To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 June 2018.

19.1          A Member drew attention to Minute No. OS.14.4 which set out that the Head of Community Services had undertaken to provide additional enviro-crime data and indicated that this had not yet been received.  The Head of Community Services apologised for the oversight and undertook to ensure that the information be provided as soon as possible.

19.2          The Chair advised that he had attended the Executive Committee meeting on 11 July 2018 to feed back on the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s review of the performance management information.  Prior to this, he had informed Members that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had taken part in a workshop with an external provider on the national review of scrutiny and improving effectiveness which some Executive Committee Members had attended.   At that session, there had been general agreement that the Executive Committee could be subject to more challenge by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, either through Lead Members being invited to attend Overview and Scrutiny Committee to present reports, or the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee attending Executive Committee meetings to raise any issues arising.

19.3          In terms of the performance management review, whilst there had been some good outcomes, two particular areas of concern had been identified: trade waste and Healings Mill regeneration.  He had reported that the Committee was disappointed that there was a third slippage in delivering the trade waste project which had an original target date of April 2017.  The Overview and Scrutiny Committee had seen the positive impact of the garden waste project and felt that trade waste was another area that could be commercially exploited.  During the workshop, it was generally agreed that the information reported to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee was open and transparent; however, in respect of trade waste, there was continued reference to a report undertaken by the Association of Public Service Excellence (APSE) but Members were yet to be informed of what that contained.  Both the Lead Member for Clean and Green Environment and the Head of Community Services had responded with the latter offering to bring a summary of the APSE report to Members.  As Chair, he would support this offer and recommended that it be added to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme.  In terms of the Council Plan action to review the trade waste service, it had been confirmed that this could be achieved by the end of March 2019; this would include whether the service could provide a recycling element - something potential customers were looking for but the Council could not currently provide - and whether it would be more economical to take a joint approach with other partners.

19.4           With regard to Healings Mill, it was recognised that this was somewhat beyond the Council’s control but the dates had slipped three times and, given that the current target date was September 2018, was likely to slip again.  There was support, particularly from one Member of the Executive Committee, that the Council should “have more teeth” and be more proactive, particularly given the state of the building and the expiry of previous planning permissions.  Whilst the complex nature of the situation was recognised, there was general agreement that the dates in the performance tracker were unrealistic given the circumstances.  It had been agreed that Officers needed to work on the options and come back to Members with realistic timescales; this would fit well with the appointment of the new Conservation Officer.  The Chair indicated that this could be a piece of work to come back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at some point, but he would be happy to take a steer from Members.

19.5           In response to a query as to the appropriate way for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to escalate issues, the Head of Democratic Services explained that, in the first instance, concerns should be raised with the Executive Committee; if the response from the Executive Committee was unsatisfactory then one option would be to refer the matter to Council.  The Deputy Chief Executive recognised that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had been particularly frustrated with how the recent problems with grounds maintenance had developed and he accepted that the Committee had a right to hold Officers to account in terms of timescales etc.; however, going forward it would be beneficial for the Committee to make clear exactly what action it would like to see taken to address concerns in order to avoid ambiguity.  A brief discussion ensued as to whether the Overview and Scrutiny Committee should report to the Executive Committee or whether Lead Members could be invited to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to answer questions.  It was generally considered that both courses of action could be appropriate, depending on the circumstances.  It was noted that timescales also played a part as it may not be possible to wait until the next Council or Committee meeting to raise an issue.  In terms of the specific items which had been raised by the Chair at the last Executive Committee meeting – Trade Waste and Healings Mill – Members agreed that these should be included as pending items on the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme.

19.6           It was

RESOLVED           1.  That the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 June 2018, copies of which had been circulated, be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. 

2.   That Trade Waste and Healings Mill be added to the pending items section of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2018/19.