Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Andrew Jones (Cabinet Member for the Economy).

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.

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 Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

NOTE: Since the previous meeting, the policy and accountability committees have been reorganised and renamed. Some elements of the previous version of the committee’s work are now the responsibility of The Housing and Homelessness Policy and Accountability Committee.

The minutes of the Economy, Housing and the Arts Policy and Accountability Committee meeting held on 25 January 2022 were approved.

To note the terms of reference of The Economy, Arts, Sports and Public Realm Policy and Accountability Committee.

The terms of reference of The Economy, Arts, Sports and Public Realm Policy and Accountability Committee were noted.

This report presents key challenges and priorities for The Economy in H&F.

Jon Pickstone, Strategic Director of the Economy, provided an overview of the challenges and priorities for the Economy Department.

He explained the Economy comprised of the following key services: Economic Development; Regeneration; Operations, Property and Asset Management, Planning; and Housing. It was noted that Housing had its own specific committee – the Housing and Homelessness Policy and Accountability Committee but that new housing development was of interest to this Committee.

Touching on some of these aspects, it was noted that Economic Development supports business, skills and learning, helping people into work, and town centres. The Council also supports Upstream, the Council’s partnership with Imperial College London, which focuses on the White City Innovation District. Regeneration is housing focused, including the provision of affordable housing, but also some new schools and other community facilities. The Operations service is varied: including capital investment in our housing stock, the digitalisation of services to improve and enhance housing service delivery and resident interfaces, the civic campus, much of our corporate property management, and contract development and management. Planning focuses on developing planning policy, determining planning applications, masterplanning and s106 and CIL funding agreements. Jo Woodward, Chief Planning Officer, explained that one of the challenges was the forthcoming Levelling Up Bill and changes to the planning system. Other challenges and opportunities included the new powers related to climate change delivery and working on business plans with colleagues in the Environment Department.

Jon Pickstone confirmed the Economy Department took a holistic approach to making Hammersmith and Fulham a global economic hotspot for the benefit of our residents. To achieve this aim, the Council seeks growth in its business base, particularly in higher value sectors. He explained that Council interventions had helped spur  substantial growth in high-value sectors related to the Council’s Industrial Strategy. Councillors noted that the trick was to create more of these high value jobs and allow residents to have the necessary gateways and skills to access these employment opportunities.

Jon Pickstone confirmed that sustainability was another key theme that underpins the work of the Economy Department. As well as interventions to tackle local aspects of the climate and ecological emergencies, it is important to foster clusters of innovation within White City; new ideas and emerging technologies can meet global challenges. The Committee were provided with details of ongoing and future projects that are revitalising the Borough.

Jon Pickstone explained that the Economy is about place, people and businesses and bringing these factors together, as well as working across the Council and developing partnerships across the Borough. The world class innovation district at White City should be promoted more nationally and internationally to create more opportunities and enhance growth.

Referring to the Industrial Strategy, Shared Prosperity and Economic Development work being undertaken by the Economy, Councillor Adam Peter Lang asked how this work linked to other areas. Jon Pickstone agreed that important lessons and approaches could be drawn from different (innovation and growth) models from across the world. Jon Pickstone cited a number of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

This report presents key challenges and priorities for Public Realm in H&F.

Challenges and Priorities for the Public Realm. The following key points were noted:

·       The scope of the services provided by the public realm include:

1.    Street Environmental Services

2.    Highways

3.    Transport

4.    Parking

5.    Climate and Ecology

6.    Arts and Culture

7.    Sports

8.    Parks

The report provided details of the priorities and challenges within these eight areas and the actions in place to improve services.

Different aspects of service provision were highlighted, and the following key statistics were noted:

·       Over 3.5M Waste and recycling collections per year

·       20 parks and open spaces in the Borough

·       5^th lowest waste per person

·       18,800 Miles Streets swept

·       110,000 Library issues

·       16,580 Street works inspections

·       35,000 parking interactions per day

·       10 litres of water needed per tree every week

·       £47M Parking business turnover

·       25,000 Trees, 240 Km roads, 213 Hectares of greenspace

·       96% highways waste is recycled

At the conclusion of the presentation, the Chair encouraged the Committee to ask questions on the report.

Councillor Jackie Borland asked if fly tipping was within the Department’s remit; how much it cost to collect efficiently and whether resources might be better used in prevention, rather than reaction (removal and collection). In response, Bram Kainth, Strategic Director of Environment, confirmed that fly tipping was covered by the Department. He explained that due to the transient population within the borough and the high turnover of tenants (in rented properties), it was commonplace for mattresses to be discarded on streets (rather than tenants incur costs for dedicated removal). As a result, there was always a balance to be struck between enforcement and collection (costs). To improve the street scene, he confirmed that Environment were working in partnership with the Council’s Law Enforcement Team (LET) to take remedial action as appropriate.

Bram Kainth confirmed that fly-tipping  collections had improved recently, with the new waste  contract due to come into force in February 2023. This meant that more fly-tipping collections  would be collected more efficiently in future. Annie Baker, Assistant Director Street Environment Service, confirmed the Department was trying to clear fly-tipping waste more quickly, and given there was a volume of waste; being given longer (more time) to clear this, did not necessarily change the volume. What was important was the resilience of the service so that it could process peaks of high demand. Bram Kainth observed that each instance of fly tipping, created more fly-tipping, so it was seen as a self-perpetuating problem. Annie Baker reiterated that the Department was working with LET, so perpetrators were aware incidents of fly-tipping were being actively investigated.

Councillor Jackie Borland commented that fly-tipping was a form of blight, which in some cases, was as simple as residents putting their domestic waste out on the wrong collection day. She suggested that matters might be improved through an awareness campaign. In response, Annie Baker confirmed the Department could do a mail-box awareness campaign, as well as use a variety of other platforms such as social media. In many cases, it was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.