Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 12^th April, 2017 were signed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Report of the Leader, Councillor Duggins

The following will report at the meeting:

Martin Reeves, Chief Executive of WMCA

Councillor G Duggins, WMCA Board

Councillor J Mutton, Overview and Scrutiny Committee

Councillor S Bains, Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee

The Committee considered a report of Councillor George Duggins, Cabinet Member for Policy and Leadership, concerning on the work of the elected members appointed to three of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Committees over the preceding twelve months and detailed their attendance at meetings. Martin Reeves, Chief Executive attended and provided an update on the latest position with the WMCA. Councillor John Mutton, the Council’s representative on the WMCA Overview and Scrutiny Committee was also in attendance and gave a brief summary of the Committee’s work.

The report indicated that the WMCA was a statutory body, established on 17^th June, 2016 which facilitated the collaboration and joint working between local authorities to drive economic prosperity for the area. Coventry was one of the seven constituent members. From May, 2017 the WMCA would be operating as a Mayoral Combined Authority.

For 2016/17 the Council’s representatives were:

WMCA Board – Councillor Duggins and A Khan (substitutes Councillors O’Boyle and Maton)

Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Councillor J Mutton (substitute Councillor R Singh)

Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee – Councillor Bains (substitute Councillor N Akhtar).

The WMCA Board co-ordinated the work of the WMCA to achieve its identified priorities across the region. Each of leaders of the constituent authorities had distinct responsibilities. The Committee were informed that Councillor Duggins was the portfolio lead for skills and productivity. He was also a member of the newly created West Midlands Growth Company.

The report set out the WMCA economic, skills, transport and housing priorities. The Authority had established three commissions to create a blueprint to deliver economic, social and public sector reform. The commissions were addressing mental health, productivity and skills and land. In April 2017 the WMCA published its Review and Annual Plan 2017/18 which highlighted progress to date and set out its objectives. The Plan included significant projects aimed at regeneration and economic growth. For Coventry this included resources of £150m to support the City Centre South and Friargate schemes and £284m for the Connecting Coventry programme.

The report referred to the work of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee which had met four times over the last year and had been consolidating its terms of reference and formulating its work programme. The work programme concentrated on the outcomes of the three commissions to address mental health, productivity and skills and land along with budget scrutiny.

The Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee had met on three occasions considering a number of reports and policies of the Authority.

Martin Reeves reported on the implications of the appointment of Andy Street as West Midlands Mayor and drew attention to Councillor Duggins’ role on the new West Midlands Growth Company. He highlighted the potential for Coventry to be at the centre for the skills agenda, referring to the recent Skills Conference held in the city.

Members questioned the officer and member on a number of issues and responses were provided, matters raised included:

·  What plans were in place to ensure that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87.

Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

Councillors Bigham and Thomas, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Community Development have been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item

Further to Minute 41, the Committee considered a briefing note of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) which provided a summary of the feedback and consultation responses received to the statutory period of public consultation between 15^th March and 28^th April, 2017, relating to the proposed modifications to the Draft City Centre Area Action Plan (AAP) and the Draft Local Plan. An addendum note providing a summary of responses which had been received after 3.00 p.m. on 28^th April was tabled at the meeting. Councillors Bigham and Thomas, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Community Development attended the meeting for the consideration of this item.

The briefing note indicated that during the public engagement planning officers worked with the Communications Team to ensure a comprehensive communications strategy was delivered. Detailed information was provided on the six public drop-in sessions, five of which were held in areas most affected by the Local Plan proposals with the sixth session being held in the city centre library. The briefing note included a table with dates and venues for these sessions along with approximate attendance levels and key areas of discussion. A full summary of the areas discussed was set out at an appendix to the report.

The Committee were informed that a briefing note had been circulated at the Westwood Ward Forum and a further briefing note was provided to support ongoing consideration of the Plans within the Wainbody Ward.

The strongest objections to the Local Plan were again raised in the areas around Cromwell Lane, Eastern Green, Whitley and Keresley, with objections to the principle of developing on Green Belt land and specific issues relating to proposed development sites. Other key areas for debate included infrastructure; the relationship of existing homes to the proposed developments; ecology and biodiversity; and a desire for a greater focus of development on brownfield land. 

With regard to the City Centre Area Action Plan, discussions were limited and the plan appeared to have gained genuine support. The most notable areas for discussion were city centre car parking, student accommodation and new leisure and retail opportunities.

The briefing note detailed the additional engagement activity that had taken place which had generated e-mails, phone calls and letters with most concerns relating to the development of green belt land at Keresley, Eastern Green and Cromwell Lane.

The Committee were informed about the community response to both plans. 174 responses had been received, 151 of which were from local residents or community group with 2 responses from Ward Councillors. The major concern was loss of green belt land to development, particularly at Cromwell Lane, Eastern Green, Whitley and Keresley. In general the responses mirrored the feedback from the drop-in sessions as well as the responses received at last year’s consultation stage.

The briefing note also referred to the 17 other responses, 16 from companies and organisations and 1 from a neighbouring Council.

Following the consultation process, a small number of minor changes were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 88.

