Agenda item

Report number LDS281 of the Leader of the Council.                   (Enclosure)

Report number LDS281 of the Leader of the Council summarised the activity of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees since the last report was presented to Cabinet on 12 April 2018.

Communities and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee

The Chairman of the Communities and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee gave a brief overview of a workshop of the Committee which had considered the Government’s ‘Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper’. During this workshop, to which all Members of the Council had been invited, a response had been prepared to the consultation on the Green Paper. One idea arising from that workshop was the creation of a ‘chat cafe’. The Committee also suggested that there should be a Cabinet Member champion for Community Cohesion and the enhancement of the role of an existing officer of the Council to incorporate liaising with local and national government departments on community cohesion.

The Leader stated that a Cabinet Member would be named as the champion for community cohesion at the annual meeting of the Council on 24 May 2018.

Culture and Tourism Overview and Scrutiny Committee

While there had been no meetings of the Culture and Tourism Overview and Scrutiny Committee since the last meeting of Cabinet, the Committee’s Chairman referred to the enhanced market for St. George’s Day and the street market in Denton. She also referred to the Council’s community engagement vehicle, which had been in attendance at Denton Street Market.

Rural Overview and Scrutiny Committee

The Chairman of the Rural Overview and Scrutiny Committee gave a brief synopsis of its activities throughout the year and highlighted a number of the guest speakers who had attended. The final meeting of the year had been attended by a senior officer from Lincolnshire Police who spoke about the aims and challenges of policing crime in rural areas.

Some discussion ensued amongst Members present at the Cabinet meeting about rural policing and the views of residents that lived in the villages that criminals were not being caught. Cabinet Members who represented rural areas stated that they disagreed with the police priority, which was victim support, and suggested that the priority should be detection. The Leader stated that the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire had been keen to engage with the Council. It was suggested that after the Annual Council meeting, the Overview and Scrutiny Chair of Chairs would decide whether they wished to address the village’s concerns through scrutiny or whether there should be an all Councillor Briefing.

Brief reference was also made to the current availability of high speed broadband in rural areas.

Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee

An update from the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee that had taken place on 24 April 2018, after Cabinet papers had been finalised, would be provided at the Cabinet meeting in June 2018. The Cabinet Member for Environment briefly mentioned a presentation that the Committee had received on the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy and the consultation that was taking place, encouraging anyone with an interest to submit their own responses.