The Committee will consider an overview of the Mayor’s priorities, achievements, and challenges.

The Chair introduced the main substantive item this evening and he thanked the Executive Mayor John Biggs and the Chief Executive Will Tuckley for, attending this evening’s meeting and the key themes arising from the questioning on the presentation may be summarised as follows:

The Committee:

v  Noted in regard to Covid that vaccines still remain the first line of defence to live with and manage the virus. Staff therefore are encouraged if they have not already, get their first, second or booster vaccine to protect themselves and others.

v  Was advised that from the first week of February, all Council staff were advised that they are expected to be in at least one day a week for the first three weeks of February, and then from at least from February 21^st at least two days a week.

v  Noted that it is intended to keep in place socially distanced lifts, with capacity now at four people at a time. Whilst the cleaning and sanitising stations continue to be available and enhanced cleaning regimes remain in place.

v  Was informed that staff will still be encouraged to conduct regular lateral flow tests (access the lateral flow testing sites at Mulberry Place and the Waste Services Depot). If staff should evaluate positive or are experiencing any symptoms of Covid-19, they must inform their line-manager that they can work from home if in line with service needs.

v  Noted that the health and safety of all staff is the Councils top priority and to support the return of staff to keeping certain measures in place, including risk assessments, enhanced cleaning regimes, cleaning and sanitising stations, and socially distanced desks, lifts, and meeting rooms. In addition to that the Council are also requesting that staff should wear face coverings when entering, walking around buildings, in lifts and when meeting residents/customers.

v  Noted subject to the relevant bylaw if you rent a garage from your Housing Provider as well as being used for the storage of taxed and roadworthy private motor vehicles, garages can also be used to store other vehicles including small commercial vehicles, bicycles tools and garden equipment.

v  Was informed that as the first stage of Leisure Estate Investment Plan, the Council intended to replace the existing St George’s Leisure Centre with a new ‘wet/dry’ leisure centre on the current site, subject to approval of the capital budget by Cabinet

v  Noted that it is estimated this will cost £35m, while the initial allocation in the Council’s 2022-23 Budget Report and Medium-Term Financial Strategy 2022-25 report, considered separately at Cabinet or if desired through further scrutiny is for £25.163m, given the timescales for delivering the project. The existing St George’s building is considered beyond its economic and design life, in a poor condition and with a limited range of facilities to meet the needs of residents in this vicinity, and in the wider context of the whole estate.

v  Noted if no action were taken then St George’s would remain closed and no alternative proposals in place for re-providing its capacity at John Orwell or any other site. The rest of the estate would not be improved in the short to medium term, so that only four pools would be available when York Hall’s pool reopens. Residents in the Shadwell and Wapping area would need to continue to travel to Poplar Baths, Mile End or York Hall to swim in a Council-owned leisure centre. Although interim measures are in place to enable schools to meet the KS2 curriculum swimming requirement, it would obviously be more convenient to have local pool access.

v  Noted that regard to street services whilst Public Realm is working hard to ensure that there are minimal disruptions to the service recruitment and retention within the service is still sensitive to Covid-19 and other related issues (e.g., shortages in the labour market).  There is a specific ongoing risk of HGV driver shortage (linked to national shortages). In addition, shortages in drivers means that you lose that knowledge of the various routes. It has proved to be a considerable difficulty is in relation to drivers, LBTH currently have 10 agency drivers and then 37 other operatives to assist with the with the process.  However, it remains an ongoing challenge to ensure that there are enough drivers/operatives

v  Noted that there is a need for additional supervisory staff to deliver the service as there are currently insufficient number of supervisor, prolonged sickness of management staff.

v  Noted the issues relating to Brexit e.g., supply change issues- resulting in shortage of bins and vehicle parts.

v  Considered the advantages and disadvantages to using underground waste storage systems. One of the main advantages of in effect hiding the waste underground is that reduces any potential disturbances to residents by reducing the potential noise impact from residents rolling bins back and forth, and through a reduction in odour as the waste is enclosed underground.   Although the design of Underground Refuse Systems (URS) means that the refuse vehicles they do not have the capacity to collect wheeled bins or require the procurement of a specialist vehicle specifically designed for the purpose.

v  Noted that the Council currently has a number of URS Vehicles these vehicles have cranes on top of them to lift up the URS units. These cranes are very specialists with many moving parts, and they have to lift 30 bins every single day per vehicle which means that there is bound to be a lot of stress on each crane. Therefore, the Service has increased the frequency from a three month to a monthly regime of maintenance to ensure that that they can have these vehicles deployed on a day-to-day basis.

v  Noted in regard to the patterns of waste across the Borough the Council are remapping the whole of Tower Hamlets both in terms of the routes, volumes, and tonnage of waste. 

v  Commented that the Young People Service (YPS) was not being as effective as it could be and therefore should be subject of further scrutiny e.g., expand the offer to young people; the commissioning of services for the for the detached youth; develop the range of activities available at youth hubs in Tower Hamlets; improving the offer for the LGBTQi and the disability provision.

v  Noted that Tower Hamlets is working closely with a number of employers within a range of sectors including construction, creative arts, digital media, hospitality and catering and fitness to try and prevent young people in a difficult job market from becoming reliant on Universal Credit over the long term. This scheme called Kickstart  aims to do this by creating new six-month job placements for those aged between 16-24 who currently receive Universal Credit and are at risk of long-term unemployment and LBTH is ahead of most local authorities. However, the Council needs to provide additional catch-up support for young people who might have got behind with their skills and employability.

v  Agreed that there should be detailed consideration on unemployed young people locally to establish the unemployment picture across the Borough historically, before analysing the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on youth unemployment in the Borough.

v  Acknowledged that unemployment is a difficult experience, financially and emotionally, regardless of a person’s age. However, it is particularly damaging for young people especially their mental and physical health can be negatively affected, both now and in the future as unemployment increases susceptibility to illness, mental stress, and loss of self-esteem leading to depression.  Therefore, the (YPS) needs to provide not only nourishing youth activities for people who are motivated and really want to move forward but also services which supports people who might be at risk of disengagement and might have safeguarding concerns around them.

v  Agreed that those young people who (i) have not prospered in their education; (ii) have made difficult choices; (iii) have had their education dislocated for personal reasons need support.

v  Agreed that agood YPS is one that works to address unemployment and help young people to reach their full potential.

In conclusion, the Chair thanked all those attendees for their contributions to the discussions which had provided a good sense on the progress in regard to  strategic performance and delivery.