Agenda and minutes

It was reported that an apology for absence had been received from Cllr Andrew Wemyss.

To receive declarations of interest from Members on items included in the agenda.

There were no declarations of Interest.  

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the previous meeting be confirmed as a correct record subject to Councillors Miss Mancey and Miss Reddish being added to the list of those present. 

The Community Safety Officer (Alcohol Lead) presented a report on the Alcohol Action Plan.  A meeting had taken place on the 23^rd April for the schools which had been unable to attend the initial workshop meeting on the 1^st February.  Clough Hall, Cedars PRU, St. John Fisher and Clayton Hall had all sent representatives.  The work shop had been received positively.  Clough Hall had signed up to the comprehensive prevention and education programme at the end of the workshop.  The other schools had been unwilling to do so at that point in time, but had promised to take the proposals back to their respective schools.   Unfortunately they had yet to come back to the Council with a response.   He was however pleased to report that he would be attending a Heads’ Forum meeting on the 3 July where he had been assured there would be an opportunity to speak to the schools. 

A Member suggested that good use could be made of the local media.   The schools which had signed up to the programme could be praised publicly which could act as encouragement for other schools to join the programme.     The Community Safety Officer in response agreed that the media could be utilised, but the Council would not publicise the schools that had not signed up to the programme.  Presently only one school had signed to date. 

A Member expressed disappointment that more schools had not signed up to the programme as it was an important part of the overall strategy.  Members suggested that Chairs of Governors and parent forms could potentially be contacted to stimulate interest from schools.  It was evident that alcohol was more of a problem in certain areas.  They also suggested that Councillors could talk to the schools should other approaches prove unsuccessful. 

The Community Safety Officer stated that the project was entirely voluntary and not a compulsory requirement for schools.  The programme did however have considerable flexibility and could be tailor made to suit the requirements of schools. 

A Member suggested that Officers’ could speak to the Kidsgrove Youth Parliament on the subject of alcohol prevention.  He would be happy to email the dates of the forthcoming meetings should Officers’ wish to pursue the idea.   

The Community Safety Officer presented a report on anti social behaviour in Newcastle Borough.  She reported that she had spoken to the Committee at the last meeting and therefore intended to give a status report on the work undertaken since that time.  The Council had adopted a zero tolerance multi-agency approach to anti social behaviour with a focus on victims.  The Council hoped to resolve any anti social behaviour issues through early intervention and prevention measures for offenders whilst recognising that in some circumstances enforcement measures had to be taken.

The Community Safety Officer stated that recently a service level agreement had been implemented between Staffordshire Young Peoples Service and Newcastle Borough Council.  The agreement provided a framework for the Council working in partnership with the service to resolve anti social behaviour caused by younger people in and around youth clubs.  There had been discussions with supported housing scheme providers and landlords about entering into Service Level Agreements to help resolve complaints.  The Building Resilient Families and Communities initiative aimed to give support to the families of individuals who were being monitored by the Council and the Police.   The Newcastle Community Safety Partnership had referred over 100 families. 

The Community Safety Officer informed the Committee about the work taking place on the CRM.  This would improve the Customer Services approach to dealing with calls at the first point of contact.  Complainants would receive a risk assessment which would help to identify vulnerability and therefore the priority of the case.  The Let’s Work Together training, which had been successful earlier in the year, would be presented again to other services.  She was pleased to report that the Partnership Team dealing with anti social behaviour had met with the Local Support Teams from Families First to discus optimising the service.  

The Community Safety Action Officer described a number of current local anti social behaviour projects as listed in the report.  She also informed the Committee of new legislation that would require some of the policies and procedures to be implemented.   There intended to be an official launch of the new Anti Social Behaviour Policy and she was pleased to inform Members about the Neighbourhood Resolution Panels which could be a useful way of preventing the escalation of local disputes. 

A Member reported some issues of anti social behaviour taking place in Chesterton Park which included dogs off leads, smoking in the toilets and general intimidation. 

A Member asked how the Council responded to reports of gang nuisance.  The Community Safety Action Officer responded that a high visibility presence from the Police and identifying key individuals for monitoring and potentially enforcement action was the usual approach.  It was important to have a partnership approach. 

A Member asked about whether families gave resistance to the Building Resilient Families and Communities initiative.  In response, the Community Safety Action Officer responded that many families had been receptive to the help offered with many of the families having tried themselves to help the individual. 

A Member stated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Recycling Strategy and Commissioning Manager presented a report on the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy for Staffordshire.  The strategy had been developed and produced by the Staffordshire Waste Partnership.  The strategy had last been refreshed in 2007.  Construction of the new energy from waste plant in the south of the county was nearly completed.  The Partnership would soon be only using landfill for less than 5% of material collected.  He was pleased to report that the Partnership had met all the targets of the 2007 strategy.  It was however evident that the Waste Hierarchy needed to be more effectively embedded, with waste prevention being a key focus.  Commercial and trade waste needed to be incorporated rather than focusing purely on household waste.  The current strategy did not incorporate the strategies and polices adopted by individual authorities within the partnership, it was therefore important that the new strategy rectified this issue. 

A Member enquired how progress was to date on incorporating commercial trade waste.  In response the Recycling Strategy and Commissioning Manager stated that excellent progress had been made particularly on adopting a common pricing structure across authorities.  A major milestone had been achieved in obtaining a decent disposal rate.  The next step was to develop a strong marketing and communication plan. 

Clarification was requested in respect of the Borough Councils Waste and Recycling Strategy and it was agreed that once the Cabinet Panel had come up with their recommendations for Cabinet on the draft strategy, a report would come before the scrutiny committee in the autumn or early winter, before being received by Cabinet. 

Members requested that enforcement in respect of derelict and vacant buildings be added to the work programme.  The Hullstone Pub in Crackley was of particular concern but there needed to be a tougher stance across the Borough.  The Executive Director for Operational Services agreed that enforcement was an excellent item for scrutiny and added that it was multi-agency issue and as such the respective agencies could be asked to give evidence to the Committee on how they work together to deal with the issues that commonly arise from vacant buildings. 

Members asked for Mini Motos to be added to the work programme because of the distress caused by their noise. 

Disabled access to pavements in respect of obstructions from ‘A’ frame advertising boards in Town Centres across the Borough was identified by Members’ as a topic for the work plan. 

Members agreed that decriminalised car parking should be reported to the Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinating Committee for determination on how it should be scrutinised in the future.

RESOLVED:

A)    That vacant and derelict buildings enforcement, mini motos and disabled access/’A’ frame obstruction to pavements in towns, be added to the work programme.

B)    That the Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinating committee consider the best approach to scrutinising decriminalised car parking. 

To consider any business which is urgent within the meaning of Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There was no urgent business within the meaning of Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.