Agenda and minutes

When the continuous alarm sounds you must evacuate the building by the nearest available fire exit. Members and visitors should proceed to the visitors’ car park at the front of the building and await further instructions (during office hours staff should proceed to their usual assembly point; outside of office hours proceed to the visitors’ car park). Please do not re-enter the building unless instructed to do so.

In the event of a fire any person with a disability should be assisted in leaving the building.   

63.1          The evacuation procedure, as noted on the Agenda, was advised to those present.

64.1          Apologies for absence were received from Councillors N D Adcock, C Agg, T J Budge, C L J Carter and P N Workman.  There were no substitutes for the meeting.

Pursuant to the adoption by the Council on 24 January 2023 of the Tewkesbury Borough Council Code of Conduct, effective from 1 February 2023, as set out in Minute No. CL.72, Members are invited to declare any interest they may have in the business set out on the Agenda to which the approved Code applies.

65.1          The Committee’s attention was drawn to the Tewkesbury Borough Code of Conduct which was adopted by the Council on 24 January 2023 and took effect on 1 February 2023. 

65.2          There were no declarations made on this occasion.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2024.

66.1          The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2024, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. 

To determine whether there are any questions for the relevant Lead Members and what support the Overview and Scrutiny Committee can give to work contained within the Plan.

67.1          Attention was drawn to the Executive Committee Forward Plan, circulated at Pages No. 15-24.  Members were asked to determine whether there were any questions for the relevant Lead Members and what support the Overview and Scrutiny Committee could give to the work contained within the plan. 

67.2          The Director: Corporate Resources advised that the ICT Strategy, due to be considered by the Executive Committee at its meeting on 20 March 2024, would be deferred until an appointment had been made to replace the Associate Director: ICT.  In terms of the pending items, following the departure of the Associate Director: People, Culture and Performance from the authority, the Director: Corporate Resources would be taking ownership of the Equalities and Diversity Policy and would bring that forward as soon as possible; Officers were considering whether the Volunteering Policy was still relevant and aligned to corporate policies; and the Economic Development and Tourism Strategy would be brought to the June meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee before being considered by the Executive Committee in September. 

67.3          In terms of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Charging Schedule, currently in the pending items section, the Chair indicated there had been a number of conversations at Council and Planning Committee meetings in relation to CIL and its efficacy and he asked if there was an intention to look at how this could be improved for the benefit of Tewkesbury Borough.  The Associate Director: Planning explained that, in reviewing the charging schedule, the Council would need to consider how well things were working and the relationship between CIL and Section 106 etc.  He reminded Members that it was a joint charging schedule so would need to be done in connection with Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Councils as part of the development plan review as this was inextricably linked to infrastructure required to support sites within the plan.

67.4           The Chief Executive advised that the letter from the government in relation to the final local government settlement which had confirmed the uplift of Core Spending Power to 4% also included a requirement to produce productivity plans setting out how to improve service performance and reduce wasteful expenditure.  Whist the full details were not yet available, there were four main areas and a specific consideration around whether expenditure on discredited equality and diversity inclusion programmes met that objective.  The Chair indicated that the new administration may have a different view on the potential benefits of having a proper Equalities and Diversity Policy which encouraged people to be themselves and fulfil their potential.  The Chief Executive confirmed that Officers would unpick the nuances and report the findings to Members in due course.

67.5           It was

RESOLVED          That the Executive Committee Forward Plan be NOTED.

To consider the forthcoming work of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

68.1          Attention was drawn to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme, circulated at Pages No. 25-28.  Members were asked to consider the Work Programme.

68.2          The Chair indicated that he would be writing to the Lead Members for Housing, Health and Wellbeing, Customer Focus and Clean and Green Environment to invite them to attend the next meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in view of the items on the Agenda.  In terms of the pending items section of the report, he would be meeting with the Leader and the Lead Member for Communities to discuss the cost of living crisis item and how best that could be taken forward.  The Director: Corporate Resources advised that, as he had mentioned in relation to the Executive Committee Forward Plan, the Economic Development and Tourism Strategy would be brought to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting in June prior to the Executive Committee in September.

68.3          It was

RESOLVED           That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme be NOTED.

To review and scrutinise the performance management information and, where appropriate, to require response or action from the Executive Committee. 

