Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors Simon Bosher, Matthew Winnington and Hannah Hockaday.

There were no declarations of members' interests.

The minutes of the EDCL Scrutiny Panel meeting of 22 October 2014 will follow, for approval at the meeting.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the EDCL Scrutiny Panel meeting of 22 October 2014 be approved as a correct record.

i)    Traders' Associations

The following traders' representatives have been invited to attend, with some of their ideas having been forwarded to the panel separately:

-     Tony Broome, Cosham

-     Jenni Catlow, Albert Road

-     Tobi Stidolph, Castle Road

ii)   Role of Town Centre Management

Papers by Alan Cufley, Head of Assets, Business and Standards and Barry Walker, City Centre Manager attached - to be presented by Barry Walker at the meeting (these were deferred from meeting of 22 October).

iii)Libraries and paper from Cultural Services

Lindy Elliott, Library & Archive Services Manager to attend to discuss ideas raised involving the Library Service, including the visits of the mobile library to the shopping areas.

iv)Future of High Streets Conference - report by Cllr Swan as Chair of EDCL Scrutiny Panel attached (which was deferred from meeting of 22 October).

v)   Planning documents

District Centre maps are available to view on pages 67-70 of the Portsmouth Planhttps://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/ext/documents-external/pln-portsmouth-plan-post-adoption.pdf  with descriptions of the shopping areas up to page 74.  Other maps have been sent separately to the panel.

vi)           Parking Provision in secondary shopping areas

Following discussion with Michael Robinson, Parking Operations Manager at the last meeting the attached summary document has been provided by the Head of Transport and Environment.

Traders Associations

The Chair welcomed traders representatives Tobi Stidolph & John Pryde  (Castle Road) and Jenni Catlow (Albert Road) to the meeting and they were asked for their views on how the Council could help give support to the traders, whilst not raising expectations regarding budgetary provision.

Jenni Catlow wished to raise the idea of encouraging walking and cycling to  Albert Road by making it one way for traffic to provide extended cycle routes, to connect to Clarendon Road, Osborne Road and Festing.   The Chair felt that this scale of change may be outside the remit of this review but could be passed as a suggestion to Councillor Ken Ellcome as the Cabinet Member for Traffic & Transportation.  It was also reported that the Cycle Forum were being invited to a future meeting to seek their views as part of this review.

It was reported that Fratton Traders were now establishing and Councillor Swan and Barry Walker were attending their meetings.

At Castle Road Tobi Stidolph also suggested there be consideration of making the road one-way north to south to improve the area and allow extra parking, and even give consideration to pedestrianisation for the southern end. Whilst pedestrianisation was favoured by some traders in the city it did not have the support of others (as had been evident at Palmerston Road).

He reported on traffic problems there, especially with lorries using the narrow road and the inconsiderate parking over driveways and for prolonged periods over the double yellow lines in an area which should be 1 hour parking.  This would be referred to Michael Robinson as the Parking Operations Manager to consider further enforcement.

Discussion then took place about the organisation of the Castle Road Festival - the traders contributed £10 each per month and businesses were asked to pay for a pitch.

John Pryde expanded on his experience having relocated from Stirling where he had been involved in the Business Group there working to bring the public and private sector together and to encourage traders to take more responsibility for looking after their own patches.   Entrepreneurs were brought together to participate in events, to capitalise on locality.  He had been impressed by Tobi Stidolph's enthusiasm in organising the Easter event in Castle Road which attracted people through food and simple entertainment.  He stressed that setting up a traders association was relatively easy but its success would be reliant upon its members to make an effort and believe in it.   The council could support initiatives by removing barriers to events - so that procedures were stream-lined such as for road closures.    When Tobi had suggested widening the area of the Castle Road events up to the Clock Tower this had been rejected on traffic management issues (disabled parking provision) and environmental health had voiced concerns regarding the noise - the events ran up to 9pm.

An event that had become a victim of its own success and had become un-manageable had been the 'Love Albert Road Day',  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

To discuss a suitable date for the EDCL panel's next meeting to continue this review.

It was agreed that the next EDCL Scrutiny Panel meeting take place on Tuesday 16^th December at 5.15pm at the Civic Offices.   The witnesses to be invited would primarily be PCC officers.