Agenda item

To receive an update from the Leader of the Council.

The Leader set out the priorities for the Council for the future as follows:

1. Crime. Areas of the borough have experienced violent incidents. Of particular concern is the number of serious youth violence incidents. However, the figures for this has shown a slight improvement recently.  The Leader attends meetings with the Borough Commander on a monthly basis. She mentioned that the police refer to prostitution as a low- level crime, however she felt this needed to be challenged because this issue is linked to both drugs and gangs. Additional youth workers and a mentoring scheme for the borough is anticipated. It is hoped that we may be successful in our bid for £1m from ‘Young Londoners’ award.
2. Housing. The Housing Strategy reflects our ambitions for the borough with the building of 3,500 council owned affordable homes and estate renewal programmes including that for Joyce and Snells. It was anticipated that the proposed introduction of licensing for private rented landlords would help to improve the standard of private rented housing. A lot of work has been undertaken which is aimed at reducing homelessness. Policies and strategies are being developed so that there should be more secure tenancies and less need for temporary accommodation
3.  Budget – The priority of our budget has been to protect our most vulnerable residents and ensure adequate funding for Adult Social Care and Children’s services.
4. In-sourcing of housing repairs service – We have taken on direct responsibility for the day to day repairs service, our housing MOT service is gradually building up capacity for this.  It is hoped that we would also in-source the cleaning contract in future.
5. Poverty – The Enfield Poverty and Inequality Commission, with the Smith Institute had published its report (Jan 2020), where evidence was given of increasing poverty and inequality in the borough.  Action plans and workstreams would be prepared to deliver on the 27 recommendations put forward by the Commission.
6. Strategic Infrastructure – Discussions/ lobbying takes place regarding major projects from Enfield perspective including Crossrail 2, Meridian Water.
7. Brexit - Risk management undertaken and reminders to EU citizens of process for them to apply for settled status. Working with Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) on this.
8. Climate Change – A carbon strategy is being looked at for the borough including our supply chains (procurement) in order that we can become carbon neutral. This would include our pension funding.

Councillor Erbil thanked the Leader for her informative update and referred to a previous request that the Associate Cabinet Members (ACMs) attend Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) to discuss their work programmes.

Members had previously asked that should the ACMs be unable attend OSC then the Leader was to be asked to come to OSC to speak on their behalf. This was why she had been asked to attend this meeting.

The Leader stated that ACM’s report to Cabinet, they do not have a budget and do not make Executive decisions.  They are invited to take part in discussions at Cabinet and provide input from a geographical perspective. The Monitoring Officer had previously stated that ‘OSC does not have power to demand attendance of ACM’s to OSC meetings, this only applies to Cabinet members and officers at Head of Service level and above’.

Cllr Smith said OSC decides which areas they wish to investigate, we were interested in how the ACM’s were performing and there was no intention to undermine them. He was concerned that they had refused to attend this meeting and referred to future changes to the Constitution which may prevent ACM’s from attending OSC in future.

The Leader said a constitutional review was being undertaken to ensure it was clear and ‘legally sound’.  Proposals would go to meetings for discussion.

A Member stated that there would be value in having updates from ACM’s on how Council priorities were affecting the spatial area they cover. The Leader stated that Cabinet had oversight of the work of ACMs needed to and Cabinet were satisfied.

The following questions/ issues were raised regarding the key priorities given by the Leader:

·         Neighbourhood policing - It was thought more police officers were needed on the ground. It had previously been reported that the police were receiving insufficient intelligence, however a member stated that residents said they have provided information on various issues over the years, but these matters had not been acted upon.

The Leader urged everyone to continue to inform the police of any issues including that of prostitution. She mentioned that we were continuing to fund extra police officers. We also have youth officers some are now working at North Middlesex hospital to support young people. She said we were pursuing a preventative agenda by increasing funding for youth services for example at youth centres.

·          Brexit / Reminders to EU citizens – In answer to a question about how people would know of the process to apply for settled status, it was stated that mapping was carried out of EU citizens 4 to 5 months ago and direct mailing undertaken to inform them of the process. Adverts were also placed in community- based newspapers.

·          Housing - The Leader confirmed that the council’s direct delivery new house building programme was based on London Affordable Rents which are set by the GLA and support its grant funding programme.

Councillor Aramaz referred to the London affordable rent level being 60% higher than Enfield council social rent and said paying London affordable rent would put many people into poverty. He mentioned that LB Haringey do not charge the London affordable rent level.  The Leader confirmed she and officers would provide more detail and comparability of the changes – Haringey social rent level charges are higher than Enfield SRL charges.

The Leader highlighted that the biggest affordability pressure for residents was in the prs where rents often exceeded LHA levels which are well above London Affordable Rent levels.  The priority was therefore to build as many new council homes as possible.

The panel discussed the Council’s ‘Enfield Housing test for good growth’ which established the principle that people on or below the Enfield median income level of £33,830 should not spend more than a third of their income on housing costs (as mentioned in the report of the Enfield Poverty and Inequality Commission, page11)

·         Air Pollution – Councillor Lappage referred to the problem of air pollution and a recent study which showed the level of air pollution for an Enfield School was comparable to an area of high pollution in central London (the Strand). Playground time has sometimes had to be stopped because of the air pollution level.  It was agreed that this issue was a high priority, it was thought we should learn from other schemes and adopt plans appropriately. It was necessary to reduce car use and encourage people to cycle and to walk to school.

·         Crime – Councillor Lee-Sanders is the chair of the Crime Scrutiny panel and he spoke about various crime issues and the high crime levels that have been seen over recent years. He shared the concerns of the Leader regarding prostitution and its link with other crimes. He said the new Superintendent Chris Jones had been in post for the last couple of months responsible for Neighbourhoods and Schools.           He spoke of a recent report on ‘cuckoo-ing’ where a dwelling is taken over by criminal exploiters, often drug dealers. He also said that burglary levels appear to have increased in the eastern part of the borough more than the western area. He thought it may be useful for a ‘spatial’ study to be organized involving the ACM’s and Safer neighbourhood teams.

The Leader referred to additional funding that had been allocated for ‘alleygating’.  She said prostitution in the Fore Street area are often of Eastern European background. When the police increased activity in this area the problem improved for a short time. A large- scale operation carried out in one of the eastern London boroughs had been successful in eliminating this.  The importance of dealing with this as a safeguarding issue was stressed, with the local authority providing help and support.

The Leader left the meeting at this point