Councillor Jane Chitty proposed and Councillor Neil Baker seconded that Councillor Tim Gibson be elected Chair for the 2022/23 municipal year.

Resolved: That Councillor Tim Gibson act as Chair for the South Thames Gateway Building Control Joint Committee for the 2022/23 municipal year.

The Chairman will advise the meeting of the evacuation procedures to follow in the event of an emergency. This is particularly important for visitors and members of the public who will be unfamiliar with the building and procedures.

The Chairman will inform the meeting whether there is a planned evacuation drill due to take place, what the alarm sounds like (i.e. ringing bells), where the closest emergency exit route is, and where the second closest emergency exit route is, in the event that the closest exit or route is blocked.

The Chairman will inform the meeting that:

(a) in the event of the alarm sounding, everybody must leave the building via the nearest safe available exit and gather at the Assembly points at the far side of the Car Park. Nobody must leave the assembly point until everybody can be accounted for and nobody must return to the building until the Chairman has informed them that it is safe to do so; and

(b) the lifts must not be used in the event of an evacuation.

Any officers present at the meeting will aid with the evacuation.

It is important that the Chairman is informed of any person attending who is disabled or unable to use the stairs, so that suitable arrangements may be made in the event of an emergency.

The Chair drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure.

The Chair proposed and Councillor Jane Chitty seconded that Councillor Neil Baker be elected Vice-Chair for the 2022/23 municipal year.

Resolved: That Councillor Neil Baker act as Vice-Chair for the South Thames Gateway Building Control Joint Committee for the 2022/23 municipal year.

To approve the record of the meeting held on 10 March 2022.

Link to minutes.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 10 March 2022 (Minute Nos. 25 – 31) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

Members are invited to declare any interests in relation to any agenda item in accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by their Authority.

No interests were declared.

The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report.

There were no urgent matters.

To note the schedule of meetings as agreed at the last meeting:

-       Thursday 15 September 2022

-       Thursday 1 December 2022

-       Thursday 9 March 2023

Resolved: 

(1)          That the schedule of meetings for 2022/23 be noted.

To decide whether to pass the resolution set out below in respect of the following items:

That Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and pubic be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 3 and 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act:

3.         Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

5.         Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

Agreed:

That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 3 and 5 of Part 1 Schedule 12A of the Act:

(3)       Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

(5)       Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

This report seeks to inform Members of the performance and financial information for the year 2021/2022.

The Director of South Thames Gateway (STG) Building Control Partnership introduced the report which set out the performance and financial information for the year 2022/23. She informed Members that the service had improved and received good feedback since they had moved their booking systems online. She explained that recruitment for experienced surveyors had become difficult due to the extra legislation and licensing regulations set by the Government, but they still hoped to employ experienced surveyors to fill vacancies.

Members understood the challenges faced by the partnership to employ new surveyors, and thanked the Director of STG Building Control Partnership and all her staff for the hard work they had put in to maintain performance targets during difficult times.

Resolved:

(1)          That the report be noted.

This report seeks agreement to the South Thames Gateway Building Control Partnership’s Business Plan and Service Delivery Documentation for 2021-2024.

The Director of STG Building Control Partnership introduced the report which sought to agree the STG Building Control Partnership’s Business Plan dated 3 November 2021, and service Delivery Documentation for 2022-2025.

Resolved:

(1)          That the 2022-2025 Business Plan dated 3 November 2021 Version 2 and Service Delivery Documentation be adopted.

The Director of STG Building Control Partnership introduced the report which set-out a number of different pay schemes available to the partnership to try and help the retention of staff and recruitment of new staff. She outlined the issues that the partnership had been faced with recruitment during the Covid-19 pandemic. The new Government legislation that had been introduced for surveyors had made it even harder to recruit and retain staff. She asked members to consider the new recruitment incentives and raise any concerns that they have.

Members asked questions about the different pay reward schemes and were concerned with offering possible candidates a large sum of money to join the partnership without going under proper scrutiny. The Director of STG Building Control Partnership clarified that each candidate would be scrutinised and the payment would only be used for those candidates with the necessarily specialisms that the partnership missed. Overall, members were happy to support the schemes, but asked the Director to report back to the committee with a progress report on recruitment.

Resolved:

(1)          That the additional recruitment incentives under the Refer a Friend Scheme and Golden Hello be approved.