Agenda and draft minutes

The Democratic Services Team Leader reported that notification had been received of the following substitution for this meeting only:

·         Councillor A Beal was replacing Councillor J Reynolds

To sign as a correct record the minutes of the following meetings:

Consideration was given to the following minutes:

·       Performance Monitoring Panel – 10 December 2025

·       Joint Performance Monitoring Panel and Policy Development Panel – 13 January 2026

AGREED:

That the minutes be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

An update on actions that arose at the 10 December 2025 Performance Monitoring Panel meeting and the tracking of outstanding actions (enclosed).

Consideration was given to the actions that arose at the meeting held on 10 December 2025, and the tracking of outstanding actions.

Members considered the responses and made the following comments:

Minute number 40 (a) – Q1 Performance Report 25/26 (cost of Planning Appeals)

Members queried why indicative costs for planning appeals had not been provided, noting that an overview of statistics would be useful for members understanding of the appeals process.

The Democratic Services Team Leader responded that work would be undertaken with the department to explore whether indicative average costs could be produced for Members’ information.

Minute number 40 (b) – Q1 Performance Report 25/26 (specific data on fly-tipping)

Members raised concerns that the information previously supplied on fly?tipping related only to the recording system rather than the statistical data that had been requested.

The Democratic Services Team Leader responded that the department would be asked to provide the specific statistics required, including the steps involved in the process and the associated location data referenced by Members.

Minute number 40 (d) – Q1 Performance Report 25/26 (drop in swim numbers)

Members sought an update regarding the ongoing issues with the swimming pool pump, noting that the matter had been discussed on several previous occasions.

The Business Intelligence and Change Manager reported that he had been advised that the contractor had reassembled the pump on 5 March; however, a further error code had been identified and the motor required a full strip?down assessment. Members were advised that no confirmed timescale for reopening was available and that a further update would be provided to the Panel once received.

Members queried whether a claim could be pursued in relation to the non?use of the pool, given the length of the closure and its impact on performance indicators.

The Business Intelligence and Change Manager stated that SHDC continued to press the contractor for a durable, long?term solution and that the question of a potential claim would be raised. Any subsequent information would be circulated to Members.

Members requested that a report be brought to the next meeting setting out the relevant statistics, associated costs and clarification regarding which party was responsible for meeting those costs.

The Business Intelligence and Change Manager confirmed that the relevant Assistant Director would be contacted and that the requested update would be arranged.

Where a Councillor has a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest the Councillor must declare the interest to the meeting and leave the room without participating in any discussion or making a statement on the item, except where a councillor is permitted to remain as a result of a grant of dispensation.

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To note the current Key Decision Plan.

Consideration was given to the Key Decision Plan dated 2 March 2026.

Members considered the Key Decision Plan and the following issue was raised:

·         What was the progress on the Destination Lincolnshire Local Visitor Economy Partnership Destination Management Plan and SELCP Destination Management Plan – this issue had been raised previously and the Panel had requested that the document be scrutinised prior to consideration by Cabinet to ensure that all areas of South Holland were covered by the Plan.

o   The Democratic Services Team Leader reported that she had been advised by officers that the date shown on the Key Decision Planner of April for consideration by Cabinet was now incorrect. It would now be coming forward to all three authorities within the Partnership in May/June, and would be preceded by a period of public and member consultation – this was anticipated to be in March/early April.  The Democratic Services Team were working with the relevant department to ensure that this scrutiny took place prior to consideration by Cabinet.

AGREED:

That the Key Decision Plan be noted.

To provide an update on how the Council is performing for the period 1 October 2025 to 31 December 2025 (report of the Assistant Director – Corporate enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Corporate which provided an update on how the Council was performing for the period 1 October 2025 to 31 December 2025.

