Agenda for Environment & Community Safety Overview & Scrutiny Committee on Monday, 26th January, 2009, 4.00pm
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Agenda and minutes
PDF 198 KBVenue: Council Chamber, Hove Town Hall. View directions
Contact: Mary van Beinum, Scrutiny Support Officer
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Minutes: 41a Declarations of Substitutes
There were none.
41b Declarations of Interests
There were none.
41c Declaration of Party Whip
There were none.
41d Exclusion of Press and Public
In accordance with section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, it was considered whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of any items contained in the agenda, having regard to the nature of the business to be transacted and the nature of the proceedings and the likelihood as to whether, if members of the press and public were present, there would be disclosure to them of confidential or exempt information as defined in section 100I (1) of the said Act.
RESOLVED: That the press and public be not excluded from the meeting.
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Minutes of the Previous Meeting Minutes of the meeting held on 10 November 2008 Minutes: 42.1 At minute 32.1 the meeting heard that the report on the draft London Road Supplementary Planning Document had been delayed and would now be considered by the Culture Tourism and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
42.2 Under item 35 – Street Lighting, the Committee agreed it would be helpful to circulate the report and extract from the minutes to all councillors for information.
42.3 RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 November 2008 be approved and signed by the Chairman. |
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Chairman's Communications Minutes: 43.1 The Chairman introduced the new Head of Overview and Scrutiny, Tom Hook, who said he looked forward to working with Members and officers in developing scrutiny at Brighton & Hove.
43.2 Councillor David Smart who was serving on the scrutiny panel on Older People and Community Safety, said that a first scoping meeting had been held and a second was planned for 20th March. Dates for meetings in public had also been agreed. Councillor Smart noted that a number of older people’s concerns about public transport issues had been raised at the Panel’s scoping meeting.
43.3 The Chairman welcomed the AD, CityClean and Head of Waste Operations to the meeting, to discuss waste and recycling collection. |
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Public Questions Minutes: There were none. |
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Letters from Councillors/Notices of Motion Received from Council Minutes: There were none. |
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Local Area Agreement Delivery: Quarter Two: 2008 - 2009 Report of the Director of Strategy and Governance Additional documents: Minutes: 46.1 The Performance Analyst introduced the report and said that action plans were available for performance denoted as significantly off target against national indicators for example NI 47 (people killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents) and L7 (arson incidents). Data for Quarter 3 would be reported to the next meeting of the Committee.
46.2 Committee asked for year-by-year trends and action plan relating to NI 47 to be circulated.
46.3 The AD Public Safety said that there were good working relationships with the fire and rescue services and there were no general concerns about arson although a possible spate of incidents was being investigated. The method of calculation of performance was now clarified such that the calculation would likely show performance to be on target. How this had happened, would be reported to the Committee.
46.4 Questioned about the NI 167 target on congestion, for which baseline and target were both 3 minutes per mile, the Head of Transport Planning and Policy said that even maintaining journey times at a baseline level would be a challenge because of the government’s forecast of rising traffic levels.
46.5 The Assistant Director Public Safety confirmed that NI 40 referred to the number of known drug users in effective treatment for at least 12 weeks.
46.6 At report paragraph 3.8, the AD Cityclean said there had been massive changes in the October 2008 restructuring of the refuse collection rounds, with three fewer crews; and problems, as expected, had taken some time to resolve. During a usual week there are 120,000 household waste collections and ordinarily no more than about 0.04% or 48 of these are missed. The number rose considerably during the October changes. There were 1,900 reported missed collections between October – 19 January and this number is continuing to decrease although there had been continuous problems in North Woodingdean, Queen’s Park and Hollingbury, Patcham and parts of Preston Park which were being addressed.
46.7 Regarding collection rounds for recycling; there would be phased changes starting in February and some disruption to be expected over a period of around three months. There would at first be five fewer collection crews, out of nineteen, then followed by one person being removed from each recycling collection vehicle.
46.8 Replying to questions about the details of the changes, the Assistant Director said she was confident about the plans which had been developed and that the changes had been agreed with the GMB. Moving to just two waste compartments per vehicle – glass and co-mingled – would allow for faster rounds. A recycling campaign will be launched in Summer..
46.9 The Committee congratulated and thanked the officers on achieving the changes and asked for an update to the next meeting.
46.10 RESOLVED – (1) that the Committee notes progress against the Local Area Agreement and the main areas of concern within the delivery plan. (2) that an update be requested to the next Committee meeting and the NI 47 action plan be provided to Committee Members
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Local Transport Plan Progress report 2008 Report of the Director of Environment Minutes: 47.1 The Head of Transport Planning and Policy and the Public Transport Manager introduced the report that had been requested following the Local Transport Plan Progress report to the previous ECSOSC meeting.
