Agenda item

The Head of Paid Service introduced the Progress and Delivery report for period three and explained it had already been seen by the two policy committees – Corporate Policy and Resources and Prosperous Communities. The minutes from the Prosperous Communities Committee had been shared with Members previously and the minute of the item from Corporate Policy and Resources was tabled for Members at Committee. He informed Members that they were asked to consider the comments from both policy committees and to ensure there had been appropriate challenge to the report.

There was significant discussion as to whether both the Prosperous Communities Committee and the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee had raised appropriate challenge. It was noted that there seemed to be a trend through the Progress and Delivery reports that the areas of enforcement and complaint handling remained weak and Members felt that, based on the minutes provided, neither committee appeared to have questioned this.

It was noted that Andy Gray, Housing and Enforcement Manager, was at the meeting to present a report for pre-scrutiny on the Planning Enforcement Policy however Members commented that they had not received any details regarding the issues with complaint handling. It was requested that the recently appointed Customer Experience Officer be asked to attend a meeting of the Challenge and Improvement Committee to provide Members with a picture of the current situation for complaints handling. It was requested that the matter be revisited after a period of six months to demonstrate any progress made. It was agreed this would be added to the work plan for the Committee.

There was further discussion around the difficulties faced by the enforcement team and, whilst it was recognised that some questions may be answered by the Housing and Enforcement Manager’s report later in the meeting, Members requested that they be given a benchmark for enforcement in a similar way to the issues with complaints handling. It was suggested that further Progress and Delivery reports could be built around such requests for benchmark figures to offer further clarity to Members.

There was significant discussion around the introduction of charges for green waste collections across the District, specifically in relation to complaints raised with Councillors by their constituents. A Member of Committee suggested that the Challenge and Improvement Committee scrutinise the impact of the scheme within the first year of implementation to assess whether there had been any noticeable increase in activities such as fly-tipping or contaminated recycling bins. It was agreed this could be added to the work plan for the Committee.

A Member of Committee noted the repeat of positive comments about the Trinity Arts Centre and also the success of CCTV cameras in helping to reduce anti-social behaviour. The Housing and Enforcement Manager confirmed that this appeared to be the case and that although evidence was anecdotal at this point, there had been instances where the CCTV footage had assisted in managing anti-social behaviour.

Discussion continued regarding the content of the Progress and Delivery report and the actions to be agreed for Committee. After further consideration it was:

RESOLVED that the areas specified within the Progress and Delivery report as being ‘areas of risk’, such as enforcement and customer satisfaction(complaints handling), be open to further scrutiny by the Challenge and Improvement Committee and specific reports be brought to future meetings of the Committee on progress towards delivery improvements in these areas.