Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of 9 November 2020.

The minutes of the meeting of 9 November 2020 were confirmed.

Members to receive an update on the previous meeting’s Action Plan.

Members considered the update on previous actions and made comments as follows:

1.    Councillor Booth referred to the outstanding actions and an item he raised earlier in the year on the Council looking to increase rents for Early Years Services, which was supposed to be ongoing, but seems to have disappeared off the action list and can this be reinstated.  The Chairman agreed that this could be reinstated and thanked Councillor Booth for pointing out this oversight.

2.    Councillor Booth also referred to an item regarding speeding, which was supposed to be an ongoing item and could this also be reinstated.

3.    Councillor Mason made reference to the suggestion to convene an additional meeting to further scrutinise colleagues from Clarion.  However, as Councillor Sam Clark is on the Regional Clarion Scrutiny Board, which has a focus on monitoring performance, he feels there is no requirement for an additional meeting at this time and updates can be provided by Councillor Clark.  Councillor Booth said he believes this issue was raised because members were not satisfied with the response provided at the last meeting from Clarion, which was lacking in quite a lot of detail. Whilst some information has since been forwarded to Members he still feels there are questions that need to answered and due to issues that have arisen with heating and repairs, particularly at this time of year, members need to keep a watching brief to ensure issues residents are having are not overlooked.  Councillor Mason agreed but feels this approach can be undertaken by keeping in contact with Councillor Clark.  Councillor Booth reiterated that he still feels that the Panel needs to see Clarion; although Councillor Clark is on this Overview and Scrutiny meeting at regional level, he is still not satisfied that Members are getting all the answers. 

4.    Councillor Miscandlon agreed with Councillor Booth on some of his views but feels that Councillor Clark can be pressed to obtain those answers for Members in a more direct manner than waiting for Clarion to come before the Panel. Councillor Clark is in an advantageous position that she is now part of that Board in getting answers for Members.  Any questions from Members to Clarion should go to Councillor Clark to press Clarion on our behalf.

5.    Councillor Cornwell agreed, but as well as passing our issues to Councillor Clark, Members should at the same time use the e-mail address that they been provided with for a Regional Director, copying in Councillor Clark. The Chairman agreed this was a sensible solution.

This item will be in the form of a question and answer session with a representative from Anglian Water.

The Chairman welcomed Briony Tuthill of Anglian Water (AW) to the meeting and thanked her for attending to answer Members questions, which is appreciated as it recognised that as she is under no obligation to appear before the Panel.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows:

1.    Councillor Yeulett asked on behalf of Councillor Sutton about the status with the sewage system in Christchurch, which was amended 14-15 years ago and there was some discussion about Anglian Water being involved with that and taking over responsibility, with The Croft experiencing a lot of difficulty with sewage.  Briony Tuthill responded that AW is aware that there is a private water recycling site in The Croft at Christchurch, and it is currently in liaison about how it can support residents of that site, however the site is not under any formal adoption process. AW has recently audited the site and as it currently stands it would not meet AW standards for adoption.  AW can investigate specific locations as to whether sewers have been adopted, but adoption of sewers under Section 104 of the Water Industries Act would have to be initiated by the developer for that to proceed.

2.    Councillor Yeulett referred to a heavy storm in March around four years ago, particularly in the March East area where the Green Street and Morton Avenue area and Upwell Road and Eastwood Avenue area suffered from tremendous flooding and he asked for any guidance on what measures have been taken to mitigate against further occurrences of this flooding.  He stated this is general across March, there are areas where when there is a lot of rain it floods and what ongoing measures are AW going to take with March?  Briony Tuthill stated that it is her understanding that March does suffer with flooding in periods of heavy rain and having spoken to various colleagues in AW and with the flood partnership it is a very complex situation.  Following the significant flooding in 2014, AW undertook some extensive CCTV surveys of its sewers and de-silted where they found sewers that had a level of silt within them.  It also conducted a survey of the out course of the Old River Nene, it has updated its hydraulic models for March to help inform future investment and an attenuation pond has also been de-silted. A lot of the work undertaken in March is in partnership with both County and District Councils and the relevant flood risk authority, which she feels is important given the complex interplay of surface water and flooding issues.  She understands that the County Council are currently trying to pull together a bid to access some resilience innovation funding through Defra and the Environment Agency and AW is supportive of this bid and she hopes that March will be one of the focus areas for this funding.  She would ask for Member support with this as part of it is around some resilience measures that can be put in place  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC27/20

This paper outlines FDC’s approach to developing a draft Creativity and Culture Strategy for Fenland and the key outcomes as well as the approach to delivery that the Strategy will address. 