The Business Intelligence and Change Manager introduced the report and highlighted the following points:

The report reflected similar stable levels of performance as were seen in Quarter 2:

•       87% of the Council’s performance metrics presented a positive position against targets

•       10% were slightly below target

•       3% were under target

Members’ attention was drawn to two key areas where performance had been under pressure in the quarter — complaints handling and leisure participation.  Leisure referred to the number of swims indicator - this wasn’t a target, but being a trend measure it was possible to observe a significant dip in the last few quarters which linked to the ongoing pump issue discussed at agenda item 3.

Complaints Performance (referencing the improvement work – content source Project Update Report)

As Members were aware, some under?performance in timeliness and visibility of complaint handling continued to be experienced. This was a key issue which was a regular discussion at SLT (Senior Leadership Team) level and the team was working closely with the service to address this with the service. The wider corporate review had highlighted several structural issues contributing to this — including unclear accountable officer routes, inconsistent processes between services, limited corporate visibility of cases, and fragmented policy storage and data insight.

To address this, a programme of improvements was already in train. A merge had been undertaken of the legacy complaints systems into a single partnership wide triage record, giving much clearer oversight and contingency, especially for those with shared teams and managers. Work with PSPS had been taken forward to improve the website journey for customers submitting complaints. The Terms of Reference for the new ‘Complaints Clinic’ — which would focus on learning through feedback — had been completed and invites were being circulated. Housing Services had also strengthened their approach, ensuring managers provided direct responses to avoid unnecessary delays.

Further actions include developing a read?only dashboard for Assistant Directors, clearer routing to accountable officers, and micro?training for case handlers on issuing responses and tone. These steps were designed to improve both the speed and quality of complaint handling as Q4 approached.

In summary, Q3 showed continued strong performance in most areas with two key areas of pressure — complaints and leisure — but with strong, targeted remedial work already underway and strong communication between officers, SLT and members.

Members considered the report, and the following issues were raised:

·       Members queried whether the risk factors associated with the corporate complaints system were appropriate.

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager advised that performance issues related to response times were being addressed and confirmed that no concerns had been raised by the Local Government Ombudsman, noting that all complaints continued to receive a response.

·       Members asked for an overview of the types of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

To report on the conclusions of the Planning Committee and to invite the Performance Monitoring Panel to submit any additional comments following the review/tour undertaken with members and comments made at Planning Committee (report of the Assistant Director - Planning and Strategic Infrastructure enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Planning and Strategic Infrastructure which reported on the conclusions of the Planning Committee and invited the Performance Monitoring Panel to submit any additional comments following the review/tour undertaken with members and comments made at Planning Committee.

The Planning Officer introduced the report and confirmed that no further comments had been raised by Planning Committee following the previous presentation, and that the recommendations therefore remained unchanged, including the continuation of the tour every two years.

Members considered the report and the following issues were raised:

·       Members queried whether the learning from the review was being fully utilised, commenting that issues identified during the tour appeared to be ‘lost’ until the next review. 

·       Members felt that a recommendation should be made to the Planning Department that the comments made following the review be noted by officers, that adverse issues highlighted during the tour should be acted upon and not repeated, and that beneficial design features observed at good developments should be adopted more widely.  Members agreed to this additional recommendation.

AGREED:

1)    That the contents of the report be noted, following its presentation at Planning Committee on 7 January 2026; whereby no comments were raised in regard to the conclusions drawn from the Performance Monitoring Panel;

2)    That the recommendations presented to the Performance Monitoring Panel in the first instance, including that the Review of Implemented Planning Decisions tour remain in occurrence every two years with the invitations still being extended to members of the Planning Committee.

3)    That a formal recommendation be made to the Planning Department that the comments made following the review be noted by officers, that adverse issues highlighted during the tour should be acted upon and not repeated, and that beneficial design features observed at good developments should be adopted more widely.

To present the findings from the HRA stock condition surveys (report of the Assistant Director – Housing enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Housing which presented the findings from the HRA stock condition surveys.

The Head of Housing Investment and Development presented the report.

