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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 4, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD. View directions

Contact: Ola Adeoye  020 7527 3044

Items
No. Item

118.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillor Raphael Andrews.

119.

Declarations of Substitute Members

Minutes:

There were no declarations of substitute members

120.

Declarations of Interest

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

 

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

 

*(a)     Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b) Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f) Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

121.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 147 KB

Minutes:

 

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 April 2017 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

122.

Public Questions

Minutes:

None.

123.

Chair's Report

Minutes:

None.

124.

ARRANGEMENTS AND TERMS OF REFERENCE pdf icon PDF 153 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:
That the report be noted.

125.

REGENERATION OF RETAIL AREAS - ( To Follow)

Minutes:

The Head of Economic Development, Projects and Transport Planning presented the report to the Committee.

In the discussion the following points were made:

·         The Committee agreed that in light of the recommendations that emanated from the Islington Fairness Commission on issues around corporate social responsibility and evidence gathered during its scrutiny exercise, it would be appropriate to include a recommendation that encouraged firms and businesses within the borough to undertake its social responsibility of assisting young people seriously.

 

·         A suggestion to include a recommendation about the cost and speed of broadband, not only to businesses but to street traders, was agreed, although it was understood that the Council does not have direct control over this.

 

·         The draft recommendation in relation to parking to be reworded. Consideration to be given to supporting businesses by providing sufficient loading bays in and around retail areas rather than a recommendation reviewing Council parking policy and its pay-and-display parking. It was noted that the borough was well served by public transport for visitors, so car usage should not be encouraged.

 

·         On the issue of business rates, the Committee requested that an update would be provided once there was more clarity on Central Government’s devolution proposals for business rates.

 

·         In response to a question on whether the Council could protect existing businesses from being dislocated due to rent increases, especially after the regeneration of retail areas had been completed, Members were advised that the Council had no control over private rents.  With new developments the Council could in some instances secure affordable workspace and through  its planning policies, the Council also had some control over the size of new retail units, securing smaller units that were more affordable by virtue of their size. 

 

·         A suggestion to include a recommendation that both the Council and businesses continue to work together to address the removal of waste concerns was agreed.

 

·         A recommendation that businesses consider consolidating their deliveries was agreed; a practice which has had a positive impact in the West End area of London by reducing traffic and congestion as firms and businesses have coordinated their suppliers in terms of deliveries and the removal of waste. 

 

·         It was agreed that recommendations in the draft report and additional recommendations raised in the report be circulated to all members of the Committee before its full consideration at the July meeting.

RESOLVED:

1      That the report and the amended draft recommendations be circulated before the next meeting.
 

126.

CCTV SCRUTINY REVIEW - 12 MONTH REPORT BACK pdf icon PDF 196 KB

Minutes:

The Technical Services Manager updated Members on progress of the recommendations of the July 2016 Environment and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee report on CCTV.

In the discussion the following points were made:


·         Members were advised that CCTV works and door entry replacement works were undertaken in line with the Council’s asset management strategy to replace life expired components when work was required.

·         Minor ancillary works like tree pruning and other minor security measures such as bollards, isolated lightning improvements, entry gates and works to door entry systems were now addressed by the concierge, estate services and ASB team, however in the future these issues would be considered as part of the major works programme.

·         In response to a question on issues of privacy and effectiveness, the Technical Services Manager informed Committee that yearly audits were now being undertaken by the Concierge team to accurately audit the current CCTV provisions in place and a Privacy Impact Assessment formally assess the ongoing need for CCTV and any subsequent changes to the system in line with current legislation.

·         Members were informed that information/data from CCTV surveillance was shared among partners especially with regards to addressing anti-social behaviour and that in the future input from other stakeholders such as the Police and Crime Prevention Officers would be included into information that would feed into the process of designing CCTV equipment.

·         Officers acknowledged that recent CCTV schemes had highlighted the need for an improvement in dialogue with residents especially on promoting the benefits of CCTV monitoring and the cost. The use of electronic notice boards, electronic communication in conjunction with established methods such as resident project meetings would ensure transparency especially with the residents.

·         With regard to the use of mobile CCTV, the meeting was advised that it was important to recognise that the dynamics of crime and anti-social behaviour tended to move especially where there were crime convictions in specific areas and that mobile CCTV has the advantage of being more responsive to the movement of crime and antisocial behaviour.

·         In response to a question on the effectiveness of CCTV monitoring, members were informed that evidence gathered especially from Tenancy Management Systems was used when undertaking enforcement actions against tenants. Similarly in cases where CCTV was being managed by concierges, potential crimes were reported to the relevant teams.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

127.

WORK PROGRAMME 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 70 KB

Minutes:

The Chair invited members to consider topics or aspects of the Council services for the Committee to scrutinise during the 2017/18 Municipal Year and suggested that Members take the opportunity to speak to relevant officers before the next meeting.
 
In relation to items which had been considered within the last two years, Committee agreed that an update from relevant officers might be sufficient.

Members requested that an Officer update on Air quality should be included on the agenda for the next meeting.

A number of topics were discussed such as village principle, Air quality/Mayor funding, recycling, renewable energy and fuel poverty, however it was agreed that this should be deferred to the next meeting on items for scrutiny.

 A suggestion for site visits to Gillespie Park and the Bunhill Heat and Power Energy centre to be facilitated by relevant Officers was noted.


RESOLVED:


1.    That an update on Air Quality be included on the agenda for the next meeting.

2.    That site visits to the Gillespie Park and the Bunhill Heat and Power Energy centre be arranged by Officers.