Agenda and minutes

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 27^th March 2019.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 27^th March 2019, be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

The Chair welcomed Mr Jeremy Sutton a partner at Kennington’s Chartered Surveyors who had agreed to attend the Committee to provide some insight to the business environment in Swindon.

Mr Sutton thanked the Committee for the invitation to address them.  He outlined his history of working in Swindon and at Kennington Chartered Surveyors and had worked in the commercial property market in Swindon since 1989 and was currently working on behalf of the Council in relation to a number of properties within the town and would primarily address the Committee in respect of the office market sector. Mr Sutton raised the following points and responded to Members questions in respect of:

·       The Swindon office market was basically split between an in-town and out of town market.

·       Over the previous 15 years the out of town market has become more prominent with its new built and tenant take-up with about 75% of the take-up being out of town.

·       Over the previous ten years there has been a reduction of office take-up within the town with the average take-up of 100,000-110,000 square feet per annum (this could be the equivalent of one major private or Government re-location letting in the big six office accommodation cities of Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester, Leeds and Edinburgh).

·       The big six cities attracted the vast majority of re-locations and Swindon wasn’t a big enough location either with stock or workforce to compete for major re-locations despite its communications links.

·       Oxford was doing well but this was based upon the University.

·       The lack of land and car parking in the town centre had led to development outside of this area.

·        The first question asked by companies when looking at office space was often how many car parking spaces do I get with this office.

·       A number of older offices, which wouldn’t be used for office accommodation again had been converted to housing, which was part of a national trend.

·       Swindon had been ahead of the national market in permitting office accommodation to be converted to residential use which had helped to address the oversupply of office accommodation and other business usage within the town centre.

·       The future usage of town centre office accommodation in Swindon.

·       To take itself more attractive as a location Swindon needed to address the town centre, although the vast majority of towns were struggling in this regard and with retail, especially with the challenges of on-line shopping; office occupiers wanted a vibrant town centre.  It was hoped that some of these issues would be addressed by the Town Centre Master Plan with town centre shopping becoming experience led.

·       There was not enough demand for office led schemes and Kimmerfields was an example of this would was likely to be the future model of office and other development, including residential.

·       One issue affecting new build was that for new office construction it might be three years before you knew the take up of office space.

·       Extra car parking and concessionary deals for office occupiers would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Chair reported that there had been a meeting involving officers, herself and the Cabinet Member for Economy and Place to discuss the remit of the Honda Task Group set up following a Motion to Council.  The discussions focused on how the Task Group could play a constructive role whilst avoiding the duplication of work that other established groups were undertaking and the structure of working groups established to date.

The Committee received an update regarding the membership of the Task Group which would have representatives from all three political parties on the Council, and the terms of reference for the task group. The Committee also received a brief summary of work to date of groups involving the Council and work undertaken by Central Government and work with Honda, employees and companies affected by the Honda decision.  Work was also on-going to find alternative employment for Honda employees and to identify training and re-skilling requirements.

The Cabinet Member for Economy and Skills noted that the CMAG would be Chair by the Chair of this Committee.  All Members would be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement and would scrutinise the work undertaken by other Honda Task Groups and the expenditure of the monies allocated by Council to support this Council’s work in respect of the Honda closure and would report back to this Committee.

Resolved – That the update be noted.

The Committee received an oral presentation from the Council’s Licensing Manager in respect of the operation of the Public Space Protection Order currently in force at Lydiard Park and a general overview of the Borough-wide Order against dogs fouling.  Following her presentation the Licensing Manger responded to question and comments from Members in respect of the following issues:

·       The Public Space Protection Order in force at Lydiard related to the control of dogs and the exclusion of dogs from certain areas which after three years of success was due to be renewed (Public Space Protection Order needed to be reviewed every three years).

·       There had been no fixed penalty notices issued in respect of the Lydiard Park Public Space Protection Order; there had been no complaints received since its creation and where action had been taken this was in the form of educational advice.

·       The use of Public Space Protection Orders in Swindon since their introduction under the Anti-Social Behaviour and Policing Act 2014; and the current Orders in force within the Borough.

·       The criteria for the use of Public Space Protection Orders which included attempting to reduce an anti-social activity having a detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the community, it must be persistent and continuing and unreasonable.

·       Public Space Protection Orders could either prohibit action or require something to be done (i.e. keep dogs on a lead).They were put in place by the Borough Council and could cover any public open space within the Borough and needed evidence to support its creation or extension and could be legally challenged.

·       The police, land owner or occupier and interest groups needed to be consulted prior to the creation of a Public Space Protection Order and alternative provision for an activity set out.

·       The restrictions currently in place at Lydiard including the dogs on lead restriction which covered 26% of the park and exclusion area which covered 2% of the park (there was an exception for registered assistance dogs).

·       The Kennel Club’s report to Parliament on  Public Space Protection Orders which highlighted the Order in force at Lydiard as being good practice and an example of reasonable restrictions.

·       The Borough-wide Public Space Protection Order covered all public land in the Borough and required owners to clean up after their dogs, failure to do so would lead to a fixed penalty notice if failure to do was witnessed and the owner’s failure to do when requested.  It also restricted dogs from entering any secure children’s play area.

·       The need for a campaign to remind dog owners of the provisions of the Borough-wide Public Space Protection Order and its enforcement.

·       The trialled use of stencilled messages to remind owners to clear up after their dog in areas that suffer from this issue and how areas are identified for these trials.

·       The monitoring of dog fouling complaints and how these are translated into targeted work.

·       The potential for co-operating with Parish Councils in respect of enforcement of the Borough-wide Public  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee considered a report by the Chief Legal Officer setting out the Committee’s proposed Work Programme for the Municipal Year 2019/20.

Resolved – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the following items be added to this Committee’s Work Programme for the Municipal Year 2019/20:

(i) That an update from the Honda CMAG and a presentation from businesses within the town be added to the agenda for all scheduled meetings of the Committee.

(ii) a review of the Town Centre Public Protection Order to added to the agenda for November 2019;

(ii) an update on the Kimmerfields Development be added to the agenda for November 2019; and

(iii) That an update of 5G, Switch onto Swindon and Tech Swindon be added to the agenda for March 2020; and

(iv) That an update on the Council’s Property Portfolio/Commercial Assets List be added to the agenda for March 2020.

(3) That officers be requested to arrange for the next meeting of the Committee at the Carriage Works.