Agenda and draft minutes

5.00pm to 5.05pm

No declarations of interest were received.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Fordham and Dyke.

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

Part 2 (Non Public Information)

(For item 4 the Committee will sit as the Council’s designated Crime and Disorder Committee in accordance with Section 19 of the Police and Justice Act 2006)

RESOLVED –

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

5.05pm to 5.50pm

-      Report to Follow

The Head of Community Safety and Regulatory Services presented a report to the Committee with an update on Crime and Disorder as per the council’s statutory committee. 

The purpose of the report was to provide a short overview as to the development of Community Safety in Chesterfield as well as identifying the current crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB) issues that are impacting on Chesterfield.

It was noted that the capacity of the Chesterfield Borough Council Community Safety team would increase in April 2023 to two full-time community safety coordinators. This increase in capacity would be further enhanced by the UKSPF funding, which the council successfully obtained for 2022 – 2025. This funding would enable the council to retain a seconded enforcement officer for a further two-year period but also through a combination of UKSPF funding, unused resource hours and PCC funding, a further full-time enforcement officer would be recruited in April 2023, increasing the council’s community enforcement team to 3 officers.

It was also noted that Derbyshire Constabulary recently undertook a review of their resources which led to an increase in police officers and PCSO’s that were dedicated to the safer neighbourhood teams, directly benefiting the town centre and the borough as a whole.

Crime and ASB performance details were highlighted in Table 1 of the officer’s report, with key points being highlighted as an overall reduction of 16.9% in ASB in the last 12 months, and a 15.2% reduction in town centre ASB.

Table 4 of the officer’s report showed ASB data across the different communities of Chesterfield, and it was proposed that the “Boots on the Ground” project would be extended to the Staveley/Middlecroft area as well as the town centre.

The final tables in the officer’s report related to overall crime data recorded in Chesterfield, and which highlighted an overall reduction of 4.7% in recorded crime over the last 12 months. 

Key issues were noted as;

·        Violent crime and public order offences had increased slightly in the last 12-month period but significant work was now being undertaken in the night-time economy with licensees, security companies, the police and other key stakeholders

·        Shoplifting offences has increased slightly in Chesterfield which may largely be due to the cost-of-living crisis

·        Acquisitive crime including burglary, robbery and theft from motor vehicle continued to reduce, due to excellent work undertaken by the police and partnership including that police now attend all domestic burglaries

The impact of enforcement staff was currently focused mainly on their individual specialisms, but in order to develop a wider understanding of legislation and enforcement activity across a range of disciplines, it was planned to develop a training programme for enforcement staff, upskilling them in areas such as conflict management, problem solving and investigation techniques, as well as key legislation and best practice in a variety of enforcement.  This was expected to be an area for further scrutiny involvement.

The Chair thanked the officer for the report and requested that an invitation be issued for Police representation at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

(For the remaining items the Committee will sit in its standard capacity as the Community, Customer and Organisational Scrutiny Committee)

5.50pm to 5.55pm

The Committee considered the scrutiny recommendations implementation monitoring schedule.

RESOLVED –

That the scrutiny monitoring schedule be noted.

5.55pm to 6.00pm

Forward Plan of Key Decisions 1 April 2023 – 31 July 2023,
available via link below

https://chesterfieldintranet.moderngov.co.uk/mgListPlanItems.aspx?PlanId=149&RP=134

The Committee considered the Forward Plan for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 July 2023.

RESOLVED –

That the Forward Plan be noted.

6.05pm to 6.10pm

The Committee considered the items on its work programme for 2022/23.

RESOLVED –

That the work programme be noted.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Community, Customer and Organisational Scrutiny Committee held on 24 November 2022 were presented.

RESOLVED –

That the Minutes be approved as a correct record and by signed by the Chair.