Members considered the Council’s approach to developing a draft Creativity and Culture Strategy for Fenland and the key outcomes as well as the approach to delivery that the Strategy will address.

The Chairman invited Councillor Seaton as Portfolio Holder to present the report.  Councillor Seaton advised Members that the Council has worked with Arts Council England and Arts Reach to produce the Strategy to support the development of creativity, culture and heritage activities in Fenland’s local communities for the next 10 years.  He stated that at the meeting today were Liam Wiseman from Arts Council England who has supported the development of the Strategy with his advice and direction as well as the Arts Council’s financial support and also Jo Dacombe from Arts Reach who is the Consultant who has worked with creative practitioners across Fenland to assess what is happening in the area at the moment, identify strengths and weaknesses and put the draft Strategy together and he thanked them both for their assistance with this project. 

Councillor Seaton stated that the document before Members today is really needed, especially to support the recovery from the impact of Covid has had on everyone across Fenland.  He made the point that the document is about the culture, places and people and their ability to be creative and the rich heritage in Fenland.  Culture is about people and communities, it’s about what we do and who we are, how we live and the way we live our lives, it is a broad range of activities which bring people together.  He referred to some of highlights in Fenland and that one of the Council’s overarching Corporate priorities is to work with partners to maintain Fenland’s culture and heritage to ensure that Fenland remains to be a great place to live and to work in, there is strength in communities, there is improved community health and local economy and the cultural sector plays a vital role in regeneration, community cohesion and residents well-being. 

Councillor Seaton informed Members that the issues that the Strategy development work uncovered was that there was no co-ordination of cultural activities across Fenland, there were negative preconceptions to creativity and culture by both locals and visitors, but there is lots to be proud of in Fenland’s natural and heritage assets.  He made the point that the Strategy is a community strategy and a steering group of local creative and cultural practitioners along with support from the Arts Council and other bodies will move the Strategy’s actions forwards and it is anticipated that a development role will be established funded by Arts Council, National Lottery Heritage Fund and Fenland District Council, with the Strategy supporting the upskilling of the local community giving them confidence to develop funding support for local cultural events and improving communications across Fenland and linking cultural groups together.  It is expected the Strategy will be used across the District to develop regeneration, place making, engagement, employability, community cohesion and resident well-being.

Members made comments, asked questions  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC28/20

To report the findings of the Member-led review of the service provided by the Anglia Revenues Partnership to ensure it continues to achieve value for money for Fenland in comparison with the other member Councils.

Members considered the findings of the Member-Led Review of Anglia Revenues Partnership (ARP) to ensure it continues to achieve value for money for Fenland in comparison with the other member councils.

The Chairman invited Councillor Hay, as the Co-Opted Chair of the Review, to present the report.  Councillor Hay informed Members that the first meeting of the Review took place on 12 February 2020 and she was very much aware at that time that her fellow members who formed that review group had not all had direct access to ARP or realised how it was set up so prior to this meeting she asked officers to provide some information; a structure chart of ARP, the number of Fenland District Council employees working for ARP and how this compared to the other partnership authorities, where all these employees were based, clarification on the roles of the different committees and boards of ARP so Members could clearly see how each of these committees represented each of the partnership authorities and the audit trail, with all this information contained with the report.

Councillor Hay pointed out that ARP has generated £680,000 of savings for Fenland over five years and collected since July 2015 £13 million in Council Tax and Business Rates arrears of which £1.7 million has been for Fenland,  She stated that the contribution Fenland makes to ARP is less now than when we first joined in April 2014.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows:

1.    Councillor Miscandlon thanked, on behalf of himself who was Chairman of the Panel when the review was instigated, Councillor Hay for all the hard work she has undertaken along with the other members of the review in producing this very comprehensive report.  Councillor Hay made the point that it was a team effort and well assisted by officers.

2.    Councillor Mrs French also thanked Councillor Hay and her review team for the in-depth review undertaken.  She made the point that at 7.6 it was noted that at one time the County Council provided funding, which was stopped, and when she took over portfolio responsibilities from Councillor Hay, although she knows that Councillor Hay had been asking why the County Council were no longer contributing, she pursued the issue and the County Council have now agreed to contribute.  Councillor Mason stated that this is encouraging as this was one of the recommendations of the review.

3.    Councillor Mason thanked Councillor Hay for the hard work undertaken on the view and to officers, in particular Anna Goodall.

