To receive announcements and business brought forward by the Mayor, Leader, and Members of the Cabinet or the Chief Executive.
4.1 By the Mayor:
4.2 By the Chief Executive:
4.3 By the Group Leaders: Any apologies for absence
4.4 Council Leader and Members of the Cabinet:
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Councillor Williams Leader of the Council Councillor G Sutton Planning and Infrastructure Councillor Elliot Finance and Resources Councillor Griffiths Housing Councillor Williams Corporate and Contracted Services |
Councillor Anderson Environmental Services
Councillor Banks Community and Regulatory Services
Decision:
4.1 By the
Mayor:
The Mayor highlighted that 2020 was the year of Culture across Hertfordshire. There were various items planned in the various districts and boroughs but unfortunately most had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. A short video was presented of some of the events that did go ahead and the Mayor said he hoped it offered some joy from what was a very difficult year.
4.2 By
the Chief Executive:
C Hamilton advised that the following elections will take place on 6th May 2021:
The Hertfordshire County Council Election
The Hertfordshire Police & Crime Commissioner Election
The Tring Central Ward, Dacorum Borough Council Election &
The Tring Town Council, Bunstrux Ward Election
4.3 By the Group
Leaders:
Councillor Williams gave apologies on behalf of Councillor
Oguchi.
4.4 Council Leader and Members of the Cabinet:
(Full details are in the minutes under Announcements of the Leader and Cabinet).
Minutes:
4.1 By the
Mayor:
The Mayor highlighted that 2020 was the year of Culture across Hertfordshire. There were various items planned in the various districts and boroughs but unfortunately most had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. A short video was presented of some of the events that did go ahead and the Mayor said he hoped it offered some joy from what was a very difficult year.
4.2 By
the Chief Executive:
C Hamilton advised that the following elections will take place on 6th May 2021:
The Hertfordshire County Council Election
The Hertfordshire Police & Crime Commissioner Election
The Tring Central Ward, Dacorum Borough Council Election &
The Tring Town Council, Bunstrux Ward Election
4.3 By the Group
Leaders:
Councillor Williams gave apologies on behalf of Councillor
Oguchi.
4.4 Council Leader and Members of the Cabinet:
Councillor Williams, Leader of the Council
The Leader presented his update as follows:
At the last council meeting Councillor Tindall asked a question relating to the rollout of full fibre broadband. I have updated Councillor Tindall but didn’t give a written answer because there really wasn’t much I could add to the information I had. I have done some research on this and I’ve got back information on the rollout of 5G which I appreciate is not exactly the question that Councillor Tindall asked. In relation to the question around full fibre broadband I haven’t been able to get any additional information which relates to the speed of the rollout for Dacorum but I was able to advise Councillor Tindall that the Local Enterprise Partnership is doing work on the rollout across Hertfordshire which will include Dacorum. They are due to report towards the end of this month or early next month and that will give us an update on how that rollout is going for the whole of Hertfordshire.
Happy to take questions.
Questions:
Councillor Pringle asked if the Leader could confirm that following the meeting of the Northchurch Parish Council emergency general meeting on Monday of this week, to which The Mayor had been invited, that he was able to report back to yourself the extremely poor experiences of Northchurch residents in accessing and understanding the consultation on the portal. In particular one resident, Mrs Anne Smith, had reported that she had taken some nine hours last Saturday to submit her response.
The Mayor wished to clarify that he was in attendance at that meeting as the Hertfordshire County Councillor for Bridgewater Division but not as the Mayor of Dacorum.
The Leader replied that he and The Mayor hadn’t discussed anything from that meeting so he was not aware of the issues to which Councillor Pringle was referring to. Clearly if people are taking that length of time that is very disappointing but for the majority of people online access was available. He felt there wasn’t much more he could add as he wasn’t aware of the discussion that took place at that meeting.
Councillor Pringle said Mrs Anne Smith was well known to her, she was a very intelligent person as many of her residents also were and despite having degrees and jobs in ICT, they have found the process confusing and baffling. She asked the Leader if he had similar communication with his residents or did he not encourage so much feedback?
