Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies were received from Cllr Anne-Marie Moriarty and Cllr Jo Clements.

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.

There we no substitute members.

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.

There were no declarations of interest made on this occasion.

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

The minutes of the meeting held on  November 2025 were confirmed as an accurate record.

To consider any updates to the recommendation tracker.

The Overview and Scrutiny Officer explained the tracker was a new document which would be included on every O & S agenda.  When decisions were made to cabinet they had a duty to respond within 2 months and those outcomes of responses could get lost within other work, therefore the tracker tightened up the process to put all the recommendations in one place.  The document had all the O & S committees listed with their recommendations. Where recommendations had been made to cabinet and responses had been received. There was a response received on the safer accommodation strategy between meetings and the committee were informed that had been updated.

It was explained that the document was not only to be able to see if recommendations had been accepted but also explore if the committee could ask for periodic updates where value could be added and progress on the recommendations.

There was a section for actions which was separate from recommendations where information was asked for from officers if the committee wished to use it.

The Chair thanked the officer and agreed the document would be useful.  It was agreed the chair would follow up on any actions and the committee would contact the Chair if they had anything they would like followed up.

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.

The Chair presented the item which was a motion from Council and the committee agreed that the item would be discussed under the workplan item.

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 was asked to consider a request for scrutiny recently made by Council, on flooding and resilience which put as a motion to Council by Cllr Peter Cooper.

RESOLVED that the item was added to the committee’s longlist work plan to be discussed at the work planning session.

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.

There were no public issues

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.

The Cabinet Member for Climate Response, Environment and Energy 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.

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 were:

·       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.

It was reported that good progress had been made with a 21% reduction in the council’s footprint and 18% reduction in the area.

It was reported that the information was from the year before due to date being received.

Some of the challenges reported were:

·       Flooding at Iford and in the winter had been particularly difficult where a caravan site was evacuated and the frequency of the events were increasing.  The report included information from the Met Office from their assessment which highlighted the growing challenges in terms of wetter winters, heat waves and heath fires. That trend was increasing due to not the Council not acting quickly enough. The government are thinking seriously about how much the changing climate was going to impact life in the UK in ways that people might not have thought about.

·       It was highlighted that the BCP council housing stock in both Bournemouth and Poole were the biggest part of the footprint.  It was reported that on the council’s leased buildings there was a 16.2% decrease in the use of carbon which was particularly in the Bournemouth area which had seen a significant decrease. Poole had also dropped reasonably well.

·       Another area highlighted was the use the use of gas an electricity. It was reported that there had been a modest increase in natural gas which was up on last year which was something that still needed to be worked on.  There was a significant in fuel which was due to the price dropping and the council managed to purchase fuel at a lower price.  The electric vehicle fleet has also increased which had also made a difference. The Council have not moved away from gas as much as expected.

·       There had been quite a lot of work done with key partners area wide both private and public sector organisations which involved sharing and listening as well as telling them where we were upto. There were a number of successful events which aimed to happen quarterly with more organisations attending each time.

·       It was reported that the number of properties both household and commercial using battery storage devices has risen since 2023.

·       The number of electric and hybrid vehicles  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

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 Cabinet Member for Housing and Regulatory Services presented a report, 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.

Public Report 

Homelessness continued 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.

Progress has been made across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole which was not only measurable but human. The impact over the past five years, the partnership approach had transformed the way we responded to homelessness. We created more than 275 new support accommodation claim placements. The somewhere safe to say service continued to prevent people slipping into rough sleeping in the hardest moments.

Some of the most inspiring progress we made was in prevention work. We saw more than a 30% increase in prevention outcomes in the last year alone, keeping significantly more people in their homes and preventing crises before they unfold.

BCP had worked really closely with private landlords and enhanced the relationship to catch those issues, early services like let's talk, renting, youth, family support and enhanced triage meant that more households than ever were able to remain in their homes or find suitable alternatives.

There was a dramatic fall in the use of bed and breakfast accommodation from over 140 families in B & B’s for well over the statutory 6 week limit to over a year of no families in B & B’s for over 6 weeks. 

This was noted as good work but there was still work to do there were still families in who were struggling which was why the strategy was important.

The strategy had been very well consulted on with various partners and people with lived experience.  The things that were stated that mattered the most were even earlier intervention, stronger integration with health and wellbeing services and compassionate and consistent support.

The strategy set out a clear hopeful direction in which homelessness in BCP became rare, brief and unrepeated. BCP were committed to changing the narrative around homelessness, challenging stigma and building empathy.

The Chair reported that the Chair of Health and Adult Social Care O & S reported to him that it was quite high level and didn’t seem mention mental health support.  That ensuring that those with mental health or medical conditions were an essential part of helping people with homelessness and rough sleeping. The Chair agreed that there was not a lot of detail around the homelessness and rough sleeping and was there any scope to include that with the document. It was stated that there was a lot of mentions of health and there had been a constant push from the partnership, partners and organisations.

The delivery plan would be evolved over time and within that health colleagues would help shape some contents and contents of the delivery.

Regarding rough sleeping, the committee were informed that every  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

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.

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

The Chair informed the committee that the van life briefing had been rescheduled from 18 March to the 15 April which allowed further evidence to be gathered.

RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee confirmed the work plan ahead of the scheduled work planning session.

Voting: Unanimous

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.

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.

This report was an audit item and for information only to track data and progress.