Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Freeman, Hammond, Robinson-Payne & Wainwright.

There were no declarations of interest given at the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 February were confirmed as a true record.

The Chair reported that there were no matters arising from the above minutes which were not covered elsewhere on the agenda.

The Committee received and considered the report from the Information Governance Lead & Data Protection Officer.

The Information Governance Lead & Data Protection Officer gave an update on performance for the third quarter of 2025/26 (October – December) where progress is assessed against Targets which are set at the start of the financial year.

The report also provided an update on the position of key projects that are linked to the corporate priorities from ‘The Plan 2025-2030’. A summary of progress for the suite of key projects and individual highlight reports for each of these key projects are presented in Appendix 1 of the report.

The performance measures, at Appendix 2, gave a comprehensive overview of how the authority, as a whole, was performing and cover most Council functions.

A review of all projects was conducted at the end of the 2023/24 financial year and a new list of key projects was established and included in the Council’s 2024/25 Annual Action Plan, this was approved by Cabinet on 8th April 2024.

The project highlight reports provided a summary of the project, milestones and achievements, alongside open issues, mitigation and a financial summary.

Each report had a current status, which can be green, amber or red. Out of the eight projects, four have a current green status defined as no problems or minor issues and four have an amber status, defined as having problems which have been identified but with a contingency plan in place.

Performance measures covered the full range of services delivered by the Council. The details in this summary report provided quantitative information about the performance of these services and provide useful trend data. A traffic light status easily identified if improvement was required.

 
There are some areas across the Council where performance is below the target level set (RAG rating) or where no target has been set, performance was moving in the wrong directions (Direction of Travel). These measures were highlighted in the appropriate service committee section of the report.

In total there are 39 targeted and 24 monitored measures reported in the second quarter performance report. Information was not available for one of the targeted measures. The monitored measures were reported for contextual information, this data was important information for the Council, as the actions of the Council might make improvements, however, there was not sufficient control over the outcome to set a target.

There are 6 measures that are within the Red status which are not achieving the target and are below the tolerance level set, an explanation of the performance in these areas is provided below each measure in the report.

The Chair requested that a more detailed report on improvements to GY Railway Station & Vauxhall Bridge be presented to Scrutiny Committee after Easter.

Councillor Waters-Bunn asked in regard to the cobbled area of the Market Place car park. The car park was in a poor state of repair with several cobbles missing which was a trip hazard to the public and she questioned why this project had a Green Status with this much disrepair. The Information Governance Officer reported that the repairs were to the cobbled area at the covered market which had been caused by the works compound.

The Executive Director - Place informed Scrutiny that there was no budget to renovate the entire market area including the car park cobbles but if Members were minded, consideration could be given to adding this to the Capital Programme. The Executive Director agreed to look into the issue of the car park.

Councillor P Carpenter asked if all the Council had secured vacant possession of the properties on the North side of The Conge. The Information Governance Officer reported that The Conge redevelopment consisted of two elements - the South & North sides. The Council had secured funding for the South side but not the North side as no funding is in place to acheive site assembly at this time.

Councillor P Carpenter asked if the lack of funding to develop the South side was in hand. The Executive Director - Place reported that interest had been shown by a strategic partner but there was a viability gap associated with the land assembly. Additional funding was being sought via Homes England.

Councillor Jeal referred to PR03 and asked why information regarding the last period was not available for comparison purposes. The Information Governance Manager reported that it was not possible to compare Q2 to Q3, it would only be possible to compare the figures to  last years figures. The Information Governance Officer reported that many residents were now choosing to pay Council Tax instalments over 12 months rather than 10 months.

Councillor Jeal asked if residents were struggling to pay their Council Tax due to the way Universal Credit payments were structured. The Information Governance Officer reported that residents were struggling due to the cost of living crisis in general.

Councillor Jeal referred to PR04, Empty Homes, and asked if this referred solely to Council owned properties. The Information Governance Officer reported that it covered all homes across the borough and in the case of private houses, the delay was due to the length of time to grant probate.

The Chair referred to PR13, Internal Audit Recommendations, and asked why Executive Directors and Heads of Service had not got to grips with this and got the recommendations done. The Information Governance Manager explained that Heads of Services were challenged by Executive Directors during their 1-2-1's on outstanding audit requests to reduce the level of outstanding recommendations.