The Leader felt it was probably more typical of wards within Hemel Hempstead that the feedback is lower than it may be in the rural areas. He said he hadn’t received any comments from residents in his ward about access to the consultation. He added that leaflets had been delivered to the whole of his ward in November-December to advise of the consultation but had to stop when it became unlawful.
Councillor Symington welcomed that there was so many members of the public observing the meeting. She asked; to improve access ability, to promote openness and transparency and also accountability, could instructions on how a member of the public can attend this meeting or other similar council meetings be published on the agenda?
The Leader replied; yes they can and he will ensure that people know they need to contact Member Support for the link to meetings and this information will be published on future agendas. Moving forward to when we’re able to resume to in person meetings again, the technology had been upgraded at The Forum to webcast meetings live as they happen so people will be able to see them in real time.
Councillor Symington queried if it would be possible to not only broadcast our scrutiny committee meetings but to also make them available to the public?
The Leader reiterated his previous answer that we had incorporated the facility to now live stream our meetings when we’re back in the Forum and we should be able to do that for all meetings.
Councillor Freedman said, as highlighted by the recent DBC booklet concerning the current consultation, Councillor G Sutton confirmed that Council leafleting incurs an acceptable number of voids, i.e. missed deliveries. He asked what level of voids was deemed acceptable and further asked what advice could be given to residents who are repeatedly excluded from DBC distributions?
The Leader said he didn’t have access to the contract during this meeting so couldn’t advise on the acceptable void level or to what service level agreement we’ve got with the delivery company. He advised he would need to submit a written response.
Councillor G Sutton, Portfolio Holder for Planning & Infrastructure
The Portfolio Holder presented his update as follows:
PAYMENT OF GRANTS TO SUPPORT BUSINESSES CONTINUES
The Economic Development service has now verified and allocated payment of over £1m to 570 businesses, and has signposted many other businesses towards other relevant grants available. The service is also speaking to many of these businesses and offering support, advice and referral where possible to help recovery.
HEMEL TOWN CENTRE TO GET NEW APP
Hemel Town Centre BID, supported by the Council’s Economic Development team has moved forward with the development of a smartphone APP for the town centre to help to increase footfall into the town and promote the area and all of its offers.
The Government’s Re-opening High Streets Safely fund has supported this with 50% of the funding for the set-up of the app. This will be delivered through Loyal Free, a provider of apps for town centres, and there will be a marketing campaign to get as many people as possible to download and use the new App.
The Economic Development service is also looking to widen the presence of this kind of information across the whole Borough. This will benefit our high streets in Dacorum and also the wider visitor/tourism offer for the area and the hospitality sector too. We are currently tendering for this work and I hope to give news soon of the outcome.
SUPPORTING OUR HIGH STREETS FOR SAFE AND SUCCESSFUL RE-OPENING
The Re-opening High Streets Safely project managed by the Economic Development team has been working with high street partnerships across the Borough and has agreed new and additional signage for Hemel Town Centre, The Old Town, Berkhamsted and Tring to include safety messages and encourage people to return safely once the restrictions are lifted. There will also be promotional videos prepared and a platform for the businesses to access training and advice on how to operate safely and successfully as things move forward out of lockdown. This will be launched in early March.
INJUNCTION SERVED IN MARKYATE
Officers were alerted to unauthorised works to a grade II Listed Building at 121 High Street Markyate over the weekend 30th/31st January.
Having advised the owner to stop, no further works took place during the following week, but recommenced again for the weekend of 6-7 February. Given this, the Council then applied for and received an injunction to prevent further works to the building. Officers visited the site on 16th February and were able to access to the interior for the first time. Internally they discovered that works had been undertaken without consent that were unacceptable. We are now working towards getting these matters resolved and the building restored.
LOCAL PLAN CONSULTATION NEARS A CLOSE
A reminder that our consultation on the new draft Local Plan ends at 2359 hrs on 28 February.
As of today, 2,136 comments from 586 people and organisations have been logged, and there have been 5,049 visits to the Local Plan consultation pages of the website accessing 46,132 pages of online consultation material.
