Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tom Ashton, Adam Grist and Steve Kirk.

No disclosures of interest were received.

To confirm the Open and Exempt Minutes of the Meeting held on 18 September 2024.

The Open and Exempt Minutes of the Meeting held on 18^th September 2024 were confirmed as a correct record.

No outstanding actions for this Meeting.

There were no Actions from the meeting held on 18^th September 2024.

To consider approval of a new Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) which will be in force until 2027 (3 Years).

That the new Public Spaces Protection Order, attached at Appendix 2 to the report presented, for a period of 3 years, commencing from 6 November 2024 be approved.

A report was presented to seek approval of a new Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) which would be in force until 2027 (3 Years). This fully replaced the previous order which was due to expire on 6th November 2024

During his introduction of the report, the Portfolio Holder for Operational Services highlighted that following consultation with the public, key stakeholders and Town and Parish Councils, the new Order would seek to amend the size of the seasonal dog ban areas to be the same as the blue flag award areas and introduce a restriction on street trading in specific areas of Skegness.

This process would also remove existing PSPO designations where Town or Parish Councils had not pro-actively provided their own enforcement and/or had not responded to the consultation relating to the renewal of the previous designations to the PSPO in their area.

RESOLVED:

That the new Public Spaces Protection Order, attached in Appendix 2 to this report, for a period of 3 years, commencing from 6 November 2024 be approved.

Reasons

·       To meet the statutory requirement to review and where applicable re introduce a new PSPO every three years in order to ensure the following key issues in regard to dog control and street trading in East Lindsey can be enforced;

·       Dog owners failing to clean up after their pets

·       The need to exclude dogs from designated beach areas to maintain Blue Flag Award accreditation.

·       The need to control ad hoc street traders in the Skegness seafront area.

·       Alignment of the PSPO with the other PSPO’s across S&ELCP in respect of demonstrating the means to collect dog fouling when in charge of a dog in areas designated by the order.

Other Options

·       Not renewing the PSPO - This will leave the Council without enforcement powers to deal with dog control offences designated by the PSPO.

·       Not to introduce restrictions on street trading – This will mean it may be difficult to tackle people selling substandard/illegal goods from ad hoc stalls and the problem may increase.

·       Leave the Dog Beach Ban Areas as they are - Feedbackis continually received every year that the beach ban areas are difficult to understand and people are caught out due to the size of the areas. Aligning them with the Blue Flag Award area maintains this requirement whilst making the bans easier to understand for the public and easier to manage and enforce by the Council and its partners.

To consider investment in a large capacity ground mounted solar photovoltaic renewable energy system on the Council’s vacant land to the south of the HUB fronting Mareham Road, Horncastle.

That £340,854 be allocated from the Council’s ‘Invest to Save’ reserve in order to commission and deliver the PV scheme set out within Option 3 of this report. 

A report was presented to Members that outlined opportunities through the installation of Solar PV at the Council’s headquarters site to deliver medium to long term financial savings to the Council at the same time as delivering outcomes to support the Council’s adopted Climate Change Strategy objectives.

The report sought Executive Board approval to invest in a large capacity ground mounted solar photovoltaic renewable energy system on the Council’s vacant land to the south of the Hub fronting Mareham Road, Horncastle.

During his introduction of the report, the Leader of the Council referred to the recommendation that £340,854 be allocated from the Council’s Invest to Save reserve in order to commission and deliver the PV scheme set out within Option 3 of the report.

The Leader of the Council highlighted that this would be a really good addition to the Hub in terms of its green credentials and that approximately 61% of energy that was required at the Hub would be provided by PV cells.  In using the land and the addition of a carport, this would test the principle for other areas and uses, for example car parks.

RESOLVED

That £340,854 be allocated from the Council’s ‘Invest to Save’ reserve in order to commission and deliver the PV scheme set out within Option 3 of this report. 

Reason

The scheme set out within Option 3 maximises the potential for electricity generation at the HUB site.  Effecting Option 3 would offset and reduce the HUBs reliance on imported grid electricity by approx. 61% annually and significantly reduce the ongoing annual operating costs of the HUB; such in situ generation would contribute to year-on-year carbon reduction target outputs and the strive towards net zero embedded within the SELCP Climate Change Strategy.

Options

Option 1 - Do nothing and continue to source all electric consumed at Horncastle Hub (over and above the current roof mounted PV) through competitive market procurement in the future – not recommended.

Option 2 - Implement only the ground mounted PV proposal and not the car port PV opportunity identified in the report – not recommended.

