Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Council on 24 February 2016 (Appendix A Pages 10 - 27 )

Councillor Tindall asked for the following amendment to be made to the minutes under the item of ‘Budget and Council Tax Setting’:

“He asked that the third line of paragraph two should be amended to read as follows: “1% decrease in rent which may adversely affect the building of council houses and the monies that the Council had received from central government.’

The minutes of the Council meeting held on 24 February 2016 were then confirmed by the Members present and 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, Leader, and Members of the Cabinet 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       Council Leader and Members of the Cabinet:

Councillor Williams                  Leader of the Council

Councillor Harden                   Residents & Corporate Services

Councillor G Sutton              Planning and Regeneration 

Councillor Marshall                Environment, Sustainability and Regulatory Services

Councillor Elliot                       Finance & Resources

Councillor Mrs Griffiths            Housing

1.            By the Mayor

None.

2.            By the Chief Executive:

None.

3.            By the Group Leaders: 

Councillor Williams gave apologies on behalf of Councillors Birnie, Bateman, Clark, S Hearn and Maddern.

Councillor Tindall had nothing to announce.

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).

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

The Leader of the Council informed the Council of a Local Government Association Review that will take place over 4 days between 28^th June and 4^th July 2016.

Questions

Councillor Tindall informed the Leader of the Council that he had received a complaint from a resident regarding the material being shown on the screen in town. He asked how the material is chosen.

The Leader of the Council said that the screen is used for a number of purposes. There is an opportunity for businesses to advertise and major sporting events etc. The Leader of the Council said that he will look into the content which is being shown and update Members in due course.

Councillor Harden, Portfolio Holder for Residents and Corporate Services

Resident Services:

ASB

2 x Premises closure orders (Bennetts End & Woodhall Farm)

1 x Injunction for Anti-Social Behaviour (Grovehill)

1 x CPN Tring (Community Protection Notice) to address parking issues in partnership with Planning Enforcement.

Verge hardening 3 year project ended providing 344 additional parking spaces. Funding is to continue and the list is being prioritised for 16/17.

Old Town Hall welcomed Ruby Wax and Griff Rhys Jones both shows sold out.

Legal Governance:

Successfully prosecuted for fly tipping offence in Northchurch.  £115 fine and £42 victim surcharge.

The team also successfully completed a Standards Investigation for Berkhamsted Town Council.

The team has also experienced and successfully dealt with a particularly high volume of case work in the last 12 months.  Of note were the completion of 111 Right to Buy transfers in the last 12 months and 105 substantive new instructions (leases, land sales and other drafting) in the last 6 months, and maintained performance targets at 100%.

People:

Communication and Consultation

Website content refresh – project closed with a reduction of 25% of web pages. Work will continue for further reductions with service web editors

Digital Dacorum – Project 1: WEBSITE Re-DESIGN: launched with positive feedback.  Next step Shaw Trust accessibility audit – results end of April. 

Community Partnerships. 

Strategic Partners Commissioning – Information, Advice and Advocacy contract – awarded to Citizen Advice Bureau.

Supporting the voluntary and community sector tender out – one bid received which is being evaluated

Reducing social isolation – currently out to tender

Research and Innovation

Re-designing services

Built a prototype online ‘community calendar’ to help residents see what is happening around their area. It is at an early stage but we have commenced testing.   

Research

We have produced a detailed report on options to improve the usage of adventure playgrounds. 

Digital Services

Digital Dacorum

Following testing we have launched our new online benefits process (Friday 14^th)

The housing digital tenancy pack goes live at the end of April.

We have been invited to speak at the LGA conference on channel shift. 

CRM

We have received budget approval and we are now in the planning and procurement phase for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

To consider the following referrals from Cabinet:

The referrals from Cabinet on 22 March 2016 were submitted.  It was moved by Councillor Williams, duly seconded and

Resolved

That the following be approved:

22 March 2016

7.1 CA/036/16             Review of Absence Management Policy and Procedures

The amendments to the Council’s Sickness Absence Management Policy and Procedures as summarised in the Cabinet report and set out in full within Annex A of the report to Cabinet.

None.

None.

The Constitution requires that the Overview & Scrutiny Committee Chairmen make an Annual Report to the Council on the work of their committees.

Councillor Mahmood introduced the Overview and Scrutiny Committee review 2015/16 on behalf of the other Chair’s.

Finance

He highlighted the importance of the Performance and Budget reports within this OSC Committee and said that these were core to the committee.

Health

He mentioned that there have been lots of health topics of variable interest with many projects in place such as Get, Set, Go Dacorum project which has helped people to get out and have a more active lifestyle.

SPAE

Councillor Mahmood highlighted that two thirds of the Committee only joined the Council for the first time at the beginning of the civic year, and said that the Chair was pleased with how they developed into their oversight/scrutiny role.

Housing

Councillor Mahmood highlighted the use of the action point list being used at the Finance and Resources OSC meeting and said that he would like to implement this at the future Housing OSC meeting as he found them to be very useful.

To consider any proposals for changes to committee membership

None.

To consider any proposals for changes to committee dates

The following changes to committee rooms and dates were agreed:

Development Control              28 April            will be held in the Bulbourne Room

Finance & Resources OSC    7 June             will be held in the Council Chamber

Housing & Community OSC  8 June             will be held in the Council Chamber

SPAE OSC                             14 June           will be held in the Council Chamber

Development Control              16 June           will be held in the Bulbourne Room

Health in Dacorum                  Meeting moved from 22 June to 5 July 2016

Councillor S Adshead arrived at 8.18 pm.

The meeting ended at 8.25 pm