Agenda and minutes

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Venue: Council Offices

Contact: Rebecca Brough  Democratic Services Manager

Items
No. Item

82.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

An apology for absence was received from Councillor N A G Richards.

83.

Appointment of Substitute Members

To note appointments of Substitute Members.

Minutes:

It was noted that, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4, Councillor S F Bannister had been appointed as substitute for Councillor N A G Richards.

84.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 37 KB

To receive any declarations of interest from Members in respect of business to be transacted on the agenda.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made by Members.

85.

Minutes

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 13 September 2017, 19 September 2017 and 15 November 2017 (to follow).

Minutes:

The consideration of the Minutes was deferred to a future meeting.

86.

Public Speaking

Please note that in accordance with the agreed Protocol for Public Speaking at Overview and Scrutiny, the right to speak only applies to agenda item 11.

 

Members of the public wishing to speak must register to do so by no later than 2.00 pm on the second working day before the meeting.

Minutes:

The Democratic Services Manager advised that a number of members of the public present at the meeting had indicated that they wished to speak and three members of the public had registered to speak on Minute No. 92 (Bus routes in the Dover District).

 

The Chairman indicated that the public speakers for this item would be taken at the start of the relevant item.

87.

Decisions of the Cabinet Relating to Recommendations from the Scrutiny (Community and Regeneration) Committee

There were no decisions taken by the Cabinet at its meeting held on 4 December 2017 in respect of recommendations from the Scrutiny (Community and Regeneration) Committee.

Minutes:

There were no items of business for consideration.

88.

Issues referred to the Committee by Council, Cabinet, Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee or another Committee

There are no items for consideration.

Minutes:

There were no items of business for consideration.

89.

Items called-in for Scrutiny or placed on the agenda by a Member of the Committee, any individual Non-Executive Members or Public Petition

(a)    Items placed on the agenda by a Member of the Committee or any individual Non-Executive Member

 

       Any individual Councillor may request that a matter is placed on the agenda of one of the Council's Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

 

       There are no items for consideration.

 

(b)    Call-In

 

       Executive Decisions may be called-in by the Chairman or Spokesperson of the Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee or any three non-executive members. Call-Ins are heard by the Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee unless it decides to refer the matter to the Scrutiny (Community and Regeneration) Committee.

 

       There are no items for consideration.

 

(c)    Public Petitions

 

       There are no items for consideration.     

Minutes:

There were no items of business for consideration.

90.

Notice of Forthcoming Key Decisions pdf icon PDF 38 KB

It is intended that Members should use the Notice of Forthcoming Key Decisions to identify topics within the remit of the Committee for future scrutiny.

Minutes:

The Democratic Services Manager presented the Notice of Forthcoming Key Decisions to the Committee for its consideration.

 

RESOLVED:       That the Notice of Forthcoming Key Decisions be noted.

91.

Scrutiny Work Programme pdf icon PDF 57 KB

It is intended that the Committee monitor and prioritise its rolling work programme.

Minutes:

The Democratic Services Manager presented the Scrutiny Work Programme to the Committee for its consideration.

 

Members asked that an item on the community impact of noise pollution be added to the work programme.

 

RESOLVED:       That the Work Programme be noted subject to the inclusion of an item on the community impact of noise pollution.

 

 

92.

Bus Routes in the Dover District

To consider the matter of bus routes in the Dover District.

 

To assist the Committee, representatives from Stagecoach and Kent County Council will be in attendance.

Minutes:

The Committee welcomed Phil Lightowler (Head of Public Transport, Kent County Council), Philip Norwell (Managing Director, Stagecoach) and Matthew Arnold (Commercial Director, Stagecoach) to the meeting to answer the key questions that it had set.

 

The Chairman, with the consent of the members of the committee, invited the members of the public that had registered to speak on the matter. The summary of the points that they raised was as follows:

 

Ms P Skelton

 

·         That cuts to the bus timetable impacted most on families with young children and the elderly.

·         That in Northbourne there were 12 bungalows with accommodation for the elderly and without the required bus services they would not be able to access services.

·         That the bus service to Deal from Northbourne on a Monday only allowed for a one hour stay in Deal before the last bus departed for Northbourne.

 

Ms S Harris

 

·         That the no.14 bus had a big impact on the community at Northbourne as the village had no post office or village shop. In addition, internet access was poor.

·         To express concern that as people became older and stopped driving that they would have to leave the village of Northbourne in order to continue accessing the services that they needed. This would change the character of the village as many of the older residents were active in the community and would turn Northbourne into a commuter village.

·         That when her family moved to Northbourne they did so in the knowledge that the no.14 bus service would enable their children to get to/from school.

 

Ms R Harris

 

·         The loss of the no.14 bus service meant that she could not get home from school and instead had to walk home. It also meant that her freedom was restricted at the weekend to travel and see friends.

·         That the cut to the no.81 service was a disaster.

 

The Chairman thanked the members of the public who had spoken and asked that the representatives of Stagecoach and Kent County Council address the committee’s key questions.

 

 

Q1.    What is the rationale for withdrawing services, e.g. what is the evidence?

 

Members were advised that Stagecoach ran services on a commercial basis and that it had 75 vehicles operating in the Dover district. Stagecoach faced increasing issues of congestion on routes into Canterbury and as a consequence services required a longer turnaround time than the previously allocated 7-8 minutes.

 

A review of the timetable and an analysis of the passenger journeys had led to the development of a new timetable that operated more buses but also allowed for a longer turnaround time in Canterbury.

 

It was recognised that there were different needs for rural and urban services but Stagecoach needed to offer services that were reliable and sustainable on a commercial basis. Stagecoach served the majority of places in the district but it was accepted that for Northbourne it had been unable to provide an off-peak service as it was only serving an average of six people per day off-peak.

 

Stagecoach  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92.

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