Agenda and decisions

To confirm the minutes and decisions from the previous meeting

Cabinet Agreed the Minutes of the previous meeting.

To receive any 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

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 were no referrals to Cabinet

There were no referrals to Cabinet. 

The forward plan was noted. One item from October’s meeting to be removed due to it being a duplicate.

Cabinet approved the Downsizing policy

Cabinet:

1. Agreed that the Council enters into a 50:50 controlled Limited Liability Partnership with Hill Investment Partnerships Limited and that this entity will have the authority to deliver against the agreed business plan(s)

2. Delegated authority to the Strategic Director, Corporate and Commercial Services in consultation with the Assistant Director, Legal and Democratic Services and the Chief Finance Officer, to finalise all financial due diligence, negotiate and complete a Members Agreement and any other contractual and legal documents required to facilitate the setting up and operation of the Investment Partnership

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

3. Recommended that Council approves a budget of £150k to cover the Council’s share of any external costs associated with scheme development for the initial Business Plan – which will come back to Cabinet by the end of the year - and delegates authority to the Strategic Director, Corporate and Commercial Services in consultation with the Assistant Director Legal and Democratic Services and the Chief Finance Officer to draw-down funds for activities associated with this work. Page 35

4. Noted an anticipated ongoing operating budget requirement (currently estimated at circa £140k per annum) for the Council’s share of the Investment Partnership’s operational costs – to come back to Cabinet by December 2025 for approval.

5. Noted that the Chief Executive has agreed with the Leader of the Council that the following officers will be appointed to the Board of the Limited Liability Partnership:

Strategic Director, Corporate and Commercial Services

Strategic Director, Housing and Property Services

Strategic Director, Place

1. Agreed to undertake the DBC landlord maintenance obligations required under the contract over as part of the overall investment programme

2. Delegated authority to the Interim Strategic Director – Place in consultation with the Portfolio Holder Place following consultation with a cross-party councillor working group to develop a set of proposals that can be progressed into a full set of costed investment proposal with the support of experienced leisure centre refurbishment and project management companies and EA as our leisure contractor.

3. Cabinet agreed that a cross-party working group be established with a proposed membership of six members to assist with the development of proposals identified in recommendation 2 above.

4. To delegated authority to the Council’s Interim Strategic Director – Place, following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Place, Chief Financial Officer (S151) and the Assistant Director Legal & Democratic Services, to enter into any necessary contracts/agreements to deliver the leisure centre investment proposals.

That Cabinet:

1.Noted the award of £576,888 of funding under UKSPF to the Council

2.Provided approval for the proposed project and the funding allocation lists as set out in appendix 2.

3.Delegated authority to the Strategic Director for Place following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Place to reallocate any unused funding or any underspends

Approved the RAP and arrangements for monitoring delivery of the RAP

1. Cabinet noted the outcome of the public consultation

2.Cabinet agreed the extension of the Dog Control Public Spaces Protection Order with the inclusion of National Trust Land within the Borough of Dacorum in relation to Dog Control

3. Cabinet agreed the extension of Hemel Hempstead Town Centre Public Spaces Protection Order for the areas previously covered with a slight change to the enforceable area to enable cyclists to access cycle racks.

4.Cabinet agreed a further consultation around the cycling and skateboarding prohibition to inform next steps around possible changes to the prohibition

Cabinet approved the Air Quality Action Plan to be sent for sign off to Director of Public Health and submission to Defra

1.Supported and endorsed the masterplan

2.Supported and endorsed the phase 1 priority proposals

3.Supported and agreement was given for the S106 funding identified in paragraph 2.3.2 to be used for the relevant phase one deliverables.

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

4. Cabinet recommended Council approve a supplementary capital budget request of £117k for the phase one deliverables currently unfunded as identified in section 2.3.3

1.Noted the provisional 2024-25 provisional financial outturn position and associated reserve movements for the General Fund, Housing Revenue Account and Capital Programme.

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

2.Recommended to Council to approve the General Fund virements for 2025/26 set out at section 4.6 of this report.

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

3.Recommended to Council to approve the General Fund reserve transfers for 2024/25 and 2025/26 set out at section 8.1 of this report.

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

4. Recommended to Council to approve the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) reserve transfers 2024/25 set out at section 8.2 of this report.

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

5. Recommended to Council to approve the supplementary capital budget requests relating to 2025/26 set out at section 9.4 of this report.

Cabinet

1. Provided comments and feedback on the report for consideration by Audit Committee when they review the Q4 2024/25 Strategic Risk Register.

2. Reviewed and approved the 2025 revised Strategic Risk Register as

Cabinet

1.Approved the Medium-Term Financial Strategy 2025/26 to 2029/30 as set out in Appendix A to the report.

2.Noted the 5-year General Fund savings requirement of £2.5m between 2025 – 2030.

3.Noted that the Chief Finance Officer will work with the Council’s Strategic Leadership Team and Cabinet to deliver options that will achieve the medium-term saving targets identified within the strategy.

4.Agreed that The Chief Finance Officer be requested to revise the Medium-Term Financial Strategy and re-present to Cabinet and Council for approval if material changes to forecasts are required following future Government announcements.

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.