COMMUNITY SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
RECORD OF MEETING HELD ON 18th JUNE
2008
Present:
Councillor G Griffiths, Chair;
Councillors D Bebbington, S Conquest, B Evans,
C Goff, M Grant, R Jones, M A Martin and S J S Mottram
Officers in Attendance (for whole or
part):
A Bain
Team Leader, Private Sector Housing
D Moulson
Democratic Services Officer
S Turner
Strategic Manager, Community
Apologies:
Councillor J Beech
1.
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
No Member made any declaration of interest in
respect of any item of business on the agenda.
2.
RECORD OF MEETING
AGREED: That the Record of the Meeting
held on 5 March 2008 be approved as
correct.
3.
WHIPPING DECLARATIONS
In accordance with Paragraph 18 of the
Performance and Overview Procedure Rules, Members were invited to
declare in respect of items where the whip had been applied.
No such declarations were made.
4.
BOARD BUSINESS
4.1
Board Reports
The Committee made no comment on the reports
falling under its remit which would be considered by the Board at
its meeting on 19th June 2008.
4.2
Referrals from the Board/Council
There were no referrals from the Board or
Council to report on this occasion.
5.
FORWARD PLAN OF BOARD DECISIONS
The Committee noted the Board’s Forward Plan
for 25th June 2008 (Special Board) and
21st August 2008.
5.1
Neighbourhood Working
In response to questions raised by Members,
the Strategic Manager reported that options were being considered
regarding the future of neighbourhood and area working in light of
the new boundaries created by the formation of Cheshire East
Unitary Council on 1 April 2009.
A number of issues would be open to
discussion and Members’ views would be sought. With this in
mind it was AGREED that an item on Neighbourhood
Working be included on the agenda for the Committee’s next
meeting.
5.2 Provision
of Temporary Accommodation for Homeless Households
The provision of temporary accommodation of
homeless households was a statutory duty falling upon Crewe and
Nantwich Borough Council. Following Large Scale Voluntary
Transfer (LSVT) in 2003, the authority had carried out this duty
via a contractual agreement with Wulvern Housing. Three
properties had been made available by Wulvern for this purpose; bed
and breakfast accommodation also being utilised where
required.
In March 2005, a long-term solution had been
sought with monies being put aside for the conversion of a
sheltered accommodation building into units for the homeless.
Due to a number of factors, this option had ceased to be
viable. Having considered a number of alternative approaches
the proposal currently under consideration was to purchase four
properties; to be owned by the Borough Council but managed by
Wulvern Housing.
A Member expressed disappointment that a
resolution to the matter had not been found and sought assurance
that monies set aside in 2005 to provide homeless accommodation was
still available. In order to address Members’ concerns it was
AGREED that a briefing note would be circulated to
the Committee prior to holding a more in-depth discussion at its
next meeting.
6. PERFORMANCE
MONITORING
The Committee received the quarterly
performance report which summarised performance activity on the key
basket of indicators during the final out-turn period of the
financial year 2007/2008.
Indicators 78a and 78b:
Housing Benefit/Council Tax Claims
The Benefits Section was commended by the
Committee for its continued high performance in this
area.
Indicator LEE 501: Inspection
of Premises
Greater clarity was sought from the
Committee about the cyclical nature of inspections. The
Strategic Manager agreed to circulate a briefing note explaining
the procedure in more detail.
7. PRIVATE
SECTOR HOUSING
The Committee received for information the
report of the Head of Housing which summarised expenditure on the
four main housing renewal grants or assistance up to
31st March 2008 : -
1. Decent
Homes Grants
2. Disabled
Facilities Grants
3. Empty
Property Grants
4. Energy
Efficiency Grants
The Team Leader (Private Sector Housing)
reported that the carry forward figure for 2008/2009 was to be
supplemented with funding from the Regional Housing Board, the net
figure being approximately £800,000. The continued support
was welcomed however, concern was expressed by Members that monies
could be lost to the Borough at the end of the financial year
should any under-spend occur.
