Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED: That Councillor Colin Sampson be appointed as Chairman of the Environment and Community Panel for the Municipal Year.

RESOLVED: That Councillor Lesley Bambridge be appointed Vice Chairman of the Environment and Community Panel for the Municipal Year.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs C Bower, B Long and A Lawrence.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

RESOLVED: The minutes from the Environment and Community Panel Meeting held on 25^th March 2016 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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.

Those 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.

Councillor A Tyler declared an interest in item EC11: Appointments to Outside Bodies – West Norfolk Disability Forum as he worked part time in a care home.

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

There was none.

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 was none.

If any.

There was none.

None.

There was none.

The Environmental Health Manager (Commercial) provided the Panel with an update on the work of the Food Safety Team.

A copy of the presentation is attached.

The Chairman thanked the Environmental Health Manager for her presentation and invited questions and comments from the Panel.  The Environmental Health Manager responded to questions from the Panel as summarised below.

She explained that different organisations had different responsibilities delegated to them by the Food Standards Agency and the Borough Council had responsibility for food businesses within the area including restaurants, schools and food manufacturing businesses. 

Food businesses were required to register with the Borough Council 28 days in advance of operation, but this was sometimes not the case and officers kept an eye on when new businesses were opening within the area so that they could contact them to ensure that they were correctly registered.

The Environmental Health Manager confirmed that Tattoo Parlours required a Premises Licence and the individual also required a Personal Licence.

The Panel was informed that the Borough Council had a duty to maintain a public register of cooling towers and ensure that they were maintained and cleaned out properly as they had the potential to cause legionella and legionnaires disease.

The Borough Council also dealt with lifting operations and held an equipment register.  All lifts were checked annually by the relevant insurance company who subsequently provided a report to the Borough Council to outline any failures.  If a high risk fault was identified, officers would visit the premises to ensure that repairs had been completed.

The Environmental Health Section also monitored Sunday Trading Hours.  Legislation currently prevented larger shops from opening for over six hours on a Sunday.

With regards to Ship Sanitation Inspections, the Council was usually given 24 hours’ notice if an inspection was required.  If no trained officers were available to perform the inspection the ship would have to be inspected at the next port it was docked at.

RESOLVED: The update was noted.

The Chairman invited the Panel to nominate representatives to participate in the outside bodies and partnerships which fell within the Panel’s remit.  The nominations would be presented to the Full Council meeting on 30^th June 2016 for approval.

RESOLVED: That the following nominations be presented to the Full Council meeting on 30^th June 2016:

1.    Council/College Liaison Board – Councillor T Smith

2.    Area Museums Committee – Councillors A Tyler, T Bubb and T Smith

3.    NCC Norfolk Countywide Community Safety Partnership Scrutiny Sub Panel – Councillor Westrop and one vacancy for substitute Member

4.    Norfolk Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee – Councillor Mrs S Young and T Smith (substitute)

5.    West Norfolk Community Transport Project – Councillor Mrs S Fraser

6.    West Norfolk Disability Forum – Councillors T Bubb, Mrs S Fraser, M Chenery of Horsbrugh, Mrs S Squire and A Tyler.

To consider the draft Work Programme.

The draft work programme for 2016/2017 was presented to the Panel.  Members of the Panel were encouraged to submit items for consideration to the Chairman.

The following items were discussed/identified for inclusion on the Work Programme:

·         Members were encouraged to feedback to Sarah Moore on the Grounds Maintenance Review and an update would be provided to the Panel in October, once feedback from the summer season had been received.

·         Councillor Hipperson suggested that the Panel look at the effect of Wind Turbines on air travel and light aircraft.

·         Councillor Moriarty requested that Policy Development and Scrutiny Training be arranged for Members.

·         The Work Programme and Agenda be amended so that the Panel could identify how they would be dealing with items, e.g. scrutiny, policy development or updates.

RESOLVED: The Work Programme for 2016/2017 was agreed.

To note that the next meeting of the Environment and Community Panel is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 6 July 2016 at 6.00pm in the Committee Suite, King’s Court, Chapel Street, King’s Lynn, PE30 1EX.

The next meeting of the Environment and Community Panel was scheduled to take place on Wednesday 6^th July 2016 at 6.00pm in the Committee Suite, King’s Court, Chapel Street, King’s Lynn.