Questions:
Councillor Symington thanked Councillor Sutton and referred to a presentation given by the Chief Executive the previous evening in which it was mentioned that consultants had completed a report on Hemel Hempstead Town centre, particularly retail. The Councillor asked; can those sort of consultations be extended to other parts of the Borough where other Town Centres & villages are suffering very similar problems?
Councillor Sutton responded to advise that we will most certainly be looking at all the towns and villages within the borough and carrying out whatever initiatives there are to reinvigorate those very important areas of the Borough, using whatever means we can to ensure they included in business strategy.
Councillor Pringle referred to Councillor Sutton’s response, stating that he referenced a number of villages but he omitted to mention Northchurch, asking if that is an important area or not?
Councillor Sutton responded that he stated ‘all towns and villages’ and did not mention them all by name, confirming Northchurch is included as one of those important areas of the Borough.
There were no further questions.
Councillor Elliot, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Resources
The Portfolio Holder presented his update as follows:
Financial Services
Financial Services continues to lead on the financial reporting and monitoring requirements arising from the coronavirus pandemic to ensure the Council secures the pandemic –related
Government funding it is eligible for.
The service is also supporting the payment of national Covid-19 Business grants and test and trace support payments, to ensure funds are distributed promptly and accurately.
Alongside the monitoring of the current financial position, the budget setting process for 2021/22 has been the team’s current focus, concluding this evening with the recommendation for council to approve the 21/22 budget.
The role of the accounts receivable service in the collection of debt is becoming more challenging as the pandemic continues. The service is working incredibly hard with our partners to find short and medium term solutions that support the local business economy.
Finance has been instrumental in supporting the payment and processing of over £35 million of business grants to date, with additional grants being announced as part of the Covid roadmap
Commercial Assets and Property Development
The Commercial Assets service is busy liaising, and working in partnership with existing tenants through this difficult financial period, to ensure we support the local economy where possible. The announcement of the Covid road map brings the first positive signs of improved market conditions but the service will continue to liaise with tenants in a positive manner.
The Building services team are continuing to liaise with Health partners and the County Council to support the Covid response in regards to assets and locations for vaccination and testing. The production of the Covid roadmap now requires additional asset planning as different facilities will be looking to open in line with the roadmap. The service will now start planning for further council assets to be opened in line with the roadmap projections.
Revenues and Benefits service
The revenues & benefits team continue to respond to government announcements in regards to business grants, test and trace support payments and business rates relief. Dacorum is now part of an additional Hertfordshire wide Test and Trace support payment scheme that is providing additional financial resources to support the most financially vulnerable, when and if they are required to isolate.
At present the service is managing 8 open Business grant schemes with differing criteria and policies and has paid over £35m of business grants to over 3000 businesses to date. The new roadmap means additional closedown grants will be allocated to business up to the end of the financial year and next month’s budget is expected to deliver additional business support payments and policies for the service to implement going forward.
Questions:
Councillor Silwal asked; with regard the commercial assets that DBC own, what is the percentage that are fully let against targets?
Councillor Elliot responded that 95.24% of our commercial assets are fully rented, against the target of 95%. The Portfolio Holder commented that in his time as Portfolio Holder for Finance & Resources he has not seen such a good figure. He further commented that, however, many of our tenants are currently closed due to COVID-19 restrictions and we will have to wait to see what the impact is on those businesses once the roadmap to opening progresses.
Councillor Silwal asked; what is the demand in the Borough for commercial properties?
Councillor Elliot responded that the Estates department have indicated that there is a very high demand for commercial properties, particularly in the start-up and small business area; we could rent small industrial units to around 5x the volume we have.
Councillor Rogers thanked the Portfolio Holder for the update and commented that it sounds very positive given the pandemic. He commented, with regard to business, he is interested to see what the commercial market looks like with regards rent and demand in current position and what the forecast might be for future.
Councillor Elliot commented that of the current unlet properties, which equates to 29 vacant properties. Of those, 4 are with legal at this time with leases being drawn up, 1 is being marketed and the other 24 are being refurbished with the view to bringing them to market.
