Agenda and minutes

To approve the record of the meeting held on 3 April 2012 and the record of the Joint meeting of all Committees on 16 May 2012.

The record of the meeting held on 3 April 2012 and the record of the Joint Meeting of All Committees held on 16 May 2012 were agreed and signed as correct by the Chairman.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Harriott and Mackinlay. 

The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

There were none. 

(a)               Personal interests under the Medway Code of Conduct

(b)               Prejudicial interests under the Medway Code of Conduct

A Councillor who declares a prejudicial interest must withdraw from the room unless a dispensation has been obtained from the Council’s Standards Committee or the exemption under paragraph 12(2) of the Medway Code of Conduct applies.

If an interest is not declared at the outset of the meeting it should be disclosed as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

(c)               Whipping – the Council’s constitution also requires any Member of the Committee who is subject to a party whip (ie agreeing to vote in line with the majority view of a private party group meeting) to declare the existence of the whip and the nature of it before the item is discussed.

Councillor Griffiths declared a personal interest to any reference to Medway Community Healthcare, as he is a non-executive director.

Councillor Adrian Gulvin declared a personal interest in agenda item 5 (Annual scrutiny of the Community Safety Partnership) as he is a Council appointed Member of the Fire Authority and also that his brother is Manager of the Youth Offending Team.

Councillor Pat Gulvin declared a personal interest in agenda item 5 (Annual scrutiny of the Community Safety Partnership) as her brother-in-law is Manager of the Youth Offending Team.

A presentation will be given by the Chairman of the Community Safety Partnership updating the committee with details of the outcomes of last year’s priorities and issues for the forthcoming year. 

Discussion:

The Chairman of the Community Safety Partnership, Councillor O’Brien, gave a presentation to the Committee, which included the following highlights:

·        Community Safety Partnerships became responsible for the establishment of multi-agency domestic homicide reviews following a domestic violence homicide. There had been five in Kent in the last year, two of which were in Medway.

Priority 1 – tackling substance and alcohol abuse

·        Establishment of Medway Community Alcohol Partnership (MCAP) to reduce the impact of underage drinking and related crimes

·        Work on the Chatham Town Centre plan with EU funding secured to help this process

Priority 2 – improving the local street scene

·        Love Medway App has received almost 9,000 reports

·        Improved perception of cleanliness of streets by residents

·        Enforcement action against enviro-crimes with 30 successful prosecutions, including a successful joint operation with Kent Police targeting individuals carrying waste illegally

·        Joint work with Kent Probation and the prison service with offenders due to leave prison working on unpaid community clear-up campaigns with most of the debris collected being recycled

Priority 3 - Reduce Youth Offending

·        A significant and sustained reduction in those entering the youth justice system

·        Three year ‘Diversion from court’ pilot scheme between the Youth Offending Team (YOT), Kent Police and Health services  - with very low numbers going on to commit a further offence

·        The YOT Management Board had a target that less than 50% of young people within the system should continue to offend six months after their order was completed. This target has been exceeded

Priority 4 - Reduce night time economy related crime and disorder

·        Joint operations continued throughout the year with officers from a variety of agencies visiting convenience stores, licensed premises and night clubs

·        The Neighbourhood District Team continued to patrol the High Street on Friday and Saturday evenings

·        Kent Police’s dedicated officers link in with door supervisors, Street Pastors and CCTV and Rochester town centre had a dedicated PC working the night shift over the weekend period

·        Criminal damage has reduced by 24.6% and violence by 5.7%

·        Latest figures show overall satisfaction with Kent Police at 78%

Priority 5 - Working with vulnerable adults to reduce harm and repeat victimisation

·        In Medway, more than 4,000 domestic abuse incidents were reported to Kent Police equating to an average 11 reports a day

·        Domestic violence was being targeted by the Community Safety Partnership as a priority, together with the Medway Safeguarding Children’s Board

·        There are three independent domestic advice advocates, created to assist victims. The Partnership would be reaching out to other partners involved in tackling domestic abuse including schools and health services

·        A sub-group of the Partnership had been established to lead on Medway’s response

Priority 6 – reducing theft and shoplifting

·        Joint scrutiny of metal theft reports between Kent Police and Medway Council which has helped to identify illegal waste carriers, resulting in twelve fixed penalty notices and three successful prosecutions

·        Dedicated town centre policing teams have had a significant impact on the High Streets, CCTV had monitored persistent offenders and,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 127.

