Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

Members are required to notify any substitutions by midday on the day of the meeting.

Late substitutions will not be accepted and Members attending as a substitute without having given the due notice will not be able to take part in the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tina Bhartwas, Dominic Griffiths and Daniel Wright-Mason.

Having given due notice, Councillor Vijaiya Poopalasingham substituted for Councillor Wright-Mason.

Audio recording – 1 minute 29 seconds

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tina Bhartwas, Dominic Griffiths and Daniel Wright-Mason.

Having given due notice, Councillor Vijaiya Poopalasingham substituted for Councillor Wright-Mason.

To take as read and approve as a true record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on the 11 November 2025.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 11 November be approved as a true record of proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Audio Recording – 1 minute 53 seconds

Councillor Claire Winchester, as Chair, proposed and Councillor Jon Clayden seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 11 November be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Members should notify the Chair of other business which they wish to be discussed at the end of either Part I or Part II business set out in the agenda. They must state the circumstances which they consider justify the business being considered as a matter of urgency.

The Chair will decide whether any item(s) raised will be considered.

There was no other business notified.

Audio recording – 2 minutes 30 seconds

There was no other business notified.

Members are reminded that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda, should be declared as either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or Declarable Interest and are required to notify the Chair of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda.  Members declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest must withdraw from the meeting for the duration of the item. Members declaring a Declarable Interest, wishing to exercise a ‘Councillor Speaking Right’, must declare this at the same time as the interest, move to the public area before speaking to the item and then must leave the room before the debate and vote.

(1)         The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council Policy, the meeting would be recorded.

(2)         The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

(3)         The Chair advised that for the purposes of clarification clause 4.8.23(a) of the Constitution does not apply to this meeting.

(4)         The Chair reminded Members of the adopted North Herts Scrutiny Charter and the need to ensure that the meeting was conducted with independence, initiative and integrity. The full Charter was available to Members via the Scrutiny Intranet pages.

Audio recording – 2 minutes 34 seconds

(1)   The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council Policy, the meeting would be recorded.

(2)   The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

(3)   The Chair advised that for the purposes of clarification clause 4.8.23(a) of the Constitution does not apply to this meeting.

(4)   The Chair reminded Members of the adopted North Herts Scrutiny Charter and the need to ensure that the meeting was conducted with independence, initiative and integrity. The full Charter was available to Members via the Scrutiny Intranet pages.

To receive petitions, comments and questions from the public.

There was no public participation.

Audio recording – 3 minutes 42 seconds

There was no public participation at this meeting.

The Chair to report on any urgent or general exception items which required their agreement. At the time of printing the agenda, the Chair had not agreed any urgent or general exception items.

There were no urgent or general exception items.

Audio recording – 3 minutes 46 seconds

No urgent or general exception items were received.

To consider any matters referred to the Committee for a decision in relation to a call-in of decision. At the time of printing the agenda, no items of business had been called-in.

There were no called-in items.

Audio recording – 3 minutes 50 seconds

There have been no called-in items.

To receive and respond to any questions from Members either set out in the agenda or tabled at the meeting.

No questions had been submitted by Members.

Audio recording – 3 minutes 54 seconds

No questions had been submitted by Members.

To receive an update from Hertfordshire Constabulary on crime against the LGBTQ+ Community and cybercrime against elderly residents in North Herts.

CI Sarah Gilbertson, PS Taranvir Gill and PC Lewis Thompson from Hertfordshire Constabulary gave a presentation on crime against the LGBTQ+ Community and cybercrime against the elderly in North Herts, following which Members asked questions.

Audio recording – 4 minutes 2 seconds

CI Sarah Gilbertson, PS Taranvir Gill and PC Lewis Thompson from Hertfordshire Constabulary gave a presentation on crime against the LGBTQ+ Community in North Herts and advised that:

·                North Herts Police comprised the Response Team which dealt primarily with 999 calls and the Neighbourhood Team which worked with the public and external partners like the Council to set long-term neighbourhood priorities and needs.

·                There were four Police Sergeants in the Neighbourhood Team assigned to Royston, Letchworth, Hitchin and the Community Safety Unit, which hate crime came under.

