Agenda and minutes

5.00pm to 5.05pm

No declarations of interest were received.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors L Collins and 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 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

5.05pm to 5.50pm

The Head of Community Safety and Regulatory Services presented a report to the Committee regarding Community Safety.

The purpose of the update was to provide a short overview as to the development of a new integrated partnership approach to managing anti-social behaviour between the Housing Service and the Community Safety team. The report would also outline how the Community Safety Partnership in Chesterfield was seeking to tackle violence within the night-time economy and finally identify the current crime and anti-social behaviour issues that are impacting on Chesterfield.

Chesterfield Borough Council had developed an effective Community Safety Partnership (which included for example, Chesterfield Borough Council representatives, Derbyshire County Council, Police, Derbyshire Fire and Rescue, Health, Probation Service etc.).  The role of the partnership was to coordinate delivery of appropriate actions that would support the reduction of crime and anti-social behaviour in Chesterfield and contribute to the overall safety of Chesterfield residents, visitors and businesses.

To provide an integrated. proactive and coordinated approach across the partnership in Chesterfield, it had been necessary to introduce a multi-agency tasking process involving community safety, housing, environmental protection, licensing, private sector housing and external partners such as Police and Fire Service. This tasking process which had recently been introduced enabled these agencies and service areas to meet on a weekly basis to share information and intelligence on emerging issues and agree a joint problem-solving approach.

An adaptable approach to enforcement activity was required and therefore the new integrated approach would allow for the flexible use of enforcement officers within the council. Enforcement staff would continue to work within their own service areas and specialisms but may be tasked to work in specific locations or on specific problems, based on priority, creating greater flexibility, adaptability, and responsiveness.

A case study showed that Chesterfield Town Centre had suffered from youth related anti-social behaviour with groups of young people congregating, consuming alcohol, and coming into conflict with residents, visitors and businesses. The behaviour of some of the youths had also led to graffiti, criminal damage, and violence.

The town centre, like many other town and city centre locations, had issues with beggars, street drinkers and rough sleepers. Some of these individuals engaged in activity whereby they asked residents and visitors for money and engaged in anti-social behaviour which raised the perception that Chesterfield was unsafe.

To help combat the issues above a series of interventions / actions were developed and these included:

·        Consistent visibility – council enforcement, PCSO’s and Police had undertaken regular patrols in the Town Centre to provide reassurance and take appropriate enforcement action.

·        The collation and development of intelligence and information from across partnership to identify key emerging issues.

·        Provision of training to all partnership enforcement staff to ensure a consistent, proportionate but robust approach to using the PSPO within the town centre.

·        Introduced a new incremental escalation process for our enforcement activity which ensures our activity is consistently justifiable, proportionate, and reasonable.

·        Developed a partnership approach with third sector organisations, such as Spire Trust and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

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

RESOLVED –

That the public be re-admitted to the meeting.

5.50pm to 6.00pm

The next steps for the Scrutiny Project Group (SPG) for the CBC Lighting Strategy was to attend an after dark walk through in Chesterfield town centre on 5 October, 2022 to support the progression of the Revitalising the Heart of Chesterfield (RHOC) project, which included the development of a new lighting strategy for the town centre.

The walk about was planned to last approximately 2 hours, starting with an introduction to the RHOC project and a briefing on the aims for the evening. The tour would be led primarily by ARUP, who had been appointed as lighting consultants for the project.

Recommendations would be made by the SPG to the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) at the end of the scrutiny project.  OSC would consider the work and agree any recommendations to Cabinet or other decision making bodies.

It was agreed that Democratic Services would set up a further meeting to discuss next steps for the SPG.

There was no update available for the committee on the Outside Bodies SPG.

It was noted that Democratic Services would provide an update with regards to future Scrutiny involvement.

RESOLVED –

That the updates be noted.

6.00pm to 6.05pm

The Committee considered the scrutiny recommendations implementation monitoring schedule.

RESOLVED –

That the scrutiny monitoring schedule be noted.

Forward Plan of Key Decisions 1 October 2022 – 31 January 2023, available via link below

https://chesterfield.moderngov.co.uk/mgListPlanItems.aspx?PlanId=142&RP=134

6.05pm to 6.10pm

The Committee considered the Forward Plan for the period 1 October 2022 to 31 January 2023.

RESOLVED –

That the Forward Plan be noted.

6.10pm to 6.15pm

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 21 July 2022 were presented.

RESOLVED –

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