Councillor Symington thanked the Portfolio Holder and commented, picking up on a question asked by Councillor Silwal regarding commercial property; my understanding was that this area had taken quite a hit in last year’s budget where the income was not being received. The Councillor asked; is the current level due to holiday rents etc. and how do those figures correlate?
Councillor Elliot responded to advise that around 20% of commercial properties are on payment plans, advising that we did forecast for approx. £1m shortfall in commercial rents in our commercial assets due to business not being able to sustain during the pandemic; this was something that was anticipated and budgeted for. The Portfolio Holder further commented that there are varying types of businesses and that it is those such as hairdressers and charity shops that are suffering at the moment due to not being able to open. The Portfolio Holder reflected that in comparison to larger commercial enterprises we are lucky that we have many businesses in our shopping areas that are vital to our local economy that have been able to remain open.
Councillor Symington thanked the Portfolio Holder for his answer.
There were no further questions.
Councillor Griffiths, Portfolio Holder for Housing
The Portfolio Holder presented her update as follows:
Tenant and Leaseholder Services
· The Income and Tenancy Sustainment Teams have continued to successfully supported tenants to claim welfare benefits that they were entitled to, but unsure how to make the claims, such as Universal Credit, Discretionary Housing Payments and Personal Independence Payment (PIP). This totals over £41k since Christmas plus additional Housing Benefit backdates. This extra income makes a huge difference especially where one income officer got a Universal Credit backdate of £3030 for one tenant and £1245 for another. Additionally tenant in Supported Housing was successful for a backdated PIP claim to February 2018 and received £6000. Tenants have also been supported to move to better suited accommodation, freeing up larger homes to be re-let to families who need them.
· Rent arrears are currently at 4.57% compared with 4.05% the same time last year which is due to the supportive and proactive approach by the team. This is an excellent result considering the financial difficulties experienced by tenants because of covid-19.
· A review of the role of the Housing Officers – Tenancy and ASB Officers has been undertaken so that their roles are clearer. Housing Officer – Tenancy will know be known as Tenancy Management Officers and will focus on proactive housing management and visits to new and existing tenants alongside managing aspects of the tenancy agreement. This will align with the 5 years visits we intended to roll out in April but have been delayed until we can safely visit tenants in their homes again. More information about this will be provided to members over the coming month.
· During lockdown the Supported housing team have been working creatively to reduce the impact of social isolation on our tenants. Zoom dance classes, doorstep bake off competitions and regular newsletters have all helped to provide a bit of light relief during these challenging times.
Strategic Housing
· £5k Protect plus funding obtained from MHCLG to provide support to those at risk of rough sleeping – funding has been used to extend Crash Pod provision at the Elms
· Full stakeholder consultation commencing in relation to the review of the council’s Housing Allocations Policy
· Compilation of evidence following illegal eviction of 2 private sector tenants – consideration of enforcement action against relevant PRS landlord
· Currently providing advice and support to 45 households under threat of losing current accommodation in the private rented sector
Property and Place
· The ongoing pressure of the Pandemic and requirement to work from home where possible to help limit the spread of the virus is continuing to put pressure on all work streams within Property and Place. Where possible staff are working from home with only essential inspections and surveys carried out to ensure residents safety and service delivery.
· All Maintenance activities are continually being reviewed from a health and safety perspective to ensure safe systems of work are in operation in-accordance with Government guidelines. Risk and method statements developed by our supply chain partners are in place and appropriate for the work activities to ensure residents and operatives safety at all times.
· Statutory and cyclical compliance works are continuing, with high performance being achieved to ensure residents safety within their homes.
· The current scope of works being undertaken in terms of maintenance and refurbishment being undertaken has continued suspension of non-essential internal Planned Works.
· The Cleaning Team are using the sterilisation fogging machines to provide enhanced protection in sheltered housing schemes, to help combat the potential spread of the virus. This is being undertake every two weeks and feedback from residents has been positive on this approach.
