To comment on the report to be considered by Cabinet on the 26 November 2015.

The Head of Community Protection & Enforcement Services, Craig Miller, informed Members that the report on pages 15-26 of the agenda was a mid point review of the Night Time Economy (NTE) enforcement pilot approved by Cabinet at its meeting of 26 February 2015.  Members were informed that the purpose of the report was to update Cabinet on the pilot.  The Head of Community Protection & Enforcement Services explained that it was recommended that the Pilot continued until its scheduled conclusion in December 2015.

Members were informed that the report summarised the progress of the pilot to date and covered five main areas which were:

·           background

·           performance

·           patterns of enforcement

·           pilot outcomes

·           future options

The Head of Community Protection & Enforcement Services explained that initial findings from the first phase of the pilot suggested a night time economy function was a positive addition to the council’s enforcement services.  It was noted that to date, more than 100 hours of foot patrols and just over 180 hours of vehicle patrols had been undertaken as part of the pilot resulting in over 300 licensing checks being completed and 135 environmental protection investigations undertaken.  Members were informed that anti social behaviour complaints associated with the NTE in the period between July to September 2015 had decreased by 27% compared to the same period in 2014.  It was noted that whilst this could not solely be attributed to the NTE pilot it was likely to have been a contributory factor. 

In the ensuing discussion the following points were noted:

Ø  That Cabinet would decide if they wanted to continue the NTE service provision beyond the pilot period utilising permanent Community Wardens resources bolstered by supplementary resource from a  wider pool on a voluntary arrangement in February 2016.

Ø  That if continuing with a permanent service was decided then continuity of service was needed.

Ø  That the Mantra and Liquid (now Atik) nightclubs had been closed for a number of weeks during the initial phase of the pilot which may have contributed to the reduction in the number of NTE complaints made to the Council.

Ø  Concerns were raised that there was a risk that an enforced working pattern might affect officer goodwill and morale and could result in some officers discontinuing their employment with the Council.  Members stated that whilst they felt the scheme itself resulted in a better quality service which was benefitting residents they did not want the Council to lose valuable members of staff if a contractual change to contracts was made. 

Ø  That the pilot had highlighted that the operation of a NTE service drew 28 hours from the normal daytime Community Warden service.  It was noted that this represented 4% of the total daytime service hours for the warden service (based on 18 FTE working 37 hours a week) and that this draw could reduce the flexibility and resilience that the daytime service had compared to operation without NTE.  Members were informed that this had meant that some requests for warden service could not be fulfilled.  It was noted that the operation of a NTE service also meant that service coverage was slightly reduced in the daytime when an area officer was deployed to night time shifts and meant unplanned or more reactive tasks could sometimes stretch resources.  However Members were informed that this was managed across the resource that serves the Borough as a whole rather than being concentrated solely from one area.

Ø  That the NTE service was currently resourced by Community Wardens through voluntary agreement. 

Ø  Superintendent Rai (Thames Valley Police) stated that the last three weeks since Atik had opened up had been challenging for the Thames Valley Police.

Ø  That Atik had booths and waitress service in the nightclub which might encourage customers to drink more than they realised.

Ø  Superintendent Rai stated that since Liquid nightclub had been rebranded the Thames Valley Police had noticed groups of people coming into Windsor in minibuses to celebrate stag parties, etc.

Ø  That Members felt the report gave the impression that after midnight there was not much for the community wardens to do although there was a peak time later on in the evening.  It was requested that this be made clearer in the report.

Ø  That one of the Manifesto commitments was to increase the 18 FTE community wardens to 36.

Ø  It was felt that once the Council had 36 community wardens their portfolio could become broader which would allow them to be more flexible and to be able to address issues where needed.

Ø  That seven hour shifts for the community wardens would be preferred.

Ø  That the powers of community wardens included issuing fixed penalty notices, and parking notices.  It was noted that community wardens also brought visibility / a presence to areas and could gather evidence and report back to specific teams.

Ø  That the Head of Community Protection & Enforcement Services attended a debrief on a Tuesday with the Thames Valley Police. 

Ø  That the results of the staff consultation be brought to a future Planning & Housing O&S Panel meeting.

Ø  That street angels and taxi marshalls worked with community wardens.

Ø  That a Thames Valley Police ‘Section 27’ had since changed to a ‘Section 35’.  It was felt that a ‘Section 35’ was a powerful tool to get people to move on. 

Ø  Superintendent Rai informed Members that the Thames Valley Police planned to work with the businesses community to ensure there were enough businesses in place (e.g. kebab establishments to help keep queues to a minimum).

The Panel endorsed the paper and stated that they looked forward to the end of the pilot to see what had changed between now and then.  It was also stated that the Panel looked forward to a review of the working hours with a view / aspiration to reducing them.

It was requested that the 27% reduction figure be broken down for Cabinet Members and the positive outcomes of the service being in place be highlighted.  It was requested that Appendix 1 be amended to state ‘Eton Wick and Eton’. 

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

i.     Approves the continuation of the Night Time Economy service until the conclusion of the pilot period in December 2015;

ii.    Requests that a further report be presented to Cabinet in February 2016 to determine whether the Night Time Economy service is continued as a permanent arrangement including confirmation of the final service configuration if it is to continue;

iii.   Delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Operations in conjunction with the Lead Member for Environmental Services and the Head of Service for Community Protection and Enforcement to continue to operate a service if it is deemed a success at the end of the Pilot until Cabinet finalises the service configuration in February 2016. 

iv.   Delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Operations in conjunction with the Lead Member for Environmental Services to prepare a media statement for release to communicate and promote the permanent Night Time Economy service.