Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies were received from Cllr L Allison and Cllr A Filer

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications.

Cllr G Farquhar substituted for Cllr L Allison and Cllr J Butt substituted for Cllr Filer.

To elect a Chairman for the Corporate and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2022/23 municipal year.

In accordance with the Constitution Meeting Procedure Rules the Chairman of the Council presided over the meeting for this item.

Nominations were received and seconded for Cllr L Williams and Cllr S Bartlett for Chairman. Both nominees addressed the Committee to give reasons why they should be elected Chairman. Following a secret ballot it was:

RESOLVED that Cllr L Williams be elected Chairman of the Committee for the 2022/23 municipal year.

Voting: 6 in favour of Cllr L Williams and 5 in favour of Cllr S Bartlett

To elect a Vice-Chair for the Corporate and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2022/23 municipal year.

Cllr L Williams took the Chair and asked for nominations for Vice-Chair of the Committee. Nominations were received and seconded for Cllr R Rocca and Cllr M Andrews. Both nominees addressed the Committee to give reasons why they should be elected Vice-Chair. Following a secret ballot it was:

RESOLVED that Cllr R Rocca be elected Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the 2022/23 municipal year.

Voting: 6 in favour of Cllr R Rocca and 5 in favour of Cllr A Andrews

There were no declarations of interest made on this occasion. Cllr M Andrews advised that as no papers had recirculated for agenda item 6, it was difficult to confirm that there were no declarations of interest to be made.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeID=151&Info=1&bcr=1

The deadline for the submission of public questions is 4 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

There were no Public Petitions, Questions or Statements.

The Chairman advised that he had been requested to vary the order of the agenda to take agenda item 7 Scrutiny of the Fly-Tipping and Fly-Posting Pilot Review Cabinet Report.

To consider the Fly-Tipping and Fly-Posting Enforcement Pilot Review report scheduled for Cabinet consideration on 25 May 2022.

The Committee is asked to scrutinise and comment on the report and if required to make recommendations or observations as appropriate.

Cabinet members invited to attend for this item: Councillor Mark Anderson, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Place; Councillor Bobbie Dove, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Regulatory Services; Councillor Nicola Greene, Portfolio Holder for Council Priorities and Delivery.

Officers invited to attend for this item: Jess Gibbons, Chief Operations Officer and Matthew King, Regulation Team Manager

The Cabinet report for this item is included with the agenda for consideration by the Committee.

The Portfolio Holder for Council Priorities and Delivery presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these minutes in the Minute Book. There were a number of points raised and responded to by the Portfolio Holder, Community Enforcement Manager and the Regulatory Services manager including:

·       The Portfolio Holder was asked what the most prevalent type of fly-tipping was, whether it was chargeable or non-chargeable items. A Councillor commented that a lot of items fly-tipped appeared to be general household waste. The Portfolio Holder didn’t have a breakdown of the types of waste but advised that as part of the communications strategy moving forward people would be made aware what items were chargeable for disposal and also how members of the public could make sure they were using a reputable company to remove waste. The Committee was advised that if the domestic waste was being collected by a commercial company it would be chargeable if taken to the tip. A lot of fly-tipping was carried out by waste removal companies.

·       In response to a query, it was confirmed that untaxed cars abandoned on the public road were not considered fly-tipping. 

·       It was noted that the majority of inspections carried out were given a fixed penalty notice and a Councillor commented that they were aware of some adverse reaction to a number of calls. The Councillor asked if letters could be sent in advance. Notifications were given through the BIDS and the business development email circulation. The challenge was that businesses needed to provide proof of suitable waste collection for the previous 12 months, which some businesses were not prepared for. Waste environment officers provided feedback that warnings were given to businesses.

·       A Councillor commented that they supported the extension to the trial which appeared to have done some good work. However, they questioned if a further 6 months would be sufficient to conduct all inspections required. It was noted that there was rational behind the businesses which were chosen for inspection.

·       A Councillor commented that the Council’s online system for arranging collection of bulky items was difficult to navigate and they could see why residents would choose to use a third party.

·       In respect of a particular case where a resident was fined for a disputed fly-tipping incident it was noted that there was a need for better face to face interactions in these instances. Another Councillor commented on another disputed case of fly-tipping in which the fine was rescinded and praised the reactions in this case.

