Agenda, decisions and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on  14^th February 2023

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 February were agreed.

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 February were agreed by Members present and signed by the Chair.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were noted from Cllr Barratt

There were apologies from Cllr Barratt

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

The forward plan was noted

Resolved to Recommend

Cabinet Recommends that Council Approves the Employee Code of Conduct

Decision

1. That Cabinet recommends that Council approves the Employee Code of Conduct

Corporate Priorities

A clean, safe and enjoyable environment

Building strong and vibrant communities

Ensuring economic growth and prosperity

Providing good quality affordable homes, in particular for those most in need

Ensuring efficient, effective and modern service delivery

Climate and ecological emergency

Statutory Officer Comments:

Monitoring Officer:

This is a Monitoring Officer report

Deputy S151 Officer:

Maintaining an accurate and robust Code of Conduct that is enforced and adhered to supports good fiscal management. The code in particular supports the delivery of good value for money, financial probity and reduces the risk of fraudulent activity.

Advice

Cllr Elliot introduced the report as published.

There were no questions.

Recommendation agreed

Resolved to Recommend

1. Cabinet recommended that Council agree to the change to the Scheme of

Delegation as set out in paragraph 2 of the report.

2. Cabinet recommended that Council agree to the change to the Financial

Regulations as set out in paragraph 3 of the report.

Decision

1. That Cabinet recommends that Council agree to the change to the Scheme of Delegation as set out in paragraph 2 of the report.

2. That Cabinet recommends that Council agree to the change to the Financial Regulations as set out in paragraph 3 of the report.

Corporate Priorities

A clean, safe and enjoyable environment

Building strong and vibrant communities

Ensuring economic growth and prosperity

Providing good quality affordable homes, in particular for those most in need

Ensuring efficient, effective and modern service delivery

Climate and ecological emergency

Statutory Officer Comments:

Monitoring Officer:

The proposed changes will ensure that the Constitution remains up to date and reflects

relevant statutory requirements.

S151 Officer:

The proposed changes will provide increased consistency and oversight of the housing

contracts overseen by the Chief Housing Officer.

Advice

Cllr Elliot introduced the report as published.

Cllr Tindall asked in reference to the voter ID, he said that he was concerned about the staff with the possibility of people getting irate when challenged about ID. He asked if there was a system with assistance from the police so they could get the police to the polling station.

C Hamilton said that they were mindful of the changes and the impact that it could have on staff. They had been in contact with Jason Keane who is the borough commander. He has identified a single point of contact within his team to work with them on Election Day; he will have two roving police cars, one driving around the borough and the other to be on call for any issues. They would also be available at the start of the count to support the opening of the count. There would be a designated number for presiding officers to call if they have any issues that would go straight through to the tasking team to get support at a polling station.

Cllr Anderson asked what the plans were for member’s computers after the election.

A Wilkie said that there thinking was that they had plans to issue new and better laptops, however he would come back when they have more details.

Cllr Douris asked if the level of support from the police would extend to the tellers that maybe outside the polling stations.

CHamilton said that anything that happens inside the polling station was the responsibility of the presiding officer and they have the authority to call the police if there is anything that they are concerned about. She said that anyone working at a polling station would undergo training that was longer and more detailed; it would include practical training to test out some of the potential changes in people appearance in relation to ID and what is acceptable.

Cllr Tindall asked if they were planning to give an information sheet to the tellers/party workers across the board who may be in the polling stations.

CHamilton said that this was a good suggestion and they would issue something through the agents

RECOMMENDATIONS AGREED

Resolved to Recommend

Cabinet recommended to Council the adoption of the HRA

Business Plan.

Decision

That Cabinet recommends the adoption of the HRA Business Plan to Council.

Corporate Priorities

A clean, safe and enjoyable environment

Building strong and vibrant communities

Ensuring economic growth and prosperity

Providing good quality affordable homes, in particular for those most in need

Ensuring efficient, effective and modern service delivery

Climate and ecological emergency

Statutory Officer Comments:

Monitoring Officer:

The HRA business plan is not in itself a statutory requirement but will enable the Council to plan the Housing Service to ensure that relevant statutory requirements are met and appropriately funded.

S151 Officer:

The HRA business plan details the medium and long-term financial planning required to deliver the housing strategy, the nature of the required horizon scanning over the next 30 years, resultsin a plan that is likely to evolve over time with significant scope for policy change in that period.

