Issue - meetings

The Corporate Performance Report provides an analysis of the Council’s performance for the third quarter of 2023-24. The report, set out at Annexe 1, is being presented to each of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees for comment and any recommendations they may wish to make to the Executive.

The Policy and Performance Officer and Heads of Service are to highlight areas relating to this Committee’s remit (pages to note are pages 3-11 and 61-89 of the agenda papers).

54.1     The Chair asked how repairs to street furniture in car parks were reported and monitored. Officers stated that they would seek a response from the Executive Head of Commercial Services. Officers clarified to Cllr Munro that there appeared to have been no complaints as yet relating to the publicised increase in parking charges soon to take effect.

54.2     The Interim Head of Environmental Services noted the red key performance indicators (KPIs) under his section of the report, that he would later give a presentation on recycling, and improvement in the collection of missed bins. He and members concurred that the target of no more than 40 per quarter was very difficult, and that a performance clause in the contract with Biffa would soon be reactivated to compound improvements likely to materialise from new bin lorry InCab technology.

54.3     The Executive Head of Environmental Services noted that such performance targets are typically set by members, and that they may wish to review any that they feel are unrealistic. The Policy and Performance Officer informed the committee of the upcoming KPI review and the possibility of the committee making a recommendation regarding this.

54.4     The Executive Head of Planning Development noted the significant progress that the Planning team have made to reducing the backlog of planning applications, reducing with ~300 of these in the previous 12 months. She noted the level of agency staff in the team, that these were working together very well, and that interviews for multiple permanent roles would be taking place in April.

54.5     Cllr Austin enquired about ideal staffing levels for the Planning department. The Executive Head of Planning Development noted that the industry standard was 20 full-time planners and that there was only a small amount of vacancy in the team.

54.6     Cllr Busby asked if the news that the council would not be receive formal designation by the Secretary of State had impacted recruitment campaigns. The Executive Head of Planning Development stated that it is difficult to quantify this, but a recent campaign at Guildford Borough Council has been successful in recruiting several agency staff.

54.7     Cllr Austin asked when the final planning applications submitted in 2021-22 would be completed. The Executive Head of Planning Development stated that she would correspond with Cllr Austin regarding this later, but had that evening completed more of these, and that only a very small number remained.

The Committee RESOLVED to recommend that the Executive support the upcoming Key Performance Indicator Review, with attention given to indicators that are felt to be punitively difficult, such as, for example, E3a and E3b.

The Committee also RESOLVED to recommend that the Executive take any appropriate measures to ensure that the Planning department is adequately resourced, and so capable of giving optimum service to the borough.