Agenda for Overview & Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, 15th September, 2020, 6.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting/Remote - Please use links on the Agenda Front Sheet to join the meeting

Contact: Andy Ellis Email: (andy.ellis@enfield.gov.uk 0208 132 1111) 

Items
No. Item

6.

WELCOME & APOLOGIES

Minutes:

The Chair, Cllr Susan Erbil welcomed everyone to the meeting.

7.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members of the Council are invited to identify any disclosable pecuniary, other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests relevant to the items on the agenda.

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were received.

8.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 11 AUGUST 2020 pdf icon PDF 103 KB

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 11 August 2020.

Minutes:

The minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, held on 11 August 2020 were agreed.

9.

ANNUAL SCRUTINY WORK PROGRAMMES 2020-21 (TO FOLLOW) pdf icon PDF 281 KB

To prioritise and agree the draft OSC and Panel Work programmes for 2020/21

 

NOTE: The provisional call-in date of 21st October 2020 will now be used as an additional business meeting, to receive a petition relating to Low Traffic Neighbourhood Schemes.

Minutes:

The Chair introduced this item, noting that each work programme would be reviewed with Members of OSC providing comment as appropriate.

 

21) It was agreed that rather than OSC consider fly-tipping, the Environment and Climate Action Scrutiny Panel would have this item.

 

22) There will be an additional business meeting of OSC on 21 October to receive a petition relating to the Bowers Area Low Transport Network Scheme. This additional meeting will allow for an item to be considered relating to ‘ICT and Digital Services - the Customer Experience.’ It was noted that this item should be wide-ranging to include the customer experience of differing stakeholders (residents, business users), across various parts of the borough. In addition, how do we support the elderly in accessing digital systems?

 

23) A discussion was held on the most accurate way to ensure reports contain the information required by OSC Members. It was agreed that Scrutiny Officers would assist OSC Members in devising a mini-scope for each item to be scrutinised.

 

24) Cllr Greer noted and Members agreed, that it was important to maintain an independent, autonomous scrutiny process.

 

25) The role of representation from the Youth Parliament was discussed. It was noted that the planning session for the Children’s, Young People and Education Scrutiny Panel had 3 representatives from the Youth Parliament in attendance,  who gave a valuable insight to the issues concerning young people. It was agreed that youth participation in scrutiny should be encouraged.

 

26) The Youth Parliament representatives requested an opportunity to shadow Councillors, especially in relation to Housing and Environment Services. Cllr Georgiou as Chair of the Children’s, Young People and Education Scrutiny Panel had agreed to raise this with all Councillors and Claire Johnson agreed to co-ordinate with the Young Mayor and the Youth Parliament.

                                                                                           ACTION : Claire Johnson

 

27) Cllr Elif Erbil, Chair of the Housing Scrutiny Panel agreed to a change in the order of items to the panel, as advised by Cllr Yusuf (Vice Hair of the Housing Scrutiny Panel).

 

28) Cllr Smith as Chair of the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel provided a summary of the work programme for that panel. It was noted that there had to be a degree of flexibility in the agenda items for the March meeting as the situation relating to the pandemic is not possible to predict.

 

29) In conjunction with the items on the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel, Cllr Demirel as Chair of the Finance and Performance Scrutiny Panel, confirmed that the panel would have an item on how Covid-19 has impacted upon the Council’s financial performance at their November meeting.

 

30) Cllr Yusuf as Chair of the Environment and Climate Action Scrutiny Panel confirmed that to allow detailed scrutiny, they would have a maximum of 2 subjects at each meeting. However, to allow this, it was requested that this panel be permitted to arrange an additional meeting (in January or March) to scrutinise Home Insulation and School Streets.

 

31) The Chair  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

MERIDIAN WATER SCRUTINY WORKSTREAM REPORT pdf icon PDF 2 MB

To receive a report from the Meridian Water Scrutiny Workstream 2019/20. A response to the report is also included from the Leader of the Council and Meridian Water Programme Director; together with points of accuracy to the report provided by the Programme Director.

 

Members are asked to note the report and responses; and, agree that its recommendations be monitored by the Regeneration and Economic Development Scrutiny Panel.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

1) The Monitoring Officer gave a brief over-view of the procedure relating to scrutiny workstream reports and confirmed that the Meridian Water report will be on the Cabinet agenda.

 

2) Cllr Achilleas Georgiou, Lead Member of the Meridian Water Scrutiny Workstream introduced the report and thanked Workstream Members and Officers for their support throughout the scrutiny process.

 

3) It was reiterated that the Workstream would like to see 10,000 homes and 6,000 jobs to be realised and the purpose of the report was to see how this would be achieved and how the people of Edmonton would benefit.

 

4) It was confirmed that all the findings within the report were evidence based, with a reference point of 2018 onwards. The areas highlighted included; number and size of homes, parks and recreation land, building heights, overseas and private investors, buy to rent, public transport, number and type of jobs created.

 

5) The report concluded with 14 recommendations and suggestions for future work.

 

6) The Leader of the Council and the Programme Director Meridian Water had responded to the initial report, with a letter and supporting appendices, challenging a number of assertions.

 

7) Cllr Georgiou requested to table a response from Workstream Members  to The Leader’s letter, however, this was not accepted by the Chair as it did not meet the requirements of the rules of access to information, as it had not been listed on the agenda to be tabled.

 

8) The Chair asked The Leader and Programme Director to respond to the findings and recommendations within the scrutiny workstream report.

 

The Leader noted that the Master Developer Role is a positive direction and allows Enfield Council to develop the site for the borough and specifically the people of Edmonton. As the Master Developer, it will be possible to control private investment and mass overseas sales. The first site within the development will achieve 50% affordable housing, with the 2nd site providing 100% affordable housing. 6,000 quality jobs will be created, with no less than 25% of theses for local people.

 

The meanwhile use of the site will provide a vibrant facility and employment opportunities. Density levels will be comparable with other zone 2/3 developments in London and all residents will only be a few minutes walk from good quality greenspace.

 

The Leader concluded by emphasising the important role of scrutiny and the need to use the evidence widely available.

 

9) The Chair asked Cllr Georgiou how consistent the Workstream had been in their work and collating their findings. In response it was noted that the report provided a chronological order for evidence gathering.

 

10) At this point, due to technical issues, The Chair, Cllr Susan Erbil had to leave the meeting and Cllr Greer as Vice Chair assumed the role of Chair temporarily. 

 

11) A discussion relating to density comparisons with local wards and the proposals for Meridian Water indicated that the figures for Meridian Water gave a higher density, however, the Programme Director confirmed that this was comparable  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

11.

DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS

To note the dates of future meetings as follows:

 

Business Meetings

 

Wednesday 21 October 2020

Thursday 17 December 2020 (Budget Meeting)

Wednesday 17 February 2021

Thursday 1 April 2021

 

Provisional Call-in Meetings

 

Thursday 24 September 2020

Wednesday 25 November 2020

Wednesday 13 January 2021

Thursday 4 February 2021

Wednesday 3 March 2021

Thursday 25 March 2021

Tuesday 27 April 2021

 

Minutes:

The dates of future meetings were noted as follows:

 

Business Meetings

 

Wednesday 21 October 2020

Thursday 17 December 2020 (Budget Meeting)

Wednesday 17 February 2021

Thursday 1 April 2021

 

Provisional Call-in Meetings

 

Wednesday 25 November 2020

Wednesday 13 January 2021

Thursday 4 February 2021

Wednesday 3 March 2021

Thursday 25 March 2021

Tuesday 27 April 2021