Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair advised that the order of business would be varied so that item 8 (Review of Provision of the Discharge of Crime and Disorder Services in the Borough) would be taken ahead of item 7 (Social Housing Communal Area Maintenance). For clarity, the minutes are shown in the order of the agenda pack.

To note any substitution of Members made in accordance with Council Procedure Rules.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Michaelides for whom Councillor Cragg attended as a substitute, and from Councillor Asare for whom Councillor A Chesterman attended as a substitute.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 January 2025 (previously circulated).

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 January 2025 were approved as a correct record.

There were no items of urgent business.

To note declarations of Members’ disclosable pecuniary interests, non-disclosable pecuniary interests and non-pecuniary interests in respect of items on the Agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive a report from the Task and Finish Panel

Councillor Mitchinson, Chair of the Task and Finish Panel introduced the report. The Panel had received a number of presentations from officers on the parking consultation process and had made two recommendations which were set out in the report. The first was minor and procedural and aimed to see that members were better informed of the timing of the review process following each consultation; officers had confirmed this could be immediately implemented without resource implications. The second recommendation was for Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) to recommend to Cabinet Planning and Parking Panel (CPPP) that it considered allowing for additional capacity within the 2026-28 Parking Works programme to allow for follow-up consultation after major consultations.

A member asked whether it was possible to have a list of roads that were consulted on and another member asked whether, when consultations took place on a ward boundary, both sets of ward councillors could be informed. It was clarified that this was a request for smaller consultations on a boundary for information rather than consultation purposes and officers confirmed this would be done.

RESOLVED

The Committee:

1)     Noted that CPPP would be considering the 2026-28 Parking Works programme during 2025 and asked it to:

a)     Build in flexibility to follow up consultations to take place on larger schemes within the same Parking Works programme rather than having to wait for subsequent Parking Works programmes. It was acknowledged that this could adversely impact the capacity of the work programme.

b)     Ensure that these do not overly impact the remainder of the Parking Works programme. These follow up consultations should only occur where the original consultation was in excess of 1,000 properties.

c)     See these follow up consultations should be limited in size, being no more than three roads within a consultation area and that the total number of properties reconsulted should be no more than 100.

d)     These follow up consultations can be triggered by a request by a minimum of two members for the relevant wards, with approval by the Executive Member for Environment; and

2)     Ask CPPP to agree that prior to the review period commencing ward councillors will be informed by Parking Services, and the timetable for considering feedback from the review and implementing any changes will be confirmed once it is known.    

Report of the Chair of the Task and Finish Group

Councillor Mitchinson, Chair of the Task and Finish Panel introduced the report. Members had been interested in understanding the extent of antisocial behaviour (ASB) and youth violence in the borough and what support was in pace for young people. While this was not the direct responsibility of the Council, it had a key role via the Community Safety Partnership in addressing this with partners. The Panel had met on three occasions and received information from officers, police and Hertfordshire County Council’s (HCC) Services for Young People. It had sought views from the local Youth Council, and Councillor Mitchinson and a colleague had attended a school talk provided by people with experience of gang and youth violence who had stressed to pupils the experience of making good choices and the implications of making the wrong decisions. There had been a significant reduction in youth violence in 2024 compared to the previous year, and youth ASB was a small proportion of overall ASB. The Panel had been presented with data about high levels of potential harm to young people from the possession of knives, cuckooing, county lines and the high number of missing children in the borough. The police had explained measures that had led to the reduction in youth ASB and violence and emphasised the importance of working closely with partners to achieve this.

The Community Safety Partnership was coordinated by the Council and was a partnership of statutory partners and other organisations to formulate and implement strategies to tackle crime, disorder and ASB in the borough; a Community Safety Plan was produced annually and one of the priorities for 2024-25 and the following year was to protect young people from being involved in serious youth violence by taking a preventative approach.

The Panel had considered whether there were additional activities the Council could do to support the reduction of youth violence, and the report listed sports and other programmes funded or delivered by it. The Community Safety team funded talks in schools about risks posed to young people including child criminal exploitation, violence against women and girls, and gang culture.

The Panel Chair then took the meeting through the Panel’s recommendations as set out in the report. He thanked members of the Panel for their participation in this detailed piece of work and thanked officers, police, HCC’s Service for Young People and the Youth Council for their presentations and input to the Panel. 

A member referenced the Friday Night project in Borehamwood that was cost-free and provided young people with a safe space to engage in activities; police reported ASB in the area now dropped on Friday nights. The member noted the resourcing issues associated with such projects.

