Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bulled, Bushell, P. Leaver, Spear, Turton and Williams

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 7 November 2024 (circulated previously) be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

There were no items brought forward which in the opinion of the Chair should be considered by the meeting as a matter of urgency.

Please telephone the Corporate and Community Services team to prepare a form for your signature before the meeting. Interests must be re-declared when the item is called. A declaration of interest under the Code of Conduct will be a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, an Other Registrable Interest or a Non-Registrable Interest.  If the item directly relates to your interest you must declare the interest and leave the room for the item, save in the case of Other Registrable Interests or Non-Registrable Interests where you may first speak on the item as a member of the public if provision has been made for the public to speak.  If the matter does not directly relate to your interest but still affects it then you must consider whether you are affected to a greater extent than most people and whether a reasonable person would consider your judgement to be clouded, if you are then you must leave the room for the item (although you may speak as a member of the public if provision has been made for the public to speak) or, if you are not, then you can declare the interest but still take part).

There were no declarations of interest received.

Presentation by Vicki Rowe Chief Executive Officer, Citizens Advice.

The Chair advised the Committee that unfortunately Vicki Rowe, Chief Executive Officer, Citizens Advice was unable to attend the meeting of the Committee due to an accident within the family and would be invited to attend a future meeting.

Senior Programme Manager for Health Inequalities or representative, One Northern Devon to report.

The Chair welcomed Andrea Beacham, Senior Programme Manager for Health Inequalities, One Northern Devon to the meeting and advised that the purpose of the presentation was for the Committee to gain an understanding of the work that One Northern Devon were undertaking in relation to health inequalities and to then consider which particular areas that the Committee wished to focus on.

The Committee received a presentation by Andrea Beacham, Senior Programme Manager for Health Inequalities, One Northern Devon who highlighted the following:

·       The make-up of the One Northern Devon (OND) Board which consisted of representatives from Health and Social Care, Local Authorities, Emergency Services, Not-for-profit organisations, Business and Education.

·       Structure of the OND Local Care Partnership Board and OND Local Car Partnership Programme Group and how these connected with other Devon Partnerships and at the locality level.

·       One Community Partnerships in Northern Devon. Following North Devon Voluntary Service and TTVS successful Lottery bid for community developers, three posts had been created in relation to health inclusion, youth work and rural work, which had now been successfully filled.

·       OND vision, aim and objectives.

·       Outcomes of the Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report 2021 in relation to Health in Coastal Communities.

·       Northern Local Care Partnership’s selected data.  This data did highlight the huge disparities within areas of Northern Devon.

·       The four main dimensions of health inequalities, which included: socio-economic deprivation, inclusion health and vulnerable groups, protected characteristics and geography.

·       Health improvement had slowed due to multiple factors including cohort effects, economic, changing disease patterns and climate emergency (heat, pollution, ecosystem).

·       Devon Inequalities gap (Public Health Devon data) and worse outcomes in relation to areas of North Devon. Ilfracombe had the worse life expectancy, health life expectancy and long term conditions.  Barnstaple had the highest rate for alcohol related admissions to hospital. Ilfracombe had the worse outcome in relation to child poverty.

·       Differences within Devon – the North Devon Health Gap.

·       Public Health Data on multiple disadvantages and Indices of deprivations domains for the Devon Districts and North Devon.  This revealed that the highest levels of deprivation were seen in North Devon and Torridge District Council areas, with North Devon in particular having the highest proportion of the population in the most deprived 20% of areas nationally.

·       Public Health Data on deprivation sub-domain comparison between indoor environments with the outdoor environment.

·       Public Health Data on barriers to housing/services by Devon Districts. Deprivation was highest in more remote districts with a sparse population and more limited access to services such as North Devon, Torridge and Mid Devon.

·       Public Health Data on the scale of poverty in North Devon.

·       Public Health Data on social mobility which identified a north/south divide in Devon.

·       Public Health Data on how poverty, rurality and health inequalities interface.

·       Themes from Public Health Data and engagement,

·       Four challenges that OND had opportunities to test interventions in the short-term which included: Poor health outcomes in rural, deprived and coastal communities; large geographical footprint; pockets of high levels of poverty; and poor mental health.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

Update to be provided to the Committee  from the Councillors who attended the summit.

The Chief Executive provided an update to the Committee on the outcomes Water Summit meeting that had been held during the day of 12 December 2024.   He advised that a copy of the presentation slides would be circulated to the Committee.

He highlighted the following:

·       He had attended the meeting along with Councillors Peter Leaver and Ricky Knight and the Sustainability Officer.

·       A meeting of the Devon Districts Forum had met following the Summit.

·       Representatives from all Devon District Authorities, Devon County Council, Exeter University, South West Water, Environment Agency, Wildlife Trust and the Rivers Trust had attended.

·       The summit had been chaired by Dr. Michael Winter. Presentations had been provided by the Leader of East Devon District Council, Professor David Butler of Exeter University, Clarissa Newell of the Environment Agency, Carolyn Cadman of South West Water and Cat Deeney who was the Head of Environment and Planning of Plymouth City Council.

·       Discussions took place in relation to the impact of climate change, agriculture and regulatory activities.

·       A meeting of the Devon Local Nature Partnership Board took place after the summit. 

·       Following the outcome of discussions, it was agreed that the regulatory bodies would come back to the District Councils on their plans in light of the new National Planning Policy Framework and relating to the infrastructure.  It was also concluded that South West Water and the Environment Agency needed to become more place based approach.

Councillor Jones provided an update to the Committee in relation to ongoing work being undertaken in relation to water quality.  He highlighted the following:

·       A meeting had been held with Torridge District Council and it had been agreed to form a joint working group specifically looking at water quality.  A visit would be arranged to a sewage treatment works.

·       A group was currently being set up to manage and support water testing.

·       He had spoken with the Rivers Trust who had advised to apply for funding from South West Water to expedite the Citizens Science Project and the rolling out of water testing in North Devon and Torridge areas.

·       Government consultation on Bathing Waters, the deadline for response to the consultation was 23 December 2024.  He read out to the Committee suggested wording for a response to the consultation.

RESOLVED that the Chief Executive be delegated power to respond to the Government Consultation on Bathing Waters in consultation with Councillor Jones and that Councillor Jones circulate a copy of the suggested wording to the Committee.

To consider the work programme for 2024/25 (attached).

RESOLVED that the work programme for 2024/25 (circulated previously) be noted.