Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

An apology for absence was received from Ryan Hope.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 10 July 2019.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 July 2019 were agreed and signed.

To receive any declarations of interest.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made at the meeting.

To receive questions or statements on the business of the committee from town and parish councils and members of the public.

A question from a member of the public had been received on grafitti around the Weymouth town and Upwey areas.  The question and answer is attached as an Annexure to these minutes.

There were no statements or questions submitted from Town and Parish Councils at this meeting.

For information:-

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/800048/Statutory_Guidance_on_Overview_and_Scrutiny_in_Local_and_Combined_Authorities.pdf

https://www.cfps.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/CfPS-Good-Scrutiny-Guide-v5-WEB-SINGLE-PAGES.pdf

The Chairman advised members that at a recent South West Scrutiny Chairs meeting that he had attended, it was suggested that The New Statutory Guidance was placed on the Agenda of Committees for record.  He had also sent this to all elected members along with the New Centre for Public Scrutiny Guide “Good Scrutiny Guide”.

Noted

To consider the Annual Community Safety report which also includes:-

·         The Reducing Re-offending Strategy; and

·         The Community Safety Plan and

·         Alcohol & Drugs Strategy

for recommendation to Full Council via the Cabinet.

As the Place Scrutiny Committee was the Council’s formal Crime and Disorder Committee (as required under the Police and Justice Act 2006), Members considered a report which set out the work undertaken by the Dorset Comm unity Safety Partnership (CSP), and statutory plans and strategies for adoption by the Council.  

The Cabinet Member for Housing introduced to members the Chairman of the Community Safety Partnership (CSP), Andrew Kerby.  Cllr Kerby had been Chairman of the Partnership for the past four years and welcomed the opportunity to bring this report to members.  He advised members that the work of CSP was very complex and contained a lot of acronyms. He took this opportunity to remind members of the statutory responsibility for Dorset Council adding that crime was no longer the sole responsibility of the Police.  There was now a multi-agency approach to tackling difficult issues at a strategic level.

In respect of Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), the Chairman noted that he and the Vice-Chairman had recently attended a meeting in order to gain better insight into DHRs.  He had learned that there was a high degree of scrutiny taking place during the whole process but felt that this Committee should review actions specific to Dorset Council and a process for this had now been put in place.

Members noted that the reports were created by multi-agencies and attention was drawn to Appendix 2 of the report which showed graphs giving trend information. The trends looked as if they were rising but the notes below gave the reasons why.

Following a question from a member relating to cyber-crime, Chief Inspector Jim Bushell noted that they were undoubtedly seeing an increase in this area of crime.   In respect of scams he advised that the Police had done a lot of work with banks locally and nationally to help in this regard.  Officers sent out a high number of alerts and messages to the public and were working hard to find other ways to get messages out to the older members of the population.  He added that one of the main problems was that a lot of the offenders appeared to be based overseas and highlighted the work of the Action Fraud work that was being undertaken.

The Vice-Chairman made reference to the drug and alcohol section and felt that some of the words/statements were not quantified and therefore was unable to get an idea of the scale of the problem. Dr Will Haydock advised Public Health could provide data and analysis on specific issues if requested but noted that certain figures were only estimates.  The figures were reported to the Joint Public Health Board which oversaw the work this area.

Resolved

That Members of the Committee considered and commented on partners’ community safety work.

Recommended

That Cabinet be asked to recommend the Community Safety Plan 2017-2020 (2019 refresh), Reducing Reoffending Strategy 2018-2021 (2019 refresh), including the amendment, and Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset 2016-2020 Alcohol and Drugs Strategy to Dorset Council for adoption as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

To consider a report from the Corporate Director for Place Services.

Members considered a report which set out the content of the consultation for a Dog-related Public Spaces protection Order (PSPO) to replace and consolidate existing PSPOs and byelaws for the Dorset Council area.

Members were also asked to consider the time extension of current Dog-related PSPOs covering the former East Dorset, Purbeck, West Dorset and Weymouth and Portland council areas to 31 December 2020 to enable the new Order to be properly made.

The Cabinet Member for Customer, Communities and Regulatory Services advised members that any changes made during the consultation period would require an extension to the current consultation period (Appendix B of the report refers).  Appendix A of the report was about engaging with members of the public.

The Chairman shared with members 2 emails that had been received from Cllr Gill Taylor and Cllr Ryan Hope regarding the wishes of Weymouth Town Council to reduce the time that dogs are banned from certain areas of the beach in order to support the economy of the town. 

The Environmental Health Manager explained that the existing Order already provided for part of the beach to be used as an exercise area and therefore dog walkers could use part of Weymouth Beach now and throughout the summer.  Any changes made now would need to go through another 12 week consultation period, which would mean being behind with this consultation. He recognised and understood the wishes of Weymouth and suggested they engaged with this consultation which was expected to cover all the points that had been raised.

In response to a question about the signposting of dog walking areas, members were advised that the Beach team at Weymouth displayed notices which clearly signposted dog walkers to the appropriate places.

One member highlighted the importance of these Orders being kept and adhered to in respect of bacteria, infections and infestations.

