Agenda

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

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.

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.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting held on 19 November 2025.

To consider any updates to the recommendation tracker.

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 Committee is asked to consider a request for scrutiny recently made by Council, and to determine the request in line with the associated constitution procedure rules.

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 mid-day Thursday 19 February 3 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday Tuesday 24 February the working day before the meeting.

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

This report presents the sixth annual update to Cabinet on progress towards commitments made in the BCP Council Climate and Ecological Emergency Declaration, made on the 16 of July 2019.

In the 2024-2025 year, progress against the main commitments is:

·       Make BCP Council and its operations carbon neutral by 2030 - scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reduced by 20.9% from the 2019 baseline

·       Work with the wider community to make the region carbon neutral before 2045 – according to data released in 2025, total area-wide emissions for 2024 had reduced by 17.7% from the 2019 baseline.

Overall, both the Council and the wider BCP area have made progress since 2019, supported by clearer roadmaps, better data, strengthened governance and growing collaboration across sectors.

Continued acceleration, investment and partnership working will be essential to stay on track for the 2030 and 2045 targets.

Homelessness continues to be one of the most significant challenges facing Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. Demand for assistance has risen sharply, driven by rising private rents, household income pressures and increasing complexity of need. In 2024 to 2025, BCP Council determined that 2,767 households needed formal intervention because of their homelessness or threat of homelessness, representing a doubling of demand compared with 2020. Rough sleeping reached a peak of 193 individual people seen over the month of July 2024 before beginning to reduce through targeted outreach, expanded supported housing and strengthened multi agency work.

The proposed Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2026 to 2031 sets out a long term, evidence based and partnership led plan for reducing homelessness and rough sleeping across the area. The Strategy is fully aligned with national Government priorities on homelessness and rough sleeping, including the emphasis on earlier prevention across public services, national commitments to reduce families and children in Bed & Breakfast, rough sleeping and the monitoring of performance within the Local Outcomes Framework.

Developed through comprehensive review, extensive engagement, consultation and strong lived experience input, the Strategy presents a shared ambition to make homelessness in BCP rare, brief and unrepeated. It reflects updated statutory data, changing system pressures and learning from recent years. Approval will help BCP Council and its partners strengthen prevention, reduce unsuitable temporary accommodation usage, improve multi agency practices and support people to secure and sustain safe and stable homes.

This report sets out the approach taken to developing the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2026–2031, outlines the emerging strategic direction, and seeks the Committee’s input, noting that the detailed Delivery Plan is in its final stages of development and will be presented alongside the Strategy for Cabinet approval in May 2026.

The Environment and Place 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.

BCP Council adopted ‘A shared vision for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 2024-28’ in May 2024.

The shared vision is the corporate strategy which sets out the council’s vision, priorities and ambitions as well as the principles which underpin the way the council works as it develops and delivers its services.

Incorporated in the vision is a set of measures of progress for achieving the vision, priorities and ambitions.

This is the performance monitoring report for Quarter Two 25-26, presenting an update on the progress measures.

The council’s delivery against its priorities and ambitions can also be monitored through the performance dashboard which is available on the council’s website providing up-to-date real time information on the progress measures.