The Committee stood in silent tribute in memory of Councillor Mike Assenheim, who had sadly passed away last week.

There were no apologies for absence.

The following interests were declared at the meeting:

(a)  Councillors Cox, Flewitt, Holland and Lamb (Executive Councillors) – interests in all the called-in/referred items; attended pursuant to the dispensation agreed at Council on 19th July 2012, under S.33 of the Localism Act 2011;

(b)  Councillor Burzotta – Agenda Item No. 7 (Better Queensway: Process to appoint a preferred project partner) – Disclosable non-pecuniary interest: Non-Executive Director of South Essex Homes – attended pursuant to the dispensation agreed by the Standards Committee on 28th February 2017, under S.33 of the Localism Act 2011 to participate in the debate and vote;

(c)  Councillor Callaghan – Agenda Item No. 7 (Better Queensway: Process to appoint a preferred project partner) – Non-pecuniary interest: Friends are tenants of South Essex Homes Ltd;

(d)  Councillor Davidson – Agenda Item No. 7 (Better Queensway: Process to appoint a preferred project partner) – Disclosable non-pecuniary interest: Non-Executive Director of South Essex Homes – attended pursuant to the dispensation agreed by the Standards Committee on 28th February 2017, under S.33 of the Localism Act 2011 to participate in the debate and vote;

(e)  Councillor Flewitt – Agenda Item No. 7 (Better Queensway: Process to appoint a preferred project partner) – Non-pecuniary interest: Friends and family are tenants of South Essex Homes Ltd;

(f)  Councillor Holland – Agenda Item No. 5 (Monthly Performance Report: page 37 item (d)) – Non-pecuniary interest: Member of the Forum Board;

(g)  Councillor Holland – Agenda Item No.6 – North Thames Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) – Non pecuniary interest: Proposed Council appointee to the Board;

(h)  Councillor Lamb – Agenda Item No.6 – North Thames Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) – Non pecuniary interest: Director of Leigh Port Partnership;

(i)  Councillor Mulroney – Agenda Item No.6 – North Thames Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) – Non-pecuniary Interest : Director of Leigh Port Partnership, Chairman of Leigh-on-Sea Town Council, Member of Leigh Coastal Communities Team and Leigh Society;

(j)  Councillor Terry – Agenda Item No.6 – North Thames Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) – Non pecuniary interest: Contacts and friends in the fishing industry; and

(k)  Councillor Wexham – Agenda Item No.6 – North Thames Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) – Disqualifying non-pecuniary Interest – Director of Leigh Port Partnership (withdrew).

The Executive Councillor for Culture, Tourism and the Economy and the Executive Councillor for Transport, Waste and Cleansing responded to written questions from Mr Webb.

Resolved:-

That the Minutes of the Meeting held on Monday 23^rd January 2017 be received, confirmed as a correct record and signed.

Members are reminded to bring with them the most recent MPR for period ending February 2017 which was circulated recently.  Comments / questions should be made at the appropriate Scrutiny Committee relevant to the subject matter.

The Committee considered the Monthly Performance Report (MPR) covering the period to end February 2017, which had been circulated recently.

Resolved:-

That the report be noted.

Note:- This is an Executive Function.

Executive Councillor:- As appropriate to the item.

Minute 863 (Cabinet Book 2, Agenda Item No. 16 refers)

Called-in by Councillors Ware-Lane and Gilbert.

The Committee considered Minute 863 of the meeting of Cabinet held on 14th March 2017, which had been called-in to Scrutiny, together with the report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) providing an update on the establishment of the North Thames Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG).

The North Thames FLAG had been awarded £800k over 3 years (2017-2020) to deliver a range of projects against their 5 priority themes.

Resolved:-

That the following decisions of Cabinet be noted:

“1.  That the North Thames Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) be supported given its potential to make a positive impact on the fisheries sector locally.

2.  That the draft Partnership Agreement, as set out in Appendix 1 to the submitted report, be approved in principle and that authority be delegated to the Director of Regeneration and Business Development in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Culture, Tourism and the Economy to agree the final Partnership Agreement and sign it on behalf of the Council.

