Meeting documents

Prior to the commencement of the formal business of the meeting, Members and officers present stood in silent tribute to the memory of former Councillor Michael Cook who had passed away recently.  Mr Cook had been a Member of the Council for 17 years representing the Brill Ward between 1974 and 1991.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Council meeting held on
18 September, 2019, copy attached as an appendix.

RESOLVED –

That the Minutes of the meeting of Council held on 18 September, 2019, be approved as a correct record.

By the Chairman of the Council.

By the Leader/Cabinet Members.

Chairman of the Council

The Chairman thanked staff and Members who had attended the Chairman’s recent Quiz evening and had made the night such a success.

The Chairman also informed Members that she had recently attended the Hindu Festival of Lights in the Aylesbury town centre.

There were none.

Presentations will be given by the Chief Constable of the Thames Valley Police, and by the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner, after which there will be an opportunity to ask questions.

Members welcomed John Campbell QPM, Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, and Superintendent Michael Loebenberg (Local Police Area Commander, Aylesbury) to the meeting.  Apologies had been sent by Mr Anthony Stansfeld, Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner.

The Chief Constable gave a presentation during which the following main points were noted:-

·                     The Thames Valley Police (TVP) had recently been inspected by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) for 2018/19 and been graded as good against the important areas of effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy.

·                     That the TVP aimed to deliver an excellent service and be regarded as an outstanding force.  This would include:

o        Focussing on crime reduction and the disruption of criminal activity, creating a hostile environment for those that would do harm.

o        Providing a caring, effective and swift response to those in need when people called for help.

o        Where crimes were committed, investigating them appropriately and relentlessly to seek justice for victims.

o        The response to major and serious incidents and policing operations being first class.

·                     That the priority outcomes for 2019/20 were to:-

o        Reduce crime and incidents through targeted and effective problem-solving.

o        Bring more criminals to justice by improving the quality and timeliness of investigations.

o        Improve how TVP protected the vulnerable by proactively identifying, understanding and reducing risk and harm.

o        Increase the satisfaction of victims and other people in need by responding appropriately and improving communication with them.

·                     Some of the various actions that TVP would be focussing upon to achieve these outcomes, e.g. problem solving would include a focus on knife crime, the disruption of organised crime groups (including rural crime), County drug lines and making the best use of time and resources by effectively reducing need.

·                     Information provided on call volumes.  The average time to answer 101 calls during April-September 2018 had been 8 minutes, but this had reduced to an average of 3 minutes as of September 2019.

·                     Information on Officer assaulted during 2019, as follows:-

o        589 officers assaulted during use of force incident Force wide (26 in Aylesbury Vale).

o        216 officers had been spat at Force wide (5 in Aylesbury Vale).

o        23 officers exposed to blood borne virus risk Force wide (1 in Aylesbury Vale)

·                     Key crime figures over the last 12 months for assault (GBH), rape (domestic), burglary (dwellings and sheds/garages) and theft of vehicles.

·                     That some of the crime prevention programmes had included a Summer Burglary Campaign and targeting Knife Crime

·                     Information on Community Resilience initiatives including the Specials Rural Crime Team, Community Speedwatch and the Farmer Resilience Network.

·                     Information on local issues including County Drug Lines and Organised Crime.

·                     Information on local Problem Solving including responses to street drinking and begging in Kingsbury, operations that had targeted tactical burglary in the north of the Vale and on the Nash travellers’ site.

Members were informed that since 2010 the TVP had seen the force’s size reduce by 700 uniformed officers and 600 back office staff.  The Government had recently  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

No written questions were submitted by Members during September 2019.

Previous Members’ Written Questions and Answers can be accessed at http://democracy.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeId=441

Members were informed that no written questions had been submitted during September 2019.  Previous Members’ written questions could be viewed on the Council’s website via the link printed on the agenda.

Councillor Mrs Macpherson

Leader of the Council and Chairman of the General Purposes Committee

To consider the attached report.

