Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Lesley Bambridge, Mrs S Collop and J Collop.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 19 June 2018 were agreed as a correct record.

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of an interest should indicate the nature of the interest (if not already declared on the Register of Interests) and the agenda item to which it relates.  If a disclosable pecuniary interest is declared, the Member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed.

These declarations apply to all Members present, whether the Member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local Member on an item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider any business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chairman proposes to accept as urgent under Section 100(b)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act, 1972.

There was no urgent business to consider.

Members wishing to speak pursuant to Standing Order 34 should inform the Chairman of their intention to do so and on what items they wish to be heard before the meeting commences.  Any Member attending the meeting under Standing Order 34 will only be permitted to speak on those items which have been previously notified to the Chairman.

There were no Members present pursuant to Standing Order 34.

The Chairman informed the Committee that the BID were planning to install 6 defibrillators in various locations in the town centre:

·        Youngsters World, Norfolk Street

·        Kenneth Bush Solicitors, New Conduit Street

·        Ward Gethin Archer, Tuesday Market Place

·        Bus Station (wall from bus station through to the Vancouver Quarter on the right hand side)

·        Saturday Market Place

·        Boal Quay – on the jetty/walk way opposite Marriott’s Warehouse

He reported that the defibrillators would be adopted by the Community Heartbeat Foundation who would take on the liability and maintenance issues.  At the moment only 2 had been installed but they had not been registered with the ambulance service so were not live.

The Chairman also updated the Committee in relation to the defibrillator at the Carousel Café, King’s Lynn, which had now been installed.

Inspector Askham will provide the Committee with an update in respect of Policing in King’s Lynn.

Inspector Askham explained the new Policing structure for King’s Lynn, which had been in place for 3 weeks.  It consisted of 7 Beat Managers as follows:

Sgt Daryl Grief - Kings Lynn

PC Cranstoun - S/W Lynn

PC Gilder -Town Centre

PC Marsh and Mcconnachie - North Lynn

PC Wise and Staples - Gaywood/Fairstead/Reffley

Sgt Grief and PCs Staples, Gilder and Cranstoun were present at the meeting and introduced themselves.  They gave an update on the areas they would be looking after; some of the issues facing them at present and what they would be looking to do in the future.

It was explained that the Beat Managers were the first point of contact if Councillors had any issues to raise.

Inspector Askham added that this was a good model for the Police and it was hoped that the Beat Teams would be more visible within the community and get back to the ‘bobby on the beat’ times.

The Beat Managers then left the meeting.

Inspector Askham gave an update to the Committee/responded to questions on the following issues:

·        King’s Lynn Bus Station

·        Crime numbers

·        Moped crimes

·        The night time economy

·        Street drinking, particularly Tower Gardens

·        Antisocial behaviour

With regards to the street drinking in Tower Gardens, Inspector Askham explained that one of the issues was the number of off-licences in and around the area.  The Police had been carrying out initiatives with Trading Standards and there was currently work on-going.  He added that now the Beat Teams were in place, officers could be put in those areas to address the issues.

The Leader, Councillor Long informed the Committee that he had attended a meeting at CGL who had taken over providing the Drugs and Alcohol Service from the Norfolk Recovery Partnership, who had indicated that they wanted to carry out proactive work in the community.  Councillor Long had made the point that support was needed in West Norfolk and he hoped to see that put in place.

In terms of the Beat Teams, it was explained that the teams were designed to be flexible and be able to interchange between areas.  However, if a critical incident had taken place, then officers would be pulled from other areas.

Discussion took place regarding the format of the SNAP meetings as several Councillors who attended the meetings felt that they were not working as well as they used. 

Inspector Askham explained that the Police were obliged to provide a platform for the public to attend meetings with the Police but he welcomed a change and would give consideration to other ways of providing community engagement.

Councillor Joyce raised the issue that some members of the community would not speak to people in authority and emphasised that there needed to be a mechanism to communicate with every person.

The Chairman thanked Inspector Askham and the Beat Managers for attending the meeting.

The Assistant Director informed the Committee that at the previous meeting held on 19 June 2018, and looking ahead to the October meeting, the Committee resolved to re-establish the informal working group to look into special expenses with Councillor Middleton being invited to join Councillors Joyce and Mrs Wilkinson on the group.

Given the limited time available this year as the KLACC recommendations on Special Expenses would need to be made at the 29 October meeting, the group agreed to focus on certain key areas for the review.  These were:

·        Grass cutting; and

·        Community Centres.

In relation to grass cutting, it was noted that the Environment and Community Panel would be looking to establish an informal working group to look into the issue.  This was currently on the work programme for 4 December 2018.  It was felt that rather than replicate the potential work of E & C, at least one Member of KLACC should be on any informal working group set up by E & C.

The Assistant Director explained that in relation to Community Centres the present trading accounts of the Fairstead and South Lynn community centres were attached to the report.  They showed that in the current financial year to date, collectively between the two centres there was currently an underspend of £1998.00.  Therefore there was the possibility that some of the surplus could be used for other purposes, and the need for a marketing budget had been suggested by the informal working group in the past as a way to boost income.  However it was considered prudent to retain some of the underspend to potentially cover issues such as a drop in income or an unforeseen issue that may need attention for the remainder of the financial year.

The Assistant Director drew the Committee’s attention to the recommendations set out in the report.

Councillor Joyce added that community centres cost a lot of money particularly with regard to business rates.  The Working Group had tried to look at ways to reduce the cost of community centres and it was felt that by more marketing this could bring in more customers.

The Leader, Councillor Long informed the Committee that he had attended a briefing at County Hall where it was explained that County would be looking to put more staff into ‘hubs’ and would be looking to use community halls, libraries, etc.  This could bring a dedicated source of income into those facilities.

He also added that he was supportive of the proposal for some of the under-spend on Community Centres to be used for marketing purposes.

Councillor McGuinness referred to the report, where it mentioned limited time available.  The Assistant Director explained that the Committee had undertaken a full review of Special Expenses the previous year, therefore it was considered that a light touch was required for this financial year. 

Councillor Howman made reference to grass cutting and that there needed to be more cuts carried out and weed spraying.  He asked if Special Expenses could be used  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Committee is asked to consider items for a future Work Programme for

The Committee is also asked to consider the Cabinet’s Forward Decision List.

The Cabinet’s Forward Decision List and Committee’s Work Programme was noted.

Councillor Middleton suggested that a representative from the BID could be invited to a future meeting to report on what work they had been doing within the town.  It was agreed to add this on the Work Programme for January.

Councillor Mrs Wilkinson expressed disappointment that Mr Libbey from the Hospital Trust had not attended this meeting.

It was explained that Mr Libbey had given a presentation to full Council on 6 September 2018, therefore a lot of issues had already been raised with him.  The Democratic Services Officer advised that Mr Libbey was keen to attend a future meeting and it had been programmed for March 2019.

The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled for Monday 29 October 2018 at 6pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall.

The next meeting of the Committee was scheduled to take place on Monday 29 October 2018 to consider King’s Lynn Special Expenses.