Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors E L Bamford and Mrs P A Channer CC.  In accordance with notice given Councillor R G Boyce was attending as a substitute for Councillor Mrs Channer and Councillor Mrs M E Thompson as a substitute for Councillor Bamford.

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 12 October 2016 (copy enclosed).

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 12 October 2016 be approved and confirmed.

The Chairman drew attention to the list of notices published on the back of the agenda.

To disclose the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, other Pecuniary Interests or Non-Pecuniary Interests relating to items of business on the agenda having regard to paragraphs 6-8 inclusive of the Code of Conduct for Members.

(Members are reminded that they are also required to disclose any such interests as soon as they become aware should the need arise throughout the meeting).

Councillor M S Heard advised that Pursuant to Rule 15 of the Council Procedure Rules, and in the interests of openness and transparency he was declaring an Other Pecuniary Interest by reason of his employment.  This was in addition to the declaration to the same effect in the Register published on the Council's website and he would withdraw from the meeting. 

Councillor Heard thanked Members, Officers and Staff for their dedication and commitment to making this last Committee meeting a functional and progressive working group.  He referred to the function of the Committee and the work it had done to achieve its goals.  Councillor Heard then left the meeting.

The Chairman having vacated the meeting and in the absence of the Vice-Chairman it was agreed that Councillor H M Bass would be appointed Chairman for the remainder of the meeting.

IN THE CHAIR : COUNCILLOR H M BASS

Before moving onto the next item of business the Chairman clarified that there were no further declarations of interest, which there were not.

To receive the views of members of the public on items of business to be considered by the Committee (please see below):

1.         A period of ten minutes will be set aside.

2.         An individual may speak for no more than two minutes on a specific agenda item, the time slots to be allocated on a “first come first served” basis.

3.         Participation may take the form of a statement, or alternatively a question to be addressed to the Chairman.  There will be no discussion on questions put unless it is formally moved.  In line with the current scheme applied to other Committees, the questions must:

·                 not be defamatory, frivolous, vexatious or offensive;

·                 not be the same or substantially the same as another question to the same meeting or anything so put in the last six months;

·                 not involve the disclosure of confidential or exempt information.

4.         Anyone wishing to speak must notify the Committee Clerk between 7.00pm and 7.20pm prior to the start of the meeting.

In accordance with the Council’s public participation scheme the Chairman advised that there were two persons wishing to speak. 

Mrs Rosaline Murphy of 4 Bower Garden, Maldon and Mr Simon Gladys of 7 Gate Street, Maldon addressed the Committee in relation to Agenda Item 8 – Police and Crime Commissioner Question and Answer Session.

To receive a verbal update from Chief Inspector Ronnie Egan.

Chief Inspector Ronnie Egan, District Commander addressed the Committee she advised that Detective Inspector Rob Kirby, due to attend the meeting to speak on crime solved rates within the Maldon District, was unfortunately unable to attend but she would endeavour to cover any questions.  Chief Inspector (CI) Egan drew Members’ attention to the Essex Police Performance Summary report, appended to Agenda Item 9 – Maldon District Community Safety Partnership Update.

CI Egan provided Members with a detailed update and highlighted the following areas:

·                 Solved Rates – This was one of the Police priorities and a national issue.  Work was ongoing across District to identify why figures had been falling.

·                 Dwelling burglaries – There had been a spike in figures but this was reducing and there had been a lot of work across the Maldon and Chelmsford teams which had shown very good results.  Detective Inspector Rob Kirby was running a new initiative which captured information on social media / Essex Community Messaging to get specific messages out to the public etc.

CI Egan referred to a recent spate of dwelling burglaries in Burnham-on-Crouch and how within two days of information going out arrests had been made and two persons charged.  This success was down to the combined work of the Police, Community Policing Team, Community, Council etc.

Members were asked to encourage their local communities to continue working with the Police to capture information.

The Committee were advised of Operation Insight, which used predictive policing, and intelligence analysis to target the force’s resources at areas which, this information suggests, were most at risk of burglary.  CI Egan referred to the number of burglaries since December 2015 to date and how the Maldon District compared with others.

·                 Proactive Working – CI Egan reported how she hoped to rerun Operation Galloway a partnership operation to tackle crime types across District, highly visible proactive working with gang teams, farmers in the District, the casualty reduction team etc.  When originally run this Operation saw over 60 arrests across the Maldon and Chelmsford Districts.

·                 Theft of Motor Vehicles – The Maldon District had seen a significant increase this year and a similar patter had been seen across districts.  No specific trends or patterns had been identified but the Police were working to identify more specific information regarding these crimes.

