Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence of Members who are unable to attend the meeting.

Apologies were received on behalf of Councillor Harpreet Uppal.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 11^th February 2021.

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 24^th February 2021 were agreed as a correct record.

The Chair provided updates to Members.

In relation to the Culture, Heritage and Tourism Strategies she explained that, since the meeting on 11^th February, the Head of Culture and Tourism had contacted each of the three organisations who had made submissions;

·      The Friends of Spen Beck/Mann Dam had been invited to make contact with the Council’s Greenspace Team. This team were already working with local groups and ward members to develop a masterplan for a country park in this area, which would include tree planting as well as other ecological interventions, and the group would be invited to get involved.

·      The Red House Heritage Group had been assured that citizens and communities would be at the heart of all three strategies.  The Museums and Galleries Manager would continue to work with them to ensure that the community could still access Red House at points throughout the year as well as being able to access other facilities on the site on a regular basis.

·      A number of the key points raised by Environmental Projects in Kirklees/Three Valleys Nature Park would be included in a brief for consultants to ensure that what was developed was about sustainable tourism and a respect for the landscape, rather than encouraging tourism which would lead to it being damaged and not able to be appreciated by future generations.  Further engagement would be undertaken when developing the brief.

A submission had also been received from the Huddersfield Canal Society, following the meeting.  Their constructive comments had been shared with the officers working on the Heritage Strategy to ensure that the canals were recognised within it.  An assurance had been given that, when consultants were appointed to produce the Tourism Strategy, the canals would be included and the points made about how information was shared would be considered. (Minute 116).

In respect of the urgent officer delegated decision to enter into a collaborative agreement with the Department of Health and Social Care to deliver Covid-19 community testing in Kirklees; as requested, an update on community testing had been provided to the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel as part of a wider update in respect of the local position and response to the pandemic, at its meeting held on 18^th February 2021 (Minute 118).

The Councillors will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have disclosable pecuniary interests, which would prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items, or any other interests.

No interests were declared.

Most debates take place in public. This only changes when there is a need to consider certain issues, for instance, commercially sensitive information or details concerning an individual. You will be told at this point whether there are any items on the Agenda which are to be discussed in private.

All items were considered in public session.

The Committee will receive any petitions and hear any deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can make a submission on a particular issue on which the Council has powers or duties.

A member of the public can also hand in a petition at the meeting but that petition should relate to something on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10 (2), members of the public should provide at least 24 hours’ notice of presenting a deputation.

No deputations or petitions were received.

The meeting will hear any questions from the general public.

Due to current covid-19 restrictions, members of the public may submit written questions to the Committee. Questions should be emailed to executive.governance@kirklees.gov.uk no later than 10.00 a.m. on 17^th March 2021.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rules:-

· 51(10) - each person may submit a maximum of 4 written questions.

· 11(5) - the period allowed for the asking and answering of public questions will not exceed 15 minutes

No public questions were received.

The Committee will be asked to consider the annual report in respect of progress against the Action Plan of the Kirklees Local Flood Risk Management Strategy. The report also informs Members of the proposed revision of the local strategy to ensure that it is consistent with the new national strategy, published in August 2020.

Contact:

Rashid Mahmood – Flood Manager, Planning and Development

Rashid Mahmood, Flood Manager, Planning and Development and Mathias Franklin, Head of Planning and Development were in attendance to present the annual report in respect of progress against the Action Plan of the Kirklees Local Flood Risk Management Strategy. The report also informed the Committee of the proposed revision of the local strategy to ensure that it was consistent with the new national strategy, published in August 2020.

Rashid explained that during the preceding twelve month period:

£340,000 of Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Community and Business Grant support had been provided to flood victims following Storm Ciara/Dennis in February 2020.

A West Yorkshire Innovative Resilience Fund bid for £9.8 million had been submitted in January 2021. A successful bid would provide the necessary funding to scale up the community and voluntary sector and natural flood management works in Kirklees.

A Property Flood Resilience Grant was launched in January 2021 with the aim of better protecting 170 properties flooded due to Storm Ciara/Dennis.

It was also explained that the current local strategy had been completed in 2013 and last revised in 2019. The adoption of the new national strategy was seen as an opportunity to review the local strategy and ensure that it was in alignment and this would include consideration of the following themes:

• An emphasis on natured based solutions.

• A greater focus on creating resilient communities.

