Agenda and minutes

            The Minutes of the meetings held on 22^nd January and 7^th February  2008 having been printed and circulated, were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

It was confirmed that no public questions had been received.

The Board considered a report of the Chief Executive on progress against service plan objectives and performance targets, performance trends / comparisons and factors affecting the services for:

 

·               Highways, Transportation and Logistics

·               Environment and Regulatory Services

·               Health and Partnerships; and

·               Culture and Leisure

 

Arising from the discussion, the following issues were raised:

 

·               Service Plan Reference ER06 – the Municipal Waste Management Strategy was to be considered at the Executive Board Meeting of 20^th March 2008;

·               ER07 – Negotiations were continuing with the MWDA and a draft inter-authority agreement was finalised and was due to be signed within the next few weeks.

·               DVPI82AI – the percentage of household waste recycled was slightly lower due to seasonal variation and the actual waste growth in Halton;

·               Service plan reference CL2 – the restructure of the Community Safety Team had been delayed until July 2008. Michael Andrews was now in post and awaiting the outcome from the Strategic Need Assessment and the Local Area Agreement results;

·               People’s perception of crime was high and there was a need to deliver a positive message out to the public.

 

Members queried whether inter-authority agreement with the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) had a cost benefit analysis in the document. In response, it was noted that this strategy was more of a relationship document and did not contain a cost benefit analysis. It was noted that the document would formalise the procurement of the Waste Disposal arrangements.

 

The Board requested that a full overview of the Waste Management Progress detailing procurement, waste objectives and feedback from a Working Party be brought back to the next PPB meeting scheduled for June.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       the Board receive the third quarter Performance Management Report and consider the progress made; and

 

(2)       a detailed report be brought back to the June meeting of the PPB outlining the procurement of Waste Disposal arrangements, the Waste Objectives, and the highlights of what was to be done in relation to improve recycling targets.

The Board received a Presentation from the Divisional Manager, Consumer Protection which informed the Board of the partnership with Birmingham Trading Standards which was aimed at combating illegal money lending in the Borough.

 

The presentation outlined the following:

 

·               Why Birmingham?

·               Government-funded loan shark pilot;

·               National roll-out of Government funding to combat illegal money-lending;

·               Trading Standards North West which included 22 local authorities from the North West who were able to put forward a bid for monies to buy into the existing team that works in Birmingham;

·               A change in the Constitution via the Executive Board Sub was carried out to get permission to enable the team to come into the Borough and pick up the known target in Halton;

·               The pilot had delivered over £2m in debt being written off, over 1,500 victims have been helped, proceeds of crime were on-going for over £1m, 12 guns had been removed from the streets, and prison sentences had been issued totalling 26 years;

·               Government expectations had been exceeded.

 

The Board watched a short video explaining the difficulties experienced when dealing with loan sharks.

 

Members were advised of iCAN, which was the Consumer Alert Network in Halton which was a system that  warns members – by either text message, email or telephone call - about the latest consumer scams that have hit the town. Messages can be sent to all members within hours ensuring maximum impact.

 

The Chairman thanks Mr. Downes for an informative presentation.

The Board received a presentation from the Halton Credit Union (HCU) which detailed the following:

 

·               Who Halton Credit Union Limited are;

·               What were the resources;

·               What the Halton Credit Union does;

·               Why there was a need for the service;

·               Where the priority areas are;

·               Red alert and amber areas;

·               What the Government was doing;

·               Working to create a Safer Halton;

·               To assist in the growth of Halton Credit Union;

·               The shared commitment; and

·               Working together in partnership.

 

Members were advised of the “Now let’s talk money” campaign that would help people who may not know what they can get free, face to face money, and debt advice and who would not normally have access to affordable credit and loans, credit unions or basic bank accounts. The aims of the campaign were to encourage and co-ordinate increased activity from intermediary organisations in the provision of routine advice and support to financially excluded people and to increase the demand from excluded people for the services provided by the Financial Inclusion Fund.

 

It was reported that there was a need for a shop front and members suggested that a provision could be included in the refurbishment of Halton Lea Library and also desks could be provided in the Halton Direct Link buildings.

 

Members wished to propose a recommendation to the Executive Board to provide a desk for Halton Credit Union in HDL.

 

Members also suggested whether space on the Council staff wage slips could be used to spread the message of the Halton Credit Union and also advertise the service on the plasma screens in many of our public buildings.

 

The Chairman requested that the Halton Credit Union provide an audit and provide information of where all the collection points were across the Borough. This could then be provided to Ward Councillors.

 

The Chairman thanked Ms Done and Miss Eastham for an informative presentation.

 

            RESOLVED: That

 

1)     the presentation be received;

 

2)     a recommendation be forwarded to Executive Board to request  a desk be provided for Halton Credit Union in one of the Halton Direct Link buildings; and

 

3)     a message be printed on the Council wage slips in order to spread the message of Halton Credit Union to employees.

The Board was reminded that Standing Order 51 of the Council’s Constitution stated that meetings should not continue beyond 9.00 pm.

 

RESOLVED: That Standing Order 51 be waived.

The Board received a presentation from Michael Andrews and Simon Blackwell from Cheshire Police regarding the current and future work of the Community Safety Team.

 

The presentation detailed the following:

 

·               Community safety team – staff involved;

·               The role of the team;

·               Engagement and liveability;

·               Current and repeat crime;

·               Policy community support officers (PCSO’s);

·               ASB multi-agency meeting (MAM);

·               Tasking and co-ordination;

·               Anti-social behaviour strategy;

·               Initiatives;

·               Performance;

·               Comparative crimes;

·               Strategic needs assessments;

·               Challenges, and the future.

 

Arising from the discussion, it was noted that the statistics could be provided in order to ascertain which wards were problematic and resources could be investigated in order to tackle these areas. This task would be undertaken once the Strategic Needs Assessment and the Local Area Agreement Targets had been completed.

 

Members discussed the idea of having a suitable controlled area in a safe environment for people to use mini-motors. It was noted that there was one similar in Rainhill and this would be investigated into.

 

Present at the meeting was a group of students from Fairfield High School. The Chairman suggested that they could ask questions to the Community Safety Team raising any issues that they had at present.

 

The young people raised the following issues:

 

·               Lighting needed to be improved;

·               More activities were required to keep young people busy;

·               Information was not provided to the young people regarding current activities and schemes going on in the Borough.

 

Members reported that young people could engage in the Splash programmes and there were lots of activities available to young people during school holidays. Young people were informed of new scheme called Frenzy which had been funded by the Fire Service and various partners which involved themed discos. This was to be rolled out across trial locations. Adverts would be posted in the local newspapers.

 

It was evident that there was a lack of communication between the Council and the young people as they were not aware of all the activities available.  It was reported that there were various DVDs that provided details of activities available and these would be collected and a package would be sent to schools.

 

Various ideas were suggested to improve communication as follows:

 

·        messages containing details of events and activities could be displayed on the start up screens of computers in schools;

·        a group could be set up consisting of Members and pupils from the school to discuss ideas and events;

·        children can apply to the Youth Bank for funding for projects; and

·        events could be advertised on local radio as not many children read newspapers.       

 

The young people were advised that if they knew of a hotspot area that encountered trouble they should notify the Ward Member and they could visit the site with the Fire Service and Police.

 

Mrs Rigby from Fairfield High School thanked the Chairman for allowing the young people to attend the meeting as it was a useful experience and could inspire young people to get into local government.

 

RESOLVED: That

           

1)     the performance data be noted;  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.