Basingstoke & Dean Borough Council Community, Environment and Partnerships Committee Meeting

Councillor Phillimore was replaced by Councillor Durrant.

Apologies were received from Councillor Howard-Sorrell.

Councillor Slimin was appointed as Vice Chair of the Community, Environment and Partnerships Committee for the 2023/24 municipal year.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no urgent matters.

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 July 2023 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Leader introduced the report which sought the Committees comments on the approach to future asset management and the monitoring of Council owned Community Centres.

The Committee discussed the report and made the following comments:

• Sought clarification on the reason why it was estimated that only four leases would be negotiated per year. The Asset Manager responded that as some leases would take longer to negotiate than others, the figure of four was an average but that more leases would be completed if there was capacity to do so.

• It was questioned whether the wording in the report was correct in relation to the condition surveys undertaken on Council owned community buildings and whether it should be amended to read Council Owned Community centre buildings instead.

• Thanked officers for their hard work and stated that they were supportive of the approach and the work carried out so far.

• Requested that Ward Councillors be involved in the process and any decisions taken.

• Suggested that a directory of all the community groups in the borough be produced.

Due to the confidential nature of the information to be discussed, the committee passed a resolution that, by virtue of paragraphs 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting.

Resolved: The Committee provides its comments to the Portfolio Holder.

The Chair introduced the work programme and gave a brief overview of the items that would be included on the agenda for the upcoming meetings.

The Committee discussed the work programme and raised the following issues:

• Questioned whether an update on Community Safety would be brought to the Committee. The Head of Environment and Community Services advised that following the discussion at the last update, a member training session would be scheduled on the topic instead.

• Requested that a schedule of the upcoming member briefings be circulated to the Committee.

• Reference was made to the Review of Registered Partners and ASB Services scheduled for March. The Committee were advised that the item was requested by Councillor Tustain.

• Sought clarification on the timeline for when the health and wellbeing strategy would be brought to the Committee.

• Questioned when the full list of policies and strategies scheduled for review by the committee would be available. The Head of Environment and Community Services agreed to circulate the document to the Committee after the meeting.

The Chair agreed to circulate an update on the status of the LRNA to the Committee after the meeting.

The Committee agreed to appoint a task and finish group on the Leisure Park and appointed Councillors Connor, Compton-Burnett, Slimin and Vaux.

The Committee discussed scrutising its external partners and organisations and suggested that reviews could take place in relation to:

• Basingstoke Voluntary Action (BVA) and the various Service Level Agreements that were in place.

·       The Integrated Care Board to discuss Basingstoke health services and how the Council could help to promote partnership working.