Agenda and minutes

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

Apologies were received from Councillor Uppal.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 3^rd February 2022.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 3^rd February 2022 were agreed as a correct record.

The Chair provided an update, as follows:

The Corporate Safeguarding Policy, which had been considered by the Committee on 3rd February, had been approved at the meeting of Cabinet held on 8th March 2022. The policy would be included in the Council’s Policy Framework and would be reviewed on an annual basis, along with the associated guidance (Minute 58).

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 held 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 attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern.

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

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.

No deputations or petitions were received.

The meeting will hear any questions from the public in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.

Questions should be emailed to executive.governance@kirklees.gov.uk by no later than 10.00 a.m. on 14^th March 2022.

No questions were received.

The Committee is invited to comment on a report in respect of the Low Carbon Housing Pilot Project.

Contact:

James Hinchliffe, General Manager - Development

A report was submitted in respect of the development of a Low Carbon Housing Pilot Project.

A report seeking approval to move forward with the project, specifically to appoint a specialist design team, was to be submitted to Cabinet on 5^th April 2022.

Naz Parkar, Service Director – Homes and Neighbourhoods and James Hinchliffe, General Manager – Development attended the meeting to introduce the report and gave a presentation covering the following:

·       The context and background to the project and the associated challenges, from both a local and national perspective. This included: fuel poverty, the impact of the rising cost of living, addressing the climate emergency, inefficient older stock, provision of healthy living conditions, the drive for sustainable standards, volatility within the energy market, and regulatory changes.

·       The approach to achieve the necessary behavioural change.

·       Details of the project to construct 125 homes on a site in Liversedge, with a minimum of twenty units to Passivhaus standard, one zero-carbon house and the remainder achieving a minimum 31% reduction in carbon emissions on current building regulations. There was an intention to incorporate modern methods of construction and the scheme would also allow the Council to share learning, to assist in raising design standards for the future.

·       A summary of the Passivhaus approach.

·       The Forward Plan; including a start on site in 2023 with completion by 2026.

Questions and comments were invited from Committee Members, with the following issues being covered:

·       The specification for a minimum of 31% carbon savings would apply to all the units on the site other than the zero-carbon and Passivhaus units. It was anticipated that the specialist design team may be able to assist in achieving an improvement on this figure. By 2025 the Government would require all new homes to produce 75 to 80% fewer carbon emissions, however the technical guidance had not yet been published and this proposal had been put forward in anticipation of this change.

·       Significant exploratory work had been undertaken through talking to, and visiting, those authorities and designers that had already undertaken such projects, in order to benefit from their knowledge and experience, and research undertaken in relation to off-site manufacturing methods.

·       The sharing of information and learning, both internally and externally, was important; the ambition was to share learning with the wider market and local contractor base and to develop construction skills and techniques to support new approaches to housebuilding in the future.

·       It was questioned whether the proposed numbers of Passivhaus (20) and zero-carbon units (1) would be sufficient to provide the necessary data and demonstrate the principles and benefits that the Council was hoping for. In response it was explained that the stated numbers were a minimum and it was believed that they would be adequate to test the principles. The Council would take advice from the design team, once appointed, to assess if this could be increased. The scheme was at an early stage and the Council was open to testing different technologies and approaches  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67.

A report will be presented which considers progress against the Action Plan of the Kirklees Local Flood Risk Management Strategy.

Contact:

Rashid Mahmood, Flood Manager, Planning and Development

A report was submitted which considered progress against the Action Plan of the Kirklees Local Flood Risk Management Strategy, during the previous twelve-month period.

Rashid Mahmood, Flood Manager, Planning and Development introduced the report and Chris Johnson, Operational Manager, Highways was also in attendance to answer questions. The following points were highlighted:

·       The delivery of works, funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Property Flood Resilience Grant, to protect properties and reduce internal flooding was progressing well.

·       The £1.3 million Kirklees Culverts Project was on track for completion by 31^st March 2022 and there may be potential for it to be extended into a second phase.

·       A successful bid had been made for funding for a review of high-risk debris screen assets and this would commence in the new financial year.

·       New software had been purchased to improve the Authority’s local flood warning system by providing early intelligence of problems in the district.

·       Springboard funding had been achieved for an innovation programme at regional level to increase resilience.

·       The Community Flood Risk Education Programme had been completed.

·       Work was progressing in respect of the development of a new Flood Risk Management Strategy, which would include a focus on nature-based solutions, community resilience, and how to manage the impact of climate change.

·       The impact of, and response to, the recent storm events.

Questions and comments were invited from Committee Members, with the following issues being covered:

·       In terms of adapting to worsening conditions, the Authority was keen to pursue nature-based solutions and work was ongoing with local groups together with the National Trust, Yorkshire Water and the Peak District National Park to address leaks and slow the flow. There was a need to scale up this work and a bid had been made to allow further mapping to be undertaken. In addition, climate science continued to develop, the Government had issued new climate change allowances that would be taken into consideration when assessing planning applications and projects, and new national models were being looked at.

·       Had consideration been given to the use of more community-based approaches such as flood sacks, which were filled with water, so that people did not have to wait for a response to be able to take action.

·       Since the report to the Committee in 2021, sandbags had been deployed in advance to ten areas that had been identified as being at risk. Approximately 150 gullies, that were known to have caused flooding to properties, had been added to the Pre-Flood Operational Plan and the highest risk gullies had been targeted prior to the recent storm events.

