Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Greensmith. Councillor Elliott attended as substitute.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the above meeting, having been circulated, be approved as a correct record.

None.

Report of the Elections and Members’ Services Officer.

As part of this item the Committee were expecting to receive a briefing from Inspector Stephen O’Neil of Nottinghamshire Police on operational policing in Arnold and Carlton.

Unfortunately Inspector O’Neil was unable to attend due to illness but had offered members the opportunity to raise any issues and then reply at a later date.

Councillor Barnes spoke about an issue that had been discussed at a recent neighbourhood watch meeting where concern had been expressed that police officers did not appear to spend a sufficient amount of time with elderly residents who had been the victims of burglary.

Members also discussed the customer contact points for residents and noted that police staff were shortly to move into the Council’s Jubilee House site with a police contact point at the Civic Centre opening thereafter. Plans were still progressing to site a contact point at Carton Fire Station.

RESOLVED:

To note the position.

Report of the Elections and Members’ Services Officer.

The Committee welcomed Councillor Hollingsworth, Portfolio Holder for Growth and Regeneration, to discuss a range of issue relating to her portfolio accompanied by John Robison, Chief Executive.

Councillor Hollingsworth provided information on the topics identified by members as follows:

Carlton Square

·         45 residential units were under construction at the former DBH house building and the council had recently sold an area of land to be used as a car park for the development.

·         Pre-development funding of £30,000 had been secured to investigate the potential of further retail premises being opened in the area. A brief was being drawn up for this work.

·         It was hoped that regeneration would improve the whole area and it was also hoped to work with Gedling Homes to improve their properties in the vicinity.

·         Some artist impressions of how the area could look after development had been commissioned as part of feasibility work and these could be made available.

Former Carlton Brass Headquarters

·         It was initially hoped that 8 starter homes could be constructed on the site which was in Council ownership. However this scheme was not viable due to the constraints of the starter home scheme. Alternative uses for the site were being identified.

Arnold Market

·         Cabinet had given officers approval to negotiate a purchase with the site’s owner but this did not commit the council to purchase the site.

·         £25,000 of funding had ben secured from the Nottinghamshire pre-development fund to progress this work.

Empty Homes

·         150% of the Council Tax charge was levied on properties empty for more than two years which does not seem to have led to a reduction in empty homes across the area.

·         An officer was being recruited on a temporary basis to work on bringing empty homes back into use. This area of work was particularly complex and the Council could consider using compulsory purchase orders in future.

Business rates

·         Business rate reforms were due to apply shortly and it was becoming clear that there would be some Gedling Businesses paying more rates and some paying less.

·         Business rate relief would apply to a greater number of low rateable businesses although a number of very complicated calculations still had to be made to assess the full picture.

·         There would be transitional relief, as announced in the budget, although it was unclear how this might apply locally.

Stalled sites

·         This was an increasingly frustrating area and work was constantly ongoing to bring forward developments that had been given planning permission.

·         The Homes and Communities Agency had allocated pre-development funding to bring forward the Rolleston Drive site.

·         The development brief for the Top Wighay site had recently been refreshed and it was hoped that this would bring forward new applications.

·         The site on the corner of Adbolton Avenue and Westdale Lane was shortly to be the subject of a planning application for 12 apartments.

·         The Ashworth Street Medical Centre was likely to be developed soon following a change in ownership.

·         It was hoped that a planning application for 72  ...  view the full minutes text for item 156.

Report of the Director of Organisational Development and Democratic Services.

The Director of Organisational Development and Democratic Services presented a report, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting, informing the committee about the position against improvement for action and performance indicators in the 2016/17 Gedling Plan.

Of the 8 indicators shown red at the end of quarter 3, 4 were expected to improve and be on target at year end.  However 4 indicators were expected miss the target by year end.

The target expected to be missed were:

·         Affordable Housing – the target for the number of affordable homes constructed in the Borough would be behind target which reflected the national picture. Efforts were being made to get building underway and the feasibility of a Local Authority Development Company was being explored.

·         Waste – The level of recycling was expected to miss target with a resulting increase in black bin waste. It was hoped that active promotion of the garden waste scheme would lead to new customers and therefore more garden waste being taken out of black bins.

·         Employee Sickness – The target for the number of staff working days lost to sickness is not expected to hit target due to a spike in sickness levels over the winter period. Managers are still, under the direction of the SLT, monitoring this rigorously with the aim of returning staff to work as soon as they are able. 

Areas highlighted as being ahead of target or as key achievements in Quarter 3 included the Council’s work with refugee resettlement, digitalisation initiatives in the council as well as increase in apprenticeships being offered by the council and attendances at the Bonington Theatre.

RESOLVED:

To note the progress against actions and performance indicators in the 2016/19 Gedling Plan.

Report of the Elections and Members’ Services Officer

Members welcomed Andy Callingham, Service Manager Public Protection, to talk to the Committee about the link between mental health and crime which was identified as a potential area for scrutiny at the last meeting.

It was explained that this area was extremely challenging involving a number of agencies and that one possible way forward would be for officers to extend their review of existing processes to all areas of the council. There were also a number of confidentiality issues that would prevent member involvement in specific cases and this council rarely took the lead in such matters so scrutiny involvement may prove fruitless.

RESOLVED

1)    Not to pursue any further work in this area due to the complexities outlined by the Service Manager; and

2)    Note that an internal review of processes carried out by the Council was already ongoing within relevant teams and that this review would be extended corporately.

Report of the Elections and Members’ Services Officer

Scrutiny in working groups

The following updates were given on current working groups:

·         Issues of an ageing population

Councillor Doyle said that the group had taken evidence from Gedling Homes, the County Council and Age UK. He would be attending a meeting of Gedling’s older person’s council soon and it was hoped recommendation from the group would be made soon after that.

·         Income generation

Councillor Lawrence said that the group had already met the Deputy Chief Executive and further meetings with other directors were planned to gather evidence.

·         Councillor Standard

Members had volunteered to be part of the group and a meeting would take place soon.

RESOLVED:

To note the information on current scrutiny activity.

Report of the Elections and Members’ Services Officer.

Members considered a report, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting, giving information on matters referred to the Chair as required by the constitution

RESOLVED:

To note the report.

None.