Agenda, decisions and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on  20 April 2021.

Minutes of the meeting held on 20 April 2021 were agreed by Members present and signed by the Chair.

Minutes of the meeting held on 20 April 2021 were agreed by Members present and signed by the Chair.

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.  

There were no apologies for absence.  

To receive any declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered -

(i)            must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent

and, if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, or a personal interest which is also prejudicial

(ii)            may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter (and must withdraw to the public seating area) unless they have been granted a dispensation.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests, or is not the subject of a pending notification, must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and prejudicial interests are defined in Part 2 of the Code of Conduct for Members

[If a member is in any doubt as to whether they have an interest which should be declared they should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer before the start of the meeting]

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

An opportunity for members of the public to make statements and ask questions in accordance with the rules as to Public Participation.

There was no public participation. 

There was no public participation. 

There were no referrals to Cabinet

There were no referrals to Cabinet.

There were no referrals to Cabinet.

The forward plan was noted with the following changes;

Add Gadebridge Park Improvements to the September meeting

Cllr Anderson requested that the Gadebridge Park Improvements be added to the September meeting.

This was noted by the Committee.

Cllr Williams stated that the order of the items on the Agenda was not appropriate and should not include Part II items in amongst Part I items.  Item 11 would therefore be discussed before Items 9 and 10.

1.         Note: The context and the background to the need for the Transformation Programme in sections 1 and 2

2.         The achievements delivered in Phase 1 in section 3

3.         The planned activities for Phase 2 and beyond in section 3

4.         That Cabinet recommend to Council the following supplementary budget amendments to fund the recommendations in this report:

5.         RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND A draw down of £361k from the Management of Change reserve to fund the General Fund elements of the programme.

6.         RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND A reduction of £305k in the HRA contribution to capital to fund the HRA elements of the programme

Cllr Tindall stated that he had not seen the sight of any consultation with Ward Councillors and wondered whether this had been missed.

LR stated that they would be included as part of Stakeholders along with residents.

Cllr Griffiths stated that this was an exciting project and was right for continuing along the path. There has been staff engagement throughout and without it the project would fall over. Cllr Griffiths asked for confirmation of staff feedback.

LR – Yes there has been formally and informally and the staff have been very engaged and the consultants have expressed how interesting it has been being allowed to contribute. Comms has been incredibly important at keeping people informed.

Recommendations Agreed.

To consider passing a resolution in the following terms:

That, under s.100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 Schedule 12A Part 1 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 the public be excluded during the items in Part 2 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 those items, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information relating to the financial and business affairs of the Council and third party companies/organisations.

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

There were no members of the Public to exclude

There were no members of the Public to exclude

This item is restricted, please see Part 2 decision for full details.

This item is restricted, please see Part 2 Minutes for full details.

This item is restricted, please see Part 2 minutes for details.

This item is restricted, please see Part 2 Minutes for details.

        Agreed that Cabinet:

1.         Approves movements on earmarked reserves as set out in section 9.

2.         Approves the transfer of the HRA surplus of £362k to revenue reserves as set out in section 7. This surplus includes the £2m provision for water charges refunds.

3.         Reviews and approves the capital slippage into financial year 2021/22 as set out in Appendix C.

4.         RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND that Council approve the following supplementary capital budgets in financial year 2021/22:

•           £95k for Fire Door improvement works at Hemel Hempstead Leisure Centre

•           £50k for Hemel Hempstead swimming pool dosing equipment

Cllr Elliot stated that we have been very engaged and proactive with our businesses and it was probably the best to expect given the past year or so.

JD – There has been a lot of pressure and uncertainty over Covid. We keep monitoring the situation going forward but as a starting point it is as good as we could get it, given the circumstances.

Cllr Griffiths wanted to congratulate and thank the staff for being alert and keeping up the good work and being able to put the right amount aside.

Cllr Williams stated that we have had challenges throughout the pandemic but have remained strong in financially challenging situations. It has cost us a significant chunk of our reserves to get through the last year and Council are still not operating on full cylinders in terms of income and have continued to face pressures. Looking at this outturn for 2021, it has been an exceptionally good result overall given Covid but we must not take our eye off the fact that there are still challenges ahead.

JD – The reason we have got as close as we have is because of input from all services and this will give ourselves the best opportunities going forward.