Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED: That Councillor Mrs Joy (Vice Chair) act as Chairman of the meeting until the arrival of Councillor Mrs Blackmore.

RESOLVED: That all items on the agenda be web-cast.

It was noted that apologies had been received from Councillors Mrs Gibson and Mrs Mannering.

There were no Substitute Members.

Councillor JA Wilson, Chair of the Safer Maidstone Partnership, attended the meeting as a witness.

John Littlemore, Head of Housing and Community Services and Sarah Robson, Community Partnerships Manager both attended the meeting as witnesses.

David Joyner, Transport and Safety Policy Manager for Kent County Council Highways and Transportation and Stephen Horton, Chair of the Safer Maidstone Partnership Road Safety Sub-Group both sent their apologies.

There were no disclosures.

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

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 29 October 2013 be approved as a correct record and duly signed.

Interviews with Councillor John  A Wilson, Chair of the Safer Maidstone Partnership; David Joyner, Transport and Safety Policy Manager, Kent County Council Highways & Transportation; Stephen Horton, Chair of the Safer Maidstone Partnership Road Safety Sub-Group; John Littlemore, Head of Housing and Community Services; and Sarah Robson, Community Partnerships Manager.

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting:

·  Councillor John Wilson, Chair of the Safer Maidstone Partnership

·  John Littlemore, Head of Housing and Community Services

·  Sarah Robson, Community Partnerships Manager.

It was noted the Community, Leisure Services and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee had a statutory role to act as the Crime and Disorder Overview and Scrutiny Committee in line with Maidstone’s protocols for Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership Overview and Scrutiny.

It was explained the SMP’s priorities include Road Safety.  It was in this capacity the Committee considered a joint response to Kent County Council’s Draft Road Safety Casualty Reduction Strategy 2014-2020.

In the absence of David Joyner (KCC), Sarah Robson provided the Committee with an overview of the strategy explaining the strategy uses the latest data available to improve how all the districts and partners work together to reduce deaths on Kent’s roads.  The strategy uses a Public Health approach to road casualty reduction by focussing on four key approaches to the prevention of road accidents:

·  Education

·  Enforcement

·  Engineering

·  Engagement and partnership working

Maidstone Borough Council’s view would be to support these four priorities through the Safer Maidstone Partnership and the sub group focussing on killed or seriously injured (KSI).  The strategy supports a national framework to produce an action plan to extend education and training for motorist.  The package of measures would focus on the worst offenders based on tightening up enforcement and might include:

·  Increased penalty fines from £60 to £100

·  The introduction of a new drug driving offence

·  Portable roadside testing to aid and speed up enforcement

·  Increased road safety messages in the driver theory test

·  Revised guidance for local authority in setting speed limits

·  New post driver qualifying web site

·  Increasing the national driver diversionary scheme education offering

During discussions and questioning the Committee raised the following concerns and comments:

·  No smaller groups were mentioned in the report.  The Committee agreed it was important for key local groups to have a voice and be involved in what is happening regarding road safety in Kent

·  The figures for the number of people killed on Kent’s roads had no detail of the number of road deaths by local district, and;

·  There was no mention in the strategy of enforcement or penalty measures for cyclists who cycled on Kent’s roads without lights at night, without a helmet etc.

RESOLVED:  That:

The statistics on accidents involving cyclists presented to the Crime and Disorder Overview and Scrutiny Committee by Inspector Bumpas of Kent Police in January 2013 be circulated to members of the Committee.

The Chairman and Vice Chairman meet separately with David Joyner and/or Stephen Horton from Kent County Council to discuss the points raised by the Committee before submitting the Committee’s response to the consultation, and;

Based on the outcomes of the meeting with David Joyner and/or Stephen Horton, the Chairman and Vice Chairman, or if it is not possible to arrange the meeting, submit the following responses on behalf of the Committee into the consultation before the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96.

Interviews with Councillor John  A Wilson, Chair of the Safer Maidstone Partnership; John Littlemore, Head of Housing and Community Services; and Sarah Robson, Community Partnerships Manager.

The Maidstone Community Safety Partnership Plan 2013-2018 will be delivered by the Community Partnerships unit, which incorporates the Community Safety, Housing and Community Development teams and statutory partners Kent Police, Kent County Council, Kent Fire and Rescue Service and Kent Probation.

The Plan provides a strategic framework to deliver the priorities, which have been reviewed and determined using evidenced based information, including comparative country-wide performance figures, through the annual strategic assessment.

The plan is refreshed annually and was brought to the Committee as part process for the Council’s policy framework, the original being endorsed by Full Council last year. Sarah Robson explained the final version of the plan will be presented to Full Council in April 2013 for approval.

Sarah Robson gave the Committee an overview of the refresh of the Plan and highlighted organisational changes are at a local and national level.  The Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent has agreed population based funding for the borough of £38,449 for the financial year 2014-2015. This commitment has been made for the next three years based on the priorities for Kent, but will be top sliced by approximately 4% year on year. This funding will support the plans reviewed priorities and will be used to fund projects with defined deliverable outcomes.

 The priority concerns for 2014-15 will be:

·  Antisocial Behaviour

·  Substance misuse including alcohol

·  Violent crime around Domestic Abuse

·  Violent crime – night time economy (in particular against the person)

·  Reducing reoffending

·  Road safety.

All the above have been agreed by the various sub groups as a refresh to the plan.

Following discussion the Committee:

RESOLVED:  That the following recommendations be taken into consideration when developing the final plan that goes to Full Council in 23 April 2013:

a.  Table 3.1 – ‘Annual Changes – 3 year time series’ table to include the number of PNDs issued

b.  Chart 1 – ‘Strategic Assessment – Policy and Strategy linkages’ diagram be reviewed and amended to show accuracy in dates, group titles and reporting lines

c.  ‘The Perceptions of Crime – Overview figures’ shown in section 3.2 are shown as figures rather than percentages; and

d.  Good news items are included in the quarterly Maidstone Borough Council community newsletter and the Borough update.

Interviews with Councillor John  A Wilson, Chair of the Safer Maidstone Partnership; John Littlemore, Head of Housing and Community Services; and Sarah Robson, Community Partnerships Manager.

The Committee and Chair and Lead Officer from the Safer Maidstone Partnership consider the proposed revisions and any additional revisions put forward to the Maidstone Protocols for Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership Overview and Scrutiny as set out in Appendix A of agenda item 10 and agree a final version.

The Committee considered the revisions to the document and agreed the document should include a paragraph that mentions the attendance of the Kent Police Authority at meetings where community safety matters are being considered.

RESOLVED: That the Committee recommend the revisions to the Maidstone Protocols for the Crime and Disorder Reductions Partnership Overview and Scrutiny as set out in Appendix A be agreed by full Council. The Committee also recommend the inclusion of the following paragraph:

‘Maidstone’s Crime and Disorder Overview and Scrutiny Committee will invite the Kent Police Authority to attend committee meetings when items on community safety are being considered.’

The meeting ended at 19:56hrs