Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies were received from Cllr Rice and Cllr Walters. Cllr S Aitkenhead attended the meeting virtually.

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 M Tarling substituted for Cllr Walters.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

Cllr C Goodall advised for transparency that in relation to agenda items 10 and 11 he was a season ticket holder at AFC Bournemouth.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting held on 20 October 2025.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 October were approved as a correct record.

The following items were considered by the Board since the last meeting:

·         Corporate Performance Report – Quarter 1

The Board was advised that the item circulated, the Quarter One Corporate Performance Report, was useful as a reference for key performance indicators and potential scrutiny topics.

The Recommendation Tracker is included with the agenda for the Board to note.

The Recommendation Tracker was noted. The Chair noted that there were some outstanding matters with future deadline dates.

The Council’s constitution provides that Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Committees may consider requests for work from a range of sources, including requests from Portfolio Holders, Cabinet and Council. 

The O&S Board is asked to consider two requests for scrutiny recently made by Council and one additional request which has already been partially addressed by the Board, and to determine these requests in line with the associated constitution procedure rules.

The Chair presented this 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. The O&S Board was asked to consider two requests for scrutiny recently made by Council and one additional request which has already been partially addressed by the Board, and to determine these requests in line with the associated constitution procedure rules.

The requests from Council were noted and it was proposed and agreed that these would be discussed further during the Board’s consideration of the work plan item.

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 midday 3 clear working days before the meeting – Tuesday 11 November 2025.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday the working day before the meeting – Friday 14 November 2025.

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

There were no public items on this occasion.

The Chair proposed and the Board agreed to vary the order of business to take the Vitality Stadium Land – draft heads of terms item next:

There is no report currently provided with this item as negotiations on the heads of terms are still underway. If negotiations are concluded and it is possible to provide a report and associated details, these will need to be circulated separately as a supplement.  If negotiations have not been concluded by the time of the O&S Board meeting the Board will receive a verbal update on the matter.

Please note that the Board would be asked to consider to exclude the press and Public for consideration of this item and if the report should become available this will be published as exempt material.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance introduced the item and advised that negotiations had been ongoing with the club, but the draft heads of terms had been agreed earlier on the day of the Board meeting. Due to the ongoing negotiations, it had not been possible to provide the Board with the report to support this item, but it was agreed that the Board would receive a verbal update on the details. As the draft heads of terms were not able to be made public until they had been approved the Chair advised that further discussion on this item would need to take place in a non-public session an therefore it was proposed and resolved to exclude the press and public for the duration of further consideration of this item.

RESOVLED That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the remainder of the item on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act and that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs such interest in disclosing the information.

- The meeting was adjourned at 7.23pm and resumed at 7.29pm -

This report provides an update on the performance of the Blue Badge service following its previous report to Overview & Scrutiny Board on 12 May 2025.

The Portfolio Holder for Customer Communication and Culture 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. The report provided an update on the performance of the Blue Badge service following its previous report to Overview & Scrutiny Board on 12 May 2025. The Portfolio Holder informed the Board that the scrutiny request arose from information which was shared with all Councillors in recent delays in the Blue Badge service which in September saw 600 people waiting over 12 weeks for their application to be processed, although 2000 were processed within 12 weeks. It was noted that this had improved by the point of the meeting but new applications were still taking approximately 13 weeks. The Board had received regular updates on the Blue Badge Service, and it was noted that at the time of the last report to the Board the Service had improved significantly. A number of points were discussed by the Board including:

·      Identified processing issues - The process was described as outdated and inefficient, involving multiple systems and some manual handling of documents. Supporting documents needed to be moved individually from an email inbox and linked with the correct application which was time consuming. 65% of applications arrive without the correct evidence, causing delays.

·      Immediate Actions taken - Staff from other areas had been temporarily redeployed to reduce the backlog and weekly performance monitoring was introduced. A “not for reassessment” flag has been introduced for applicants with permanent conditions, which would reduce repeated checks but this would take time as renewals and new applications came in  - 127 cases had been flagged to date.

·      Longer Term Actions - A  redesign of the process was underway, moving applications from the government portal to the Council’s CRM system. This will allow better guidance for applicants such as a checklist for documents, automated checks, and dashboards for monitoring.

·      Staffing: The processing team was small and shortages were highlighted as a major issue. Officers explained that budget pressures prevent hiring more staff and therefore efficiency improvements were the immediate focus. Councillors asked about peaks and troughs in demand and whether cross-training staff could help resilience.

·      Supporting Evidence requests - Questions were raised about why consultant evidence was sometimes required for renewals; officers clarified that requirements vary by case and guidance would be improved.

