Agenda and minutes

Venue: The Jeffrey Room, St. Giles Square, Northampton, NN1 1DE.

Contact: Tracy Tiff, Scrutiny Officer, telephone 01604 837408 (direct dial), email  ttiff@northampton.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors T Eales, Parekh and Sargeant.

2.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 165 KB

Members to approve the minutes of the meeting held on  4 January 2017.

Minutes:

The Chair signed the minutes of the meeting held on 2 February 2017 as a true and accurate record.

3.

Deputations/Public Addresses

The Chair to note public address requests.

 

The public can speak on any agenda item for a maximum of three minutes per speaker per item.  You are not required to register your intention to speak in advance but should arrive at the meeting a few minutes early, complete a Public Address Protocol and notify the Scrutiny Officer of your intention to speak.

Minutes:

Mr Norman Adams, individual, addressed the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on agenda item 5  
Report of the Overview and Scrutiny Reporting and Monitoring Working Group – General Fund MTFP 2017/2018 - 2021/2022, draft Council wide draft budget 2017-2018, Housing Revenue Account (HRA), Rent Setting 2017/18 and Budget Projections 2017/18 to 2021/22

Ms Angela Bartlett, Secretary, WASPRA, and Tom Appleyard, individual, addressed the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on agenda item 6(a) – Keep Northampton Tidy.

4.

Declarations of Interest (Including Whipping)

Members to state any interests.

Minutes:

There were none.

5.

Report of the Overview and Scrutiny Reporting and Monitoring Working Group – General Fund MTFP 2017/2018 - 2021/2022, draft Council wide draft budget 2017-2018, Housing Revenue Account (HRA), Rent Setting 2017/18 and Budget Projections 2017/18 to 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 103 KB

The Committee to under budget scrutiny items as recommended by the Reporting and Monitoring Working Group.

Minutes:

Mr Norman Adams, individual, addressed the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  He commented that since April 2012 there had been a loss of 470 Council properties, equating to 974 bedrooms.  In his opinion, one bedroom properties does not replace what has been lost.   Mr Adams went on to query how many Council properties are currently being used as temporary accommodation. Mr Adams closed his address by commenting that Council housing stock should only be used as permanent housing.

 

Mr Adams was thanked for his address.

 

Glenn Hammons, Chief Finance Officer, presented the report of the Reporting and Monitoring Working Group to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  He highlighted that the Working Group had agreed that two issues would be subject to budget Scrutiny:

 

·         How NPH are delivering within the total fee for Housing Services that NBC provides to them, details around how they are delivering the efficiency savings required with a reducing financial envelope. Outlining the proposed new housing stock development proposals with specific reference to garage sites plans. HRA Budget Risk

 

·         Budget pressures on temporary and bed and breakfast accommodation caused by rising instances of Homelessness and the plans in place to mitigate this

 

Temporary Accommodation

 

Councillor Stephen Hibbert, Cabinet Member for Housing and Wellbeing, and Phil Harris, Head of Housing and Wellbeing, provided information regarding the budget pressures on temporary and bed and breakfast accommodation.  A spreadsheet was circulated, showing the sharp rise in the number of homelessness applications, homelessness acceptances and homeless households in temporary accommodation between November 2015 and October 2016.  It was explained that homelessness is increasing across the country. At the end of October 2016 there had been 140 people in temporary accommodation (a mix of Council stock, self-contained accommodation and Bed and Breakfast) but this has since increased to 169.  Although it was acknowledged that the housing stock should not be overused as temporary accommodation, it was noted that the number of people in bed and breakfast accommodation has increased and more hotels are now being used.

 

Homelessness applications have doubled in the past six months, but Officers have been working very hard to continue making good quality decisions as quickly as possible to prevent a serious backlog of decisions.  

 

The loss of private rented accommodation remains the main cause of homelessness and has increased sharply over the past year. It now accounts for approximately 60% of homelessness acceptances. Other reasons include relationship breakdown and family exclusions.

