Agenda

Minutes of the following meetings of the Communities and Place OSC, as circulated, to be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair:

a)       5 October 2022

b)       26 October 2022

Unless already entered in the Council’s Register of Members’ interests, members are required?where a matter arises at a meeting;

a)    Which?directly relates to?Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (‘DPI’) as set out in Appendix B, Table 1 of the Code of Conduct, to disclose the interest, not participate in any discussion or vote and not to remain in room. Where members have a DPI or if the matter concerns an executive function and is being considered by a Cabinet Member with a DPI they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with the matter.

b)    Which?directly relates to?the financial interest or well being of a Other Registrable Interest as set out in Appendix B, Table 2 of the Code of Conduct to disclose the interest and only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak at the meeting but otherwise must not take part in any discussion?or vote on the matter and must not remain the room.

c)    Which?directly relates to?their financial interest or well-being? (and is not? DPI) or the financial well being of a relative or close associate, to declare the interest and members may only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak. Otherwise, the member must not take part in discussion or vote on the matter and must leave the room.

d)    Which?affects?the financial well-being of the member, a relative or close associate or a body included under the Other Registrable Interests column in Table 2, to disclose the interest and apply the test set out at paragraph 9 of Appendix B before deciding whether they may remain in the meeting.

e)    Where Members have or a Cabinet Member has an Other Registerable Interest or Non Registerable Interest in a matter being considered in exercise of their executive function, they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with it.

NB Any member needing clarification must contact monitoringofficer@northumberland.gov.uk. ?Members are referred to the Code of Conduct which contains the matters above in full.?Please refer to the guidance on disclosures at the rear of this agenda letter.

To note the latest Forward Plan of key decisions.  Any further changes made to the Forward Plan will be reported to the Committee.

The Cabinet Members requested to attend for the following item are Councillor Glen Sanderson, Leader of the Council and Councillor John Riddle, Portfolio Holder for Local Services.

The Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy, approved by Cabinet in June 2022 authorised the Service Director for Local Services, in consultation with the Member for Environment and Local Services, to make in-year adjustments to the tariff.  This report outlines the methodology and process by which the tariff is calculated and set.

The Cabinet Member requested to attend for the following item is Councillor Richard Wearmouth, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services.

The purpose of the report is to review the operation of the complaints process over twelve months (01.04.2021 to 31.03.2022), including statistical data, and to provide the local Authority with the means by which it keeps itself informed about how effective its current arrangements are for handling customer complaints.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee operates within a work programme which is agreed at the start of the Council year.  The programme is reviewed at each meeting so that it can be adjusted to reflect the wishes of the Committee and take account of any changes to the latest Forward Plan (which outlines decisions to be taken by the Cabinet).  The Committee is asked to review and note its work programme for the 2022/23 council year.

To consider such other business as, in the opinion of the Chair, should, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

It is expected that matters included in this part of the Agenda will be dealt with in private.  Reports referred to are enclosed for members and officers only, coloured pink and marked "Not for Publication".

The Committee is invited to consider passing the following resolution:

(a)    That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item on the Agenda as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the 1972 Act, and

(b)    That the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure for the following reasons:-

Agenda Item            Paragraph of Part I of Schedule 12A

9                                   3

Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any?particular person (including the authority holding that information).

AND

The public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the interest in disclosure because disclosure could adversely affect the business reputation or confidence in the person / organisation; and could adversely affect commercial revenue.

The Cabinet Member requested to attend for the following item is Councillor Cllr Jeff Watson, Portfolio Holder for Healthy Lives.

The report provides an overview of key findings and outlines a proposed course of action to maximise both the health and wellbeing potential, and value, of future investment, following completion of an extensive review of Council funded leisure provision.

When the Cabinet considered the report on 17 November 2022, it agreed to the recommendations 1-7 as set out.