The Executive Director - Place reported that historically, audit deadlines had been agreed which were never going to be achievable which had caused a legacy issue.However, Heads of Service were now suggesting alternative deadlines to Internal Audit which would be achievable.

The Chair asked if there was a list of the outstanding priority 1 & 2 audit recommendations, which had been agreed outside of the extension of time. The information Governance Officer apologised and said that he did not have this information to hand, but he would forward the information to the Chair as soon as possible, hopefully tomorrow morning.

Councillor Waters-Bunn referred to the O & M Campus and asked if the Pontoon installation and Contractor demobilisation was completed. The Information Governance Manager reported that the pontoons were all installed and the site had been handed back to the Council from NCC in February 2026. The Executive Director assured Councillor Waters-Bunn that contractor demobilisation was completed.

RESOLVED:-

That Scrutiny note:-

(i) all measures will continue to be monitored during the next quarter,

(ii) all key projects will continue to be monitored over the next quarter with the aim of maintaining a green status and where possible attaining a green status forthose key projects which are currently amber; and

(iii) that a report on Improvements to the Railway Station & Vauxhall Bridge be presented to Scrutiny Committee after Easter.

The Chair welcomed Mark Tuddenham, Matt Wickham & Paul Doyle, Freedom Leisure, to the meeting.

Mark, Matt & Paul gave a joint presentation to the Committee, a copy of which will be circulated after the meeting to Members for information.

Councillor Jeal reported that a number of his ward members had informed him that they did not use the Marina Centre for swimming as the water temperature was too cold. Paul Doyle reported that the pool temperature was 28 degrees which met national guidelines. There had been issues with the pool temperature in the past but he assured the committee that this was not a cost-cutting exercise. 

Councillor Waters-Bunn reiterated that the temperature of the pool was always too cold for her to swim in. Whenever she visited, the 25m pool was empty and the learner pool was full of people as it was much warmer. The temperature in the changing rooms was also cold which overall, did not result in a pleasant visit, especially as the disabled showers and changing facilities on the ground and first floor were out of order. It was imperative that the disabled facilities were open at all times so as not to discriminate against disabled customers.

Paul Doyle explained that a new Lynxight system to assist the lifeguards was to be installed. Councillor Grant asked whether this was a cost cutting exercise to cut the number of lifeguards. Matt Wickham reported that the primary drive was to increase safety. 

Mark Tuddenham informed the committee of the new Friday Night project for 11-16 year olds. Councillor P Carpenter reported that she would like to have a conversation with him outside of the committee, in her remit as NCC Cabinet member for Children's Services.

Councillor Grant reported that he ran a local pool at a holiday complex and was concerned about the quality of the pumps installed at the Marina Centre, which is properly serviced and maintained, should have lasted longer than 3-4 years. He reported that he had been told by many people that the Marina Centre pool was too cold, many areas of the centre were dirty and staff morale was low due to low pay and lack of promotion opportunities. The ratio of swimming instructor to pupils at 15-1 was too high as some learners required more 1-1 attention. The boilers at the Phoenix Pool had needed replacing for years and the requirement in the gym was never moved and swept under.

Councillor Grant acknowledged the amount of good work Freedom Leisure were doing for local residents but he still felt that the pricing for residents could be better and he urged them to combat the negative perceptions of the Marina Centre & Phoenix Pool via better marketing.

Matt Wickahm reported that he appreciated Councillor Grant's honesty and that he would like to sit down with a coffee with him in the near future to discuss these issues futher and urged him to bear with us.

The Chair reported that his daughter and son-in-law highly rated the facilities offered at the Phoenix Pool.

The Chair reported that he was concerned that some of the equipment which had been installed when the Marina Centre was built was having to be replaced after only 4 years. he questioned whether inferior kit had been installed as a result of value engineering to keep to budget.

Councillor McMullen reported that she welcomed the gym refit at the Phoenix Pool as her grandson had recently left as the equipment was poor. She had recently toured the Phoenix Pool complex but both her and her husband decided to stay at the Old Hall in Caister as it had better facilities. Councillor McMullen suggested that Freedom Leisure advertise more in the Gorleston area and asked if local residents were able to secure a lower admission swim rate. Matt Wickham explained that a Resident Leisure Scheme pass was available to purchase. They had offered 100 Free Swim sessions for children entitled to free school meals which had been funded by Public Health through local schools but had very little take up due to transport issues.

Councillor P Carpenter asked if other swimming clubs, not based in GY, were approached to hold their swimming galas at the Marina Centre as this would generate more revenue. Paul Doyle responded that they did not at the present time but it was something that they would look into.

