Meeting Details

On the proposition of Councillor Jepson, seconded by Councillor Green it was

RESOLVED

 
That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 20 March 2025 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Councillor Ninnmey referred to his comment at the last meeting that some Parishes such as Waldringfield might like to belong to a different Community Partnership as they sourced services eg leisure facilities from outside of their designated Community Partnership area.  He explained that he had now spoken to Waldringfield Parish Council and they had confirmed that they were happy to remain within the Felixstowe Peninsula Community Partnership. 

On the proposition of Councillor Lynch, seconded by Councillor Ninnmey it was

RESOLVED

 
That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 24 April 2025 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair reminded the Committee that it had been agreed to give Cabinet Members a set list of questions prior to the meeting relating to their priorities, achievements, challenges and budgets.  At the Chair's invitation, Councillor Ashton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member with responsibility for Corporate Services gave his response to the set questions and highlighted in particular:

• That his role was to focus on operation, efficiencies etc whereas Councillor Noble's remit was environmental policy.
• The likely disruptive impact of Local Government Reorganisation whilst trying to deliver and improve services and provide value for money.
• The desire to create dashboards that the new unitary council would want to adopt.
• The completion and occupation rates of the Nexus development.
• The ESSL improvements especially around digitalisation such as Bartec which needed to be exploited further.
• That service reviews were now underway to obtain ideas for improvements and deliver value for money.
• Improvements made within the Asset Team such as the ability to review the value of the Council's assets including social value.
• Beach Huts occupancy including ways to achieve some social value from them.
• The development of a strategy for Southwold Harbour.
• The development of a Customer Services App.

The Chair invited Committee Members' questions and the following matters were discussed:

• The number of grass-cutting rounds last year.
• Working with ESSL to improve performance and generate savings.
• The content of the new Street Cleaners spec.
•  Progress of the App which would be developed externally and its potential uses.
• The impact of Local Government Reorganisation on staff recruitment and retention.
• Grass-cutting in older parts of graveyards.
• The use of AI.
• The cost of additional bins/vehicles for Better Recycling.
• Ways to encourage/incentivise residents to recycle more.
• Other potential uses of the Council's Beach Huts eg office and/or community spaces.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member and Officers for their attendance.

The Chair referred to the Leader's report ES/2417 requesting an appointment be made to the Suffolk County Council Health Scrutiny Committee.  Members were informed that a nomination had been received for Councillor Thompson to remain as the primary representative and a request had been received from Councillor Byatt to remain as the nominated Substitute.

In the absence of any further nominations and on the proposition of Councillor Gooch, seconded by Councillor Ninnmey it was

RESOLVED

1. That Councillor Thompson be appointed as the primary representative on the Suffolk County Council Health Scrutiny Committee for the 2025/26 Municipal Year. 
2. That Councillor Byatt be appointed as the designated substitute to attend the Suffolk County Health Scrutiny Committee for the 2025/26 Municipal Year in the event that the primary appointee was unavailable. 
3. That the Leader of the Council fill any outstanding vacancies left unfilled by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
4. That the Leader of the Council make any necessary changes to the membership of the Suffolk County Council Health Scrutiny Committee for the remainder of the 2025/26 Municipal Year, in consultation with the other Group Leaders.

The Committee received Report ES/2418 and the Chair asked if there were any comments or proposed changes to the Annual Report 2024/25 before it was submitted to Full Council in accordance with the Constitution requirement to report annually on the Committee's activities.  In the absence of any comments, the Chair thanked everyone who had been involved throughout the year and in particular Councillor Clery, Vice-Chair, and the Democratic Services Officer for their support and hard work. 

On the proposition of Councillor Clery, seconded by Councillor Lynch it was

RESOLVED

That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee's Annual Report for 2024/25 be approved for submission to Full Council in July 2025.

The Chair reminded Members that the next meeting would take place on 17 July 2025 and that the topic would need to be confirmed in due course as they were were still finalising their Work Programme for 2025/26 following the recent Topic Selection Workshop.