Councillors will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To receive reports on business which in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s Urgent Business.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2025.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2025 were agreed as a correct record.

Councillor Sally Haydon (Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Libraries, Events, Cemeteries and Crematoria) introduced the Community Safety Update Report and discussed: 

a)     The breadth and quality of community safety activity being delivered across Plymouth, by Plymouth City Council officers and partners, including Devon and Cornwall Police; 

b)    Progress in managing complex antisocial behaviour, supporting street?attached individuals, and maintaining a safe evening and night?time economy, including the retention of Purple Flag status; 

c)     The continued delivery of trauma?informed early intervention and early help approaches; 

d)    Improvements in tackling predatory behaviour, youth?related antisocial behaviour, Prevent and Channel work, modern slavery, and violence against women and girls; 

e)     That this work had been delivered against a backdrop of rising demand and financial pressures; 

f)      Her formal thanks to Council officers and partner organisations for their professionalism, compassion and commitment to keeping people safe. 

Councillor Haydon introduced Christina Ryland (Head of Community Safety) and Inspector Tim Hyde (Devon and Cornwall Police), who attended to support the item. Matt Garrett (Service Director for Community Connections) also attended in support of the report. 

Christina Ryland (Head of Community Safety) explained: 

g)     That Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) were applied on an individual, case?by?case basis, supported by Equality Impact Assessments undertaken prior to implementation; 

h)    That particular consideration had been given to street?attached individuals and other vulnerable people, with close working alongside housing, homelessness and voluntary sector partners; 

i)      That the Council’s approach was trauma?informed and focused on addressing root causes rather than applying punitive enforcement where compliance would not be achievable; 

j)      That a fortnightly Street?Attached Antisocial Behaviour Reduction Partnership brought together multiple agencies to consider individuals causing antisocial behaviour and to develop person?centred action plans; 

k)     That these plans could include referrals to substance misuse services, housing support and other appropriate interventions; 

l)      That improved reporting and partnership coordination were key learning points from previous periods of increased antisocial behaviour. 

Inspector Tim Hyde (Devon and Cornwall Police) outlined: 

m)   The value of community engagement initiatives, including “Coffee with Cops”, library and community centre attendance, and “Have Your Say” meetings; 

n)    That these engagements generated information relating both to individual household concerns and wider community issues; 

o)    That intelligence gathered was fed into police tasking and coordination processes and informed partnership activity; 

p)    The importance of reporting and intelligence in enabling effective deployment of police resources; 

q)    The availability of multiple reporting routes, including Crimestoppers, third?party reporting, police stations, Council access points and the Community Intelligence Portal; 

r)     That hotspot policing involved deploying officers and PCSOs on foot in identified locations at times of peak antisocial behaviour; 

s)     That hotspot policing would remain a key operational priority across Plymouth during 2026. 

In response to questions, the Panel discussed: 

t)     Concerns that PSPO enforcement could disproportionately affect homeless individuals or those with mental health needs, and reassurance that supportive, multi?agency approaches were prioritised; 

u)    Positive feedback from Members regarding increased police visibility in neighbourhoods and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) introduced the Community Cohesion Update Report and explained:

a)     That the paper had been prepared from a Safer Plymouth perspective, noting that community cohesion work spanned multiple Cabinet portfolios; 

b)    That Plymouth, in common with other areas nationally, had experienced increased pressure on community cohesion over the past year, driven by local incidents, national debate and global events; 

c)     That misinformation and divisive narratives had contributed to heightened tension, leading some communities to feel less safe, less visible and less confident in public spaces; 

d)    That recorded hate crime had increased, which was considered a positive indicator of improved trust in reporting given that hate crime was traditionally under?reported; 

e)     That hate crime disproportionately affected people with protected characteristics, reinforcing the need for strong preventative and community?led responses alongside statutory action; 

f)       That the Council remained committed to its statutory duties under the Public Sector Equality Duty, supported by robust Equality Impact Assessments; 

g)     That updated equality objectives for 2024–2028 strengthened the Council’s focus on inclusion and cohesion, including specific consideration of care?experienced people; 

h)    That Safer Plymouth continued to prioritise hate crime and community cohesion as core areas of work, recognising hate crime as a high?harm issue; 

i)      That partners met bi?monthly to share data, intelligence and insights in order to identify trends early and coordinate responses; 

j)      That following violent disorder in August 2024, the Council had received £600,000 in Community Recovery Funding, enabling tangible support and engagement activity; 

k)     That this funding had supported 42 community projects, including work with children and young people; 

