Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from:

• Councillor Hassan
• Councillor Hylton

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, the nature and existence of any relevant disclosable pecuniary or personal interests in the items on this agenda and to specify the item(s) to which they relate.

None.

To hear any deputations received from members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 67.

None.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on Tuesday 14 September 2021 as a correct record.

It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 14 September 2021 be approved as a correct record.

To consider any matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

None.

To inform the Committee of the roles and obligations that the Council has in managing flooding and drainage matters in the borough as Lead Local Flood Authority and Highway Authority, and the roles and responsibilities of other organisations in flood management. The report also informs the Committee on the measures the Council undertakes to mitigate the risk of flooding.

The Chair explained that this topic had been brought forward by Councillors Conneely and Hassan following residents in their ward being affected by flooding. Councillor Conneely advised that a significant number of residents in Kilburn lost their homes and were still without permanent homes due to the flooding, which had a damaging impact on people’s lives. She had brought a resident to the meeting to speak on her experiences.

The member of the public relayed her experience of flooding in her home, highlighting that she had lost all her possessions during the flood. She had contacted her Housing Association during the incident but had not been able to get a response to calls or emails, so she had spoken to Councillor Hassan who got her a food voucher, and she was able to speak with the Council out of hours crisis line who got her a night residence at a hotel at around midnight. She had since been put on the locator list as she could not stay at her flooded property, and had remained in the hotel since with her family. In response to queries from the Committee, she advised that the most important issue was for someone to be at the end of the phone. She had called 999 who had advised it was not an emergency, and it was very late at night before authorities were aware of the impact of the flooding and she was able to communicate with the Council to get accommodation.

Those present thanked the speaker and expressed sorrow to hear about the experience she had. Carolyn Downs (Chief Executive, Brent Council) was disappointed her Housing Association had not fulfilled their statutory responsibility to respond in an emergency situation and offered to speak with the Housing Association in question.

The Chair thanked the speaker and invited colleagues present to introduce the report.

In introducing the report, Chris Whyte (Operational Director for Environment, Brent Council) advised that Brent was the lead flood authority in London with a number of obligations to fulfil. Brent maintained a Flood Risk Management Strategy on a regular basis and was responsible for the management, upkeep and maintenance for the service water gully network across the borough. There was also a requirement to maintain a Flood Management Asset Register. Brent Council had a clear responsibility for investigating flooding issues, alongside relevant partners including the environment agency and Thames Water. The Flood Management Team in Brent Council also played a role in planning proposals for developments. Chris Whyte concluded by highlighting that, with climate change, there was a very significant risk that flooding would become more frequent and serious, so flood risk management was a priority for highways teams.

The Committee was then invited to raise questions on the information provided, which focussed on a number of key areas, as highlighted below:

·                Regarding Brent Planning Policy, it was confirmed that there were plans to review the current vehicles crossing policy to include opportunities for action against climate change. Depending on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The purpose of this report is to present to the scrutiny committee the Safer Brent Partnership – Annual Report 2020/21.  The report also provides a summary of the key issues and an update on the delivery of the Safer Brent Partnership (SBP) priorities and objectives for 2020-21.

Carolyn Downs (Chief Executive, Brent Council) introduced the report as Chair of the Safer Brent Partnership. She advised that the year ending 2021 was the first time Brent had become an average crime borough, having previously been in the top 3 boroughs for crime, which was very positive. There were still areas of concern, including anti-social behaviour and gang related offending. Both were a priority of the partnership. In relation to anti-social behaviour, the increase was a reflection of the way issues relating to Covid-19 were reported, such as lack of social distancing and hanging out in parks. In relation to gang related offending, there had been some serious violent gang related offenses in the borough during the reporting year, but throughout the summer there had been a 12% decrease in gang related incidents. This decrease was despite predictions that the reopening of society would mean an increase in gang tensions. Councillor Promise Knight (Lead Member for Community Safety and Engagement) and Supt Tania Martin (Met Police) also highlighted the reduction in gang related offending. For the coming year, the partnership would focus on violence against women and girls (VAWG), violent crime including youth related violent crime, and anti-social behaviour.

The Committee was then invited to raise questions on the update provided, which focussed on a number of key areas as highlighted below:

·                The Committee noted that Brondesbury Park had a low crime rate compared to its neighbouring wards, querying whether there was a correlation between affluence and lower crime rates. Colin Wilderspin (Head of Community Protection, Brent Council) agreed to provide the Committee with a breakdown of crime and the type of crime in each ward. He advised that with regard to locality of crimes there was connectivity to high footfall areas such as football in Wembley, making it difficult to confirm the correlation behind crime rates in certain geographical areas.

