Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Aqbany and Councillor Waddington.

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 5 September 2018 are attached and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

The Commission received the minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2018.

Further to minute 19(a), “Progress on Actions Agreed at the Last Meeting – Minute 11, Portfolio Overview”, the Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services advised the Commission that a meeting had been held on 4 September 2018 to discuss the way in which ward community funding was working and how issues could be addressed. 

Further to recommendation 5 of minute 19(a), the Director advised that the new CCTV suite within the data centre was not open yet.  It was anticipated that it would be operational in November 2018 and that the Commission could visit it in December 2018.

In relation to minute 19(b), “Progress on Actions Agreed at the Last Meeting – Minute 12, Waste Management Services Overview”, the Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services advised that two patch walks had been held.  One of these had identified problems with alley gates.  For example, a number had been left open, exposing businesses and residents to unnecessary risk, and on others broken locks would be replaced. 

On the other patch walk, the Head of Standards and Development had considered problems caused by paan spitting and educational work that was being done to combat it.  Before Diwali, some street washing also would be done to improve their appearance.

At the invitation of the Chair, Councillor Halford advised that, further to minute 20(b), “Chair’s Announcements – Film on Waste and Recycling within the Community”, work on the film was progressing.  The creators of the “Leicester Wyvern” river monster had provided some footage that would be included in the film.

The Chair advised that the draft scoping document supported under minute 23, “Review of the Community Asset Transfer Strategy – Draft Scoping Document”, had been submitted to the Overview Select Committee for endorsement.  Dates had been set for meetings of the Task Group that would undertake this review and all members of the Commission were encouraged to attend.

AGREED:

1)    That the minutes of the meeting of the Neighbourhood Services and Community Involvement Scrutiny Commission held on 5 September 2018 be confirmed as a correct record; and

2)    That the Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services be asked to circulate the notes of the meeting held on 4 September 2018 to discuss the way in which ward community funding was working and how issues could be addressed.

The Chair made no announcements.

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 Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance will give a presentation on the City Council’s response to the Hinckley Road explosion.  The Commission is recommended to receive the presentation and comment on the issues raised.

The Chair reminded the Commission that court proceedings had arisen from this incident.  The Commission could not discuss these, or speculate about what caused the incident, or why, so all Members were asked to refrain from such discussion.

The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance gave a presentation on the City Council’s response to the Hinckley Road explosion, explaining that:

The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance gave a presentation on the City Council’s response to the Hinckley Road explosion. The presentation included explanatory background about the Council’s Emergency Planning function and the role of the Council in relation to major incidents.

The Director went on to explain that lessons learned in the response to the Hinckley Road major incident were:

·           There had been excellent multi-agency team working based on well-established relationships along with an excellent response from volunteers, including those from the local community;

·           The importance of putting the victims and the families at the forefront of all decisions taken;

·           Practical arrangements for those who had had to leave their properties, often with nothing other than the clothes they were wearing, had generally worked well, including the provision of temporary accommodation in a number of cases;

·           The importance of considering and managing the resilience of staff and others involved in the response as such incidents could be very testing of personal resilience;

·           Consistency of key messages was important and people valued personal contact in the delivery of these messages through, for example, letters and face to face contact;

·           Establishing who lived in the properties affected and identifying them was a problem.  The properties affected were privately owned houses of multiple occupation and leased to residents and businesses, but lessons were learned in how this information could be gathered more effectively in the future;

·           Vulnerable people in the area had been identified very quickly;

·           Finding translators at night had been challenging although practical solutions had been found, often utilising the language skills of the Council’s own staff and of volunteers;

·           The Council was not used to working in a response-type structure.  In the future, normal chains of command needed to be removed from the situation and clear lines of incident command followed; and

·           Things would always happen that had not been anticipated, so flexibility was needed.  For example, in this incident, arrangements needed to be made for people who had had to leave their properties to receive post and get bank cards to give them access to their bank accounts.  It also transpired that there were water courses running under the road, which would have been problematic if blocked.

At the invitation of the Chair, Councillor Cassidy, one of the Ward Councillors for this area, addressed the Commission in his capacity as Chair of the Hinckley Road Recovery Committee, making the following points:

o    There was no set guidance for how events of this nature should be responded to, but lessons learned from national experience were used;

o    The day after the incident, a public meeting had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services submits a report setting out the Council’s Gambling Policy for the coming three years, prior to its determination by Full Council in November 2018.  The Commission is recommended to make comments on the proposed policy, which will be reported to Council in November 2018.

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services submitted a report setting out the Council’s Gambling Policy for the coming three years.  Councillor Clair, (Deputy City Mayor with responsibility for Culture, Leisure, Sport and Regulatory Services introduced the report, noting that this Policy would be considered at the Council meeting to be held on 15 November 2018, for implementation in January 2019.

The Head of Regulatory Service advised the Commission that the amended Policy was based on the previous one.  As it was operating successfully, no significant changes were proposed.  However, comments on the draft Policy had been sought and those received to date were submitted with the report.

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services drew attention to the licensing objectives set out in the report, which formed the basis of the licensing decisions for gambling establishments.  The Director highlighted that a priority item in the work programme of the Council’s Regulatory Services (Licensing Team) over the next year was to develop the Local Area Profile that gambling premises operators should refer to in making their risk assessments.  This would be available to the Commission for scrutiny when complete if Members wished.

In response to Members’ concerns that it had taken a long time to start work on the local profile, the Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services said he supported the need to progress this and it was important to remember that Regulatory Services had undergone a Spending Review which involved changing from having three heads of service to one and subsequent changes in, for example, Licensing to ensure delivery against work programmes.  The local profile, although not a statutory requirement, was seen as a service priority and was in the work programme going forward into the new municipal year.

The Commission suggested that the cumulative impact of gambling establishments should be considered by the City Council’s Gambling Policy.  The Head of Regulatory Service explained that the Gambling Policy set out how the Council regulated individual premises.  The legislation did not allow for cumulative impacts to be considered when a licence application had been made.  Councillors’ concern about the impacts of concentrations of certain businesses such as gambling premises and fast food take-aways was something they could consider referring on to Planning Officers for consideration and feedback as appropriate.  They currently were developing the Council’s Draft Local Plan and would be best placed to advise further on this particular matter. 

In response to Members’ enquiries, the Head of Regulatory Service advised that responsibility for promoting “responsible gambling” lay with gambling businesses.  In some areas of the country, gambling was becoming seen as a public health issue.  In Leicester, the licensing team did not had cause to work with officers from Public Health on individual premises, but the public health aspects of gambling were considered as part of the licensing process of a gambling premise. 

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services advised that the Council regulated premises, not the people using them.  A previous  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

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 current work programme for the Commission was received and noted.

The meeting closed at 7.03 pm