·       It was understood from the report that Communications did not have the resources to support the campaign, despite having 42 members of staff. It was suggested that if an outside contractor was brought in to conduct this there should be a way for its effectiveness to be audited. It was noted that the Communications team did provide support at the beginning of the pilot, but this was largely based  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Committee will receive a presentation from Julian Osgathorpe, Corporate Director for Transformation and Resources on the current status of the transformation programme. Following this there will be an opportunity for questions from members of the Committee.

Please note that it is possible that discussions on this item may require that the Committee needs to make a decision to hear part of the item in exempt session due to the the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act and that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs such interest in disclosing the information.’

The Corporate Director for Transformation and Resources gave a presentation to the Board a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix B to these minutes in the Minute Book.  Following the discussion there were a number of comments and questions raised by members of the committee and responded to by Officers, including:

·       A Councillor commented that the redevelopment of the Christchurch Library Hub was impressive, and it was wonderful that libraries were being used in this way.

·       A Councillor suggested that a major part of transformation was getting the customer service offer right and asked what the timeline was for this. It was noted that there was a need to identify and transform all of the processes which sat behind the customer service offer. There was provision through the website to report issues but there were 29 different applications sitting across the Council currently supporting fly-tipping and fly-posting. It had been agreed that transformation would work with the Housing and Environment Teams first and these had significant amounts of customer interaction. It was expected that it would be approximately ten months before a noticeable improvement would be evident for these areas. In response to a query, it was confirmed that none of the preceding systems were able to be expanded on a wider basis.

·       A Committee member raised concerns with recruitment and retention and that if grants were received for a particular purpose staff would need to be appointed within a specific time frame or grants would be lost. There had been concerns that there would be staff loss as a consequence of the pay and reward review. The Council wanted this to have a positive effect and make BCP Council an employer of choice. There had been significant consultation with Unions, who would not have supported the implementation of the review when it presented a weaker offer to staff. The deferment of the implementation of the plan to 2024 allowed more time to model impacts and present a better offer for staff. There were delays in recruiting staff over the short term. There was a need to ensure that arrangements were in place to address this moving forward. It was noted that there was a difficulty in recruitment at the lower end of the scale

·       A Committee member asked, in relation to the current rates of inflation, whether any consideration had been given to the price settings of chargeable services.  It was noted that some consideration should be given to where service charges could be increased. It was confirmed that the budget was set back in January and February, inflation was about 3-4 times higher now and was running ahead very quickly. This would be considered where it was a possibility.

·       A Councillor raised concerns that in some instances with regards the utilisation of technology, efforts were being blocked by primary legislation, particularly in terms of Council meetings which currently needed to be attended in person, having an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Corporate and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee is asked to consider and identify work priorities for its next meeting pending a wider review of its forward plan at a future meeting. 

The Chairman introduced the report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book. The Committee was asked to consider and identify work priorities for its next meeting pending a wider review of its forward plan at a future meeting. 

The Chairman suggested that once issues were agreed for the next meeting it would be good to have an informal meeting via Teams to enable Board members to consider which items they would wish to include on their Forward Plan over the remaining year. The Committee discussed which items it would like to see at its next meeting.  The current issues on the Cabinet Forward Plan were considered. A member noted that the Overview and Scrutiny Board had previously identified the Beach Hut SPV report as an item for scrutiny and it would therefore be good to consider this issue. The items on the Cabinet Forward Plan for June relevant to the Committee were identified and it was agreed to consider all four issues at the next meeting.

RESOLVED: That the following items be included on the agenda for the Committee’s next meeting:

·     Medium Term Financial Plan

·     Outturn Report 2021/22

·     LGR Three Year Stocktake

·     Commercialisation of Beach Hut Assets through Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) Wholly or Majority Owned by the Council

Voting: Nem. Con.

The Council at its meeting on 10 May agreed to delegate authority to the Overview and Scrutiny bodies to agree their own meeting dates for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 municipal years.

The Council agreed that there would be 5 meetings scheduled in each municipal year. These will need to be set with reference to the current Council Calendar.

The Chairman suggested Monday 13 June as the date for the next meeting which would allow the Committee to consider some of the items identified for scrutiny through the June Cabinet meeting

The Chairman advised that he would meet with the other Chairs of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to collectively agree proposed dates for the remainder of the municipal year. These dates would then be brought to the next meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED: That the date for the next meeting of the Committee be agreed as 13 June 2022.

Voting: Nem. Con.