• Adaptive pathways and being agile to new climate hazards.

• A build-back better approach.

• Extending the support to local communities.

• Aligning incident response and recovery strategy.

Questions and comments were invited from Committee Members and the following key issues were raised during discussion:

·       There were recurring issues with flooding caused by blocked gullies at certain locations.

·       It would be beneficial to have a store of sandbags that could be easily accessed at short notice (particularly in/near to locations where there were recurrent issues) to minimise delay in deployment and assist people in the community to help themselves.

·       It was acknowledged that climate change could mean that the position could get much worse, how would this be accommodated within the strategy?

·       It was questioned whether enough was being done to ensure that SUDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems) were used for new development.

·       The programme and timeline for gully cleaning and clearing blocked drains, and the response time to requests.

·       How was the Property Flood Resilience Grant being rolled out and what engagement had been undertaken to ensure that local communities were aware of it and knew how to apply?

·       How would the review of the strategy address the ambition in the national strategy in respect of ensuring the right investment and planning decisions to secure sustainable growth and environmental improvements?

·       Progress in relation to some of the actions had been outstanding for some time. It was questioned whether the targets would be reassessed as part of the review of the strategy and what the limiting factors were on progress.

·       How often did engagement take place  ...  view the full minutes text for item 125.

A verbal update will be given in respect of the progress made by the Place Based Working Group since the last update to the Committee in August 2020.

Contact:

Sheila Dykes, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

The Committee received an update in respect of the progress made by the Place Based Working Group since the last update to the Committee in August 2020.

The remit of the group aimed to review the development of the approach to place based working in Kirklees and how this approach would become embedded within the organisation and across Council partners.

Between September 2019 and March 2021, the group had gathered evidence to inform their work by receiving regular updates from key officers on the work that was being undertaken to progress place based working in Kirklees, the engagement processes (such as the use of the Place Standard Tool) and the planned next steps.

The group had held a joint meeting with the Place Partnership Leads on 17th December 2020 to discuss the progress of the Place Partnership pilot project since its introduction at Annual Council in May 2019. The feedback from the Place Partnership Leads would be incorporated into the group’s findings.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the group had, throughout the process, considered the impact on planned work due to the subsequent additional demand that was placed on Council resources to support business continuity and communities. However, in some respects, the pandemic had also provided the opportunity to implement place based working practices to respond to the associated local challenges. The group had therefore received regular updates on the Council’s Community Response to the pandemic.

At a meeting held on 26th November 2020 it had met with and gathered evidence from Third Sector Leaders and Community Anchor Organisation representatives to gain an insight to their views.

The Group had now drawn together its key findings, had considered a draft report and begun to finalise its recommendations for inclusion in the final report with the view for this to be presented to the next meeting of the Management Committee on 15^th April 2021.

The Committee will be asked to consider a proposal to establish an Ad Hoc Scrutiny Panel to look at Residential Housing Stock Health and Safety Compliance.

Contact:

Sheila Dykes, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

The Committee was asked to consider a proposal to establish an Ad Hoc Scrutiny Panel to look at Residential Housing Stock Health and Safety Compliance.

Resolved –

(1) That an Ad Hoc Scrutiny Panel be established to consider Residential Housing Stock Health and Safety Compliance with the Terms of Reference set out in paragraph 2.2 of the report.

(2) That the membership of the Ad Hoc Scrutiny Panel be on the basis of a 1:1:1:1 ratio together with a co-opted member and an independent specialist advisor.

To give consideration to the Committee’s Work Programme.

Date of next meeting: 15^th April 2021

Contact:

Sheila Dykes, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

The Work Programme for 2020/21 was noted.

Members were reminded that, at the meeting of the Committee held on 29^th October 2020, a request had been made for an update in respect of the Place Partnerships Funding. Further to a recent Lead Member briefing with the Active Citizens and Places Manager, the Chair reported that:

·       At the meeting of Cabinet held on 16^th February, approval had been given to the allocation of a further £140,000 of the £1 million mental health themed budget to deliver the WEvolve Community Support Programme. This had brought the total amount allocated to approximately £950,000.

·       On 16^th March Cabinet had approved the allocation of £400,000 from the domestic abuse themed budget to build capacity, and to train and equip staff and communities to recognise the signs of domestic abuse and make links to local support networks to help mitigate the impact of domestic abuse.