Following a concern from the Vice-Chairman about the  reluctance to push forward what was being put forward by Weymouth Town council, the Environmental Health Manager explained that it could be progressed but the implications were that this would not start until the New Year and would result in having 2 consultations running at the same time and the chances of getting it in place by next summer would be unlikely. The Cabinet Member noted that this would involve a lot of additional time and effort along with confusion and officers had not as yet identified the benefits.  Government guidance in respect of consultations was highlighted. There was an opportunity within the consultation in the comments box to bring Weymouth in.

In response to a query about question 4 in the proposed consultation, ‘dogs on leads on roads and pavements within 30 mph zones’, officers advised this was in line with Highways legislation.

Following a question about beaches in the eastern end of the county as they now came under the authority of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP), officers advised BCP would have to make their own decisions on how they wished to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

To consider a quarterly update report on complaints by the Corporate Director, Legal and Democratic.

Members considered a report which provided an update for members on the numbers, types and outcomes of complaints made against services that sit within the Place Directorate.

The key messages for this quarter were highlighted to members.  The Service Manager for Assurance highlighted that the numbers of complaints generating learning for the organisation were currently low, but that his vision for the new service would include analysing of trends and embedding organisational learning.  There were no complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman during this period, therefore no issues of maladministration to report.

The Service Manager for Assurance highlighted that 36 Compliments had been received across the directorate in Quarter 1 which continued the work that had been done in Quarter 4.

The Chairman welcomed the report and felt there was a real opportunity to build on this in respect of trends and analysis of complaints.

The Vice-Chairman felt it would be helpful to see how many complaints were signed off satisfactorily.  She was pleased to see that compliments received were included in the quarterly report.

Noted

To agree a framework for future meetings and to note Cabinet decisions made prior to Place Scrutiny meetings; please click below to review the recent Cabinet decisions:-

30 July 2019 http://do-modgov.wdwp.local/documents/g221/Decisions%2030th-Jul-2019%2010.00%20Dorset%20Council%20-%20Cabinet.pdf?T=2

3 September 2019 http://do-modgov.wdwp.local/documents/g222/Decisions%2003rd-Sep-2019%2010.00%20Dorset%20Council%20-%20Cabinet.pdf?T=2

1 October 2019 http://do-modgov.wdwp.local/documents/g225/Decisions%2001st-Oct-2019%2010.00%20Dorset%20Council%20-%20Cabinet.pdf?T=2

Cabinet Forward Plan -  http://do-modgov.wdwp.local/documents/s15316/Forward%20plan.pdf

Place Scrutiny Forward Plan - As attached

To also receive an update from the Chairman of the Place Scrutiny Committee on the Town and Parish Councils/Local Area Forum Task and Finish Group.

For members to discuss the undertaking of a piece of work on the merging of the policies of previous councils into Dorset Council Policy.

Members considered the Cabinet Forward Plan.  The Chairman highlighted the Quarter 2 budget update which was a crucial part of the budget building exercise.  He also reflected on the Somerley Household Recycling Centre item which members had commented on prior to it being taken to Cabinet.  The Leader of Dorset Council had now met with Hampshire County Council with the aim of moving forward and this would be discussed at Cabinet on 5 November 2019.

Members also noted the decisions made by the Cabinet at meetings prior to Place Scrutiny Committee meetings.

Members considered the Place Scrutiny Forward Plan.  The Chairman advised that he and the Vice-Chairman had met with Members from the Town and Parish Councils/Local Area Frum Task and Finish Group and discussed how they could add value to the Executive Advisory Panel (EAP) on Relationships with Town and Parish Councils.  As the EAP were due to meet with Town and Parish Councils at a number of workshops, members felt it would be prudent to await the outcome of these meetings before moving forward with more practical ways of looking at service delivery, Localism and Area Boards.

The Cabinet Member for Customer, Communities and Regulatory Services Alford advised members on the progress of the work being done with the Executive Advisory Panel (EAP).  Workshops with Town and Parish councils had been arranged and the first one had recently been held in Bridport.  Nearly 60 town and parish councillors attended and engaged with other members.  This work would continue with more workshops and a survey which would run until the end of November.  In December some summary work would take place prior to a second round of workshops in the New Year.

Members discussed the undertaking of a piece of work on the merging of the policies of previous councils into Dorset Council policy.  The Chairman advised that having had a look into Dorset Councils Policy Library (for Place) he had found a number of Policies from many predecessor Councils that needed updating in order to produce Policies for this Council.  These could be looked at via Working Groups or through this Committee.  Members may also wish to look at the library for themselves and bring forward their priorities.  In the first instance the Chairman felt the following polices; Tree, Car Parking and Dorset County Council Carbon Management Beyond 2010 should be taken forward.

Cllr Tarr wished to pay his compliments to all the staff who had helped him in the past 6 months especially in relation to recent highways and engineering works.  He also wished to thank Democratic Services for their training and induction sessions which he had found very helpful.  He also mentioned recent AONB sessions which had been really helpful and informative.

Noted

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

There were no urgent items of business.