Councillor Tobin Byers motioned that Councillor Caroline Cooper-Marbiah be nominated as Chair of the Committee for 2019/20.

The motion was seconded by Councillor Martin Elengorn.

RESOLVED: That Councillor Caroline Cooper-Marbiah be elected as Chair of the Joint Regulatory Service Committee for 2019/20.

In the absence of the Chair, Councillor Martin Elengorn motioned that Councillor Tobin Byers be nominated as vice-chair.

The motion was seconded by Councillor Paula Walker.

RESOLVED: That Councillor Tobin Byers be elected as Vice-Chair of the Joint Regulatory Service Committee for 2019/20.

The meeting was therefore chaired by the Vice-Chair, Councillor Tobin Byers.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Caroline Cooper-Marbiah (Merton) and Paul Ellis (Wandsworth).

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Regulatory Service Committee held on 9 October 2018 were agreed as a correct record.

The Head of the Regulatory Services Partnership presented the report, commending officers for their hard work during the recent period of transition.

In response to member questions, the Head of the Regulatory Services Partnership advised that the intention would be to standardise KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) across the partnership and that the Management team would be looking at possible options for acceptable KPIs which should be similar across the board.

The Head of the Regulatory Services Partnership advised that the key challenges had been from the reactive work undertaken by the partnership, but noted that future plans for a single IT system and enhancement of the current systems would assist in improving this.

Members asked questions on Air Quality and noted that short-term funding had been provided for air quality initiatives which had enabled the partnership to hire a number of additional officers who would be visiting air quality monitoring sites as well as visiting construction sites to ensure that the most efficient equipment was being used where possible. The Chair advised that Merton currently had 200 anti-idling signs in hotspots across the Borough and would be providing anti-idling training to Councillors. Members expressed concern that this and other work by the Partnership was not being publicised and that whilst some activities were borough-specific, the partnership should be providing further information to the public regarding the work of both the committee and the partnership. It was noted that a further report on Air Quality would be brought to the October meeting and this would be an opportunity for the Committee to discuss what each of the boroughs was doing individually and what scope there was to learn from each other.

In response to members concerns particularly in relation to the public perception and understanding of the working of and purpose of the partnership, the Interim Assistant Director of Public Protection acknowledged there had been some teething issues and that the branding and communication of the partnership could be improved and would be assessed but the first priority had been to ensure that services were delivering their statutory requirements.

The Head of Regulatory Services Partnership presented the report, giving an overview of initial possibilities for income generation. These focused on increasing income through current workstreams and commercial opportunities, such as offering pre application advice to businesses. It was noted that a number of the fees for services are set nationally and therefore could not be changed and others were only able to be recharged on a cost-recovery basis only. Options would be assessed in further detail and another report would be brought to the Committee to discuss in October 2019.

Members expressed concern that given the recent transformation work, stability was required before the service ventured into new areas. The Head of the Regulatory Services Partnership assured members that the statutory services would continue to be closely monitored alongside any opportunities for improvement.

Post Meeting Note: Councillors requested for the terms of reference to be circulated with each agenda. The Terms of reference were subsequently circulated to all members of the committee and will be provided to members with each agenda.

To confirm the following meeting dates for 2019/20:

Tuesday 9 July 2019

Tuesday 15 October 2019

Tuesday 18 February 2020

RESOLVED: That the next meeting date of 15 October 2019 was agreed.

RESOLVED: That the meeting date of 9 July 2019 was cancelled.

Members noted that the proposed meeting date of 18 February 2020 was within the Half Term week and therefore alternatives would be sought and agreed with the Committee.