Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor R Hall. 

Members are requested to declare the existence and nature of any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or other interests, not already on their register of interests, in any item on the agenda and withdraw from the meeting at the appropriate time.

Members were requested to declare the existence and nature of any disclosable pecuniary interest and/or other interest, not already on their register of interests, in any item on the agenda and withdraw from the meeting at the appropriate time.

There were no interests declared at this meeting. 

To approve as a correct record and the Chair to sign the Minutes of the Communities Scrutiny Committee held on 23 September 2022.

RESOLVED – That the Minutes of the Communities Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 23 September 2022 were approved and signed as a correct record by the Chair. 

To receive and overview of the ‘safer streets fund’ bid and its initiatives – Faye Green, Community Safety Manager.

The Community Safety Manager delivered a presentation on the ‘Safer Streets fund’ bid and its initiatives. The presentation included:

·       Aims of Safer Streets

·       Overview of the fourth round of Safer Streets Funding

·       Our bid

Members discussed residents being informed of some of the elements of the presentation. The Community Safety Manager urged Members to e-mail the Community Safety department if they received any local knowledge from residents.

Members referred to the total amount of the bid and enquired if the Council had contributed half of it. They were informed that Bolsover Town Council had provided the majority of the funding.

The Chair requested a breakdown of the amount the Council had contributed towards the fund. The Community Safety Manager stated that this would be investigated.

RESOLVED – That Committee noted the update. 

To receive a progress report on the implementation of the CCTV in Taxis Policy – Ken Eastwood, Assistant Director of Environmental Health and Lisa Ingram, Legal Team Manager.

The Environmental Health Service Manager and the Legal Team Manager (Contentious Team) gave Members a progress update on the implementation of the CCTV in Taxis Policy. Legal officers were checking the first draft of the contract, which the Committee requested an update about on 23 September 2022.

The Legal Team Manager (Contentious Team) explained that because of the complexity of the contract, Legal officers had to seek guidance from an external law firm on the first draft, and this was the reason why Legal officers had not yet approved the first draft of the contract.

The Environmental Health Service Manager explained that drivers coming to the Council for their MOT test would have to install CCTV in their vehicles from 28 November 2022. In the lead up to this date, drivers had all been written to informing them of the changes, and training had taken place to try and train all of the people involved.  Specialist ICT equipment was also being delivered in the next week.

The Environmental Health Service Manager informed Members that some drivers had concerns about the scheme and could form an association in response.

Members enquired if it was possible for drivers based in the District to acquire their licence somewhere else and still operate in the District. The Environmental Health Service Manager advised that this was possible.

Members discussed the contract and asked what the progress with it was at that moment in time. The Legal Team Manager (Contentious Team) explained that the first draft would still be with the external firm until the end of next week, and added that the contract had grown in complexity because of all of the Data Protection provisions that had to be included.

Members discussed the issues taxi drivers had with the policy and enquired specifically what they were. The Environmental Health Service Manager explained that the primary issue had been the cost to drivers, particularly in the middle of a cost of living crisis. Members suggested allowing drivers to rent cameras, but the Environmental Health Service Manager stated this would not be possible.

Members enquired what legal steps would be taken to make sure all taxis were compliant. The Environmental Health Service Manager explained that taxis would not be given a licence if they did not have CCTV installed.

The Committee discussed the checks the Council would have to make on taxis to ensure they were compliant, and enquired what the cost of these checks would be to the Council. The Environmental Health Service Manager explained that the systems would be checked as part of routine vehicle testing on licence renewals, and this would be straightforward to carry out.

RESOLVED – That Committee noted the update. 

To consider progress against the Action Plan – Scrutiny Review into Residential Parking – Damien Johnson, Assistant Director of Property, Estates and Assets.

The Assistant Director of Property, Estates and Assets presented to Members an action plan which set out progress against the recommendations that emanated from the Committee’s previous 2019/20Residential Parking Review.

