Agenda and minutes

No apologies of absence were received at the meeting.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the Leisure and Community  Scrutiny Panel meeting held on the 29 September 2021, to be tabled at the meeting.

A copy of the Minutes of the 29 September 2021 Leisure and Community Scrutiny Panel were tabled at the meeting and are appended to these Minutes.

RESOLOVED that the Minutes of the Leisure and Community Scrutiny Panel meeting held on the 29 September 2021 be signed and confirmed as a correct record.

There were no announcements made by the Chairman.

To receive and declarations of interest from Members in accordance with the Standing Orders and the Council’s Code of Conduct and disclosures of advice or directions received from Group Leaders or Political Groups, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

There were no declarations made at the meeting.

To receive any deputations of which notice has been lodged.

The Panel received a written deputation from Mrs L Driver requesting that improvements be made to the Crossfell Walk play area in Fareham.

Members and officers discussed the matters raised in the deputation at length and it was agreed that Crossfell Walk Play Area would be added to the list of the Council’s play areas that required improvements.

Officers explained that Crossfell Walk Play Area was comparable to many other play areas in the Borough, and it provided a good mix of equipment for children of different ages, but there are other sites that also need work and that they would take priority.

At the invitation of the Chairman the Executive Member for Leisure and Community addressed the Panel to add that funding is and will continue to be a challenge. The Council, alongside local communities, will need to find alternative ways to fund this type of improvement going forward.

Members of the Panel thanked the Deputee for bringing this matter to their attention. 

To receive a presentation from the Fareham Citizens Advice Bureau to address the Leisure and Community Scrutiny Panel on the matters outlined in the scoping report agreed by the Panel on the 10 March 2021.

The Panel received a presentation from Biddy Mayo, Chief Officer and Colleen Sykes, Trustee from Fareham Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB).

The presentation provided an opportunity for the Panel to scrutinise the service that Citizen’s Advice Fareham provides to the residents of the Borough of Fareham, as per the objectives set out in the scoping report agreed at the 10 March 2021 Panel meeting.

Following the presentation Members of the Panel, along with the Executive Member for Leisure and Community, discussed at length several elements of the CAB presentation.

The key points of discussion were the high number of recurring clients, the use of office space and the need for the CAB to consider different ways of working to ensure they are assisting their clients to become as self-sufficient as possible.

Members agreed that the CAB provide a valuable service to Fareham residents but expressed the importance of ensuring that the Council is getting value for money for all its residents who use the CAB service.

The Director of Leisure and Community explained that she, along with the Executive Member for Leisure and Community attend regular monitoring meetings with the CAB and the Panels comments would be fed back to the Trustees.

RESOLVED that the Leisure and Community Scrutiny Panel: -

a)     note the contents of the presentation; and

b)    ask that their comments be fed back to the CAB Trustees by the Director of Leisure and Community at their next monitoring meeting.

To consider any items of business dealt with by the Executive since the last meeting of the Panel, that falls under the remit of Leisure and Community  Portfolio. This will include any decisions taken by individual Members during the same time period.

The Panel were asked to consider an item of Executive Business that had been tabled at the meeting – Tabled item 7 – Restarting the remodelling of the Fareham Live Project.

No comments were received.

To provide an opportunity for Members to consider the Scrutiny Panel priorities for Leisure and Community.

The Chairman asked Members to consider the Scrutiny Priorities for Leisure and Community over the coming week and advised that as this was previously considered at length at the previous meeting this item would be discussed in more detail at the next meeting.