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.   

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

78.1          Apologies for absence were received from Councillors K Berliner (Vice-Chair), H C McLain, C Softley and S Thomson.  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.

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

79.2          No declarations were made on this occasion.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2023.

80.1          The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2023, 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.

81.1          Attention was drawn to the Executive Committee Forward Plan, circulated at Pages No.15-19.  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. 

81.2          The Head of Corporate Services advised that the Council Plan Performance Tracker Quarter Three 2022/23 had been removed from the Agenda on 1 March - which was the last scheduled meeting of the Executive Committee for 2022/23 - and a briefing note would be circulated to Executive Committee Members following consideration of the information by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 7 March.  It was also noted that the Economic Development and Tourism Strategy which was due to be considered by the Executive Committee on 1 March would be deferred until after the Borough Council elections in May; the Strategy would be taken to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee prior to Executive Committee.

81.3          It was

RESOLVED          That the Executive Committee Forward Plan be NOTED.

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

82.1          Attention was drawn to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme, circulated at Pages No. 20-23.  Members were asked to consider the Work Programme.

82.2          The Head of Corporate Services advised that it was intended to bring forward the Customer Care Strategy from 4 April to 7 March in order to better balance the Agenda for those meetings.  With regard to the Parking Strategy Review, which was included within the pending items section of the Work Programme, a Member indicated that he had received an email from the Head of Finance and Asset Management in relation to whether there was a will amongst the Parking Strategy Review Working Group Members to revisit the parking charges - he believed there was a consensus among the Working Group Members that they were happy with the draft proposals which had been discussed previously, as such, he asked why this item had not been scheduled to appear at a forthcoming meeting of the Committee.  The Head of Corporate Services confirmed that Working Group Members had agreed there would be no significant changes to the Strategy and it would be written on that basis; however, the Officer tasked with this had a number of competing priorities so it was a question of when that could be done and he undertook to update Members following the meeting as to when it would come forward.  With regard to the remaining pending items, a Member queried whether the new Police Chief Inspector had been invited to attend a meeting of the Committee and the Head of Community Services undertook to make contact with him following the meeting.

82.3          It was

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

To receive a presentation from Gloucestershire Rural Community Council (GRCC) to understand how it fulfils the requirements of the service level agreement. 

83.1          Attention was drawn to the Gloucestershire Rural Community Council (GRCC) presentation, circulated separately.  The Community and Economic Development Manager advised that Tewkesbury Borough Council had a service level agreement with GRCC and the two organisations had a positive relationship.  He introduced the GRCC Chief Executive and the Head of Operations and Business Development who would be giving a short presentation about the work undertaken and would be happy to answer any questions.

83.2          A Member suggested that it would be useful for Members to receive more regular information from the Community Development team in relation to work which was being undertaken with GRCC as this would give Overview and Scrutiny Committee Members a greater understanding and enable them to scrutinise the partnership more effectively.  The Community and Economic Development Manager advised that, following the last meeting of the Committee when Members had received a similar presentation from Active Gloucestershire, he had circulated information about that organisation to the Committee and produced a Member Update for the wider Membership which included contact details etc.  It was intended that today’s presentation would start the conversation about the services GRCC offered; if there were individual schemes in the borough which GRCC could help with, they could be passed on when appropriate.  He took on board the point about greater sharing of information and advised that GRCC produced a newsletter which he would ensure Members received going forward.

83.3                 The following key points were made during the presentation:

·     GRCC (1) – Independent, local charity with rural specialism, established in 1932; countywide coverage with offices in Cheltenham and Gloucester; mission to build strong, healthy, sustainable communities in Gloucestershire using its knowledge, experience and networks; working with individuals, communities of interest and geography, and across themes, in partnership with the statutory, voluntary and private sector; involved in direct delivery e.g. Tewkesbury Community and Flood Resilience Scheme (2014) including 38 Flood Wardens and Employment Support Hub Outreach project.

