Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Ian Ford  01255 686584.

Items
No. Item

16.

Apologies for Absence and Substitutions

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

 

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence submitted by Councillors and therefore there were no substitutions on this occasion.

 

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of the Head of People, Performance and Projects (Anastasia Simpson).

 

17.

Minutes of the Last Meeting pdf icon PDF 128 KB

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on Monday 2 July 2018.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 2 July 2018 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

18.

Declarations of Interest

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.

 

Minutes:

There were none made at this time though later in the meeting, as described below under Minute 20, Councillor Pemberton declared an interest.

19.

Questions on Notice pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 37

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.

Minutes:

Pursuant to the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 37, Councillor Baker asked the following questions of the Chairman of the Committee:-

 

“1) What is the potential total cost of supplying Wheelie Bins under the renewed Waste Contract, where is this cost to be funded from, if funded in total by TDC how does this impact on the 10 year financial plan, bearing in mind that TDC has to make £300,000 worth of savings in each financial year? and

 

2) Where is the £15,000 being allocated to the police for Operation Spider (Press Release dated 19th July) coming from, and how is this funding measured against any particular goals/priorities?”

 

The Chairman of the Committee, Councillor Stephenson, replied as follows:-

 

“1) The potential cost of purchase and supplying wheeled bins to 58,000 households is estimated at £1 million (subject to further competition). This is being funded by the News Homes Bonus for 2018/19 of £1.333 million which is being set aside to support the implementation of the new service.

 

To continue the service “As Is” would result in a cost pressure on the authority of £374,000 per annum.

 

The full financial information is also detailed in the Cabinet Report (23 March 2018), link below:-

 

https://tdcdemocracy.tendringdc.gov.uk/documents/g1209/Public%20reports%20pack%2023rd-Mar-2018%2010.30%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10

 

and

 

2) Tackling anti-social behaviour and acquisitive crime is one of the Community Safety Partnership’s strategic priorities for 2018/19.

 

The Council and other agencies, principally the Police, have been looking at ways to tackle increasing complaints and incidents around anti-social behaviour in Clacton Town Centre.  Operation Spider is to provide extra presence and viability over the Summer when it is known that incidents can increase especially from young people. This is a short term measure with other longer term activities also already being taken or being planned.

 

The money has been vired from a salary underspends under the delegation powers of the Head of Finance.”

 

20.

Terms of Reference - Working Group on Recycling

Further to its discussions on environmental issues at the last meeting, the Committee will decide the terms of reference for the working group that will review recycling/waste collection.

Minutes:

Councillor Pemberton declared an interest in respect of this item insofar as he hoped to start up a recycling related business in the future.

 

Further to its discussions on environmental issues at the last meeting (Minute 14 referred), the Committee gave consideration to the terms of reference for the Working Group that would carry out a review of recycling.

 

It was RESOLVED that the terms of reference, membership et cetera for the Working Group that would carry out a review of recycling be as follows:-

 

Review Topic: INCREASING RECYCLING

 

How does the topic fit with the Committee’s Terms of Reference:

 

Refuse collection is probably the most widespread and frequent public facing service provided by the Council.

 

What question is the review aiming to answer:

 

What steps can the Council take to ensure that the maximum possible increase in recycling levels is achieved?

 

Aim / Objectives:

 

To identify measures which the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee can recommend to Cabinet for implementation to maximise recycling (and recycling credits paid to TDC).

 

Scope:

 

·         Investigate the circumstances surrounding the setting of the recycling targets

·         Investigate the reasons for the lack of delivery against those recycling targets

·         Identify ways in which the targets can be met in future

  • Review current measures / activities and their effectiveness
  • Consider successful initiatives by other Authorities / good practice
  • Consider communications / events / initiatives etc.
  • Identify most appropriate proposals for Tendring to complement the roll out of new working arrangements.
  • Identify a proposed activity timeline if appropriate.
  • Conclude with recommendations to the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee in a form they can adopt and refer on to Cabinet for consideration.

Membership (including officer support):

 

Councillors Everett (Chairman), Alexander, Broderick and Scott

 

Officer Support – Jonathan Hamlet

Timescale:

 

Identify proposals for consideration by the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee by November 2018.