Councillor Waters-Bunn reported that of the 4 water coolers at the Marina Centre, only one was working and this constantly leaked which made it hard to stay hydrated during exercisisng. Paul Doyle explained that these needed replacing as they were at the end of their useful lives and this had been noted at a recent walkabout and would be actioned.

Councillor Waters-Bunn asked that consideration be given to providing a family swim slot after school, as at the moment, her son could not swim after school, as the pool was solely used for swimming lessons and then an adult swim session from 8pm. Paul Doyle agreed to review this.

Councillor Waters-Bunn fed-back that all the Marina Centre staff were amazing, they were all helpful and approachable and did a marvellous job, Paul Doyle thanked Councillor Waters-Bunn and that he would take this feedback and report it to staff and management.

The Chair suggested that Members should feed in comments to Freedom Leisure via the Liaison Committee which Cllr Flaxman-Taylor sat on.

The Chair thanked Matt, Paul & Mark for an excellent presentation and thanked them for attending. Paul Doyle reported that they would like to report to the Scrutiny Committee on an annual basis if that was acceptable to Members.

RESOLVED:-

That the Committee note the presentation update on the Marina Centre & Phoenix Pool by its operator, Freedom Leisure and that this to be an annual report going forwards.

The Committee received and considered the report and accompanying documents from Councillor G Carpenter.

Cllr G Carpenter reported that Great Yarmouth CCTV is operated by Community Safety (Great Yarmouth) Ltd., a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee.

The Community Safety company was formed in the year 2000 following funding from the Home Office, and set up a public space surveillance system, to cover specific areas in Great Yarmouth.

A purpose-built CCTV Control Room was created within the Market Gates Shopping Centre and four full time and two part time staff were employed and trained to monitor the original 27 camera system 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The CCTV system operation went live on the 23rd May 2001, with the original 27 cameras covering the Great Yarmouth Town Centre, Regent Road, Marine Parade and Great Yarmouth Borough Council operated car parks.
Community Safety (Great Yarmouth) Ltd is overseen by a board made up of voluntary Directors representing business and community as well as nominated representatives of the core funders including Great Yarmouth Borough Council, Great Yarmouth Town Centre Partnership, Visit Great Yarmouth and Market Gates shopping centre.

 
Cllr G Carpenter reported that over the years, due to further funding, more CCTV cameras were added to the system and by the end of 2021 the total number was 60.

More recently the previous governments Safer Streets Fund added a further 31 cameras and also funded a significant upgrade of the existing CCTV cameras, digital storage capacity, control room equipment and monitoring software. The total number of CCTV cameras monitored from the Great Yarmouth CCTV control room is currently 91 which are indicated on the location map.

The CCTV Control room is still staffed by a team of four full-time and two part-time trained operators ensuring the cameras are monitored 24/7, 365 days of the year. All staff are trained and licensed to the Security Industry Authority’s (SIA) Public Surveillance CCTV standard. The operators are also all vetted to non-police personnel level 2 to allow them to use the Police Airwave radio system. The team of CCTV operators have a combined experience of over 60 years monitoring the cameras from the Great Yarmouth CCTV Control Room. This is particularly helpful when it comes to recognising potential escalation of incidents and understanding which cameras to switch to when following suspects. The operators are able to select and transmit live images to the Norfolk Police control room, police investigation centre and GY Police station, providing real time data to the police control room staff.

Cllr G Carpenter reported that the Police Radio in the control room also allows CCTV operators direct radio contact with the police both on patrol and the Police control room and Wymondham Police HQ. The facility for direct contact can assist with ensuring the correct suspects are identified as CCTV operators can ‘play back’ the recordings of incidents that have just taken place. This can also be played back to individual officer’s devices so they can see for themselves what happened before they arrived at the scene.

The Great Yarmouth CCTV team are regularly praised for their pro-active monitoring and support to Norfolk Police and examples for you to read through are attached. Cllr G Carpenter regularly attends the CCTV meetings and there’s rarely a meeting goes by without a mention of a report of good work carried out by the excellent staff employed there.
During the 12 months from January to December 2025 – see circulated report – the CCTV Control room has recorded 1881 incidents, 474 of which resulted in 567 arrests. The 2025 incidents total represent an 18% increase on 2024 figures of 1593 incidents resulting on 526 arrests.

