Agenda and minutes

(To agree/report future meeting dates)

Consideration was given to future meeting dates for the Scrutiny Panel and the following were agreed:

·         12 January 2018 – 10.00am

·         24 January 2018 – 10.00am

·         8 February 2018 – 10.00am

·         22 February 2018 – 2.00pm

·         8 March 2018 – 10.00am

·         23 March 2018 – 10.00am

·         5 April 2018 – 10.00am

It was confirmed that electronic appointments would be sent out by the Democratic Services Officer after the meeting.

RESOLVED

            That the Scrutiny Panel meet on the dates listed above.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors R A Renshaw and R H Trollope-Bellew.

It was noted that Councillor G E Cullen was in attendance as a replacement for Councillor R A Renshaw.

There were no declarations of interest at this point in the meeting.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 November 2017 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(To receive a verbal update from Daniel Steel, Scrutiny Officer, on the progress made towards key actions since the last meeting)

Daniel Steel, Scrutiny Officer, provided the Panel with an update on activity since the last meeting, which included that the questionnaire had gone live, and to date, 3258 responses had been received along with a small number of e-mails and letters which had been submitted directly to Democratic Services.

It was reported that the analysis of these responses would be carried out in the New Year.

It was also reported that all county councillors, district councils, parish councils (where possible) had been written to as well as local businesses and EMAS.

(To provide the Panel with an opportunity to consider the report issued by Lincolnshire Police on 27 November 2017.  Assistant Chief Constable will be in attendance to present this information)

The Panel was advised that Lincolnshire Police had undertaken research to understand whether there was a link between the switching off of street lighting overnight and the levels of recorded crime.

A presentation was received from Assistant Chief Constable Shaun West of Lincolnshire which provided the Panel with further information in relation to the following areas:

·         Why was the review carried out

·         Data Limitations

·         Methodology

·         Whole of Lincolnshire

·         Conclusion

·         Recommendations

·         A final thought

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the Assistant Chief Constable and a Crime Analyst from Lincolnshire Police in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         It was noted that these were very early indications as the data sets were very small.  The focus of the review had been on personal type crime and property type crime.

·         Members were pleased to see the use of the NICHE system so that data sets could be compared, and it was queried whether Lincolnshire had similar data sets to other areas.  However, it was noted that the Police did not have the data sets that other areas had used, but would be looking into obtaining them so that Lincolnshire could mirror them.

·         It was commented that the main issue was perception, for example, it was highlighted that in relation to highways, 16,000 potholes had been reported, and 22,000 had been repaired, but the public still had a perception that nothing had been done.

·         It was commented that the report did not cover town centres and was only for those crimes reported between midnight and 6.00am, but the Panel was looking at part night lighting throughout the county and the data set did not cover this.  However, it was noted that the report was prepared based on the information which had been provided by the County Council Street Lighting team, but conversations had since taken place around the part night lit streets, and officers were looking at finding a mechanism whereby the data could be exported in such a way that it would be useful to the Police analysts.

·         One member highlighted a newspaper article from their area which included comments from a local police inspector who was not supportive of the extent of the part night lighting in the area.

·         It was agreed that there was a need to ensure that data was transferable in a way that was useful.

·         It was highlighted that there were some areas which would only have 6/7 months of data, whilst others would have a whole year, due to the gradual roll out of the project.  It was suggested whether it would be more useful to wait until there was a full year of data for each area.

·         The Panel was advised that the list of crime types included in the report was not an exclusive list, and that the types of crime which should be included in future analysis was worthy of discussion.  However, it was noted that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

(To review key milestones and future activity)

Consideration was given to the proposed scrutiny panel timeline.  It was reported that the Review was currently at the gathering evidence and collating information stage.

Some of the points raised by members during consideration of the proposed timeline included the following:

·         In terms of health and wellbeing, people did not feel well if they were living in fear.  It was queried whether this was something worth exploring as part of the Review.

·         It was noted that there were a couple of indicators around wellbeing and feeling safe (however, it was thought these related to Adult Care and feeling safe in care) and officers would look at what data could be pulled together and how it could fit into the Review

·         It was commented that the biggest problem was fear of crime, and there was a need to deal with the perception that crime would increase.

·         It was noted that the data sets in relation to the national increase in crime of 11% and the Lincolnshire increase of 4% were based on national data.

·         A National Crime Survey for England and Wales was carried out each year and it was noted that there was often a difference between the crimes reported to the Police and those reported to the survey, and it was one of the aims of the Community Safety Partnership to reduce that gap.  Officers advised that they would bring a report back to a future meeting of the Panel.

·         It was queried whether it would be helpful for the Panel to look at other authorities which had converted to part night street lighting to determine what their experiences had been.

·         The Communications Officer confirmed that a second news release highlighting the deadline for the survey would be produced.  It was also noted that there had been a lot of coverage across the county and on social media about the Review and the survey. 

RESOLVED

            That the proposed timeline for Scrutiny Panel activities be agreed.