Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Harding and Inch.

On return to the Democratic Services office, following the meeting, an email had been received with apologies from Councillor Cottle-Hunkin.

Confirmation of the minutes held on 16^th November 2021.

It was proposed by Councillor Newton, seconded by Councillor Langford and –

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on November 16^th be agreed and recorded as correct.

(Vote: For – 6, Abstention - 1)

Matters Arising

Minute 133 - The Chair confirmed he has regular meetings with both the Development Manager and Development Management Team Leader regarding Enforcement and had been out on site recently with an Enforcement Officer. It was also advised that there are currently 250 cases outstanding. The Chief Executive advised he had not been approached for additional resources.

Councillor Hodson advised herself and Councillor Laws had attended the meeting on the 16^{th of} November, however this was not recorded in the minutes. This has now been corrected.

The action list was discussed and updated.

A 15-minute period for public contributions.  (The deadline for registering to speak is by 2pm Friday 10^th December 2021. To register please email dem.services@torridge.gov.uk).

There were no public contributions.

Members with interests should refer to the agenda item and describe the nature of their interest when the item is considered.

Members were reminded that declarations of interest should be made as and when the specific agenda item to which they related was under discussion.

There were no urgent matters brought forward.

There were no Part II items.

To receive the report of the Strategy, Performance and ICT Manager.

The Service Improvement Officer presented this item, the purpose of which was for Members to receive the results from the survey for the review of the new QBR and decide on any areas of improvement.

14 responses had been received from the survey which the Service Improvement Officer gave an overview of. Overall, the responses were positive with one disagreement on question 4 however no further comment was made so we were unable to go into any further detail.

A short discussion followed where it was confirmed that the survey results were anonymous and following a show of hands that 5 of the Committee Members in attendance at today’s meeting had responded to the survey.  

It was agreed that the QBR be specifically sent to all Members of the Council via email to gain more interest. 

Following suggestion from Councillor Hodson, it was agreed that responses to actions on the action list would be included on the action list for all to view and be made aware.

It was proposed by Councillor Watson, seconded by Councillor Newton and –

Resolved:

That BV064 Empty Properties be moved just to be reviewed in the annual QBR4 Addendum analysis rather than leave it on a zero indicator be approved.

(Vote: For – unanimous)

The Chief Executive presented this item giving an outline on the purpose of Peer Reviews and the processes involved. All Authorities that are a member of the Local Government Association are invited to take part, however it was not a statutory requirement.

The key objectives within the report were explained by the Chief Executive.

It was confirmed that himself and the Leader have regular meetings with the LGA. It had been decided that due to the amount of resource it takes to conduct a Peer Review and other commitments TDC have, that the next Peer Review take place in 2023.

Following a query, the Chief Executive re-iterated income generated schemes that had been delivered and that the Local Plan was a separate item to the Peer Review.

In response to a query the Chief Executive confirmed that once the team for the review was established, then TDC would be contacted regarding themes. He also explained how and where staff had been recruited where the Strategic Plan had identified.   

To receive the report of the Chief Executive.

The purpose of the report, which was presented by the Chief Executive, was for Members to receive a report of decisions made under the Urgency Procedures since March 2020 due to Covid.

As the Leader had a part in the Urgent Decisions made the Chief Executive invited Councillor James to comment. Councillor James advised of the short timeframe in which certain procedures had to be implemented, especially the grant schemes and how hard staff had worked, which included evening and weekend work and even a retired member of staff coming back to assist.

Thanks was given for the report.

The report was noted.

To receive a verbal update from the Chief Executive.

The Chief Executive provided a verbal update on the implementation of the Leisure Services.

The setting up of Active Torridge would be finalised shortly and the new Head of Leisure Operations had been recruited to start in January 2022, who would provide the link between the Board and the operation.

The design logo had been approved.

There was a lot of work to still be carried out especially after Christmas.

Work on TUPE was ongoing but could not be discussed in detail in an open meeting.

A more detailed update would be provided at the next meeting.

Councillor James advised that the TDC profile needs to be raised, there is a need to promote TDC and that he is proud of all the staff and the work being carried out so far.

The Chief Executive advised that some promotional work had been stopped due to a recent local election.

Clarification was sought on whether Active Torridge would be scrutinised by the External or Internal Committee? The Chief Executive advised he would confirm, however thought maybe it would be scrutinised by both Committees.

To review the Forward Plan.

The forward plan was discussed and updated accordingly.