Agenda and minutes

Kirstie Hercules

Laura Woodrow Hurst

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 whipping declarations.

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 present wishing to speak

To have a discussion with P Findlow (Cheshire East Police and Crime Panel Member) on the spend and priorities for this and future years.

Councillor Paul Findlow, a member of the Cheshire Police and Crime Panel (PCP) attended the meeting to address the committee on the Cheshire Police and Crime Plan.

Councillor Findlow explained that the PCP comprised ten elected Members from the Cheshire authorities, three of whom represented Cheshire East and three independent Members.

The Chief Constable was accountable to the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) in respect of non operational matters, and in turn the PCC was accountable to the PCP.

The PCC was responsible for the Cheshire Police and Crime Plan and although he personally the PCC had significant input in respect of the content of annual plan and formulation of objectives, he also received direction form the home office on some aspects of the plan.

In summary, the new Cheshire Police and Crime Plan contained 5 strategic objectives each with a number of measures.

Members of the committee were then invited to question Councillor Findlow on the plan and work of the PCP.

A question was raised about the disparity between the Community Safety Funding grant allocated to Cheshire West and Chester and that allocated to Cheshire East, with the former receiving over £10,000 more.

Councillor Findlow informed that Committee that he was not familiar with the allocation criteria and would take the matter up directly with the commissioner.

RESOLVED – That the presentation on the work of the PCP and the content of the Cheshire Police and Crime Plan be noted.

To receive a presentation about the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 which received royal accent on 13 March 2014.

Kirstie Hercules and Laura Woodrow Hurst gave a presentation on the content and implications of parts 1-6 of the Anti – Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014.

Parts 1-4 of the new act replaced the existing 19 powers that dealt with anti social behaviour.

Part 5 gave landlords power to deal swiftly with the most serious anti-social behaviour committed by their tenants and part 6 gave victims power to ensure that action was taken to deal with persistent anti-social behaviour through the new community trigger, and also to have a greater say in what form of sanction an offender would receive out of court through a new procedure called the community remedy.

The act also introduced new measures to give victims a say. This was known as a Community Trigger. This new power allowed members of the community to ask the Community Safety Partnership to review its response to complaints of anti- social behaviour. The trigger was designed to resolve repeated reports of anti social behaviour where no action had been taken. In order for this power to be invoked, a complainant had to have reported the same problem on three or more occasions in the past six months to their landlord, Council or Police, or different complainants had reported the problem five times over the same period. There was a set procedure to be followed which also provided opportunities to appeal if a complainant was not happy with the response.

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the presentation be received;

(b)  That a further presentation be made at a subsequent meeting on other aspect of the  Anti – Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 which are relevant to the Committee.

To note the current forward plan, identify any new items, and to determine whether any further examination of new issues is appropriate.

The Committee considered items listed in the forward plan.

RESOLVED – That the forward plan be received.

To give consideration to the draft work programme

The Committee reviewed its work programme.

RESOLVED - that the work programme be received.