Issue - meetings

To consider observations on the impact of Covid-19 and prospects for future reset and recovery from invited representatives of community and voluntary organisations including:

•       Citizens Advice – Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

•       Community Action Network

•       Faithworks Wessex

The following Cabinet Portfolio Holders are also invited to attend the Board meeting for consideration of this item:

•       Councillor Lewis Allison, Portfolio Holder for Tourism, Leisure and Communities

•       Councillor Vikki Slade, Leader of the Council

The purpose of this scrutiny is to listen to a wide range of stakeholders to gain a greater understanding of the wider effects of Covid-19 and to take into account the views of the external stakeholder in future scrutiny of the impact of Covid-19, in line with the Board’s role as enabler of the voice and concerns of the public. 

The Director for Community, gave a presentation to the Board which provided an update on the current situation and included information concerning community issues within the BCP area, including:

·     The level of domestic abuse and BCP Council’s work in preventing domestic abuse, which included a helpline and online support. It was noted that there was an 8 percent increase in cases on last year.

·     Anti-Social Behaviour reports to the police were up by 30% on last year, this included breaches of Covid regulations. Reports to the Council team were also up. These could be treated as related to the current situation including neighbour disputes and Covid breaches.

·     The Anti-Social Behaviour team had been undertaking significant work concerning a number of areas, including working with licensed premises and shops on reopening to tackle street-based ASB, begging and issues linked to licenses premises

Together We Can, including the partnership working to provide direct support in more than 4000 cases in response to over 14,000 calls received to the telephone helpline.

It was noted that the volunteers had done an excellent job in supporting shopping, delivering information postcards phone call support for those self-isolating.

The initiative also secured funding for community and voluntary sector groups, supported several initiatives to target food poverty, and introduced a financial resilience helpline to provide a simple route to talk about debt, finance and benefits.

Work was going on in conjunction with Public Health Dorset to develop contingency plans under the Local Outbreak Management Plan if shielding were reintroduced.

The Director advised that everyone had worked so hard and so fast to support vulnerable people in our community at a difficult time and expressed her thanks to all involved. Through the initiative strategies had been put in place to strengthen the voluntary and community sector. 

The Chairman thanked the Director and team for all the work which has been done and opened the meeting up to questions from the Board, during which time a number of issues were raised including:

·       Whether Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS) officers could be deployed in Charminster as there had been a recent outbreak of Anti-Social Behaviour in the area.

·       The Director advised that although CSAS resources were limited the Council did now have the power to use CSAS officers over the whole BCP  area rather than in specifically targeted areas. It as noted that it was hoped to move some resource to the area. The Director asked the Councillor to keep the Council and Dorset Police updated on the situation and encourage residents to report and instances of ASB.

·     A Councillor raised a query concerning the Domestic Abuse Helpline and the Financial Resilience helpline as he wasn’t able to easily access the numbers through the BCP website. The Director expressed her disappointment in this as they were extremely important. The Councillor was advised that a link to the helpline would be posted for Board members, but they would also look at the accessibility of these.

·     A Councillor commended staff for their work.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55

To consider observations on the impact of Covid-19 and prospects for future reset and recovery from representatives of the following organisations:

•       BH Active

•       Local BCP Bus Companies

•       South Western Railway

•       Access Dorset

The following Cabinet Portfolio Holder is also invited to attend the Board meeting for consideration of this item:

•       Portfolio Holder for Transport and Infrastructure

The purpose of this scrutiny is to listen to a wide range of stakeholders to gain a greater understanding of the wider effects of Covid-19 and to take into account the views of the external stakeholder in future scrutiny of the impact of Covid-19, in line with the Board’s role as enabler of the voice and concerns of the public. 

Regional Development Manager of South Western Trains, Andrew Ardley, described the measures and processes being adopted across the rail network in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. He set out the enhanced regime of train and station cleaning being undertaken and outlined measures being taken to educate customers and to promote good practice.

It was explained that the rail service was currently operating under the terms of an Emergency Measures Agreement prescribed by Central Government although the Agreement was expected to be reviewed in September 2020.

In practice this was all reported to be happening within the context of significant changes in travel patterns with considerable reduction in passenger numbers.

Initiatives being pursued going forward included exploration of new opportunities for flexible ticketing and improved facilities for customers in trains and at stations. Examples included improvements in toilets and other facilities on stations and better provision for cycles and storage and carriage of luggage.

