Issue - meetings

At the Panel meeting on Tuesday 23^rd July 2013 the Panel received a report and considered their draft recommendations. The agreed documents were forwarded to Cabinet members for their considered responses and they are now enclosed.

Sally Ash, Head of Boating, Canal & River Trust addressed the Panel. A copy of her statement can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book.

The Chairman asked what part the Trust played in the removal of vessels from the river.

Sally Ash replied that the Trust does monitor certain areas licences and for vessels adhering to licence conditions. She added that if a boat was found to be causing an offence they would be sent up to three formal warnings across the space of 28 days and then the case would be referred to their solicitors. County Court proceedings would then follow and may result in the licence being revoked and the boat being removed from the water.

She stated that only a small number of cases are taken this far and that the Trust would never seek to make people homeless.

The Chairman asked if the Trust was aware of any Local Authority that was working with local communities with regard to moorings.

Sally Ash replied that the Trust was in dialogue with a number of Local Authorities in London and was in a position to offer advice to both the developer and the Local Authority.

Councillor Dave Laming addressed the Panel. He said that he was thankful to the Cabinet for their efforts in providing the River Corridor with funding. He stated that it was critical to have a co-ordinating body on this matter and welcomed the creation of the River Regeneration Trust.

The Chairman then posed the following series of questions to the Cabinet Member for Homes & Planning on behalf of the Panel.

Recommendation 1 and 1.1

There is no mention of key information (i.e. timescales, required action) that would explain the decision and offer options for the way forward.

•  What does ‘significant officer time’ mean?

•  Have you assessed how much work would be involved, i.e. FTE?

•  Where could funding for the additional/seconded post come from?

•  When do you envisage this piece of work starting?

•  Has contact with other teams to be involved yet been made, i.e. scope of the work, involvement, options for lead/support staff?

Recommendation 1.3

It could be argued that this particular piece of work would not take up ‘significant officer time’ if treated as a standalone piece of work, separate from the wider review proposed at recommendation one.

•  Have you assessed how much work would be involved?

•  Could this be carried out separately from the wider review?

Recommendation 2

Welcome this action, however the equalities lead officers will need to be involved to support the CRT and enable endorsement of the strategy.

Recommendation 3

The response confirms the recommendation cannot be achieved through the Strategic Housing Marketing Assessment (SHMA). However, whilst ‘a different approach’ is acknowledged, no solution appears to have been sought. It therefore seems unrealistic to make mention of ‘significant officer time’ as a barrier when the approach is unknown.

•  What different approaches to the SHMA are there?

•  What would be the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35

At the Housing and Major Projects Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel (HMP) on Tuesday 20th November 2012 the Panel received an update on Boat and Mobile Home Dwellers from the Cabinet Member for Homes & Planning. The Panel were asked to consider if they wished to undertake any policy review work on this matter. It was agreed at this meeting that there were a number of issues that still needed further investigation and that the Panel should undertake some Task and Finish Group work to explore some of these issues further and report back to the Panel in May 2013.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson addressed the Panel. A copy of her statement can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book, a summary is set out below.

She spoke of how the Task & Finish Group were tasked with considering accommodation needs only, the quality of life for boat dwellers and travellers and the needs of those who are often marginalised from society for other reasons: age, infirmity, being a lone parent and peripatetic lifestyle.

She said that the group tried very hard to balance the positives of life out in the open with perhaps much lower accommodation costs than ashore, and the negatives – poor facilities in commercial moorings, lack of access to healthcare, homecare and education and constantly being ‘moved on’ by the Canal & Rivers Trust (CRT), who seemed to have no understanding of equalities issues.

She believed the review was an important step between anecdotal and individual case histories and concrete policies, which is why it is so important to continue the research.  She stated that they had uncovered alarming evidence of potential homelessness, with possibly 50-70 families at immediate risk (on the basis of CRT) figures.

To sum up she spoke of the groups aspirations;

·  Ask the Council to establish a national standard of good practice,

·  Provide proper mooring facilities itself where appropriate and encourage others to do so, especially developers,

·  Communicate to boat dwellers what the Council can do for them.

She wished to thank all of the officers who helped with the review, the members of the public who contributed their stories and the review consultant.

The Chairman commented he felt it was an excellent piece of work that straddled across a number of Panel remits.

Councillor Gerry Curran commented with regard to recommendation 1. He stated that any full in-depth study / review on Boat Dwellers and River Travellers within our area should take into account the Council’s bio-diversity and use of the river by the general public.

The Chairman commented that the Council should also be mindful of the work of the River Regeneration Trust.

Councillor Dave Laming addressed the Panel. He informed them that he had recently received a letter from the Canal & Rivers Trust that enquired how they could work with the River Regeneration Trust and have a joining of assets. He added that 1,000 residential moorings were required for the area.

Councillor Brian Simmons proposed that the recommendations as printed be passed to the relevant Cabinet Members.

Councillor Gerry Curran seconded the proposal.

The Corporate Policy Manager for Equality stated that as the recommendations were not going to be discussed by the Panel but were being forwarded, as written, to Cabinet, she needed to assure herself that the Panel were fully aware of the implications of the report’s findings.

The Chairman replied that at this stage it was the Panel’s role to make recommendations and was confident of a fuller debate when the decision making element was played out.

Councillor Ben Stevens, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development suggested that as part of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10

The Chair of the Panel will provide an update on the progress of the review.

The Chair handed out an update on the review that she had written. No discussion took place.