Housing Development
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Martindale |
1 No market sale unit to sell, the previous buyer recently withdrew. |
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St Margaret’s Way |
Awaiting formal feedback from the DBC Community Review Panel. |
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Mountbatten View (Paradise Fields) |
Planning Application approved subject to resolving an Ecology issue and the issue of a Section 106. 4 Contractor returns received after Expression of Interest have been issued via the Catalyst Housing Framework. |
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Bingham Mews |
Completed, handover took place on 26th Feb. Residents have moved in. |
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Eastwick Row |
Mobilising project to start in April with some enabling works taking place in January & February. (namely tree works prior to the nesting season) Awaiting approval from HCC Highways for the construction traffic haul road. |
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Coniston Road |
Mobilising project to start in March with some enabling works taking place in January & February. (namely tree works prior to the nesting season) |
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Wilstone |
Planning Application submitted. |
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LA1 |
Design completed to stage 1. Revised brief received to accommodate access road for Homes England. DB presented scheme to Local Councillors, parking issues in the area raised as the primary concern. |
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Garage Sites |
6 No Planning applications submitted. Housewood End and Dione Road are going before Planning Committee this week. |
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Randall’s Ride |
Planning Application submitted. |
Questions:
Councillor England noted the report and congratulated officers on the way they are helping those suffering difficulties resultant from the COVID-19 pandemic and asked; does the Portfolio Holder agree, as mentioned in her report that it is sensible for some tenancy engagement to be suspended until April, that this should apply to the Local Plan consultation also?
The Portfolio Holder responded to clarify that what she was referring to is not tenancy engagement, it is not consultation; it referred home visits, physically going into their homes and is very different.
Councillor England took the point regarding visiting homes and apologised for the misunderstanding, he commented; residents are being asked to attend public libraries to view these Local Plan documents which are very long, asking, does the Portfolio Holder see an equivalence there?
Councillor Griffiths responded it was not her understanding that the Council is recommending anyone goes to the library as libraries are not open.
Councillor Elliot asked the Portfolio Holder; would you agree the Martindale site sets a template for the council to provide good quality partly funded through homes for sale?
Councillor Griffiths responded that she would agree but emphasised that since taking control of housing in 2021 and being able to build all our social housing homes have been at social rent, this was a conscious effort between herself as Portfolio Holder and the leader; this does make the cost of the build more expensive. When we have a larger site it makes more sense that we sell off some of the houses so that we can maintain the social rent for our tenants, rather than renting at the affordable rent levels which are higher. This is the policy of this Council.
Councillor Elliot referred to the houses for sale that helped fund the site and asked; did all the houses sell and did they meet the asking price?
Councillor Griffiths confirmed they all received their asking price and advised that the Council had sold all houses however one sale as quite recently fallen through and the property will be remarketed.
There were no further questions.
Councillor Williams, Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Contracted Services
The Portfolio Holder presented his update as follows:
The Chief Executive mentioned at the start of the meeting that Elections will be going ahead on 6th May and I just wanted to expand on the fact that we are working closely with colleagues across the County (as it’s a County Council Election) to ensure that these Elections are run COVID secure. There is significant guidance coming from the government on a regular basis about how that should be done and the changes to the process that in particular the candidates will have to undertake as the Elections approach. Details of Election dates will be announced on our website on 19th March, which is when the Elections are officially called.
We have been successful in securing a grant from the government as part of the leisure recovery fund and that will help us to support leisure providers across the borough. He said members would be aware that leisure providers have been struggling quite a lot with the lockdown and the inability to open venues, run events and provide the activities they normally would so hopefully that will give some support to that sector as we begin to come out of lockdown.
With regards to a previous question from Councillor Symington about the survey of Hemel Hempstead Town Centre, I just want to point out that it wasn’t a survey carried out by the Borough Council. We have no plans to carry out such a survey and haven’t contracted for that. The survey relating to Hemel Hempstead Town Centre was one carried out on comparing towns up and down the country and was carried out by one of the large audit firms to monitor the effect of COVID on town centres going forward.
Questions:
There were no questions for the Portfolio Holder.
