Agenda and minutes

County Councillors Barrie Yates and Noordad Aziz replaced County Councillors Charles Edwards and Mark Clifford respectively for this meeting.

Apologies were received from County Councillor Sobia Malik.

Members are asked to consider any pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the agenda.

The following councillors each declared a Non-Pecuniary interest in relation to Agenda Item 5 - Lancashire Community Safety Agreement and Performance Update:

• County Councillor Ged Mirfin, as he is Lancashire County Council's representative on the Police and Crime Panel for Lancashire;
• County Councillor John Shedwick, as he is the Vice Chairman of the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority; and
• Councillor Sue Hind, as she is a member of the District Community Safety Partnership for Ribble Valley.

To be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

It was noted that further information would be provided to the committee on the two Interim Director's (the Interim Executive Director for Resources, and the Interim Director of People) who attended the last meeting of the committee, to ascertain if permanent appointments had been made to those positions.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 December 2022 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair welcomed County Councillor Rupert Swarbrick, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport and John Davies, Head of Service for Highways to the meeting.

The report provided the committee with information on how the Highways Service was engaging with and informing county councillors on highways related issues. The committee also considered a presentation which was attached at Appendix 'A' of the report.

In presenting the report, it was highlighted that individual face to face meetings would be offered to all county councillors on a quarterly basis with the Area Operations Managers in each of the Districts for county councillors to discuss any ongoing concerns they have in their divisions.

Comments and queries from the committee were raised as follows:

• The committee proposed a recommendation for consideration to be given for a monthly report to be produced and shared with county councillors on highways issues reported, and the progress updates to resolve them, for individual divisions.

• It was noted that the existing "Report It" web-based system available to councillors and the public to report highways related issues would be phased out and the Love Clean Streets App would become the primary method used to report any highways issues. It was also highlighted that the Love Clean Streets App was continually being developed to enhance the user experience.

• The committee asked about the best approach for councillors to request road works to be carried out, and it was noted that any road works being carried out were based on evidence of the work being needed and would only be carried out in accordance with the Transport Asset Management Plan (TAMP). The committee was however made aware that councillors could view the state of the roads in their divisions by using the Highways Dashboard, which utilised a traffic light system to prioritise which roads required the most urgent repairs. The committee therefore requested that the Highways data dashboard continues to be developed to provide councillors with the most up-to-date information on works within each division.

• The committee also requested for consideration to be given to how the county council could work better with utilities companies, in order to improve communications with the public about planned and immediate works being carried out by utilities companies.

• The committee further requested for consideration to be given to promote the Lancashire road works bulletin amongst county councillors.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member and officers for the work undertaken and their responses to the committee's questions.

Resolved: That the following recommendations be shared with the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport:

  i.  That consideration be given to a monthly report being shared with county councillors on highways issues reported, and progress updates to resolve them, for individual divisions;

  ii.  That the Highways data dashboard continues to be developed to provide county councillors with up-to-date information on works in each division;

  iii.  That consideration be given to how the county council can work better with utilities companies, in order to improve communications with the public about planned and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Chair welcomed County Councillor Peter Buckley, Cabinet Member for Community and Cultural Services, Angie Ridgwell, Chair of the Lancashire Community Safety Partnership Board, Angela Harrison, Director of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Clare Platt, Head of Service for Health, Equity, Welfare and Partnerships, Debbie Thompson, Public Health Specialist, Alison Wilkins, Senior Public Health Practitioner, and Lee Sculpher, Senior Partnership Intelligence Analyst, Lancashire Constabulary to the meeting.

The report provided information on how Lancashire County Council worked in partnership to tackle key community safety issues across Lancashire and outlined the framework for looking at performance. The report also provided information on the key issues listed in the Lancashire Community Safety Agreement 2022 - 2025: domestic abuse; violence; exploitation (criminal and sexual); serious organised crime; road safety and anti-social behaviour.

The committee also considered a presentation, a copy of which is attached to the minutes.

In presenting the report, it was proposed that the committee consider setting up a working group to support the annual review of the Lancashire Community Safety Agreement.

Comments and queries from the committee were raised as follows:

• The committee asked about the effectiveness of locally based working groups in the districts and it was noted that while certain issues needed to be addressed at the county level, some issues were best addressed at the local level within the communities as they were the best placed to face those issues. In view of this, the committee requested for local level working groups to be included in the overall community safety partnership structure across Lancashire.

• The committee discussed partnership working arrangements and it was proposed that following the Home Office review of community safety partnerships and at an appropriate time, consideration be given to look at alternative partnership working arrangements as examples of best practice, such as the community safety partnership structure in North Yorkshire.

• The committee asked about the partnership arrangements in place between the community safety partnerships and the education services, in particular around tackling drug use within schools. It was noted that an informal working group operated within the county council, which included representation from the county council's education services. Additionally, it was noted that officers were reviewing a piece of work to determine how the county council was performing in relation to the key issues in the Community Safety Agreement, such as substance abuse (including alcohol and drug usage). The committee was also informed about the partnerships established as part of the government's 'From harm to hope' strategy which was looking at understanding the causes of substance abuse among young people, what brings young people to make those life choices, and what the county council could collectively do with partner organisations to help those young people.

• The committee requested to be updated on the Home Office review of community safety partnerships and the work of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on community safety.

• It was highlighted that the Lancashire Domestic Abuse Partnership Board helped produce the county council's  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The committee considered the work programme for the 2022/23 municipal year, including the responses to the previous committee recommendations from the relevant Cabinet Members.

Resolved: That the Community, Cultural and Corporate Services Scrutiny work programme for 2022/23, including the progress relating to the committee's recommendations, be noted.

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the minutes, the chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Wherever possible, the chief executive should be given advance warning of any member's intention to raise a matter under this heading.

There were no items of Urgent Business.

The next meeting of the Community, Cultural and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee will be held on Thursday 9 March 2023 at 10.30 am at County Hall, Preston.

The next meeting of the Community, Cultural, and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee will be held on Thursday 9 March 2023 at 10.30am at County Hall, Preston.