Agenda and minutes

Up to 15 minutes are allowed for public participation.  Participants are restricted to 3 minutes each.

There was no public participation.

Members may make declarations of Interest at this point or may make them at any point in the meeting

Councillor T. Davies declared personal interest in relation to agenda item 5a, Gainsborough Cemeteries – Public Space Protection Order Review, as he was a Gainsborough Town Councillor.

Councillor P. Howitt-Cowan declared a personal interest in relation to agenda item 5a, Gainsborough Cemeteries – Public Space Protection Order Review, as he was a founder member of Friends of Gainsborough Cemeteries.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Regulatory Committee held on Thursday 10 March 2022.

Regulatory Committee – 10 March 2022

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Regulatory Committee held on Thursday, 10 March 2022 be confirmed and signed as an accurate record.

Members gave consideration to a report which provided Members of the Regulatory Committee the background to, and proposals in respect of the Gainsborough Cemeteries Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).

The Senior Licensing and Community Safety Officer stated that the Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for Gainsborough Cemeteries had been in place since 2019 and was due to expire on 13^th October 2022. Both sites were owned and managed by Gainsborough Town Council. The Officer referred to the importance of Sections 2.2 and 2.3, and gave detailed specifications regarding the PSPO, and criteria which needed to be met for a PSPO to be in place. Details of the activity undertaken by Officers in maintaining the PSPO was highlighted in section 3.5 of the report.

The report sought to provide information on the situation regarding the PSPO and proposed that consultation be undertaken with a view to the PSPO being discharged (i.e. is not extended) when it came to an end.

Debate ensued, and there was discussion on the merits of the usage of the PSPO, it was suggested that the Cemetery had been underused by the public in recent times and this could have masked issues.

In response, the Housing and Environmental Enforcement Manager stated that the Town Council Clerk had been contacted, advise of the intention and the Town Council’s comments would be take into consideration as part of the wider consultation. The Officer gave assurance that the Town Council would be fully consulted.

Having been proposed and second, on voting it was unanimously

RESOLVED that: - 

a)    a consultation be undertaken in regards to discharging the “Gainsborough Cemeteries PSPO”;

b)    the consultation be held for a period of 4 weeks, between Monday 4th July and Monday August 1st 2022; and

c)    a further report be submitted to the Regulatory Committee in September 2022,  detailing the response to the consultation and  a final proposal for the PSPO.

Members gave consideration to the Food and Health and Safety Work Plan 2022/23. The Council was required to produce and approve a Work Plan that was in line with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Framework Agreement and the Statement of Commitment, agreed nationally, between Local Authority Representatives and the Health and Safety Executive.

The Committee therefore considered such a Plan, which covered all work undertaken within the Housing and Environmental Enforcement work area, relating to Food and Health and Safety. The Plan’s purpose was to set out how the Council delivered its official controls and fulfilled its duties under Food, Health and Safety, Public Health and Drinking Water legislation. 

The Plan before Members also reflected the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic had had upon the Food Hygiene work area in relation to delivering its statutory functions. The information on performance and the inspection regime were shown in sections 8 and 9 of the Plan and were specifically highlighted to the Committee. The Housing and Environmental Enforcement Manager advised that the Service had returned to a degree of normality, following the Covid-19 crisis. Re-introduction of a routine planned Inspection Programme had commenced from 1st April 2022. There was a significant backlog of food hygiene inspections resulting from the Covid-19 crisis and resources continued to be challenged, with Members having previously been advised of national recruitment challenges, demand outstripping supply due to the level of training required, and the steps the Authority had taken to go some way to addressing these issues. The Food and Health & Safety Team was to continue to provide the Council’s response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in relation to advice, education and ultimately, enforcement, to both businesses and residents, should this be required in the future.

Debate ensued and a Member asked a question about the resources available. In response, the Officer stated that there were additional temporary resources, and these depended on additional factors, in order to achieve the ‘477’ target of visited establishments. Members would be kept up to date and it was suggested a six month position update report would be of assistance.

In response to a question on sampling and guaranteeing it would be done, Members heard that Officers were already working on this, and that figures would be factored into the performance outcomes.

Having been proposed and second, on voting it was unanimously

RESOLVED that the Food, Health and Safety Work Plan as detailed at Appendix 1, be approved.