Councillor Anderson, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services
The Portfolio Holder presented his update as follows:
Once again I would like to pay tribute to the council staff at Cupid Green for keeping environmental services as close to normal as they can despite the circumstances of the pandemic. All the more on this occasion because as people may not have been aware one of the Prime Ministers announcements last week concerned putting certain people with underlying health problems back into shielding. We are still waiting to find out the detail of that but that potentially puts our staff under even more pressure so I would just like to ask colleagues and the members of public to bear in mind that our staff are under pressure and trying to provide services as normal as possible. If we do have to employ more temporary staff that will have a knock on effect in terms of the councils overspend due to COVID.
Refuse:
We have 14 new refuse trucks arriving shortly.
Trees:
Members of the Strategic Planning and Environment OSC will have received the draft Trees and Woodlands Policy which will go to Cabinet and Council and that governs how the council maintains trees in public ownership. During that discussion we publicised the fact that we now use a system called Cavat which puts a value on public trees so that we can protect them better. It also means that if public trees are damaged by members of the public we have some way of recovering some recompense for that damage. Members of the committee were very keen that the system was publicised. I understand that an article has been written for the next Dacorum Digest to advise members of the public on how to get tree preservation orders for trees in private ownership but also the process in terms of warning people that they’re not entitled to damage public assets.
Also on the subject of trees I am pleased to announce that most of the 1200 trees that we were planting in the first tranche have now been planted. There is some minor whips and small saplings work that needs doing across the borough. I know on social media that people have spoken well of the new trees planted in Ley Hill and on Keens Field and those are just two examples of our commitment to mitigate climate change as much as we can in a practical way.
Happy to take questions.
Questions:
Councillor England picked up on the point regarding tree planting and referred to Keens Field being a site where a number of trees have been planted, commenting that he had cause to talk to the tree officer and in the course of that he mentioned that it is normal for there to be loss through thinning of two thirds of the original tress that are planted, so when as a Borough we think about the number of trees that we plant, do we talk about the number we expect to reach maturity or the number that go into the ground in the first place?
Councillor Anderson responded that he would have to investigate and provide a written response.
Councillor England commented that he would forward a copy of the email that refers to the Portfolio Holder.
Councillor Symington thanked the Portfolio Holder and noted she had seen a recent media update regarding roll out of food recycling to flats.
Councillor Anderson responded that roll out was completed in September; there had been a pilot previously that worked well but this has now been extended to the whole Borough.
Councillor Symington commented that she was following up on an article which claims there has been a very successful increase in food recycling, asking is that what we want? Surely we want people to reduce food waste not increase it?
Councillor Anderson responded this is double edge sword; we do want to reduce the waste people produce, including reducing single use plastics alongside other schemes the council has to impact this. The other side is, you will never cut food waste out completely, and that being the case it is important to maximise the recycling of it. The Portfolio Holder added that the Council has a waste composition exercise every 5 years, recently undertaken in autumn; expressing that one of his concerns is the amount of food waste that still goes in grey bins; want to increase the capture rate of food waste to the correct recycling route.
There were no further questions.
Councillor Banks, Portfolio Holder for Community and Regulatory Services
The Portfolio Holder presented her update as follows:
Having viewed the HYOC2020 film – I have little left to say perhaps other than to draw your attention to our latest initiative the Chatty Café.
Active Dacorum is delighted to be working in partnership The Chatty Café Scheme this was started to help bring people together and our now Virtual Chatty Cafes will be running weekly on Zoom. These are a relaxed and informal way to chat and connect with others in Dacorum, which in turn reduces loneliness and supports wellbeing.
They are weekly sessions for anyone aged 18+ and one specifically each week for 18-30 year olds. Anyone who would like to join can email jenny@thechattycafescheme.co.uk for a link.
Turning to Regulatory services, COVID remains the number one priority and I am pleased to report the majority of businesses continue to be compliant. I am sure members will join me in congratulating our dedicated officers - Dacorum was ranked in the top 5% (16/315) of authorities for Test and Trace effectiveness.
During January, the Team investigated 128 positive cases in the community that the National and County Track and Trace scheme could not reach Dacorum Borough Council now has 6 COVID Advisors funded by HCC. The aim of these advisors is to support residents, businesses and the community in complying with COVID regulations. If they come across significant non-compliance these cases will be referred to the Environmental Health Team or the Police as appropriate. The advisors are here to help and support with compliance.