The arrests only reflect those that occur immediately during the live incident and not those that may be made following police investigations using recorded CCTV. The police investigation centre and Great Yarmouth and Broadland police stations have stand-alone PC’s from which trained police officers can securely access the CCTV footage recorded by the Great Yarmouth cameras and stored for 28 days. During the same 12 month period, police officers have remotely logged into the secure CCTV software on 659 occasions and have reviewed a total of 308 incidents from which 118 video clips have been copied for evidential purposes.

 
Cllr G Carpenter reported that, on average, around 55% of all CCTV incidents originate from Norfolk Police via the Police Airwave Radio System.

These incidents generally result from emergency calls made by members of the public.
Conversely, around 20% of incidents are identified and alerted to the Police Control Room by the CCTV Operators as they complete their regular patrols using each camera to carry out a 360 degree check of its surroundings and in doing so scanning for anything of concern, or worthy of further investigation.

Street drinkers, aggressive begging, drug dealing, people carrying weapons, missing persons, disturbances outside nightclubs, drink drivers, suicide attempts and cannabis factories are just a few examples of the type of incidents that the experienced team of CCTV operators regularly identify.

The remaining percentage of incidents can be attributed to the proactive users of the business radio links operated from the CCTV Control Room; The ShopSafe radio link, used by town centre businesses and the Town Centre Partnership’s town centre Street Wardens, tackling retail theft and Anti Social Behaviour and the NightSafe radio link, allowing door staff of pubs and nightclubs to cooperate in reducing late night public order issues.

Since the CCTV operation began in 2001 the operators have been involved in over 59,000 incidents, with over 13,000 arrests have resulted from over 9,500 arrest incidents, all due to images captured by the CCTV cameras and the positive working relationship between the CCTV Operators, police and Radio Users working together to make Great Yarmouth a safer place.

Cllr G Carpenter reported that the funding of CCTV 2025/26; the running costs of £305k; as follows:-

• G.Y.B.C. £160k.
• Great Yarmouth Town Centre partnership £57k.
• G.Y.B.C. Housing £30k.
• Market Gates Shopping Centre £19k.
• Greater Yarmouth Tourism and Business Improvement Area £25k.
• Retail parks £10k.

The remaining costs are met by a number of smaller income strands, including around £2k generated from a radio scheme for late night licensees using the ‘NightSafe’ radio link.

Councillor McMullen noted that there had been a massive increase in cameras but not the staff who manned the operations centre.She hoped that the staff received good supervision and that counselling is available as working in such a pressurised environment could lead to stress and possible mental health issues.

Cllr G Carpenter assured Cllr McMullen that staff were able to access counselling via the GYTCP.

Cllr Grant reported that he had a bank of 40 CCTV cameras and that sitting watching them could be mind-blowing at times and that the CCTV operators did not have an easy job.

Councillor Jeal reported that the Police used the CCTV system the most in the borough but did not offer any funding to the running of the service which is disgraceful and not morally right. The Police receive more revenue from residents' council tax than the borough council but still will not offer any funding.

Cllr G Carpenter reported that he wholeheartedly agreed with Cllr Jeal. Approximately 18 months ago when the council was struggling for funding, the Police were approached for a contribution to the operation of the CCTV service but they outright refused. 

Cllr G Carpenter reported that he would take the issue of the Police not assisting with the funding of the CCTV operation back to the GY Town Centre Partnership.

The Chair suggested that the Scrutiny Committee write to Cabinet Portfolio Holder, Councillor Wells, outlining its concern that the Police do not contribute to the funding of the CCTV provision in the borough when they are the main users of the service. However, the Chair surmised that the Police might have a funding issue across Norfolk if they offered funding to every council which operated a CCTV service which they utilised.

Councillor Newcombe asked how she would go about getting more CCTV cameras cited in Southtown. Cllr G Carpenter requested that she contact the GYTCP in writing to request where she would like a CCTV camera installed and the reasons why.

Councillor Grant reported that he agreed with Cllr Jeal and suggested that Cabinet should write to our Police & Crime Commissioner to request funding for our CCTV operational costs.

The Chair thanked Cllr G Carpenter for attending committee and giving a very informative report.

RESOLVED:-

That the Committee note the report and to write a letter to Councillor Wells, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for  Environment & Sustainability, Licensing & Waste, to ask him to write to the Police & Crime Commissioner and request funding to assist with the provision of CCTV in the Borough. 

