Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received on behalf of Councillor Deborah Watson.

To note any urgent items of business which the Chairman has consented to being considered under the provisions of Section 100(B) 4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of business to consider.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable

Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the

Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a) any business on the agenda

b) any urgent additional items to be considered

c) any matters arising out of those items and if appropriate, withdraw

from the meeting at the relevant time.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 11^th October 2022.

Moved by Councillor David Dixon and seconded by Councillor Evonne Parkin.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of a Climate Change & Communities Scrutiny Committee held on 11^th October 2022 be approved as a correct record.

(Members should contact the officer whose name appears on the List

of Key Decisions for any further information. NB: If Members wish to

discuss an exempt report under this item, the meeting will need to

move into exempt business and exclude the public in accordance with

the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 and Local

Government Act 1972, Part 1, Schedule 12a for that part of the

meeting only).

Committee considered the List of Key Decisions and items to be considered in private document.

Moved by Councillor Anne Clarke and seconded by Councillor Evonne Parkin.

RESOLVED that the List of Key Decisions and items to be considered in private document be noted.

The Commissioning and Contracts Officer provided Members with a verbal report covering the draft Annual Report of the Bolsover Partnership.  It was noted that the final copy was currently in production by the communications team and would be circulated on completion.

The report covered the period April 2021-March 2022 and all activity completed by the Partnership supported the delivery of the Sustainable Community Strategy objectives.

Key areas of delivery noted were:

• Community Champions – this resulted in four Link Workers operating in each of the market towns. 

A key part of their function was delivery of core messages during the Covid pandemic and also to be the ‘face’ of the Council.  The scheme resulted in improved relationships with Frasers Group – a major local employer.  Following completion of the scheme, which was briefly extended, the partnership team had altered their operations to create a focussed delivery centred on the four market town areas with a lead officer for each.

Four digital displays had also been installed, one in each town centre, to enable key messages and information to reach across the District.  It was hoped this would go some way to bridge the digital divide where residents either cannot access or don’t have the skills to access the internet.

• Bolsover District Skills Audit – this was a District-wide survey completed with external support from Sheffield Hallam University.

The objective was to complete a District-wide Skills Survey to find out about how the social and economic challenges of the area impacted on the training and education needs of residents.  It explored the extent to which skills and qualifications were being utilised, as well as attitudes towards and any barriers to participation in employment, training and learning. 

One of the core aims was to assess any changes following a smaller scale survey undertaken in 1995.  The results were not directly comparable with a previous skills survey, which was limited to the Shirebrook area, covered a smaller sample size, and was completed at a time of high unemployment due to pit closures. 

Nevertheless, the results showed that there were significantly more people employed and a lot of interest in training opportunities.  It was noted that whilst there were limited numbers benefitting from apprenticeships, this reflected the national picture as the number of opportunities available was lower than the demand for places and this needed addressing at both national and local level.

• Community Rail Partnership – this was a new initiative created to work across all the communities benefiting from the Robin Hood Line. 

Work had taken place in relation to securing station improvements; prevention of ASB within the station area, multi-sports sessions as diversionary activity; rail safety education programme; and Creswell Heritage Trail.  It was hoped the Heritage Trail concept could be developed within the other communities where a station was situated.

• Public Health Locality Funding – the Partnership received an annual allocation to commission local activity. 

A notable project was the Raising Aspirations initiative.  Whilst this started out at District level, the  ...  view the full minutes text for item CLI3821/22

The Scrutiny & Elections Officer introduced the item reminding Members of the work completed at recent meetings.  This report was the final report to be submitted to Executive in December.

Members were reminded that due to the lack of national legislation in relation to the issue, the Council had no powers of enforcement and the creation of a Charter would be more of a statement of intent to add to the national lobbying on the issue.

The Environmental Health Service Manager (Commercial & Environment) also confirmed that the core outcome would be to show local leadership on the issue rather than create a local legislative change.  The Council could however add to the national campaign through their lobbying recommendation.

Moved by Councillor Nick Clarke and seconded by Councillor Jen Wilson.

RESOLVED that (1) the Committee endorses the recommendations of the review as outlined in section 2 of the report,

(2) the report be presented to Executive for approval, in accordance with the Scrutiny Committee Terms of Reference – Part 3.6 (3) of the Constitution,

(3) if approved by Executive, monitoring of the recommendations by Committee takes place over a twelve month period via the PERFORM system with an update report to Committee at the end of the monitoring period.

(Scrutiny & Elections Officer)

Committee considered their proposed work programme for 2022/23.  It was noted that an additional informal meeting had been arranged for the 25^th November to further discuss carbon reduction work.  Members discussed a number of issues they wished to raise in the meeting. 

Moved by Councillor David Dixon and seconded by Councillor Anne Clarke

RESOLVED that the Work Programme 2022/23 be approved and noted.

(Scrutiny & Elections Officer)