·                A High Court ruling in 2025 deemed participation of Northumbria Police at the Newcastle Pride Parade to be unlawful as it breached the Police duty of impartiality. Because of this, Hertfordshire Constabulary had undertaken an assessment of how they supported the community at events. 

·                Tackling inequality and discrimination remained priorities for them, however, they would not be able to actively participate in events going forward.

·                They had attended North Herts Pride Day to give advice on safeguarding, reporting hate crime and to have general engagement with the public.

·                They met regularly with the LGBTQ+ Society at North Herts College to gain an understanding of issues among the younger generation. The meetings were also used to provide students and teachers with more information on reporting hate crimes and how their investigations were carried out.

·                Presentations had also been given to schools to address specific issues when reported.

·                There had been a 12.9% increase in hate crime reported across North Herts in 2025 compared to the previous year. It was speculated that this was partly due to their increased engagement with the community on reporting hate crimes.

·                A spike in hate crime reports during the summer months was thought to be due to more outdoor social activities and events taking place at that time of year.

·                There had also been an increase in non-crime hate incident reports in 2025 on the previous year. However, 11.5% less hate crime incidents had been solved compared to the previous year.

The following Members asked questions:

·                Councillor Ralph Muncer

·                Councillor David Chalmers

·                Councillor Sadie Billing

·                Councillor Jon Clayden

·                Councillor Elizabeth Dennis

In response to questions, Hertfordshire Constabulary representatives advised that:

·                Non-crime hate incidents would continue to be recorded until they received further guidance that stated otherwise.

·                Public trust and confidence were key to support the LGBTQ+ Community, hence why they had an officer that was focused on hate crime within their team.

·                Increases in hate crime reporting and reporting of violence against women and girls were seen as positive as there had been a lack of public trust to report these in the past.

·                They were following the guidance set after the High Court ruling, however, officers from Hertfordshire Constabulary would still be visible at pride events wearing pride lanyards.

·                The LGBTQ+ Community were one of the most engaged communities in North Herts according to Herts Connected, and the High Court ruling had not impacted this.

·                They had processes to decrease tensions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR – RESOURCES

This report presents progress on delivering the Council Delivery Plan for 2025-26.

RESOLVED: That the Overview & Scrutiny Committee:

(1)         Provided comment on the Council Delivery Plan Quarter 2 monitoring report.

(2)         Determined any project they want to receive more detail on, as part of the next monitoring report.

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET: That Cabinet notes progress against Council projects and performance indicators, as set out in the Council Delivery Plan (Appendix A) and approves new milestones and changes to milestones.

REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION: The Council Delivery Plan (CDP) monitoring reports provide the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and Cabinet, with an opportunity to monitor progress against the key Council projects, and understand any new issues, risks, or opportunities.

Audio recording – 1 hour 52 minutes 6 seconds

Councillor Ian Albert, as Executive Member for Resources presented the report entitled ‘Council Delivery Plan 2025-26 (Quarter 2 Update) and advised that:

·                The report outlined the most recent update for the Council Delivery Plan (CDP) including Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and the associated risks.

·                Members could access more detail on the CDP through Ideagen as detailed in paragraph 8.10 of the report.

·                Two projects had been completed which were the King George V Skate Park in Hitchin and the implementation of the Waste and Street Cleansing Contract.

·                Data on the KPI relating to missed bin collections per 100,000 lifts had been explained in paragraph 8.5.

·                The five projects with an amber status were outlined in paragraph 8.2.

·                Actions to address the KPIs with a red status had been set out in paragraph 8.4, although, the KPI relating to Careline Installations had seen a recent improvement.

·                Proposed KPIs that would link more closely to the Council Plan in response to the recommendations from the Corporate Peer Challenge report were detailed in paragraph 8.7.

·                There was an error in Appendix A to the report as there had not yet been a further report on Churchgate to Full Council, which had been scheduled to happen on 4 December 2025.

·                A full-time Project Manager had been appointed to the Churchgate project and several meetings had taken place before Christmas to explore development options.

