Meeting documents

The Chairman welcomed all to the Commission Meeting particularly the new Head of Democratic, Legal & Policy Services Catherine Whitehead, along with the Chief Executive Karen Satterford, in her role as Chair of the Community Safety Partnership, ably supported by her Community Safety team.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Improvement & Review Commission held on 13 June 2016, be approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

The meeting was given a comprehensive and informative presentation on the achievements of the Wycombe Community Safety Partnership by Daniel Sullivan (Wycombe District Council – Prevent Strategic Co-ordinator - Community Services) aided by Chair of the Partnership; Karen Satterford and Superintendent Ed McLean (Commander Wycombe Local Police Area – Thames Valley Police).

Karen Satterford, as Chair of the Partnership, explained that the Community Safety Partnership was obliged to publish a 3 year plan to be updated annually, the current 2016-17 plan being appended to the agenda. The Partnership by statute was obliged to refer the plan annually to the appropriate scrutiny body of the Council. Referring to a power point presentation Daniel Sullivan outlined the key crime statistics for the District, picking out the major reductions and the major increases in 2014/15 from the below:

The five priorities of the Partnership Plan for the current year were outlined:

·         Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour;

·         Domestic Abuse;

·         Exploitation of the Vulnerable;

·         Continuation of the work of the Nightsafe Partnership; and

·         Cybercrime.

It was explained that Anti-Social behaviour consistently came in a top priority in public consultations, whilst Domestic Abuse had been prioritised due to its impact on victims, which could not be overstated. The Nightsafe initiative had been a great success which could be built on and expanded, whilst exploitation of the vulnerable was a Thames Valley-wide priority. Cybercrime a new priority was explained in that it represented all Internet enabled crime; the problem of the lack of designated statute and offences for the crimes perpetrated was referenced.

The Partnership’s approach to Anti-Social behaviour was now not just reactionary but looked into the underlying causes of problems, a new suite of tools was utilised and a new officer had recently be appointed at Wycombe District Council to build on this work.

The Partnership were looking to increase the reporting of domestic abuse; a traditionally under reported crime. An initiative to raise awareness was being implemented. Wycombe as a District was blessed to have the Wycombe Domestic Violence Refuge and its volunteers who played a major role in supporting the Partnership in respect of this priority.

In respect of Exploitation of the Vulnerable a new approach of not looking at the crime types but focussing on the victim areas was being utilised. In respect of Child Sexual Exploitation, successes had been achieved, but much was still to be done. Wycombe remained a priority area in respect of the Prevent Delivery Plan three main areas of ideology; individuals  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Chairman of the Local Plan Task and Finish Group; Councillor H L McCarthy was away on leave so unable to attend the Commission Meeting and give an update on the Group’s recent meeting with the Portfolio-holder for Planning (Tuesday 6 September 2016).

However he had entrusted the update to the Group Vice-Chairman Councillor A D Collingwood.

The Vice Chairman emphasised that the Group Meeting had been most informative in respect of the progress of the Local Plan and the recent consultation. The Group had outlined a number of queries that had been answered and explained by Councillor Johncock and his Planning team amongst which were the following issues:

·         The volume of consultation responses and drop in session attendance;

·         The areas where the largest number of responses had been received;

·         An update on the Sustainability Appraisal;

·         An update on the Duty to Co-operate with Neighbouring Authorities (particularly Aylesbury Vale);

·         The Economic Impact  inclusive of the Housing and Economic Needs Assessment;

·         Transportation, Education and Medical / GP provision impacts;

·         Developer contributions via Section 106 agreements and CIL (Community Infrastructure Levies); and

·         The timetable in respect of the Plan with a planned finalisation by Cabinet and Council in December 2016 with a six-week statutory consultation early in the New Year.

Following on from the Group Meeting, a number of other issues had become apparent to the Group Chairman and Vice-Chairman which they felt clarification was required on.

Without a formal report before the Commission outlining the recent work of the Local Plan Task and Finish Group, the Meeting discussed the issues outlined in this verbal update, at length.

It was re-iterated by Commission Members that they appreciated the extensive, professional and expert work being carried out by the Planning Service and the exceptionally demanding deadlines that the Service was working to.

It was felt that these subsequent concerns should be referred to the Cabinet Member for Planning and his team for clarification and assurance. Delegated authority was given to the Head of Democratic, Legal and Policy Services (in consultation with the Commission Chairman) to effect and obtain these responses for Commission Members as promptly as possible.

The status of the current task and finish groups was considered and discussed.

The Budget Task and Finish Group was due to meet for the first time the next week in respect of Phase 1 of its work: recommendations for inclusion in the 2017-18 Budget.

The Regeneration Delivery Task and Finish Group was due to meet after the key Member Seminar in respect of Housing Regeneration on Wednesday 28 September 2016. The Group being due to submit its recommendations report to the Wednesday 9 November Commission meeting.

The Rural Issues Task and Finish Group was similarly due to report to the November Commission meeting.

Members were asked to note that the responses of Cabinet to the recommendations of the ICT Task and Finish Group recommendations were to be considered at the forthcoming Cabinet meeting of Monday 19 September 2016. A progress report from the Cabinet Member in respect of these recommendations was scheduled before the Commission at its January 2017 meeting.

Given the considerable number of items scheduled for the Commission’s 9 November 2016 meeting, it was agreed that an extra Commission meeting be scheduled for mid-October (Democratic Services to establish a suitable date) to consider any items on the work programme for November. Ideally the update from the Housing Portfolio-holder on Saunderton Lodge and housing as a whole could be dealt with, along with a similar update from the Cabinet Member for Environment on that service, inclusive of the Waste Contract and the ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) Car Parking system.

No topics were identified on the attached Cabinet Forward Plan for review by the Commission at future meetings.

RESOLVED: That;

(i)            the update on the Work Programme and current task and finish groups be noted; and

(ii)          an extra Commission meeting be scheduled for mid-October to deal with some of the considerable number of items scheduled for the scheduled 9 November 2016 Commission meeting.

There were no Councillor Calls for Action.