Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 15 February 2022 be confirmed.

Minute 31. Lincoln Tenants Panel Constitution

Andrew McNeil, Assistant Director, Housing Strategy circulated a point of clarification and raised the following main points:

a.    advised that further consultation was being carried out electronically on behalf of The Lincoln Tenants’ Panel by the Resident Involvement Team through social media and the Council’s Website.

b.    clarified that Whilst the Lincoln Tenants’ Panel’s current constitution referred to Tenant representatives representing areas across the City, there were no area committees in place for the purpose of elections. However, tenant representatives were encouraged to engage with local community groups and neighbourhood boards to gain a wider understanding of the issues that were important to tenants across the City.

c.    clarified that whilst The LTP’S current constitution had the provision for elections set out, this rarely happened. Elections only occurred when a vacancy arose on The Panel.  When there was a vacancy  all tenants were notified of this in writing in the area where the vacancy occurred. All tenants in the area were given the opportunity to apply to The Panel. In the event of there being two or more applications an election was held for the area seat.

d.    stated that since 2016 only 3 elections had been held in areas where seats were contested.

Councillor Calum Watt expressed concern that there had only been 3 elections since 2016 and commented that he felt that the constitution needed to be future proofed  to ensure that the LTP was representative of the tenants and was not a self-selective body. Mick Barber, Chair of LTP responded that the panel had worked hard in producing this constitution and they felt that it would make improvements for the better to help tenants. It would encourage the community to commit and get involved in resident involvement. He re-iterated that the revised constitution would improve the work of the Tenants Panel.

Councillor Calum Watt, further commented that he would like to see the questions in the consultation. Andrew McNeil, Assistant Director Housing, responded that the consultation questions were on the Councils website.

The Chair asked if the Council still produced and circulated the tenants newsletter. Mick Barber, Chair of LTP responded that the tenants newsletter was still produced but was not printed and circulated to every tenant like it used to be. It was published online and a printed copy was available if requested, this was in line with best practice. Social media had proven to be the best way to connect with tenants.

Councillor Jane Loffhagen, stated that her concern was that the tenants panel remained a tenants body representing all areas of the City, she commented that hopefully with the re-starting of roadshows and Neighbourhood Boards that this would be addressed. Mick Barber, Chair of LTP commented that it had been a difficult 2 years with the pandemic and being unable to meet with tenants. The re-commencing of roadshows and Neighbourhood Boards would improve residents involvement.

No declarations of interest were received.

Simon Colburn, Assistant Director Health and Environment

a.    presented the revised Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy for consideration prior to referral to Executive

b.    advised that the Council had a statutory duty under Part 2A of the Environment Protection Act 1990 to  deal with land contamination and to have an inspection strategy which set out the Councils approach

c.    explained that the Contaminated Land Capital Grants programme from Central Government was previously available to local authorities to bid for funds to carry out proactive investigations and remediations work. The funding programme had been withdrawn in 2013 and had subsequently not been replaced with an alternative

d.    advised that the refreshed strategy reflected the council current operational approach to focus on managing contaminated land through the planning and building control regimes and encouraging voluntary remediation by landowners rather than proactive part 2A inspections

e.    summarised the revised strategy and covered the following main areas:

                      i.        Introduction

                    ii.        Aims and Objectives

                   iii.        Characteristics of Lincoln

                   iv.        Strategic Inspection and Prioritisation

                    v.        Detailed Inspection

                   vi.        Broader Approach

f.     invited committees questions and comments

Members asked if land was routinely checked for contamination as part of the planning process.

Simon Colburn, Assistant Director Health and Environment responded that areas of contaminated land were already known to the Council. All planning applications were checked and sites of potential concern and would be automatically flagged up if a planning application was within a zone or near to an area of contaminated land.

RESOLVED that the Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy be supported and referred to Executive for approval.

Claire Turner, Democratic Services Officer:

a)    presented the Scrutiny Annual Report for 2020/21 for comments, prior to being referred to Full Council for approval.

b)    advised that that the Constitution stated that the scrutiny committees should produce an annual report to Council. Chairs of the Scrutiny Committees did produce individual reports to Council during the municipal year, however, the Scrutiny Annual Report summarised the work of the scrutiny committees for the full year and highlighted the key achievements made under scrutiny in 2020/21.

RESOLVED that he content of the report be noted and referred to Council for approval.

The Chair of Policy Scrutiny Committee updated members of the business that had been discussed at the Health Scrutiny meeting held on 16 February 2022, these were:

·         East Midlands Ambulance Service Update

·         NHS Continuing Healthcare

·         Suicide Prevention in Lincolnshire

·         United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust – Reconfiguration of Urology Services Update.

The committee discussed in detail suicide rates and expressed concern that Lincoln had the highest suicide rate in the County. Further concern was expressed regarding suicide rates in the younger population aged between 14 and 21.  Councillor Jane Loffhagen suggested that this could be a potential topic for Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Democratic Services Officer:

a.    presented the report ‘Policy Scrutiny Work Programme 2022 - 23 and Executive Work Programme Update’.

b.    presented the Executive Work Programme March 2022 – March 2023.

c.    requested councillors to submit what items they wished to scrutinise from the Executive Work Programme and policies of interest.

d.    invited members questions and comments.

The committee discussed the current operation of Neighbourhood Working and the possibility of this area being added to the work programme for next year. The Democratic Services Officer confirmed that she would liaise with the relevant Officer regarding options for the review of the Council’s policy in this area.

RESOLVED that:

1.    the work Policy Scrutiny work programme be noted.

2.    the Executive work programme be noted.