Agenda and minutes

The Chairperson welcomed everyone to the meeting and went through some general housekeeping arrangements for the meeting.

None had been received and at this point the Chairperson welcomed Councillor W Stamp CC, an ‘in attendance’ Member, to the meeting.

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 12 October 2023 (copy enclosed).

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 12 October 2023 be approved and confirmed.

To disclose the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Other Registrable interests and Non-Registrable Interests relating to items of business on the agenda having regard to paragraph 9 and Appendix B 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).

There were none.

To receive the views of members of the public, of which prior notification in writing has been received (no later than noon on the Tuesday prior to the day of the meeting).

Should you wish to submit a question please complete the online form at: www.maldon.gov.uk/publicparticipation.

No requests were received.

To consider the report of the Director of Service Delivery, (copy enclosed) and receive a presentation from the Community Safety Manager.

The Committee received the report of the Director of Service Delivery reporting the progress of activities undertaken by the Maldon Community Safety Partnership (CSP) since the last meeting held on 12 October 2023.

The most recent Essex Police performance summary (to January 2024) was attached as Appendix 1 to the report.

The Community Safety Manager (CSM) took Members through the report and provided additional information and further detail by way of a presentation.

A lengthy discussion ensued during which a number of points were raised and in response the following information was provided:

·        Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) had seen a reduction in the Maldon District since the pandemic ended, however, other areas of ASB such as environmental crime and fly tipping could be addressed better by the offences being reported to the right agency. The CSM explained to Members further that reporting a persistent noise nuisance to Police would be redundant as this would need to be addressed by the local authority or in some cases the social housing landlord.

·        Youth ASB had seen a year-on-year reduction and it was felt this was achieved due to the interventions put in place and the ongoing collaboration with the Youth Service.

·        Chief Inspector (CI) Ballard made Members aware that since August last year, Essex Police had moved over to a different risk assessment model to improve how they treat and dealt with victims of domestic abuse. He went on to add that this was reflected in the statistics due to cases that were previously standard would now be medium resulting in medium cases going up and standard cases seeing a reduction.

·        The increase of burglaries in the Maldon District was addressed, highlighting the impact to communities in rural areas, the CSM and CI Ballard were keen to meet with Members whose ward areas had been affected to discuss this further.

·        Shoplifting had seen an increase in the District and Members drew special attention to the Blackwater Retail Park where a number of shops were being targeted. The CSM was keen to engage with the Retail park owners to see what deterrents could be put in place. He went on to add that the site could benefit from a visit from the Essex Police Business Crime Team.

·        The CSM had recently met with the Counter Terrorism Manager from Bedfordshire Police to arrange for a survey of Maldon promenade which would involve looking at hostile vehicle mitigation measures and hoped this would take place around April this year. Completing this survey would ensure the Council meets it obligations as the landowner and would also put them in good stead for when the Martins Law detailed guidance is released in spring this year.

·        Maldon will have its own Women’s Safety Charter similar to Chelmsford.

·        Members of the public could view crime information on the Essex Police Website.

·        The CSM wanted to introduce a piece of work around men’s mental health “on your team” to the Maldon District after its success in Chelmsford. The piece of work  ...  view the full minutes text for item 506.

To receive a presentation on Police Performance from Chief Inspector Paul Ballard, Essex Police.

The Chairperson introduced Chief Inspector Paul Ballard (CI) from Essex Police.

CI Ballard provided Members with a detailed presentation and in response to questions from the Committee, provided the following information:

·        Ensuring as much intelligence is provide to Essex Police by communities would ensure the most efficient deployment of Officers to those areas effected by speeding motorists. 

·        Mr Adam Pipe, Head of Roads Policing at Essex Police, confirmed that funding had been received from the Home Office for the improvement of ASB roads in the County. Mr Pipe confirmed that within the Maldon District, St Lawrence and Wickham Bishops were on the list of communities that would be looked at and the work would be starting next month.

·        When approving large housing developments, Elected Members played a big part in securing monies from developers to allow for the provision of average speed systems within the communities that are directly affected by the development.

The Chairperson thanked CI Ballard for attending the meeting and for his detailed presentation.

To receive a presentation on the activities being carried out by the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service from Craig McLellan, North East Group Commander.

Since the publication of the agenda, the agenda item had changed and the Committee were to receive an activity update from Essex Roads Policing.

The Chairperson introduced the Head of Roads Policing for Essex Police Mr Adam Pipe.

Mr Pipe provided Members with a detailed presentation and in response to questions from the Committee, provided the following information:

·        A new department established within Essex Police that will allow for concerns to be raised regarding road design and safety when large scale planning applications are put forward in the County.

·        The Director of Service Delivery confirmed that he would be inviting Mr Pipe and his team to meet with the Planning Policy team to see what preventative measures could be incorporated in to the Local Development Plan (LDP).

·        Hedgerow and pothole issues were highlighted as an issue that would need to be raised with Essex County Highways.

The Chairperson thanked Mr Pipe for attending the meeting and for his detailed presentation.