Agenda and minutes
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Apologies for Absence and Substitute Members Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillors Richard Norris and Roly Hughes.
Councillor Brassington substituting for Councillor Hughes.
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations of interest from Members and Officers, relating to items to be considered at the meeting. Additional documents: Minutes: There were no declarations of interest from Members or Officers. |
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To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 25 May 2021. Additional documents: Minutes: RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 25 May 2021, be approved as a true record:
Record of Voting – for 6, against 0, abstention 3, absent 1.
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Chair's Announcements Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee noted that due to the ongoing management review, an update report from Publica would be submitted for consideration at the August 2021 meeting. |
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Public Questions To deal with questions from the public within the open forum question and answer session of fifteen minutes in total. Questions from each member of the public should be no longer than two minutes each and relate to issues under the Committee’s remit. Additional documents: Minutes: No questions had been received from the public. |
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Member Questions To deal with written questions by Members, relating to issues under the Committee’s remit, with the maximum length of oral supplementary questions at Committee being no longer than one minute. Responses to any supplementary questions will be dealt with in writing if they cannot be dealt with at the meeting. Additional documents: Minutes: No questions had been received from Members. |
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Annual Report of The Safer Community Partnership to The Crime and Disorder Committee Purpose To provide an overview of the ‘Cotswold Safer Communities Partnership’ work over the last year (2020/21). To inform the Crime and Disorder Committee about the CSP’s future aims and objectives.
Recommendation To note the report
Additional documents:
Minutes: Councillor Jenny Forde, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing introduced the report and praised the work of CDC (Cotswold District Council) staff and partners throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. It was noted by the Committee that weekly meetings of the Safer Community Partnership had contributed to successful partnership working.
The Committee noted that crime levels had dropped to an all-time low and that the Cotswolds had been recognised as one of the safest places to live in the UK, although further work around crime perception would be undertaken.
Members noted the work and initiatives being undertaken by CDC including ‘Clean and Green’ and ‘Spacehive’ which contributed towards making communities feel safer.
The Council remained vigilant in relation to specific areas of concern, namely the increase in domestic abuse following the ending of the national lockdown.
The Committee noted that the Champions Network continued to be rolled out across the County. This was a scheme whereby people such as teachers, GPs and other individuals who had regular face-to-face contact with the public, were trained to recognise signs of domestic abuse and how to signpost victims to the relevant support networks.
In relation to young people, the Committee noted that funding had been secured to commission ‘Young Gloucestershire’ who were a street-based organisation who had been liaising with young people to understand their fears and concerns throughout the Pandemic. Further work would be undertaken with partnership agencies to support young people going forwards.
The Committee noted that the terms of reference for the Committee’s Crime and Disorder Committee were approved at full Council on the 20 January 2021 and not at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 01 December 2020 as stated at 1.3 of the report.
In relation to priority 4 of the Plan – anti-social behaviours (ASB) and the target of reducing it by 50%, the Committee noted the importance of establishing an accurate baseline so that future measures of success or otherwise could be made.
The Committee noted that the Cotswold Water Park Partnership covered both the east and west areas of the site. The Partnership had met virtually during the Pandemic to discuss ASB perpetrated by some visitors. Other issues discussed included parking and potential drug use across the site. Work was being undertaken across partnership agencies to discuss potential solutions to these issues. The Committee acknowledged the complexities associated with solving the issues at the Water Park, which were in many cases historic and were continuing to occur.
From a CDC perspective, the Committee noted that Philippa Lowe, Business Manager Localities, would be the Strategic Lead Officer for this area of work.
The Committee noted that work would be undertaken to determine how fear of crime could be accurately measured.