This report sets out the Quarter 4 / Year End Council Plan performance management report. 

Discussion:

The Performance Manager advised that this report set out the progress of the Regeneration, Community and Culture Directorate performance for year end 2011/2012 in achieving the outcomes agreed in the Council Plan. The actions and performance measures that were shaded in grey were not relevant to this Committee but had been provided to give context and clarity of how the priorities as a whole had been performing.

The Committee was advised that the key highlights were:

·        Love Medway App

·        £370,000 EU funding to the Interreg programme

·        residual waste to landfill sites had reduced

·        over £900,000 of capital investment projects had been delivered by Greenspaces Services

·        the opening of the new Chatham Waterfront Bus Station

·        the Urban Traffic Management and Control Centre had become fully operational

·        Medway Park leisure centre was officially opened

·        8,000 unemployed people had accessed Employ Medway facilities.

The Committee was also notified of the recent recommendations and referrals of the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 21 June 2012. These were:

·        a request that the performance indicator for satisfaction with the work of the Community Officers is re-instated into the monitoring reports for 2012/2013

The Performance Manager advised that they would re-instate the performance indicator for satisfaction with the work of Community Officers but that this would now be measured by asking service users, rather than as a question in a more generalised survey of residents.

·        that officers investigate the charge to schools of an administration fee to set up a walking bus scheme

The Performance Manager advised that a Briefing Note would be sent to Members in response to this request.
 

·        a request that the performance indicator for visitor numbers is
re-instated into the monitoring reports for 2012/2013 and includes the results of tourism marketing promotions

The Performance Manager advised that officers would consider this as part of the Tourism Strategy.

·        that the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committees are requested to investigate why some targets for 2012/2013 have been set below the current performance levels

The Assistant Director, Customer First, Leisure, Culture, Democracy and Governance advised that when the targets for 2012/2013 had been set, consideration was given to the current year’s performance but that this was alongside a number of other factors, including the issues for that service moving forward. The targets were therefore challenging but also had to be realistic.

The Committee advised that it was pleased to see that the indicator for satisfaction with the work of Community Officers was to be re-instated and asked that officers focus on ensuring that the role of the Community Officers was clear and easily understood by all Medway residents.

Members discussed performance indicator ‘TRAV1b - non-principal classified roads where maintenance should be considered’ (page 48 of the agenda) and advised that this was a big issue of public concern. Members acknowledged the current budget pressures but advised that if the roads had worsened because there were less resources, then the commentary in the report should reflect this.

The Committee agreed that it would welcome  ...  view the full minutes text for item 128.

In February 2012, the Secretary of State launched a challenge fund of £250 million aimed at encouraging local authorities to retain or reinstate weekly rubbish collections – a service Medway residents continue to receive. Having already satisfied the main criteria, Waste Services have investigated other ways in which a valid claim can be made to fund improvements to its services. As a result, a non-committal outline bid was recently submitted proposing that the council increase both recycling and organics collections to weekly in line with other refuse. This report describes the rationale underpinning that claim and the continued work towards the submission of a final bid in August. 

Discussion:

The Head of Waste Services introduced the report advising of Medway’s bid to the Challenge Fund to seek funding for: new vehicles for all three services; 5 litre kitchen caddies and liners across the whole of Medway; a communications campaign; a project officer post for two years; and the revenue cost of running all three services for two years.

The Committee welcomed the chance to submit a bid to this fund and discussed the benefits of collecting brown bin organic waste, including food waste, on a weekly basis, particularly as the more successful the Council is in persuading residents to recycle this waste, it removed it from the weekly black sack collection.

Members asked what would happen if the Council was unsuccessful in obtaining this funding. Officers advised that there were other EU funding schemes available but these were aimed at education and promotion projects. However, although Medway’s bid to the Challenge Fund was one of the largest, it met all the requirements set out by the Secretary of State and exceeded the aim of funding schemes for five years, as Medway’s bid was for seven and a half years. Beyond the outcome of this bid, officers would need to look at the waste contract beyond 2019 and review the current strategy, including recycling, and Members would be involved in that process.

Following information of waste in black sacks being ripped open by foxes and cats, Members were asked to help spread the message to their constituents that food waste could be put in with garden waste kept in a wheelie bin to help prevent these attacks.

A Member asked how the cumulative effect of the cost per ton for Landfill Tax affected the Council. Officers advised that most of Medway’s waste was diverted from landfill and so the costs paid for Landfill Tax was reducing on an annual basis.