As would be expected with a 30 year plan this plan contains a significant amount of assumptions in regard to; spending commitments, economic outlook, funding assumptions and government policy, hence, will be considered a live plan and reviewed as required, but annually as a minimum.

This HRA business plan, outlined in the attached document, assumes that over the next 10 years the HRA will achieve an income of circa £736m, to fund £363m of ongoing management and maintenance and £370m of capital financing, this represents a balanced financial position over that period.

As part of the ongoing planned maintenance and development of the HRA housing stock the business plan invests £369m in planned maintenance and new build over the first 10 years of the HRA business plan, utilising multiple internal and external funding streams including an additional £111m of borrowing.

The HRA 30-year business plan is financially sustainable but assumes government support going forward to support new government policies and initiatives, such as the decarbonisation agenda. This plan also outlines the need to increase borrowing to support the ambitious capital programme, this leaves little scope based on current projections for additional future borrowing to support the HRA without reviewing the existing medium-term plans.  

Advice

Cllr Griffiths introduced the report as published.

Cllr Douris highlighted that there were no Stat comments on this report.

MBrookes said that he would take this up.

CHamilton said there would never be a report without stat comments and that this must be an error.

MBrookes reassured the committee that there were no concerns in the stat comments that he has read.

RECOMMENDATIONS AGREED

Resolved to Recommend

1.Cabinetrecommended that Council adopt The Paradise Design Code Supplementary Planning Document

Cabinet Agreed

2. That authority to make any changes to the SPD documents, including any necessary to reflect the Cabinet or Council discussion and decision, be delegated to the Strategic Director for Place in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Place.

Decision

1. That Cabinet recommends to Council that the Paradise Design Code Supplementary Planning Document be adopted.

2. That authority to make any changes to the SPD documents, including any necessary to reflect the Cabinet or Council discussion and decision, be delegated to the Strategic Director for Place in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Place.

Corporate Priorities

A clean, safe and enjoyable environment

Building strong and vibrant communities

Ensuring economic growth and prosperity

Providing good quality affordable homes, in particular for those most in need

Ensuring efficient, effective and modern service delivery

Climate and ecological emergency

Statutory Officer Comments:

Monitoring Officer:

All relevant legal implications are set out in the report

Deputy S151 Officer:

There are no direct financial consequences of the adoption of these supplementary planning

documents.

Advice

Cllr Anderson introduced the report as published. He praised the officers for the mount of work that gat the council to this point.

JDoe added that it had been a useful exercise. This had come off the back of some funding that they were able to bid, apply and were successful in obtaining from central government as part of their national model design code. This was the direction in which the government were seeking to roll design policies locally. There had been some good lessons learnt and this provides a good platform for further such initiatives in the field of urban design elsewhere in the borough for the future.

Cllr Griffiths said she remembered going out with other councillors to help feed their views into this design and it was interesting as it was so new. She appreciated a lot of work must have gone into this and thanked the officers for their work.

RECOMMENDATIONS AGREED

Resolved to Recommend

1) Cabinet recommended that Council adopt the Pay Policy for 2023/24 as set out in appendix 1 to this report.

Cabinet Agreed

(2) That Cabinet agrees that any amendments to the Pay Policy throughout the financial year 2023/2024, which may be required as a result of legislative changes, can be approved by the Chief Executive in conjunction with the Council’s Monitoring Officer.

Decision

(1) That Cabinet recommends to Council that it adopt the Pay Policy for 2023/24 as set out in appendix 1 to this report.

(2) That Cabinet agrees that any amendments to the Pay Policy throughout the financial year 2023/2024, which may be required as a result of legislative changes, can be approved by the Chief Executive in conjunction with the Council’s Monitoring Officer

Corporate Priorities

A clean, safe and enjoyable environment

Building strong and vibrant communities

Ensuring economic growth and prosperity

Providing good quality affordable homes, in particular for those most in need

Ensuring efficient, effective and modern service delivery

Climate and ecological emergency

Statutory Officer Comments:

Monitoring Officer:

No comments to add to the report

S151 Officer:

No further comments to add to this report.

Advice

Cllr Williams introduced the report as published.

There were no questions.

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 & 4

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 & 4

Details can be found in the part 2 decision sheet

This item is part 2, please see restricted Minutes