Agenda and minutes

No Declarations of Interest were received.

The Minutes of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee held on 11 September 2017 were approved as a true record.

The Chair opened the meeting by explaining that the discussion would be streamed live through the Council’s Facebook account and tweeted through Twitter.  Those following it on the Internet would be able to submit questions, which representatives would then seek to answer during the meeting. Members supported this approach.

The report to Committee explained that under the Police and Justice Act 2006, Overview & Scrutiny had the right to consider crime and disorder issues and in particular, to review the performance of the Ashfield Community Partnership. The Partnership is responsible for drawing-up and implementing the District’s Crime and Disorder Reduction Strategy. It is made up of public sector bodies, such as the Council and Nottinghamshire Police, as well as representatives from the business community and voluntary groups.

The Committee heard from Inspector Glenn Longden, Nottinghamshire Police and Mike Manley, Manager of the Council’s Community Protection Team, who explained the work of the Partnership and how it had sought to develop a more integrated approach to tackling crime and disorder in the District.

The Committee was informed that the Council and the Police have a closer working relationship due to the Council’s Community Protection Team and the Police Safer Neighbourhood Team now working together as part of a single ‘Hub’, located at the Council’s Urban Road offices. Members were informed that this allowed greater collaborative working in tackling crime.

Members also heard how the Selective Licensing Scheme had made it easier for the partners to combat crime and anti-social behaviour in the Stanton Hill and Sutton Central areas. The scheme required landlords to effectively manage and maintain their rental properties. This had helped to prevent disorder from occurring and for enforcement action to be taken against known offenders when it does.

The Committee was also reminded of the successful New Cross partnership initiative, which had brought together the Police, Council and other agencies to help local people deal with the range of problems facing them, so that they were less at risk of committing crime or anti-social behaviour. Members welcomed this.

Member were informed that there had been an increase in recorded crime during 2016-17 compared to the previous year.  For the most part, this reflected national changes to what incidents should now be recorded as within the figures, rather than real growth in offending.

The Committee noted that the number of ‘Hate Incidents’ locally had fallen over the period. Members learned that across the country there had been a slight increase. The reasons for this difference were discussed. Members enquired as to whether the victims of Hate Incidents in Ashfield may have been unwilling to report that they had been attacked. The Police intend to carry out further work to try and find out if the number of Hate Incidents in the District had been under reported. The Committee supported this.

Members considered how the District’s crime rates compared to the ‘Most Similar Group’ (MSG) of fifteen other local authorities. They learned that during 2016-17 Ashfield performed better than most other  ...  view the full minutes text for item OS13