Agenda and minutes

Venue: Rennes Room, Civic Centre, Paris Street, Exeter

Contact: Sharon Sissons, Democratic Services Officer  Tel: 01392 265115 or email  sharon.sissons@exeter.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

7.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 252 KB

To approve and sign the minutes of the Strategic Scrutiny Committee held on 21 January 2021.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting of the Strategic Scrutiny Committee held on 21st January 2021 were taken as read, approved as correct, for signing by the Chair at the earliest possible convenience.

 

8.

Declaration of Interest

Councillors are reminded of the need to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests that relate to business on the agenda and which have not already been included in the register of interests, before any discussion takes place on the item. Unless the interest is sensitive, you must also disclose the nature of the interest. In accordance with the Council's Code of Conduct, you must then leave the room and must not participate in any further discussion of the item.  Councillors requiring clarification should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer prior to the day of the meeting.

 

Minutes:

No declaration of interest was made by a Member.

9.

Questions from the Public Under Standing Order 19

Details of questions should be notified to the Corporate Manager Democratic and Civic Support via the committee.services@exeter.gov.uk email by 10.00am at least three working days prior to the meeting. For this meeting any questions must be submitted by 10.00am on Monday 15 March 2021.

 

For details about how to speak at Committee, please click the following link -  https://exeter.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/councillors-and-meetings/public-speaking-at-meetings/overview/

 

 

Minutes:

No questions from members of the public were received.

 

10.

Questions from Members of the Council Under Standing Order 20

To receive questions from Members of the Council to the relevant Portfolio Holders for this Scrutiny Committee. The Portfolio Holders are:-

 

Councillor Bialyk -       Leader

Councillor Sutton -      Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Net Zero Exeter 2030

Councillor Foale -       Portfolio Holder for Transformation and Environment

Councillor Morse -      Portfolio Holder for City Development

Councillor Pearson -   Portfolio Holder for City Centre & Corporate Services

Councillor Wood -       Portfolio Holder for Leisure & Physical Activity

 

Details of questions from Members relating to the Portfolio Holders above should be notified to the Corporate Manager Democratic and Civic Support via the committee.services@exeter.gov.uk email.

Minutes:

No questions from Members were received.

 

11.

Presentation on Community Safety Partnership pdf icon PDF 954 KB

Superintendent Antony Hart, Local Police Area Commander Exeter, East and Mid Devon, Devon and Cornwall Police will attend the meeting to make a presentation on the work of the Community Safety Partnership.

Minutes:

Superintendent Antony Hart, Local Area Commander Exeter, East and Mid Devon, Devon and Cornwall Police, Chair of the Exeter Community Partnership made a presentation on the work of the Partnership. Simon Lane, the Service Lead for Environmental Health and Community Safety at Exeter City Council was co presenter.  (A copy of the presentation is attached to the minutes). The Partnership’s diverse membership included Devon County Council, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), Devon Probation Service, DYS Space (youth network), University of Exeter, Exeter Businesses Against Crime (EBAC), Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service (DSFRS) and the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (RD&E). The Executive Group met on a quarterly basis and considered the action plan for the year, to understand, review progress and consider spend against budget.

 

The presentation covered four priority areas for the Partnership with further detail provided for each area.

 

Hate Crime and Extremism

 

The Service Lead for Environmental Health and Community Safety outlined some of the associated activity and actions. Despite there being some spikes of hate crime in recent months in the city, including increased levels of graffiti, the level of incidences which the Police and City Council work on together to address, remained low. A number of initiatives were in place to address hate crime, including close working with community partners and a zero tolerance stance as part of a Hate Crime Campaign promoted widely.

 

Superintendent Hart referred to the Force’s activity around the prevention of violent extremism, which hate crime was considered to be the first step. Positive interventions were used to move an individual away from moving into adopting more extreme ideologies. Although not specific to Exeter, the threat of online radicalisation had continued to increase during lockdown. He had attended an online Exeter Hate Crime and Radicalisation conference delivered to over 200 professionals across Devon in October 2020 which had studied links between radicalism and hate crime.

 

Locality Based Anti-Social Behaviour Problem Solving

 

The Service Lead for Environmental Health and Community Safety outlined the Council‘s focus which was primarily on neighbourhood anti-social behaviour working in partnership with other agencies. This included monthly meetings of the Anti-Social Behaviour Action team (ASBAT) which discussed complex and multi-agency cases. Work over the past year included -

 

·         1,174 noise complaints investigated and during lockdown there had been a greater emphasis on domestic related complaints rather than regarding commercial premises which had an impact on the work of the team;

·         additional work to establish the status of 160 abandoned vehicle reports.

·         the Council had also dealt with 250 other antisocial behaviour issues which involved other colleagues in Housing and Public Realm (Parks);

·         the frequent deployment of the remote CCTV camera to high risk cases and where there was concern for the individuals involved;

·         the extension of the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) offered additional powers to address incidences of the use of intoxicating substances, street urination, aggressive begging and antisocial behaviour in groups. Although it had not been used extensively, the powers of surrendering alcohol  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.