Agenda and minutes

An apology had been received from Cllr S Goldspink.

At this point Members must declare whether they have an interest, whether personal or prejudicial, in any of the items on the agenda. Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the Community Development Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 25 March 2009 were approved as an accurate record.

The Committee requested that a further update on theHomelessness Strategy 2008-2011 be brought back to the committee at a future date.The Committee also requested an information update on the recent Peterborough Festival 2009.

The decision notice for each decision will bear the date on which it is published and will specify that the decision may then be implemented on the expiry of 3 working days after the publication of the decision (not including the date of publication), unless a request for call-in of the decision is received from any two Members of a Scrutiny Committee or Scrutiny Commissions.  If a request for call-in of a decision is received, implementation of the decision remains suspended for consideration by the relevant Scrutiny Committee or Commission.

There were no requests for Call-in to consider.

It was agreed that item 6 on the agenda Domestic Abuse be deferred until the next meeting in September as the officer due to present the report was unavailable.

To consider approaches taken to tackling Serious Acquisitive Crime and comment on areas for improvement or suggest alternative approaches

A presentation on Serious Acquisitive Crime was given to the Committee by two Detective Chief Inspectors from the Cambridgeshire Constabulary.  They advised that Peterborough was currently on the national radar as having too much crime.  There was a small Police Force in Peterborough which meant that there was a need to prioritise areas of work and pay particular attention to certain areas of crime.  Dwelling burglaries were one of the areas being concentrated on at this time.

An overview of serious acquisitive crime was given and the following information was noted:

•         Peterborough was currently performing 14th out of the 15 most similar Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships.

•         Serious Acquisitive Crime in June 2009 was down 18.1% compared to June 2008

•         Dwelling Burglary continued to be a problem with a rise of 39.6% on the previous month.

•         Vehicle Crime (Theft from Motor Vehicle (TFMV)) decreased by 39.8% on the previous month.

•         Within the Peterborough Unitary Authority area there had been a decrease from 436 crimes in April 2009 to 353 crimes in June 2009

•         The peak had been in January 2009 with 562 crimes

Operation Alert had targeted the 60 most known prolific offenders. The aims and objectives for Operation Alert were:

•         The Northern Base Command Unit (NBCU) was responding to the continued high levels of dwelling burglaries.

•         Since January 2008 over 600 arrests had been made for burglary and other linked offences.

•         Analytical work was being undertaken to identify who the top 60 burglars were from those arrests.

•         All officers were targeting these offenders: the 5 reactive shifts each have 12 offenders to “manage”; Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs) have been made aware of offenders living in their areas; with the Priority Crime Team (PCT) adding additional attention to the Top 10 offenders.

•         An effective media campaign and community safety advice programme was in place.

The results so far from Operation Alert had been that:

•         Burglaries to date had decreased by 25% (from 198 burglaries between 1 – 22 June 2009 to 149 burglaries between 1 – 22 July 2009.

•         26 of the Top 60 Offenders had been arrested for a variety of crimes.

•         8 of the 26 had been arrested for burglary and a further 4 arrested for linked offences.

•         However a large number of those arrested had been bailed so targeted activity around them continued.

•         NPTs had raised awareness of how insecure windows and doors were exploited by burglars.

Integrated Offender Management was a programme which drew all the initiatives together to identify the most known offenders.  This programme was good and was working well.

Approximately a third of the people going into prison had at some point been in care.  Also a percentage were pupils that had been excluded from school, a percentage had only attained level 1 educational skills, 60% were long term unemployed and 44% had a long term hard drug problem  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee received the latest version of the Council’s Forward Plan, containing key decisions that the Leader of the Council anticipated the Cabinet or individual Cabinet Members would make during the course of the following four months.  Members were invited to comment on the Plan and, where appropriate, identify any relevant areas for inclusion in the Committee’s work programme.

            ACTION AGREED

The Committee noted the Forward Plan and agreed that an update on the Cultural Trust be bought to the Committee at its September meeting.

Members considered the Committee’s Work Programme for 2009/2010 and discussed possible items for inclusion.

ACTION AGREED

The Committee agreed to include the following items in the 2009/2010 work programme

That a report be brought to the Committee at its 19^th November meeting on the Sustainable Communities Act.   To include:

Ø      Why Peterborough City Council have not signed up to it yet.

Ø      What are the implications of the Act for Peterborough City Council?

Ø      What is being done to encourage community groups to get involved?

The Committee also requested that the following Cabinet Members attend the November meeting to give an update on their portfolios.

• Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, Housing and Community Development
• Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment Capital and Culture
• Cabinet Member for Regional and Business Engagement

Thursday, 10 September 2009 at 7.00pm