Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chairman for the remainder of the municipal year.

RESOLVED that Cllr Mrs C P Daw be elected Chairman for the remainder of the 2020/2021 municipal year.

(Proposed by Cllr Mrs M E Squires and seconded by Cllr J M Downes)

To receive any apologies for absence and notices of appointment of substitute Members (if any).

Cllr E J Berry gave apologies.

Councillors are reminded of the requirement to declare any interest, including the type of interest, and reason for that interest, either at this stage of the meeting or as soon as they become aware of that interest.

Members were reminded to make declarations of interest when appropriate.

Members to note the remote meetings protocol.

The Group had before it, and NOTED, the *Virtual Meeting Protocol.

Note: *Virtual meeting protocol previously circulated and attached to the minutes.

Members to consider whether to approve the Minutes of the last meeting as a correct record.

The minutes of the last meeting held on 28th July 2020 were AGREED as a true record.

To receive any questions relating to items on the Agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.

Note:   A maximum of 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

There were no members of the public present.

To receive any announcements that the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman had no announcements to make.

To update Members on the performance of CCTV systems and provide an operational overview.

The Group had before it, and NOTED, a *report from the Group Manager for Corporate Property and Commercial Assets providing information on the performance of CCTV systems and an operational overview.

The Group Manager for Corporate Property and Commercial Assets provided an overview of the report and explained that the systems had been upgraded 5 years ago and that Tiverton Town Council was a significant contributor to the system in Tiverton. He explained that the Council was currently working with Crediton Town Council who wanted to rejuvenate their CCTV system.

He explained that the Use of CCTV Policy and Guidance was being developed and would be brought back to the PDG in November for approval and recommendation to Cabinet and that the Action Plan would also be agreed at this point.

He confirmed to Members that the CCTV system will be upgraded in the refurbished multi storey car park and that in the last 12 months the police had made more than 5 requests for CCTV footage in relation to incidents that had occurred in the Town Centre area in Tiverton.

The officer confirmed that the Council operated a total of 159 CCTV cameras across 9 sites including leisure centres and corporate.

In response to questions asked he provided the following information:

·         A request to install CCTV camera’s in the stairwells of the multi storey car park would be considered

·         The Use of CCTV policy would include mobile surveillance

·         Confirmation that the Use of CCTV policy would be presented at the November meeting of the PDG

·         A request to increase the number of volunteers would be considered

Note: *report previously circulated and attached to the minutes

To consider a verbal report from the Group Manager for Finance presenting the financial monitoring information for the income and expenditure to date.

The Principal Accountant provided Members with the current Financial Monitoring information by way of a verbal update.

He explained that the figures he would be providing were for month 4 to the end of July 2020 and that the update was relevant to the Covid 19 crisis.

He explained that the overall projected losses to the end of month 4 was circa £2.5m and the greatest burden was the interruption of income streams. The overall loss to the general fund was predicted at £1.2m after mitigation by £1.3m received from the Government.

The figures did not include receipts from the Governments Income Protection Scheme and the projected losses had been factored into the full financial year.

He explained that leisure income was down by £1.9m due to the leisure centres being closed but this had been offset by savings in utilities and staff salaries. He explained that the Planning fees were down by £282k and was linked to a reduction in developer applications.

In response to questions asked he responded with the following:

·         3 tranches of Government funding had been received totalling £994k and monies had also been received with regard to the Governments furlough scheme

·         The Income Protection scheme had been announced by the Government  but the final settlement was not yet known although it was though that this would be 75p in the £1 of eligible income losses

·         There had been a further announcement by Government to the extension of the grants scheme which would need to be administered by the Revenue and Benefits team.

To receive the report of the Working Group and make recommendations to the Cabinet. Please note, report to follow.

The Economic Development Team Leader provided Members with an update of the work of the Grants Working Group and explained that following the last Community PDG in July, the Grants Working Group had met twice to look at the process of setting grant levels for the Strategic Grants Programme 2021 onwards.

Throughout its discussions, members of the working group recognised the extraordinary nature of the times we had been living through, and the effect of the pandemic on the stability and finances of our strategic partners in the voluntary and community sector. The working group also recognised the important role that community organisations have had in responding to the Covid 19 pandemic, and in supporting the work of the Council particularly with the most vulnerable.

In recognition that this has been an extraordinary year, the working group recommended that the current funding settlement should:

•           Run for a 12 month period from 2021-2022, after which a further review would commence

•           That the scheme should be closed to new applicants for 2021-2022

Members of the working group had been asked to prioritise a number of outcomes for the grants programme, embracing the range of benefits that voluntary and community organisations provided for the District and its residents. It was noted that members found this a particularly difficult exercise, particularly in comparing and contrasting economic outcomes with social and wellbeing outcomes. It was also difficult to make decisions on prioritisation until the total funding budget had been decided.

The Working Group therefore AGREED that no decisions on funding for individual organisations would be made until they had received a budget steer from the Cabinet. The Group would meet again after the 29th October Cabinet Meeting and present its recommendations to the Community PDG in January 2021.

To provide members with an update on performance against the corporate plan and local service targets for 2020/2021 as well as providing an update on the key business risks.

The Group had before it and NOTED a *report of the Group Manager for Performance, Governance and Data Security providing updated information on the performance against the Corporate Plan and local service targets for 2020-21.

The officer outlined the contents of the report stating that this was the second round of reports. She explained that the Corporate Management Team had met to discuss what measures should be included in future reports against the current Corporate Plan.

Members requested that Leisure Centre performance and the number of fixed penalty notices for fly tipping should be included in future reports.

Note: *report previously circulated and attached to the minutes

Note: This item is limited to 10 minutes.  There should be no discussion on the items raised.

Members confirmed that they would like to see the following brought to a future meeting:

·         A report on the electronic systems used in the leisure centres.