Agenda and minutes

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting of 3 November 2025

The minutes of the meeting of 3 November 2025 were confirmed and signed.

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

Members received a presentation giving an overview of Anglian Waters (AW) work and development by representatives of Anglian Water, Grant Tuffs and Gavin Naylor.

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

·       Councillor Woollard asked which places in Fenland have the biggest problem with storm overflow and when will the problems be fixed? Gavin Naylor responded the storm overflows happen across Aws network because there are combined flows, with the highest number of spills AW see is at sewage treatment works, because they are draining the whole catchment area and a high volume of water collect there, with these areas being in Chatteris, Manea and March. Grant Tuffs added that in some problem areas like Barkers Lane in March some of the issues are due to bad connections and old pipework which are being investigated.

·       Councillor Hay asked would AW expect the spills in the second part of the year, which tends to be colder and wetter, to be a higher number and if so, have AW got a more up to date figure to share? Gavin Naylor responded that AW do hold figures up to the end of October and verify the data on a monthly basis with the number of spills showing as 125 on the presentation and because of the dry weather there has not been any more spills since the summer and if this does happen it is treated with the upmost importance with an investigation and root cause.

·       Councillor Barber made the point regarding overflows and road flooding, specifically in Leverington, there seems to be some confusion over the responsibility of AW and highways, and asked if they could explain the difference? Gavin Naylor confirmed that there are combined systems in place that take on surface and foul sewage, and highways do have their own drains with their own separate systems which they are responsible for maintaining. Grant Tuffs added that with highways the misconnections mentioned, could be a surface water highways misconnection into the AW foul system, which makes this a muli-agency approach dealing with flooding. He continued AW work with highways to disconnect those wrong connections of surface water into AW’s network which then exacerbates the flood issue which is where working with councils, parishes and the Environment Agency come into play to put plans in place to avoid other floods elsewhere. Gavin Naylor confirmed that an internal team has been set up to deal with these issues as they arrive.

·       Councillor Mrs Davis stated that AW are planning on spending £1 billon fixing overflow problems, and that AW are planning to reduce spills by 17% by 2030 but would like to know what that relates to in real data, and is this realistic? Gavin Naylor responded the data used is held over several years in terms of overflows and the number of spills so the base line figures used make those assessments. He continued in terms of the funding, there are several storm overflows and sewage work that are  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC26/23

To update Members on the annual statistics in relation to the Local Government and Health and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) and the Council's corporate '3Cs' procedure. This explains how we deal with the comments, compliments, correspondence and complaints we receive

Members considered the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) and the Council Corporate 3Cs Annual Review Complaints, presented by Councillor Tierney.

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

·       Councillor Woollard stated that, with refuse and recycling, whilst there is a very comprehensive breakdown, 12 of the complaints come under the category of other, what is this? Councillor Tierney responded that these complaints do not fall within existing categories and some of these relate to staff complaints so to protect the names of the staff it is logged under other.

·       Councillor Mrs Davis statedthat there were 27 complaints in planning development, and asked what specific improvement process is being considered to reduce dissatisfaction around decisions? She made the point off those complaints, 5 related to a single application, asking what, if any, procedural lessons have been identified from that case Councillor Mrs Davis referred to staffing with there being 17 related complaints, but it is not clear if this is a cluster of staff related complaints in particular teams, and if there is a need for targeted management intervention?  Councillor Tierney responded that with the nature of planning one party is going to be happy with the decision made and the other side is not going to be happy, and one of the most common complaints, is that people are not happy with the planning decisions, but this does not fall within the Council’s remit, the Planning Committee make their decisions and occasionally people get upset with the choices made. He continued any complaint is looked at and if procedurally it was wrong then it is dealt with, but he did not feel there needs to be a plan to improve the procedure in place as this is the nature of planning decisions. Councillor Tierney stated, in regard to staffing complaints he did not feel there was any pattern developing in the complaints, over the years, it is investigated and if there is a pattern developing then it means that it is not just usual business and there may be something going wrong but there has not been a pattern like this emerging.

·       Councillor Mrs Davis commented that in the report it states a 3.11% increase in complaints with a reduction in compliments but further down it points out that this is not down to any particular trend and she would like to understand whether there has been more complaints in certain categories such as refuse and recycling were up and, was this to do with the increase in charges? Councillor Tierney responded that the 3% might sound a lot but over the year that equates to 6 complaints across every department which means there is one complaint every other month which shows that it was much the same as last year with no trends having been identified over that time, he did not feel it was something to be worried about as the Council has a good record at responding to complaints. Councillor Mrs Davis asked if  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC27/23

For performance from February 2025 to October 2025

Members considered the progress of the Communities Corporate Priority, with Councillor Hoy gaving a verbal presentation covering homelessness and the issues surrounding this.

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

·       Councillor Mrs Davis stated, in relation to supporting vulnerable residents, what risks have been identified around the transition to the crisis resilience fund and how will the allocation meet local needs? Councillor Hoy responded this is difficult to judge as there is never a clear picture of what problems are coming in to deal with and she can only speculate what some of those problems might be or expect so things are managed as they come in case by case, with members, partners, and officers all working well together to communicate the problem coming down the line, what can be done about it and keeping the channels open.

·       Councillor Mrs Davis asked how the Council deal with the lost contacts and how does the Council know that they are safely accommodated? Councillor Hoy stated that when contact is lost it is very difficult to know whether that person is safe or not or even if they have stayed in the District but outreach workers can go out to see people plus the other workforces in the Council are asked to keep an eye out and if a rough sleeper is called in by a refuse man etc, outreach will go along and help identify that person and offer them help or keep revisiting sites. She continued that rough sleepers are known to move around so this can prove challenging and this is where the Council work with partner agencies to do the same and refer, with it being important to remember that there are a few charities that are out there helping rough sleepers but these people never get referred to the right authorities and she would urge them to encourage as many referrals as possible so people get the right help. Councillor Mrs Davis stated that some people on the streets do not always want the help, and she is aware of several cases in Fenland. Councillor Hoy explained there is a fine line between the fundamental human right to live how you choose as long as they are not affecting other people’s human rights, however how much of that anger and resistance is because of past trauma and history, and there is also that balance of how much can you give somebody because yes some people do have complex pasts and they need a lot of help but at the same time how long do you spend on an individual who is not engaging as this needs to be a two way process.

·       Councillor Foice-Beard noted that there will be a leaflet distributed to the homeless and asked if there is a date for the launch and if this will be available digitally as a link and will it be in different languages to help. Councillor Hoy stated that the leaflet will be going digital  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC28/23

To provide notice to members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee of decisions taken without the need for notice to be given on the Forward Plan and/or for the call-in procedures to be applied.

Councillor Mrs Davis provided details of the one decision that she had waivered the need for notice to be given on the Forward Plan and for call-in procedures.

Members noted the waiver permitted by the Chairman since the date of the last meeting

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

Councillor Mrs Davis stated there was nothing further to report.

To consider the Draft Work Programme for Overview & Scrutiny Panel 2025/26.

Councillor Booth suggested changing the agenda for the January item and stated that the fees and charges should be before the draft budget and the draft business plan.

Councillor Booth added that in the March meeting there is a visit scheduled for the road safety partnership update, and asked if this is Vision Zero and will there be someone from Vision Zero in attendance because they are the lead in this area.