A report, similar to that submitted to the General Purposes Committee on 30 September, 2019, and summarised in the Minutes of that meeting, concerning the final recommendations from the review of Polling Districts and Polling Places, was submitted.

The Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 had introduced a change to the timing of compulsory reviews of UK Parliamentary polling districts and polling places.  All local authorities were required to conduct reviews every five years and needed to conduct this review between 1 October 2018 – 31 January 2020.

This review did not cover the boundaries of District Wards, Parishes, County Divisions or Parliamentary Constituencies. These followed separate processes.

The recommendations to Council were that the majority of polling arrangements be unchanged.  However, Appendix B detailed the options for Stoke Mandeville Village where a change of location was recommended as follows:-

Stoke Mandeville: Stoke Mandeville Village – that the polling station for future elections should be Stoke Mandeville Methodist Church (Eskdale Road), with the current polling Station (Stoke Mandeville Village, also located in Eskdale Road), being retained as a backup option.

The Returning Officer had the power to make variations to the current arrangements after consultation which enabled any issues that arose between the statutory reviews to be addressed.

It was proposed by Councillor Bowles, seconded by Councillor C Adams, and

RESOLVED –

That Council approves the Schedules of Polling Districts and Polling Places attached as appendices A and B to the report submitted, incorporating the change in relation to Stoke Mandeville Village.

There will be an opportunity for Members to ask questions of individual Cabinet Members and Committee Chairmen.

Members had the opportunity to ask questions of individual Cabinet Members and Committee Chairmen about issues affecting their portfolios/Committee activities:-

(a)          Property Management Companies (Councillor Stuchbury) – the Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure informed Members that it was a decision solely for property developers whether they passed open space to the Council (who might then be able to pass it to a Parish Council), or passed the open space to a management company.

(b)          Aylesbury Vale Broadband (Councillors Newcombe, Monger and Mrs Morgan) – the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources informed Members that the sale of AVB to Gigaclear was subject to a non-disclosure agreement which meant that the final position would not be made public until AVB became dormant and the final accounts were settled.  It was possible that this process would not be concluded until after 1 April 2020.

(c)          AVDC Environmental Initiatives (Councillors Monger and Lyons) – the Cabinet Member for Environment and Leisure informed Members that a workshop had been held earlier that day between a range of stakeholders, including the County Council, to look at actioning the environmental initiatives that had been approved by full Council in September.  He also gave an undertaking to issue guidance/instructions to staff and visitors to the Gateway to encourage people to use the revolving front door when accessing the building rather than the automatic opening doors.

(d)          High Speed 2 (impact on Chalk Streams) (Councillor A Cole) – the Cabinet Member for Environment and Leisure informed Members that he was aware that the HS2 project was struggling to find the water supply it needed to tunnel through the Chilterns, which was likely in turn to harm ecologically vulnerable chalk streams in the area.  The Council would continue to lobby HS2 on this as well as many other issues that were detrimentally impacting on the Vale.

(e)          Non-Determination of Planning Applications (Councillor Lyons) – the Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure informed Members that less than 1% of planning applications received by AVDC were appealed due to non-determination.  The reasons that planning applications were not determined within specific times was varied and was often due to outside factors such as waiting for consultation responses from developers or the highways authority.

(f)           Carbon Neutral by 2030 (Councillor Lyons) – the Cabinet Member for Environment and Leisure confirmed that following the September full Council meeting, he would be writing to the Buckinghamshire Shadow Authority asking for the new Buckinghamshire Council to commit to being carbon neutral by 2030.  A copy of that letter would be provided to all Members.

(g)          Targets for Council Tax Collections and new Benefits Claims (Councillor Everitt) – the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources informed Members on Aylesbury Vale’s performance in collecting Council Tax due, and in processing new applications and changes in circumstances for Housing Benefit and Council Tax support.  In all instances, AVDC’s performance was much better and quicker than the targets set by the Government.