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

Apologies for absence were submitted by Councillors Allen (no substitution), Fairley (substituted by Councillor Alexander), Morrison (no substitution) and Scott (no substitution).

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on Monday, 14 March 2022

It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on Monday 14 March 2022 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.

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.

The Head of Democratic Services and Elections informed the Committee that it had the full list and advised that, under Rule 13, Councillors could discuss anything that is in that list. However due notice must be given, 2 working days in advance of the meeting and no notice has been given. It was informed that if any members of the Committee wanted to put forward items for the work programme 2022/23 that this would be the appropriate time in the meeting.

It was suggested by the Committee to add for consideration an item on the alternative options for the future of new build Council owned homes in Jaywick Sands and on the Levelling up fund bids.

It was RESOLVED to note the report.

To present to the Committee the updated Recommendations Monitoring Report, outlining recommendations the Committee have previously submitted to the Council’s Cabinet (and the decision of Cabinet on those recommendations). The Committee is requested to consider the report and determine whether any further action is required on the matters submitted.

The report set out the recommendations from the meetings of the Committee on 14 March 2022 on the Joint use Sports facilities and the response of Cabinet on 25 March 2022 to those recommendations.

The Committee was reminded, by the Head of Democratic Services and Elections that recommendations from earlier meetings had previously been reported to them and had not been repeated in this report.

It was RESOLVED to note the report.

(a)       To present to the Committee its detailed Work Programme for 2021/22 outlining the progress made and otherwise planned for enquiries set out in the Work Programme.  The Committee is invited to note this report.

(b)       To consider a proposal received for a Work Programme item from the Leader of the Tendring First Group, Councillor Allen, under rule 8 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules (and part 5 of the Council’s Constitution). The proposed enquiry into the decision of the Portfolio Holder for Environment & Public Space:

(a)       To give consent for the use of the section of Frinton Greensward identified between 14 August 2022 and 5 September 2022 by the Frinton Summer Theatre subject to any necessary licences being obtained and conditions being adhered to; and

(b)       That the details of any consents given make it clear that consent is given for this event only and that future events will be evaluated on their merits at the time.

The decision followed an application from Frinton Summer Theatre to provide a tented theatre for the production of plays for four weeks on the Greensward at Frinton-on-Sea in the summer of 2022.  A link to the decision on the Council’s website is here:

Decision - Frinton Summer Theatre - Application for Consent to use Frinton Greensward (tendringdc.gov.uk)

The request from the Leader of the Tendring First Group is that the decision made by Portfolio Holder be brought to the Committee to be scrutinised as he believes it was made without a full and thorough consultation with all the parties that will be affected by the decision along with the Councillors whose wards will be affected.

The Head of Democratic Services and Elections informed the Committee that all of the items on the Work Programme for 2021/22 have been complete except for one. The Committee were directed to page 17 of the agenda that stated “In order to submit a proposed Work Programme for 2022/23 to the Council meeting on 12 July 2022, it is proposed to schedule a special meeting of the Committee in the period 13-24 June to consider the outcome of consultation, timing and approach to different areas for overview and scrutiny enquiries.”

The Committee was advised that the Leader of the Tendring First Group had requested that the decision made by Portfolio Holder for Environmental and Public Space be brought to the Committee to be scrutinised. However the Leader of that Group was unable to attend this meeting and requested deferral of consideration of the request. The Members of the Committee RESOLVED that consideration of this request be deferred to the next meeting.

It was RESOLVED to note the report.

To consider the outcome of the enquiry undertaken by the Committee Members who formed the Task and Finish Group into this matter.  The Group met on 16 May 2022 and an oral report will be provided on the outcome of that meeting.  The enquiry was originally scheduled to be undertaken by the Committee itself on 1 November 2021 (Minute 34 of that meeting refers).

The Committee was advised that the Task and Finish Group on Waste, recycling and littering had met on 16 May 2022 and a report from it would be submitted to the Committee’s next meeting.

The purpose of this enquiry is to consider the decisions of Cabinet (Minute 137 of 25 February 2022 and Minute 154 of 25 March 2022 refer) and their implementation in respect of the Corporate Investment Plan for the Council.  The Corporate Investment Plan approach included a pipeline of projects and a Corporate Investment Board that would regularly consider the pipeline of projects and give their view on those that should progress towards a formal decision. Priority drivers would help decision makers to prioritise and choose between competing proposals, and funding would be allocated, or reallocated, to a Corporate Investment Fund to enable the Council to put resources to the recommended projects from the pipeline.

A report in the name of the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance & Governance is attached and is submitted to assist the Committee with its enquiry. 

Further to the decision of the Cabinet (Minute 137 of 25 February 2022 and Minute 154 of 25 March 2022) this Committee undertook an enquiry into the matter of the Corporate Investment Plan. The Committee had before it a report of the Corporate Finance and Governance Portfolio Holder which provided an introduction of the Corporate Investment Plan (CIP) and its intended function. The Members of the Committee were advised that ‘The Corporate Investment Plan has been under development over the last six months in response to recommendations by the Council’s external auditors and peer reviews. At its meeting on 25 February 2022, Cabinet agreed to implement a Corporate Investment Plan approach to investment and to establish a Corporate Investment Board. Cabinet asked Portfolio Holders to explore with Officers further items for consideration by the proposed first meeting of the Corporate Investment Board in March.’

There were discussions around the Corporate Investment Board prioritising projects on the Corporate Investment Plan and how this prioritisation took place, the Committee was advised this was done through a scoring mechanism to establish what a priority project was. The Committee were also advised that the membership of the Corporate Investment Board was the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council, the Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive, Assistant Director (Finance & IT) and Interim Corporate Director (Projects Delivery). The Committee was advised that a meeting of the Board had been held and that no minutes had been taken of the meeting. Ultimately, proposals arising from the Board would be reflected in reports to the Cabinet meetings.

The Committee were interested to understand how all projects, including those that had been approved but not implemented prior to the Corporate Investment Plan approach would be incorporated on the in Corporate Investment Plan to ensure there was a complete view on such projects/schemes and the funding associated with them. The Committee were advised that currently the Corporate Investment Plan doesn’t currently include all projects. However, it could be adapted to do this. 

After a detailed discussion the Committee RECOMMENDED to CABINET that:

a. The Corporate Investment Board is minuted and these minutes are circulated to Councillors as a part of supporting transparency in this process;

b. A mechanism is found to report quarterly on the projects that are funded through the Corporate Investment Plan and delivery of them; and

c. The report mechanism, mentioned above, should include all (non business as usual) projects for which capital or revenue funded has been allocated.