Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Mili Patel (Deputy Leader & Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources & Reform), Ahmadi Moghaddam (with Councillor Rajan-Seelan attending as an alternate member), Bajwa, Mitchell (with Councillor Fraser attending as an alternative member) and Shah.

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.

There were no declarations of interest shared.

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

There were no deputations.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on Tuesday 24 January 2023 as a correct record.

It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 24 January 2023 be approved as a correct record.

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

None.

The Committee agreed to vary the order of business on the agenda to allow items that required a response from the Cabinet Member for Environment, Infrastructure and Climate Change to be heard first. As a result of the change in order the Scrutiny Progress Update - Recommendations Tracker was the first substantive item discussed by the Committee.

This report updates the Committee on the Scrutiny Recommendations Tracker.

The Committee was invited to consider the progress and updates provided in relation to the Resources & Public Realm scrutiny recommendation and information request tracker.

The Chair invited Committee members to ask officers questions relating to the progress of the previous recommendations, suggestions and information requests made by the Committee as detailed in Appendix A of the report.

The following queries were raised by the Committee:

Cost of Living Crisis Review – 6 Sept 22:

In relation to the recommendation to “Use Council’s role and relationship with the NHS to lobby for more support for our residents to strengthen our efforts in helping them through the Cost of Living crisis” the Committee had welcomed the response provided by Councillor Nerva, Cabinet Member for Public Health & Adult Social Care, however the Committee remained concerned in relation to residents hospital discharge care packages, as it was felt these should include additional support for patients who required financial support in relation to increased energy costs for the operation of vital medical equipment. The Committee felt the response did not fully address this ongoing concern and as such the Chair advised that this action would be referred to the Community & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee for further investigation.

Redefining Local Services Update: 15 Dec 22

·                 The Committee requested an update on the recommendations made regarding the Redefining Local Services Integrated Street Cleansing Contract in relation to the action for officers and contractors to look at the feasibility of providing wheelie bins instead of sacks where possible. Oliver Myers, Head of Environmental Strategy, Commissioning and Climate Change advised members that the action remained on track, with the contractors Veolia in the process of completing a feasibility assessment and timeline of how this could be rolled out to the identified suitable locations. It was confirmed that once a plan was in place this would be discussed further with the Cabinet Member for Environment, Infrastructure and Climate Change before a report was submitted back the Committee.

·                 The Committee were pleased to note the successful completion of a previous recommendation for officers to “Liaise with the West London Waster Authority (WLWA) to ensure access was reinstated for pedestrians and cyclists at the Abbey Road Household Refuse and Recycling Centre. The Committee thanked officers involved in actioning the recommendation and sought confirmation that the improved accessibility had been communicated to residents. In response officers confirmed that this had been communicated to residents with information also available on the Brent Council website.

·                 In relation to a Committee query regarding the suggested changes to the bulky waste free collection policy which from April 2024 involving those in receipt of Council Tax Support as opposed to wider DWP benefits, officers confirmed that resident’s eligibility for the scheme would be identified at the point of booking a collection. Additionally, officers confirmed that further identification and consideration of demand for the free collection service would be undertaken ahead of the revised system being rolled out in April 2024.

·                 Following a previous Committee information request in relation to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To receive an update from Thames Water on the progress of Multi Agency Flood Planning.

Councillor Conneely welcomed Alex Nickson, Water Resources & Growth Lead, Thames Water to the Committee to share his report that updated the Committee on the progress of Multi Agency Flood Planning.

The following key points were discussed:

·                 Surface water flood risk was recognised as an increasing concern across London, owing to a number of factors that included loss of permeable surfaces to impermeable surfaces, a sharp growth in regeneration across London and climate change. The cumulative impact of these factors had created pressure on the drainage network across London with the historic infrastructure not able to cope with the additional pressures, resulting in more frequent flood events in London.

·                 Flood risk across London was highlighted in July 2021 after London experienced two 1 in 200 year flood events within a fortnight.

·                 Following the flood events, Thames Water (TW) commissioned an independent London Flood Review (LFR) to gain a greater understanding of why the flooding in July 2021 had been so severe, whether TW’s assets had exacerbated the flooding and to make strategic level recommendations on how to manage the increasing risk with a collaborative response and action plan.

