Agenda and minutes

Cllr Michael Rye (Chair) welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Chris Dey, who was substituted by Cllr Pat Gregory, Tony Theodoulou, Executive Director, People, Ivana Price, Head of Service, Young People & Community Safety and Chief Inspector Karl Curran, North Area BCU, Partnerships & Neighbourhoods.

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

Cllr Adrian Grumi declared a non-pecuniary interest as he runs Enfield Crime Watch Facebook page.

To agree the minutes of the Crime Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 7 December 2022.

AGREED the minutes of the meeting held on 7 December 2022.

To receive the report of Martin Rattigan, Head of Environmental Protection & Bereavement Services.

Cllr Gina Needs, Cabinet Member for Community Safety & Cohesion introduced the report and extended thanks to the panel for the invitation to attend as it was important for this report to come to Scrutiny to inform the panel and discuss the introduction of the new Community Law Enforcement Team. Feedback and questions were welcomed.

Martin Rattigan, Head of Environmental Protection & Bereavement Services highlighted the key messages including the vision for the service which will help to enhance a strong healthy community with a new team of officers to help tackle crime and anti-social behaviour, whilst working closely with the police to engage with the community. The work will support the priorities of the Safer and Stronger Communities Board (SSCB). This is a direct response to the ASB, crime and local environmental issues that matter most to residents. The visible presence of the team will provide a reassuring presence during the day and support night-time economies as the team grows. It will also enhance the feeling of safety so that all residents enjoy living in the borough, with flexible, intelligence driven resources deployed to hot spot areas.

Superintendent Rhona Hunt, Neighbourhood Policing, BCU North Area, commented from a police perspective and said that this is something that the police and council colleagues have been working on for some time, and that the introduction of the new Community Law Enforcement Team links into the Met’s Turnaround Plan, which is about strengthening policing to achieve its mission of more trust, less crime, and higher standards. Rhona provided further information on the proposed powers, remit, and interface with the police, and she emphasised that the aim throughout the process is to make it clear what the role of the Community Enforcement Team will be, versus the role of a PCSO in terms of engagement, visibility, reassurance, building relationships, intelligence gathering and sign posting residents, and then Police Officers in terms of enforcement and prevention.

In response members commented as follows:

1.     The Chair raised concerns about the potential of duplication with regards to enforcement powers and felt this this needed to be unpacked and explained. Doug Wilkinson, Director of Environment & Operational Services acknowledged this point but said that it is difficult to be explicit with regards to the different roles, and whether the new team are enforcement or engagement officers as it will be dependent on the situation but added that there will need to be powers to enforce in certain situations. However, the team’s influence within the community will be their visibility, engagement and gaining intelligence. In conclusion, Doug said that the aim is to observe and review the team and develop it as it progresses.

2.     In response to Members’ questions about the operating model of the team it was advised that the team will consist of 50 and will be introduced in three phases with 17 posts being filled in 2023/24. The uniformed officers will be patrolling streets and housing estates in the borough and intelligence gathered will be channelled to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To receive the report of Eddie Henry, Street Lighting PFI Client Manager.

RECEIVED the report of Eddie Henry, Street Lighting PFI Client Manager.

Eddie Henry introduced the report which provided a background of Enfield’s Street lighting, previous and existing strategies, and the on-going day to day arrangements to address any concerns that may emanate from complaints or enquiries.

Following the receipt of a small number of complaints coming from a specific area within Enfield this became an agenda item for the Crime and Scrutiny Panel meeting on 23 September 2021, following which officers were instructed to increase the output of all streetlights located in residential roads, secondary roads and footpaths within Bowes and Upper Edmonton Wards. This increase to maximum output was carried out in October 2021 and has remained since this date. The street lighting client team receive less than 1 complaint regarding poor lighting each month with the majority relating to areas where the lighting has failed. It was recognised however that assessing risk, fear and feeling safe for residents and end users can be subjective with significant variances often dependent on lifestyles and outlooks, Officers also acknowledged that there are other factors and environmental concerns that effect how individuals feel about the provision, standard and quality of lighting provided which need to be considered and balanced.

