Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Other Registerable Interests of Non-Registerable Interests, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

There were no apologies for absence submitted nor substitutes appointed by Members on this occasion.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Personal Interest, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest by Councillors in relation to any item on the agenda for this meeting.

Subject to providing two working days’ notice, a Member of the Committee may ask the Chairman of the Committee a question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the Tendring District and which falls within the terms of reference of the Committee.

On this occasion no Councillor had submitted notice of a question pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 38.

The Committee is invited to consider the report which is intended to support the enquiry into the emerging Council Crime and Disorder Strategy.  Relevant representatives of partner agencies have been invited to attend the meeting for the purposes of this enquiry.

The Committee considered a report of the Corporate Director (Operations & Delivery) which set out the proposed Crime and Disorder Reduction Strategy 2025 – 2028 and offered Members the opportunity to provide feedback on that draft strategy having heard from some of the key partners working with the Council through the Community Safety Partnership.

 The following parties were in attendance to respond to any questions raised by the Committee.

Tim Clarke – Assistant Director (Housing and Environment) (TDC);

Councillor Gina Placey – Joint Chair of the Community Safety Partnership Board; and

Councillor Peter Kotz – Joint Chair of the Community Safety Partnership Board.

Members were aware that, as set out in Article 6 of the Council’s Constitution, the Community Leadership Overview & Scrutiny Committee acted as the Council’s designated “crime and disorder committee” for the purposes of Section 19 of the Police and Justice Act 2006 and had the power –

(a)        to review or scrutinise decisions made, or other action taken, in connection with the discharge by the responsible authorities [*] of their crime and disorder function;

(b)        to make reports or recommendations to the local authority with respect to the discharge of those functions.

* “The responsible authorities” means the bodies and persons who are responsible authorities within the meaning given by section 5 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (c.37) (authorities responsible for crime and disorder strategies) in relation to the local authority’s area.

In fulfilling that function the Community Leadership Overview & Scrutiny Committee l had the power (whether by virtue of section 9F(2) or 21(2) of the Local Government Act 2000 or regulations made under section 9JA(2) or 32(3) of that Act or otherwise) to make a report or recommendation to the local authority with respect to any matter which was a local crime and disorder matter in relation to a member of the authority.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution and The Crime and Disorder Act 1998, as amended by section 97 and 98 of the Police Reform Act 2002, there was a requirement on Community Safety Partnerships to develop a Crime and Disorder Reduction Strategy

The Committee was informed that the Strategy had been ratified by the Community Safety Partnership Strategic Board on 9 January 2025.  The Strategy would be presented to Cabinet on 21st February 2025. 

In presenting the Strategy to Cabinet the relevant Portfolio Holders would recommend that Cabinet agreed to recommend the adoption of the Crime and Disorder Reduction Strategy 2025 – 2028; and that authority be delegated to the Corporate Director for Operations and Delivery to make future minor updates or amendments to the Strategy in consultation with the Portfolio Holder responsible for community safety.

The Strategy would then go to the Full Council meeting on 25 March 2025 for adoption by the Council.

It was reported that the Strategy set out the overarching framework for the Council and its partners in the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) to reduce crime and disorder by formalising the work that would be undertaken  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

As set out in the Committee’s approved Work Programme, this Committee’s meeting is to undertake (at this meeting) an enquiry into water quality.  This report is intended to support this enquiry.  In addition relevant invitees will be present to assist the Committee’s enquiry.

The Committee considered a report of the Assistant Director (Housing & Environment) which would provide it with statistical evidence and data regarding the quality of Seawater, Freshwater Courses and Drinking Water within the District of Tendring.

The data collated had been obtained, principally, via the Environment Agency, along with further information on water quality and data around Private Water Supplies and Oyster beds provided by the Council’s Environmental Health Service.

At the meeting the Portfolio Holder for the Environment & ICT (Councillor Smith) introduced this item by way of a statement he read out.

The Environmental Health Manager (Grant Fenton-Jones) gave a brief overview of the report, drawing out its salient points and especially the information contained within the appendices. He reported that, overall, the bathing and drinking water quality was excellent and for bathing there were only two areas of minor concern i.e. Holland Haven and Mistley/Manningtree.

Mr. Fenton-Jones informed the Committee that, since January 2024, third party water distributor/supplier inspections (e.g. caravan park sites) had been an extra burden on the Team’s statutory workload.

Mr. Fenton-Jones also reported that Natural England were in the process of commissioning a bio-diversity study and action plan for the Stour and Orwell Rivers which would especially focus on invasive species and their impact on water quality. He undertook to keep the Committee updated.

To present to the Committee a draft detailed Work Programme 2024/25, to consider the detail and ordering of the Work Programme.

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Democratic Services & Elections which provided it with an update on its approved Work Programme for 2024/25 (including progress with enquiries set out in its Work Programme), feedback to the Committee on the decisions in respect of previous recommendations from the Committee in respects of enquiries undertaken and a list of forthcoming decisions for which public notice had been given.

Members were reminded that the Council had commissioned the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS) to undertake an ‘Overview & Scrutiny Development Review’ in 2021 as a way of further improving that function at the Council.  Two relevant recommendations arising from that review had been:

“Further strengthening the annual process for developing work programmes for each O&S committee - Engaging Members, Officers, partners and the public to prioritise the topics for review. This could include a selection criterion to identify appropriate topics for the work programme. Currently the work programme is also the last item on the agenda at O&S meetings, we would recommend bringing it to the beginning, so it can be given greater priority and benefit from more considered discussion, rather than being subject to the inevitable end of meeting fatigue.

Reviewing how the recommendations are made and how impact is measured – This could include putting the ‘recommendations monitoring report’ at the beginning of agendas to orientate O&S towards outcomes-focused meetings, alongside an emphasis on finding strong recommendations from questioning to present to Cabinet (or partners) as improvement or challenge proposals.”

The inclusion of the matters set out in the “purpose of the report” section of the Head of Democratic Services & Elections’ report sought to further re-enforce the inter-relationship of the matters referred to.  As such, it was designed to further support consideration of work programming of the Committee and contribute to addressing progress with the Corporate Plan.

The detailed matters relating to the following matters were set out in the relevant Appendix identified:

(1)    Work Programme for 2024/25 approved by Full Council on 6 August 2024 (Appendix A);

(2)   feedback to the Committee on the decisions in respect of previous recommendations from the Committee in respects of enquiries undertaken (none on this occasion); and

(3)   a list of forthcoming decisions for which notice had been given since publication of the agenda for the Committee’s last meeting (Appendix B).

In considering work programming matters, the Committee was further reminded of the other recommendations from the CfGS review undertaken in 2021 namely:

“Considering greater use of task and finish groups – This more informal type of O&S can allow improved cross-party working and detailed investigation of a single issue focussed on producing substantive recommendations.

Improved agenda planning and management - Committees should focus on one or two substantive items per agenda to allow for cross-cutting themes to be properly identified and explored, and different insights brought to bear on critical issues.

Considering how to engage the public in the work of O&S - This could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.