3.   That FLAG capital projects be forward funded by the Council up to a maximum of £120,000 p.a. (inc VAT) over 3 years which will be fully repaid in arrears and that authority be delegated to the Director of Finance and Resources and Director of Regeneration and Business Development in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Culture, Tourism and the Economy to agree any financial contribution to the FLAG by the Council on a case by case basis.

4.  That the initial Leigh Port feasibility study be funded by the Council at a total cost of £65k to be funded from the Business Transformation reserve which will be reimbursed by the FLAG in arrears following MMO approval.

5.  That existing funding which is already within the Council’s budget for related projects is used as match funding and/or to lever additional investment for FLAG projects where appropriate and relevant.”

Note:- This is an Executive Function.

Executive Councillor :- Holland

Minute 892 (Cabinet Agenda Item No. 5)

Referred Direct by Cabinet

The Committee considered Minute 892 of the meeting of Cabinet held on 28th March 2017, which had been referred direct to Scrutiny by Cabinet, together with the report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) which sought approval to progress the Better Queensway project to procurement stage to identify a preferred partner(s) and set out a series of processes that need to be undertaken in order to meet the proposed procurement timetable.  The Committee also received a Powerpoint presentation which summarised the traffic modelling for the scheme and the preferred option for the road transport layout.

Resolved:-

1.  That the following recommendations of Cabinet be noted:

Minute 893 (Cabinet Agenda Item No. 6)

Referred direct by Cabinet

The Committee considered Minute 893 of the meeting of Cabinet held on 28th March 2017, which had been referred direct to Scrutiny by Cabinet, together with the report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) requesting that consideration to be given to the proposed revocation of byelaw 18 of the Council byelaws regulating and governing the riding or use of bicycles or other wheeled vehicles on Southend Pier.

Resolved:-

1.  That the following recommendation of Cabinet be noted:

Note: This is a Council function

Executive Councillor: Holland

Report of Chief Executive

The Committee considered a report by the Chief Executive which sought formal approval to the draft final report and recommendations from the joint in-depth scrutiny project with the Policy & Resources Scrutiny Committee for 2016/17 entitled ‘To investigate the case for additional enforcement resources for Southend’.

Resolved:-

1. That, subject to concurrence of the Policy & Resources Scrutiny Committee, the draft report and the recommendations from the in-depth scrutiny project be endorsed for submission to Cabinet, with the amendment to recommendation 1.2 to include the words “with the support of the Police & Crime Commissioner for Essex” to the end of the recommendation.

2. That the Chairman of the Policy & Resources Scrutiny Committee, in consultation with the Chairman of the Place Scrutiny Committee, be authorised to agree any final minor amendments to the draft report.

3. That in accordance with Scrutiny Procedure Rule 10 (Part 4 (e) of the Constitution), to agree that the Chairman of the Project Team present the final report to a future Cabinet meeting.

4.  That the Members and Officers involved with the study be thanked for their hard work.

Note: This is a Scrutiny Function.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Chairman agreed that this item be considered at this meeting as an urgent additional item to enable the comments of the Scrutiny Committee to be included in the Council’s response to the Green Paper prior to its submission before the required deadline.

The Committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) that set out the Council’s proposed response to the recently published ‘Building our Industrial Strategy Green Paper January 2017’.  A copy of the Green Paper was attached to the report at Appendix 1.  The report also sought Members’ input, comment and endorsement of the proposed consultation response (attached at Appendix 2 to the report) prior to its submission to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy by the deadline of 17^th April 2017.

Resolved:-

1. That the ‘Building Our Industrial Strategy Green Paper January 2017’, attached to the report at Appendix 1, is noted.

2.  That, subject to the inclusion of any comments by Members before Thursday 13^th April 2017, the proposed consultation response (attached at Appendix 2 to the report) be submitted to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Note:- This is an Executive function.

Executive Councillor:- Holland