The Committee received and considered the report from the Financial Services Manager.

The Financial Services Manager presented the month 9 budget monitoring position for financial year 2025/26 for both the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) including the respective capital programmes and financing. It includes explanations for significant variances to the budgets currently forecast for the full year.

The original base budgets for 2025/26 were approved by Council in February 2025 and assumed a transfer from the General Fund reserves of £720,630 and a transfer of £110,469 into the Housing Revenue Account reserves. This was alongside setting the capital programmes for both the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account. 



The General Fund position at quarter 3 is now forecasting a use of reserves of £404k for the current financial year, a slightly improved position from that previously reported. 
Actual spend on the capital programme for the general fund until the end of December 2025 totals £16.43m as summarised under Appendix E. The revised General Fund Capital Programme for 2025/26 is £30.37m. Of this, £26.66m is currently forecast to be spent in 2025/26. Remaining budgets are likely to be spent in future years as many approved projects span financial years and any unspent capital budgets will be carried forward at the year end. 

The Housing Revenue Accounts forecast for the full financial year at month 9 reflects a deficit of £72k, against a budget surplus of £110k, resulting in an adverse variance of £182k.

The report is also recommending a short term cash flow facility for Equinox Enterprises Limited in line with the Investment Strategy, this is due to the timing of the sales and contractors ahead of scheduled and pending a wider review of the business plan. 

This is the final budget monitoring report presented to members ahead of the outturn, where services have revenue underspends these will be reviewed to confirm whether they are to be carried forward into 2026/27 as part of the outturn process. 

Scrutiny are asked to note firstly, the content of the report and the revised forecast for the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account for 2025/26, use of earmarked reserves and the prudential indictors under Appendix F. Also to note the amendments to the Capital Programme, as set out in Section 4 of this report, that have been made during the quarter. And final note that Cabinet approved a cashflow facility for EEL as outlined at 2.9 within the limits of the Investment Strategy.

The Chair asked for clarification that £400k had been taken out of Reserves, the Financial Services Manager confirmed that as of 31 December 2025, there is a deficit position of £404k as there is an under-spend of £300k of direct employee costs forecast, as detailed at Appendix C of the report, with the more significant costs will have been reported in detail in Appendix B of the report.

The Chair, once again highlighted, as he did every year, the correlation between the HRA income of £30m compared against the supervisory/management running costs of £11.7m. This is well over a third of the income swallowed up by running costs which seems extremely high, and increases year on year, and if this continued, the HRA could go bust.

Councillor Grant reported that the Chair had raised this on a yearly basis when he had been Chair of the old Housing & Neighbourhoods Committee when income to expenditure had been 25%.

The Financial Services Manager agreed to look into this comment and report back to the Committee.

The Chair thanked Lorna for her attendance at committee and her report.

RESOLVED:-

That Scrutiny Committee note the content of the report and the revised forecast for the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account for 2025/26, use of earmarked reserves and the prudential indictors under Appendix F. Also to note the amendments to the Capital Programme, as set out in Section 4 of this report, that have been made during the quarter. And final note that Cabinet approved a cashflow facility for EEL as outlined at 2.9 within the limits of the Investment Strategy.

The Committee received and considered the report from the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee.

The Chair thanked Sammy Wintle, Corporate Services Manager & Christina Webb, Democratic Services Officer, in supporting the Scrutiny Committee in the absence of a dedicated Scrutiny Officer. 

Councillor Jeal asked when the Market Place update report would be presented to Scrutiny. The Chair reported that this report would be on the June agenda.

Councillor P Carpenter reported that she was unhappy with learning that some of the equipment in the Marina Centre needed to be replaced after only 4 years and whether this was a result of the original build or a failure on the part of the operator and felt that a more in-depth report might be advisable.

The Monitoring Officer asked Members to flag immediately any operational concerns in regard to the Marina Centre & Phoenix Pool with the Executive Director - Place or Councillor Flaxman-Taylor so they could be placed on record as these could be a possible contract management issue which required action by the Council as the landlord.

Councillor Grant asked if our Officers regularly inspected the Marina Centre & Phoenix Pool. The Chair agreed to look into this matter.

The Chair agreed that this issue would be picked up when the new Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2026-2027 was formulated at the June meeting.

RESOLVED:-

That the Committee recommend to Council:-

(i) To note the contents of the Chairman's Annual Report for the Scrutiny Committee for 2025-2026.