 

 

 

21.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive - A.1 - Corporate Peer Challenge - Action Plan pdf icon PDF 119 KB

To enable the Committee to consider the Peer Review Action Plan.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee was aware that, on 18 May 2018, the Cabinet had considered the Peer Review Action Plan arising from the feedback report on the Local Government Association Corporate Peer Challenge of Tendring District Council that had taken place during March 2018. Cabinet had resolved that (minute 151 referred):

 

(a)       the Peer Review Action Plan be approved;

 

(b)    Cabinet notes that further updates will be provided in October 2018 and March 2019; and

 

(c)    the report be referred to the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee for its information and review.

 

In accordance with the Cabinet’s decision the Cabinet report referred to above together with the Peer Review Action Plan was attached as Appendix A to the Report of the Deputy Chief Executive for the Committee’s consideration.

 

The Committee had had circulated to it prior to the commencement of the meeting a copy of the LGA Feedback Report.

 

The Deputy Chief Executive (Martyn Knappett) undertook, in respect of the following, to discuss those matters further with the relevant Officers and to respond to the Committee where appropriate:-

 

(1)       in relation to Action K4, whether the Head of Finance, Revenues and Benefits could give an update to the December meeting of the Committee;

(2)       in relation to Action K1, the Council’s public communications with residents in the west and north of the District; and

(3)       in relation to Action K3, why the Equality Impact Assessments are not due to be completed until at least October 2018.

 

Having considered and discussed the contents of the Cabinet report and the Peer Review Action Plan it was:-

 

RESOLVED that the Committee –

 

(a)       acknowledges the Officers’ excellent report based on the LGA’s feedback; and

 

(b)          expresses its disappointment that the LGA did not involve town and parish councils in the corporate peer review and requests Officers to feed this back to the LGA.

 

22.

District Wide Tourism Strategy Update

The Head of Leisure Services will attend the meeting to give an update to the Committee on the production of a new District wide Tourism Strategy.

Minutes:

The Head of Sport and Leisure (Mike Carran) attended the meeting and gave an update to the Committee on the production of a new District wide Tourism Strategy.

 

The update touched on the following:-

 

(i)     that the Strategy was due to be produced by October 2018;

(ii)    the ever closer working relationships with the private sector and the voluntary sector (such as on successful initiatives like Love Clacton and the Coastal Communities Group) and the lessons to be taken into the Strategy; and

(iii)  new models for marketing and promoting tourism and the importance of “Local Pride” in tourism within the District.

 

Mr Carran then outlined to the Committee the nine key focuses of the new Strategy, namely:-

 

(1)       Two tier focus on Events;

(2)       Council’s role in facilitating as well as leading on Events;

(3)       Tourism promotion;

(4)       Digital marketing;

(5)       Increasing sector confidence for example through increasing investment;

(6)       Developing the seafront offer;

(7)       Developing the heritage offer for example the Mayflower 400 project;

(8)       Partnership working; and

(9)       Promoting the district for outdoor activity.

 

The Corporate Director (Operational Services) (Paul Price) then addressed the Committee and emphasised that tourism was a fast moving, agile economy and that this had not been taken into account in the previous Tourism Strategy (2010-16). The private sector had not been involved in the formulation of that Strategy. The Strategy had not focused on the visitor economy from within the District as well as that from outside the District. In the new Strategy there was a greater emphasis on the Council’s role of facilitation.

 

Having considered and discussed the information provided it was:-

 

RESOLVED that this Committee recommends to Cabinet that –

(a)       the parish and town councils within the District be included as part of the consultation process on the emerging Tourism Strategy; and

 

(b)       in view of the fact that tourism generates £372million income for the District, additional funding be allocated to the Tourism Section within the Operational Services department in order to ensure that it is fully resourced.

 

23.

Review of Homelessness Provision

The Head of Housing and Environmental Health will attend the meeting to assist the Committee in reviewing the Council’s homelessness service provision.

Minutes:

The Head of Housing and Environmental Health (Tim R Clarke) attended the meeting to assist the Committee in reviewing the Council’s homelessness service provision.

 

Mr Clarke outlined to the Committee the impact on the Council of recent changes to the statutory duties the Council had in respect of homelessness. Mr Clarke also outlined the recent increases in Government funding awards to the Council in order to assist it in dealing with homelessness.

 

Having considered and discussed the information provided it was:-

 

RESOLVED that the information provided by the Head of Housing and Environmental Health be noted.