47.2 The Head of Transport Planning and Policy was asked about the future of the Rapid Transport System [report paragraph 3.7e)] and confirmed that the Regional Transport Board and South East Regional Assembly, meeting the previous week, had agreed to maintain support for the Rapid Transport System (rts) but since progress had been slower than anticipated, the planned start date would now be during 2011/2012, rather than 2010/2011. A resubmission of proposals would take into account a new approach to park and ride.
47.3 The Council would work with neighbouring authorities and partners to develop a scheme to include Shoreham Harbour, possibly extending westards and east towards Newhaven.
47.4 A satisfactory business case would need to include costs of proposals and consideration of alternative options. Discussions on park and ride were continuing.
47.5 Answering questions the Public Transport Manager outlined some of the practical constraints on the bus routes’ networks and frequencies and possible implications of extending or diverting a bus route. He described the partnership working with the bus operators, who provided 97% of bus services in the City on a commercial basis. He described the range of processes for consultation with users, and the tendering process and operation of the supported bus services.
47.6 The Committee asked for more information on park and ride policy and funding options, and agreed that they would wish to have an involvement in developing policy.
47.7 Councillor Smart, who served on the Older People and Community Safety scrutiny panel was concerned especially about provision for older people and their use of services after dark.
47.8 It was suggested that a more detailed scrutiny activity might be needed. The Chairman said this would be considered under the Committee’s ‘Work Plan;’ Item 50 on this agenda.
47.9 RESOLVED – (1) that the report be noted
(2) that the Committee consider whether further scrutiny activity is needed.
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Community Safety Crime Reduction and Drugs Strategy 2008 - 2011 Report of the Director of Environment Additional documents: Minutes: 48.1 The Head of Community Safety introduced the update on the 2008 – 2011 Community Safety, Crime Reduction and Drugs Strategy, which was the third that had been produced. It did not yet include two key priorities: reduction in alcohol-related harm; and reducing numbers of Children and Young People victims and offending by Children and Young People. There had been a great deal of progress against the Strategy as agreed, and detailed action plans were in place.
48.2 The Strategy was now a statutory document that the local authority had a responsibility to produce and deliver in partnership with key organisations. It would be refreshed annually, being considered by the Cabinet Member for the Environment and approved by full Council. Performance was being monitored by the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) and RAP/DAAG the Responsible Authorities’ Partnership/ Drug and Alcohol Action Group.
48.3 The meeting heard that a poster on safety in parks would shortly be launched as part of a wider communications strategy which aims to reduce fear of crime through advising the public of successful action by the CDRP.
48.4 It was generally felt that the perception of crime and safety was a particularly important issue to communicate, especially regarding older people. The Assistant Director, Public Safety said if wished, Councillors could receive further details to help reinforce the message, through this committee or via the Community Safety Forum.
48.5 Members discussed the classification of cannabis as a Class B drug and welcomed the additional park rangers and area wardens. The work of the Women’s Refuge Project was also praised.
48.6 Members were pleased that the LGBT officer was now in post and asked Officers to include reference to LGBT groups, within the ‘main partners’ text box (Strategy page 40). in the current review of the Strategy.
48.7 RESOLVED – that an update be requested on the outstanding provisions of the Police and Justice Act 2006, relating to scrutiny of crime and disorder.
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Review of Cabinet Member Functions for Community Safety Report of the Director of Strategy and Governance. Minutes: 49.1 The Committee noted that the Cabinet on 15 January had agreed to the transfer of Community Safety functions to the Cabinet Member for Community Affairs, Inclusion and Internal Relations.
49 RESOLVED – that the report be noted and the portfolio holder, Councillor Dee Simson, be invited for a discussion of the role and joint working between scrutiny and the Executive.
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Report of the Director of Strategy and Governance Minutes: 50.1 There was a discussion about whether there was a need for further scrutiny action on buses or transport issues more generally within the City. Some Members felt that a seminar would be useful, for further information and to bring forward a range of views.
50.2 The Committee asked for a scoping paper to the March meeting, with a view to holding an event before the June meeting.
50.3 RESOLVED - that a scoping report be requested to the next meeting. |
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Items to be taken forward to Cabinet Member, Cabinet or Council meeting Minutes: 51.1 Members noted that as agreed the report on street lighting to the 10 November ECSOSC meeting and extract from the minutes would be forwarded to all Members for information. |