Agenda and minutes

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

There were no apologies.

To receive any questions 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 record any interests on agenda matters.

Members were reminded of the need to make declarations of interest where appropriate.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on:-

24^th October 2023

28^th November 2023 – to follow

The Minutes of the Meeting held on the 24^th October were approved as a correct record and SIGNED by the Chairman.

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

The Chairman made the following announcements:-

·       The Special Meeting of the Community Policy Development Group (PDG) on the 28^th November was held on that day to ensure that Members of the PDG had plenty of time to discuss and consider the Strategic Grant Awards.  There would have not been time to discuss and consider this item at today’s meeting.

·       The next meeting to be held on 23^rd January 2024 would have several reports to discuss and the meeting was proposed to begin at 1.30pm rather than 2.15pm.   Members were asked to advise the Clerk if they were able to attend at that time.

To receive an update from Devon and Cornwall Police regarding antisocial behaviour and how we can work together to improve Mid Devon.

Police Sergeant Simon Andrews gave an update to the Community Policy Development Group on anti-social behaviour and informed the Group that the team had been involved in a number of initiatives that had been relevant to mainly Tiverton but also Cullompton and Crediton, in particular these were:-

·         An intensification week targeting county lines establishing drug gangs mainly travelling down from Manchester.

·         An operation looking at knife crime and Police Officers had executed warrants and set up a knife amnesty at the station and blades had been handed in there.

·         There had been Business Crime intensification week where local and rural businesses were contacted.

·         A special meeting was held at the Town Hall in relation to business crime in the town centre.

·         As benches had been removed in Tiverton, this had disrupted the drinkers but had moved them to off street areas around local business.  The Police had been working with local businesses in the area regarding this.

·         There had been recent anti-social behaviour incidents which had all been dealt with and people had been arrested.

·         Monthly meetings would be set up to help identify anti-social behaviour to try and deal with incidents more quickly.

·         Most of the issues dealt with were related to mental health and domestic violence.

·         There were more visible patrols and there would be 2 new officers attached to the team shortly.

·         The reopening of the Tiverton Police Station which was now open and staffed Monday to Saturday 10am-3pm and the importance of people accessing this service.

·         Councillors were encouraged to contact the Police with any concerns they had.

The Clerk would forward Police Sergeant Simon Andrew’s details to all Members.

To receive a presentation from the Devon Energy Partnership.

Alex Munro the Director of Devon Energy Partnership Ltd gave a presentation to the Community Policy Development Group to look at ways to help communities reduce costs and address climate change.  The presentation highlighted:-

·       How clients could cut costs, reduce waste and improve their energy efficiency.

·       The energy price inflations and why UK electricity prices were so high.

·       How solar panels could help to reduce energy costs and save money in the long term.

The Clerk would forward Alex Munro’s details to all Members.

Notes:- Cllr C Connor left the meeting at 3.45pm

To provide Members with an update on the Performance Dashboard.

The Corporate Performance and Improvement Manager provided the Community Policy Development Group with a verbal update on performance for Quarter 2.

The Group asked for the following information:-

·         For further information on the number of Environmental Protection Service requests received in the year so far.

·         Regarding complaints, the Group requested clarification on the target timescales for responding to complaints.

Dr Carr would forward these details to the Community Policy Development Group.

The information presented was NOTED.

To receive and discuss the current work plan for the Community PDG.

The Chairman informed the Policy Development Group that the following changes had been made to the work programme:-

·       23 January 2024 – removal of the Devon Serious Violence Strategy which will now go directly to Cabinet.

·       23 January 2024 – CCTV Policy had moved to 26^th March 2024 meeting.