To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Hitchiner, Leader of the Council.

To receive details of members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the Committee.

No named substitutes were present.

To receive declarations of interests in respect of Schedule 1, Schedule 2 or Other Interests from members of the Committee in respect of items on the agenda.

Councillor Durkin and Councillor Bowen both declared a non-pecuniary interest as members of the Police and Crime Panel. The Clerk confirmed that as Council appointments these were not schedule 2 interests and therefore the councillors could still take part in the discussion. 

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2021.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2021. Councillor Stark identified a typographical error in the minutes of the Maylord Orchard item where the word ‘costs’ had been used instead of ‘rental incomes’. The sentence should have read:

“Maylord was cash positive and it was confirmed that rental incomes more than covered the running costs.”

RESOLVED: 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2021, subject to the amendment as outlined above, be approved as a correct record and be signed by the Chairperson.

To receive any written questions from members of the public.

No questions had been received from members of the public.

To receive any written questions from members of the Council.

No questions had been received from councillors.

To receive a presentation from John Campion, Police and Crime Commissioner and Superintendent Edd Williams, West Mercia Police.

The Chair welcomed John Campion, the Police and Crime Commissioner and Superintendent Edd Williams to the meeting.

The Commissioner introduced himself and gave an overview of the strategic elements of his role. Key points from his presentation included:

·        The Commissioner had a non-operational role but was responsible for the Governance of West Mercia Police and how resources of £245 million were spent. The appointment of the Chief Constable was the responsibility of the Commissioner and, acting as the voice of the Public, it was he who held the Chief Constable to account.

·        The Police and Crime Plan would soon be presented to the Police and Crime Panel for approval and would be confirmed by the end of the year.

·        There were four strands to the Police and Crime Plan:

Victims and Survivors First.

Ensuring the needs of victims and survivors were understood and they were supported in their recovery. There had already been a large investment in victim services but there was still much more to do.

Secure West Mercia.

The policing precept was given to keep residents safe and although Herefordshire was a low crime area, this must never be taken for granted.

Reform.

The number of officers had been increased and more of the budget was being spent on policing hours. Resources, whether technological or physical were being reformed to ensure that they met needs and were ‘match fit’

Reassurance.

Although Herefordshire did experience the most serious sorts of crimes it was not in any volume and as such the County was a very safe area. However communities needed to be reassured and made to feel safe by the Police being active and visible in their areas.

·        In response to a high volume of correspondence from the public on the issue of speeding, the Commissioner wanted to develop with the Council, as the highways authority, a joined-up approach as to how this anti-social type of speeding that caused so much detriment to the Community, could be addressed.

·        Fly tipping was another area of concern for residents and although enforcement was not a statutory duty for the Police, the Commissioner was offering a grant to Councils and welcomed innovative suggestions from Councillors on what could be done to augment existing practices.

The Commissioner handed over to Superintendent Williams who spoke about the Local Policing Charter. Key points from his presentation included:

·        The Police recognised that their work started in the community and looked to work in partnership with residents and businesses.

·        Part of the Community Charter’s remit was to work with over 120 parish councils to agree a Contact Contract which agreed how regular the contact would be with the local policing team and which would also agree 3 priorities and a realistic plan to tackle them.

·        There were 6 strands to the Community Charter;

-      Visibility and accessibility

-      Responding to our communities

-      Prevention

-      Vulnerability

-      Relationships

-      Partnerships

·        The force worked in partnership with licensees to ensure that the night time economy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.

To review the Committee’s work programme.

The Committee considered its work programme and proposed the following itemsfor the remaining scheduled meetings of the municipal year.

·           14 January 2022: - Scrutiny of the Budget and MTFP

·           21 January 2022: - Planning

A single item agenda on Planning, the scope of which was to include consideration of the use to which S106 monies and Community Infrastructure Levy were put, scrutiny of the planning service including enforcement, how environmental concerns were being addressed through the planning process and the role and scope of the planning inspectorate.

·           21 March 2022: - Management of Capital Assets and Contract Management

Estate Management was added to the work plan for a future meeting agenda.

The Committee also discussed whether to call-in, or have as an agenda item on their work plan, the decision on the Herefordshire BID Business Improvement District. The Cabinet Member decision that was being taken was on how the Council would vote in the County led bid (excluding Hereford) as it had 23 properties that would be affected.  Officers clarified that the communication had been sent out by a third party agency to all of the businesses that would be affected by this decision and that it had outlined the implications of the bid and their vote. Members were in agreement that, as a Committee, they were not minded to call in the decision but noted their right to trigger the call-in process.

The next scheduled meeting is 14 January 2022.

Tuesday 14 January 2022.