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) mandated through the Consumer Standards that Registered Providers must have an accurate, up to date and evidenced understanding of the condition of their homes.  The data must be used to ensure the provision of good quality, well maintained and safe homes for tenants.

To date, 90.33% of the HRA stock had been surveyed and the surveys had taken place between October 2024 and January 2026 (the data from these formed the basis of the report), but since then efforts were still being made to access more properties and numbers would therefore have increased slightly.  The target to survey 100% of stock was still retained

The surveys had provided a vast amount of primary data which had been interrogated and analysed and had already been used to inform future strategies and planned investment programmes.

A continuous programme of property surveys would be in place to ensure data remained up to date.

At the point of writing the report, 3,467 homes had had a full survey.  The surveys included a full condition survey, Decent Homes assessment, Housing Health and Safety Rating System survey (HHSRS) and, where necessary, an energy assessment where an EPC certificate was due.

The report included a table at section 3.1 showing Survey Representation by Location, and a table at section 3.2 showing Survey Representation by Archetype.

Detailed analysis of the survey findings was provided at Appendix 1.  It indicated that most components (55%) were achieving their expected lifespan with only 1.1% requiring replacement earlier.  44% of components were expected to surpass their expected lifespan.  The results also indicated that property type and location did not affect component wear or life expectancy.

The survey assessed for Decent Homes compliance, hazards and energy assessments.

The information had been used to inform the HRA Business Plan and Asset Management Strategy approved by Council in January 2026.  The plan determined that the Housing Revenue Account was sustainable over the 30-year period based on the assumptions regarding future costs.

The 2026/27 property specific planned improvements programme was being developed using the latest stock condition data to ensure investment was targeted appropriately.

The Regulator required the Authority to keep its records up to date and it would therefore continue to survey its stock.  The Regulators Code of Practice advised that providers should have a five-year rolling programme of stock condition surveys, some needed more frequent surveys.  The regularity of surveys would be determined from information received around areas such as regularity of repairs requests or recurring problems at properties.

A new contractor to undertake the surveys would be identified during 2026 as the current contract was coming to an end.

Detailed analysis of the stock condition survey was provided within Appendix A to the report.

Members considered the report and the following points were raised:

·       Members  ...  view the full minutes text for item 73.

To analyse the access to the Housing Landlord Service across key protected characteristics (report of the Assistant Director – Housing enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Housing which analysed access to the Housing Landlord Services across key protected characteristics.

The Housing Service Insight and Improvement Lead introduced a summary of the report:

The Housing Landlord Service had undertaken an access to services analysis in response to actions arising from the Regulator of Social Housing’s regulatory inspection in 2025. The purpose of the analysis had been to determine whether the Council’s housing services were accessible to all tenants, including those with protected characteristics and those identified as vulnerable. Members were advised that service contact was received through a range of pathways, including telephony, email, text messaging, web forms, focus groups and face?to?face interactions, and that contacts often involved multiple queries across more than one service area. Due to the complexity of information held across different systems, the analysis had been completed using incoming case data recorded within each service area to ensure accuracy and reliable comparison.

Members were informed that data had been examined across ten housing service areas, including responsive repairs, complaints, antisocial behaviour, rent arrears service (incoming contact only), Damp Condensation and mould, independent living, cost?of?living support, sheltered housing, the handyperson service and Right to Buy applications. The analysis, covering the period from 1 April to 31 December 2024, overlaid active tenant information to identify whether any characteristics or vulnerabilities were associated with lower access to services. Initial findings indicated that nationality and ethnicity did not present barriers to contact, although some European ethnic groups appeared marginally less likely to engage, which could be attributed to cultural differences or potential language barriers. Officers advised that the promotion of translation and interpretation services had therefore been identified as a potential service improvement.

