To receive announcements and business brought forward by the Mayor, Leader, and Members of the Cabinet 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 Council Leader and Members of the Cabinet:
Councillor Williams Leader of the Council
Councillor Banks Community and Regulatory Services
Councillor Anderson Planning and Infrastructure
Councillor Elliot Finance and Resources
Councillor Griffiths Housing
Councillor Williams Corporate and Contracted Services
Councillor Barrett Environmental Services
Decision:
4.1 By the Mayor:
None.
4.2 By
the Chief Executive:
The Chief Executive announced that there will be three by-elections taking place on Thursday the 3rd of February 2022, for the following wards:
Borough Council - Boxmoor Ward
Borough Council - Berkhamsted West Ward
Berkhamsted Town Council - West Ward
4.3 By the Group Leaders:
Councillor Williams gave
apologies on behalf of Councillors Bhinder, Oguchi, Peter, and
Independent member Councillor Maddern.
Councillor Tindall gave
apologies on behalf of Councillors Barry-Mears, England, Hobson,
Hollinghurst, Link, McDowell, Pringle, Stevens, Townsend and
Wilkie.
4.4 Council Leader and Members of the Cabinet:
(Full details are in the minutes under Announcements of the Leader and Cabinet).
Minutes:
4.1 By the Mayor:
None.
4.2 By
the Chief Executive:
The Chief Executive announced that there will be three by-elections taking place on Thursday the 3rd of February 2022, for the following wards:
Borough Council - Boxmoor Ward
Borough Council - Berkhamsted West Ward
Berkhamsted Town Council - West Ward
4.3 By the Group Leaders:
Councillor Williams gave
apologies on behalf of Councillors Bhinder, Oguchi, Peter, and
Independent member Councillor Maddern.
Councillor Tindall gave
apologies on behalf of Councillors Barry-Mears, England, Hobson,
Hollinghurst, Link, McDowell, Pringle, Stevens, Townsend and
Wilkie.
4.4 Council Leader and Members of the Cabinet:
The Leader had no announcements but welcomed questions.
Questions
Councillor Symington made reference to the previous meeting of the Council where a motion was agreed that the Leader would write to the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), the Home Secretary, the Prime Minister and the Chief Constable in relation to violence against women and girls. She thanked the Leader for the letters he wrote and circulated and noted there had been one response from the Home Secretary’s office. She asked if there had been any further replies to his letter.
The Leader advised he had only received the one response at present, although he said it was unclear whether that reply was from the Home Secretary or the Prime Minister, or whether the one response was to cover both areas.
Councillor Symington asked if the Leader would consider writing another letter asking for a response, given the recent cases against officers in Hertfordshire that would fall under crimes against women and girls.
The Leader confirmed he was happy to write another letter. He added that the PCC and Chief Constable had made some recent announcements on the subject. Action.
Councillor Adeleke referred to the relaxation of Covid rules. He asked what plans we had in place for staff returning to work at The Forum and how can we guarantee their safety.
The Leader replied he couldn’t give a detailed answer to that question given that the announcement had only happened this afternoon. He felt we had to accept the virus would be around for some time in various forms and acknowledge that working practices had changed. There are more opportunities for remote working and it was unlikely that staff would return to work at The Forum as they did pre-pandemic for some time. He advised the Council would continue to take precautionary measures and have less people in the office to keep everyone safe.
Councillor Banks, Portfolio Holder for Community and Regulatory Services
Cllr Banks presented a report on Community and Regulatory services:
REGULATORY SERVICES
Covid-19
The Environmental Health Teams are now focusing its attentions on supporting self-isolation, workplace outbreaks and working with Community Partnerships Teams to support the vaccination programme. It goes without saying, noting the Prime Ministers announcements today, I hope, that we will all continue to play our part to drive down infection rates in order to protect each other, safe guard the NHS and avoid further infections and deaths by committing to vaccinations, respecting space, hand washing and wearing face coverings.
Public Space Protection Order and Littering Enforcement Pilot Contract
In December 394 tickets were issued (one was cancelled), 343 (87%) of these were for littering offences. The remaining 50 were for breach of the Borough wide Dog Control PSPO or the Hemel Town Centre PSPO.
Officers have been working with District Partners to ensure that all wards of the borough are visited frequently, at least monthly for areas of low littering and PSPO complaints.
COMMUNITY
As members are aware an email was sent just before Christmas as a reminder of safeguarding training they can access. Please contact the community safety and safeguarding generic mailbox if you have any concerns or questions.
