Agenda and minutes

To approve the appointment of Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen and Faye Thomas as non-voting co-opted members.

RESOLVED

The Committee agreed the appointment of Stephen Waley-Cohen and Faye Thomas as non-voting Co-opted Members for the 2023/24 Municipal Year.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Bora Kwon.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter.  The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Audit, Pensions and Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 8 March 2023 as an accurate record.

Matters Arising

Stephen Waley-Cohen (Co-opted Member) asked if there was any progress on the vehicular access route to the Scrubs.

Osama El-Amin (Trust Manager) noted the findings of the feasibility report and highlighted that the substation route for the Scrub Lane would be the preferred access for emergency vehicles in the future. As this project would involve a considerable cost, Council Officers were exploring cheaper cost options for alternative surface types and an updated set of quotations would be provided at the September meeting.

Action: Osama El-Amin

The Chair asked for an update to be provided on the depot usage and parking income.

Osama El-Amin explained that the depot at the Scrubs was used for all three Lots for the purpose of grounds maintenance by the Council. He noted that a report would be completed to understand the orientation of the depot and the percentage of usage for each contract Lot before a market rent on non-scrub use could be ascertained. An update on this would be brought to the December Committee.

Action: Osama El-Amin

Osama El-Amin also provided a breakdown of the pay and display, and Ringo parking income generated between 2022-2023. Councillor Dominic Stanton asked for a copy of the breakdown to be sent to the Committee.

Action: Osama El-Amin

RESOLVED

The minutes of the meeting held on 8^th March 2023 were agreed as an accurate record.

At the start, the Committee the Chair agreed to amend the running order of the Manager’s report to consider the decision-making items first on the agenda.

HS2 (High Speed 2) update on SBS site

Vicki Abel (Advisor to the Trust) noted that at the site visit on 25^th May with BBVS (HS2’s contractors) it was agreed that the SBS site had been reinstated to an acceptable standard and therefore could be handed back to the Trust. In order not to damage the reinstated area, it was proposed to grant a licence to HS2`s contractors to use the main path running east -west to the north of the meadow to transport the Heras fencing off the Scrubs. This would be done under the supervision of Council Officers and the method of removal would be agreed with BBVS. The licence would be granted for a period of 4-5 weeks. The site entrance area was part of the UTX site so the boundary along Old Oak Common (OOC) had also been fenced off.

Stephen Waley-Cohen (Co-opted Member) enquired when the work to remove the Haras fencing would commence. Vickie Abel noted that once the licence was in place the earliest the works would start was on 17^th July.

Faye Thomas (Co-opted Member) asked if the size of the UTX site had been increased on a permanent basis. In response Vicki Abel noted that the boundary of the UTX site had increased along OOC lane ( within the HS2`s act limits ) to take in the entrance area of what had been the Stamford Brook Sewer site to allow utility services to be moved into this area.

The Committee unanimously agreed this recommendation.

Local Nature Reserve (LNR) qualification update

Vicki Abel (Advisor to the Trust) provided an update and noted that a draft management plan and fact sheet for the Local Nature Reserve (LNR) had been submitted as part of this item for approval at this meeting.

Subject to approval the next step would be to run a month-long consultation process which involved putting a notice in a local newspaper, notices displayed on site referring people to a page on the Council’s website for more information. If there were no firm objections following the consultation phase, the documents would be sent to Natural England to consider the site for LNR status.

The Trust was also asked to select a name for the proposed LNR from the following:

·       Wormwood Scrubs Western Meadow

·       Wormwood Scrubs Western Meadow Nature Reserve

·       Wormwood Scrubs Western Meadow Local Nature Reserve

The Committee unanimously agreed the recommendation and selected Wormwood Scrubs Meadow as a name for the proposed LNR

Safety improvements on the Scrubs

Referring to the map on page 14 of the agenda pack, Osama El-Amin (Trust Manager) noted that vehicle incursions continued to pose a challenge on the Scrubs. In consultation with the Law Enforcement Team and the London Metropolitan Police, Council Officers proposed the installation of several security installations, aimed at restricting vehicular access across the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To note the dates of future meetings:

·       6 September 2023

·       12 December 2023

·       6 March 2024

The  Chair noted the dates of the future meetings:

-       6 September 2023

-       12 December 2023

-       6 March 2024