Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Marshall.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and / or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests, and any Party Whip.

There were no declarations of interest nor of party whip.

The minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee from 30^th November 2023 will be considered at this meeting.

The minutes of the meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 30^th November 2023 were submitted for Members’ consideration.

RESOLVED that

the Minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 30^th November 2023 be approved as a true record and signed by the Chair.

To invite members of the public who have registered in advance of the meeting to address the Committee. Please note that the deadline to register to speak at this meeting is 12 noon on Tuesday 2^nd January 2024.

There were no public speakers registered to speak at this meeting.

The Committee received a briefing paper concerning the results of consultation with council housing tenants on the new tenancy management policy and tenancy agreement. It was highlighted that as part of the consultation, which ended at the start of December 2023, 10 Tenant Roadshows were organised over the summer months, giving tenants the opportunity to discuss the Tenancy Management Policy and new tenancy terms directly with officers. Feedback was also received from tenants via a dedicated resident consultation email inbox, and via post. It was ensured that feedback sent to the resident consultation inbox was directly responded to by officers. A sample of responses provided by tenants was included at Appendix A to the briefing note.

It was noted that a key theme in tenants’ feedback were concerns expressed by many tenants with security of tenure. Officers underlined that this was not affected in any way by the new tenancy terms as secure rights were a provision set out in law. To alleviate concerns expressed as part of the consultation, officers answered all queries relating to tenants’ rights and ensured that in the final letter that went out with the new terms, it was stated as clearly as possible that secure rights were not affected in any way.

Additionally, officers reported that as a result of consultation responses from, changes were made to Tenancy Agreement around provisions relating to pets and storage of mobility scooters.

After the officer presentation, Members discussed the following points in detail:

·       Total response rate to the consultation – Over 200 tenants had responded to the consultation in total. There were over 140 direct, face-to-face conversations with the tenants, and around 50-60 tenants responded via email or through a phone call. There were also a couple of cases in which home visits were arranged to enable tenants to provide a response.

·       Choice of locations for the Tenant Roadshows – Officers noted that this was the first year of doing the road shows and there were some locations which were more successful than others in terms of numbers of tenants attending. Woodrow Shopping Centre was cited as a location where there was a lot of engagement, while in Headless Cross and Stanley Park, for example, there was a lot less engagement.

·       Total number of council tenants in Redditch and engagement on tenancy changes – It was noted there were 5,724 council tenants in Redditch and all received a formal letter advising about the proposed tenancy management policy and tenancy agreement and the consultation on these. There was also a second notice letter which also included reassurance that any changes to tenancy policy would have no effect on the tenancy status (e.g. secure tenancy rights).

·       Engaging with tenants who had difficulty understanding and/or responding to tenancy agreement – It was noted that the Council currently did not hold a lot of tenants’ protected characteristic data such as disability or literacy requirement/support needs. However, housing officers cover all patches and were available for informal conversation with tenants throughout  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

This report will follow in an Additional Papers pack once the report has been published on the Executive Committee agenda (due for publication on Friday 29^th December 2023).

The Cultural Services and Parks Manager presented the Redditch Play Audit and Investment Strategy to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Members were advised that the Redditch Play Audit and Investment Strategy had been undertaken as a result of the Leisure and Culture Strategy. The audit was an opportunity to ascertain the current situation of play provision in Redditch and how future play provision could improve the overall accessibility of play provision in Redditch.

It was reported that there were currently forty-two play areas across the Borough. Of these forty-two, nine had a remaining expected life span of up to three years. The proposals contained in the report for the play areas included the following:

• The creation of two new neighbourhood level play spaces.
• The upgrading of three play spaces from Local to Neighbourhood provision.
• The upgrade of a further seven Neighbourhood play spaces and nine local play spaces.
• The decommissioning of six existing play spaces that were at ‘end of life’.
• Investment in a further twenty-seven play spaces, that were currently in good condition, but needed upgrading within the next ten years.

During the presentation of the report, it was noted that the inequality of provision had been mapped and assessed in detail through computer based mapping (GIS). Furthermore, it was explained that play areas needed to comply with national standards in order to satisfy risk management procedures and to comply with the Council’s insurers requirements.

