Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Bambridge, substituted by Councillor Taylor-Smith.

To approve the Minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 18 August 2015, copy attached.

Councillor Campbell proposed, Councillor Coleman-Cooke seconded and Members agreed the minutes as a true record of the meeting that was held on 18 August 2015.

Presentation Title is on "Our Vision for the Future of our Parks, Gardens & Playgrounds."

The specific question for the presentation is "What plans does Cabinet have to address issues raised by residents regarding planned maintenance of our open spaces and flower beds?"

The item was deferred to a future meeting.

Philip Bensted, Regulatory Services Manager introduced the report and advised Members that a review of the Gambling Policy was a statutory requirement for Local Authorities. The new Gambling Commission Guidance that was published in September was taken into account during this review. No significant or material changes were needed to the proposed policy as a result of the new guidance.

The Council had received three responses to the public consultation and in all instances the respondents were supportive of the proposed policy. Council officers and inspectors from the Gambling Commission undertook regular inspections to ascertain that the gambling operations were conducted according to the set regulations and legislative requirements.

Councillor Campbell proposed, Councillor Coleman-Cooke seconded and Members unanimously agreed to recommend to Council that the Policy statement should be adopted.

Nick Hughes advised Members that due to the changes in the political make-up of the Council, a report had been considered at full Council and Members had make changes to political representation on different committees of Council. This meant that membership to the three sub groups ought to be reconsidered. He provided the following options that the Panel could adopt.

One of the options was that Members could reduce the size of each sub group to 3 UKIP; 2 Conservative; 1 Democratic Independent Group (DIG). The second option was to leave the size at seven so that the membership would be: 3 UKIP; 2 Conservative; 1 DIG; 1 Labour. The third option would be to increase the membership to eight in order to have 4 UKIP; 3 Conservative; 1 DIG; 1 Labour.

Councillor Taylor-Smith proposed, Councillor Dennis seconded and Members agreed that each sub group would have a membership of seven made up of 3 UKIP; 2 Conservative; 1 DIG; 1 Labour.

Some Members were concerned that sub groups do not meet as often as required by the current TDC Constitution. They suggested that the sub-group should meet as often as the parent committee. Members also requested that future sub group scrutiny reports or presentations should contain information that Members can effectively review and inform the policy development process.

The report was received and noted.

Members agreed that a report on Asset Management be considered by the Panel at a future meeting. They also requested that Portfolio Holders be in attendance at future Panel meetings to jointly introduce reports from their respective portfolio areas with officers.