Agenda and minutes

In the event the fire alarm sounds attendees will be advised to evacuate the building via the nearest fire exit and assemble at the Bottle of Notes opposite MIMA.

The Chair welcomed all present to the meeting and read out the building evacuation procedure. 

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting.

The minutes of the Place Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 2 December 2024 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

In response a query from a Member, it was confirmed that the information requested from the Thirteen Group in respect of empty properties had been circulated.

Representatives from Jomast Developments Limited will be in attendance at the meeting to provide the Panel with information in relation to empty properties that the Company owns in Middlesbrough.

Recommendation: that the Scrutiny Panel considers whether any further information is required for the scrutiny investigation.

Representatives from Jomast, were present at the meeting to provide information in relation to the current scrutiny investigation of empty properties in Middlesbrough.  Jomast Developments Limited was a private property developer and regeneration specialist.

The Managing Director explained that Jomast was a substantial private landlord in Middlesbrough and nearly all of their properties were currently let.  Whilst there were some voids, they were not available for letting due to being in a refurbishment programme.

Examples were provided of two projects that Jomast were undertaking.  The first was the refurbishment of Church House, a high rise building in central Middlesbrough that had been vacant for a number of years.  The project would provide 86 newly refurbished apartments and was due to complete in late summer 2025.

The second project was the refurbishment of 67 houses in the Gresham area of central Middlesbrough in Wentworth, Waverley and Union Streets and Princes Road.  Artist impressions of both projects were provided to the panel.  All 67 properties were currently let. 

Property management was a challenging business due to the capital required and work needed to meet the necessary standards and engage good tenants.  A major issue for private landlords was the capital needed to refurbish properties to the appropriate standard including the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) requirements.  Increasing the energy performance of a building required substantial investment but it was important to achieve a good rating to make it satisfactory for the occupants, especially in light of increasing utility costs.  Refurbishments costs for a single dwelling could be approximately £40K and often private landlords did not have that capital. 

It was confirmed that Jomast were keen to continuing investing in Middlesbrough.  However,  the Company was selective with the type of property purchased because in some cases, although a property could be purchased at low cost, it was not commercially viable.  Projects of scale usually made more commercial sense. 

In respect of tenants, tenant management was an important skill set and all tenants were vetted to ensure they had adequate income and that they would hopefully keep to their terms of their tenancy and make a positive contribution to the local community.  One of the main issues experienced with a minority of tenants in Gresham was dumping refuse in the alleyways.  This problem had to be addressed on a weekly basis and contributed to the management costs.

A Member queried the refurbishment of Church House, which had been subject to three planning applications since 2012.  The Managing Director explained that Church House was a 14-storey redundant office block.  Following the financial crash in 2008, many property developers had gone out of business.  The next ten years were a very challenging period and Middlesbrough was a fairly deprived area.  Jomast had been able to secure a grant of £1.4 million from Middlesbrough Council that had enabled the Company to finally get the project under way.  The costs of refurbishing a high rise building in compliance with building regulations ran into millions of pounds. 

In relation to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24/58

The Head of Neighbourhoods will be in attendance to provide the Panel with statutory annual updates on:

·        Community Safety Partnership

·        Prevent and Chanel

Recommendation: that Members note the information provided.

The Head of Neighbourhoods and the Community Safety Partnership Officer were in attendance and gave a presentation in relation to the Community Safety Partnership (CSP), Prevent and Channel.

The CSP was a statutory partnership made up of key Responsible Authorities who had equal responsibility for reducing crime and anti-social behaviour under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (as amended by the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2014 and the Policing and Crime Act 2017).

The Responsible Authorities included Police, Local Authority, Fire and Rescue Authority, Health, Probation and Youth Justice Service (YJS).  They worked in collaboration with other statutory and voluntary services and local people to reduce crime and make people feel safer by dealing with issues such as anti-social behaviour, drug and alcohol misuse, re-offending and serious violence.

In order to deliver the statutory requirements of the CSP, the following functions were carried out:

•           A strategic intelligence assessment that informed a community safety plan was produced.  The plan set out what the priorities were and how they would be addressed.  The plan was reviewed every two years.

•           Consultation and engagement with the community.

•           A strategy to reduce re-offending by adult and young offenders was formulated and implemented (Section 108 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009).

•           An information sharing protocol was agreed and signed by all Responsible Authorities to disclose certain sets of depersonalised data at least quarterly.

•           A Committee was established with power to review or scrutinise decisions made; or other action taken, and to make reports or recommendations.  (Section 19-21 of the Police and Justice Act 2006).

•           Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHR) were established as appropriate.  (Section 9 of the Domestic Violence and Crimes Act 2004).

•           Prevention of violent extremism (Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015).

•           Prevention and reduction of serious violence.  (Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022).

In terms of governance, the business of the CSP was open to scrutiny by all agencies and in particular the Overview and Scrutiny function of the Council.  The working practices of the Partnership should enable Overview and Scrutiny to make early, constructive contributions to policy as well as supporting scrutiny of decisions made, monitoring of outcomes and targets achieved and review of practice and progress.

The Active Intelligence Mapping (AIM) group monitored patterns and trends in multi-agency data and partnership resources were deployed to address emerging issues on a monthly basis.  The AIM Chair reported to the CSP.

Multi-agency thematic groups were in place and task and finish groups were established as and when required.  The groups also linked into the four Neighbourhood Action Partnership meetings (NAPs) and the operating areas were aligned to the neighbourhood model.  A daily briefing also took place with the Police, led by a senior officer and officers on the ground.  All Councillors and key partners were invited to discuss key issues for those areas.   

There were CSP Priorities for 2024/2026 as follows:

Priority 1 -  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24/59

Recommendation: that Panel Members note the update from the Task and Finish Group meeting held on 13 December 2024.

A summary of the latest meeting of the Task and Finish Group on Home to School Transport held on 13 December 2024 had been circulated with the agenda.

The Chair advised the Panel that a meeting would be arranged for Members of the Task and Finish Group with the Integrated Transport Unit Manager to obtain further information that was required in respect of the scrutiny investigation.

The Chair will provide a verbal update on matters considered at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 18 December 2024.

The Chair provided a verbal update on items considered at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board that was held on 18 December 2025.

Monday 27 January 2025 at 4.30 pm.

The next meeting of the Place Scrutiny Panel was scheduled for Monday 27 January 2025 at 4.30 pm.

None.