The Safe and Social Roads scheme sought to remove the focus from cars and instead focus on how roads could be safe for pedestrians and road users for business and leisure purposes, placing the emphasis on individual road users to adhere to the rules of the ... view the full minutes text for item OS.82 |
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Financial, Council Priority and Service Performance Report - 2020/21 - Q4 and Year End Purpose To provide an update on progress on the Council’s priorities and service performance To provide information on the Council’s financial position
Recommendation To review overall progress on the Council priorities, service delivery and financial performance for 2020-21 Q4 Additional documents:
Minutes: The Deputy Chief Executive introduced the report, explaining that this was a review of the 2020/21 year. The following points were highlighted:
(a)
The Council had continued to function
throughout the Pandemic, despite the majority of staff working from
home.
(b)
Over £57 million in grants had been
paid out by the Council to small businesses during the
Pandemic.
(c)
Financial support had been provided to
residents who had been required to self-isolate during the
Pandemic.
(d)
Leisure providers had been provided with
financial support after they were forced to temporarily close
during the Pandemic. (e) The Pandemic had resulted in a fall to Council income, particularly in relation to the reduction in car park usage.
(f) The Council had seen an increase in the amount of collected recycling due to the increase in working from home and people staying at home due to national lockdowns.
(g) The data within the report related to the revised budget which was submitted to Full Council in September 2020. There was a small budget surplus of £21,000, which would transfer to the Council’s General Fund.
(h) Planning income had increased during the year and exceeded the target as outlined in the revised budget.
(i) The report outlined the grants which had been received by the Government to support local communities and businesses throughout the Pandemic.
(j) The significant fall in net business rates income had impacted on the Council’s Collection Fund. The grant received from the Government to support the decline in business rates would be placed into earmarked reserves for the forthcoming financial year and would be called upon to repay the Collection Fund deficit.
In relation to Planning, a view was expressed that it would be helpful for the Chair of the Planning Committee to receive regular updates on the financial information relating to this area of business.
The Committee noted that the contribution to the Council’s General Fund was around £180,000 less than when the original 2020/21 budget was set. This was a due to the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
In relation to electric vehicle charging points, the Committee noted that work would be undertaken to determine which charging devices would be installed at each site according to anticipated demand, cost and charging performance.
A note updating Members on empty properties would be circulated for information.
The Committee noted that the implementation of the new revenues and benefits system had been successful. Any change of circumstances information had to be held before the data was migrated from the previous system to the new. Work was then undertaken to ensure that any delays associated with the system migration were kept to a minimum. The aim of the revised system was to improve the user experience.
It was noted by the Committee that a review of office space requirements was being undertaken which would determine how much physical office space was required at the Trinity Road site. Further reports on the results of this work would be shared with Members as ... view the full minutes text for item OS.83 |
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Appointments to Gloucestershire County Council Scrutiny Committees Purpose To agree the representatives, and deputies, for the civic year 2021/22 for the following committees: · GCC Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee · GCC Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee
Recommendation That the appointments be agreed. Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee noted that the proposal was for Councillor Brassington to continue as the CDC representative on the Police and Crime Panel, that Councillor Blomefield would continue as the CDC representative on the Economic Growth Overview and Scrutiny Committee and that Councillor Andrews would become the CDC representative on the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
RESOLVED that the Committee agreed to the appointments to the Gloucestershire County Council Scrutiny Committees as outlined above.
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Quarterly Digest (including County Matters) Purpose To consider any issues arising out of the Quarterly Digest for future debate and/or action by the Committee.
Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee noted the updates provided by Members in relation to County Matters along with the minutes of previous Gloucestershire County Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings. |
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Work Plan 2021/22 and Executive Forward Plan Purpose To receive the Work Plan and the Executive Forward Plan and identify any areas for inclusion in future Scrutiny.
Recommendation To amend the Overview & Scrutiny Work Plan as necessary. Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee expressed an interest in considering a future item in relation to Ubico. This would be subject to the production of a draft terms of reference to determine what a potential task and finish group would seek to achieve.
The next meeting was to take place on 31 August 2021, which would include items on the Steadings, Publica Update, along with other standing items.
The Meeting commenced at4.00 pm and closed at 6.20 pm
Chair
(END)
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