The Corporate Health & Safety Team continues to support departments to provide COVID advice and guidance to safe guard our own employees, ranging from risk assessments, advice to staff with positive COVID tests and associated contacts with self-isolation. Critically they will be supporting the elections team with ensuring the Borough has a Covid –safe election.
The Operations Team have had significant success with a filthy and verminous property. Following the service of notices on the premises, our team have worked to remove the refuse and debris from the property and then alongside the aids and adaptions teams worked to ensure that this premises is fit for safe for the resident to return.
Finally, turning to fly tipping, the highways fly tipping numbers have been slightly higher month on month 8 in January last year 13 this year. In 2020-2021 up to the end of January, Environmental Enforcement has issued Fixed Penalty Notice’s as follows;
Fly tipping = 32, Fly tipping duty of care (householder) = 4, Littering (a bag of rubbish - low level) fly tipping = 8
Prosecutions to date = 1 Pepperstock
Prosecutions pending = 3, 1 in Grovehill and 2 in the Flamstead area
Happy to take questions.
Questions:
Councillor Griffiths asked that thanks be passed on from her ward for the support offered by Alex Care in finding a permanent home for Sid the Snake in Leverstock green; Sid is a snake made up of painted stones that is now over 300 stones long.
Councillor Banks responded that she was very aware of Sid the Snake and is elated to know that it is secure in place in Leverstock Green.
Councillor Barry commented that the Chatty Café is such a great thing to do when so many people are experience isolation, but on that same note asked; why are skate parks boarded up?
Councillor Banks responded that officers have responded to guidance from government and skate parks are closed under current lockdown rules, playgrounds are permitted to stay open.
Councillor Barry asked; at what stage in the roadmap are skate parks due to reopen?
Councillor Banks responded that she would check that information and respond in writing.
Councillor Silwal addressed the Portfolio Holder and asked, will there be any events for Armed Forces Day this year?
Councillor Banks provided an update that the Armed Forces day is usually a celebration that takes place on 26 June; particularly important this year due to the support the Armed Forces have given the NHS and the fact that the Royal British Legion will be celebrating a birthday. The Portfolio Holder advised that unfortunately this year we cannot hold a public event but are working closely with officers to see what can be delivered either virtually or at a safe distance. We are looking at things such as films depicting local residents and their experiences, looking at visual displays of artwork, running competitions involving all age groups, work being done on delivering fun runs and walking events. She hoped these will be looked at as fundraisers for Armed Forces charities and the Mayors charities.
Councillor Bhinder referred to fly tipping as something to be passionate about and commented that he is pleased to hear reports on that. He asked the Portfolio Holder to extend on the type of media based evidence used by council to take action against perpetrators.
The Portfolio Holder responded that she is passionate about state of the Borough’s streets. She advised that it starts with officers opening and going through the piles of rubbish that are dumped. We use our covert CCTV cameras; 15 out of 32 fixed penalty notices that we have issued had covert CCTV footage as their main evidence. CCTV was also used successfully in a prosecution and of the 3 pending prosecutions, 2 will be using CCTV evidence to inform courts.
Councillor Bhinder expressed curiosity about how legislation works for using CCTV for fly tipping and litter commenting that there has been a lot of adverse publicity nationally regarding using CCTV. Asking the Portfolio Holder, how do we resolve that?
Councillor Banks assured Councillor Bhinder that all officers adhere to the very rigorous guidelines that are laid down and it has to go through courts to get covert cameras approved.
Councillor Rogers referred to Bennetts End community Centre and advised they have been providing day care for the children of keyworkers, asking Portfolio Holder; do you know when the age limit will rise to all children in day care and nurseries?
Councillor Banks responded that she does not have exact date to hand so will have to provide as a written response. She added that pre-schools and nurseries have been running through community centre networks and have been given advice through Environmental Health and Health and Safety officers at the Council to assist them in their risk assessments to ensure they are secure under COVID compliance & restrictions.
Councillor Rogers referred to advising parents dropping off; what advice are we giving to avoid transmission of virus.
Councillor Banks commented that is cross piece working with Health and Safety.
There were no further questions.