Issue - meetings

The Assistant Director for Communities and Neighbourhoods (Stevenage Borough Council) presented the report to Members. He said that that the Officer Board from each of the four councils meet on a quarterly basis in between the Joint Executive meetings. At the last meeting, Members were concerned about the increasing costs of the partnership so an immediate review into costs was held in relation to operations and how savings could be made. The CCTV Group Manager at Stevenage Borough Council retired and the decision was made not to replace the role and restructure the team which had a financial saving. The Board also commissioned a review into neighbouring districts CCTV provision with exploratory work around potential expansion of the partnership. The review has looked beyond Hertfordshire into surrounding counties. Some of the conversations have progressed and a detailed set of proposals would be bought in front of the committee at a future meeting.

The Assistant Director also highlighted to Members the position of the Town Councils in East Herts which have served notice on their intention to withdraw whilst they carry out a procurement exercise to ensure they were getting best value for money.

Following from the minutes of the last meeting, the Assistant Director explained that there had been some discussion around the progression of the company and investment in business development management. The Officer Board met with the Company Board to understand where the work was going and have encouraged them to present to the Committee at a future meeting.

Councillor Boylan referred to the action points in the last set of minutes not being actioned. He was disappointed that there was no evidence of progression presented to the Committee and did not feel there was any urgency to progress. He said that the Committee had been made aware of the Town Councils intention to withdraw and the partnership cannot assume that they would get the business back.

The Assistant Director for Communities and Neighbourhoods (Stevenage Borough Council) said that the partnership could request that the company provide information and a report but they do not have any control over them. He said that he understood that work was going on and could push for it to be shared with the Committee. Officers were not responsible for writing the business plans as it was a Director responsibility but they had looked a partnership expansion to understand the CCTV service in other Districts. He said the partnership had met with the Chief Finance Officers across Hertfordshire to discuss the financial implications. He said that time was critical, especially with the potential loss of the Town Council cameras and the partnership cannot be complacent and needed to act more commercial.

Councillor Newmark said that the Hertsmere Scrutiny Committee had decided to open a scrutiny review into CCTV to include the operation of the partnership. He felt that the group was opaque, hard to understand and too complicated that it was hampering progress. He said that the Committee have not been presented  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7