·                Work would continue to look at the project for housing options and the market, and the Churchgate Project Board had expressed desire to improve parking signage in Hitchin.

·                A Member Briefing on Churchgate would take place in late January or early February to ensure transparency and to allow questions to be asked.

·                Decisions on the future of Charnwood House would be made in due course once the documents from the Estates Team on an Expression of Interest exercise had been reviewed.

The following Members asked questions:

·                Councillor Ralph Muncer

·                Councillor Paul Ward

·                Councillor Jon Clayden

·                Councillor Claire Winchester

In response to questions, Councillor Ian Albert advised that:

·                It was expected that the Churchgate update report, delayed from Full Council in December, would be presented to Full Council on 26 February 2026.

·                A Churchgate Project Board meeting would take place on 20 January to finalise the position of the project before the Member Briefing and Full Council meeting.

·                Investigation would take place into how Members received information about events in their area, specifically larger events that were supported by the Safety Advisory Group.

·                Cabinet were responsible for the risks and mitigations within the Council Delivery Plan, and ultimately, its delivery. 

In response to questions, Councillor Tamsin Thomas advised that extra time had been spent on Churchgate to ensure that a robust update would be provided at the Member Briefing and Full Council meeting.

In response to questions, the Director – Resources advised that:

·                The CDP was not used to performance manage the Senior Leadership Team as some of the KPIs and project deadlines  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE CULTURE AND FACILITIES SERVICE MANAGER

An Information Note on the Museum Collection Facility Project in response to a request for a progress update.

Councillor Tamsin Thomas, as Executive Member for Enterprise presented the Information Note entitled ‘Museum Collection Facility Update’, following which Members asked questions.

Audio recording – 2 hours 17 minutes 57 seconds

Councillor Tamsin Thomas, as Executive Member for Enterprise presented the Information Note entitled ‘Museum Collection Facility Update’ and advised that:

·                There had been a need to address the long-term future of the museum collection facility.

·                Members who had not already visited the existing facility were invited to do so.

·                Failure to provide an adequate facility for the Museum collection would affect the accreditation of North Herts Museum and its ability to operate.

·                The majority of the Museum collection was not currently on public display.

·                Pressure on the existing facility would only increase as the Museum was the designated receiver for any finds in the district resulting from excavation, which would increase due to the surge in development arising from the Local Plan. 

·                The project had been delayed repeatedly at some cost. However, the acquisition of the new facility had been secured for significantly less than the £4M capital budget.

·                A Project Board had been formed to oversee the project, which would be managed in line with the standard project management methodology.

·                The facility would safeguard the accreditation of the Museum as well as the collection itself once complete.

·                The purchase of the new facility took place in July 2025, and the lease to the current tenants had been extended to ensure the Council would receive an income stream while plans for the new facility were made.

·                A summer exhibition had been held by the Museum to showcase artifacts in storage at the existing collection facility. Additionally, a monthly series had been launched in December to highlight more items in storage.

·                A positive response had been received to an expression of interest on grant funding that would assist outreach efforts.

·                Advanced negotiations were ongoing with a contractor that would provide Professional Technical Services to carry out the design work for the new facility.

·                Project progress had been shown in the Gantt Chart displayed in Appendix 1 to the Information Note.

·                Investigations into the moving process of the Museum collection were already underway, including an ascension strategy that would cover the addition and removal of collection artifacts as the collection was moved.

The following Members asked questions:

·                Councillor Ralph Muncer

·                Councillor Paul Ward

·                Councillor Jon Clayden

In response to questions, Councillor Tamsin Thomas advised that:

·                Unlike the project at Harkness Court, this capital project had a Project Board with the Culture and Facilities Service Manager as the Project Manager and the Director – Enterprise as the Accountable Officer.

·                Grant funding available was linked to public engagement projects which would present an opportunity for them to maximise public engagement through increasing awareness of the Museum, strengthening outreach to schools, and building their volunteer network.

·                There were no concerns that Local Government Reorganisation would affect the project if its delivery remained on schedule. However, if enough progress had not been made, there would be concerns over the facility being redeployed to address other storage needs, subject to the decisions of the subsequent unitary authority.