 

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee was advised that, in order to prevent them from becoming homeless, people are seen as soon as possible. Of the 774 households that were prevented from becoming homeless between November 2015 and October 2016, 101 were helped to secure suitable accommodation in the private rented sector.

 

The Committee asked questions, made comment and heard:

 

·    In answer to a query regarding the prevention of homelessness, Phil Harris advised that Officers will liaise with landlords (to persuade them to renew a tenancy or offer their tenants alternative accommodation), speak with families or help people  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Monitoring of accepted recommendations in Overview and Scrutiny Reports

6a

Keep Northampton Tidy pdf icon PDF 250 KB

Minutes:

Angela Bartlett, Secretary, WASPRA, addressed the Scrutiny Committee.  Ms Bartlett commented that in her opinion she felt that some of the completion actions from the Action Plan were not completed. She referred to two key issues being some of the town centre, Kettering Road, some back streets and the lift in St Michael’s car park. Ms Bartlett had forwarded photographs to the Leader of the Council.  She went on to refer to the road that she lived in and the concern of rubbish on the grass verges and the problem with certain doorways. Ms Bartlett advised that she would be lobbying MPs and Leaders regarding this.  Ms Bartlett felt that actions 9 and 19 were key in the Action Plan. Ms Bartlett commented about fly-tipping and the need for a detailed, long term Action Plan. The Committee was referred to the state of some alleyways, the gathering of leaves in some kerbs and pavements and littering.

 

Mr Tom Appleyard addressed the Scrutiny Committee.  He asked the Committee to imagine being an American Tourist and arriving at Northampton via Junction 15 of the MI. They would be greeted by broken bottles, littering and a number of other unsightly things.    Mr Appleyard went on to speak about the Grosvenor Centre, and accessing it onto Abington Street. There are a number of dropped cigarette butts, chewing gum and in his opinion dirty shop fronts.  He referred to the Committee to a number of dirty alleyways in the town centre.  Mr Appleyard spoke about the number of Fixed Penalty Notices for littering that had been issued.  In 2011 there had been 207, in 2014, 206.  A number had not been paid.  Mr Appleyard, felt that the same area was cleaned time after time at a cost of £400,000.  He commented that, in his opinion, people were under the impression that they could get away with littering and that this Action Plan would make no difference.  He went on to comment on swans and cygnets that were dying in parks.    Mr Appleyard suggested the need for coordination of the Action Plan.

 

Ms Bartlett and Mr Appleyard were thanked for their addresses.

 

Councillor Mike Hallam, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, Ruth Austen, Environmental Health and Licensing Manager and Sharon Henley, Northants Police, presented the Action Plan to the Committee.

 

Councillor Mike Hallam reported:

 

·         An eight month trial of a private company had taken place. The Company had been charged with issuing and dealing with Fixed Penalty Notices.   Over the past eight months, 1,500 fixed penalty notices had been issued.  A meeting was scheduled regarding the way forward.

·         The Committee was referred to an incident of flytipping in Weedon Road. This had been picked up, first thing on the Monday morning and evidence found in the bags.  A Section 46 notice had been issued.

·         Junction 15 is the responsibility of the Highways Agency and Officers of NBC would liaise with them.

·         Morrison’s had now re-introduced “return the trolley for £1”

·         Community clean ups work very well.

·         Technology  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6a

6b

Tree Maintenance pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair advised the Committee that it was monitoring the Action Plan in relation to its recommendations contained in the O&S Report:  Tree Maintenance.

 

Councillor Mike Hallam, Cabinet Member for Environment, reported:

 

·         The tree maintenance budget is not spent in one ward only

·         The town is zoned into four areas.  However, there is a need for a budget to deal with other areas in the “long years.”

 

The Committee asked questions, made comment and heard:

 

·         Support was given to the 90/10 split - reactive/proactive.

·         In response to a query regarding priority areas and the four zones, the Committee heard that current Policies are under review and are being changed to allow for flexibility.

·         The number of trees in Abington Park and Delapre Abbey were referred to.

 

It was confirmed that monitoring was complete on the accepted recommendations contained within the Tree Maintenance Scrutiny report.

