Minutes:
The Group discussed the length of presentations during scrutiny meetings and agreed that they were too long and did not enable the councillors to have enough time to answer questions afterwards. It was agreed that presentations should cover parts of the report that need emphasising and that the Chairman should intervene during the meeting if the presentations are too long.
It was also agreed that scrutiny training should be arranged. It was suggested that training could take place before the next scrutiny meetings. The Service Manager – Finance and Corporate Services suggested that scrutiny Chairmen could attend future East Midlands Council’s networking events if the topics were of interest and agreed to circulate these when they were available.
The Chairman of the Communities Scrutiny Group noted that the Group had scrutinised police performance in Rushcliffe and the work of the Trent Bridge Community Trust at its last meeting. The Group were pleased to meet Rob Lawton the new policing inspector for Rushcliffe who delivered a presentation to the group to outline his priorities for the Borough. The Portfolio Holder for Environment and Safety also attended the meeting. He asked the councillors to contact him if they had any concerns regarding crime in their wards. It was noted that if crime was reported, it was more likely to be added to the neighbourhood policing teams’ list of priorities. The Portfolio Holder agreed to report back to councillors the outcome of their meetings to discuss priorities. The Group received a presentation from Mark Clifford at the Trent Bridge Community Trust. The Chairman was pleased to note that the Trust went above and beyond to ensure that young people continued to be supported during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Concerns were raised about the approval of work programme items for the scrutiny groups as sometimes items were delayed to a later meeting without the knowledge of the Groups. It was agreed that the work programme reports would be changed so that the workflow could be better explained.
The Vice-Chairman of the Growth and Development Group noted that the Group had discussed the allocation of the Community Infrastructure Levy. It was agreed that the allocation of the levy should go to:
· Secondary school places across the Borough through new provision or extension to existing provision
· Park and Ride along the A52 corridor and bus priority measures in West Bridgford
· Indoor leisure provision or improvements to existing provision
· Health facilities across the Borough through new provision or extension to existing provision
·Playing pitches and
ancillary facilities provision or improvements
The Group also recommended to Cabinet that the proportion of levy receipts be increased to 25% rather than 15% to those Parish Council’s without a neighbourhood plan to provide a consistent level of local funding across the Borough.
The Growth and Development Scrutiny Group also received a presentation from the Service Manager – Economic Growth and Property delivered a presentation to update members on the Covid 19 Business Recovery, providing members with data across the D2N2 authorities, including Furlough and self-employment claims, unemployment claims, job vacancies and business closures, as reported in June 2021.