Agenda item

The Committee considered the Quarter Four 2023/24 Performance Management  report of the Chief Executive which outlined the progress towards achieving the strategic ambitions and objectives set out in the 2023-27 Council Plan.  The report covered performance from January to March 2024 (for copy of report see file of minutes).

Gemma Wilkinson, Strategy Team Leader, presented the report highlighting themes pertinent to the remit of the Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  With respect to the economy theme, it was reported that scheduled maintenance and operational issues had impacted on cinema occupancy and ticket sales at theatres. 

In relation to the environment, the Strategy Team Leader referred to figures shared in the previous presentation and clarified that the figures contained in the performance report related to a different time period. The Strategy Team Leader reported that the amount of waste diverted from landfill had improved. In addition, contamination of recyclate waste had improved following education and enforcement activity. The Strategy Team Leader pointed out that the Office for Local Government (Oflog) had developed a new national contamination rate metric, which was based on different methodology to the current contamination rate measure and it was, therefore, not comparable. Discussions were taking place with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to understand the calculation methodology. The Oflog measure for 2022/23 showed an improvement on the previous year but performance was worse than the regional average.

It was reported that Park and Ride patronage had improved compared to last year, driven by the removal, in January, of free off-street parking after 2pm. 

The target originally set for tree planting had been amended to 85,000 trees due to a reduction in the amount of available land as some sites had been removed for a variety of reasons including development potential and additional land being required to meet associated biodiversity net gain requirements. 

Response times to fix highway defects were better than or near target for all defect categories and highway conditions were better than all benchmarking comparators.  Low levels of fly tipping continued, which followed the increase in fines introduced in May. 

Industrial action by Go North East during October and November 2023 had impacted bus patronage and overall satisfaction with the service in County Durham was worse than benchmarks. Regional work continued on the Bus Service Improvement Plan.

The Chair thanked the Strategy Team Leader for the update and invited comments and questions from the Committee.

Councillor Stubbs thanked the officer for the response to the question raised at the previous meeting in relation to theatre yield and occupancy which clarified the calculation used, however, the question remained as to whether the original targets had been achievable. He was disappointed to see the dip in performance for cinemas and theatres due to repairs and maintenance, which, in his view, were within the Council’s control. Councillor Stubbs praised the facilities and staff at the Gala Theatre, adding that it provided excellent value for money and he asked whether there was more to be done to market the asset. The Chair echoed Councillor Stubbs’ comments in praise of the Gala Theatre and he informed the Committee that an item on the management of the Council’s theatres was included in the future work programme. The Strategy Team Leader agreed to pass the comments to the service.

Councillor Adam referred to accessibility to employment sites and he asked for further information as to how the figures had been calculated.  He noted that, of the three employment sites in Newton Aycliffe namely Merchant Park, Forest Park and Aycliffe Business Park, two of the sites exceeded the 2019 baseline and one of the sites performed worse than the baseline and he questioned why that was the case when public transport served all three sites. The Strategy Team Leader explained that the calculation took into account bus service times and the number of households which could reach the employment locations within an hour and by 8.30am.  Changes would have occurred to bus services and household locations since 2019. Councillor Adam raised concern that the report stated that only 19% of passengers could reach Aycliffe Business Park by public transport, by 8.30am. The Strategy Team Leader responded that Councillor Adam’s comments would be passed to colleagues involved in the Bus Service Improvement Plan.

Councillor Lines referred to the report in relation to the number of visitor attractions accessible by public transport and he highlighted that Hardwick Park now had an accessible path which was less than half a mile from the nearest bus stop. The bus service, however, was infrequent. The Strategy Team Leader replied that as the path was a newly created path, the details may not yet have appeared on the mapping system and she added that she would inform the relevant colleagues. 

Councillor Elmer remarked that the removal of land for tree planting due to additional land being required to meet biodiversity net gain requirements seemed counter-intuitive and he requested that further information be sought on the issue.

Resolved:

The Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the overall position and direction of travel in relation to quarter four performance (January to March), and the actions being taken to address areas of challenge.