Decision:

The Committee supported the proposals for the bid and noted that further information would be reported in due course.

A presentation will be given updating the committee with details of on-going work to promote the river and develop a longer-term strategy to improve leisure, economy and general use of the river. 

Discussion:

The Assistant Director Organisational Services introduced the report advising that the work on this project was at an early stage and the purpose of this report to the Committee was to set out the approach to be taken whilst carrying out the project work.

The Committee was advised that the river was the one unifying factor through Medway with a very long history. It was still used commercially but also had the capacity for tourist and leisure use. The proposed strategy would look to tie in with re-development projects along the shore side, together with moorings and leisure purposes. Officers have initially divided the section of the river between St Mary’s Island and the M2 bridge into 19 sections and would focus on each section individually. There had been an audit of access points within this stretch of the river, of which there were many, but only two were in use for the public.

Officers advised that they had already been able to implement the re-location of the Sea Scouts to a slipway beyond the Dockyard, as their previous location had made access on to the river difficult for them. The first River Festival had been held, and despite being held on the same weekend as the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in London, it had been very well attended and had been extremely successful. The Council had also approached Barclay Homes about repairing the Gillingham Steps, which they had agreed to do. Members were informed that the list of priority projects outlined in the report were the aspirations that the Council wished to take forward.

The Committee discussed the lack of local knowledge about leisure facilities that already existed along the river, such as the footpaths and various walks available. Members commented on the initial proposals as follows:

·        there should be provision of visitor moorings, perhaps at Sun Pier, and promotion of this to yachtsmen

·        concern at the proposal to rename Rats Bay, as it had a story behind why it was so named, which could be included on any appropriate Interpretation Boards

·        support for a river taxi service (although a Member cautioned that this had previously been tried and had failed)

·        support for future River Festival events

·        further consideration should be given to reinstating the use of Strood Pier as it was located next to a railway station and was Medway’s nearest point on the river to London. Also, larger boats could access this useful stopping point on the river.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to note the strategy and recommend the following:

(a)   the further development of the River Festival;

(b)   careful consideration is given between the balance of keeping the river as a working river but also with leisure and transport provision;

(c)   the provision of visitor moorings;

(d)   further work is carried out to explore the possibility of a river taxi service;

(e)   bring back into use various piers and access points as necessary;

(f)     that Rats Bay retains its historic name.

This report advises the Committee of the petitions presented at Council meetings, received by the council or sent via the e-petition facility, including a summary of officer’s response to the petitioners. 

Discussion:

The Committee was advised that the report set out the petitions and
e-petitions that had recently been received by the Council within the remit of this Committee. There had been no petition referrals from the lead petitioners following receipt of a response from the Director of Regeneration, Community and Culture.

Decision:

The Committee noted the petition responses and appropriate officer action.

This item advises Members of the current work programme and allows them to adjust it in the light of latest priorities, issues and circumstances. It gives Members the opportunity to shape and direct the Committee’s activities over the year. 

Discussion:

The Democratic Services Officer introduced the report highlighting the receipt of a Member’s Item, which would be submitted to the next meeting of the committee. The report also provided an update on the work of the Fair Access to Credit Task Group and requested the Committee to agree the formation of a five Member task group in preparation for a forthcoming review on Supported Accommodation, which would feed its evidence and findings into a special themed meeting of the Committee.

A Member requested that when the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services was held to account at the next meeting in August he provided information on the CCTV enforcement car, following an article in the Kent Messenger newspaper on 22 June 2012.

Following a question by a Member, the Assistant Director Customer First, Leisure, Culture, Democracy and Governance updated the Committee with information about the Year of Celebration Olympic provision:

·        the Olympic torch would be travelling through Medway on 20 July 2012

·        the Medway Mile would take place on 27 July (the day the Olympics officially begin) with over 3,000 participants expected at this event

·        there would be a big screen in Rochester Castle Gardens showing the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games with fireworks afterwards

·        a Civic reception would be held for the teams training in Medway.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to:

(a)   note the current work programme, including the amendments and additions detailed in the report;

(b)   add a report to the work programme on detailed information on road maintenance funding and to include details of the integrity of the utility companies re-instatement works (as set out in minute 128);

(c)   agree the formation of a fiver Member short-life task group on the basis of 3:1:1 to report to a special themed meeting of this Committee, to meet the timescales for influencing the priorities for the future commissioning of housing related support.