To receive announcements and business brought forward by the Mayor, the Leader of the Council, Members of the Cabinet, Group Leaders 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 Leader of the Council and Members of the Cabinet:
Councillor Williams Leader of the Council
Councillor Harden Residents & Corporate Services
Councillor G Sutton Planning and Regeneration
Councillor Marshall Environmental, Sustainability and Regulatory Services
Councillor Elliot Finance & Resources
Councillor Mrs Griffiths Housing
Decision:
1. By the Mayor:
None
2. By the Chief Executive:
None
3. By the Group Leaders:
Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Chapman, Fethney, Matthews and Whitman. Councillor
4. By the Leader and Members of the Cabinet:
(Full details are in the minutes under Announcements of the Leader and Cabinet Members).
Minutes:
1. By the Mayor
None.
2. By the Chief Executive:
There were no announcements made by the Chief Executive.
3. By the Group Leaders:
Councillor Williams gave apologies on behalf of Councillors Chapman, Fethney, Matthews and Whitman.
4. Members of the Cabinet:
Councillor Williams, Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Community Leadership
The Leader of the Council made no announcements.
Councillor Harden, Portfolio Holder for Residents and Corporate Services
Legal Governance:
Working with the ASB team obtained a possession order to evict a Council tenant in Waterside, Kings Langley using new powers for possession because of rent arrears and criminal offences (burglary and drug offences) under the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014. Also obtained a Suspended Possession Order against a tenant in Marnham Rise, Warners End for drug related matters.
Also obtained a Class A Closure order against a tenant in Martian Avenue, Highfield – proceedings started after drug paraphernalia was found in the property by DBC contractors.
Digital Services:
LGA research pilot with Hull University on channel shift is complete. The academic report has been finished by the University and we are finalising our channel shift menu of options for future consideration.
We ran a digital campaign ‘Go on...help your family/friends get online’ throughout Dec and Jan on both social media and in Dacorum Digest – we will replicate this again after the go-live of the new website.
Our website design has been approved (following extensive consultation with residents, Members and staff) and we are now working on the implementation of the new design ready for launch at the late February / early March. There will be lots of publicity and communications about this over the coming weeks. We are running a Dacorum Digital Week (7th – 12th March) which will comprise of a series of events for residents, charities and businesses covering digital inclusion and using services online.
We have developed a new online benefits process which is awaiting Chief Executive approval (in line with DWP requirements) with the aim to pilot with residents at the end of January.
Project & Performance Management had an audit on performance from Mazars and received a ‘full, full’ in our compliance scores which was an excellent result.
Corporate Admin:
We re-implemented our cashless policy from 1st December 2015.
Next week we will be upgrading the Capita Payments system. In part this is just a standard upgrade which we need to do to maintain support from Capita and for PSN compliance. However, it is also a pre-cursor to the Payment Kiosk being made available for use by residents in the foyer of the CSU.
Questions and answers
Councillor G Adshead asked if the Portfolio Holder would pass on his thanks for the “Love your neighbour” event for all of their efforts involved.
Councillor Harden said that he would pass his comments on.
Councillor Madden informed Members of the success of Max Whitlock the British Championship in Gymnastics.
N Harden said that his success should be recognised.
There were no more questions for the Portfolio Holder.
Councillor G Sutton, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Regeneration
Hemel Hempstead Business Ambassadors - The launch of this exciting new initiative took place on December 11th at Breakspear Park and was attended by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the Rt. Hon. Greg Clark MP. The event marked the 10 year anniversary of the Buncefield incident, but provided the opportunity to reflect on the progress made at Maylands since then and indeed the bright prospect for the future development of Maylands as a premier business location. The event was well supported, with 120 businesses attending.
Mr Mayor this leads me very nicely into my next announcement, being the designation of the Hertfordshire Enviro-Tech Enterprise Zone by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his autumn statement. The zone covers some 200 acres of land at both Maylands and on land owned by the Crown estate just over the Borough Boundary into St Albans District, together with the Building Research Establishment site at Garston and Rothamsted Research. Designation of the Enterprise Zone follows the submission of a bid to the DCLG last summer by Herts Local Enterprise Partnership, with strong input and leadership from Dacorum Borough Council. This should pave the way for the accelerated delivery of new commercial development at Maylands and the provision of new road and other infrastructure to serve East Hemel Hempstead. Our officers are now working with the LEP to put together the delivery plan, with the Enterprise Zone going ‘live’ in April this year.
Progress in Hemel Hempstead Town Centre has been very significant. The main improvement works in The Marlowes and Bank Court are now substantially complete. The legal issues surrounding the upgraded power supply to the Marlowes have now been resolved and it is expected that these works will completed by the spring. Our contractors are currently on site carrying out some minor modifications to the Food Court to make it slightly larger to accommodate more food stalls; this work will last for about two weeks. On 21 December I am pleased to report that at 0531 hrs the first bus service rolled into the new Bus Interchange, which is now fully operational. By bringing bus services into the heart of the town, this should provide a better experience for passengers and improve trading. The interchange features new bus shelters with real time service information, and a new travel office with public toilets has been installed in The Marlowes close by.