·     GRCC (2) – Infrastructure support – facilitation of training and networks to support and upskill the voluntary and community sector alongside the VCS Alliance; Independence Trust merged with GRCC in 2020 and offers individual countywide mental health support to adults via: Community Advice, Links and Mental Health Support (CALMHS); Community Autism Support and Advice (CASA); Community Wellbeing Service – Social Prescribing (CWS); and other bespoke projects.

·     Our USP – Countywide, independent, neutral VCS organisation – wealth of knowledge, experience and understanding of the bigger picture and wider learning, 100 years of connecting through ‘twinning’ and peer support; part of a national network – one of 38 Rural Community Councils operating under the umbrella of Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) providing examples of best practice and success; translator of policy – sharing and translating policy change from central government and other agencies with communities i.e. what does this mean and how does it affect us e.g. COVID guidance, GDPR, Localism Act 2011.

·     Empowering and Enabling – Helping communities to identify what is important to them; helping communities  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83.

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting (3 February 2023). 

84.1          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 considered at the meeting held on 3 February 2023.

84.2          The Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel advised that his update report referenced the annual report produced by the Police and Crime Commissioner – this contained a wealth of information on all aspects of Gloucestershire Constabulary and was available on the County Council website so he would encourage all Members to read it following the meeting.  The main focus of the meeting was budget setting – the Police and Crime Commissioner presented his proposals for the Police precept for 2023/24 which the Panel had the ability to approve or reject.  The proposal was for an uplift of £15 in the annual precept based on a Band D property, or approximately 5.4% overall resulting in a revenue budget of £146m and a capital budget of £10.6m.  Discussion had taken place as to how this figure had been derived and there was an underlying assumption of a 5% pay rise for Police Officers.  Some Members of the Panel had taken the Police and Crime Commissioner to task on failing to achieve his manifesto commitment to increase the number of frontline Police Officers by 300; however, he did not think the Police and Crime Commissioner had stipulated they would all be frontline officers.  Since his election in 2021, an additional 312 fully funded full-time posts had been added to the Force with 115 of those being frontline Police Officers; 178 were additional Police staff.  There had been some debate about the Police and Crime Commissioner being asked to apologise for suggesting he would add 300 frontline Police Officers but it was noted that he still had another two years in office.  His response was around the fact that the Peel report, which had been carried out a few weeks after his election, had identified clear failings within the Force which had resulted in it being placed into special measures largely around the failure to record and respond to crimes appropriately – calls to 101 and 999 were taking too long and there was a very high rate of people dropping off the call and crimes not being recorded as a result.  The Police and Crime Commissioner had felt it was appropriate to deal with the failures which had been highlighted in the Peel report as a priority and a lot of money had been spent on resources to fix those failings including upgrading the control room and additional Police Officers to ensure crimes were being recorded – results for December showed that things were on target so people were now able to get through quickly to both services.  Other frontline officers had been added to the Force with an additional 200 Special Constables and 100 volunteer Police Community Support Officers as well as 60 external roles funded via the Office of the Police and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 84.

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting (18 January 2023). 

85.1          Attention was drawn to the report from the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee, circulated at Pages No. 24-25, which gave an update on matters considered at the meeting held on 18 January 2023.

85.2          The Council’s reserve representative on the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee advised that a report on supporting small businesses and assistance for start-ups had outlined that the one and three year business survival rate was higher in Gloucestershire than the rest of England and the south-west and unemployment was still very low.  The Growth Hub and SAGE programme were credited with this good performance – this was important as consideration may need to be given to how Growth Hubs were funded in future depending on what happened with GFirst Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) so this was something which the Committee was keeping a close eye on.  The business birth rate in Gloucestershire was slightly worse than the south-west average so it was important to encourage people to the area by building sufficient houses for them to live in.