4.    Councillor Cornwell thanked, being a member of the review team, Councillor Hay and also to the County Council as it looks like we have been successful in obtaining something that has been of concern for some time.

Members agreed that when ARP is considered on an annual basis within the Overview and Scrutiny Panel’s programme that a broader context of the partnership is provided to help inform their understanding and associated discussions.

To update Overview and Scrutiny on performance of the Council's Revenues and Benefits service, since it became part of ARP on 1 April 2014.

Members considered the annual review of Anglia Revenues Partnership (ARP), which updated the Panel on the performance of the Council’s Revenues and Benefits service since it became part of ARP on 1 April 2014.  The Chairman welcomed Councillor Mrs French to the meeting in addition to Paul Corney and Adrian Mills from ARP.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows:

1.    Councillor Miscandlon said that it is a very comprehensive report and shows the benefits to Fenland District Council and its residents over the period it has been operating and for the future.

2.    Councillor Yeulett referred to the challenges that have been faced by organisations due to Covid, such as FACT and Freedom Leisure, and asked if there was any likelihood of similar challenges to ARP going forward?  Peter Catchpole responded that he does not feel that ARP are comparable with Freedom and FACT in that they have not been forced to close or curtail their operation, but a lot of officers are now working from home and the workload for ARP has risen because there are more claims coming in due to the pandemic.  He made the point that the budget contribution required to ARP from Fenland District Council is lower than it was in 2014/15 and continues to fall and the Council is not expecting to make any further contributions at this time.  Peter Catchpole stated that the impact on ARP has been the volume of work related to the pandemic, but it has some real successes in automating 50% of Universal Credit changes, which has been critical in managing this increased workload and the KPIs are all on track and performing well, with him not being aware of any other councils achieving these sorts of levels.  He said that ARP have really worked well in the pandemic and have embraced the new flexible working arrangements.

3.    Councillor Cornwell said that ARP is doing remarkably well under some difficult circumstances, but asked if it was going to make a change to their operation overall as a result of the things they  have had to do in the pandemic, such as less hard accommodation required due to more home working?  Paul Corney responded that a survey has been undertaken with all the staff looking at the new pattern of working and all core councils themselves are investigating what accommodation will be needed for the future.  He said that productivity is certainly not reduced by home working in fact the evidence is that it has improved and now that ARP has access to Microsoft Teams it is finding the communication side, which was the big problem, no longer exists and it will be looking long and hard at what the accommodation requirements will be needed moving forward working with all the partners.  He stated that in terms of learning they are looking at soft reminders for customers, trying to give customers an opportunity to make payment before statutory reminders are sent, and also how well partners  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC30/20

To consider the Draft Work Programme for Overview & Scrutiny Panel 2020/21.  

Members noted the Panel’s future Work Programme and in particular the items programmed to be considered at January’s meeting.

The Chairman advised Members that he had exercised his urgency powers as Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Panel to waive the call-in period on two issues providing his rationale behind his decision to utilise his urgency powers.  The decisions were as follows:

1.    The purchase of land in Manea to form a future car park for Manea Station as the land sale was agreed subject to completion on a set date and had the completion date been exceeded this may have put the sale at risk bringing into doubt the wider project.

2.    Cabinet are due to consider a report at their meeting on 14 December 2020 in which they will be asked to approve Fenland District Council’s entry into a funding agreement which will enable the passporting of Heritage Lottery Funding from Central Government to the owners of 13-17 High Street, Wisbech.  Notification of this forthcoming decision has been on the Forward Plan since late October so the required 28 day period will have elapsed by the time the decision is taken, however, the owners of the property had not understood that they would then have to wait until 5 clear working days had elapsed before the funding arrangements could be finalised and thought that they would be able to start work as soon as they had signed the agreement making various arrangements with contractors for that to happen in the hope that they could get started before the New Year.  If the 5 day call-in period is waited for this will mean the implementation cannot take effect until at the earliest 23 December 2020 when the opportunity to commence work this calendar year will have been lost and also as the contractors are in high demand they may well take up another job in the intervening period.

The Chairman pointed out that he did have concerns as this is now the third call-in waiver that he has made in a short period of time and also earlier in the year the previous Chairman, Councillor Miscandlon, had also had to use his urgency powers in relation to Freedom Leisure.  He stated that he has written to the Chief Solicitor and asked that administration be speeded up before matters get to this stage, whilst recognising that with Covid and working from distance it is not easy, however, it is becoming frequent and he would not want anyone to think that the process is being bypassed.