The Committee is asked to note any apologies for absence and substitutions received from Members.

On this occasion there were no apologies for absence submitted on behalf of Councillors.

The Head of Democratic Services and Elections advised the Committee that the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner was not able to attend the meeting and therefore the enquiry into the emerging Police and Crime Plan for Essex would be adjourned to the next scheduled meeting of the Committee.

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on Monday 28 June 2021.

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on Monday 28 June 2021 be approved as a correct record.

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.

The Committee will have partake in a Questions and Answers discussion with the Acting Chief Inspector in relation to various Crime and Disorder issues throughout the district.

Martin Richardson (Acting Chief Inspector, Essex Police), Aaron Homotopolous (Inspector, Essex Police) outlined elements of the operational policing challenges that were being addressed in the District and the partnership working the Police were undertaking with organisations such as Tendring District Council.

In response to question, they advised on the competing priorities that policing and had and why serious offences such as reports of domestic violence would be prioritised over less serious crimes in relation to immediate responses. 

Where local Council made byelaws included the option to issue fixed penalty charges for offences there would need to be paperwork supplied by the Council to be issued.  Otherwise, if such byelaws provided for penalties following summary conviction in the courts the Police would need to supply witness statements and any other evidence to the Council in order to prosecute the offenders.

The Police representatives were also requested to ensure that local Police Community Safety Officers be authorised to exercise the full range of powers possible. In reply, the Police representatives indicated that there were examples when using certain powers would be inappropriate in a practical sense given that the PCSOs could not use the power of arrest as a Police Officer.

There was also a discussion around the role of parents of children involved in anti-social behaviour, the response of those parents and the responsibility they had to the rest of society to uphold acceptable behaviour.

The representatives of Essex Police indicated that certain responses to questions from Councillor may involve disclosure of information on live investigations and to facilitate disclosure the Committee would be requested to exclude the press and public.  This is set out below at Minutes 18 and 19 below.

To address the issues of Anti-Social Behaviour and Domestic Abuse across the district, and to understand the various “Watch Groups” operating in the district.

The Committee heard from Terry Fowles, Essex Watch Liaison Officer about the various “Watches” running in the Tendring District and numbers of members in each watch.

The Members heard that it would help if the Watch Liaison Officer could be provided with a list of contacts for Council run allotments as well as any contacts for sites of value and/or heritage sites in the District to seek to involve them in the relevant Allotments/Heritage Watch Scheme.

In response to a question, the Assistant Director of Partnerships advised that it was intended for a future All Member Briefing for Councillors would include a presentation on the partnership work in seeking to address anti social behaviour locally.

After detailed discussion the contents of the report was NOTED.

The report provides information on the current position in relation to the use of e-scooters and policing action against those who use them unlawfully.

The Committee heard from Tracey Vickers, Head of Sustainable Transport – Essex County Council and Fercia Weyer - Spin's Essex General Manager that in the spring / summer of 2020, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced a proposal to trial the use of electric scooters in named pilot areas. Local authorities were encouraged to apply to become a pilot area, and Essex County Council (ECC) drafted proposals for Basildon, Braintree, Brentwood, Clacton, Chelmsford and Colchester. ECC then identified a preferred supplier – Spin – and submitted those proposals to the DfT.

ECC, in partnership with Spin, launched the trial in Clacton on 1 March 2021.Under the trial, e-scooters hired from Spin may be ridden on roads and cycle paths. There are currently 150 Spin e-scooters in Clacton, and the town was approaching 30,000 rides since the trial began. The trial will run until the end of October 2021, but consideration was being given to extending the trial until March 2022.

The Committee were shown one of Spin E-scooters and this was demonstrated to the Committee to identify how a registered user would be linked to an individual E-scooter, its forward and rear lights and the panel that displayed the speed of the E-scooter to the user.  The expectation for users to park the E-scooter safely and photgraph it once parked was outlined to the Committee. 

The Committee heard about different uses of the E-scooters including those who used them to link with Railway Stations to travel and from work.

The Committee also heard from Acting Chief Inspector Martin Richardson relation to lawful and unlawful use of E-Scooters, he outlined the two major differences in the type of offences occurring.

1.    The incorrect use of the legally permitted E-Scooters.

2.    The unlawful use of an E-Scooter that is not legally permitted to be used in public.

The Acting Chief Inspector informed the Committee that the incorrect use of the legally permitted E-Scooters was very minimal and was not a hindrance to the Police workload and that the issue lay with the unlawful use of not legally permitted, privately owned E-Scooters in public.