85.3          With regard to the unemployment rate, a Member asked whether this was due to a need to upskill and the Council’s reserve representative on the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee advised that was part of the issue but there was a lack of people in general so it was about encouraging people to live in the county.  Automation and robots may help to address this to some extent but ultimately there were not enough people to fill the jobs.  Another Member questioned how many people lived in the county but worked elsewhere, for instance, in Bristol or Birmingham, and if they would work in the county if they could earn more money.  The Council’s reserve representative undertook to find out if that information was available and report back after the meeting.  The financial aspect had been discussed in terms of offering more money but employers needed to earn more to be able to pay their employees more.  Some businesses started-up and then stagnated due to lack of investment so it was necessary to think about how they could be supported to expand.  Again, automation may be one way of increasing outputs with less people which would allow employers to increase wages.  Another factor was that Gloucestershire did not offer what people wanted in terms of work and that was more difficult to address.  There were certain areas where early retirement was causing an issue as some people stopped working at 55.  The Member noted that the Cotswolds was a commuter belt with people working in London during the week and returning at the weekend.  The Council’s reserve representative pointed out that Gloucestershire did not fare badly in a lot of the statistics compared to others, particularly with regard to the cyber sector, and the employment rate was very good but engaging young people to return to the area after attending university in big cities was a challenge. 

85.4          The Chair thanked the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85.

To consider the progress made against the Community Services Improvement Plan. 

86.1          The report of the Head of Community Services, circulated at Pages No. 26-28, provided an update on the progress made in relation to the Community Services Improvement Plan.  Members were asked to consider the update and to agree that no further reports to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee were required.

86.2          The Head of Community Services advised that a review of Community Services had been undertaken in 2018 covering all services except waste.  At its meeting in July 2018, the Executive Committee had agreed an improvement plan focusing on Environmental Health, Housing, Community Safety and Licensing, attached at Appendix 1 to the report.  The Environmental Health service covered a range of activities including food hygiene, air quality, health and safety, noise and pollution.  One of the improvements was to undertake a trial of a new way of working by moving the staff into geographical teams where Officers would be responsible for all aspects of the Environmental Health service within their geographical area.  This had been trialled for a period of six months but feedback from Officers was that they lacked the in-depth knowledge of other disciplines outside of their specialist areas, as such, the team had moved back to the previous method of working within their specialisms.  It was noted that there had been no permanent Environmental Health Manager in post at the time of the review and the subsequent Manager had left after 18 months, just prior to the COVID pandemic, so it had taken some time to fill vacancies within the team; however, he was pleased to confirm that all vacant posts had now been recruited to, including the Environmental Health Manager role, so the service was able to progress.  In terms of housing, the Homelessness Reduction Act 2018 required the Council’s Housing department to undertake a more preventative approach to those threatened with homelessness.  It was fortunate that the Housing team already worked in a preventative way and new Officers had been employed in order to comply with the duties under the Act so the team was now working well. 

86.3          The Head of Community Services advised that one of his first tasks when he had joined the authority was to re-establish the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) which had been suspended at the time.  This had been done and an action plan was in the process of being finalised when the pandemic had hit.  The only outstanding action in the Community Services Improvement Plan was around delivering a meaningful Community Safety Plan and he provided assurance that would be in place by April 2023.  He went on to explain that the Council had previously had no resources to tackle anti-social behaviour and community safety requests but he was pleased to report there were now two Officers who dealt with antisocial behaviour, supported by a Community Safety Coordinator, and the reviews of community safety within the borough over the last few years demonstrated that the team was working well.  In terms of Licensing, it was noted that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86.

The Chair will move the adoption of the following resolution:

That under Section 100(A)(4) Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

87.1          The Chair proposed and it was

RESOLVED           That, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely discussion of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act. 

To approve the separate Minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2023.

88.1          The separate Minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2023, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. 

(Exempt –Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 –Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information))

To receive an update on the trade waste project.

(Exempt –Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 –Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information))

89.1          Members considered an update on the trade waste project and noted that a report would be taken to the Executive Committee before the end of the Council term.