Agenda and minutes

This meeting is to be webcast. Members are reminded of the need to activate their microphones before speaking.

The Chairman will read the following announcement:

“This meeting will be webcast live to the Internet and will be archived for later viewing. Copies of recordings may be made available on request.

By entering the chamber’s lower seating area you consenting to becoming part of the webcast.

If you wish to avoid being filmed you should move to the public gallery or speak to the webcasting officer”

The Chairman made a short address to remind all present that the meeting would be broadcast on the Internet, and that the Council had adopted a protocol for the webcasting of its meetings.

(Director of Communities) To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

It was noted that Councillor J H Whitehouse was substituting for Councillor B Surtees.

(Director of Governance) To agree the notes of the meeting of the Select Committee held on 5^th September 2017.

RESOLVED:

That the notes of the last meeting of the Select Committee held on 5 September 2017 be agreed.

(Director of Governance). To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a pecuniary or a non-pecuniary interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 9 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a non-pecuniary interest in any matter before an OS Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or Sub Committee of the Council, a Joint Committee or Joint Sub Committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 9 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

There were no declarations of interest made pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct.

(Director of Communities) To receive a presentation from Essex Police’s District Commander, Lewis Basford, on current policing and crime issues in the District.

Members received a presentation on current policing and crime issues in the District from Chief Inspector L Basford of Essex Police.

The District Commander for the Brentwood and Epping Forest area outlined the current level of policing. This comprised ten police constables and seven support constables for the whole district, who covered community issues and were split into two shifts – early and late. There was a local policing team at Loughton that operated on a 24-hour basis, 7-day coverage and handled 999 emergency calls and 101 calls. This team investigated local investigations and lower graded crimes, such as common assaults. The CID criminal investigation team operated on a 24 / 7 basis. There were specialist teams that covered serious crimes, such as violent burglaries, trafficking and serious assaults; domestic violence; road / traffic police; armed response police (for the County); and an Operational Support Group (marked and unmarked). The Police fed intelligence to these teams and the Community Safety Group, but these were not under the direct control of the Police.

Domestic violence, which included violent crime, was responsible for 34 per cent of all crime, which was why there was a dedicated team that looked at this specific issue. Domestic violence had seen an increase of 20 – 25 per cent with 404 more crimes reported during April – September this year than for the same period in 2016. More people were coming forward to report crimes but violent crime was increasing. There were 206 more crimes where officers sustained injuries. Officers wore body cameras, which had resulted in better prosecution rates. Certain individuals seemed to give no forethought to the consequences of their actions and violent crime was increasing. He cited that last weekend, twelve police officers were assaulted, one quite seriously. However, there were 170 less reports of anti-social behaviour (ASB) recorded than for the previous year. The Chief Inspector questioned if members of the public were under-reporting on ASB or were their genuinely less incidents, if so this was good as most forces had seen an increase. The Government’s Home Office had changed the crime recording standards in April this year for burglary, and split it to cover ‘burglary residential’ and ‘burglary business / commercial’. Looking forward, he hoped to be able to give clearer figures next year.

On recent ASB incidences that had happened in the District, he explained that at Hillhouse, there had been an element of under-reporting, hence by the time the Police became involved later on, there was more of a problem that had to be dealt with. On Halloween night 40 to 50 youths had congregated in Epping, so extra officers were deployed, sixteen to the High Street and four to other areas – Buckhurst Hill / Chigwell, Theydon Bois and Waltham Abbey. In Epping a number of individuals were arrested for ASB when they targeted the public and police officers. Every one of these individuals had now been identified with the help of the community safety team CCTV  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

(Director of Communities) to consider the attached report.

The Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) were first introduced nationally in 1998 to provide a multi-agency solution in response to crime and the fear of crime within communities. Supporting the work of the Police and other statutory agencies, this was considered the most effective approach to finding joint solutions to local community safety issues. Epping Forest CSP consisted of a mix of statutory and voluntary sector bodies, including Essex Police, Epping Forest District Council, Essex Fire and Rescue, the Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC), the National Probation Trust, Trading Standards and Voluntary Action Epping Forest. Other agencies were also invited to attend, including local Town and Parish Councils, The Corporation of London (Epping Forest), Epping Forest College and representatives from Health.

Representatives from the Council’s Community Safety Team (CST) participated in Essex Police District Tasking meetings on a fortnightly basis to assist with the response to any emerging issues within the district via a call conference facility. This was to be improved by the installation of a video conferencing facility within the CST offices. Hot desking facilities were also provided within the office for external partnership officers. Essex Police had also implemented a daily call briefing with the CST to review significant incidents over the previous 24 hours. In January 2017 police radio communications were installed in the CST office, which had increased the effectiveness of the councils’ CCTV systems, to communicate directly with Essex Police Force Control Room. The combination of these actions had achieved a very positive effect in respect of coordinated working and highly effective intelligence sharing between Essex Police and the CST.