·      Refusals – Members asked about the intensive process and the actual number of applications which were refused. It was noted that 1 percent of applications had been refused in the past week (Please note that this figure was given incorrectly as an annual amount. The annual amount of rate of refusals was actually 13-14 percent).

RESOVLED: The Board agreed to review progress in 12 months to assess the impact of the new system and whether further resource is needed. The Portfolio Holder confirmed that he was working with the LGA regarding the difference in the chare and processing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67.

This is the annual report of the Statutory Scrutiny Officer on Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) activity within BCP Council.  There is a requirement to report on the work of O&S to the O&S Board and Committees and then to Council.  This promotes visibility of the O&S function and Council ownership of activity and any improvements required. 

The annual report contains a summary and analysis of O&S activity during 2024-25, reflections on working practices and identified improvements to strengthen the O&S function.

This report version is for consideration by the O&S Board and O&S committees, providing opportunity for comment prior to the supply of the final report to Council.  The Council will be the decision maker on any recommendations for change within the report. The final report to Council will be updated to incorporate the views of the O&S Board and Committees on these recommendations.

The Scrutiny Specialist presented a 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 report was the annual report of the Statutory Scrutiny Officer on Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) activity within BCP Council.  There is a requirement to report on the work of O&S to the O&S Board and Committees and then to Council.  This promotes visibility of the O&S function and Council ownership of activity and any improvements required. The annual report contained a summary and analysis of O&S activity during 2024-25, reflections on working practices and identified improvements to strengthen the O&S function. The Board was advised that Council would be the decision maker on any recommendations for change within the report The Board discussed a number of issues in consideration of the report including:.

·       Achievements – These included an improved scrutiny culture within BCP and stronger engagement from Cabinet and senior officers. There was greater willingness to bring difficult issues to scrutiny and openness to challenge. The Board was advised that statutory guidance emphasises culture as the most important factor for effective scrutiny.

·       Resource Constraints: There were currently 27 meetings scheduled annually plus multiple in-depth reviews. Current staffing levels were not able to support concurrent working groups effectively and some projects may stall due to lack of capacity. Some members suggested exploring additional resources in future, despite financial constraints.

·       Changes for future O&S work – These included a Limit of in-depth work to one topic at a time across all committees, rather than four concurrent projects and one project being scoped. Chairs and Vice-Chairs would prioritise topics and strengthen scoping to ensure impact. The function would encourage member-led “rapporteur” roles to progress research and reduce officer burden. Members agreed the proposals would improve focus and outcomes. Concerns raised about the need for flexibility if a project stalls—officers confirmed pragmatic management would apply.

It was outlined that the recommendations would go to Council for approval after they have gone to all O&S Committees for noting.

RESOLVED that the O&S Board support the recommendations within the report to Council.

Voting: Nem. Con.

The Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Board is asked to consider and identify work priorities for publication in a Work Plan.

The Chair presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'D' to these Minutes in the Minute Book. The Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Board is asked to consider and identify work priorities for publication in a Work Plan. The Board also considered the referrals from Council which was included on the agenda for this meeting.

Managing Seasonal Parking Pressures:

The request for the Board to undertake a review of the recent parking consultation to include feedback from residents, business owners, tourism representatives and other stakeholders was noted. It was explained that the Board had previously agreed to reopen th Consultation Framework Working Group to consider issues arising from previous consultations including this one. After considerable discussion on this issue it was agreed to await the outcome of the working group before deciding if further work on this was required.

The second request from this motion was that this is brought to Environment and Place for further scrutiny. A number of issues around parking and transport were shared between the Board and Environment and Place and it was determined that this should be brought to the Board initially for further clarification of the request. It was unclear whether this referred to the Van Life Community Pact or the Parking Strategy.  It was confirmed that the Community Pact was being progressed by the Environment and Place O&S Committee. It was proposed to discuss this further at the O&S Chairs’ meeting.

RESOVLED that an informative note be provided to the Environment and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee regarding the progression of the Van Life Community Pact.

Voting: 7 in favour; 2 against; 1 abstention

Vacant Sites for Affordable Housing

The Board was asked to consider options and obstacles to housing delivery and to decide areas of focus that are realistic and will lead to housing delivery and agree what is needed for effective scrutiny through the scrutiny process. There was discussion around various options to take this issue forward including using rapporteurs or gaining further information around this issue through a briefing. There was concerns raised that Members were not being kept informed on the development of the local plan.

RESOVLED that the item be added to the Board’s work plan and that a briefing session on the Local Plan including the issue raised above be arranged as soon as possible.

The Board noted the Board’s Work Plan. No further changes were agreed.