Briefing Note of the Executive Director of People

Councillors Bigham and Thomas, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Community Development and Councillors Ruane and Seaman, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Children and Young People have been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item   

The Committee considered a joint briefing note which set out the initial progress and learning from Ignite, which was a five year programme funded by the Early Action Neighbourhood Fund and the City Council which aimed to transform public services. Emma Bates and Sue Bent, Coventry Law Centre attended the meeting for the consideration of this item along with Councillors Bigham and Thomas, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Community Development and Councillor Pat Seaman, Deputy Cabinet Member for Children and Young People.

The briefing note indicated that funding of £1.5m had been secured by the Law Centre and Grapevine for a five year programme to support public services to move services away from crises level interventions through tackling route causes early on. Additional one-off funding of £320,000 was provided by Public Health to ensure all crucial elements of the programme were covered.

Ignite aimed to build capacity and resilience in those who were most vulnerable and to tap into their strengths and the strengths within their communities and networks, helping individuals to move forward, build aspiration and be ready to take opportunities. The project was working in Willenhall with two public services ‘pathfinders’ for change – Children’s Services and Whitefriars Housing. The work was focusing on people facing multiple and complex disadvantage but the learning from the work of the programme would be applicable to all people-based services.

The early findings from the programme were outlined and appendices to the briefing note set out two individual case studies. Attention was drawn to the issue of moving away from public services being the only resource and solution during difficult times. Operating in the locality meant that problems could be spotted and understood as they emerged and identifying who could help right at the start including non-service solutions. Ignite was beginning to demonstrate how communities could be part of the solution.

The Committee were informed that Causes not Consequences had been set up as an online home of Ignite and as a focus for events that helped to promote the practice of acting early on root causes throughout the local workforce. A secondary aim was to build and foster a community of people who wanted to change how services were delivered and needs met.

The Board questioned the officer and representatives on a number of issues and responses were provided, matters raised included:

·  Clarification about the current unmet need in the city and how many people had been supported to date by the project

·  What happens at the end of the 5 year duration of the project

·  How much additional finance and support would be needed to expand the project across the city

·  Further information on the initial observations of the project and whether  any areas of duplication had come to light

·  Further details about the support which had already helped individual residents

·  How the project linked and communicated with existing workers in the Willenhall area, for example the Early Intervention Team

·  When would information be available to enable a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 89.

Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive (People)

Councillors A Khan and P Akhtar, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities have been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item

Further to Minute 56/16, the Committee considered a briefing note of the Executive Director of People concerning the Prevent programme in the community. Councillor P Akhtar, Deputy Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities attended the meeting for the consideration of this item.

The briefing note highlighted that Prevent Duty was based on the principle that recognising that children, young people and adults could be vulnerable to exploitation and radicalised to support and engage in violent extremism was one part of the safeguarding duties of the local authority and was therefore part of the overall duty of care. The key duties for the Council were highlighted. 

The Committee were informed that a large part of the response to the Duty had been to provide basic training and awareness not just within the Council but also with representatives of the local voluntary and community sector. Over the previous year the Council had worked with Voluntary Action Coventry to support two community focussed workshops with a further event being held to allow voluntary and community groups to discuss the implications of delivering Prevent in the city. The briefing note listed the specific community organisations who had been provided with training.

A current priority was to do more to engage with local sports and recreation groups around Prevent and a workshop had been organised in May to initiate this work.

Further information was provided on three community based projects: Upstanding Neighbours, Kikit and Women Building Resilience which were being funded and evaluated centrally by the Home Office. One other significant local community development during 2016/17 had been the Our Families Our Future (OFOF) initiative. This programme was centred on Coventry schools and while it featured the risks of radicalisation it did so in the context of wider safeguarding issues. Initial events had centred on Sidney Stringer Academy and there was now a strong interest in taking up OFOF at other schools across the city.       

The Prevent Duty had also been presented to a variety of local community networks including the Coventry Inter-Faith Forum, the Muslim Community Forum and the Community Safety Forum.

Councillor Pervez Akhtar, Deputy Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities, outlined his support for the excellent work provided by the Prevent programme.

Members questioned what was being done in relation to social media, including Facebook, to remove extremist views and potentially harmful information for various sites which children and young people could access. Members also asked about the criticism to the Prevent programme from organisations.

RESOLVED that the issues raised in the report be noted.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Committee noted a report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator which outlined the approach to be taken on progress, outcomes and responses to recommendations and actions made by the Committee.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Committee noted their final work programme which reviewed the work carried out by the Committee during 2016/17. It was agreed that the outstanding issues not covered during the year and some areas of Cabinet Member portfolios not addressed would be taken into account during the planning process for the 2017/18 municipal year.   

The Chair, Councillor Lancaster, placed on record her thanks to officers for all the support given to the Committee and the Scrutiny Boards during the course of the municipal year. Members thanked Councillor Lancaster for her work as Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee Chair.

RESOLVED that the report be noted and the outstanding issues set out be put forward for consideration as part of the work programming and planning for the 2017/18 municipal year.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no additional items of business.