Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Hunter.

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have in the business to be discussed.

No declarations of interest were made.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Neighbourhood Services and Community Involvement Scrutiny Commission held on 4 July 2018 are attached and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

AGREED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Neighbourhood Services and Community Involvement Scrutiny Commission held on 4 July 2018 be confirmed as a correct record.

To note progress on actions agreed at the previous meeting and not reported elsewhere on the agenda (if any).

a)     Minute 11, “Portfolio Overview”

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services advised Members that, further to recommendation 3, a meeting would be held on 24 September to discuss the way in which ward community funding was working and how issues could be addressed.  This meeting unfortunately had been delayed due to the illness of participants.  It would be useful if Members could let the Director know of issues they had encountered, so these could be included in the discussion.

It was suggested that Members could be asked for feedback on the ward community funding process and whether they found it worked satisfactorily.  This could possibly be done through a questionnaire.

Further to recommendation 5, the Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services advised Members that the new data centre would be operational from mid-September.  A visit to the centre therefore would be arranged as soon as possible after that.

AGREED:

That the Scrutiny Policy Officer be asked to liaise with the Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services on how the outcomes of the forthcoming discussion on the way in which ward community funding is working and how issues can be addressed can be progressed.

b)     Minute 12, “Waste Management Services Overview”

The Chair reported that a visit had been made to the Gypsum Close Recycling Centre.  It was pleasing that the LOROS shop on the site had been such a success, but the visit had highlighted the need to take action to reduce waste, in particular, that created by single-use plastic.  Educating the children in the city’s schools should be an important part of this. 

Members’ thanks were extended to all officers involved in organising this visit.

Further to recommendation 3, the Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services advised the Commission that a patch walk would be held at 3.15 pm on Friday 7 September 2018 in the Melton Road / Belgrave Road area.  This would include consideration of the problems caused by paan spitting in the street.

a)     Order of Agenda Items

The Chair advised that the Deputy City Mayor with responsibility for Culture, Leisure, Sport and Regulatory Services hoped to be at the meeting for agenda item 8, “Community Safety Plan Update”, but was travelling back from a meeting outside the city.  This item therefore would be taken at the end of the agenda, to give the Deputy Mayor time to get to this meeting.

b)     Film on Waste and Recycling within the Community

At the invitation of the Chair, Councillor Halford advised the Commission that work would be starting shortly on a short film examining how communities recycled items and the reasons why they might not do this.

The Waste Services Manager would be interviewed for the film, as would the Deputy and Assistant City Mayors whose responsibilities covered these areas.  A wide range of other people also would be involved, including farmers with land on the edge of the city who encountered fly tipping by city residents.

It was hoped that this film would promote recycling and be used alongside events such as a recycle challenge in the city centre, which would aim to highlight whether people knew what to recycle and how to do it.  It also would supplement existing initiatives, such as litter picks and work being done to reduce the amount of litter arising from shops.  The recently launched “Leicester Wyvern” river monster, made from waste plastic collected from local waterways, also could be included.

The Monitoring Officer to report on the receipt of any petitions submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

The Monitoring Officer reported that no petitions had been received.

The Monitoring Officer to report on the receipt of any questions, representations and statements of case submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

The Monitoring Officer reported that no questions, representations, or statements of case had been received.

The Chair will introduce the draft scoping document for the proposed review of The Community Asset Transfer Strategy and lead a discussion on this.  The Commission is recommended to endorse the scope of this review for submission to the Executive lead for any final comments.

The Chair introduced the draft scoping document for a proposed review on the Community Asset Transfer strategy, thanking officers for their help in preparing it.

The Commission welcomed the proposed review as being both useful and timely.  The following comments were then made in discussion on the draft scoping document:

·           Mention needed to be made in the rationale for the review that financial savings needed to be made as part of the Council-wide requirement for savings;

·           Groups involved in community asset transfers were supported by Locality and Voluntary Action LeicesterShire and there were opportunities during the process to share experiences and best practice.  However, it could be useful to establish a longer-term forum to share experiences and practices; and

·           Children’s Centres would not fall within the remit of this review, as this review would be of community assets operated by Neighbourhood Services.  This could be clarified in the scoping document by listing which buildings were included.