·                The Committee asked about stop and search statistics and the percentages of stop and searches across ethnicities. Officers advised that the most recent meeting of the Safer Brent Partnership had received a report on stop and search disproportionality and had drilled down on that topic. Tania Martin advised that the Basic Command Unit (BCU) monitored stop and search extremely closely. The amount of stop and searches conducted had decreased but the number of fines had remained the same, meaning, as a percentage, more stop and searches were effective. In terms of the monitoring of disproportionality, the Met Police were subject to a significant amount of scrutiny and used Community Monitoring Reference Groups to look at disproportionality and the use of force. The groups were able to sample videos of body worn footage to see how a stop and search interaction had played out and provide direct feedback to officers and supervisors. It was agreed further information on stop and search could be provided to the Committee.

·                The Committee were advised that CCTV did not prevent crime but made people feel safer, helped to detect crime occurring, and was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To receive an update and review implementation of the Knife Crime scrutiny recommendations agreed by Cabinet on 14 October 2019.

Councillor Promise Knight (Lead Member for Community Safety and Engagement, Brent Council) introduced the report which provided an update and highlighted the actions partners had taken to ensure the issue of knife crime was addressed in the borough. She hoped the Committee were assured that the 13 recommendations from the Scrutiny Task Group had been implemented sufficiently and had enriched the continuing focus on knife crime.

The Committee was then invited to raise questions on the update provided, which focussed on a number of key areas as highlighted below:

• In relation to the recommendation on the out of hour’s use of schools, there was a continuing conversation with schools and children’s services. Some schools had been able to offer additional provision and prioritised having that space and community offer, but affordability was a factor. There had not been a great uptake of funding from MOPAC for the delivery of afterschool activities and that budget had been rolled over. Some schools offered afterschool services within their financial remit, and the Safer Neighbourhoods Board had used funding to support some of those activities.
• Considering recommendation 9, the Committee were advised that probation now operated in a new format going back to a national probation service. Brent had benefited from this as there was a service within Brent overseeing caseworkers in Brent. The commitment to partnership operations had improved in the 6 months since it had been operating that way, and the probation service had been a huge benefit to the Summer Nights Programme which targeted known offenders of concern to the borough.
• In relation to Community and Voluntary Sector (CVS) and smaller local community groups, it was highlighted that the Global Thinking Project was a consortium of smaller local community voluntary organisations, underpinned through the Young Brent Foundation, who had been successful in delivering a localised project. This was an area Community Safety had pushed on, trying to strengthen the network to enable more positive chances for those organisations to be successful in contract bidding. From a Strategy and Partnerships Perspective, the voluntary and community group work in the area of community safety was very specialist, with a limited number of organisations working with a defined cohort, such as victims of CSE or VAWG. There was crossover in the organisations Community Safety and Strategy and Partnerships worked with, but many of the specific organisations were likely to be micro. Councillor Knight added that there was a model of collaboration for the work done with CVS, supporting one another to be intersectional.
• Considering the increase in gun crime, officers advised that gun crime was recorded every time a lethal barrel gunfire was released, so where 4 gunshots were released 4 incidents would be recorded. The statistics for gun crime had decreased in Brent compared to 5-6 years ago, but it was an issue. The Committee heard that early intervention was key. Supt Tania Martin (Met Police) added that it was an area the police took particularly seriously, with any intelligence received assessed very  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The purpose of this information report is provide an update to the Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee on the progress being made on the first year (2021-2022) delivery plan set out within Brent’s Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy, which was adopted by Cabinet and formally put into action in April 2021.

While the report provided to Committee was for information only, the Committee made several information requests in relation to the report, recorded as follows:

i)             For the Committee to receive information on what the Council was doing to support schools to effectively insulate their buildings.

ii)            For the Committee to receive information on the use of food caddies in Brent Housing Management properties, and what other Registered Social Landlords were doing about food waste.

iii)           For the Committee to receive information on what the Council was doing to make the current road network in Brent more pedestrian friendly.

iv)           For the Committee to receive information on what the Council was doing about corporate polluters, including what engagement the Council would have with private sector organisations to reduce their emissions.

v)            For the Committee to receive information on what the Council was doing to encourage people to consume less meat and dairy.

To receive a report providing a brief summary update on issues previously considered by the committee, including responses to information requests made, updates on reports and recommendations to the Executive and the Executive response and Executive decision made in respect of scrutiny reports and recommendations.

The Scrutiny Progress report, outlined the issues previously considered at the Resources & Public Realm Scrutiny Committee. The Chair noted that future iterations of the report would include an accessible table which included the status of information requests and recommendations put forward to departments. 

To review the Forward Plan of Key Decisions for any issues that the Committee may wish to consider.

Members are asked to note that the next version of the Forward Plan is due to be published on Friday 5 November 21.  This item has therefore been marked as “To Follow” in order to allow the latest version of the Plan to be provided for review.

(Agenda republished on 9 November 21 to include latest version (No.42) of the Forward Plan)

The Forward Plan of Key Decisions was noted.

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Head of Executive and Member Services or her representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

The Committee were advised that this was Michael Carr’s (Senior Policy & Scrutiny Officer, Brent Council) last meeting at Brent Council. The Committee thanked Michael for his work on the Committee and wished him well for the future.