·                 Following the recommendations made by the LFR (as detailed within Appendix 1 of the TW report provided for the Committee) and the Mayor’s Surface Water Roundtable the London Surface Water Strategic Group was created to provide a high level strategic overview to support collaboration with a range of agencies to produce and deliver a London Level Surface Water Management strategy and action plan. This would run parallel to TW’s Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMP).

·                 The Committee were advised that there was no one factor identified to resolve all the issues contributing to surface water flooding in London at present, however with effective risk management and a number of different interventions it was felt that risks could be mitigated to limit the impact of flooding in London, parallel to longer term plans being made to futureproof London’s drainage network.  The interventions identified included finding ways to increase sewer capacity, reducing the volume of floodwaters getting into the sewer and greater information sharing across boroughs to understand how issues up or down stream were impacting upon specific locations.

·                 In order to reduce the volume of floodwaters getting into the sewers the Committee heard that increased use of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) features, including the use of rain gardens and water butts, was seen as positive step forwards in reducing surface water run off. It was, however, acknowledged that residents may need to be incentivised to use water butts and the addition of rain gardens would need to be funded.

·                 Members were also advised of the ongoing work being undertaken by TW designed to support an increase in the capacity of the sewer network.

Alex Nickson ended his introduction by assuring the Committee of TWs commitment to collaborative working with the Local Authority to effectively manage surface water and sewer flooding.

Councillor Conneely thanked Alex Nickson for his report before asking  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To provide an update on the available community spaces in the borough that can be used by voluntary and third sector organisations.

The Chair introduced the Spaces for Community Use item and in doing so reminded members that Councillor Mili Patel, Deputy Leader & Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources & Reform and Tanveer Ghani, Director of Property and Assets had unfortunately had to send their apologies. The Chair proceeded to extend the Committee’s thanks to Councillor M Butt, Leader of the Council, Denish Patel, Head of Property and Minesh Patel, Corporate Director of Finance and Resources who had subsequently attended in order to respond to any Committee queries on the report.

Councillor M Butt introduced the report that responded to a previous Committee request to receive a paper on the available community spaces in the borough that could be used by voluntary organisations, such as charities, arts and cultural groups (“third sector” groups) to carry out their work and to include the help offered by the Council to support these types of groups in finding appropriate spaces to let.

In introducing the report the following key points were highlighted:

·                 The Council’s active and positive relationship with third sector organisations and recognition of the valuable support that they provided to residents.

·                 In recognition of the social value that third sector groups contributed to the community, the Council were committed to supporting their work where possible, by providing council owned assets to community groups at low rent levels to support groups to deliver their services to residents.

·                  50% of the Council’s overall commercial property portfolio were let to third sector organisations that delivered public value.

·                 Despite the low rental levels set for these lettings, arrears for Community Groups were of the highest amount against other letting types as had been detailed within section 3.3 of the report.

·                 Officers advised that the commercial property portfolio was a key resource for the Council to collectively provide economic return and social value. In respect of this, it was key to strike the right balance between providing social value alongside key services for residents and the Council receiving economic return to sufficiently cover the operating costs and maintenance.

·                 The Committee noted the impact which the Cost of Living crisis coupled with ongoing cuts to local government funding had placed on the Council meaning it was imperative that the use of Council owned assets were maximised. It remained a high priority to support third sector groups, in line with the Borough Plan, however this could not be at a detriment to the Council’s financial position.

·                 The Committee were advised that moving forward a revised Property Strategy would be produced to re-define some of the existing policies to ensure that support could be given to third sector groups as well as the Council meeting their legal duty under section123 of the Local Government Act (LGA) to achieve best price on their lettings.

·                 Through the process of generating a revised Property Strategy the importance of third sector groups being able to demonstrate their social value, community impact and alignment with the Borough Plan would be a key factor in the Council’s consideration as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To provide an update on the changes to the Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee’s work programme.

The committee noted minor changes to the Scrutiny Work Plan as follows –

·       The agenda of the 22 February 2023 meeting had been updated to remove the item titled ‘Migration Scheme’. This item was rescheduled to the Committee meeting on 25 April 2023 as laid out in Appendix A of the report.

·       The agenda of the 25 April 2023 meeting had been updated to remove the item titled ‘Cost of Living Update’. This item would be heard at a later committee meeting in the next municipal year.

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.

None.