Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

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 any Party Whip.

Reference was made to the Nominated Neighbour Packs, copies of which had been provided to Members of the Panel in the 2020/21 municipal year.  It was agreed that copies of the pack should be made available to Members who had been newly appointed to the Panel in 2021/22.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of the Crime and Disorder Scrutiny Panel held on Wednesday 30^th September 2020 be approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Community Safety Manager delivered a very detailed presentation updating Members on the work of the North Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership in Redditch Borough.  During the delivery of this presentation, the following matters were highlighted for Members’ consideration:

·                The Community Safety Partnerships for the three districts in North Worcestershire merged in 2013 to create the North Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership.

·                The North Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership had a relationship with the West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), who was held to account by the West Mercia Police and Crime Panel.  Redditch Borough Council’s representative on the West Mercia Police and Crime Panel was the Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Enabling Services.

·                The Partnership had a Community Safety Plan for the period 2021 to 2024.  This plan, including the priorities within the plan, would be refreshed on an annual basis, taking into account the needs of the community and local data.

·                The West Mercia PCC was in the process of consulting on the contents of the draft Safer West Mercia Plan 2021 to 2025.  As part of this process, the PCC was keen to receive feedback from a range of different stakeholders including the public.

·                When updating the content of the Community Safety Plan 2021 to 2024, the North Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership would need to take into account the proposals detailed in the Safer West Mercia Plan 2021 to 2025.

·                The PCC provided a significant amount of grant funding to the North Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership to spend on specific projects.

·                In addition, funding had been provided by the PCC since 2017/18 to all the community safety partnerships in the West Mercia region for CCTV.  In 2020/21 this grant was spent on digital upgrades to existing systems.  Work was in the process of being undertaken in north Worcestershire to determine how this funding should be spent locally.

·                Delivery of projects in the Borough was co-ordinated at a local level by the Safer Redditch group, a sub-group of the North Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership.  This group was chaired by the local Chief Inspector and supported by the Community Safety team.

·                During the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot of community support and engagement work had been delivered by the Safer Redditch group online, including in respect of specific projects.

·                Reducing reoffending and reducing the harm caused by drugs and alcohol were cross cutting priorities that underpinned the other themes of the Community Safety Plan.  Reducing reoffending was also a statutory responsibility.

·                The PCC was keen to ensure that all Community Safety Partnerships in the region contributed to Integrated Offender Management projects and, for this reason, some of the funding to the partnerships was top sliced for this purpose.  The contributions per district for the Integrated Management System was calculated on the basis of local need and demographics.

·                A number of youth projects had been prioritised for funding in 2020/21 due to concerns about the particular impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on young people.

·                Youth projects included:

-       The Respect Programme, whereby  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Community Safety Manager also delivered a very detailed presentation in respect of the work of the North Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership to tackle ASB.  This report had been requested as a regular update to the Panel at the meeting of the Panel that took place in September 2020.  Members were asked to note that the data provided in the report and presentation covered the period April 2018 to July 2021.

During the delivery of this presentation, the following points were highlighted for Members’ consideration:

·                There were different types of preventative action that could be taken to deter ASB.

·                In Housing, this included the use of Introductory Tenancies, whereby new tenants could be expelled from their properties if they caused ASB.

·                There were also specific verbal and written warnings that could be issued again residents involved in ASB.  This included Community Protection Warnings (CPWs), which could be elevated to Community Protection Notices (CPNs) if residents did not change their behaviour in response to the warning that had been issued.

·                Failure to comply with the terms of a CPN was a criminal offence.

·                The Council had issued 23 CPWs between September 2020 and August 2021 and 11 CPNs.  Some CPNs had been issued in planning enforcement cases.

·                Residents could request a Community Trigger, in cases where residents were concerned that limited action had been taken and they therefore wanted a review of their case and the way it had been handled.  Since September 2020, three Community Triggers, which were managed by the Community Safety team, had been recorded for Redditch, which all related to disruptive neighbour nuisance issues.

·                There was an option available for the Council to refer people for mediation and restorative justice. 

·                Funding had been received for projects designed to tackle youth ASB in the community.  In addition, funding had been received for projects related to Covid-19 recovery.

·                Representatives of the Community Safety Team attended multi agency meetings to discuss rough sleeping.  Members were asked to note that many of the rough sleepers who had been housed during the national lockdowns had remained in their accommodation following the end of the lockdown.  Some were being supported through the Housing First scheme.

·                The data indicated that there had been an increase in reports of ASB in the period April 2020 to March 2021 compared to the previous 12-month period.  This increase had occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic across all parts of the Borough.

·                The largest increases in reports of ASB in this period had been in the Batchley and Brockhill and Astwood Bank and Feckenham wards.

·                The increase in ASB included a rise in ASB nuisance calls, which appeared to have been influenced by the associated increase in the number of people working from home during the lockdown period who had been exposed to ASB that they might otherwise not have observed during working hours.

·                In addition to nuisance ASB, there had been reports of personal ASB cases, involving behaviour targeted at specific individuals.

Members subsequently discussed the report in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.