Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs P Nurse, A Barrett, G Merry and J Saunders. Cllr J Hammond attended the meeting as a substitute for Cllr J Saunders.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest

To provide an opportunity for Members to declare the existence of a party whip in relation to any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of party whip

To approve the minutes as a correct record

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting on 20 June 2013 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

A total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to make a statement(s) on any matter that falls within the remit of the Committee.

Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes, but the Chairman will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned, where there are a number of speakers.

Note: In order for officers to undertake any background research, it would be helpful if members of the public contacted the Scrutiny officer listed at the foot of the agenda, at least one working day before the meeting to provide brief details of the matter to be covered.

There were no members of the public wishing to speak

To receive an update by the Community and Road Safety Manager, on the education and Fire and Rescue Service elements of road safety.

Martin Dowle, the Community and Road Safety Manager for the Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, presented an oral update on the education and Fire and Rescue Service elements of road safety over the past 12 months. The Road Traffic Act of 1988 placed a responsibility for promoting road safety on local authorities. Cheshire East had commissioned Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) to deliver education on road safety to children in schools at Key Stage 2 (KS2) and Key Stage 4 (KS4) in April 2012.

During the update questions were asked and the following points arose:

·         CFRS had a four year contract to deliver road safety education with the option to extend the contact for a further three years. The contract did not cover education for private schools.

·         The requirements of the contract were to deliver education on road safety to 90% of the primary and secondary schools in the Borough. CFRS had managed to deliver its road safety course for KS2 pupils to 100% of the primary schools and the KS4 course to 86% of secondary schools meaning 98% of total schools were covered by April 2013. All but one of the secondary schools not in the 86% had received the course since April 2013.

·         The Committee suggested that Councillors may be able to influence any school as governors to ensure CFRS was able to deliver the course.

·         CFRS had 29 Community Safety Officers dedicated and trained to deliver road safety education. There was no danger of these Officers being called to an emergency during a school visit.

·         The training for the school pupils was interactive and involving which helped to increase interest and learning.

·         The Council, CFRS and Cheshire Police had a Multiagency Plan for Road Safety which was used to co-ordinated their efforts on education, enforcement and engineering.

·         Death and Serious Injury figures for Cheshire East were unchanged from 2011 to 2012 with 12 deaths and 231 serious injuries in each year.

·         Accidents involving cyclists had increased however this may have been attributed to the increase in the number of cyclists since the success of British cycling at le Tour de France and London 2012 Olympics.

RESOLVED:

1.    That Martin Dowle be thanked for attending the meeting.

2.    That the oral report be noted.

3.    That the Multiagency Road Safety Plan be distributed to the members of the Committee via email.

To receive a presentation by B Magan, Warrington Borough Council on the work and role of the Police and Crime Panel

Brain Magan, Democratic Services Officer from Warrington Borough Council, presented an overview of the Cheshire Police and Crime Panel (PCP). As Warrington was the host authority for the PCP Brain was responsible for organisation the meetings of the PCP. Brain provided a fact sheet with 101 facts about the Cheshire PCP and a presentation on its role and relationship with the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and other organisations and committees.

During the presentation questions were asked and the following points arose.

·         Other than through the ballot box the PCC was held to account by the PCP – the Panel acted in the same as a scrutiny committee.

·         The Panel was a statutory consultee on the police and crime plan. The Panel was also responsible for reviewing proposed precepts, reviewing the annual report and investigating non-criminal complaints about the PCC.

·         The Panel should work in partnership with relevant bodies that deal with police and crime matters locally (e.g. scrutiny committees and community safety partnerships).

·         Cheshire East Council had three representatives on the Panel; it was suggested that the reps should consult their fellow councillors to gather intelligence and concerns to use at the Panel or pass down information from the Panel to local members.

·         PCP and scrutiny committees should identify issues of mutual interest and concern and select the best forum to investigate those issues to avoid duplication.

·         The Chairman of the Committee was a member of the PCP and as such was a link between the two that could help to avoid duplication and promote synergy where the two could work together on local issues.

·         Those responsible for reducing crime and disorder should also consider developing links with other sectors such as health. Co-commissioning between PCC and Director of Public Health may help to reduce offending through early intervention and better health and wellbeing outcomes for vulnerable people. This could also apply to Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny and Community Safety Scrutiny.

RESOLVED:

1.    That Brain Magan be thanked for attending the meeting.

2.    That the presentation and fact sheet be noted.

To receive an overview of activities and projects within Cheshire East that reduce crime

Abigail Webb, Community Safety Development Manager, presented a report on the activities and projects that were being undertaken to reduce crime and disorder in Cheshire East. The main resource for the services was officer time however the service needed to compete for funding from the Police and Crime Commissioner on a yearly basis.

The report described six schemes individually in detail however there were many more than had not been included in the report. Abigail discussed each one with the Committee and took questions. The Committee was very pleased with the work of the Community Safety Team and offered to support them in any way possible if required.

RESOLVED:

1.    That Abigail Webb be thanked for attending the meeting.

2.    That the report be noted.

To give consideration to the work programme

The Committee gave consideration to the work programme.

RESOLVED

That the work programme be noted.