Agenda and draft minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 14 March 2023 be confirmed.

Please note that, in accordance with the Members' Code of Conduct, when declaring interests members must disclose the existence and nature of the interest, and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) or personal and/or pecuniary.

There were no declarations of interest received.

RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item(s) of business because it was likely that if members of the public were present there would be a disclosure to them of ‘exempt information’ as defined by Section 100I and Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item(s) of business because it was likely that if members of the public were present there would be a disclosure to them of ‘exempt information’ as defined by Section 100I and Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

Superintendent Phil Baker, Lincolnshire Police, presented the Police Performance Overview for Lincoln which covered the period up to 31 July 2023.

Members discussed the content of the report in further detail, asked questions of Phil Baker and received relevant responses thereon.

RESOLVED that the contents of the report be noted with thanks by members.

In light of Lincoln BIG unfortunatelybeing unable to attend tonight’s meeting, the Annual report was presented on their behalf.

The current City Centre issues that Levy payers had reported were as follows:

·         Youth ASB particularly around the Cornhill area

·         Visible Policing

·         Homeless/ Begging

·         Cycling/ E scooters on the High Street

·         Vehicles on the High Street

·         Evening Warden funding.

RESOLVED that the content of the report be noted with thanks from members.

It was noted at this point in the proceedings that the press and public were permitted to re-join the meeting as there was no further ‘exempt information’ to be discussed, although there were no press/public present in the public gallery this evening.

Ben Jackson, Public Protection, ASB & Licensing Service Manager:

a)    presented an overview of the current level of Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) across the city, to highlight the current and arising issues and to appraise the Committee of the work and projects that were being undertaken across the city to reduce and address ASB

b)    reported that the Public Protection and Anti-Social Behaviour (PPASB) Team dealt with a wide variety of complaints including ASB, noise, environmental and animal issues, and received in excess of 4000 requests for service each year across the city

c)    advised that the PPASB team had been subject to a management of change approximately 18 months ago, this resulted in the PPASB Officers moving to the same job descriptions opposed to the previous arrangement of them being specialist Officers

d)    advised that from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 the PPASB Team received 4049 requests for service across all of their services including ASB, noise nuisance, animal related concerns, environmental issues such as fly tipping and pests

e)    reported that service requests dropped during covid, however service demands now exceeded pre-covid levels. Service demand continued to rise post covid and there was a 26.3% increase in service demand when compared to the pre-covid demand of 3205 (Year 17/18) with the last financial years demand of 4049. The service demand for Quarter 1 of 23/24 remained high at 966, which suggested that demand remained stable and high for the year 23/24

f)     gave further detail within the report covering the following main areas:

·         Enforcement Actions

·         PPASB Post Covid-19

·         Anti-Social Behaviour Co-Ordinator (ASB Police Officer)

·         City Centre

·         Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPO)

·         Partnership Working

·         Police

·         Forward Look

g)    explained that the removal of the ASB Co-Ordinator role by Lincolnshire Police was a risk to the service. Work was underway to improve joint working, training and communication between the Police and Council teams.

h)    invited members’ comments and questions.

Question: Would the removal of the Police Officer from the PPASB Team affect the performance of the team?

Response: Reassured members that the Council was being proactive with dealing with the withdrawal of the Police Officer from the PPASB Team. A meeting would be taking place shortly between the Council and the Police to discuss protocols and refresh procedures to fill in any gaps. The PPASB Team would be upskilled on tools and powers to ensure we could action them rather than relying on the police. Also Housing Staff would be upskilled on use of their powers.

Question: Would Police Officers also be upskilled?

Response: Yes, this would also be discussed at the upcoming meeting.

Question: Did Council staff work at South Park Police Station?

Response: Hotdesking was available, however, it was not necessary for Council staff to spend a lot of time working at South Park Station as there was already very good communication between the Council and the Police.

Question: What enforcement could be done in relation to dog fouling?

Response: Resourcing was an issue to be able  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.