SELBY DISTRICT COUNCIL
Minutes of the proceedings of a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee
held on Thursday 6 April 2006, in Committee Rooms 2 & 3, The Civic Centre,
Portholme Road, Selby, commencing at 5.00 pm.
756 Minutes
757 Chair’s Address to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Work
Programme
758 John Grogan MP
759 Questions to the Chief Executive
Present: Councillor J McCartney in the Chair
Councillors: J Bedworth, I Chilvers, Mrs M Hulme, B Marshall, Mrs K McSherry and
Mrs F Ryan.
Officials: Chief Executive, Head of Service – Legal and Democratic Services and
Committee Administrator
Observers: Councillors M Crane, Mrs D Davies, W Norton,
Public: 1
Press: 1
754 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies were received from Councillors J Cattanach, Mrs S Duckett
Mrs J Dyson and C Pearson.
755 DISCLOSURE OF INTEREST
None
756 MINUTES
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the proceedings of the meeting of the Overview
and Scrutiny Committee held on 16 March 2006 be confirmed as a
correct record and be signed by the Chair.
Overview and Scrutiny Committee
06 April 2006
757 CHAIR’S ADDRESS TO THE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY
COMMITTEE
The Chair addressed Members and informed them that there was a
tabled document for their information.
PUBLIC SESSION
758 JOHN GROGAN MP
The Chair introduced and welcomed John Grogan, MP to the meeting. He
responded to questions as follows:
Local Government Workers
It was John Grogan’s opinion that he supported Local Government
Workers over their pensions and that the same principle that applies to
Civil Servants should apply to Local Government Workers.
Drax Power Station, profits, petcoke and elephant grass
Elephant grass - is a bio mass element that is burnt at the Power Station
Petcoke – The trial started on 26 June 2005 and will run for 18 months. It
is presently half-way through the period.
Profits – Drax Power Station is now in a strong financial position.
Arbre Power Station, Eggborough
The Power Station is not working at the present time and is privately
owned. There was a potential buyer but nothing had materialised.
Burn Airfield Development
The United Kingdom would lead discussions in Europe on a next-
generation neutron source, and development of an upgrade to the
existing facility in Oxford will be halted for 3 years pending the European
discussions.
Burn By-pass
An application for planning permission would hopefully be successful in
the summer of 2006 and there could possibly be a contribution from
Yorkshire Forward.
Overview and Scrutiny Committee
06 April 2006
Future of Policing
The new Neighbourhood Policing Teams had been launched and he fully
supported this as it retained policing in Selby.
Chief Inspector Barry Smith had taken over the control of Selby Police
Station.
The police cells were to be kept open every weekend for the foreseeable
future, which was good news for Selby.
There was to be a meeting of all the Yorkshire Police Forces in respect of
forming one large “super force”.
Does Selby District Council have a future?
The MP informed Members that as far as he was aware there were no
proposals for change. A White Paper was to go through in the summer of
2006.
If no Council advocated change then no change would take place. MPs
support District Councils but were not keen on a change of boundaries.
Local Government Reorganisation, with particular reference to the
Neighbourhood Agenda. I believe the White Paper is due out in the
summer. Can you please advise what opportunities will be available to
Parish Councils under the proposed new legislation?
It was the opinion of John Grogan that this was a good thing for Selby
District Council as Ward Members were truly local. This would strengthen
Parish and Town Councils if the Council went towards a Cabinet.
Assisted Euthanasia
At the present time there is a Bill in the Lords and the second reading is to
take place in May 2006. If it passed through all the stages in the Lords
then it would be passed to the House of Commons.
If asked to vote on this, the MP informed Members that he would not vote
for it.
Emergency Doctors for Selby & York Area
The MP informed Members that he would write to Board Members in
relation to the reduction of the number of emergency doctors to one for
the York and Selby Area as this would be cutting services too far.
Overview and Scrutiny Committee
06 April 2006
The MP responded to questions from Members in relation to issues
raised.
