Agenda and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of Council on 20 January 2016

The minutes of the Council meeting held on 20 January 2016 were confirmed by the Members present and then signed by the Mayor.

To receive any declarations of interest

None

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

None.

To receive announcements and business brought forward by the Mayor, the Leader of the Council, Member’s 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                Environment, Sustainability and Regulatory Services

Councillor Elliot                        Finance & Resources

1.            By the Mayor

None.

2.            By the Chief Executive:

None.

3.            By the Group Leaders: 

Councillor Williams gave apologies on behalf of Councillors Conway, S Adshead and E Collins.

Councillor Tindall gave apologies on behalf of Councillor Link.

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

Members of the Cabinet:

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

Year-end rent letters going out soon

The letters to advise our tenants of the weekly rent they’ll need to pay during the year ahead will arrive on tenants’ door steps by 7 March.

This year, instead of the usual increase, our General Needs tenants will be notified of a 1% decrease in rent.  The government is imposing a 1% rent cut for council tenants every year for the next four years. 

Supported Housing tenants will see a small increase, due to the fact that the Supporting People Charge is increasing by 1% and rent by 0.9%.

STAR survey clocks up 1,000 calls!

The STAR survey is now complete.  STAR is the survey of tenants and leaseholders we’ve carried out every two years since 2012.  In the past we’ve posted a survey form to every one of our 12,000 tenants and leaseholders, but we’ve been able to save around £8000 by phoning a large sample of them instead.  During January and February we phoned more than a thousand tenants and leaseholders to see whether satisfaction with the housing service has changed since our last survey in 2014.  We also asked some questions to find out more about how our tenants use the internet. 

Some of the questions are used to compare our performance with that of other social landlords using Housemark’s benchmarking service. Almost everyone who received a call from us gave up ten minutes of their time to chat to us and tell us their experiences.
We will be publishing the results in Housing News and Views once all the data has been analysed. 

Tunstall Alarm upgrade

We are investing nearly £900,000 in upgrading our community alarm system. Improvements to our infrastructure include the latest digital cablings that enable ‘telecare’ and ‘telehealth’ add-ons to help keep tenants independent.  The new digital system will enable other remote services to be offered to our tenants. 

The immediate benefits for our tenants will be:

·        Clearer speech when compared with analogue system

·        More features to support independent living

·        Ability to leave messages

·        Quicker transfer of calls to control centre as calls will no longer ‘stack’ against each other while the first is being answered

Dog microchipping

From 6 April 2016, all dogs must be microchipped and registered to an approved database by the time they are 8 weeks old. 

The keeper of a dog which is not microchipped will be notified of the new requirement.

The Housing Department works together with the Dog Warden to offers free microchipping for Council Tenants. We have already microchipped 336 dogs in the Dacorum area to get ahead of the new legislation.  DBC’s Housing Service Pet Policy has been awarded the RSPCA’s ‘Gold Footprint’ for the past three years in a row.

There’s more information about responsible dog ownership on our website: http://www.dacorum.gov.uk/home/environment-street-care/environmental-health/lost-and-stray-dogs/responsible-dog-ownership

Strategic Housing

Strategic Housing are  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

To consider the following referrals from Cabinet:

Councillor Williams, duly seconded and

Resolved

That the following be approved:

9 February 2016

7.1CA/017/16             BUDGET AND COUNCIL TAX SETTING

General Fund Revenue Estimate

a) a Dacorum Borough Council General Fund Council Tax requirement of £10.218m, and of £10.908m for the combined Borough Council and Parish Councils’ requirement for 2016/17;

b) an increase of 2.78% in Council Tax for Dacorum Borough Council;

c) the base estimates for 2016/17, as shown in Supplementary Appendix A1,^* and the indicative budget forecasts for 2016/17 – 2019-20, as shown in Supplementary Appendix A2;

d) the forecast balances of the Revenue Reserves as shown in the Supplementary Appendix J, and approve paragraphs 10-20 of the Cabinet report as the updated Reserves Strategy.

e) approve increases in Fees and Charges for 2016/17 as set out in Appendices C3, D3, and E3

f)    approve and adopt the Treasury Management Strategy for 2016/17, attached at Appendix K;

g)   approve and adopt the Treasury Management Principles and Practices for 2016/17, attached at Appendix L;

h)   note that this budget paper, when approved by Council, will form part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy

Four Year Settlement

i)       delegate approval to the Corporate Director (Finance & Operations) in consultation with Budget Review Group to decide on whether to accept Government’s offer of a four-year finance settlement.

Capital Programme

j)       approve the revised Capital Programme for 2015/16, and for 2016/17 to 2020/21, as detailed in Appendix I;

k)     approve the financing proposals in Appendix I subject to an annual review of the financing options by the Corporate Director (Finance & Operations), in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Resources, during the preparation of the Statement of Accounts.

Housing Revenue Account (HRA)

l)     reduce dwelling rents for non-sheltered housing units by 1%, and increase rents for sheltered housing units by CPI plus 1%, resulting in an average rent of £105.52 per week (based on 52 weeks)

m)   the updated HRA estimate for 2016/17 as shown in Supplementary Appendix F to the Extraordinary Cabinet budget report.

Terms & Conditions

n)    approve the continued application of a living wage supplement for all affected employees, in accordance with the rates of the Living Wage Foundation, for 2016/17 (to be reviewed annually thereafter).

