Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Ashman, Baldwin, Bass, Bracken, Culverhouse, Egleton, Flys, Gaster, Gemmell, Griffin, Hogg, Hollis, Hunter-Watts, Jackson, Johncock, Kayani, MacBean, Mordue, Naylor, Ng, Rand, Rush, G Smith, Thompson, M Turner, P Turner, L Walsh, Watson and Wilson. Apologies were also received from Rachael Shimmin, Chief Executive and the Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire, Lady Howe.

RESOLVED –

That the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 21 September 2022 be approved as a correct record.

There were none.

The Chairman thanked all Members who had brought along presents for the Christmas 2022 Children’s gift appeal.  Since the last Council meeting, events the Chairman had attended had included 2 citizenship ceremonies, a visit to Cowper and Newton museum, the High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire’s Justice Service, the awards for the Best Kept Villages 2022 competition, Action for Youth Big Night Out, the MK Mayor’s Civic Service, Florence Nightingale Hospice AGM, the Divali Festival of Light, the Aylesbury Town Mayor’s Remembrance Service, and the Buckinghamshire Council Service of Remembrance.

The Vice Chairman of the Council also detailed events she had attended since the last Council meeting which included Kashmiri National Day and flag raising, 3 citizenship ceremonies, the Caribbean exhibition at Wycombe museum, the Remembrance Service at Wycombe, and 2 events, the senior prize giving ceremony and the school concert, at Dr Challoner’s Grammar School.

There were none.

Matthew Barber, Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner and John Campbell QPM, Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, were in attendance to present to members on the work of TVP in Buckinghamshire over the last year.  The Chief Constable was accompanied by Chief Superintendent Michael Loebenberg, Superintendent Emma Burroughs (South Buckinghamshire LPA) and Chief Inspector Robb Webb (Aylesbury LPA).

The Police and Crime Commissioner informed Members that the Chief Constable John Campbell would be retiring in early 2023 and would be replaced by the current Deputy Chief Constable Jason Hogg who had worked for TVP since 2016 with extensive other policing experience since 1995.  Member were then given an overview of the work of TVP over the past year which highlighted the pressures involved in setting the police budget, work being done to improve the ways that the public could contact the police including work to improve the ‘101’ system, and that the police strength (4,861) was the highest ever per head of population for TVP with the recruitment of further Officers continuing.  Priorities for the coming year would include investing in areas of interest to the public, increasing police numbers in neighbourhood policing / community policing and recruiting additional PCSOs to replace those who had transitioned to become Police Officers.

The following key points were highlighted during a presentation from the Chief Constable, with localised information being presented by Superintendent Burroughs and Chief Inspector Webb.  These included:

·               Information was provided on the police area in numbers.  TVP was the largest non-metropolitan Force in England and Wales, covering 2,200 square miles, 3 counties and a population of 2.5m people.  There were 11 Local Police Areas (LPAs), each with a senior command team lead by a Superintendent.

·               The Chief Constable’s Management team.

·               Police numbers (at October 2022) – 4,861 Police Officers, 3,384 Police staff, 288 PCSOs, 229 Special Constables, plus volunteers, cadets and mini police.

·               Police Uplift Recruitment Campaign – the commitment to recruit an extra 609 officers, including details of the work being done to build a workforce that reflected communities and on the entry routes into the Force.

·               The challenges for recruitment, including that a relatively large number of PCSOs had transitioned to become police officers, with most returning in PC roles to serve the LPA.

·               Force activity (1 April to 30 September) – 497,857 contacts from the public, 90,339 incidents attended, 15,099 arrests (including 4,494 for domestic abuse and 445 for knife crime) 

·               Force activity (1 April to 30 September) – with an 8% increase in rape, 105% increase in sexual offences, 55% increase in stalking and harassments.  There had been a 44% increase in domestic abuse formal action and a 21% increase in the volume of crimes resulting in formal action.

·               Force activity (1 April to 30 September) – 4,025 road collisions attended, 3,319 missing persons found and 319 events policed.

·               On workplace initiatives including menopause friendly accreditation and receiving an award for the Most Open Workplace Award.

·               The support provided for Operation London Bridge which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

On 2 August 2022, the Local Government Boundary Commission had published its proposed pattern of wards for Buckinghamshire Council to apply from the Council elections in 2025.  This followed a public consultation earlier in the year during which the Commission had received submissions from various sources, including this Council.  In the event, the Commission did not follow this Council’s submission.

Council had agreed in April 2022 that the Standards and General Purposes Committee should advise Council on the appropriate response to the current consultation.  The Commission was proposing a pattern of 51 wards with, variously, 1, 2 or 3 Member representation, achieving 98 members overall.  The Commission’s proposals could be found on their website here.

While the Commission would of course consider any comments on its proposals, it was not seeking detailed alternative proposals as in earlier stages.  Rather, the Commission was minded to implement the pattern of wards it had proposed and was seeking comments on their practicality.  The Commission had invited views specifically on 10 of its proposals that was where the Commission felt it needed further local evidence to verify its proposals.

In approaching its work, the Committee had been assisted by a cross-party Electoral Review Working Group.  The Group had invited all members of the Council to comment to it on the Commission’s proposals. The Group, and then the Committee, addressed itself as follows:

A)                 Reviewing each of the 10 proposals on which the Commission had invited comment;

B)                 Reviewing any other refinement suggested by local Members.

The Committee’s recommendations were listed at Annex 1 to the Council report. Where a change to the Commission’s proposals was recommended, a plan illustrating the change, and how it differs from the Commission’s original proposals, was included at Annex 2.