·       In respect of a specific incidence in Albert Street, Huddersfield, it was explained that this had been an unusual occurrence and illustrated the challenges faced in trying to predict flooding.

·       The list of gullies did evolve and the data was reviewed but if the list became too large it would not be possible to get to all of them in the limited time available.

·       It was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.

A report will be received in respect of the Kirklees Domestic Abuse Strategy 2022-27.

Contact:

Jo Richmond, Head of Service, Communities

Chani Mortimer, Service Manager Domestic Abuse and Safeguarding Partnerships

A report was submitted in respect of the Kirklees Domestic Abuse Strategy 2022-27.

Councillor Carole Pattison, Cabinet Member for Learning, Aspiration and Communities, was in attendance and introduced the strategy, developed with the Domestic Abuse Strategic Partnership, explaining that it covered a five-year period and took a whole family approach. The breadth of this strategy had been facilitated by the preceding strategies, which had enabled the establishment and development of the necessary resources to address domestic abuse. She noted that the impacts of domestic abuse were felt not just by an individual or a family but the whole community and there would be a strengthened approach to dealing with perpetrators.

Jill Greenfield, Service Director Customer and Communities, Jo Richmond, Head of Service, Communities and Chani Mortimer, Service Manager Domestic Abuse and Safeguarding Partnerships attended to present the report and answer questions. They highlighted the following points:

·       There was a strong partnership in place and this provided a robust basis for launching a new strategy.

·       It was recognised that there were still some barriers to accessing support and that navigating support could be a challenge for local people.

·       The objective of the strategy was to provide a consistent, co-ordinated and high-quality approach regardless of the point at which someone accessed the system.

·       Delivery of the new statutory duty linked to safe accommodation had been incorporated within the strategy .

·       The delivery plan was being developed and scrutiny’s input would be welcomed.

·       The key themes running through the strategy included: responding to lived experience and providing feedback loops; intelligence-led resourcing as and when needed not just for ‘hotspots’ but also where there were few reports; supporting and increasing the skills of the workforce to ensure that they are equipped to respond in appropriate manner; how to support local specialist services to ensure that they are sustainable and embedded in the community; working directly with the community to understand impact and how this can be addressed; and agreeing individual partnership commitments.

The strategy was a partnership document and the Committee also welcomed Stuart Bainbridge from West Yorkshire Police and Denise Phillip, from NHS Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group. 

Stuart explained that:

·       from the Police perspective the partnership approach was key, through the Kirklees Daily Risk Management Meetings (DRAMM) and Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) and third-sector partners

·       Domestic abuse was a primary function for West Yorkshire Police and was, unfortunately, a growth area.

·       The partnership approach would help support victims and direct perpetrators.

·       The Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the Chief Constable had a strong understanding of domestic abuse and how a partnership approach would support the response. Resources had been focussed on domestic abuse and safeguarding and there had been an increase in staff and the development of new areas of work, such as the domestic abuse offender management team.

·       The need to work collaboratively was acknowledged and understood.

·       The Partnership Intelligence Portal would increase effectiveness and assist in filling the gaps in intelligence.

Denise explained that;

·       Domestic abuse was a priority across the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

The Committee is asked to appoint an additional number of voluntary co-optees so they are ready for allocation to the standing scrutiny panels in the 2022/23 municipal year.

Contact:

Richard Dunne, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

The Committee was asked to appoint additional voluntary co-optees so that necessary preparatory work could be undertaken to ensure that they would be ready for allocation to the standing scrutiny panels in the 2022/23 municipal year.

The Chair took the opportunity to thank all the scrutiny co-optees for their valuable contributions to the work of scrutiny, particularly those who would be retiring at the end of the municipal year.

Resolved –

That the applicants set out in paragraph 1.4 of the report be appointed as co-optees in preparation for involvement in the 2022/23 municipal year.

The Committee’s Work Programme for 2021- 22 is attached for Members’ consideration.

Date of next meeting: 19^th April 2022.

Contact:

Sheila Dykes – Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

A copy of the current Work Programme had been circulated.

The next meeting would take place on 19th April 2022 with the following item scheduled for consideration:

·       Employment & Skills Strategy

and an informal session to consider the possible scope for a piece of work in respect of social isolation and loneliness.

Members recalled that the new Inclusion and Diversity Strategy had been discussed at an informal meeting held on 25th November 2021. The Chair reported that:

·       The Strategy had been considered by Cabinet, on 14th December, where it had been endorsed and referred to Council. It would be submitted to the Council meeting on 16^th March.

·       A number of the points and issues raised by the Committee had helped to shape the final version, such as the development of a communications plan to engage with internal and external stakeholders and the inclusion of an outcome-based action plan, with impact measures and implementation timescales.

·       In terms of integrating inclusion and diversity into each Council service, Priority One of the Strategy – ‘Inclusion First’ would ensure that all services considered inclusion and diversity in everything they do. The emphasis going forward was on services regarding Independent Impact Assessments as ‘living documents’ that should be revisited and revised as service designs or changes were put into effect. 

·       A learning and development package was being produced to support staff in becoming culturally confident, as part of the People Strategy, and this would benefit implementation of the Inclusion and Diversity Strategy and link the two strategies.