Agenda and minutes

Councillor Miller.  Councillor Bailey Jay 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.

Paddy Tipping, Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner attended the meeting to discuss front line policing in Arnold and Carlton.

He informed Members that:

Partnership work with Gedling Borough Council was very constructive

The new Chief Constable Craig Guildford would be taking up his post in March and they would be meeting soon.

The budget for the force was just about to be finalised.

70% of funding comes from government grant, only 30% is raised locally through Council tax revenue. There has been a 20% reduction in grant in the last 5 years.  Some counties are less affected by this cut as they are able to raise more from council tax revenue. 70% of the budget is used for staffing.  Nationally there has been a reduction of 20,000 police officers, 3,250 in the past year and in the current financial year there will be a similar number.  In Nottinghamshire there has been a £54 million reduction in the past 5 years, there will be a 12% reduction this current year and a further 5.5% next year.  The situation is easing and this has enabled recruitment of police officers and PCSOs.  Even with the recruitment of officers retirements mean there will be a net loss of approximately 40 officers this year, with a total of 100 officers lost in the past 5 years.

Other areas where savings can be made have been considered including rationalisation of the estate. This has included the closure of Carlton Police Station and relocation to the ambulance station. The site in Arnold has been sold and the Neighbourhood Team will be relocating in Jubilee House, no date has been confirmed for this.  There will also be access to the police through the front desk at the Civic Centre.

Policing in Gedling is divided into two teams. Gedling North which is made up of a Sergeant, three Police Constables andsix.six PCSOs, and Gedling South, which consists of a Sergeant, two Police Constables and five PCSOs. In addition there are response cars.  Cars based at St Ann’s cover the Carlton area; those based at Hucknall cover Ravenshead, and those based at Oxclose Lane Arnold.   The cars are on the road all the time and the car nearest an incident will respond. There are a range of other services which are mainly organised on a regional level.  Currently there are ongoing discussions with Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Police for closer cooperation which should yield savings in the future.

Crime statistics are ambiguous as it is virtually impossible to compare statistics year on year as the way, and the type, of incidents recorded has altered.    Reported crime has increased by 11% but at the same time the number of incidents has fallen. For the first time fraud has been included in the statistics.

The nature and types of crime have changed, the heightened threat posed by the increase and nature of terrorism is now much greater and requires an additional increase in resources.  Additional armed police are being deployed to combat  ...  view the full minutes text for item 146.

Report of the Elections and Members’ Services Officer.

2016/17          PROGRAMME OF PORTFOLIO HOLDER ATTENDANCE

Councillor David Ellis, Portfolio Holder for Public Protection attended the meeting to discuss a range of issues.  He explained that many of the issues he would discuss were similar to the earlier discussion with the Police and Crime Commissioner as much work is undertaken in partnership with the police.

Areas which fall within the Public Protection Portfolio include

·         Crime Reduction and Community Safety, this also includes licensing and taxi licensing

·         Emergency planning

·         Safeguarding

·         Environmental Health

Councillor Ellis explained the range of responsibilities that fall within his Portfolio.

 He then discussed the current crime statistics for the whole of the South Nottinghamshire Community Safety area and Gedling.

Community Safety issues and concerns mirror those previously discussed, cybercrime and terrorism have been previously highlighted but modern-day slavery is also becoming a problem.

Netherfield for a number of years showed a decrease in crime but this is now rising particularly in the areas of shoplifting and violence against a person. Burglary other which includes attempted or actual from sheds, garages etc.  is also increasing.  Anti-Social behaviour is the most common community crime this includes fly tipping, neighbour disputes, criminal damage and noise nuisance.  The authority are very active partners in tackling these issues and along with the Antisocial Behaviour Officer and CCTV has some success.

Speeding is seen as a low priority for the police, the Community Road Safety Partnership has the lead on this although the Police will assist at specific locations.

Licensing includes a raft of responsibilities including, alcohol, and gambling and sex establishment regulation. Taxi licensing improvements have included an improved fleet, the use of the knowledge test and safeguarding training. There are now fewer Gedling badged vehicles but those that remain are of a higher standard.   Possible future improvements include operators undertaking Disclosure and Barring Checks, changes to medical conditions for licenses and an enforcement protocol with other licencing authorities.

The emergency planning remit within the Portfolio includes Gedling as a level 1 responder supporting initiatives to meet a range of incidents and emergencies, providing business continuity and support to the community.

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.  The Gedling Antisocial Behaviour /Vulnerable Persons Panel is chaired by the Community Safety and Safeguarding Manager.  There is a referral process for vunerable persons including those affected by hate crime and repeat victimisation, with an Anti-Social behaviour multiagency response for, individuals groups or locations.  There has been a refocusing of this work to include closer work with the Family Service to support troubled/complex families.