Statement by Chief Finance Officer

o)    approve the statement by the Chief Finance Officer regarding the robustness of the budget estimates and level of reserves as set out in Appendix M.

Key points of discussion:

Councillor Williams introduced the report and moved the motion to debate.

Councillor Tindall congratulated officers on meeting targets. He advised the meeting that his party would not be producing an ‘alternative budget.’ He drew attention to the 1% decrease in rent which may adversely affect those in council houses and the monies that the Council had received from central government.

He concluded that the Liberal Democrats will vote against the budget as it will result in the maximum being squeezed out of residents and the party cannot support it

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe said she would rather the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

7.1

Council Tax Declaration 2016/17

Resolved

That the following be approved:

            That the Cabinet, at its meeting on 15 December 2015, calculated the following amounts for the year 2016/17 in accordance with regulations made under Section 31B (3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended), as inserted by  Section 74 of the Localism Act 2011:-

(a)          55,282.0 being the figure calculated by the Council in accordance with regulation 3 of The Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (England) Regulations 2012 as its Council Tax base for the year;

(b)          the amounts in Table 1 of this report (Tax Base for each part of the Council’s area to which one or more special items relate) being the amounts calculated by the Cabinet in accordance with regulation 6 The Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (England) Regulations 2012 as the amounts of its Council Tax base for the year for dwellings in such parts;

2)      the following amounts be now calculated by the Council for the year 2016/17 in accordance with Sections 31A and 31B and Sections 34 and 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended) (referred to as “the Act”):

          (a)   £143,421,094.03    being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A (2) of the Act, taking account of all precepts;

          (b)   £132,513,272.60    being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A (3) of the Act, including the aggregate of the sums which the Council estimates will be payable for the year into its General Fund in respect of redistributed Non-Domestic Rates and Revenue Support Grant ;

          (c)   £10,907,821.43      being the amount by which the aggregate at 2)(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 2)(b) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 31A(4) of the Act as its Council Tax requirement for the year;

(d)   £197.31                  being the amount at 2)(c) above, divided by 1)(a) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 31B (1)  of the Act as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year;

(e)   £690,049.37           being the aggregate amount of all special items referred to in Section 34(1) of the Act;

(f)   £184.83                  being the amount at 2)(d) above, less the result given by dividing the amount at 2)(e) above by the amount at 1)(a) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 34(2) of the Act as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which no special item relates;

            (g)  Part of the Council’s Area         Band D

                                                                        Equivalent

                                                                        Combined

                                                                           £

                  Hemel Hempstead                       184.83

                  Aldbury                                         203.59

                  Berkhamsted                                206.25

                  Bovingdon                                    211.20

                  Chipperfield                                  219.73

                  Flamstead                                     235.54

                  Flaunden                                       214.77

                  Great Gaddesden                         203.60

                  Kings Langley                               228.94

                  Little Gaddesden                          210.44

                  Markyate                                      219.64

                  Nash Mills                                     207.83

                  Nettleden                                      209.68

                  Northchurch                                 199.94

                  Tring Rural                                    214.57

                  Tring Town                                   209.99

                  Wigginton                                      198.99

(Band D charge for Parish and District combined), being  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

None.

None.

To appoint Councillor Fisher to the Standards Committee.

Resolved

That Councillor Anne Fisher be appointed to the Standards Committee. 

To consider the following changes to the Committee Dates:

1. Development Control

Due to arrangements at the Civic Centre for the PCC Elections, the meeting of the Development Control Committee on Thursday 28 April 2016 will be held at Grovehill Community Centre, Henry Wells Square, Aycliffe Drive, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 6BJ.

2.    Strategic Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee

To add an additional meeting for Tuesday 12^th April 2016 at 7.30pm

The following changes were agreed by Members.

1. Development Control

Due to arrangements at the Civic Centre for the PCC Elections, the meeting of the Development Control Committee on Thursday 28 April 2016 will be held at Grovehill Community Centre, Henry Wells Square, Aycliffe Drive, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 6BJ.

2. Strategic Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee
   
   

An additional meeting was agreed by Members for the Strategic, Planning and Overview Committee on Tuesday 12^th April 2016 at 7.30pm

Report to follow

It was agreed that Councillor Iain Crawford of Markyate Parish Council and Councillor Gerald Wilkins of Tring Town Council be appointed as the non-voting co-opted representatives of the Parish/Town Councils on the Standards Committee for a term not exceeding the date of the next ordinary election of the Borough Council.

Referral from the Development Control committee – 17 December 2015

Resolved:

1.            That authority to prosecute in respect of breaches of advertisement controls and failure to respond to a Planning Contravention Notice are delegated to the Assistant Director (Planning, Development & Regeneration), Group Manager (Development Management & Planning), Team Leader (Specialist Services), or Team Leader (Planning Casework).

2.            That the following be amended:

a)    Part 3, section 2.3 of the Council’s Constitution, relating to the delegation of powers and functions to Officers from the Development Control Committee; and

b)    Specifically, sub-sections 2.3.3 and 2.3.4 (enforcement of planning control) to allow the delegation to Officers the power to commence prosecution proceedings in respect of advertisement and planning contravention notice breaches.

EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

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 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 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.