Agenda and minutes

To agree the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 March were agreed by the Committee and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor E Collins.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

There was none.

None.

R Baker introduced the report and advised that the final figures are currently being

worked on and any amendments would be taken to Cabinet on the 29 June 2015.

Cllr Matthews referred to Item 5.4 on Page 7 and the slippage on the regeneration of the

Town Centre due to inaccurate forecasting and enquired as to what measures were

being taken to ensure more accurate forecasting in the future.

R Baker advised that on this particular scheme the forecasting came from contractors

and when they were reviewed in detail it became apparent that we were accounting on

different basis, so we reviewed that and that has been taken forward into the 2015/16

forecast.

J Doe further added that the main Town Centre projects are on track and that what has

been put in place is a whole team of people to review the costs moving forward, the key

appointment being a Costs Manager for the Town Centre, so there are regular monthly

meetings with the contractors to check the costs that are coming in that they are

reasonable and proportionate and that the scheme is on track.

The Chairman enquired of J Doe if what he was suggesting was that in future when

contractors give us cash flows, there  may be  more caution now regarding the accuracy

of those figures.

J Doe advised that a lot of the Town centre works had only really begun in the last 12

months, so the actual money being spent and committed has only really happened in

the last 12 months, so we are into the details of governance. He further added that

assumptions had been made around when funds would be spent and committed and

that is why there is some slippage showing on the programme.

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe commented that she was glad that the problem had been

identified and requested reassurance that this will now be closely monitored.

J Doe confirmed it would be.

Councillor Ransley offered her congratulations for the underspend on waste and

recycling services, but noted that no money had been spent on Neighbourhood Centre

Improvements.

J Doe advised that this referred to Growth Area Funding, a source of capital funding

awarded to many Councils by the previous Government, in growth areas, such as

Hemel Hempstead. He went on to say that around the time the money was awarded in

2008, a whole series of actions had to be put into place, around Hemel Hempstead in

particular, one of which was for improvements to some of the neighbourhood centres.

Some of the works carried out were fairly minor, for example street furniture, and so

what that money is, is a residual from the GAF allocation which is not actually

committed at present and is awaiting allocation.

The Chairman advised that committee that you cannot compare revenue with Capital.

Councillor Hicks enquired with regards to the slippage if this was revenue not received

this year but expected next year or if it was spending that had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

D Austin introduced the report.

Councillor Matthews referred to Item 11.2 on Page 15 relating to a noticeable increase from front line workers citing anxiety, stress and depression and enquired as to what measures were being taken to support staff.

D Austin advised that there was still some analysis being undertaken with regards to the correlation of the recent changes to the waste services and their impact on staff. He went on to advise that all Officers from Team Leader upwards have Mental Health training to make us aware of the signs and what can be done; the Authority also has a network of Mental Health First Aiders, offering a network of people to go to for advice; the Authority also has an Employee Assistance Programme, where staff can make contact anonymously and arrange to receive counselling.

Councillor Matthews enquired as to whether there was any indication of front line workers inordinately accessing or not accessing the services.

D Austin advised he would have to check those figures with colleagues in Human Resources, as the Employee Assistance Programme is operated by them.

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe commented that with regards to mental health, Dacorum is taking a lead on this in certainly the South East, if not the County and the officers involved should be congratulated.

The Chairman noted that it still needed to be worked at because it does run at 11 days lost and has done for quite some time.

D Austin advised that they operate a team of between 160-170 front line staff. He went on to add that as an Authority we have a challenging target with regards to sickness absence but there is a recognition that staff are out in all kinds of weather, in a physical natured job but also in a close confinement of a cab, where germs are likely to spread, are likely to have a higher rates of absence than an office environment.

Councillor Ashbourn referred to Item 8.31 and the A41 and began by offering congratulations on the difference the clean made to the area, but enquired as to what was being done to monitor and prevent the littering from getting that bad again.

D Austin advised that the issue for the Authority is that there is a range of issues on the street cleansing side and we could probably invest more into cleansing the A41 roadside but that a judgement has to be made bearing in mind the expense of particularly the traffic management, which will be up to £1000 a day, so a judgement is made as to how frequently we will litter pick such a road and a judgement has been made that twice a year is adequate. More will be being done in terms of education awareness, talking to Hertfordshire Highways with regards to getting more signage put up on the A41, more signs on the automated boards to prevent littering. Also looking at enforcement initiatives, as on places like the A41 it is not so much  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

J Doe introduced the report.

Councillor Matthews referred to Item 12 on Page 30 in relation to Land Charges and noted that the current processing time is 11 days which is below target and enquired as to why that was.

J Doe advised that Land Charges are a very precise thing and the information has to be 100% accurate. The information is gathered from various sources and so can take new officers a little time to get up to speed with the process. The other issue is that we do not have a fully digitalised system and therefore large parts of the process are quite manual.

Councillor Matthews challenged that the project had not yet been fully invested in to digitalise the system and if there were any plans to do so.

J Doe advised that there is a service plan for the department and that one task the new Group manager will be given is to action that project, however it was stated that discussions regarding resourcing of this are yet to be had.

Councillor Ashbourn noted that it was reassuring that the department was back up to full staff strength and noted the earlier comment regarding a back up of applications in a rush to beat CIL, enquired if there was now confidence that the staff were able to cope.

J Doe offered that assurance as they are now processing more applications than are coming in during a week. He went on to advise that they currently had a number of agency staff working at present which has provided professional capacity quickly, with the advantage of being able to let such agency staff go if the workload reduces. . He tempered that with the fact that full time posts are still being recruited into and that the service has grown to the extent that a new full time post has been created.

Councillor Howard enquired as to how much the agency staff had impacted on the salaries.

J Doe advised there is a formalised process that needs to be completed which includes making a case for why agency staff may be required, this is scrutinised by Finance department as well to scrutinise costs and budget pressures.

Councillor Sutton wished to pay tribute to the planning staff. As the previous Chairman of Development Control in the last 12 months he had witnessed the amount of pressure the staff had been under but commented that the quality of work had always been exceptional. He went on to say that it was a department to be immensely proud of and was one of the more professional planning teams if not in the South East, then in Hertfordshire.

The Chairman stated that was supported by the committee.

Councillor Birnie enquired as to what the risk register meant.

The Chairman advised that Risk is something that will be picked up by the Member Development group as a training need as it can be quite detailed.

J Doe advised that what is important is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.