Agenda item

Councillor Penny Hall, Chair of the Scrutiny Task Group, will present the report.

The Chair of the Event Submissions Scrutiny Task Group (STG), Councillor Penny Hall, was invited to address Cabinet. She explained that the STG had been formed in February 2012 at the last meeting of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee and a number of individuals and organisations had expressed their unease at a major event being proposed in Cheltenham at Council in February 2012.

The Chair of the Event Submissions STG explained that the working group set out to investigate current practice both within the council and other local authorities and the findings were outlined in paragraphs 4.12 and 5. The report was first considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in October 2012, was debated in full Council in December and brought back to O & S in January. It had been a challenging experience and the Chair wished to thank the working group for their input. Particular thanks were given to Rosalind Reeves and Saira Malin from Democratic Services and to all other officers involved. The introduction of a Safety Advisory Group (SAG) represented a great step forward for the council.

When asked what would happen should proposals for major events come forward for the same date the Chair of the STG explained that further work was being undertaken by officers to address such potential issues. She emphasised that the SAG had no decision making powers but it made recommendations to the final decision-maker.

The Leader of the Council agreed that it was sensible to have one point of contact for anyone wishing to hold an event. He asked how many SAGs one could expect to have in an average year. In response the Chair of the STG explained that this was an unknown but as O&S intended to follow up the implementation of the recommendations in November 2013 this would be examined then. The Cabinet Member Housing and Safety explained that there had already been 5 meetings of the SAG since the beginning of the year. The Leader questioned whether the SAG would have to be convened each time should there be a regular annual event. The Cabinet Member Housing and Safety explained that this would very much depend on what was being planned.

The Cabinet Member Housing and Safety said it was now necessary to tidy up the loose ends of the process but it was a good basis to start from. He was mindful of resources that these groups would involve and he also raised the issue of communication between the SAG and the Events Consultative Group. The Chair of the STG commented that the process was now in place so in her view this should not necessarily be more costly than how events were dealt with previously.

Further questions were raised as to the requirement to stipulate on the form the number of people expected to an event. This was often difficult for community events. In response the Chair of the Scrutiny Task Group explained that this requirement followed current practice but in the future an audit trail would be held of how many people had attended a previous event.

The Leader of the Council agreed that this process would minimise bureaucracy and was a good step forward. Members supported the thrust of the recommendations and once the outstanding issues were resolved a report would be brought back to Cabinet for approval.

RESOLVED that                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

1. the report of the Scrutiny Task Group be noted.
2. a further report from the Cabinet Member Housing and Safety be brought back to a future meeting of Cabinet outlining how the recommendations of the Scrutiny Task Group could be implemented
3. the scheduled follow up of the implementation of the recommendations by Overview & Scrutiny in November 2013 be noted.