Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of Council on 30 September 2015 (Appendix A Pages 9-22)

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 September 2015 were agreed by the Members present and were then signed by the Mayor.

Before the Council meeting a ceremony took place to recognise “The amazing sporting achievements of Mr Mitchell Camp”.

The Mayor and the Portfolio Holder for Residents and Corporate Services gave a speech honouring Mr Mitchell Camp and recognising his sporting achievements.

Minute Silence

A minute silence was held to remember those affected by the recent tragic events across the world and the recent passing of Ivy Crowhurst and Elizabeth Buteux.

On behalf of the Muslim community Councillor Mahmood expressed his condolences to all those that had been affected by the recent tragic events in Paris.

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 September 2015 were agreed by the Members present and were then signed by the Mayor.

To receive any declarations of interest

None.

None.

To consider questions (if any) by members of the public of which the appropriate notice has been given to the Assistant Director (Chief Executives Unit)

None.

To receive announcements and business brought forward by the Mayor, the Leader of the Council, Members of the Cabinet, Group Leaders or the Chief Executive.

4.1       By the Mayor:

4.2       By the Chief Executive:

4.3       By the Group Leaders:  Any apologies for absence

4.4       Leader of the Council and Members of the Cabinet:

Councillor Williams                 Leader of the Council

Councillor Mrs Griffiths                      Housing

Councillor Harden                   Residents & Corporate Services

Councillor G Sutton              Planning and Regeneration

Councillor Marshall                Environmental, Sustainability and Regulatory Services

Councillor Elliot                       Finance & Resources

1.         By the Mayor:

The Mayor announced that Freeman of the Borough, Derek Townsend exercised his right to drive 6 sheep and 1 ram through Tring High Street on 10th of October 2015

The Mayor thanked all those who attended the recent Remembrance Day parades in Hemel Hempstead and in other parts of the borough.

2.         By the Chief Executive:

None

3.         By the Group Leaders:

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Bateman, Clark, P Hearn, S Hearn, Matthews and W Wyatt-Lowe.

4.         By the  Leader and Members of the Cabinet:

(Full details are in the minutes under Announcements of the Leader and Cabinet Members). 

1.         By the Mayor:

The Mayor announced that Freeman of the Borough, Derek Townsend exercised his right to drive 6 sheep and 1 ram through Tring High Street on 10th of October 2015

The Mayor thanked all those who attended the recent Remembrance Day parades in Hemel Hempstead and in other parts of the borough.

2.         By the Chief Executive:

None

3.         By the Group Leaders:

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Bateman, Clark, P Hearn, S Hearn, Matthews and W Wyatt-Lowe.

4.         By the Leader and Members of the Cabinet:

(Full details are in the minutes under Announcements of the Leader and Cabinet Members). 

To consider questions (if any) by members of the Council of which the appropriate notice has been given to the Assistant Director (Chief Executives Unit)

None.

Councillor Williams, Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Community Leadership

The Leader of the Council made no announcements.

Councillor Griffiths, Portfolio Holder for Housing

Tenant & Leaseholder Services

CIH Income Accreditation - Our Housing Income Team is currently working with the Chartered Institute of Housing to achieve their accreditation for the collection of housing income.  If we successfully achieve this we would be the first organisation to be recognised to have achieved this standard in England and Wales.  We anticipate an announcement later in November.

Don’t Get Ripped Off - Our latest campaign to help support tenants and wider residents to maintain their rental payments starts in November.  This campaign is being run in conjunction with the Citizens Advice Bureau, the Local Credit Union, Turning Point, Dacorum Communities for Learning and a number of other voluntary sector organisations. 

Watch out for information on Bin Lorries and posters within the town centres – a number of events are being run between November and January to support the campaign and to assist tenants and wider residents with both managing their debt and finding more affordable sources of credit.  For more information please visit www.dacorum.gov.uk/don’tgetrippedoff

CIH Equality and Diversity Charter - We have recently signed up to the Chartered Institute of Housing’s Income Charter.  This charter is designed to demonstrate our commitment to promoting equality of access to housing services.  As part of this commitment we are doing some work to understand how our services are currently being used and to identify actions to promote a more even distribution.

Enablement Flat - As part of the Health and Wellbeing Agenda we have started to work with the Health Sector to provide an enablement flat at Evelyn Sharp House, sheltered scheme.  This scheme is our flexi-care scheme and has a care team permanently based on site.  The enablement flat will enable resident’s access to a 6 week resettlement period to prepare them to return home.  Without flats like this residents would be forced to remain in hospital.

