To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Werner, Superintendent Rai (Thames Valley Police) and Parish Councillor Spike Humphrey (Sunninghill & Ascot Parish Council).

The Chairman informed everyone present that the meeting was being recorded and would be made available on the RBWM website.

To receive Declarations of Interests from Members of the Panel in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.

None.

To note the minutes of the Crime & Disorder Overview & Scrutiny Panel held on the 4 February 2016.

The Part I minutes of the meeting held on the 4 February 2016 were agreed as a correct record.

The Community Safety Manager agreed to check whether the draft findings of the National Youth Justice Review were available.

To comment on the report to be considered by Cabinet on the 31 March 2016.

The Strategic Director of Operations and Customer Services, Simon Fletcher, referred Members to pages 17-38 of the agenda and explained that the report introduced a refreshed RBWM Transformation Programme (strategy) 2015-18.  It was noted that the programme was designed to respond to the changing face and funding structure of local government and enable the Royal Borough to become a change ready and ‘Agile’ organisation.  Members were informed that the report would be going before Cabinet on the 31 March 2016.

Members were given a short presentation and were informed that the Royal Borough had been transforming for a number of years now.  It was noted that the Royal Borough had achieved £20.5million savings since 2013/14.  Members were informed that savings for 2016/17 – 2019/20 needed to be made.

Councillor Targowska arrived. 

The Strategic Director of Operations and Customer Services went onto explain that over the next couple of years the Royal Borough needed to respond to challenges and aim to be an agile Council. 

In the ensuing discussion the following points were noted:

Ø  That the 10% reduction in Council tax by 2017/18 (referred to on page 29 of the agenda) was a cumulative figure.

Ø  That the names on page 30 of the agenda (transformation programme governance arrangements) needed to be updated.

Ø  That the ‘TBC’ figures would be available by the end of April.

Ø  That all March dates in the report needed to be amended to April.

Ø  That the Version 0.4 date on page 35 of the agenda needed to be amended to read 07/01/2016.

Ø  The Strategic Director of Operations and Customer Services agreed to confirm the 50% (tbc) 2015/16 savings figure from the staff survey so it could be included in the minutes.

Ø  That the Council was committed to retaining fact to face and over the phone conversations particularly for those without internet access. 

Ø  That the Council was considered to be multiple businesses and as such did not have the money to invest in being able to see every transaction for a particular individual.

Ø  That 150 Fundamental Service Reviews (FSRs) were due to be undertaken in total – 80 had so far been undertaken / scheduled in to take place.  It was noted that the majority would be completed by the end of the financial year. 

Ø  That the need to complete the FSRs was considered high risk.

Ø  That the Council was looking at joint ventures and providing services itself. 

Ø  That between January and the end of march 102 of the management team would have been trained to help complete the transformation programme. 

Ø  That the Royal Borough wanted to be the local government employer of choice.

Ø  That the figure of 720 on page 33 of the agenda (baseline of complaints received in 2015/16) related to resident complaints.  The Chairman commented that he did not like the fact that some of the 4000+ complaints were considered valid and some were not.

Ø  That the Council was starting to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

By the Community Safety Manager (Brian Martin), RBWM.

The Community Safety Manager, Brian Martin, referred Members to pages 39-48 of the agenda and explained that the paper proposed that Cabinet recommended that full Council considered and approved an extension to the scope of PSPOs available to use within the Royal Borough to include anti-social behaviour (ASB) arising from barbeques lit in public spaces.

It was noted that the report recommended that delegated authority be given to the Lead Members for Environmental Services and Highways and Transport in conjunction with the Strategic Director of Operations & Customer Services to make further recommendations on the extension of the scope of PSPOs direct to full Council. 

It was noted that the report also suggested further research be undertaken in conjunction with the Policy Committee and stakeholders to determine the most appropriate response, if any.

The Community Safety Manager referred Members to para 2.2 of the report on page 40 of the agenda which had been a continuing problem over the last 3-5 years.  Members were also referred to paras 2.7 & 2.8 of the report on page 41 of the agenda which looked at the possibility of going straight to Council rather than through the Cabinet process. 

In the ensuing discussion the following points were noted:

Ø  The Vice-Chair asked whether the Council had thought about designating certain public spaces that were considered suitable and safe for barbeques.  Councillor Targowska agreed that she would support having a concrete space with plenty of bins would be useful to encourage people outside to use the parks in the Royal Borough. 

Ø  Councillor Bowden raised his concern that if a PSPO was granted it could displace the issues elsewhere. 

Parish Councillor Margaret Lenton left the meeting.

The Panel raised concern about the displacement that could occur if a PSPO on barbecues was approved for a specific location.  The Community Safety Manager suggested that if this happened then PSPOs would need to be considered for the displacement locations.  However, in this context whilst recognising that the Council website indicated that barbecues were not allowed in public spaces Members felt that particularly given the proposals for significant flatted developments in Maidenhead  consideration should be given to establishing a number of pleasant public amenity barbecue locations.

The Crime & Disorder Overview & Scrutiny Panel unanimously agreed to recommend to Cabinet the following:

i.     Approves Option1 in section 2.9 in the report;

ii.    Delegates authority to the Strategic Director of Operations & Customer Services in conjunction with the Lead members for Environmental Services and Highways & Transport to propose any future widening of the scope of ASB covered by PSPOs directly to full Council;

iii. Requests the Strategic Director of Operations & Customer Services in conjunction with the Policy Committee and relevant stakeholders to complete an options appraisal of the potential responses to the items detailed at a) to e) in section 2.7.

Dates of the next meetings are as follows:

·         Tuesday 12 April 2016.

·         Tuesday 19 July 2016.

·         Thursday 15 September 2016.

·         Monday 14 November 2016.

·         Monday 30 January 2017.

·         Thursday 20 April 2017.

The Chairman informed Members that the dates of the next meetings were as follows:

·         Thursday 19 May 2016.

·         Tuesday 19 July 2016.

·         Thursday 15 September 2016.

·         Monday 14 November 2016.

·         Monday 30 January 2017.

·         Thursday 20 April 2017.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion took place on item 8 on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To comment on the report to be considered by Cabinet on the 31 March 2016.