It was further reported that age?related access patterns broadly reflected the wider tenant population, with younger tenants being marginally less likely to contact some services. Officers advised that targeted digital and social media communications may support greater engagement among younger tenants. No evidence was found to suggest that gender affected access to services. The analysis also confirmed that tenants with identified communication needs were accessing services at equivalent or higher rates than the general tenant population. In addition, tenants reporting vulnerabilities such as hearing, learning, mobility or behavioural impairments were found to have access rates equal to or exceeding those of the wider tenant population.

On completion of the analysis, officers had identified a number of proposed actions, including continued promotion of translation and interpretation services, targeted digital engagement and review of online tools for accessibility.  The analysis was proposed to be repeated annually to monitor trends and ensure that access remained equitable across all tenant groups.

Members considered the report and made the following comments:

·         Members queried the reporting period, noting that dates appeared to span an eighteen?month timeframe.

o   The Housing Service Insight and Improvement Lead clarified that the data set covered the period from 1 April 2024 to 31 December 2025 and confirmed that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.

To provide members with an overview of the implications of water infrastructure issues on planning decisions (report of the Assistant Director – Planning and Strategic Infrastructure enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Planning and Strategic Infrastructure which provided members with an overview of the implications of water infrastructure issues on planning decisions.

The Executive Programme Manager presented the report, explaining that members had previously received an update from Anglian Water at the Panel’s December meeting and had requested further clarification regarding the implications of the company’s current approach to planning application consultations.

It was noted that Anglian Water were not a statutory consultee and that developers retained an automatic right to connect to the foul sewer network under the Water Industry Act. Officers advised that Anglian Water had recently adopted a more cautious interpretation of their role by emphasising network capacity issues as a material planning consideration.

Members were informed that Anglian Water had been applying a standardised condition seeking to restrict the occupation of new developments until sufficient sewer capacity was available. Officers explained that this approach was problematic as it created uncertainty for developers and risked developments being built but unable to be occupied. Officers advised that any such condition must be supported by robust, site?specific evidence, and that planning decisions must be made in the round, balancing all relevant considerations.

Officers further outlined that a twin?pronged approach was being recommended. For allocated sites within the adopted Local Plan, Anglian Water’s objections could carry little weight as they had failed to raise concerns during the statutory plan?making process. In contrast, for non?allocated or windfall sites, officers would require Anglian Water to provide detailed, time?bound evidence of capacity issues before any objection or condition could be considered reasonable.

It was emphasised that the briefing note sought to clarify the planning authority’s position and set out an evidence?based framework for responding to Anglian Water’s comments. Members were advised that the contents of the briefing note would be referred to the Planning Committee for further consideration due to the direct implications for decision?making processes.

Members considered the report and made the following comments:

·         Members raised concerns that Anglian Water’s current approach could adversely affect the authority’s ability to meet government housing delivery expectations.

o   The Executive Programme Manager responded that the district was presently ahead of its five?year housing supply requirement, but acknowledged that if Anglian Water’s restrictive stance continued, future delivery rates could be affected. Officers confirmed that the matter would be referred to Planning Committee for further consideration, including clarification on any potential government penalties.

·         Members asked for further explanation regarding unallocated sites where Anglian Water had raised objections and queried whether private package treatment plants could serve as alternatives.

o   The Executive Programme Manager explained that private treatment plants did not always require Environment Agency consent, particularly where discharge was contained within a drainage field. However, they confirmed that support from both Anglian Water and the Environment Agency would be required, and that this could affect decision?making timeframes.

·         Members queried whether additional work arising from Anglian Water’s objections would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75.

To set out the Work Programme of the Performance Monitoring Panel (report of the Assistant Director – Governance (Monitoring Officer) enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Governance (Monitoring Officer) which set out the Work Programme of the Performance Monitoring Panel.

The Democratic Services Team Leader introduced the report which included the following:

·       The remaining meetings of the current municipal year alongside expected items at Appendix 1;

·       Task Groups at Appendix 2

Members raised no comments on this item.

AGREED:

That the Work Programme of the Panel be noted.

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