The Community Safety Manager, C Wiggins, introduced the work of the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) over the last year. The annual report outlined the highlights and gave a flavour of what the CST had accomplished during the year. It demonstrated the Council’s commitment to the CSP and the work of Essex Police, whose area encompassed both Epping Forest District and Brentwood. The Crucial Crew annual scheme facilitated the participation of 1,500 primary school pupils in year 6 in interactive scenarios to raise their awareness of personal health and safety both at home and in the community. The J9 Domestic Abuse initiative, which had been running in Essex for over five years, was expanded across the County and rolled out to all Job Centres during 2016 – 17. The CST also worked with other organisations, such as Essex Trading Standards when it monitored the sale of fireworks by retail outlets to underage customers.

            Agreed:

            That the Annual Report be noted.

Councillor J H Whitehouse congratulated C Wiggins for receiving a prestigious award from the Essex High Sheriff in March 2017 for her work in the development of this initiative.

(Director of Communities) to consider the attached report.

The Assistant Director of Community Services and Safety, J Chandler, reported on the implementation of the impact of An Aging Population Action Plan. The Council had carried out a comprehensive study during 2015 / 16, which had generated over 40 recommendations for the Council and various statutory and voluntary sector partners to address. The resulting action plan was launched in October 2016 and this report provided an update on the progress of key areas of work. A consultation of over 300 local people aged 55 – 95 from a range of demographics and areas of the District focussed on three main themes which were:

·       Health and Wellbeing;

·       Living in the Epping Forest District (EFD); and

·       Communication and Engagement.

Detailed progress was given on a 6-monthly basis on these recommendations under the three themes of which there were nine under Health and Wellbeing (H&W), twelve under Living in the EFD, and seven under Communication and Engagement.

Special mention was given on recommendation 1 under H&W on the Council’s interaction with various support groups to improve support for older people through early intervention and (preventative) health improvement. On item 2, Dementia Action Alliance was now set up in the District, but more work was needed to look after the people with dementia in the community. On items 4 and 7, a new Active Living programme had been successfully set up in Waltham Abbey and Theydon Bois.

Under the Living in the EFD theme, for item 4 the Communities Director, A Hall, was looking into setting up a minimum ‘Sheltered Housing Standard’ for the Council’s sheltered housing assets. Recommendation 7 to monitor when assisted bin collections had not been taken up was already recorded by the waste contractor for Neighbourhoods, so sharing of this information would be discussed.

The recommendations under the Communication and Engagement theme were to address the potential isolation of the ageing population and that it was important for such individuals to meet someone. Linking into community safety work, recommendation 5 dealt with the establishment of a network of older people to champion ‘Resilience’ across the District. Working through local parish and town councils, the Council would link with them to help source champions for the ‘Resilience Project’.

Councillor A Mitchell said that as the Careline and Telecare services was outsourced, where was the new provider’s main office situated, to which J Chandler said she would let her know later.

Councillor J H Whitehouse said that there were various organisations for older people locally, like University of the Third Age (U3A), and what extent these were being mapped. She noted that J Chandler was talking about setting up new activities, but accessible transport was a big issue as not all older people were mobile and still drove. She commented on the decreasing bus service provision in the District on which she had received complaints from local residents about the unreliable service on some bus routes, and asked if some transport funding could be provided. She also asked if  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

(Director of Communities) to consider the attached report.

C Wiggins outlined the Government’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy developed in 2011 to combat terrorism and terrorist activity in the UK. This had consisted of four main elements of work under the ‘Contest’ heading, which included:

Pursue: the investigation and disruption of terrorist attacks;

Prevent: work to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism;

Protect: improving our protective security to stop a terrorist attack; and

Prepare: working to minimise the impact of an attack and to recover as quickly as possible.

‘Contest’ covered all forms of terrorism and aimed to reduce risk to the UK, and its interests overseas from terrorism, so that people could go about their lives freely and with confidence. The current threat to Essex was assessed as low, and that did not mean that the Council would neglect ‘Prevent’, but would need to keep this under review as there was a balance that the CST and Essex Police had to monitor. The Council did on-going training for frontline staff and was about to launch an e-learning strategy and she was also a member of the Prevent Strategy Group.

            Agreed:

That the report was noted.

(Chairman / Lead Officer) The Overview and Scrutiny Committee has agreed the Terms of Reference of this Committee. This is attached along with an ongoing work

programme. Members are asked at each meeting to review both documents.

The Terms of Reference were noted.

On the Work Programme it was noted that:

·       Items (9), (10), (15), (16) and (17) would be dealt with at the extra meeting to be held on 11 December 2017;

·       Items (11) Crucial Crew and (14) Summer holiday activity programme feedback would be deleted;

·       Item (24) Ageing Population Study Plan would go forward with 6-monthly progress reports.

·       Item (25) To receive a presentation from the Youth Council on the MiLife project its councillors had helped develop and trialled in schools. MiLife had a high profile nationally – J Chandler to co-ordinate.

To consider which reports are ready to be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its next meeting.

The reports on items (8) Ageing Population Study Action Plan and (9) would go forward to the next O & S Committee meeting on January 2018.

To note the future meeting dates for this Committee:

11^th December 2017 (Extra Meeting);

16^th January 2018; and

13^th March.

It was noted that there would be an extra meeting of the Communities SC on 11 December 2017. The remaining meetings in the cycle would be held on 16 January and 13 March in 2018.