There was a recognition of the benefits of working in partnership with BCP Council to identify and assess likely changes in future travel patterns and to develop an appropriate response. This could potentially encompass provision of facilities available in stations and a better understanding of the way in which passengers travel to the station for onward rail travel. There was agreement that the Council was very well placed to have a role in gathering customer and user information from the local public.

The following responses were provided in response to questions raised by members of the Overview and Scrutiny Board:

Assurances were provided that a wide range of flexible ticketing options were being examined and prepared for submission through to Central Government regulators.

The concerns of local people around visitors travelling on trains and arriving in the area without wearing face coverings had already been highlighted and the Board was assured that everything possible within the powers of the rail operators was being done to enforce compliance with regulations including the involvement of the Police and the Transport Police who were the only bodies authorised to take punitive enforcement action.

In relation to Pokesdown station, complex options for station development and improvement continued to be developed and discussions were ongoing.

The Chair of BH Active Travel, Jason Falconer, described his organisation’s ongoing dialogue with BCP Council at Councillor and at Officer level and there was enthusiasm expressed for working with the Council on the provision of clear communication for the public on available alternative travel options. A number of positive initiatives were in place across the BCP Council area including, for example, the ‘Beryl Bikes’ scheme and reducing vehicle use in areas such as town centres and in beach areas was expressed as a continuing priority.

The Board once again recognised the beneficial work already undertaken as the BCP Council responded to changing travel patterns and the Board recorded its appreciation of the work already undertaken by Council Officers within the Growth and Infrastructure teams particularly in respect of the success that had been achieved in taking  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33

To consider observations on the impact of Covid-19 and prospects for future reset and recovery from representatives of the following organisations:

•       Business Improvement Districts operating within BCP Council area,

•       BH Area Hospitality Association

•       Destination Management Board

The following Cabinet Portfolio Holders are also invited to attend the Board meeting for consideration of this item:

•       Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Culture

•       Portfolio Holder for Tourism, Leisure and Communities

The purpose of this scrutiny is to listen to a wide range of stakeholders to gain a greater understanding of the wider effects of Covid-19 and to take into account the views of the external stakeholder in future scrutiny of the impact of Covid-19, in line with the Board’s role as enabler of the voice and concerns of the public. 

The Chairman welcomed the representatives from the local Business Improvement Districts, the Destination Management Board and the BH Area Hospitality Association.

Poole BID – The Director of the BID outlined to the Board a number of issues which were being faced by the members of the BID. It was noted that the situation regarding levy collection was currently unclear, but the independents were the biggest paying group by type. The BID had been very active in supporting the business directly in improving the area during lockdown. A community project was underway to improve various aspects of the high street and surrounding areas with painting utility facilities with the aim of trying to build confidence and make it a n improved place to visit. It was noted that travel schemes had allowed seating areas outside some businesses to be increased. An area had been pedestrianised in order to allow for local arts and crafts and food stalls to attract people to the area. Poole was aiming to gain entry to a heritage scheme to enhance this aspect of the town. The CSAS officers were also welcomed in order to help reduced anti-social behaviour.

Bournemouth Town Centre BID – The Chairman and the Chief Operating Officer provided the Board with information on the challenges and operations and some ideas for ways to work together in the future. Overall it was noted that the consensus from the town centre business was that the Council had done a fairly good job during the crisis. The Shop Local / Stay Local message had been rolled out. It was noted that the future of High Streets/ Town Centres was already changing prior to Covid-19 but that the impact of Covid had accelerated the process. The Board was told that the change in criteria for the second round of the discretionary grants was of vital importance.  The message around wearing masks was being rolled out with messages in windows thanking people for wearing one. It was noted that with the calling of the major incident in Bournemouth resources tended to be diverted away from the Town Centre. It was noted that the challenge going forward was what we wanted the Town Centre to look like in the future and how this could be shaped through the planning and highways processes.  The life in the Town Centre would be different from how it was previously.

Bournemouth Coastal BID – The Chairman of the Coastal BID advised that they had been doing lots of campaigning locally and there were lots of people who should have bee holidaying abroad who would be staying in Bournemouth. The ‘eat out to help out’ initiative was seen as a positive. The BID requested that the Council consider a reduction in parking charges as this would have a serious benefit for local businesses. The Chairman commented that it was encouraging to see what was happening on Poole Quay and there were similar initiatives for Boscombe, Southbourne and Westbourne. Further work was needed on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11