Agenda item

The Committee received a report of the Chief Executive which provided information on the Council’s performance and progress towards achieving the strategic ambitions and objectives set out in the 2023-27 council plan (for copy see file of minutes).

The Corporate Performance Manager gave contextual information that related to activity and events that had taken place in the fourth quarter of the 2023/24 financial year (January to March) which provided an insight into what was going well and what issues the Council were addressing.  He highlighted statistics for road safety that showed that road traffic accidents had increased.  He advised that the Council had received £3 million from the Department of Transport to put programmes in place to increase road safety that included a project at Nevilles Cross.  He added that nearly half the properties within the selective licensing project were now either fully licenced or in the process of being licenced.  The target was to have 100% complete by the end of 2027.

Councillor J Charlton asked if there were any statistics on the number of traffic road accidents that were caused by drivers using mobile phones as she had witnessed a few people using their mobiles whilst driving.

The Corporate Performance Manager replied that causes of traffic road accidents had been investigated and reported to a previous Safer and Stronger Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  He noted that 43% of traffic road accidents were caused through people not looking, alcohol/drugs and speeding.  Accidents caused by people using mobile phones was a small percentage.

Councillor R Crute enquired about the recording system used for reporting anti-social behaviour within the selective licensing programme.  He was aware the software had experienced problems and he was conscious that the scheme was nearly at the end of the five-year term.  He was concerned there was a possibility of losing 2-3 years worth of data and queried if the team were going to seek an extension from the government to ensure the data was analysed to demonstrate if the scheme had been successful.

The Corporate Performance Manager agreed to feed this back to the relevant team and provide an update at the next meeting. 

Superintendent N Bickford asked if selective licensing could be an agenda item for a future meeting.

The Principal Overview and Scrutiny Officer advised that selective licensing had been included in the housing report that had been presented to the Committee in April 2024.  An invitation had also been extended to members of the committee to join an Economy and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee when they received an update on selective licensing earlier in the year that was part of their work plan.

Councillor D Nicholls mentioned that the council had received £2.9 million to make improvements to the A690 but his residents at New Brancepeth had received no allocation of monies to improve the footpaths to connect the villages and improve road safety in the area. 

The Corporate Performance Manager agreed to feed this back to the relevant team.

Councillor V Andrews commented that she had also witnessed people using their mobile phones whilst driving especially around the traffic lights in Dipton.  She queried if accessible data could be modified to show the statistics of this issue.

The Corporate Performance Manager stated that it was a driving offence to use a mobile phone whilst driving and agreed to feed this back to the relevant team.

Councillor D Boyes queried the layout of the Corporate Performance Report as he was unsure if it had changed.  Data was all tracker based with no targets included where the committee could get directly involved.

The Corporate Performance Manager explained that the reporting format had not changed and there were some targets within the report but not necessarily as many as had previously been included for the previous year.  The tracker-based formula was to make it easier to manage performance and make it clearer to understand.  He added that some performance indicators warranted targets whereas others did not. He agreed to develop the report with the individual services and relevant partners to look to include more targets where appropriate and where realistically able to do so.

Resolved:

That 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 be noted.