Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies of absence.

To receive Declarations of Interest in any contract or matter to be discussed at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest received.

Urgent business, if any, introduced by the Chair.

There were no items of urgent business received.

To receive Questions from the Public, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

There were no public questions received.

To consider the Minutes of the meeting of the Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee held 14^th June 2022

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 14^th June 2022 be approved as a correct record.

The Director of Public Health to verbally update the Committee

Consideration was given to a verbal update on the local matters which related to the Covid-19 Pandemic by the Director of Public Health.

Members were informed that, since the update received by the Committee in January 2022, the position with the Coronavirus had changed. The Virus was still around however, no community testing was taken place. The Office of National Statistics estimated that as of 13^th July 2022, 5.77% of the population, which translated to 1 in 17 were currently infected with Covid-19. The rate of infection for the week before was 1 in 19. Whilst this was a slight increase the overall rate of increased infections was slowing.

Members noted that testing was only available for high-risk settings, such as Care Homes. For any others, tests were available to purchase. Contact tracing was no longer being checked, masks were no longer in use and the requirement for self-isolation had been removed. It was explained that Omicron was still the main variant however, it had evolved from BA1 to BA5 strain. The BA5 strain spread faster that others however, the symptoms experienced were described as mild and Flu like.

Hospitals had been experiencing less stress on services, the Royal Oldham had an average of 3 to 5 patients in intensive care who had Covid-19. The weekly death numbers within Oldham were very low with a maximum of three deaths per week. For some weeks, the Hospital had recorded no deaths due to Covid-19. Since the beginning of the Pandemic, around 900 residents of the Oldham Borough had lost their lives due to Covid-19. Covid-19 was here to stay for the foreseeable future however, it was unlikely to return to the levels and seriousness of the beginning of the Virus.

78% of the Borough had received a vaccination and 50% that had received 3 vaccinations. A fourth booster jab was being made available for residents over the age of 50s and those that are immunosuppressant. There had been a 100% uptake of the fourth vaccination within care home settings. Overall, there had been a 50% uptake for the vaccination from the rest of the eligible demographic. The uptake was lower as many people felt the risks with the current strain were low.

Members asked for and received clarification on the following:

·         When would the fourth booster be offered more widely? Members were informed that the work was getting started on the roll out of the booster, Guidance had been released the previous week and contact had been made with the providers that delivered the vaccines previously with many indicating they would deliver again.

·         Would a vaccine be needed yearly similar to the Flu vaccination? It was noted that it was a potential scenario however it was difficult to say at the point in time. Over the next 10 years it may be possible to combine both vaccines into one.

·         What was the impact on the Health Services and absences? Members were informed that the Health Service were currently at winter  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Presentation by the Creating a Better Place Lead Officer

Consideration was given to a report which provided updates one year on from the adoption of Creating a Better Place and acquisition of the Shopping Centre.

Members were informed that Creating a Better Place set out the comprehensive vision and strategic framework for the Borough, which included the Oldham Town Centre Vision, the Housing Strategy, Green New Deal and utilisation of the Council’s corporate estate (land and property) to support development and open space requirements across the Borough.

Members were provided with the ambitions and visions which were as followed:

·         Building quality homes

·         Providing opportunities to learn and gain new skills

·         Providing opportunities to grow local businesses and create jobs

·         Ensuring Oldham is the greenest Borough

·         Embedding sustainability, energy efficiency and low (zero) carbon

·         Improving life-chances and the health and well-being of our residents and local communities.

External funding bids had been secured with further bids in development. The Capital Receipt Target for 2021/22 was £6.106m, with the actual achieved target of £8.771m. This translated into a Capital Receipt Target for 2022/23 of £2.462m. The Council aimed to accumulate £8.5m revenue savings over the next 5 years. In 2021/22, c£1.1m had been achieved (of £1.443m). 2022/23 had a challenging target of £2.720m to achieve.

Members were provided details of the approved External Funding Success which included:

·         £285m capital commitment from Oldham Council

·         Growth Deal public realm / transport funding

·         Future High Street Fund £10m

·         Town Deal Fund £24.4m

·         Brownfield Land Bids £6.5m

·         Re Opening High Street Safely Fund

·         Welcome Back Fund

·         BEIS Investment £166k

·         Hanging Places Fund

·         Levelling Up Fund £125k to develop a submission

Alongside the confirmed bids, there were some still in the bid stage which included:

·         Brownfield Land Bid (next round)

·         Levelling Up Fund bid c£40m

o   Green Innovation and Technology Network

o   Creative Improvement District

·         BEIS Decarbonisation Fund c£3m

o   Spindles and Chadderton Town Hall

Whilst there were several benefits to the programme, there would be challenges to face mainly around construction. Within the construction market, Contractors were not able to hold prices by more than a few weeks (standard 90 days) that could be affected due to the decision-making processes. There were also issues of material shortages that caused escalation of prices and longer ordering timescales. The construction market had also suffered during Covid due to sourcing sufficient labourers and drivers and sourcing site accommodation. It was estimated that the current issues would cause a minimum of 20-25% increase to budget costs with Economic Specialists predicting that the problems would continue for 3-5 years.

Construction Insurance had also become a major challenge, prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, 17 insurers were available to underwrite building renovation works. That had reduced to 4 as a result of high-profile losses including Grenfell, Glasgow School of Art, Mandarin Oriental, and Primark in Belfast. It had been recommended by insurers to market six months ahead of the works being undertaken to assess the appetite for the projects.

Members were informed of the £24m secured Town Deal Fund that had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Committee was invited to review the Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme for 2022/23. The drafted work programme included a number of potential items and the Committee was asked to determine whether or not they wished to pursue these going forward.

RESOLVED that the submitted Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme for 2022/23 be noted.

The Committee reviewed the Key Decision Notice which provided an opportunity for the identification of items or policy or service development, not otherwise listed on the Committee Work Programme.

RESOLVED that the report and the Key Decision Notice be noted.