Members heard how Tendring Police had an operation underway to tackle the unlawful use of e-scooters, to include a media campaign, unfortunately the E-scooters were being seen as a toy by many and therefore perfectly acceptable, but only on private land, such as their own back gardens and absolutely not the public highway or pavements. 

At the invitation of thre Committee’s Chairman, the Ward Councillors for St James Ward (Councillors Alexander and Griffiths) addressed the Committee on their experience of the E-scooters trial as it impacted on the Clacton-on-Sea Ward they represented and the feedback they had received from local residents. 

After a detailed discussion it was RECOMMENDED that Cabinet:

a.    authorises representations to the Government’s Department of Transport to the effect that riders of E-Scooter be required to wear safety helmets, that E-Scooters be required to generate a low level noise to make them audible for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

To examine the informal partnerships that were harnessed during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns in 2020/21 and consider how those partnerships can inform future community partnerships going forward. Although the detail provided in this report was not specifically identified by Council for enquiry by the Committee, it was agreed with the Committee’s Chairman to submit this information to it.

The Committee had before it a report about Partnership working, be it formal or informal, was consistent with the Council’s commitment to put Community Leadership at the heart of everything we do through delivery of high quality, affordable services and working positively with others. 

The Council’s Executive Projects Manager, Rebecca Morton, indicated that she would provide copies of her presentation to the Committee for circulation to the Members.

After a short discussion the Committee wished that the incredible work outlined in the report be NOTED, specifically the work with the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic community.

The Committee RESOLVED to record its appreciation for the good work delivered through the grant scheme to community groups and the focus this funding had provided at the important stages of the pandemic, related lockdowns and as society again opened up as restrictions were lifted.

Councillor M Stephenson was invited to speak on the his Motion to Council in July 2021.

The Motion concerning commemoration of those impacted by Covid-19 and those who worked to keep the public safe and well during the pandemic (referred to the Committee from Council on 13 July 2021 (Minute 51 refers)) was referred to the Committee.  The motion had been submitted to Council by Councillor M Stephenson. In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.6 (Referred Motions – Right of Mover to Attend Meeting), Councillor M Stephenson had been notified to attend the meeting to answer any questions and/or points of clarification, if requested.

After a short discussion the Committee RESOLVED that the Committee be furnished with a report in relation to Councillor M Stephenson’s motion to Council for the next Community Leadership Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the basis that this would still enable the Committee to submit its view on the Motion to the meeting of Council on 30 November 2021.

To present to the Committee the updated Recommendations Monitoring Report, outlining any recommendations the Committee have sent to Cabinet. The Committee is requested to consider the report and determine whether any further action is required on the recommendations submitted.

The Committee before it the current Recommendations Monitoring Report which set out those items which had previously made recommendations to the Cabinet/ Portfolio Holder and the approved response to the recommendations and any subsequent action for the Committee to consider.

It was RESOLVED that the report be NOTED and that the items recorded in the report had now been concluded.

Pursuant to the provisions of Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 13, the Committee will review any new and/or amended published forthcoming decisions relevant to its terms of reference and decide whether it wishes to enquire into any such decision before it is taken.

Matters may only be raised on those forthcoming decisions at Committee meetings where the Member has notified the Committee Services Manager in writing (or by personal email) of the question they wish to ask, no later than Midday, two working days before the day of the meeting.

There were none at this time.

Pursuant to the provisions of Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 13, the Committee reviewed any new and/or amended published forthcoming decisions relevant to its terms of reference with a view to deciding whether it wished to look into any such decision before it was taken. The relevant forth coming decisions were before the Committee.

The Committee noted there were no forthcoming decisions at that time.

To present to the Committee a draft detailed Work Programme 2021/22, to consider the detail and ordering of the Work Programme.

The Committee NOTED the contents of the report.

At the request of the representatives of the Essex Police, the Committee RESOLVED to exclude the Press and Public from the meeting under section 100 (A4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public during the consideration of the following item on the grounds that it was likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 7 of part 1 of schedule 12A, which deals with investigation of crime.

Further to Minutes 10 and 11 above, the Committee considered its enquiry into crime and disorder and anti-social behaviour with information from Acting Chief Inspector Martin Richards and Inspector Aaron Homotopolous.