AGREED:

1)    That the Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services be asked to amend of the scoping document for the proposed review of the Community Asset Transfer strategy, as follows:

a)     Section 3, “Rationale”, to be amended to include reference to the need to make financial savings as part of the Council-wide requirement for savings, due to its overall financial situation;

b)     The number of community assets falling within the context of this review owned by the Council and the number of these for which management has been transferred to other organisations to be included in the draft scoping document; and

c)     A list specifying which community assets fall within the remit of this review to be included in the scoping document, to avoid confusion with assets operated by other services and therefore subject to different processes;

2)    That, subject to the amendments agreed under 1) above, the draft scoping document for the proposed review of the Community Asset Transfer strategy be endorsed;

3)    That the Overview Select Committee be asked to endorse the draft scoping document for the proposed review of the Community Asset Transfer strategy as amended;

4)    That, once the appropriate endorsements of the scoping document have been received, a task group be established to undertake the review of the Community Asset Transfer strategy, this task group to be chaired by Councillor Thalukdar; and

5)    That all members of the Neighbourhood Services and Community Involvement Scrutiny Commission be invited to participate in the task group referred to under 4) above.

The current work programme for the Commission is attached.  The Commission is asked to consider this and make comments and/or amendments as it considers necessary.

The Commission received its current work programme.

AGREED:

1)     That the Scrutiny Policy Officer be asked to liaise with the Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services about the inclusion of matters arising from individual cases in the proposed report to the Commission meeting to be held on 5 December 2018 on private sector rented and other housing; and

2)     That a report be submitted to the meeting of this Commission to be held on 5 December 2018 on progress with the development of an action plan for community cohesion, this report to develop the motion adopted at Council on 14 June 2018 on Community Cohesion and Hate Crime, (minute 20, “Notices of Motion”, refers).

The Head of Community Safety and Protection will give a presentation updating Members on the Community Safety Plan.  The Commission is recommended to receive the presentation and pass comments to the Head of Community Safety and Protection.

The Head of Community Safety and Protection gave a presentation updating the Commission on the Community Safety Plan.  A copy of this presentation is attached at the end of these minutes for information.

It was noted that the Safer Leicester Partnership had established a multi-agency group for each priority in the Plan and each group had a list of operational actions identifying what was being done to address its priority.  Funding associated with the actions was tracked and at the end of the financial year an assessment was made of what had been successful, what had not been successful and whether the priority remained relevant. 

Within this, it was recognised that different aspects of the priorities created a need to consult different people or groups on how they should be addressed.  This consultation needed to clearly differentiate between the priorities, so those being consulted could respond in a meaningful way.  This was reflected in discussions on how membership of the Community Gold meeting should be set.  For example, there could be a core attendance, with other people attending by invitation for specific issues. 

The Partnership also worked to encourage the community to take an active role in helping itself.  One way in which it was hoped that information about community safety could reach the community was through the Community Gold meeting, but it was recognised that this did not always happen.  Other ways included visiting schools and encouraging the children to do work they could take home and share with adults, (for example, creating posters).

The Partnership also undertook a lot of community engagement, including working with organisations such as Streetvibe and b-inspired.  A full list of organisations with which the Partnership worked was being compiled.

The Commission noted that the way in which Police Joint Action Groups (JAGs) operated had changed in some neighbourhood policing areas.  Some were now closed meetings, in order to deal with complex cases, but Neighbourhood Police Officers still came to events such as Ward Community Meetings.  If a Councillor wanted a matter raised at a JAG meeting, they could make the request through their Neighbourhood Police Officers.

Members welcomed the Celebrate Safely campaign, stressing that it should be considered as something to be aware of all year, not just those times of the year when religious festivals and cultural events were taking place and evenings were darker.  The Head of Community Safety and Protection advised that an event was being held at the Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre on 19 September 2018 to let people know how they could help themselves to stay safe.  The initiative also continued to be promoted through religious establishments.

There was some concern that people sleeping rough were using the landings of flats and maisonettes.  The Head of Community Safety and Protection advised that it was not uncommon for people to use these areas.  Whenever individuals were identified as rough sleepers, consideration was given to the support those individuals received, as well as using enforcement powers to stop them sleeping in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

The meeting closed at 7.04 pm