Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 5 October 2021. The draft minutes can be viewed at: http://modgov.southsomerset.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CId=141&Year=0

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 5 October 2021 were approved as a correct record and would be signed by the Chairman.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mike Lewis and Paul Maxwell.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (as amended 26 February 2015), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no members of the public present at the meeting.

This is an opportunity for Members to question the progress on issues arising from previous meetings.  However, this does not allow for the re-opening of a debate on any item not forming part of this agenda.

There were no issues raised from previous meetings.

There were no announcements from the Chairman.

The Chairman reminded members that the Scrutiny Committee had not met earlier in November to consider the report on the District Executive agenda for 4 November. However Scrutiny members had considered the report informally and submitted comments by email for consideration. He noted the comments had been raised at District Executive and acknowledged.

Members considered the reports within the District Executive agenda for 2 December 2021 (Informal Consultative Meeting) and raised comments as detailed below. Responses to most questions and comments were provided at Scrutiny Committee (Informal Meeting) by the relevant officers or Portfolio Holder – except those marked by an asterisk:

Corporate Health & Safety Policy (Agenda item 6)

·        *A member asked if there was anything relating to Health & Safety included within the corporate performance reporting, such as number incidents reported etc. They felt it would be useful for members to have an overview of the number and type of incidents.

·        *Agenda page 15, paras 2.9 and 2.10 refer to RIDDOR – a member noted there was no explanation for the acronym, and that a brief explanation would be useful.

·        *Agenda page 23, para 3.20 – asbestos – a member sought clarification that checks are carried out on properties we may look to purchase and also that the asbestos register is up to date for all properties the authority currently owns.

·        *Agenda page 23, para 3.21 – it was noted reference was made to premises – does this include risks to all our land holdings, in particular small parcels of land? – are H & S inspections carried on all our land?

·        *Agenda item 25, para 3.26 – small typo in the fourth bullet point about stress – ‘signs of’ is duplicated.

Chard Shop Front Design Guide (Agenda item 7)

·        Regarding a grant scheme to help shop owners – a member enquired what the criteria would be and up to what percentage would we support?

·        *A member noted a recent local press article (third party) seemed to infer that £4m was being spent in Chard, which they thought was incorrect. Clarification on the amount of funding was requested. If the detail reported in the press was indeed incorrect it was suggested that may be Comms could do something to help correct the detail in order to help manage public expectations.

·        Some members sought clarity about how much weight the design guide would have in planning terms. Would it be enforceable when adopted as a statutory planning document?

·        A member noted the guide was very retail focussed and queried if any consultation had taken place about possibly changing some of the premises into ‘experience’ venues as this would likely change some frontage requirements?

COVID Recovery and Renewal Strategy: six months progress report (Agenda item 8)

·        Members noted 2024 was given as an end date which seems a long way away.

·        *There are complaints from residents that their calls are not being answered or there are long delays – what can be done in the short term to improve the situation?

·        *A member acknowledged that recruitment was challenging and queried how many staff were in Connect, and what the turnover of staff was, especially regarding those moving to other departments? (members acknowledged the detail of this query would be followed up by the Lead Specialist).

2021/22 Revenue Budget Monitoring Report for the Period Ending 30  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85.

The Chairman referred to recent flooding events in the Chard and Ilminster areas. He informed members that he and the Vice-Chairmen had recently met with representatives from the Environment Agency and Somerset Rivers Authority to raise concerns about the flooding, and discuss the possibility of some Scrutiny Task and Finish work. From discussions, there was a possibility for some Task and Finish work looking at flooding events in different catchment areas, with the aim of a Task and Finish report being made by Easter 2022. The work of the Joint Scrutiny Panel of the Somerset Rivers Authority was acknowledged, however the Task and Finish work being proposed was about localism, and he asked for members thoughts on setting up a Task and Finish group.

In response, members expressed their general support for the idea. The Chairman advised that he would request the Specialist (Scrutiny & Member Development) to circulate an invite for members to join the Task and Finish group.

Regarding other ongoing Task and Finish Groups, the Chairman provided a brief verbal update including:

·        Council Tax Support Scheme (2022) - no update

·        Productivity Analysis - on hold

·        SSDC Environment Strategy - there will be a member workshop on 14 December - Environment Strategy prioritisation. Officers will be attending to discuss options and budget implications.

The Chairman referred to the Local Government Reorganisation and a recent member workshop/briefing regarding the setting up of a Joint Scrutiny Committee. SSDC had been requested to put forward two representatives for the Joint Scrutiny Committee (both to be Liberal Democrats), and he informed members this would be Councillors Brian Hamilton and Paul Maxwell.

The Chairman noted that the new Task and Finish group for flooding would be added to the Scrutiny Work Programme.

The status of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) item on the Work Programme was briefly discussed as a confidential member workshop had been held prior to this Scrutiny Committee meeting. It was suggested and agreed to delete the current CIL item from the programme but to request six-monthly updates, possibly April and October, to keep Scrutiny up to date.

During discussion it was agreed that the item on S106 SWAP audit findings should remain on the work programme. Members were content to note the Work Programme and the suggested updates to be made.

Members noted that the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee was scheduled for Tuesday 4 January 2022 at 10.30am - as a virtual meeting using Zoom.