Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of any substitute Members in accordance with the Constitution.

Apologies were received from Councillor G. Buttironi with Councillor C. Neame as his Substitute.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the previous meeting.

The Minutes of the last meeting on 21 January 2021 were approved.

To receive any Declarations of Interest (including the existence and nature of any Party Whip).

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive presentations from the Portfolio Holder for Community Partnerships, Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner and Borough Commander for Reigate and Banstead, and to review the work of the Reigate & Banstead Community Safety Partnership in 2020.

The annual work of the Community Safety Partnership in Reigate and Banstead during the past year on police and crime matters was scrutinised by the Committee.

Chair, Councillor N. Harrison, welcomed Councillor R. Ashford (Executive Portfolio Holder for Community Partnerships), Borough Commander, (Inspector Alex Maguire), and the Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner (David Munro) to the meeting. The Leader, Deputy Leader and visiting Surrey County Councillors also attended the meeting.

Councillor Ashford, the Borough Commander and the Police and Crime Commissioner each gave a presentation of their work to the Committee and responded to Members’ advance questions in writing and to questions raised at the meeting.

Councillor Ashford gave an overview of community safety in the last year in the context of COVID-19 with restrictions on face to face work and prioritising the community welfare response. A Reigate & Banstead Community Safety Partnership had been established to enable a local focus and build strong collaborative partnerships. Virtual meetings had increased attendance at multi-agency meetings such as the Joint Action Group (JAG). A report on CCTV future options had been agreed and the rationalisation project had started.

Community Safety Officer,  Ross Spanton, set out the joint work to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Reigate Priory Park such as fires, gatherings, damage, and disorder during the summer last year. There had been a reduction in ASB reports, engagement and safeguarding of young people and  reduced calls of service and complaints to the Council and Surrey Police.

Reports of cannabis fumes impacting neighbours during warm weather and COVID-19 restrictions were dealt with by Cannabis Community Protection Warnings/Notices. A review and public consultation of the Redhill Public Space Protection Order was carried out and a new PSPO established for Redhill to run from 2020-23.

There had been a large rise in the number of domestic abuse referrals during COVID-19 and lockdown in 2020. In response to a Member’s written question it was confirmed that the Surrey Domestic Abuse Partnership referral figures showed that in Reigate & Banstead there had been a 63% rise in domestic abuse referrals for April to September 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. (Between April and September in 2019/20 there had been 422 referrals and between April and September 2020/21there had been 688 referrals).

Councillor Ashford thanked Community Partnerships team Justine Chatfield, Clare Mittelstadt and Ross Spanton for their work in delivering this service to vulnerable residents during the 2020/21 pandemic and national lockdowns.

Members raised questions and discussed the following issues:

·       Domestic abuse – the Council provides a grant to ESDAS (East Surrey Domestic Abuse Services) to help support the delivery of local outreach support for domestic abuse victims. Council officers have been in regular contact with ESDAS who had received sustained high levels of referrals and complex cases last year. ESDAS have been supporting service users over the phone and via Zoom, and outside of lockdown, face to face. The Committee heard at the meeting that the grant funding was £21,000 which is made up of  £18k for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72.

To consider updates to the Work Programme for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for 2020/21 and to consider the Action Tracker from the previous meeting.

Members made no observations about the Committee’s current year Work Programme 2020/21. The Committee’s Proposed Work Programme for 2021/22 was an agenda item for the next meeting on 18 March 2021. A Member Development virtual webinar on scrutiny, facilitated by Senior Research Officer, Kate Grigg, from the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny, was to take place on 24 February.

RESOLVED – that the current year Work Programme 2020/21 be noted.

To consider any items arising from the Executive which might be subject to the ‘call-in’ procedure in accordance with the provisions of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules set out in the Constitution.

It was reported that there were no items arising from the Executive that might be subject to the ‘call-in’ procedure in accordance with the provisions of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Procedure Rules.

To consider any item(s) which, in the opinion of the Chairman, should be considered as a matter of urgency - Local Government Act 1972, Section 100B(4)(b).

(NOTE: Under the Committee and Sub-Committee Procedure Rules set out in the Constitution, items of urgent business must be submitted in writing but may be supplemented by an oral report.)

There were no items of urgent business.