The Environmental Health function includes food safety,  89% of the premises in Gedling score 4 or 5 on the food hygiene rating scheme, Private sector land lord issues, filthy and verminous premises and visual amenity is also included.

A number of enforcement cases have been successful including those relating to noise, littering, smoking and fly tipping.

Work takes place to support food businesses, supporting the Best Bar None scheme, advising private sector tenants.

Future developments will include producing hate crime analysis, although this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 147.

Report of the Elections and Members’ Services Officer.

Dave Wakelin, Director of Health and Community Wellbeing explained the makeup and remit of the Safer Nottinghamshire (Community Safety) Board.  The Board coordinates community safety issues in the boroughs of Rushcliffe, Broxtowe and Gedling working together to reduce crime and improve the quality of life. The Safer Nottinghamshire Board meets four monthly and is attended by a range of officers from responsible authorities and leading on the overall strategy for the partnership. 

The strategic themes for the board are

·         Domestic violence

·         Hate crime

·         Modern slavery

·         Vulnerable people in emerging communities, this includes migration and the organised crime that can accompany it

·         Substance misuse.

The Strategic Group is chaired by Ruth Hyde and makes strategic level decisions relating to themes of the partnership and the Delivery Group, chaired by Dave Wakelin, makes decisions relating to tactical and operational needs to determine how  to make the them work locally.

Performance Priorities for the Partnership currently are

·         Violence against the person – with or without injury, domestic violence

·         Serious acquisitive crime – the high volume of shop theft

·         Burglary from dwellings.

The South Nottinghamshire Community Safety Partnership (CSP) is still ranked first when benchmarked against similar sized CSPs and the best performing one in the county.

There are a number of key issues that are currently being addressed, these include:

·         Weak analytical support – the dedicated analysist previously employed has not been replaced and this causes a weakness when making decisions about how to allocate resources

·         Lack of clarity regarding serious organised crime arrangement between the City and the County

·         International organised migration plans and delivery

·         How offenders are managed in society, ensuring support mechanisms are available

·         Lack of Gedling specific data

·         Strengthening the response to antisocial behaviour

·         Lack of mental health services/ resources in the community for both the victim and the offender.

Locality working includes fortnightly operational meetings held between the police, the Community Safety Coordinator, the Antisocial Coordinator and the Senior Neighbourhood Warden to discuss local problems.  These are informal meetings and enables data sharing, local updates and tasking.  Specific task and finish groups can be established to address specific crime types, geographical issues or anti-social behaviour concerns.

Members raised a number of issues and the following points were addressed:

There are very few ‘halfway houses ‘for released prisoners as the Probation service deal with the challenging problem of community rehabilitation.  The majority of prisoners are released in the Gedling area are on license and get support in the community.

‘Legal Highs’ are not legal and are now longer available in shops, they are available through other channels for example the internet.

The police are dealing with the consequences of a reduction in mental health services, which is a real concern. A triage car is available with a mental health nurse to assist in incidents where mental health issues are a factor and police cells are very really used detain people with suspected mental health concerns.   A high percentage of homeless people have mental health issues however services are not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 148.

Report of the Elections and Members’ Services Officer.

COMPLETED SCRUTINY REVIEWS

The Bonington Theatre

Additional information regarding the variety of films and increase in the number of people attending the cinema screenings and theatre was circulated.  Members’ were pleased to note the increase in the number of the people using the facility and the progress that has been made to implement the recommendations made by the working group.

SCRUTINY IN WORKING GROUPS

Issues of an ageing population

Income Generation

There was a brief update about these reviews and Councillor Andrews asked to be included in the work of the Income Generation working group.

Gedling Councillor Standard

Members were asked to participate in a ‘task and finish’ group to develop the Gedling Councillor Standard.  Councillors Paling and Scoggie volunteered, and it was agreed that additional members should be nominated by the business managers, and that membership of this group should be open to all non-executive Members.

SCRUTINY IN COMMITTEE

The attendance of portfolio holders at the March and May committees was agreed.

INFORMATION UPDATES FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS

Members were updated on information regarding

·         Recording of meetings

·         Arnold Market

·         The Accredited Learning Centre

·         East Midlands Ambulance Service.

RESOLVED to:

1.    Note the Bonington Theatre six month progress report

2.    Request additional members for the Gedling Councillor Standard task and finish group

3.    Note the information regarding the

·         current working groups

·         the scrutiny work programme

·         and information updates from previous committees

·         thank Mike Calladine for the update on the Accredited Learning Centre.

Report of the Elections and Members’ Services Officer.

RESOLVED to;

1.    Note the report.

None.