In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR – RESOURCES

This report sets out the context of Council Tax support provided by the Council and the proposed minor changes to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2026/27.

RESOLVED: That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

(1)         Commented on the report and consider any further mechanisms that would provide data on the effectiveness of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

(2)         Provided comments on the recommendations to Cabinet.

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET:

(1)         To agree to amend the Council Tax discretionary policy to include the support provided to residents with a terminal illness, with the wording detailed in paragraph 8.7, and

(2)         To approve changes to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme bands to reflect the impact of the inflation.

REASON FOR RECOMMENDATIONS: To respond to the request from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and to consider changes for next year.

Audio recording – 2 hours 37 minutes 32 seconds

Councillor Ian Albert, as Executive Member for Resources presented the report entitled ‘The Council Tax Reduction Scheme (Effectiveness and Proposals for 2026/27)’ and advised that:

·                The history of Council Tax support offered to working age residents, including the introduction of a banded scheme in April 2023, was detailed in section 7.

·                Regulations for Council Tax support relating to pension age residents were set by the Government rather than the Council.

·                More detail on the current scheme, including an assessment of its effectiveness and affordability, had been provided at the beginning of section 8.

·                An ideal Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS) would provide support to those that needed it most, however, the report highlighted the difficulties in measuring its effectiveness.

·                Disregards incorporated into the scheme were set out in paragraph in 8.2.

·                The campaign by Marie Curie to prevent residents from dying in poverty and the actions that local authorities could take to address this through Council Tax reductions were described in paragraph 8.14.

·                The differences between North Herts Council CTRS and the scheme offered by Manchester City Council as the exemplar authority for the campaign were described in paragraph 8.16.

·                Marie Curie acknowledged that changes to the CTRS policy would take time to achieve due to the consultation required, however, they were yet to provide a response to the Council on their CTRS which provided up to a 100% Council Tax reduction for residents.

·                Each threshold band would be uplifted by inflation as detailed in paragraph 8.19.

·                The Council should be proud of their CTRS and the work of Officers.

The following Members asked questions:

·                Councillor Paul Ward

·                Councillor Claire Winchester

·                Councillor Elizabeth Dennis

·                Councillor Ralph Muncer

·                Councillor Jon Clayden

In response to questions, the Director – Resources advised that:

·                It was hoped that all residents who needed support were captured by the CTRS and that the proposed changes to the discretionary scheme would provide further stop gaps to ensure this.

·                It was anticipated that changes to the discretionary scheme would have a negligible cost to the Council.

·                Those that were in poverty due to income would qualify for the main scheme, and the discretionary scheme would provide support to those that were facing additional costs outside of their income.

·                It was difficult to predict the financial impact to the Council of uplifting the bands versus keeping them the same, however, it was estimated that approximately the same number of residents would be eligible after the bands were uplifted without accounting for wider economic conditions.

·                Keeping the Council Tax bands the same could mean that residents would receive less support with their Council Tax, however, this may also cause difficulties with collecting payments and result in more bad debts.

·                The banded CTRS created less of an admin burden than the previous scheme as a change in circumstances was less likely to trigger a review.

In response to questions, the Benefits Manager advised that:

·                Increased publicity of CTRS would be done through  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE LICENSING AND COMMUNITY SAFETY MANAGER

The purpose of this Information Note is to provide the committee with an overview of the work undertaken by the Community Safety Team.

Councillor Mick Debenham, as Executive Member for Regulatory presented the Information Note entitled ‘Community Safety Overview’, following which Members asked questions.

Audio recording – 3 hours 2 minutes 39 seconds

Councillor Mick Debenham, as Executive Member for Regulatory presented the Information Note entitled ‘Community Safety Overview’ and advised that:

·             The Community Safety Team were the first point of contact for sharing information with the Police and they represented the Council on the Joint Executive CCTV Partnership.

·             Their duties covered a wide portfolio such as dealing with dog fouling, hate crime, unauthorised encampments and abandoned vehicles.

·             Increased budget and resources had been given to their team which they had used to increase patrols in fly tipping hotspots, serve a record amount of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs), conduct three successful prosecutions, and issue a closure order to a vape shop in Royston.

