Wednesday 8th March, 2023
Council City Council claims its governance arrangements are working fine, as detailed in the Annual Scrutiny Report. This will be discussed when the Panel next meets on 14th March at the Town Hall.
The panel examined the council’s policies and strategies from a borough-wide perspective, ensuring that the cabinet’s actions were in line with the council’s policies and budget.
The report addresses five themes over the past year, including tackling climate change, creating safe communities, delivering homes for people, promoting a fair economy, and celebrating heritage and culture.
One call-in request was received during 2022-23 related to a decision made by the Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhood Services and Waste. The decision was to change the current free operating model for the Saturday Household Drop-off Service to only offer a selection of chargeable services.
Tory Cllr Sue Lissimore claimed that no consultation was carried out with residents and staff. The report shows that Cllr Lissimore argued that the decision may lead to an increase in fly-tipping.
LibDem Cllr Martin Goss, Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhood Services and Waste, denied this. The decision was referred back to the Portfolio Holder for further consideration as it had not been subject to consultation.
The Scrutiny Panel also scrutinised Colchester’s Housing Strategy 2022-27 and discussed the lack of affordable housing, which has led to an increase in demand pressure in the rental market and evictions from private rental properties.
The Panel discussed the possibility of prioritising local people to give them first chance to buy new affordable housing before it is offered on the open market.
The Scrutiny Panel also scrutinised the proposed Local Council Tax Support Scheme 2023/24, which aims to increase entitlement from 80% to 85%. Around 5,500 households will be affected by this change.
The Panel was briefed that the cost of this change would be around £40k extra per year, which the council expects to recover elsewhere, such as by reducing write-offs and recovery costs.
The Panel also scrutinised the draft Budget 2023-24, Capital Programme and Medium-Term Financial Forecast. Members of the Cabinet and senior officers presented the extreme financial challenges facing local authorities, and the reductions in service which the Cabinet felt were necessary in order to produce a balanced budget.
The Panel discussed concerns regarding the reductions to Neighbourhood Services, including plans to charge for garden waste collection. Panel members asked for more information as to which jobs would be lost, especially in Neighbourhood Services.
The council expects to save around £500k from a hiring freeze, meaning that all vacancies would be reviewed to decide whether replacement officers are needed.
The report also includes a section on Hythe Flooding. It was suggested that Will Quince MP could be invited to attend a future meeting of the Panel to explain the situation and answer questions.
Good luck with that one.
On the buses: The Panel considered whether it would be likely that local bus operators would participate in a third Scrutiny Panel review of bus provision, and whether the Panel could potentially make useful recommendations.
Concern was raised by members that the Council had no powers over bus services and could not run its own services.
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