Councillor Chilvers was informed that he would need to write a letter to
the Chief Executive and ask that it be read as part of communications at
the next meeting of Council in regard to the cut backs to emergency
doctors.
Dentistry in Selby
There would be up to 4,000 new NHS places made available to residents
across the District by 2007. This was a great boost and would mean that
residents currently on the waiting list would be able to see a dentist.
Eight of the dental practices in the District had signed up to the new
contracts.
The message from the PCT was that residents should not ring individual
practices but register on the new list.
Tuberculosis
Routine school-aged BCG vaccination against tuberculosis had not been
offered in the area covered by Selby and York PCT since 1988. The
decision, originally taken by York District Health Authority, was based on
the grounds of limited effectiveness and risk of side-effects,
On 6 July 2005 the Chief Medical Officer and others announced an
improved targeted neonatal and other ‘at risk’ based BCG programme to
replace the current schools’ programme for older children,
It was now recommended that BCG should be given to:
All infants living in areas where the incidence of TB is 40/100,00 or
greater;
Infants whose parents or grandparents were born in a country with a TB
incidence of 40/100,000 or higher;
Previously unvaccinated new immigrants from countries with high
incidences of TB.
Children who would otherwise have been offered BCG through the
schools’ programme would now be screened for TB risk factors, and
tested and vaccinated if appropriate.
Overview and Scrutiny Committee
06 April 2006
Selby Hospital, PCT Debt and new PCT
Shared meetings had taken place and the aim was still to rebuild a new
hospital for Selby.
The MP informed Members that he didn’t think that the PCT should have
to pay back the debt next year and would urge that the balancing of the
books be extended for as long as possible.
Pontefract General Infirmary
There were proposals for a 24-hour Consultant-led Accident and
Emergency Unit covering comprehensive outpatient service, including
fracture clinic, extended diagnostic facilities, assessment unit, low risk
maternity unit, rehabilitation service, including stroke care, short stay
surgery, children’s assessment unit in A&E, children’s outpatients, MRI
scanner and kidney dialysis.
Only patients needing complex care or assessment would go to
Pinderfields.
The Future of Selby’s Council Housing
A discussion took place around current housing provision within the Selby
District. Selby had recently undertaken a tenants’ ballot on whether to
transfer the current housing stock of 3,100 houses to an independent
housing association. The results of the ballot were that the existing
tenants did not wish to transfer and felt happier staying with the Council.
In the future, discussions would have to take place on maintaining the
housing stock and keeping the houses up to the Decent Homes Standard.
Following recent decisions at Planning Committee a number of affordable
units were to be provided to the people of Selby District.
Bus Services in the Selby District
Members commented on the decline of buses across the district but felt
there was a large increase in the number of bus shelters.
The No. 405 buses would carry on with the same timetable until 30 July
2006.
North Yorkshire County Council were subsidising buses to Brayton and
due to public concern Officers were in discussion to see if they could
improve the time of the last bus.
Overview and Scrutiny Committee
06 April 2006
The No. 42 Cawood-Selby Bus would remain with the same service until
October 2006. Councillor Cattanach was taking a prominent role in
discussions about this service.
The Wetherby to Tadcaster bus service was still under negotiation as part
of the service area had been removed. Mr Grogan stated that this would
cause problems within the service, especially relating to the Lending
Library, Thorpe Arch Trading Estate and the Prison.
Riccall Roundabout
The MP informed Members that there was a budget for the roundabout
and it looked as though it would be delayed until Spring/Summer 2007
Loss of jobs at Sherburn in Elmet
Councillor Bedworth raised the issue of large job losses in the Sherburn
area and what could be done to help people find alternative jobs.
The MP informed Members that talks had taken place with the Economic
Development Unit in respect of the closure.
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Mark Crane spoke on this issue and
informed Members that it was hoped with the help of the CAB a Research
Worker would be based at Sherburn in Elmet to assist workers find other
jobs.
759 QUESTIONS TO THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE
None
The meeting closed at 6.10 pm.
Overview and Scrutiny Committee
06 April 2006