Members were advised that the recommendation follow ups in the action plan that were still outstanding were items 3 and 5. Item 3 (That the effectiveness of using Grass Crete at suitable locations within the District to offer further parking opportunities for residents be investigated) was noted in the action plan as completed, but Members were informed that this was outstanding because the location of the trial site was still to be determined.

The Assistant Director of Property, Estates and Assets gave more detail on residential parking being considered by other Committees. Members were informed that Audit Committee had raised concerns about the site selection criteria, and Cabinet/SMT had requested an update on the status of the programme for their meeting on 23 November 2022.

The Chair was concerned that using the description “complete” for Items 1, 2 and 4 in the action plan was misleading, since they were not complete. Members agreed a more appropriate term to put in the action plan would be “not able to implement”. The Assistant Director of Property, Estates and Assets stated this would be amended and that he would review the action plan.

Members shared a number of concerns relating to the content of the action plan. They felt that the note for Item 4 (“Officers have investigated the feasibility of setting a minimum of 2 car parking spaces for all new developments and have concluded that it is not practicable.”) did not explain the reasons why in enough detail. They also felt that the progress update for Item 5 (“A number of sites have already been used to provide new homes and poor condition garages have been demolished”) appeared to be superseding what the Committee asked for in the review, which was to look at all garage sites for alternative parking options.

Members requested that with these concerns in mind, the action plan needed to be discussed in more detail with the specific officers who would be working on each item on the action plan. The Assistant Director of Property, Estates and Assets agreed to meet with the Senior Engineers and Planning officers to gather further information before returning to the Committee at its next meeting on 13 January 2022.

RESOLVED – That Committee noted the update.

·         Approval of Project Plan and Timetable;

·         Consideration of any Documentation;

-       Membership prices and structure

-       Membership numbers by age category

-       Activities list and venues

·         Consideration of questions asked to stakeholders.

The Senior Scrutiny Officer presented Members with an update on the ongoing Scrutiny Review of Leisure & Wellbeing Provisions for Older Residents, which included a proposed review timetable and information Members had requested on 23 September 2022 about:

1. Membership prices (for all age groups) and what they get with their memberships
2. A breakdown of how many members are in the age categories of 55-64, 65-74 and 75+
3. A list of all activities offered to older people

The Senior Scrutiny Officer explained that the timetable included interviews with officers for the Committee meeting on 13 January 2023, so Members should raise any questions for them to the Senior Scrutiny Officer as soon as possible to provide enough time for detailed answers.

The Committee discussed a number of areas they would like the Senior Scrutiny Officer to research before the Review was considered again on 13 January 2023. They requested the following:

1. The age information provided in this meeting’s breakdown, but in a graph
2. The total memberships of each of the breakdown’s age groups
3. Include the newly opened centre in Killamarsh in all future research
4. The total number of memberships for each facility, and then broken down by age group (and then compared with previous years)

RESOLVED –

(1)  That Committee noted the update.

(2)  That Committee agreed the project plan and timetable for the Scrutiny Review of Leisure & Wellbeing Provisions for Older Residents. 

To consider the attached Forward Plan of Executive Decisions dated 15 October to 15 November 2022.

Please note, the most up-to- date Forward Plan of Executive Decisions can be accessed via the following link:-

https://democracy.ne-derbyshire.gov.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=1137&RD=0&bcr=1

RESOLVED – That the Forward Plan of Executive Decisions be noted.   

To consider the Committee’s Work Programme.  

The Chair requested for the Senior Scrutiny Officer to add the 2019/20Residential Parking Review to the Work Programme for the meeting on 13 January 2023, based on discussions about the review earlier in the meeting.

RESOLVED – That the work programme be noted.    

To consider any other matter which the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no additional urgent items. 

The next meeting of the Communities Scrutiny Committee is scheduled to take place on Friday 13 January 2023 at 1.30 pm.

The next meeting of the Communities Scrutiny Committee would be held on Friday 13 January 2023 at 1:30pm.