We have now had our first Christmas with the new improvements and I am pleased to report that the Christmas Live@New Town Square event with the switch-on of the new Christmas lights was well attended despite the bad weather.
Work on the Water Gardens restoration is moving ahead well. Much of the silt has now been dredged from the river bed and attention has turned recently to construction of the new fish passes – or ladders – together with the restoration of the pedestrian bridges.
At The Forum, work continues to be on schedule for DBC, the Library and other partners to move in early 2017. The build is now up to the roof level, with the laying of concrete at the top taking place in the next 2-3 weeks
Questions and answers
Councillor Fisher asked the Portfolio Holder mentioned that she was pleased with the ongoing progress but said that she felt the Market Square has been left in limbo.
The Portfolio Holder confirmed that this area will be cleared of storage in the very near future. Most certainly as the authority they are looking to see what the long term use of the site will be. In the short term, the Council is looking for appropriate use for the old Market Square and also to improve the footfall in that area.
Councillor Birnie suggested that there should be a certain amount of public participation in deciding what may be done with the Market Square.
The Portfolio Holder said that they are not ruling anything out. If there are useful suggestions put forward by members of the public, then they will consider them. He added that the most important thing is to make sure that they maintain the quality of the area.
There were no more questions for the Portfolio Holder.
Councillor Marshall, Portfolio Holder for Environmental, Sustainability and Regulatory Services
DBC held its 20th annual real Christmas tree recycling event earlier this month held in partnership with local Scouts, beavers and cubs groups. Residents brought 3,300 trees to shred and gave several hundreds of bags of wood chippings away to those residents who brought trees and wanted the chippings. 11 tonnes of wood chip created.
Viridor, who deal with DBC recyclable waste, carried out a detailed sample in November and DBC was found to have the cleanest/contained the lowest contamination of the 29 Local Authorities it deals with, achieving 96.36% Input Recyclable Quality.
In celebration of the Queen’s 90th birthday on the 25 April, Keep Britain Tidy are having a “National clean-up Weekend” on the 4-6 March 2016, their promotion reading “Vacuum your Villages! Spruce up your Cities!, De-litter your Lanes!”. Cupid Green is the point of contact for the Borough for groups undertaking the litter picks and I ask colleagues to liaise with their residents to arrange for litter picks. Of course, litter picks can be done at any time, and some wards, such as Grovehill, do litter picks regularly. Cupid Green will help – supply bags and litter pick sticks and will collect the rubbish collected.
Questions and answers
Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe said that she was pleased to hear that Dacorum produces clean recycling. She asked if this helped the Council generate more money from the recyclable goods.
Councillor Marshall replied to her question in that some money can be generated in clean recyclable goods. Councillor Williams added that, as a result of the higher proportion of recyclable material, less rubbish is sent to landfill, thus saving in costs.
There were no more questions for the Portfolio Holder.
Councillor Elliot, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Resources
Thank you Mr Mayor, I would like to deliver my report on the Finance and Resources Function
Budget
Budget setting is progressing well. Papers are being prepared for budget review group and the second joint Overview and Scrutiny meeting. The team have responded well to the challenge resulting from the changes coming through from the Local Government Finance Settlement announced in December and will be presenting further options and implications for member consideration throughout the remaining process.
As a lady PM said in 1979 We should not underestimated the enormity of the task which lies ahead. But little can be achieved without sound money. It is the bedrock of sound government.
Payroll
Good progress is being made in order to deliver a new payroll provider in time for April 2016 and we are still on track to meet the timeframe.
Revenue & Benefits:
The team are continuing to demonstrate their customer focus by ensuring that claims and enquiries are dealt with quickly and efficiently. The average time to make a decision on a new benefit was about 2½ weeks during the last quarter – this is more than a week faster than during the same period last year, showing an improvement of over 25%. The council tax team are continuing to meet their target, and responded to well over 90% of customer enquiries within two weeks.
Council tax support
Since the introduction of local Council Tax Support in 2013, we have asked full Council to vote each January to approve the scheme for the following tax year.
Each year we have made changes to the calculation factors for working age council taxpayers in order to keep them in line with the annual uprating of other state benefits. Even a minor change such as this needs Council approval under the terms of the Local Government Finance Act.
This year, central government has frozen the benefit rates for working age people, and so there is no need to change our local Council Tax Support scheme. This means that Council does not need to approve next year’s scheme tonight.
There are still increases to the state benefits paid to pensioners, but central government automatically adjusts the Council Tax Support rules nationally, so we don’t require a vote to bring these changes into effect in Dacorum.
Commercial Assets & Property Development:
The ongoing work to maximise capital receipts is continuing with the first garage site being marketed and an offer has been accepted subject to completion of the legal documentation. This should realise a receipt in this financial year. Further sites will be presented as part of the programme. The timing of sales will be designed to maximise the financial receipt.