·             Roll out of the Safety Charter for Women and Girls had taken place in pubs and extra safeguarding training had been provided to taxi drivers.

·             Safety talks had been held in schools and they had worked with children to create videos for social media on the dangers of a variety of issues from drugs to cyber bullying.  

The following Members asked questions:

·             Councillor Claire Winchester

·             Councillor Ralph Muncer

·             Councillor Paul Ward

·             Councillor David Chalmers

·             Councillor Vijaiya Poopalasingham

In response to questions, the Licensing and Community Safety Manager advised that:

·             They had been able to restructure within the team to allow two officers to focus primarily on fly tipping due to the extra funding, with another officer able to cover when necessary.

·             The previous Police Sergeant for the Community Safety Unit in North Herts had been recruited to their team.

·             School visits were key to capture the younger demographic and target prevention.

·             Cross border fly tipping would be resolved through a targeted approach with local authorities in Bedfordshire. 

·             They were not as reliant on public reporting of fly tipping due to the additional resources they had to station Officers in hotspots, however, Members should reassure residents that fly tipping would be addressed if reports were made.

·             When fly tipping was reported but not suspected by an officer after an assessment, a message would be sent to Veolia via the Admin Team for them to clear it. This took longer on private land as they did not have a duty to clear waste there.  

·             Fines that were given to fly tipping offenders in court were often less than the FPNs that would have been charged by the Council, therefore, there was a delicate balance in publicising these prosecutions.

·             Hate crime had not been covered in their school visits as the Police already worked on this, but as one of their partners, they would include them on any future talks on hate crime that they planned to hold with schools.

·             The Safety Charter had initially focused on towns, but this would be rolled out to pubs, restaurants and off licenses in rural communities.

In response to questions, Councillor Mick Debenham advised that:

·             Fly tipping numbers for the previous year had already been exceeded just six months into the current year due to their targeted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

REPORT OF THE SCRUTINY OFFICER

This report highlights items scheduled in the work programme of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2025-26 civic year. It also includes items that have not yet been assigned to a specific meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED:

(1)         That the Committee prioritises topics for inclusion in the Work Programme attached as Appendix A and, where appropriate, determines the high-level form and timing of scrutiny input.

(2)         That the Committee, having considered the most recent iteration of the Forward Plan, as attached at Appendix B, suggests a list of items to be considered at its meetings in the coming civic year.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)         To allow the Committee to set a work programme which provides focused Member oversight, encourages open debate and seeks to achieve service improvement through effective policy development and meaningful policy and service change.

(2)         The need to observe Constitutional requirements and monitor the Forward Plan for appropriate items to scrutinise remains a key aspect of work programming.

Audio recording – 3 hours 26 minutes 48 seconds

The Scrutiny Officer presented the report entitled ‘Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2025-26’ and advised that:

·                Items on Digital Transformation, the Local Plan Review and an Enterprise Portfolio Update were scheduled for the next Committee meeting on 3 February.

·                An item had been submitted through the Work Programme submission form on the inability to challenge the 1874 Road Naming Statute. 

·                The consultation on S106 contributions had finished and the next meeting of the S106 Task and Finish Group was scheduled for 29 January 2026 to finalise findings and recommendations. The final report would be presented at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 24 March.

·                One referral on the Decisions and Monitoring Tracker had been presented to Cabinet on 19 November 2025 and been marked as completed.

Councillor Jon Clayden proposed and Councillor Ralph Muncer seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED:

(1)       that the Committee prioritises topics for inclusion in the Work Programme attached as Appendix A and, where appropriate, determines the high-level form and timing of scrutiny input.

(2)       That the Committee, having considered the most recent iteration of the Forward Plan, as attached at Appendix B, suggests a list of items to be considered at its meetings in the coming civic year.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)       To allow the Committee to set a work programme which provides focused Member oversight, encourages open debate and seeks to achieve service improvement through effective policy development and meaningful policy and service change.

(2)       The need to observe Constitutional requirements and monitor the Forward Plan for appropriate items to scrutinise remains a key aspect of work programming.