Strategic Housing

The Housing Advice & Options team have seen a significant increase in demand on the service, the number of clients seen for housing advice in October 2014 was 124, this increased to 209 new cases in September 2015 and 156 in October 2015.  In October 2014 the service took 18 homelessness applications, this increased to 27 in September 2015 and 48 in October 2015.  All data and evidence from the Council and partner agencies suggest homelessness will continue to increase.  Despite this the service has maintained excellent performance, there is a central government target set for time to investigate homelessness cases at 33 days and the team have consistently maintained the target well below 20 days since 2014, in October 2015 the average time to investigate was 8.7 days.

Procedures have been reviewed within the temporary accommodation team to provide more focussed management and earlier intervention when dealing with licence fee arrears.  As mentioned above demand on temporary accommodation has significantly increased based on this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

Resolved

That the following be approved:

20 October 2015

7.1 CA/087/15 ALCOHOL TESTING POLICY

The Alcohol Testing Policy as set out in the Cabinet report, which is intended to supplement the Council’s existing Alcohol Drugs and Substance Misuse Policy.

7.2 CA/089/15 APPRENTICESHIP SCHEME 2016

The release of £41,522 from the Management of Change reserve in order to deliver the Apprenticeship scheme.

The referrals from Cabinet on 20 October 2015 were submitted.  It was moved by Councillor Williams, duly seconded by Councillor Griffiths and agreed by Members.

Resolved

That the following be approved:

7.1CA/087/15 – ALCOHOL TESTING POLICY

Decision:

The Alcohol Testing Policy was approved.

7.2 CA/089/15 – APPRENTICESHIP SCHEME 2016

Decision:

1. The establishment of an Apprenticeship Scheme for 2016 was approved; and,
2. The release of £41,522 from the Management of Change reserve in order to deliver the scheme was approved.

7.3 CA/094/15 – MAYLANDS URBAN REALM IMPROVEMENT PROJECT –

Full details can be found in the Part 2 Minutes.

None.

None.

None.

To consider any proposals for changes in membership – Any changes notified beforehand to Member Support will be tabled at the meeting.

None.

None.

To consider the following changes to the Committee Dates.

1. DCSP

• To change the meeting date from 6^th April 2016 to 25 May 2016.

2. The Call In Contingency

• To move the meeting date of 25^th May 2016 to 19^th May 2016.

The following changes to the Committee Dates were agreed:

1.         DCSP

The meeting date was changed from 6th April 2016 to 25 May 2016.

2.         The Call In Contingency

The meeting date was changed from 25th May 2016 to 19th May 2016.

CHANGES TO COMMITTEE DATES

Council agreed the following changes.

1. DCSP

• To change the meeting date from 6^th April 2016 to 25 May 2016.

2. The Call In Contingency

• To move the meeting date of 25^th May 2016 to 19^th May 2016.

Resolved:

That Council adopt and publish in accordance with statutory requirements:-

(1)  The draft Statement of Licensing Policy as the Council’s ‘Statement of Licensing Policy’ under section 5 of the Licensing Act 2003 for the five-year period from 7 January 2016 to 6 January 2021, and

(2)  The draft Statement of Principles as the  Council’s ‘Statement of Principles’ under section 349 of the Gambling Act 2005 for the three-year period from 31 January 2016 to 30 January 2019

Resolved:

That Council adopt and publish in accordance with statutory requirements:-

(1)  The draft Statement of Licensing Policy as the Council’s ‘Statement of Licensing Policy’ under section 5 of the Licensing Act 2003 for the five-year period from 7 January 2016 to 6 January 2021, and

(2)  The draft Statement of Principles as the  Council’s ‘Statement of Principles’ under section 349 of the Gambling Act 2005 for the three-year period from 31 January 2016 to 30 January 2019

To consider passing a resolution in the following terms:

That, under section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded during the item in Part II of the Agenda for this meeting, because it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that if members of the public were present during this item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information relating to the financial and business affairs of the Council or of any particular person,

Local Government Finance Act 1972, Part VA, Schedule 12A, Part 1 paragraph 3.

Resolved:

That, under section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded during the item in Part II of the Agenda for this meeting, because it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that if members of the public were present during this item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information relating to the financial and business affairs of the Council or of any particular person.

Local Government Finance Act 1972, Part VA, Schedule 12A, Part 1 paragraph 3.

Resolved:

That, under section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded during the item in Part II of the Agenda for this meeting, because it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that if members of the public were present during this item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information relating to the financial and business affairs of the Council or of any particular person.

Local Government Finance Act 1972, Part VA, Schedule 12A, Part 1 paragraph 3.