l)      That a learning event would be held later in the year to bring funded projects together, share best practice and identify longer?term learning; 

m)   That part of the funding had enabled the appointment of a Community Engagement Officer, co?delivered with the Plymouth and Devon Racial Equality Council; 

n)    That this role had strengthened reporting routes, delivered listening events, supported citywide cohesion events such as the Respect Festival, and provided operational support during protests and periods of heightened tension; 

o)    That work was underway to further strengthen the third?party reporting network across the city; 

p)    That appreciative inquiry had been commissioned, with early findings expected to inform future work; 

q)    That community builders, both citywide and locality?based, were undertaking complementary work to support cohesion at both protected?characteristic and neighbourhood levels; 

r)     That the Council would need to consider how activity was resourced beyond current funding windows, particularly as learning emerged; 

s)     That ethnically and faith?diverse communities had experienced the greatest impact from recent events, with some residents feeling unsafe due to the actions of a small minority. 

In response to questions, the Panel discussed: 

t)     The positive impact of Community Recovery Funding on the voluntary, community, social enterprise and faith sectors, and whether further funding was anticipated; 

u)    That the recovery funding was a one?off allocation, with some funding still being  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities) introduced the Community Empowerment Programme – Thriving Communities report and discussed:  

a)     That the original Community Empowerment Programme was approved in 2021, following work undertaken during the COVID?19 pandemic to strengthen community resilience, engagement and support, and that five years on it was appropriate to review, refresh and reframe the programme to reflect changes in context and learning; 

b)     That he was uncomfortable with the term “community empowerment” when used by a large organisation, as it implied that power resided with the Council and was something to be given to communities, whereas communities, individuals and organisations across Plymouth already held power, initiative and agency; 

c)     That the refreshed programme therefore focused on supporting thriving communities, using asset?based and strengths?based approaches to enable people and organisations to build on existing strengths rather than imposing solutions; 

d)    That the programme aligned with long?standing work on asset?based community development, support for social enterprises, the voluntary and community sector, faith groups and volunteering, enabling communities to take action themselves; 

e)     That the refreshed framework was structured around five key programme areas, namely community engagement, building community strengths, household resilience and early help, community health and wellbeing using place?based approaches, and volunteering and capacity?building; 

f)      That community engagement was underpinned by the Council’s Community Engagement Framework, which had been considered by Audit and Governance Committee, with the focus now on consistent operational delivery across the organisation; 

g)     That building community strengths focused primarily on investment of officer time and effort, particularly through the Community Builders team, rather than solely financial investment; 

h)    That household resilience work aimed to prevent escalation into crisis through early help, income maximisation, early identification of issues and encouraging earlier engagement with support services, involving a wide range of partners; 

i)      That community health and wellbeing work adopted a place?based approach, including the role of wellbeing and family hubs, libraries and community centres as bases for co?location, outreach and volunteering activity; 

j)      That the programme aligned with wider corporate and city?wide priorities, including Building Bridges to Opportunity and Ageing Well, and was being aligned where possible with health partners through co?design; 

k)     That the total programme budget for the forthcoming year exceeded £5 million, of which approximately £4.2 million came from the Department for Work and Pensions, £800,000 from NHS Fair Shares funding, and £136,353 from the Public Health Grant, with the net cost to the Council being £35,833, funded from Adult Social Care for specific pieces of work; 

l)      That the programme was primarily about coordinating partners, leveraging external funding and directing resources back into communities, supporting both areas requiring intensive support and those benefiting from lighter?touch approaches focused on building social capital; 

m)   That the refreshed framework brought together previously disparate programmes into a coherent approach aligned with Council priorities and secured substantial external funding to support delivery.

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities) introduced the report on the Renters’ Rights Bill and provided an update on the Council’s preparedness for implementation, supported by Jackie King (Head of Housing Solutions):  

a)     That the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 represented the most significant reform of the private rented sector for a generation, building on the previous Renters Reform Bill which had not progressed due to the calling of an early General Election; 

b)    That the Act received Royal Assent in October 2025, with the first major provisions coming into force from 1 May 2026, and that implementation would take place in three phases; 

c)     That Phase 1 introduced major tenancy reforms including the abolition of Section 21 “no?fault” evictions, strengthened possession grounds, and enhanced enforcement powers including higher civil penalties; 

d)    That Phase 2, expected later in 2026, would introduce a national private rented sector database and a new Ombudsman, improving transparency and enabling more effective, intelligence?led enforcement across local authority boundaries; 

