Agenda and minutes

(Assistant to Chief Executive)  To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

The Panel noted there were no substitute members.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a personal or a prejudicial interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 11 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a personal and prejudicial interest in any matter before an OS Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or Sub Committee of the Council, a Joint Committee or Joint Sub Committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 11 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

Councillor Sartin declared a non pecuniary interest in agenda item 6 on the Essex police as she was a member of the shadow police and Crime Commissioner Panel. She declared that she would remain in the meeting for the discussion of the item.

To agree the notes of the last meeting held on 10^th July 2012.

The notes of the 10 July 2012 meeting were agreed as a correct record.

A senior officer from Essex Police will be attending the meeting to give a short presentation on:

(i)                  the progress on the Police Blueprint;

(ii)                the preparedness for PCCs;

(iii)               Policing matters generally, crime statistics etc.

The Panel welcomed Acting Chief Superintendant Luke Collison of the West Local Policing Area. The Panel noted that ACS Collison has been in charge of neighbourhood policing for the last six months and that the crime as well as the anti social behaviour figures had continued to fall. The Police were still able to respond well to the public’s needs and that have a functional model of policing that works.

They were now reviewing their Policing Blueprint, looking at the investigations of crimes and at neighbourhood policing. These two policing areas will be joined to make a larger team, who would help raise our performance in the investigations of crime. Another change would be the re-joining of the two parts of the CID teams which would be based at Loughton Police Station.

The future still looked challenging with the government cuts but it was important to keep the plan moving forward and put in place future proofing against the austerity measures. They would hope to keep the officer numbers that they have at present. They will still retain the local special police constables, but the nine community officers will be reduced. With additional officers working, the public should not notice any difference. They had tough choices to make that were based on community priorities.

Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) numbers were to remain unchanged at present but are charged to a government grant for 2013/14, but this will not be ring-fenced around the PCSOs only.

Councillor Spencer asked if there was policy in place for moving officers around on a regular basis. He was told that there was no such policy in place. It was important to build up relationships in the community.

Councillor Girling asked about the Neighbourhood Action Panels (NAP) and that Debden had not had a meeting for some time. Local councillors thought them important to enable them to engage with their local communities. He was assured that NAPs were key to the Police’s engagement strategy. ACS Collison was not sure why a meeting had net been held, he would find out. Councillor Cochrane  added that two future meetings were now listed on the website.

Councillor Girling then asked about incidents that had been reported to the 101 non-emergency number and he was now finding it difficult to get information. How did the reporting system work. He was told that the reports went to a central Command and Control Centre, where the data was gathered and logged onto their computer system. Relevant information was then given to local officers for them to action. The public can call local officers on their mobile phone or can help by keeping diaries of incidents etc. as for repeated incidents. When they get to a certain level they would put resources into these incidents and target them in a proactive way. He stated that he would look into why any background information on this was not available.

Councillor Waller the Portfolio Holder for Safer, Greener and Highways commented that the overall  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

(Chairman / Lead Officer) The Overview and Scrutiny Committee has agreed the Terms of Reference of this Panel and associated Work Programme. This is attached. The Panel are asked at each meeting to review both documents.

The Panel reviewed their Terms of Reference and their work programme.

They noted that their work programme for the year and noted that they would hope to invite the new PCC to their February 2013 meeting.

(Director Environment and Street Scene) to consider the attached report.

The Director of Environment and Street Scene, John Gilbert introduced the report updating the Panel on the recent Olympic Games and the police resources used. In the run up to the Games members had expressed concern that Police resources would be drawn away from the District, resulting in reduced resources and the possibility of extra crime. The Panel noted that in the event that there were no adverse effects to policing matters during the course of the Games. It proved to be a successful period, with no cause for concerns and policing matters around the District were unaffected.

            RESOLVED:

The Panel noted that the Policing of the Olympic Torch Relay and the main Games were undertaken without adverse affect upon the District’s policing.

To note the six monthly report on SCG enforcement activities.

The Panel noted the six monthly report on the Safer Cleaner Greener enforcement activities from 1 April to 30 September 2012. They noted that:

• the stop and search could not be carried out because of the Olympic Games;
• the Taxi licensing enforcement carried out in September; and
• the details of recent prosecution/caution details.

Councillor Girling asked if there was a time restriction on the speed of response for fly-tipping incidents. He was told that officers acted as quickly as they could, where they would try and gather evidence on who was responsible and look to use CCTV to help track the offenders.

Asked if CCTV cameras could help with fly-tipping  in Nazeing, Mr Gilbert said that they did not have enough CCTV cameras to cover all the fly-tipping hotspots and as for the use Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras, they would still need evidence to say that the vehicle dumped the rubbish. The Council just did not have the resources to do this. We have also explicitly excluded the use of dummy cameras in our CCTV policy. The costs of landfill tax had gone up significantly recently contributing to the increase in fly-tipping.

Councillor Girling then asked if we liaised with retailers to make them collect their waste by trade waste companies. He was told that officers would advise them and would fine them if they did not comply.

Councillor Girling asked about taxi licensing enforcement, did we monitor the standards of the Licensing holders; and can their speed be checked. He was told that officers did not do secret shopper type checks, but the taxis are checked a couple of times a year, as part of their licensing agreement. As for speed checks, that was not in our powers do anything about. If caught by the Police then we could take the licence away if they accumulate more than 10 points on their licence.

To note the draft Waste Management Partnership Board minutes for 3 September 2012 (attached).

The Panel noted the draft waste management partnership board minutes for 3 September 2012.

They wanted to know where the Council was on the new waste management depot. They were told that we were no longer looking at North Weald Airfield and are currently looking at other areas to find a suitable site.

To note the attached set of draft minutes.

The Panel noted the draft Bobbingworth Former Landfill Site Liaison Group minutes of 26 September 2012.

To note the attached set of minutes for 21 June 2012 and 12 July 2012.

The Panel noted the minutes of the North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP) Joint Committee for on Street Parking for 21 June  and 12 July 2012.

Councillor Sartin asked how close were we to getting CCTV outside schools. Councillor Waller said that a decision had been made in principle to have a CCTV car and to provide the NEPP with appropriate evidence. It would be up to NEPP to decide to impose a fixed penalty. This would be happening sometime next year.

Any income generated would go back into the NEPP corporate pot to enable them to continue functioning once other grants from government have gone.

Councillor Jon Whitehouse wanted to know if they could still report highway obstructions as they used to do to the Highways office. He was told that NEPP had its own protocol on obstructions. They can only enforce this when there was a traffic order in place. If there is not one in place then the police would have to enforce.

The public would be able to find contact details for NEPP by visiting our website which would redirect them.

To note the attached set of draft minutes.

The Panel noted the minutes of the SLM Contract Monitoring Board Minutes of 16 July 2012.

To note the attached set of minutes for 6 September, 18 September and 2 October 2012.

The Panel noted the Local Highways Panel meeting minutes of 6 September, 18 September and 2 October 2012.

To consider which reports (if any) are ready to be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its next meeting.

There were no particular items to be submitted to the next Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting.

To note the future meeting dates of this Panel. They are:

08 January 2013;

*12 February 2013; and

02 April 2013.

*Meeting dedicated to Crime and Disorder issues.

The dates of future meetings of the Panel were noted.