The Chairman of the Standards and General Purposes Committee explained that the Committee had been mindful only to suggest changes where they substantially improved upon the Commission’s own proposal, and were made in line with the Commission’s working assumptions that Parishes be kept whole where possible, rural Wards were not too geographical spread out and diverse, Electoral variance was within acceptable limits, and urban and rural areas should not be mixed unless there were clear community identity reasons.

In one instance (Chiltern Ridges), the Committee had felt that the Commission’s ward was too large, diverse and artificial. It had therefore recommended that the constituent parishes be located instead, as appropriate, in Chesham North, Chesham South or Chalfont St Giles & Little Chalfont Wards.

In three cases, the Committee had recommended that the Commission’s individual wards be merged with another in the interests of community identity while retaining electoral variance:

A)                 Grendon Underwood with Steeple Claydon

B)                 Horwood with Winslow

C)                 Newton Longville with Quainton

In other cases, the Committee was proposing a modification to the Commission’s proposals in the interests of community identity.

A)                 Buckingham Ward:  the addition of Leckhampstead Parish (from Horwood Ward)

B)                 Iver and Gerrards Cross & Denham:  recognition that New Denham has no connection with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Members considered the Buckinghamshire Youth Justice Strategic Plan 2022 – 2023. The Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services spoke to the report, which set out details of progress made against agreed outcomes for children and young people, priorities and future challenges for the partnership for 2022 – 2023. Further, the plan highlighted partnership arrangements and the budget position for the Youth Offending Service Partnership.

The following key points were highlighted:

·               That the Council was required to produce a plan each year with the aim of stopping offending, re-offending and reduce custody.

·               The multi-agency work that was being undertaken.  There were 16 targeted schools as part of the aims to reduce exclusions and this included targeting identified problem areas with the help of the police.  It was highlighted that the majority of issues were caused by a small number (68) of young people.

·               That it was statistically true that most young offenders were of either mixed nationality or black, and that a small proportion of white offenders had SEND issues.  These were 2 areas that were looked at and targeted for work.  The Service was fully conversant on issues that needed to be addressed.  Details of the Strategic Plan could be shared with the Member in due course.

·               That the liaison and diversion work mentioned in the report was mostly done by TVP, along with 2 dedicated social workers.  The Cabinet Member would need to speak to the police in order to provide the Member with a fuller response.

RESOLVED –

That the 2022 – 2023 Youth Justice Strategic Plan be agreed.

Members received reports from Cabinet Members. There was an opportunity for Members to ask questions of individual Cabinet Members about matters and issues affecting their portfolios.

Leader of the Council, Councillor Martin Tett

The Leader reported that in the Autumn statement the Government had announced it would be extending and providing additional funding to local Government for local support.  Funding details were unavailable, but it was hoped that it would at least match £2.4m that had previously been provided.  This funding would help to fund the Helping Hands team.  The Leader received comments and questions on New Park, Great Horwood, and on Ukrainian refugees.  Members were informed:

·       That a Leader’s decision would be published very soon – (https://buckinghamshire.moderngov.co.uk/ieDecisionDetailss.aspx?ID=926) that would approve proposals to help mitigate the expected pressure on the demand for accommodation in Buckinghamshire and which related to the volume of Ukrainian citizens (approximately 1,400 people) resettled in the county.  The proposals would help to mitigate this pressure by:

-          Providing support for Buckinghamshire residents to continue/commence hosting.

-          Providing support measures to assist the transition of Ukrainian guests into private rented accommodation.

-          Enabling the use of funding from Government for the Ukraine scheme to develop the supply of temporary accommodation.

A Press Release on how Bucks residents could offer a spare room in their home for a Ukraine guest had also recently been published.

·       That Officers were investigating allegations around how a site in New Park, Great Horwood, was run.  However, as the investigations had not concluded and there were still legal sensitives, the Leader was not able to publicly comment further at the moment.

Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services – Councillor Anita Cranmer

The Cabinet Member received comments and questions on Dyscalculia, the Bourne End Academy, energy efficiency in schools and on the SEND service.  Members were informed:

·       That the Cabinet Member would respond to the Member about testing in Bucks Schools for dyscalculia.

·       That the Cabinet Member joined with local Members in congratulating Bourne End Academy, who had progressed in a couple of years from special measures to now being rated good, and outstanding on leadership and management.  The school had also achieved the best GCSEs at 5+ at English and Maths of any secondary modern school in Bucks and was oversubscribed this year for Year 7 admissions.

·       That the Council could consider what might be done and was possible to assist schools to improve energy efficiency in their buildings (e.g. lighting, light bulbs).

·       That the Cabinet Member would arrange a Teams meeting with a Member to discuss issues including special education needs, dyslexia and speech therapy.

Cabinet Member for Accessible Housing and Resources – Councillor John Chilver

The Cabinet Member received comments and questions on apprenticeships, The Exchange restaurants, customer service awareness, loans to Thurrock Council and social housing.  Members were informed:

·       That since the start of the new Council there had been 19 new apprentices each year.  There were currently 195 members of staff on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The written responses to questions from Members, published as a supplement to the agenda, were noted.

A list of decisions taken by Cabinet Members since the last Full Council meeting on 21 September 2022 were received and noted.

Wednesday 22 February 2023 at 4pm

The next full Council meeting (budget setting) was scheduled to take place on Wednesday 22 February 2023 at 4pm.