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

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Doyle and Thompson, with no substitutions appointed.

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on Tuesday 29 July 2025.

It was unanimously RESOLVED that the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on Tuesday, 29 July 2025, be approved as a correct record and be signed by the Chairman.

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 made 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.

No Questions on Notice pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 38 has been submitted by Members for this meeting.

The report provides the Committee with its approved Work Programme for 2025/26, 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 has been given.

The report also invites the Committee to reappoint both the “Joint Working with Town and Parish Councils” Task and Finish Group and the “Provision of out of School Organised Activities and Events” Task and Finish Working Group and enable the Committee to decide whether to continue with the work of the Crime and Disorder (familial violence/abuse) Task and Finish Group. Where the memberships of the Task and Finish Groups is still outstanding a delegation to the Assistant Director (Corporate Policy and Support) is proposed in order to finalise those memberships.

The Committee will also be requested to consider the appropriate date for its next meeting when the outcome of the first phase of consultation under the Community Governance Review for Clacton-on-Sea, Holland-on-Sea and Jaywick Sands is scheduled to be reported to it.

It had been decided by the Chairman of the Committee to allow the Community Safety and Safeguarding Manager to speak regarding the Crime & Disorder (Familial Violence/Abuse) Task and Finish Group prior to the Committee’s discussions on the work programme et cetera.

The Community Safety and Safeguarding Manager reminded Members of the work undertaken so far by the Crime & Disorder (Familial Violence/Abuse) Task and Finish Group. The Group had reached a natural conclusion whereby five out of seven recommendations had been completed. The remaining recommendations for completion had been regarding LGR, which could not be completed until progress was made in this area, and training options, which had been discussed by Officers. It was suggested that the Committee decided whether to continue the work of the Crime and Disorder (Familial Violence/Abuse) Task and Finish Group, or to begin a new Task & Finish Group focussing on victim services/support with the opportunity to include victims of familial violence/abuse within that research.

The Community Safety and Safeguarding Manager had also provided some information in respect of Victims Services and Support to enable the Committee to assess the issue of such services and support and the best way to achieve this.

The Community Safety and Safeguarding Manager then left the meeting, and the Committee proceeded to consider this item as follows:

The Committee had before it a report (A.2) that provided Members with  its approved Work Programme for 2025/26 (Appendix A),  feedback to the Committee on the Executive’s decisions made in respect of previous recommendations from the Committee in respects of enquiries undertaken (Appendix B) and a list of forthcoming decisions for which notice had been given since publication of the agenda for the Committee’s last meeting (Appendix C).

The Committee had held an informal meeting on 19 September 2025 and had considered the items contained within Appendix A (the Committee’s Work Programme for 2025/26).

In relation to the 2025/26 Work Programme enquiry into water quality, Members had been made aware that the Chairman of the Committee and the Chairman of the Council, accompanied by Officers, had made a site visit to the Haltermann Carless Oil Refinery on 19 August 2025, which had also formed part of the enquiry into water quality in the District. Some informal notes on that visit had been set out in Appendix D to the A.2 report.

Members of the Committee discussed the following items, that had been set out in Appendix A to the A.2 report in the agenda, for the Work Programme 2025/26:

• Crime and Disorder (Familial Violence/Abuse) Task and Finish Group
• Coastal Communities Unit
• Joint working with Parish and Town Councils Task and Finish Group
• Youth Provision of School age Children Task and Finish Group
• Collaborative working opportunities with Braintree and Colchester and building working relationships with external partners located in those areas
• Community Governance Review

Members noted their desire to establish collaborative working opportunities with Member colleagues at Colchester and Braintree Councils and explored, in particular, their wish to work with the various departments within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

This item is submitted in two elements.  The first, (a), is research findings in respect of coastal communities in respect of the rate of occurrence of mental health issues and the diagnosis of such issues.  The second, (b), references services locally in respect of diagnosis of services for young people in Tendring.

The purpose of the report is to provide the Committee with research findings from the University of Essex’s Centre for Coastal Communities (CCC) (and its partners). The particular research findings concern the prevalence of mental health issues among young people in coastal communities and the diagnosis of those issues. Dr Emily Murray from the CCC will be attending the meeting to present those findings and to respond to questions from the Committee’s Members on the research.

The Committee was aware that this item had been brought to the Committee as part of the requirements in the Committee’s Work Programme for 2025/26, as approved by Full Council at its meeting held on 14 August 2025.

This had identified that an item on the work programme would include:

• To look at the mental health research which suggested the position had been most pronounced among younger people living in coastal communities.
• That Doctor Emily Murray be invited to attend the Committee meeting.
• The published articles and summaries of the research findings produced by the University and its collaboration partners.
• The anticipated outcome.

The consideration of the matters set out in this report had been said to support the separate Corporate Plan Themes around:

• Pride in our rea and services to residents
• Raising aspirations and creating opportunities
• Working with partners to improve quality of life

The envisaged outcome of this item had been to enable the Committee to receive and consider the evidence around mental health among young people in coastal communities such as those in the District of Tendring; and the access to services to diagnose mental health issues affecting young people. This would then inform the Committee as to  further work that it would wish  to consider as part of its work programme going forward.

To highlight the mental health services available for children and young people. To be able to make recommendations around actions and activities that may have a beneficial impact on health inequalities locally.

It was reported that levels of poor mental health amongst children in Tendring had been some of the worst in Essex. The National Mental Health of Children and Young People survey had highlighted that 9.5% of primary age school children had at least one mental health disorder. The most common types being behavioural (5%) and emotional (4.1%).

In addition, Tendring had the highest prevalence of mental health disorders in children in Essex at 9.8% of the population aged 5-16.

In more general terms, the survey had highlighted that nationally in 2023 1 in 5 young persons between 8 and 25 had a probable mental disorder and although in 8 to 16-year-olds the rates were similar for boys and girls, within the 17 to 25 age range the rates were twice as high for young women as young men.

The national data had also highlighted that in 8 to 16-year-olds 1 in 4 children with a probable mental disorder had a parent who could not afford for them to take part in outside school activities compared with 1 in 10 for those unlikely to have a mental disorder.

Similarly, in 17 to 25-year-olds, those with a probable mental disorder were three times more likely to not be able to take part in activities such as days out or socialising compared with those unlikely to have a mental disorder.

Although the contact rates with mental health services for 0 to 18-year-olds had been lower than the England average (based on 2021 data), North East Essex had the highest rate in Essex at 217.4 per 10,000 people. This was also the case for open referrals for those under 19 (202 per 10,000).

It was concerning that Tendring had one of the worst suicide rates in Essex and although this referred to all age suicides, this had also been inclusive of those who were at most risk of self-harming (which it had been suggested heightened the risk of suicide) and young people, care leavers and ‘looked after’ children.

The Committee was informed that the King’s Fund had identified in 2024 that, although more children were accessing mental health services, the current level of expansion had not met demand.  They had also identified that there was a gap in support for those children who needed greater support in an educational setting but did not receive specialist mental health treatment.

The Care Quality Commission had reported that there had been an increasing number of children needing support to access care who had been using Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and up to a third of those having accessed the service did not know who to contact in a crisis. 

Since 2015, it was recognised that the prevalence of children with social, emotional and mental health needs had increased rapidly with the Covid-19 pandemic having had a particular impact where it had been reported nationally that 80% of young people with pre-existing mental health needs had experienced exacerbated or new issues. This had been particularly  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18b