The team has been busy reviewing and updating the Asset Management Strategy and this was presented to Finance and Resources OSC for comments and suggestions and will be considered by Cabinet in early February.
Thank you, that concludes my report and I invite any questions form the chamber
Questions and answers
There were no questions for the Portfolio Holder.
Councillor Griffiths, Portfolio Holder for Housing
Tenant and Leaseholder Services.
Christmas/Winter Rent Campaign - Our ‘Don’t Get Ripped Off’ winter rent campaign is concluding in January. The initial results are positive with rent collection performance at the end of December running at over 99.5% of the rent that is due.
Upgrading our alarm call system in Sheltered Housing - From 15 January 2016 our Supported Housing Service as commissioned Tunstall – to commence a project designed to upgrade the aging alarm call systems within our Sheltered Housing Schemes. The upgrade process will in the short term generate ‘spares’ for the existing systems which will help to prolong their life and maintain functioning systems in all our sheltered schemes.
STAR – Survey of Tenants and Residents - Every two years the Housing Service conducts a ‘Survey of Tenants and Residents’. This process is designed to take a snapshot of tenant’s views of the service and to identify their priorities for the future.
Previous results from general need tenants have indicated that:-
1. Taking everything into account, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the service provided by Dacorum Borough Council as your housing landlord?
86.4% Satisfied (2012) 85.7% Satisfied (2014)
2. How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the overall quality of your home?
76.4% satisfied (2012) 82.2% Satisfied (2014)
3. How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your neighbourhood as a place to live?
81.1% satisfied (2012) 86.5% Satisfied (2014)
4. How satisfied or dissatisfied are you that your rent (or service charges) provides value for money?
75.6% satisfied (2012) 78.5% Satisfied (2014)
Strategic Housing.
Strategic Housing have been working closely with a number of partner agencies to ensure appropriate facilities and bed spaces are available to meet Severe Cold Weather Demands (SWEP). The Council have been able to ensure the availability of up to 12 additional bed spaces, during periods of severe cold weather. This ensures that rough sleepers are able to access accommodation, food, advice and support and prevent risk of exposure to illness or injury from cold weather. The team are continuing to work closely with partner agencies to achieve positive outcomes, for those clients who are currently without permanent accommodation and rough sleeping.
In addition Strategic Housing are making preparations with staff and partners to undergo a further peer review of the service. This is following an intensive period of close work with the National Practitioner Support Service, CSU and a number of other partner agencies to further improve access and quality of service – the overall aim to achieve Gold Standard for homelessness services. This has seen the development of our Enhanced Housing Options tool, an online tool designed to provide information regarding the Council’s housing options service and the services of our partners. Close partnership working is at the forefront of Strategic Housing’s objectives, will form part of the services Partnership Strategy; which is currently being drafted.
Property and Place.
Longlands Refurbishment and Rooftop development
· Projected completion date 5th Feb
· 4 of the 6 new flats have been offered and accepted and the final two flats have viewings scheduled.
· The existing residents have already seen a benefit from reduced heating bills and one resident is monitoring their fuel bills for 12 months so we can establish the overall impact.
· A valuation has been arranged to determine the increase in the market value of the existing flats as a result of the refurbishment.
· The end of project survey has been carried out and there have been high levels of satisfaction.
· An article will be included in the spring edition of News and Views and the local newspaper in March
Structural Upgrading of Walkways / Balconies - All footings to both the Walkways and Single balcony’s sites have been completed and there have been some amendments required to bridge underground services.18 of the 31 walkways sites have been completed and all work is planned to be completed by April. Single Balconies, working on 31 sites, of which, 15 have been completed. The contractor now has 3 teams now working on this phase of works and a resident liaison officer has been keeping resident informed, regarding any delays or changes to the programme.
Osborne Total Asset Management
· The repair volumes over the Christmas break were lower than usual but have increased since the beginning of the calendar year.
· The External wall insulation project at Runham Road, Bassil Road, Lawn Lane and Deaconsfield road is ongoing and there have been some delays due to the excessively wet weather in December which prevented the application of the render.
· Fire risk assessment upgrading work is due to start on site at Pelham Court in January.
· The performance indicators remain, at or above target and the final audit for the first nine months of the contract was concluded and the total saving for the first year was £272,142, which has been reinvested back into the contract.
Gas Servicing - The servicing and installation contract has been delivering consistently high levels of compliance, currently 100%, with no properties currently overdue and customer satisfaction remaining high.
Questions and answers
Councillor Tindall made reference to the 10,000 people on the housing waiting list. He said that he was disappointed to hear of the proposal to end Council building in 2020 as a saving measure. He asked if there would be a more flexible approach to building in the future and keep the option open.
The Portfolio Holder confirmed that the Council has a plan going forward. All finances have been looked at closely; however the Council needs to take stock of where we are with current resources.