Agenda and minutes

Members are requested to advise the Democratic Services Officer of any  apologies for this meeting.

Councillors Atherton, Hodgkinson, Rotherham and Watson.

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 August 2022 are attached.

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 August 2022 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Government guidance expected Members of Scrutiny Committees not to act in accordance with party whipping and that, if they did, they were to declare it.

Government Guidance expected Members of Scrutiny not to act in accordance with party whipping and that, if they did, they were to declare it.

Resolved: There were no declarations.

Report and presentation of the Director – Economy and Growth attached.

The Committee considered a report of the Director – Economy and Growth, Aidan Thatcher, presented by the Assistant Director – Planning and Regeneration, David Proctor, which provided and update on the strategic background to the Growth Locations identified across Greater Manchester (GM) and detailed how the Council was engaging with this project in respect of the Wigan and Bolton Growth. The report also set out the key projects in the borough that were being taken forward as part of the corridor.

Some of the key points that arose from the discussions were:

·        concerns in relation to the development of the homes within the Galleries site and whether these would be Council owned properties or privately owned;

·        the welcoming of plans to better connect the East and West side of the Borough;

·        how much of the proposed development land was actually green belt land;

·        the opposition to developing on green belt land;

·        whether new road infrastructures would be developed to enable better connectivity;

·        the need for parking standards for new housing developments to be managed and the need for these roads to have sufficient width; and

·        the importance of bringing new employment developments/opportunities to the borough.

The Assistant Director informed the Committee that the new homes that were to be developed within the Galleries site were not being developed by the Council and that this would be a private enterprise. The developer however,  would need to adhere to the relevant planning policies and have a minimum of 25% affordable properties as units. Retirement accommodation had also been included as part of the planning application for the Galleries scheme that had been approved.

The Assistant Director advised Members that the Growth Locations Strategy did not identify land for development, this would be identified though the Places for Everyone (PfE) Plan that was currently awaiting approval by Government Planning Inspectors, although the majority of the land that had been identified was brownfield and within the built-up area. The Assistant Director did not have the specific figures in relation to the amount of green belt that had been identified as land supply within the PfE, but would circulate this information to Members.

The Assistant Director informed Members that progress had already been made with the physical infrastructure to improve the connection between the East and West side of the Borough, and these included the A49 and M58 link roads. Other plans to improve the transport infrastructure for the corridor included: an east-west link road to connect junction 26 of the M6 with junction 5 of the M61; and creating a quality bus transit corridor between Wigan and Bolton town centres. A significant bid had also been submitted to the Department for Transport (DfT) for a connecting road between Westwood Park and Atherleigh Way, and the Council was currently awaiting the outcome of this bid.

Resolved: The Committee:

(1)    thanks the Assistant Director for the report;

(2)    requests that the percentage of green belt land that has been identified as land supply  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

Report and presentation of the Director of Environment attached.

The Committee considered a report of the Director - Environment, Paul Barton, presented by the Operations Manager, Andrew Bond, which provided an update on the development of the Litter Prevention Strategy for the Borough. The Strategy had been developed in response to feedback from residents during the Big Listening Project, during which litter was identified as a priority issue and was incorporated into The Deal 2030.

Members ideas and suggestions were sought on the new draft litter prevention strategy and the associated plans, before they were formally approved at Cabinet on 24 November 2022.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

·       the welcoming of the new Litter Strategy as a whole, including the bin review - in some area’s street bins were sometimes full and it was hoped that the review would highlight this and enable larger bins to be located in these areas;

·       dog fouling being an issue, with the suggestion that dog walkers be fined if they were not carrying a dog fouling bag;

·       the need for more ‘Keep Dogs under control’ signage;

·       whether more could be done with takeaway businesses to help improve the issue of litter, including asking them to add educational messages onto their packaging, asking their customers to dispose of their rubbish responsibly and to litter pick outside the vicinity of their premises;

·       support for tougher enforcement and for the Council to issue fines when residents were caught littering, including dog fouling and fly tipping;

·       the need for support to be available for the elderly/residents with no access to IT, to access the bulky waste collection service;

·       the need for street bins in poor condition to be replaced across the borough;

·       the appreciation for the fantastic work of the volunteers across the borough who litter picked and whether the Council could do more to recognise this and reward them;

·       whether an award scheme could be set up for schools, volunteers and organisations who supported the Council in keeping the borough clean;

·       issues with people littering from their vehicles and what could be done to prevent this from happening;

·       education being a key element to help prevent littering;

·       the processes for the deployment of CCTV cameras to hot spot areas;

·       the welcoming and usefulness of the bin strategy when dealing with ward enquires;

·       whether the Council would run the Christmas recycling campaign like in previous years; and

·       end of tenancy fly tipping being a large problem and how the Council was dealing with this issue.

The Operational Manager informed the Committee that the Council was doing an audit and review of all its street litter bins and following that review, if it was established that a location required a larger street bin then the Council would consider replacing the one in situ with a larger bin. Once this review was completed, Members would be consulted on the decisions relating to the street bins within their ward.

The Operational Manager advised Members that the Council would strive to educate residents on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.