The Cultural Services and Parks Manager outlined the financial implications contained within the report and that £100,000 of the 2023/24 play area requirement had already been accounted for in the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2024-25 to 26-27 (Tranche 1) proposals. The Play Investment Strategy set out the costs of the capital programme for the play areas investment over the 10-year period with cost of circa £10,000 in year 1 rising to £145,000 requirement to finance the works by year 10.

Following the presentation, Members considered the report and the following areas were discussed in detail:

• Concerns about the state of play sites at locations (e.g. Dale Road and Dolphin Road) and the inclusion possibility of consultation with residents on the repair and/or decommission – Officer explained that the locations above were identified as having a 1-3 years lifespan left but if immediate safety concerns were identified then decommissioning would start earlier. In terms of the proposed investment in creating a play area at Abbeydale Park (Terry’s Field), it was explained by the officer that the area had been looked at robustly as part of that exercise, with the Council’s Community Safety Team engaged, and it was judged that anti-social behaviour in that area had reduced to allow for play area to be developed. Residents would be consulted on the type of equipment to be used.
• Willow Trees Community Centre play area – Officers explained that it was the understanding of officers that this play area was not under Redditch Council land management. However, the Officer undertook to check the agreement with regard  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

The latest version of the Executive Committee Work Programme will be published in an Additional Papers pack on 2^nd January 2024.

It was requested that the following Executive Committee item be added for pre-scrutiny by Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

·       Termination of shared service arrangement: North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration (for 1^st February Overview and Scrutiny)

Members were advised that the item on the Executive work programme on Future Plans for Auxerre House was postponed from the 6^th February Executive meeting and as such would not be available for pre-scrutiny at the moment. Members would be advised of future dates for this report once known.

It was requested that the following item be added to the work programme of the Budget Scrutiny Working Group (a sub-committee of Overview and Scrutiny):

·       Non-domestic rate – discretionary rate relief policy.

RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme be updated with items from the Executive Committee’s Work Programme as detailed in the preamble above.

The Overview and Scrutiny Programme will be published in an Additional Papers Pack once it has been updated with information from the latest version of the Executive Committee Work Programme (due for publication 2^nd January 2024).

The items from the Executive Committee Work Programme were added to the Overview and Scrutiny’s Work Programme as was agreed under the previous item (Minute No. 60).

RESOLVED that subject to the preamble above the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Work Programme be noted.

a)          Budget Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Kane

b)          Performance Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Holz

c)           Fly Tipping and Bulky Waste Task Group – Chair, Councillor Khan

Updates on the Task Groups and Working groups were provided as follows:

a)    Budget Scrutiny Working Group, Councillor Kane

Councillor Kane provided a summary of the meeting of Budget Scrutiny Working Group which took place on 2^nd January 2024. It was noted that the main actions requested from Members of the Group at that meeting related to holding further discussion on the possibility of linking housing revenue account targets to performance standards in housing repairs and an action for officers to provide a response as to the rationale behind a proposed increase of 20 per cent in dial-a-ride charge. No recommendations were made at this meeting for Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider.

b)    Performance Scrutiny Working Group, Councillor Holz

Councillor Holz reported that the first meeting of Performance Scrutiny for the 2023-24 municipal year was now confirmed and was going to take place on Monday 8^th January 2024. An update on Carbon Reduction Strategy would be considered at this meeting.

c)     Fly Tipping and Bulky Waste Task Group, Councillor Khan

Councillor Khan reported that the next meeting of the Task Group was due to take place on Wednesday 10^th January 2024. It was noted that a mobile (pop-up) recycling site in Stirchley was visited by some Task Group members in December to gather details on Birmingham City Council’s mobile recycling scheme.

RESOLVED that the Task Groups, Short Sharp Reviews and Working Groups Update be noted.

a)          West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Overview and Scrutiny Committee – Council representative, Councillor Marshall;

b)          West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Transport Delivery Overview and Scrutiny Committee – Council representative, Councillor Marshall; and

c)           Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) – Council representative, Councillor Marshall.

There was no external scrutiny bodies update as the Council’s representative on external scrutiny bodies, Councillor Marshall, had submitted her apologies.