The Overview and Scrutiny Committee of Tewkesbury Borough Council met to review the Executive Committee Forward Plan, the committee's work programme, the council plan's performance, and the development management improvement programme. The committee noted the Executive Committee Forward Plan and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2025/26, and scrutinised the performance management information from the Council Plan Performance Tracker - Quarter One 2025/26. The committee also considered the progress and achievements of the Development Management Improvement Programme.

Council Plan Performance Tracker

The committee reviewed the Council Plan Performance Tracker - Quarter One 2025/26, a document which monitors the progress of actions within the council plan and is supported by a set of key performance indicators (KPIs). The plan sets out the council’s key priorities to deliver its vision of 'supporting people, strengthening communities' through three key priorities: caring for people, caring for the environment and caring for place.

Of the 17 indicators in the council plan performance indicators, 14 have targets. At the end of quarter one 2025/26:

• Nine targets were met
• Two were below target but likely to be achieved by the end of the year
• Three had not yet commenced or data from partners was yet to be received.

The committee report noted some key outcomes to date:

• The council scored 44% on the council's climate action scorecard position, a significant improvement on previous years.
• New key strategies such as the climate change framework and procurement strategy are under development and will be formalised by the end of the calendar year.
• A stock of 140 litre waste bins have been ordered, which are due to be delivered in late August 2025 and will be rolled out to new housing developments from September 2025 onwards.
• All secure cycle shelters have been installed in Tewkesbury.
• The council's Community Centre Energy Efficiency Capital Fund was launched in June 2025, with over £60,000 available.
• £15,000 in funding has been secured from the Local Resilience Forum to improve local community flood resilience, supporting the establishment of community sandbag delivery hubs and the Tewkesbury Flood Warden Scheme.
• Small scale maintenance schemes for flooding improvement have been successfully completed at Parkside Close, Churchdown; Walton Cardiff Village and Brook Lane, Down Hatherley.
• A stewardship advisory board for the Garden Communities has been established and their first meeting took place on 13 August 2025.
• Two-bed accommodation in the borough has been secured through one of the council's registered providers for temporary accommodation.
• The council has been successful in securing a Local Authority Housing Fund grant of £648,200 from MHCLG for the delivery of three temporary accommodation new homes and one large resettlement home.
• Stage one engagement letters have been sent to all 290 properties within the borough that have been empty for over 2 years.
• The first of the 2025/26 business voice network events took place on 5 June 2025, with 33 businesses attending.

Actions with either red or amber status were highlighted in the report:

• CP.3 The target date to adopt and deliver a procurement strategy to ensure climate actions and sustainability principles are embedded within it has been amended from October 2025 to November 2025, to factor in time for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to see the draft strategy.
• CP.5 The target date to roll out smaller bins for new housing developments to reduce the amount of waste per household has been amended from July 2025 to September 2025, as a stock of 140 litre waste bins has been ordered, which are due to be delivered in late August 2025.
• CP.9 Initial reviews have indicated that there is likely to be little to no value in any of the council's land holdings for offsite Biodiversity Net Gain[^1]. The Climate Change Working Group will consider how this action can be taken forward. [^1]: Biodiversity Net Gain is an approach to development and land management that aims to leave the natural environment in a measurably better state than it was before.
• CP.15 The Tewkesbury Town Centre Masterplan is still in development and stakeholders are being engaged. It is likely that there will be some delays to the masterplan coming forward for approval ahead of public consultation.
• CP.19 Many of the later stages in the process to work with providers to prepare an Infrastructure Delivery Plan are not yet started.
• CP.19 Progress has been compromised in delivering improvements to maximise planning obligations (Section 106)[^2] and the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)[^3] due to staff leaving. [^2]: Section 106 agreements are legal agreements between local planning authorities and developers, used to mitigate the impact of new developments on the community and infrastructure. [^3]: The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a charge which can be levied by local authorities on new developments in their area to fund infrastructure improvements.
• CP.24 The council are still waiting for a response from Homes England regarding the funding request to support the development of a southern Garden Communities (Phase 2) masterplan.
• CP.28 There has been a slight delay in sending out all stage two engagement letters, to property owners that did not respond to the stage one letter regarding action plans for properties that have been empty for over two years.
• CP.31 No further progress has been made in Q1 to deliver affordable housing on the former Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (MAFF) site in Tewkesbury.
• CP.36 External advice is yet to be appointed on developing different models for 'youth voice' and commencing delivery.
• CP.38 There have been some delays this quarter due to resources in reviewing and enhancing the Care Leavers' Covenant throughout council services.
• CP.39 The best method to achieve a young voice feeding into the Garden Communities governance structure continues to be assessed.
• CP.40 The completion of collating, mapping and linking in with the existing provision of youth councils, action groups and networks within the borough is due to be carried out once an organisation is appointed to develop models of youth voice.

The committee also reviewed the corporate 'health check' indicators, which provide data on service performance that is not within the Council Plan.

Development Management Improvement Programme

The committee considered the progress made and achievements realised through the Development Management Improvement Programme. The report provided a summary of the work undertaken, the outcomes achieved, and the next steps as the service continues its journey of continuous improvement.

The transformation has not only improved performance metrics, it has also fostered a more agile, engaged and future ready planning service.

Key achievements of the programme include:

• Streamlined and modernised planning processes.
• Marked improvement in decision-making performance, with major applications improving from 67% in June 2023 to 94% in December 2024, and non-major applications rising from 76% in March 2023 compared to 84% in December 2024.
• Enhanced staff development opportunities, including new career graded posts
• A more responsive, customer-focussed planning service.

The report noted that the planning sector continues to face evolving pressures, including increasing complexity in legislation, policy reform, and rising customer expectations, and that recruitment and retention remain significant challenges.

The report also outlined the next steps for the programme, including enhancing performance reporting, reviewing the pre-application advice service, implementing a revision protocol, and exploring functionality of the Enterprise module.

Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel Update

Due to the absence of the Council's representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel, the update was circulated after the meeting.