Option 3 – Implement both the ground mounted PV and car port PV scheme identified in the report – RECOMMENDED.

N.B.  Duncan Hollingworth, Group Manager (General Fund Assets) left the Meeting at 6.07pm.

To consider approval on the proposed Artificial Intelligence Policy.

That the Artificial Intelligence Policy at Appendix A to the report presented be approved.

A report was presented to seek Executive Board approval on the proposed Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy.

During his introduction of the report, the Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Leisure and Culture, and Carbon Reduction highlighted that AI was the development of ICT systems that could perform tasks typically requiring human intelligence, such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making.  As a Council, it was important to have a policy in place to set out the governance surrounding the use of AI, given that it was becoming prevalent as part of software products.  Whilst AI would have benefits to the Council, like all technology, it also presented risk. 

The Partnership policy at Appendix A provided a framework for how the Council would use AI and establish clear accountability mechanisms for managing associated risk.   The Policy also explained what AI was and the various types of AI.

In response, the Leader of the Council welcomed the policy and highlighted that it was an area that all councils were having to understand and progress and that it was right to have a policy in place that covered all three councils across the Partnership.

RESOLVED

That the Artificial Intelligence Policy at Appendix A be approved.

Reason

To ensure a robust Artificial Intelligence policy is in place for East Lindsey District Council.

Other Option

None.

Please note that this item has been deferred to the next meeting of Executive Board to be held on Monday 16 December 2024.

Members were advised that this item has been deferred to the next meeting of Executive Board to be held on Monday 16 December 2024.

N.B.  James Gilbert, Assistant Director (Corporate) left the Meeting at 6.11pm.

To provide the Executive Board with an update on Community Safety Partnership work at a local and county level.

1.     That the content of the report be noted.

2.     That areas of focus to be included in future reports be considered by Executive Board.

A report was presented that provided an overview of the work undertaken by the Safer Lincolnshire Partnership at County level, the South & East Lincolnshire Community Safety Partnership at a local level, along with information on CCTV across the partnership and Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) enforcement activity in East Lindsey.  The Council had a duty to review the actions that had been carried out over the last year in relation to crime and disorder reduction.

During his introduction of the report, the Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Leisure and Culture, and Carbon Reduction referred to the current identified priorities as follows:

·       Anti-social behaviour

·       Hate Crime

·       Safer Streets and Night Time Economy

·       The Safety of Women and Girls

·       Vulnerability and Safeguarding

The Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Leisure and Culture, and Carbon Reduction added that the Partnership councils were the only district areas that continued to run the Community Safety Partnership and considered that a really good service was being provided at a ground level for its communities.

The Portfolio Holder for Communities referred to Recommendation No. 2 and queried whether this could be revisited at a later point as it was considered that as time progressed there would be areas that would need to be refocussed on.

In response, the Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Leisure and Culture, and Carbon Reduction welcomed any suggestions from Councillors for future consideration.

RESOLVED

1.     That the content of the report be noted.

2.     That areas of focus to be included in future reports be considered by Executive Board.

Reasons

1.     The content of the report is noted to ensure that Executive Board members are up to date on the work undertaken over the last financial year.

2.     The focus of future updates provides members with an opportunity to advise of areas of work they require more detail on.

Other Options

Do nothing.

The programmed date for the next Meeting of this Board will be Monday 16 December 2024.

The next meeting of Executive Board was noted as Monday 16 December 2024.

It was Proposed and Seconded that the Meeting move into Exempt Session.

RESOLVED

That under Section 100(a)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item on the grounds that, if they were present, there could be disclosed to them exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended).

N.B.  Christian Allen, Assistant Director (Regulatory) left the Meeting at 6.18pm.

To consider approval for the write off of uncollectable debt.

Please Note: Appendix A is Exempt.

i)                 That the debts identified in this report for write off, attached at Exempt Appendix B to the report presented be approved by Executive Board.

ii)               That the Debt Management Policy be re-approved by Executive Board, and

iii)              That the Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance be delegated to approve future amendments to the Debt Management Policy which are minor in nature or are required as a result in a change in legislation. 

RESOLVED

That the recommendations contained within the exempt report be approved.

Exempt report to follow.

That the recommendations contained within the exempt report be approved.

RESOLVED

That the recommendations contained within the exempt report be approved.

To consider an Exempt report.

That the recommendations contained within the exempt report be approved.

RESOLVED

That the recommendations contained within the report be approved.