Agenda and minutes

 Apologies for absence were received from Councillor R Claymore.

Councillor L Smith gave apologies that they would need to leave early and left the meeting at 19:00.

Cllr J Harper gave apologies that they would need to leave early and left the meeting at 19:46.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 19^th February 2024 were approved as a correct record.

(Moved by Councillor B Clarke and seconded by Councillor B Price)

The Chair advised that she had an update on an exempt matter which she would discuss later in the meeting.

Update on responses received to Reports of the Infrastructure Safety & Growth Committee:

There were none.

The Chair highlighted that an item had been referred to the Committee from Full Council in February 2023 improving water quality within the rivers in Tamworth and that a report had been circulated with the agenda.

The Committee agreed to add the matter to the Work Plan to the next Municipal year and to see if they could invite someone from Trent Rivers Trust to the meeting.

(Report of the Operations Manager, Joint Waste Service)

The Chair welcomed Steve Gee and Victoria Woodhouse to present the report of the Operations Manager to provide the Committee with an update on Joint Waste Service Operations.

The Officer highlighted the following –

Ø  The report is now a report on Operations in general not just the recycling scheme.

Ø  Service is in a good place.

Ø  Missed bins did increase recently however some of the figures from the previous year were records lows and this is still an acceptable rate.

Ø  Rates are down to an average of 2 per month.

Ø  Resident participation is good at 98/99%.

Ø  Green waste figures are where we would expect them to be for this time of year.

Ø  Contaminated bins are down to 1279 compared with 1488 in the previous year.

Ø  Christmas tonnage figures are now available which show how busy the period gets which is not unusual for this period.

Ø  The service is still looking at an overspend of approximately £40000, which against a net expenditure of 9 million is not a concern.

Ø  Conversations around future budgeting are taking place.

Ø  Various projects which are ongoing are listed in this report, including consideration of the long term strategy of the service (5/10 years). Members will be invited to participate in this. The service is ready to go out to tender for the fleet replacement which is expected to cost around £11.5/12 million. The service is looking at alternative fuels which would reduce their carbon footprint. A paper will be brought to a later IS&G meeting. A recycling campaign is about to be launched working with Lichfield District Council and sponsorship had been sought in to cover the cost. Committee were advised that other authorities are interested in adopting the product.

Ø  The Officers noted that it was the last meeting they would attend with the Chief Executive, Andrew Barratt and thank them for the work they have done with the service.

The Committee made the following comments/observations and asked the following questions:

1.     It was good news that recycling campaign was being launched to get the message out there.

2.     Thanks to the Officers for the comprehensive reports that they had produced throughout the year.

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Environmental Health and Community Partnerships/Assistant Director, Partnerships)

The Chair welcomed the Assistant Director, Partnerships, Jo Sands, Chief Inspector Rob Neeson before handing over to the Portfolio Holder for Environmental Health and Community Partnerships to introduce the report to consider the 2024 annual refresh of the Tamworth Community Safety Partnership Plan 2023-2026, priorities, and action plan.

The Officers highlighted:

Ø  That the priorities highlighted within the report for 2023-2026 are not expected to change for the next couple of years.

Ø  There is still £61394 for community safety projects per year until March 2025.

Ø  Anti-Social Behaviour – the neighbourhood impact team is in place; an environmental crime officer is also in post and there have been some successes with deployable cameras. Data is showing a steady decline in ASB over 3 years. The Town Centre is showing as a hot spot for ASB, but this is due to the night-time economy, however this is decreasing.

Ø  Community Cohesion – work is ongoing including, a strategic approach to working with asylum seekers through Government funding. The Armed Forces Covenant is in place and Holocaust Memorial events are planned.

Ø  Domestic Abuse – work continues with New Era Victim Service and attending multi agency meetings (MARAC). There has been a small increase in reports of domestic abuse.

Ø  Drug Related Crime and Harm – the Council have a process in place within the housing for dealing with any issue. There are support services in place and Officers continue to attend multi-agency meetings.

Ø  Public Place and Serious Violence – support for Street Angels and Safer nights, along with promoting Ask Angela with our licensing premises. Pubwatch and knife awareness schemes are in place.

Ø  Vehicle Crime – motorbikes continue to be an issue on cycleways; community safety promotional items in place; nuisance vehicle PSPO was renewed.

Ø  Vulnerable Persons – the Officer gave an update on the Tamworth Vulnerability Partnership; there are a number of services in place including the Wellbeing Partnership; support for Betterway Recovery; Dementia Friends and continuing debt and generalist advice. We are now supporting a new charity, ‘Dilemma’ who support family and friend of people suffering from addiction.

Ø  Future plans are highlighted in the Community Safety Plan.

Ø  The Chief Inspector highlighted that a problem-solving approach was always taken and led by dedicated problems solvers to try to establish the root cause of issues and deal with them proactively.

Ø  Data shows where there is a spike in an area it usual stays for a while and then starts to decrease due to it being effectively tackled.

Ø  The Portfolio Holder highlighted the good work that was being done in the Borough and thanked the Police for the work  they were doing.

The Chief Executive highlighted the strength of relationships and the success of the Community Safety Partnership.

The Committee made the following comments/observations and asked the following questions:

1.     Acknowledged the hard work done by the police force in and around Tamworth.

2.     Could an explanation be given for why we do not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92.

(Report of the Chair of Infrastructure, Safety and growth Scrutiny Committee)

The Chair introduced their report to provide the Committee with a draft of the Committee’s Annual Report for 2023/24 (Appendix 2) together with a draft of the Introductory Report (Appendix 1) which will be presented to full Council in the 2024-2025 municipal year

The Committee noted an error in the membership that Councillor L Clarke had not been on the Committee but Councillor L Wood.

The Chair thank all of those who had been on the Committee for their hard work over the year.

(Discussion item – link to Forward Plan is attached)

Forward plan - 1st March 2024 - 30th June 2024 :: Tamworth Borough Council

There were no new items identified by the Forward Plan.

To receive updates from any Working Groups

The Chair updated the Committee that the Migrant Travellers working group had met and would be having another meeting at the beginning of April.

A date is being arranged for the HGV drivers working group.

(Update and discussion on the Infrastructure Safety & Growth Scrutiny Work Plan)

There were no items to add to the work plan.

To consider excluding the Press and Public from the meeting by passing the following resolution:-

“That in accordance with the provisions of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meeting and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, and Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public  interest in disclosing the information to the public”

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Environmental Health and Community Partnerships and the Assistant Director, Neighbourhoods)

Report of the Portfolio Holder for Community Partnerships/Assistant Director-Neighbourhoods to set out a progress update which includes a presentation to above Scrutiny Committee on the Council’s 24-hour CCTV monitoring shared service with West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), which is for a term of 7 years from 30th March 2020 to 30th March 2027