Agenda and minutes

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

There were no apologies for absence submitted or substitutions on this occasion.

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on 24 May 2022.

It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on Tuesday 24May 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.

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 Chairman reminded the Members of the Committee that they had all received a copy of the recommendations from the Task and Finish Group. There were discussions around looking at this topic again after it had been submitted to Cabinet. The Head of Democratic Services and Elections advised the Committee that this will eventually be added to the Recommendations Monitoring Report and this will provide a further opportunity for Members to be aware of developments in this matter. In addition, the Committee was also informed that, on the draft Work Programme, it had been proposed to undertake an enquiry into the specification for the 2026 contract for waste, recycling and litter services. As such this would be a further opportunity to enquire into this topic, provided the Committee agree to add this to the Work Programme for 2022/23.

It was RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND to CABINET:

In respect of the recycling elements of the enquiry:

(1)       That the capacity of the Street Scene Team to undertake a range of engagement and recycling promotion work with school age children, members of community organisations and the public through roadshows, Council Tax Bills etc. be assessed and plans brought forward to support this capacity.  The Committee believes that this work is vital to ensure we have a well-informed local population about recycling and the benefits of it and that the capacity of the team should provide for this work to be undertaken systematically and consistently;

(2)       That, in addition to the steps in (1) above, available data, or proxies for it, about recycling rates within the District be examined to identify those areas where recycling rates are lowest and that the available resources for promotional activity be targeted to those areas to increase recycling rates there.  The Committee is conscious of the need to use data to guide action and that this is an area where finite resources can be directed where the need for action is most required. 

(3)       That proposals for new style three chamber litter bins to separate out general waste from plastic/can recyclables and card recyclables be examined with a view to these being installed in the centres of towns in the District.  The Committee considers that these new style bins would help reinforce the message around recycling and further the Council’s commitment to it (and positively reinforce the Council’s Community Leadership role);

(4)       That the expected standards for cleanliness/removal of broken glass at the recycling bring sites in the District be developed and publicised and, alongside these, deployment response times for the cleaning/clearing of those sites be established for reports of issues at those sites when the standards are not being met.  This recording will include each incident of ‘fly tipping’ at the sites.  The Committee believes the recycling bring sites provide a valuable addition to the kerbside recycling collection service and believes that working with the public we can look to keep the sites in the best possible condition by sharing with them the standards they should  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

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 of the publish notice of forthcoming decisions since the agenda for the Committee’s last meeting had been published. Under the Overview and Scrutiny Rule 13, no notice of a question on the forthcoming decisions had been given.  

In respect of items on the list of forthcoming decisions, the Chairman informed the Committee that the Review of the Beach Hut Strategy would be picked up later in the meeting (Minute 16 refers), he also confirmed that the Committee had recently received off-agenda briefing note on the progress with the Clacton Leisure Centre Artificial Grass Pitch.

It was RESOLVED to note the report.

To review the Committee’s work undertaken during the year 2021/22 and to seek the Committee’s approval to its draft programme of work for the 2022/23 year for recommendation to the Council meeting on 12 July 2022.

The Committee had before it a report of the Head of Democratic Services and Elections, which invited Members to consider a draft Work Programme for 2022/23 for recommendation to Council on 12 July 2022. The report also referenced a review of the work that had been carried out in the Year 2021/22 in respect of Overview and Scrutiny (an “Annual Report”).

The draft Annual Report in respect of the scrutiny function in 2022/23 was circulated to the Committee at the meeting. It had been prepared in conjunction with the Chairmen of the two Overview and Scrutiny Committees of the Council. The Committee was advised that this report was a reflection of the last year of Scrutiny through this Committee and through the Community Leadership Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Committee was invited to comment as to what stand out parts it wanted to see reflected in the Annual Report that will go to Full Council on 12 July 2022 (with the Work Programme).

The Committee was advised as to the process for developing Work Programme items for the Committee. This included consultation with a range of stakeholders. The consultation response were set out in Appendix A.

Appendix B to the report was a draft Work Programme for 2022/23, that the Committee were invited to consider and determine what it should recommend to Council on 12 July 2022. There were discussions around the items on the proposed draft Work Programme.

A proposal was made to add an item on the Work Programme to enquire into Health and Wellbeing in relation to travel issues in the District. The Committee was advised that this would be in terms of reference of the Community Leadership Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Head of Democratic Services and Elections informed the Committee that although Community Leadership Overview and Scrutiny have already agreed on their items for the Work Programme it had also agreed to organise an informal meeting following Full Council and that he could look to adding that item into that process.

The Committee requested a briefing on the Climate Change action plan. The details of the briefing paper, would be developed at the Committee’s meeting on 23 August 2022.

Cllr Allen spoke to his proposal, included in Appendix A in relation to a decision made by the Portfolio Holder for Environment and Public Space.

It was RESOLVED:

The Head of Democratic Services and Elections be authorised in consultation with the Committee’s Chairmen, to finalise the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report for 2021/22.

It was RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND to FULL COUNCIL that:

1. The Work Programme set out at Appendix A to these Minutes be approved.

2. That the Annual Report 2021/22 on the Scrutiny function, as finalised in accordance with the delegation from this Committee, be approved.