Council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee sets out themes of work for next year

Hastings Borough Council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee met last week for their annual meeting, where they discussed the council's response to COVID-19 and laid out the work that the committee will be undertaking over the next year, as well as plans to work more closely with the council leadership and the community.

Cllr Warren Davies, chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee said,

"Overview and Scrutiny committee has a really important role in what the council does. The committee acts as the critical friend of the council and keeps a careful eye on the council's performance against commitments made in the corporate plan and budget. As well as this, the committee also reviews issues of local importance and considers how the council and its partners can develop further to help accommodate these issues.

For the coming year, we have set out five main strands for our work and research. All of these strands will take into account the recovery of the council and the town from the COVID-19 pandemic. We will be focusing on:

• Fair outcomes for all, which will address how we reach the most disadvantaged in the community and ensure all have equal opportunities.
• Communications, which will ensure greater transparency from us and encourage greater input from the community.
• Safe spaces for new communities and businesses
• Health inequality
• Partnership working, both with Cabinet and with other local partnerships"

Cllr Kim Forward, leader of the council, said

"I would like to thank the Overview and Scrutiny committee for all their hard work they have done over the last few months, setting out their goals for the committee for the next year.

The five themes that the committee will be working on tie in very well with the local recovery plan we are developing at the moment, so this is a great opportunity for us to really emphasise the importance of working cohesively and dynamically with Overview and Scrutiny.

Cohesion between the committee and Cabinet is important, and we hope to continue working in sync over the next year."