Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting - online. View directions

Contact: Sheila Dykes  Email: sheila.dykes@kirklees.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

129.

Membership of Committee

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

Minutes:

All Members of the Committee were in attendance.

130.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 455 KB

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 18th March 2021.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 18th March 2021 were agreed as a correct record.

 

The Chair provided an update in relation to the Annual Update in respect of Flood Risk (Minute 125):

 

·       The Highways Team had confirmed that the priority gritting routes had been used as a template for the new rounds for gullies to be cleared on a cyclical basis.

·       All other gullies were cleared on a reactive basis, as and when requested, with requests generally being generated through ROSS or Councillor Enquiries.

·       The response time was normally 15 working days, but bad storms could create a backlog.  Customers were not normally updated on requests regarding blocked gullies.

·       The team often received requests for blocked gullies due to customers seeing standing water and not realising that this was associated with the design of a gully as they have a silt trap.

 

131.

Interests pdf icon PDF 20 KB

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.

Minutes:

No interests were declared.

132.

Admission of the Public

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.

Minutes:

All items were considered in public session.

133.

Deputations/Petitions

The Committee will receive any petitions and hear any deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. 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.

Minutes:

No deputations or petitions were received.

 

134.

Place Based Working Group - Final Report pdf icon PDF 234 KB

The final report of the Working Group on Place Based Working will be presented for the Committee’s consideration.

 

Contact:

Jodie Harris,

Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The final report of the Working Group on Place Based Working was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

 

The Chair of the Working Group, Councillor Uppal, introduced the report. She thanked all the Members of the Working Group for their contribution to its work and thanked the Governance officers for their assistance. She explained that:

·       The Working Group had been established further to a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee in September 2019, with the membership drawn from the Corporate and Economy and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panels.

·       The main objectives had been to review the development of the revised approach to place based working in Kirklees and to examine how it would become embedded within the organisation and across its partners.

·       The Group had met on number of occasions between September 2019 and March 2021, gathering evidence from Council officers, the Place Partnership Leads, third sector leaders and community anchor representatives and had produced a final report which included a number of recommendations.

·       The clear conclusion was that place based working was the right approach to take; doing more to engage citizens in their place, encouraging pride in their local area and ensuring their ideas were put into practice. Also, that Councillors, as representatives of local people, should be fully engaged with this work

·       A number of good approaches had been utilised. The Place Standard Tool was a good way of engaging with citizens by going to where they were and the community anchor approach had proved to have a number of real benefits. The Council had worked very closely with the voluntary and community sectors during the pandemic and this had allowed measures to be implemented quickly during a challenging time. It was believed that this approach should continue.

·       The response in respect of the Place Partnership model had been more mixed. There were benefits but it was considered that some work was needed in relation to: its aims and objectives; ensuring buy-in; and how decisions were made on themes and budget allocation.

·       Cultural change would be needed to ensure that the place based working approach became embedded across the organisation and the key outcomes achieved.

·       Excellent engagement had taken place but there was a need to take the key priorities from residents and ensure that they were followed up and that the necessary resources were available. Buy-in was needed from all departments particularly where there may be a mismatch with the corporate priorities.

·       Geography was an issue that had been discussed on a number of occasions, particularly in relation to the Place Partnerships. It was considered that there was a need to understand the basis for wards being brought together; there was a difference between administrative boundaries and the need to identify places to reflect how citizens saw them. Some Councillors had identified local transport infrastructure as one of the key issues that should be considered.

·       It was considered that there should be systemic engagement with the Town and Parish Councils.

·       The structure and process for making decisions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 134.

135.

Work Programme 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 496 KB

To give consideration to the Committee’s Work Programme for 2020/21 and put forward potential items for inclusion in the Work Programme for 2021/22.

 

Contact:

Sheila Dykes,

Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

Minutes:

 

As this was the last meeting of the municipal year the Chair expressed her thanks to all Members for their contribution during the last year.

 

Members were invited to put forward any suggested issues for inclusion in the Work Programme for 2021/22 by contacting the Chair or the Governance Team.