Agenda and minutes

The Chair, Councillor Susan Erbil welcomed all attendees to the meeting, which was being broadcast live online.

Apologies had been received from Cllr Margaret Greer (Substitute Cllr Hass Yusuf) and for lateness from Cllrs Mahmut Aksanoglu and Elif Erbil

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

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the minutes of the meetings 25 March 2021, 1 April 2021 and 8 April 2021.

AGREED the minutes of the meetings 25 March, 1 April and 8 April 2021. Subject to a duplication being removed from the minutes of 1 April and an amendment to note that Cllr Yusuf was also in attendance at this meeting.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Caliskan will outline the Cabinet priorities for 2021/22.

The Chair invited the Leader of the Council, Cllr Nesil Caliskan to out-line the

Cabinet Priorities for the coming year.

Cllr Caliskan reminded members that the administration’s priorities are set out and detailed in the Corporate Plan. Members can regularly request particular updates if required in the forthcoming year.

Cllr Calliskan highlighted the following:

·         The climate has changed dramatically over the last 12 months due to Covid, this had had implications for a number of key areas.

·         Progress has been made on a number of key areas in the Corporate Strategy.

·         Covid- this remains the number one priority to continue to respond to the challenges of the pandemic. The number one objective is to keep residents safe and healthy, in partnership with stakeholders. The Covid testing sites will be maintained, encouraging uptake. The sites will also be regularly reviewed. The Council will continue to support NHS partners and the third sector in the rollout of the vaccination programme across the borough. Enfield are ahead in terms of vaccinations compared to other boroughs and other parts of the country. However, the majority of residents still need a second vaccine. There are particular challenges with vaccine uptake in Care Homes and in particular BAME communities.

·         The second area of focus is economic recovery, not just in response to Covid but also recognising that some of the town centres for example needed support pre Covid. The internal recently established Skills & Employment Board allows the Council to deliver a strategic approach to skills and employment. This sits alongside the Corporate Plan, Economic Development Strategy and the Culture Strategy and a Skills Agenda is underway. There is a focus on delivering the recommendations in the Poverty and Inequality Commission. In the next couple of weeks an update will be published on this. There is a plan to tackle food poverty. The council tax support and debt prevention team has expanded to ensure an office structure and cohort in anticipation of growing demand.

• The third area of priority is housing delivery and growth, including agreeing the draft Local Plan and going out to consultation. The prime aim is the ability to control growth in the borough, to deliver affordable housing across the borough, and to continue progress on Meridian Water, specifically on the Joyce and Snells scheme in Edmonton. The Secretary of State has now agreed the private sector licensing scheme, and officers and Cabinet Member are working to deliver on this. Recently a Homelessness Service model was agreed and will be working to deliver that this year.

·         The next area is Environment and Climate Change, work will continue on the Climate Change Strategy deliverables. There will be a renewed focus on street cleansing and estates.

·         Adult Social Care, an area of particular focus is trying to deliver specialised accommodation for older people, to ensure that the older population have a decent place to live that is affordable and sustainable.

·         The final thing to highlight is in terms of education, for a long period there have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Committee to agree and prioritise items for the new work programme.

The Chair introduced this item, the aim is to plan the work programme and prioritise items for the business meetings for the year. It was highlighted that there are a number of items outstanding from the last year. There was an item on Flytipping that was not taken last year due to purdah and it was agreed that an update on the Build the Change programme would come back to the Committee.

The Chair also suggested the following areas for the work plan:

• The Local Plan
• Town Centres
• Consultations including how these are put forward, what procedure has been followed, how has feedback been received and acted upon.
• Cllr Greer has put forward the suggestion of Cemetery work following the re-organisation of the service. How is this being implemented, what is the programme to ensure that support is provided where needed.

Members were then invited to put forward suggestions for the coming year. The range of suggestions included the following:

• The Local Plan is very important and should be taken early to fit in with consultation timetables. Including building on the utilisation of Brownfield and Greenbelt sites and what the options are?

·         Regarding whether briefings come to OSC it was noted briefings on big issues are provided to political groups. It was important that there is sufficient time for other items. It was raised that workshops and briefings have been helpful and engaging on the Regeneration Scrutiny panel in the last year. This was in addition to the scheduled meetings at was at the panels request.

·         There is a lot of items going through national government at present such as White paper on Planning, National Health Bill, Police and Crime Bill, and the Integrated Care Programme. Would it be appropriate to invite the MP’s and/ or the Greater London Assembly Member to meet with scrutiny? Officers agreed to look into this suggestion further.

·         Planning felt there could be a discussion on the White Paper

·         Fly tipping, this should include what the Council is doing, what is in place, what enforcements are in place. This should also include specific trends and what is the disparity between the east and west of the borough, aligning this with areas of economic deprivation. How can recycling be increased.

·         Covid could be looked at from an internal and external point of view. Internal could incorporate the update on the Build the Change programme, what learning has the Council made to how we do business internally and externally what lessons has the council learned to what can be done differently and has any reflection been undertaken looking at where things could have been done differently at each set of lockdowns to ensure that as an authority the council can be future proofed.

·         Town Centres as an item could sit under the Regeneration and Economic Development Scrutiny Panel or by OSC from a wider point of view from a delivery prospective and where the Council is looking at encompassing within the Local Plan within this. The previous  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To note that the next Overview & Scrutiny Committee business meeting is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 13 July 2021.

The next provisional Call-in Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting is scheduled to take place Thursday 17 June 2021.

The date of the next business meeting and provisional call in meeting was noted.