It was noted that apologies had been received from Councillor Mrs Ring.

It was noted that Councillor Mrs Springett was substituting for Councillor Mrs Ring.

There were no urgent items.

It was noted that Councillor Mrs Gooch was present as a Visiting Member and indicated her wish to speak on Agenda Item 12 – 2013-18 Community Safety Partnership Plan Refresh.

There were no disclosures by Members and Officers.

There were no disclosures of lobbying.

RESOLVED:   That all items on the agenda be taken in public as proposed.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of meeting held on 13 February 2018 be approved as a correct record and signed.

There were no petitions.

There were no questions from members of the public.

There were no comments on the Committee Work Programme.

The Committee considered the report of Mr Nicolas Rathbone, Community Protection Officer which updated the Committee on the work of the Safer Maidstone Partnership (SMP) in tackling the priorities at the start of the last financial year.

It was noted that Officers were finalising the draft Community Safety Plan (CSP) in order for it to go to Full Council in April.

Members were informed that based on information in the Strategic Assessment, the priorities that had been identified for 2018/19 would be:-

·  Domestic Abuse

·  Organised Crime Groups (including Modern Slavery)

·  Gangs and Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)

·  Substance Misuse

·  Mental Health

Councillor Mrs Gooch addressed the Committee on this item.

Members made the following observations:-

·  That the Police did not make any contribution to the clean up from the night time economy.

·  That it was pleasing to note that neighbourhood policing would still be continued.

·  The following amendments should be made to the CSP Plan:-

1. That the list of priorities as set out in Section 3 should be just
  bullet points so there was no suggestion of these being in
  priority order.

2. Appendix 4 – last paragraph on Page 23.  There appeared to be a

   typo in respect of the age range, this should be amended.

In response to a question by a Member, Mr Rathbone advised that the reason Violent Crime had been removed from the list of priorities was due to the fact that HMIC had changed the way in which these particular crimes were reported and was in no way meant to be a sign that these crimes would not be dealt with robustly by the Police.

RESOLVED:  That the Committee give delegated authority to the Chief Executive to finalise the Community Safety Plan and associated action plans, in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman and that the Plan be recommended for adoption and implementation by Council on 11^th April 2018.

Voting:  Unanimous

6.00 p.m. to 6.20 p.m.