Agenda and minutes

In the event the fire alarm sounds attendees will be advised to evacuate the building via the nearest fire exit and assemble at the Bottle of Notes opposite MIMA.

The Chair welcomed all present to the meeting and read out the Fire Evacuation Procedure.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting.

The Independent Travel Needs Assessor will be in attendance to provide an overview on home to school travel assessments.

The Independent Travel Trainer will be in attendance to provide an overview on travel training provided by Middlesbrough Council.

Recommendation: that the Panel determines what further information will be required for this scrutiny investigation.

The Council’s Independent Travel Trainer gave a presentation to the Panel in relation to travel training.

Independent Travel Training (ITT) was about enabling students to gain the confidence to use public transport, demonstrate road safety awareness and be able to travel by themselves without confusion or anxiety.   ITT involved young people being taken on practical journeys by a travel trainer, who would highlight important aspects of travel, the rules of road safety, personal safety, and what to do if they became lost or anxious. Travel training was a gradual process which culminated in a young person being able to complete unaccompanied journeys.  ITT was a bespoke service that built on a young person’s existing skills as well as teaching them new ones with the goal of being confident and safe to travel on their own.

ITT also aimed to demonstrate to parents that their child was capable of travelling independently.  Students were empowered to feel more confident and independent and this helped with preparation for adulthood as well as being able to go out with friends and have more freedom.  Once trained, students no longer had to rely on specialist transport or parents or carers.  In turn this provided parents or carers with some respite and confidence that their child could be more independent.  By gaining knew skills, including who to ask for help and what to do if things went wrong, students would feel safer in the community and have a better chance of finding and maintaining employment.

Initially, the Independent Needs Assessor would receive a referral from a school or the Council’s Special Educational Needs (SEN) Service.  Following an assessment parents would be informed whether or not their child was eligible for transport to and from school, or eligible for travel training or not eligible.  Details of those students who were eligible were passed to the Travel Trainer.  The Travel Trainer would then contact the school and the parents to seek their permission and a journey plan was created which was shared with all.  

The journey plan included information in respect of the starting point, destination, route, timings and mode of transport.  The Travel Trainer could work with the students in school but needed parental consent in order to work with them in the community.  If parental consent was not provided for travel training the transport offer would be withdrawn.

Once parental consent was obtained, the Travel Trainer would meet with the student and complete skills assessments.  The Travel Trainer worked with students from the Year 6 age group up to College age.  Students received an emergency care card which contained contact telephone numbers for their next of kin and Travel Trainer as well as the name of the school or college that they attended.  The card was bright yellow and students were aware that if they were too anxious to ask for help they could show the card to a “safe stranger” for help.   No names were included on the card so that the student could not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24/28

Recommendation: that Panel Members consider, discuss and agree the terms of reference for the scrutiny review of Home to School Transport.

The Membership of the Task and Finish Group on Home to School Transport was discussed.  Members agreed that the Task and Finish Group on Home to School Transport would meet to develop and draft the Terms of Reference for the scrutiny review.

AGREED as follows that:

1.     Membership of the Task and Finish Group on Home to School Transport would include Councillors Branson, Cooke, Kabuye and Jackson.

2.     Draft Terms of Reference for the scrutiny review of Home to School Transport would be presented to the next Place Scrutiny Panel meeting for approval.

The Director of Regeneration will be in attendance to provide an overview in relation to Middlesbrough Council’s responsibilities with regard to empty commercial properties in Middlesbrough.  

Recommendation: that the Panel determines what further information will be required for this scrutiny investigation.

The Head of Resident and Business Support was in attendance at the meeting and gave a presentation in relation to Empty Non-Domestic Properties in Middlesbrough.

Middlesbrough had a significant number of empty non-domestic (commercial) properties, within the town centre and throughout the borough, some of which were in poor condition.

Properties like Vancouver House could attract anti-social behaviour, squatters, increase crime rates and decrease local property values and outside investment opportunities.

It was important for the Council to have a strategy for tackling empty properties although it did not have a great deal of power to do so.   The majority of empty properties were in the central area of the town.   A slide showing the break down of different categories was provided as well as a heat map. 

As at September 2024, out of a total of 2522 non domestic properties, 761 were currently empty. The total number of businesses properties in Middlesbrough was 4638, meaning 16.4% were empty.  Reliefs were available when properties were left empty.  Previously exemptions could be claimed and properties could be used as storage although there had now been a change in legislation.  The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) determined the rateable value of properties and when they could be taken out of rating. 

When a property became unoccupied the following applied:

•           Non-industrial – shops or offices - a 100% exemption was applied for 3 months, followed by 0% relief, a 100% unoccupied charge.

•           Industrial - Factories, Warehouses or Workshops - a 100% exemption applied for 6 months, followed by 0% relief, a 100% unoccupied charge.

In all cases, where there might be a change of ownership or leaseholder, the exemption period did not reset.  The new ratepayer was only entitled to claim the remainder of any 3 or 6 month exemption period.   If these had expired the new ratepayer would be billed for the 100% empty charge straight away.

When properties were taking out of the rating by the VOA, the Council did not have any influence, although pressure was being applied for the VOA to take a different approach.  Once properties were taking out of the rating, the owners were less inclined to maintain them.  The Council continued to inspect those properties however to check whether any work was taking place on them and try to engage with the owners.  If empty properties became unsightly or unsafe, the Council would use what powers it had to intervene.  426 non-domestic properties were currently stood empty in Middlesbrough with zero rate value.

There were several large office buildings in Middlesbrough that the VOA had taken out of rating including Centre North East, Church House and Gurney House.  This was lost revenue to the Council since business rates were not payable. 

Members were shown a slide showing the top ten empty non-domestic properties with the highest rateable value and maximum annual charge which included, Debenhams Store, DW Sports Fitness and House of Fraser (Middlesbrough Development Corporation).  

To try and encourage owners to bring properties back  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24/30

Recommendation: that Panel Members consider, discuss and agree the terms of reference for the scrutiny review of Empty Properties.

The Membership of the Task and Finish Group on Empty Properties was discussed.  Members agreed that the Task and Finish Group on Empty Properties would meet to develop and draft the Terms of Reference for the scrutiny review.

AGREED as follows that:

1.         Membership of the Task and Finish Group on Empty Properties would include Councillors Ewan, Hussain, Livingstone, Romaine and L Young.

2.         Draft Terms of Reference for the scrutiny review of Empty Properties would be presented to the next Place Scrutiny Panel meeting for approval.

The Chair will provide a verbal update on matters considered at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 25 September 2024.

The Chair provided a verbal update on items considered at meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Board that were held on 25 and 30 September 2024.

There had been a discussion on community cohesion at the meeting on 25 September 2024 and a working group had been established to follow up on work that had taken place since the last review on this issue in 2021.

The meeting on 30 September 2024 was a Call-in, in relation to Disposal of Land at Nunthorpe Grange.  The Board agreed that the decision would not be referred back to Executive.  

4 November 2024 at 4.30 pm.

The next meeting of the Place Scrutiny Panel would be held at 4.30 pm on Monday 4 November 2024.

The Chair informed Panel Members that Councillor Banks would be resigning as Vice Chair of the Place Scrutiny Panel and that nominations for his replacement would be voted on at the next Council meeting on 16 October 2024.

The Chair also advised that Erimus Rotary were setting up a steering committee to provide support for projects for greening Middlesbrough in partnership with the Council.  Any Members who wished to be involved were asked to contact the Chair.