previous scrutiny work and Highways maintenance issues raised at the last meeting.

Hailsham East Community Centre

9.3       Councillor Murphy outlined that he had not received responses to all the questions he had raised at the last meeting about the Hailsham East Community Centre. It was agreed that the Chief Operating Officer and the Director of Children’s Services, as appropriate, would follow this up with Councillor Murphy after the meeting.

LTP4 Reference Group and TfSE – Strategic Infrastructure Plan

9.4       The Committee noted that the new Department for Transport (DfT) guidance on Local Transport Plans (LTP) is due to be issued in September/October this year and that Transport for the South East (TfSE) is currently consulting on their Strategic Infrastructure Plan which has links to the LTP. The Chair of the LTP4 Reference Group suggested that members of the Group be canvassed about arranging another meeting to have a briefing on the TfSE Strategy and to progress issues. It was agreed that the Chair of the LTP4 Reference Group would canvas members about having a briefing on the Strategy.

Review Board on Countywide Climate Change Work

9.5       The Committee discussed establishing a review board to review the Council’s Countywide work on climate change, which could look at countywide actions and how the Council works with other organisations (e.g. District and Borough councils) on this issue. It was agreed to add this as a potential scrutiny review topic to the Committee’s work programme and develop a draft terms of reference through a scoping meeting.

EV Charging

9.6       The Committee asked about the progress on work to implement an Electric Vehicle (EV) charging strategy for the County. The Environment Team Manager outlined that work was underway to establish what sort of EV charging network would be right for East Sussex to meet the County’s needs and was confident that the Council will be able to have a good charging network in place in time for the transition to Electric Vehicles. The Committee noted that there may be a National Grid capacity issue in implementing a network of charge points, and supported a cautious approach to implementation which meets the needs of the County.

Asset Transfer/Disposal Process

9.7       The Committee discussed a potential scrutiny review topic of examining how the Council makes decisions about the disposal or retention for income generation or asset transfer to community groups, of assets that have been declared surplus to the Council’s operational needs. The Chair asked Committee members to contact either himself or the Senior Scrutiny Adviser after the meeting if they would be interested in examining the potential scope for a review on this topic.

9.8       The Committee RESOLVED to:

1) Note agenda items for the future Committee meetings, including items listed in the work programme in appendix 1;

2) Note the upcoming items on East Sussex County Council’s (ESCC) Forward Plan in appendix 2 to identify any issues that may require more detailed scrutiny; and.

3) Agree to amend the Committee’s work programme in line with paragraphs 9.2, 9.4, 9.5 and 9.7 above.