Funding from the Regional Housing Board
(RHB) was expected to continue until 2011. Questions were
asked as to how monies payable after March 2009 would be allocated
to Cheshire East Unitary Authority and whether the targets for
social housing in Congleton, Crewe and Nantwich and Macclesfield
would be retained.
Officers undertook to research the questions
raised in relation to RHB monies; providing a guidance note for
Members in due course and circulate confirmation of the commitment
of monies for various housing
projects.
8. WORK
PROGRAMME
8.1
2007/2008 Topics
The Committee was invited to give
consideration to which of the topics included in its 2007/2008
work programme it wished to retain.
Police Service Review
The Committee had suspended its review on
the Police Service until the Police and Justice Act 2006 had come
into force. As an interim measure, two members (Councillors
Griffiths and Bebbington) had been appointed by the Committee to
meet with representatives of Cheshire Police Authority on a regular
basis.
Although only one meeting had taken place,
the majority of Members considered that there was merit in
continuing with this arrangement but on a twice yearly
basis. Nominations from the Committee were sought.
AGREED: That Councillors
Evans and Griffiths together with the Strategic Manager,
Community be nominated to meet twice yearly with
senior representatives of Cheshire Police Authority.
Neighbourhood Renewal
Previous attempts by the Committee to identify
issues associated with neighbourhood renewal had not proved
successful. The Chairman, who had originally proposed this
topic for review, commented that there was still a need to ensure
that, in certain areas of the borough, both the condition of
housing stock and the visual appearance of the environment were
brought back to an acceptable standard and not allowed to fall
further into disrepair.
The Strategic Manager informed Members that
work was currently underway on a Private Sector Renewal Policy,
which would be considered by Cheshire East (Shadow) Council.
Priority areas needed to be identified for inclusion in the
document, and it was suggested that the Committee’s views could be
taken on board to influence the list of areas
nominated.
A Member suggested that, for the Committee to
gain a better understanding of the issues at hand, a site
inspection of a suitable area should be arranged. Reference
was also made to a Private Sector Renewal Policy stakeholder
meeting which was due to take place in August.
The Committee requested that the relevant
officers be asked to consider the options proposed, feeding back on
the appropriate way
forward.
AGREED: That
Neighbourhood Renewal be retained in the Committee’s work
programme.
· Climate
Change Task Group
It was reported that the Local Economy &
Environment Scrutiny Committee had not reformed the Climate Change
Task Group; therefore no nomination to the Group was
required.
Non-Residential Care: Impact of Care Charge
Increases
Members had reached an impasse with this
review as invitations to attend a meeting of the Committee,
extended to the Cheshire County Council Elected Member and officer
responsible for social care had not been accepted. An
approach to the Chairman of the Health & Adult Social Care
Scrutiny Committee had also failed to elicit a response.
The Committee expressed its disappointment
with the situation; stating that due to the absence of a
representative willing to address the Committee, no further action
could be taken.
· Air
Quality Monitoring: Annual Review
AGREED: That the annual
review of Air Quality Monitoring be submitted to
the Committee.
· Rural
Housing Enabler
AGREED: That the Rural
Housing Enabler be invited to update the Committee on his work to
date.
8.2
First Responders
This topic had been nominated for inclusion
into the work programme by the Chairman, Councillor
Griffiths.
For the benefit of the Committee, Councillor
Griffiths explained that First Responders were volunteers trained
in certain paramedic techniques who were “on-call” for medical
emergencies. Following a restructuring of the
Ambulance Service, the role of First Responders had been
harmonised with other regions to the effect that
Responders in the Borough were no longer permitted to
use their full range of skills, which Councillor Griffiths
considered was detrimental to recipients of the
service.
The Committee was invited to consider whether
this topic should be included in the work
programme.
AGREED: That the topic
of First Responders be included into the Committee’s work
programme for 2008/2009.
8.3
Further Topics for Consideration
The Committee was invited to nominate any
further topics which it wished to include in its work
programme.
No further nominations were received.
9. DATE
OF NEXT MEETING
The date of the next meeting was confirmed as
13 August 2008.
……………….. Chair