A member asked about children going missing from unregulated children’s homes and whether more could be done with the third recommendation (‘Community Safety team to provide appropriate support to leading partners to investigate further with partners the issue around missing children and unregulated children’s homes’). Officers said the children had been placed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

Report of the Executive Director (Resident Services and Climate Change)

Councillor Cragg, Chair of the Task and Finish Panel, introduced the report. The Panel was set up to improve maintenance of communal areas, improve cleaning of communal areas and consider charges for such services. Tenant satisfaction measures for 2023-24 reported satisfaction levels of 47% for cleanliness and maintenance of communal areas in Council housing. As part of the action plan following these results, officers were already working on improvements to cleaning and grounds maintenance and current satisfaction level was now at 63%. Grounds maintenance is carried out across housing land but does not include some items residents might expect, such as ivy and moss clearance on pathways. A small proportion of communal areas in Council housing blocks received a routine clean whereas others had more ad-hoc cleaning. Most communal services were funded from rent (rather than a service charge) because rents and service charges had not been separated. Councillor Cragg took the meeting through the Panel’s recommendations as set out in the report. She thanked members of the Panel for their participation in this insightful piece of work and thanked officers for their support to the Panel.   

Points made by members included the following:

• Recommendation 5 related to the examination of de-pooling of rents and the split between rent and service charged. A member suggested the current situation meant some Council tenants might effectively be subsidising others. Should this recommendation be agreed, the member noted the need to make sure communications were clear and transparent.
• Recommendation 6 related to regular inspections of all blocks. A member felt the wording could be more specific so that it stipulated remedial works would be actioned as required and ward councillors would be kept informed. Officers responded that it was implicit in the recommendation that staff would take action as necessary which was already the case, and ward councillors received feedback over concerns in particular areas in which they were involved.
• A member of the Panel noted that devolution was now an issue. It was important to get this piece of work right in the next year so that minimum standards were in place wherever the housing stock ended up. 
• A member commented that the Council should do all it could to maintain and improve standards for its housing stock. He commended the thoroughness of the report. Another member observed that if the Council could show what good quality communal areas looked like in terms of safety, cleanliness, lighting in hallways and stairwells, security doors etc, this could be impressed on housing associations operating within the borough.

RESOLVED

The Committee:

a)     Noted the report; and

b)     Recommended to Cabinet that it considered the recommendations set out in the report.

Update to be provided by Welwyn Hatfield Police

Chief Inspector Pete Frost provided the Committee with a presentation on crime and disorder in the borough that covered neighbourhood priorities, review of crime and hotspots, ASB overview, vulnerability, knife crime, stop and search, Herts Connected, press coverage and police priorities. Issues raised included the following:

• A member asked what happened when someone on an e-scooter was apprehended. The Chief Inspector said that e-scooters are currently defined as mechanically propelled vehicles and must have insurance, otherwise a moving traffic offence is committed and the vehicle can be confiscated by police.
• Another member cited an incident when someone had been knocked off their bike by someone driving an e-scooter who then rode away, meaning they could not be identified. The Chief Inspector confirmed incidents like this should be reported as a crime to police; they may be picked up on CCTV, and it is important all crime is reported, irrespective of whether people think police may or may not be able to act.    
• A member asked if there had been a spike in hate crime given national events last August and the Chief Inspector confirmed this had happened; police nationally were asked to monitor such spikes and wanted people to report hate crime. Local police were building a community engagement team. The Chief Inspector noted the need to try and engage with communities who did not report such crime and would welcome any ideas from councillors.  
• In terms of knife crime, a member asked about the types of knives that were used. The Chief Inspector said they tended to be kitchen knives which was a reminder to parents. Knife amnesties take place and there are knife bins in police stations.
• A member commented that while the presentation contained percentage figures it did not provide the number of stop and searches that had taken place. The Chief Inspector undertook to see these were provided next time.
• A member reflected on the importance of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and the Chief Inspector agreed, commenting that they help police prevent and detect crime.
• A member asked if there were difficulties in recruiting and retaining PCSOs. The Chief Inspector said the number of local police officers aligned with how many there should be; he anticipated an increase in the number of PCSOs as well as police officers and special constables as a result of the government’s neighbourhood uplift programme.
• Welwyn Hatfield has police cadets who give up their time every Tuesday to work with a group of young people.
• One of the police priorities was to build trust and confidence and a member noted a Public Space and Protection Order had been put in place in Hilltop last year which was making a difference.
• The Chief Inspector encouraged members to contact him if it would be helpful and offered them the opportunity to accompany police on a walkabout.
• Members thanked the Chief Inspector for his presentation.

The Committee noted the update.