e)     That further measures, including the new Decent Homes Standard for the private rented sector and Awaab’s Law, would follow once national guidance and a clear implementation timetable had been issued; 

f)      That the Act placed substantial new statutory duties on local authorities, including increased data collection and reporting, enhanced enforcement responsibilities, and a significant rise in anticipated casework volumes; 

g)     That it was estimated a minimum of three additional officers would be required to deliver Phases 1 and 2 effectively; 

h)    That for the current financial year the Council had received approximately £98,000 in new burdens funding to support preparation, with the final funding settlement still being assessed; 

i)      That enforcement income from civil penalties would help offset costs and was expected to be generated primarily from a small minority of landlords who persistently failed to comply with the law, rather than from compliant landlords; 

j)      That the majority of landlords acted responsibly and, when issues were brought to their attention, generally took swift action to remedy them; 

k)     That the Act strengthened the Council’s ability to take action against landlords behaving in criminal or exploitative ways, with the national database enabling identification of repeat offenders operating across multiple local authority areas; 

l)      That the Housing Standards Team had developed a comprehensive action plan covering workforce planning, IT system changes, policy updates and stakeholder engagement, and was auditing systems against 65 national reporting requirements; 

m)   That new HMO standards, updated electrical safety requirements and a revised civil penalties framework were being prepared for Executive Decision ahead of commencement, with timing influenced by the pre?election period; 

n)    That Plymouth was participating in national pilots, including early testing of the private rented sector database; 

o)    That overall, while further work remained, the Council was on track to implement the reforms. 

In response to questions, the Panel discussed:  

p)    The challenges associated with implementing major new legislation while awaiting final Government guidance, and the need for clear national communications  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

The Panel will be invited to add items to the Work Programme.

The Panel considered the Work Programme for the forthcoming municipal year and discussed:  

a)     That the item invited Members to consider and note the proposed Work Programme and to suggest potential items for inclusion in the next municipal year; 

b)    That the next scheduled meeting would take place in the new municipal year, which could result in changes to Panel membership, Chair and Vice?Chair, and therefore it was not appropriate to fix the Work Programme at this stage; 

c)     That while Members’ ideas were welcomed at the meeting, it was preferable to avoid committing to specific items until the new municipal year arrangements were confirmed; 

d)    That a Scrutiny Management Board work programming meeting would take place early in the new municipal year, at which point proposed items from across panels would be considered strategically; 

e)     That suggestions from Members of the Panel would be collected during May and June and fed into the Scrutiny Management Board to inform future work programming; 

f)      That Members were reminded of a previous request to receive an update from Plymouth Life Centre on its Key Performance Indicators earlier in the municipal year rather than later; 

g)     That it was noted the Life Centre’s KPIs had now been agreed and were included within tracking decisions, and that an update would be brought back to the Panel at key contractual milestones; 

h)    That it was suggested a briefing report on the Life Centre KPIs could be circulated initially, with the option to invite representatives back should Members have further questions; 

i)      That it was highlighted a number of recommendations arising from the recent Budget Scrutiny sessions would be referred to the Scrutiny Management Board and then allocated to the appropriate Panels; 

j)      That Members were advised this would generate additional workload for Panels in the new municipal year; 

k)     That a suggestion was made regarding scrutiny of the bus shelter contract, with clarification that this would more appropriately sit with the Natural Infrastructure and Growth Scrutiny Panel, and that a related item had been considered previously. 

The Panel agreed:  

1. To note the current Work Programme;

2. That potential future items would be considered further once the new municipal year arrangements were confirmed and through the Scrutiny Management Board work programming process. 

For the Panel to review the progress of the Tracking Decisions Log.

The Panel considered the Action Log and received an update from Elliot Wearne?Gould (Principal Democratic, Governance and Scrutiny Officer), who discussed:  

a)     That all actions listed within the Action Log were either in progress or expected to be completed, and therefore it was not proposed to review each action individually at the meeting; 

b)    That as there would be no further meetings within the current municipal year, updates on the action relating to homelessness and rough sleeping and the action relating to public toilets would be provided to Members by email once completed; 

c)     That the action relating to Plymouth Active Leisure had been completed and would return to the Panel at key contractual milestones, with Key Performance Indicators also being shared; 

d)    That feedback from the Panel on the Commemorations and Celebrations Policy had been incorporated into the policy report submitted to Cabinet; 

e)     That the action relating to the grit bin policy would not be brought back to the Panel until closer to the winter season and would likely be programmed for the second meeting of the next municipal year. 

The Panel agreed:  

1. To note the contents of the Action Log and the updates provided.