It was also understood that some residents compare Enfield’s Street lighting to that of its neighbouring London Borough, Haringey. Unfortunately, officers had been unable to obtain street lighting records from neighbouring boroughs, but observations have determined that Enfield’s Street lighting strategies and stock are somewhat advanced to many others.

Included in the report was data sourced from the Metropolitan Police Service dashboard and highlighted total notifiable offences from January 2021 to December 2022. This analysis was used to answer questions relating to what influence does street lighting have on crime levels in Enfield and included offences most susceptible to impact from changed lighting. Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety advised that these statistics did not prove a link or correlation between crime levels and the levels of lighting. She added that the figures show a ‘very mixed picture’ and it is therefore hard to draw any link between reported crime and lighting levels, and impossible to draw a conclusion about fear of crime and lighting levels.

In conclusion officers said that they will continue to promptly assess all reported cases where street lighting is deemed a contributory factor to a heightened feeling of fear, and advice and guidance will continue to be sought from other departments such as Community Safety to ensure any areas of attention is quickly addressed.

Questions and comments were invited by Panel Members

Cllr Gregory said that residents in the Bowes Lower Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) felt that the light levels were much lower than in neighbouring Haringey and young women and girls did not feel safe because it was a lot darker. John Grimes, Head of Highway Operations replied that some of the principal roads in the LTB such as Brownlow Road are lit to a higher class  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To receive the report of Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety and Ashley Webb, Community Safety Intelligence Analyst.

RECEIVED the report of Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety.

Andrea Clemons introduced the report, which set out the performance against agreed priorities of the Safer and Stronger Communities Board up to 31^st January 2023. It was noted that due to changes in accessing data some crime categories, including Serious Youth Violence, had not been included as. The key points in the report were highlighted and it was advised that Total Notifiable Offences in Enfield decreased by 5.3% in the year ending January 2023. In London, there was also a decrease of 8.9% in the same period. Further data, comparisons, and trends were provided for each category. Discussions took place and clarification was sought on some of the information included in the report, to which Andrea provided detailed responses.

Superintendent Hunt highlighted the other aspects of the Commissioner’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Turnaround Plan for the Panel and the impact and relevance it will have. Firstly, is the Stronger Safer Neighbourhood Policing Model which will be welcomed by many. She then went on to speak about the second part regarding the SSCB priorities which is relevant to the performance of partnerships and all residents. She said that for quite a significant period, the MPS has focused on high harm offences rather than high volume offences and to date from the top of the MET down, this has been the focus and driving point. However, since the new Commissioner had taken up post, there has been a real shift and in essence, (and almost immediately, although it comes in formally in April as part of the new performance package) there is now a recognition that the focus hasn’t been on what actually matters to a lot of Londoners, and that is high volume crime such as burglary, ASB, theft from motor vehicles and hate crime which are now deemed as neighbourhood crime types and, moving forward, there will be a real focus and push in these areas. Rhona said that the MPS are not leaving behind the focus on violence and violence against women and girls, but it is now not the MET’s sole focus. She said that the Neighbourhood Teams have been doing their best to deal with these specific types of neighbourhood crimes, but without the resources required, the performance focus and the backup of their Senior Leadership Teams, they have not always been affective in these crime types. Thinking forward to next year and coming back to the Crime Scrutiny Panel, Rhona said that she hoped to be able to demonstrate that as a partnership the MPS have been able to focus on a lot of the issues that the Community Safety Team and the Scrutiny Panel bring forward on a regular basis, which is high volume crime. She hoped that this was good news and invited Members and residents to complete the MPS Turnaround Plan survey as the views and voices of the community were vital to ensuring a more focused approach.

The Chair thanked Superintendent  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To note the Crime Scrutiny Panel Work Programme 2022/23.

This was the last meeting of the municipal year, and the work programme was now completed. 

Members were thanked for their participation on the Panel during this municipal year.

To note that future meeting dates will be confirmed at Annual Council in May 2023.

This was the last meeting of the municipal year. Meeting dates for 2023/24 would be approved at Annual Council on 10 May.