69.1           The report of the Director: Corporate Resources, circulated at Pages No. 29-82, attached the performance management information for quarter three of 2023/24.  The Overview and Scrutiny Committee was asked to review and scrutinise the information and, where appropriate, identify any issues to refer to the Executive Committee for clarification or further action to be taken.

69.2           Members were informed this was the third quarterly monitoring report for 2023/24 and represented the latest information in terms of the status of the actions set out in the Council Plan.  Progress against delivering the objectives and actions for each of the six Council Plan priorities was reported through the performance tracker, attached at Appendix 1 to the report, which was a combined document that also included a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).  Key financial information was usually reported alongside the tracker documents but, given the complexities of the year end closedown, this was not yet available and would be reported to the Committee next month. 

69.3           Key actions for the quarter were highlighted at Paragraph 2.3 of the report and included approval of the Medium Term Financial Strategy by Council on 12 December 2023; support to the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) with one to one advice; commencement of phase two of the in-cab technology project for street cleansing and recycling following the successful roll-out of phase one;  procurement of a new customer contact system; and near completion of the Council’s new air source heating system.  Members were reminded that, due to the complex nature of the actions being delivered, it was inevitable that some would not progress as smoothly or as quickly as envisaged and the details of those actions were set out at Paragraph 2.4 of the report.  In terms of KPIs, the status of each indicator was set out at Paragraph 3.2 of the report.  KPIs where direction of travel was down and/or not on target, were set out at Paragraph 3.3 of the report, with KPIs that were performing well highlighted at Paragraph 3.4 of the report.  Particular reference was made to KPIs 17 and 18 in relation to the percentage of major and minor planning applications being determined in time which had both improved to 85% and 90% respectively.    

69.4           The Chair drew attention to Pages No. 29 and 33 of the report, which highlighted the positive actions achieved during the period, and invited Members to comment.  With regard to Page No. 29, Paragraph 2.3 of the report, a Member noted that the next round of public consultation on the Tewkesbury Town Centre Masterplan and Design Code was being prepared for February and, given that it was already February, she asked if the target date was the end of the month.  In response, the Head of Service: Community and Economic Development advised that the Masterplan Steering Group comprising representatives of local groups as well as internal representatives had met twice to date with a third meeting scheduled for the following week to consider the content of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting (6 February 2024). 

70.1           Attention was drawn to the report from the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel, circulated separately, which gave an update on matters discussed at the last meeting held on 6 February 2024.

70.2           The Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel indicated that he did not intend to go through the whole report but wished to highlight that visible policing was incredibly important to the community and was by far the biggest area they wished to see investment in.  He had been somewhat disappointed by the Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable’s collective response that they would like to do more neighbourhood policing and to be more visible but did not have the resources to do so; in his view, the increases in the budget this year would keep things going rather than improving them which was frustrating.  In terms of the Perception of Crime Survey, this made interesting reading and he encouraged Members to look at the breakdown by district.  Notably, only 32% of people thought the Police were fundamental in the community - although 89% thought they were doing a good job - and the Council’s representative indicated that, personally, he had grave concerns about the state of policing in the country, and specifically in the county.

70.3           A Member asked if the 180 new Police Officers being recruited were specials and was informed they were paid frontline Police Officers and would be full time equivalents.  The Member asked how Gloucestershire was tackling the issue of highly paid frontline Officers working in office roles for long periods of time because of health issues and the Council’s representative undertook to ask the question and report back to Members.  Another Member asked if the Police would be doing anything differently as a result of the Perception of Crime Survey and was advised that it did not have a direct effect but he suspected it would inform future budget requests and resource allocation.

70.4           A Member asked whether the response time for 101 calls had been discussed at the meeting as, when he had attended the Member briefing at the end of January, the Police and Crime Commissioner had implied the waiting time was down to two minutes but she was aware that local Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) did not think that was accurate.  The Council’s representative advised that one of the main concerns identified in the review in 2023 was that the police control room was not sufficiently staffed and the Police control room improvement plans included the introduction of a replacement intelligence and crime system (NICHE) which would come into effect in May 2025.  Call handlers were a precious resource with one or two being lost each month but the recruitment process had improved and approximately 20 staff were now being recruited en bloc per month.  The Member indicated that she was unclear whether the two minute wait time was aspirational and the Council’s representative undertook to come back with a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70.