6c

Private Sector Housing (Including HIMOs) pdf icon PDF 322 KB

Minutes:

Councillor Stephen Hibbert, Cabinet Member for Housing and Wellbeing, Phil Harris, Head of Housing and Wellbeing and Debi Waite, Private Sector Housing Manager, presented the completed Action Plan in respect of the accepted recommendations contained within the O&S Report: Private Sector Housing (Including HIMOs).  Debi Waite drew the Committee’s attention to various actions contained within the Action Plan:

 

·         Three Intelligence Officers have been engaged by Housing and Wellbeing Services.  They gather information from every source. Through this hundreds of properties have been identified where it is thought offenses are taking place.  A matrix system is used regarding priority. 

·         Should a warrant be needed to access the property; prior notice for access is not given.

·         The Committee was given details of a recent successful prosecution which was in respect of failure to licence.

·         Court cases require a huge amount of evidence.

 

The Committee asked questions, made comment and heard:

 

·         The Committee welcomed the process

·         In response to publication of cases, Debi Waite confirmed they are publicised as much as the Authority can.

·         In response to a query regarding Article 4; the Committee heard that a report would be presented to Cabinet at its meeting on 8 February 2017.  Officers from Housing and Wellbeing provided intelligence to Planning Services regarding Article 4 and the new proposed area.

 

AGREED:      That monitoring is complete on the O&S Report:  Private Sector Housing (Including HIMOs)

7.

CSP performance pdf icon PDF 282 KB

The Chair of the CSP to provide a progress report on the levels of performance.

Minutes:

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the report regarding CSP Performance.

8.

Response of Cabinet to Overview and Scrutiny Reports

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee to receive Cabinet’s responses to its reports:

 

 

8a

Health Check of the Local Economy pdf icon PDF 266 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet response to the Overview and Scrutiny report:  Health Check of the Local Economy was noted.  It was agreed that monitoring would take place at the meeting scheduled for 26 June 2017.

8b

NBC Owned Street Lighting pdf icon PDF 231 KB

Minutes:

The Cabinet response to the Overview and Scrutiny report:  NBC Owned Street Lighting was noted.  It was agreed that it would be requested that a process report is presented to the Committee at its meeting on 26 June 2017.

 

9.

Scrutiny Panels

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee to receive a progress report from the three Scrutiny Panels.

 

 

10.

Scrutiny Panel 1 pdf icon PDF 130 KB

Minutes:

The update from the Chair of Scrutiny Panel 1 – Child Sexual Exploitation was noted.

11.

Scrutiny Panel 3 pdf icon PDF 75 KB

Minutes:

The update from the Chair of Scrutiny Panel 3 - Homelessness was noted.

 

Councillor Elizabeth Gowen, member of the Scrutiny Panel, advised that concerns had been presented to the Panel regarding homeless families being housed outside Northampton. This had created problems with schooling and work.  Some of the Agencies had not engaged with the Scrutiny process. An example of written evidence that had been submitted to the Panel was referred to.  The Scrutiny Panel had been informed that some rough sleepers slept during the day as they felt safer doing this.  There had been an increased number of homeless people presenting to the Council and the Scrutiny Panel felt that the Social Lettings Agency would help in this respect.  The Scrutiny Panel, during its site visits, had felt there is a real need for free access to Wi-Fi for those housed in temporary accommodation.  Councillor Gowen, on behalf of the Chair of the Scrutiny Panel, passed on thanks to the Housing and Wellbeing Team for all the hard work they have undertaken and continue to undertake on homelessness.

 

12.

Scrutiny Panel 4 pdf icon PDF 77 KB

Minutes:

The report of the Chair of Scrutiny Panel 4 – Emissions Strategy (Action Plan) – was noted.

13.

Potential future pre decision scrutiny.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider any potential issues for future pre decision scrutiny.

 

Minutes:

There were none.

14.

Urgent Items

This issue is for business that by reasons of the special circumstances to be specified, the Chair is of the opinion is of sufficient urgency to consider.  Members or Officers that wish to raise urgent items are to inform the Chair in advance.

Minutes:

There were none.