·                 Rural Crime – This has been adopted as a priority by the Police.  Members were informed of the ongoing work around hare coursing (Operation Galileo) and how the Maldon District was priority district for this.  The Rural Policing team at headquarters had been expanded to specifically target this and traveller related issues.

There had been a number of birds of prey poisoned in the Burnham area and work was ongoing between Natural England and the Police. 

·                 Technology – Mobile devices had been used to good effect in supporting rural activities.  Essex Police were seeking approval to purchase a software application, currently used by Kent Police, which incorporated Heritage Watch and provided opportunity for reports  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1211.

To receive a verbal update from Detective Inspector Rob Kirby.

Please note that Crime Solved Rates were discussed as part of Agenda Item 6 – Chief Inspectors Performance Report.

A question and answer session with Roger Hurst, Police and Crime Commissioner.

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), having given an earlier update to Members, responded to a number of questions and provided the following information:

·                 The Chief Constable and PCC both shared concern about public confidence in policing and a new plan was being implemented to correct this.

·                 Essex Police was the most tightly funded police force in England and Wales with the lowest amount spent per resident.  The Police had to increase its Council Tax precept due to increasing costs etc.  The PCC reported on a paper put forward to Government from Essex Police regarding the relative cost of rural policing compared to the cost of urban policing as statistics showed that the same crime in a rural area could cost 25 / 30% more. 

·                 The monies resulting from recent changes being put in place to reduce from 80 to 30 sites across the county with ten key primary operating locations were being reinvested to make the Police more mobile and more able to work remotely.

·                 Members noted the work being done in respect of special constables, which included a change to the management structure, better working across the force, new business plan and hiring of additional Officers.  The PCC advised that the Police were looking for volunteers and advised that if Members had anyone who was interested to direct them to the Police website.  He explained that the recruitment package advised that a person could specify if they wished to join to police just their local community only.

·                 Parish Councils had been involved in the new initiatives and the PCC advised that if Members were aware of any Parish Council that had not to let him know.

In response to a request to attend a meeting in Southminster with local residents, the PCC advised that he would be delighted to attend such a meeting.

To receive and note the report of the Director of Customers and Community (copy enclosed) and to receive a presentation from the Community Safety Partnership Manager.

The Committee noted the report of the Director of Customers and Community detailing progress of activities undertaken by the Maldon Community Safety Partnership and the proposed priorities for 2017 / 18.

Appendix 1 to the report outlined the statutory duties aligned to the Community Safety Partnership.  Following completion of the strategic assessment of crime, health and data perceptions from the last year, Officers recommended that the priorities outlined in the report be adopted.  It was noted that a priority relating to tackling rural crime had been added and one of the areas highlighted in Maldon was speeding.

The most recent Essex Police strategic management performance data was attached as Appendix 2 to the report.  Appendix 3 provided a comparison as to how the Council was performing against Councils in similar groups. 

The Community Safety Partnership Manager presented the report and provided Members with update on a number of areas relating to the Partnership set out in the report, including:

·                    Preventing violent extremists – a grant had been received from the Home Office.  The Community Safety Partnership Manager represented Essex on the Prevent Board, cascading information down to other officers, where appropriate;

·                    Domestic homicides – It was noted that the process for domestic homicides was being centralised and Essex County Council would be dealing with them in the future.

·                    Tru-Cam initiative – Community Protection Officers were being trained on the use of this equipment.

·                    PCC Consultation on the Essex Fire and Rescue Service – This had been considered by the Responsible Authorities Group (RAG) who along with the Community Services Committee had agreed to support the government models.  The Community Safety Partnership Manager would be writing formally to the PCC to advise him of this.

·                    Community Safety Hubs – Action plans for 2017 / 18 had been considered and would be updated before they were circulated to partners.

·                    Community Engagement, including such work as the Crucial Crew workshops was noted.

·                    Southminster Doorstep Club – This was delivered by the Youth Service and funding had now been confirmed for three years.

·                    Domestic violence – The Community Safety Partnership would be signing up to J9 in Maldon, something that had been implemented in Chelmsford the previous year.

In response to a question regarding the first bullet on page 28 of the document pack, the Community Safety Partnership Manager advised that the figure quoted for the number of homes to be built was incorrect and he would amend it accordingly.

In response to a question regarding speed watch, the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) advised that the Essex Surfaces Road Partnership included the accident reduction team and representatives from the Police, Fire, Councils etc.  Essex Fire Authority was the current driving force behind the community speed watch due to the availability of resources.

RESOLVED that the new priorities for 2017 / 18 and the success of the initiatives undertaken by the partnership to date, be noted.

The Chairman extended the Committees thanks to the Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Inspector Egan for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1214.