Hertfordshire Safeguarding Adults Board carried out a review of the council’s responsibility to safeguard residents at risk. Overall the findings are positive and show the great work across the organisation in the last year to protect our vulnerable residents. In particular they picked out the good practice throughout the pandemic to prioritise residents at greatest risk, ensure staff were supported through schemes like the mental health first aiders and delivery of Covid community grants to ensure local groups could run safely.
Finally, Mr Mayor the preparations are now underway though not quite finalised for our celebration of the Queens Platinum Jubilee. To give you all an idea
We are engaging with Parish Councils and partners, looking at how the Old Town Hall can play a part, thinking of a scavenger hunt linking all the key events together, inviting schools to design artwork for marketing of course Comms will be key to promoting and issuing reminders the things like the deadlines for applications for road closures (21st April, 2021) – how exciting!
Questions
Councillor Freedman highlighted one of the negative consequences of the Enforcement action was the criminal masquerading of Enforcement Officers trying to collect on the spot fines and requesting personal information to facilitate dog theft. He asked what communication we were distributing to avoid further criminal activity.
The Portfolio Holder expressed it was such a shame that the masquerading had occurred, and so quickly after launching the pilot in November. She advised the Police were involved immediately and were working alongside our contractors to ensure this behavior isn’t ongoing. Communications have publicised the Enforcement Officers uniform so the public have an idea what they should look for. All Enforcement Officers will be wearing badges and will never ask for cash on the spot.
Councillor Anderson, Portfolio Holder for Planning & Infrastructure
Cllr Anderson presented a report on Planning and Infrastructure:
Members that regularly keep an eye on planning applications and decisions will have noticed that before Christmas the Council received its first predatory application for major development in the Green Belt with 390 dwellings to be built north of Gadebridge. We also understand that we are likely to receive a second and larger application for 1400 dwellings north-east of Tring next month. The Council will consider those applications according to the proper process so I am not at liberty to express an opinion at present.
The Local Plan task and finish group will resume as soon as there is progress on the Local Plan to report on later this year. It certainly hasn’t been forgotten about.
Hemel Place Strategy: Andrew Percival has been appointed as the first Chairman of the Board. Andrew comes to us having done an excellent job of the same role at Stevenage in recent times and we look forward to Hemel Hempstead gaining his experience. The next meeting is scheduled for February. We are looking at how to feed the views of Dacorum members in to the process of Hemel Place Board.
Hemel Gardens Community Project has finished the visioning workshops and is moving on to the next stage. Having completed the first stage the Director, Tom Dewey, is leaving us and will be replaced by Phillipa Zieba.
The South West Herts Joint Strategic Plan for 2038-2050. The last workshop is due to take place next week. The Regulation 18 consultation with the public will take place in spring.
Finally, this does stray slightly into Councillor Elliot’s Portfolio but I need to announce that a new round of Additional Restrictions Grants (ARGs) is taking place. Unlike previous rounds we need businesses that have been hit hard such as hospitality etc. to reapply for new grants, it won’t be done automatically.
Happy to take questions.
Questions
Councillor Symington understood that Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) as the lead flood authority apparently wrote to all District Councils saying they would no longer comment on planning applications with regards to flood risk. The recommendation from HCC was that all local planning authorities pay for independent consultants to review an application and she queried whether the Portfolio Holder considered this to be the direction that Dacorum should go.
The Portfolio Holder responded he would need to investigate and provide a written response to members. Action.
Councillor Allen said several months ago there was correspondence from Sara Whelan requesting the availability of members to attend a presentation about the Station Gateway development but the trail seems to have gone cold. He asked if members could have an update on the development.
The Portfolio Holder replied he would need to investigate and provide a written response to members. Action.
Councillor Elliot, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Resources
Cllr Elliot presented a report on Finance and Resources:
Financial Services
The Finance service has been extremely busy during December on the development of the 2022/23 budget. As part of that process the service have had to respond to the Local Government Finance Settlement.
The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022/23 announced prior to Christmas was in line with expectations with a couple of one off benefits including an enhanced New Homes Bonus Allocation and a further freezing of negative Revenue Support Grant (RSG). The Settlement unfortunately provided little indication of the medium term local government funding levels, although the government has outlined it would like to prioritise funding toward the “levelling up” and funding for Social Care.
The finance service also works closely with the Economic Development and Revenues & Benefits services to support the payments required for Covid business support payments to businesses and test and trace support payments to residents.
Commercial Assets and Property Development
Estates Team
The Estates Team continue to work with Public Health England, the NHS, Herts County Council and other partners on the assessment and delivery of vaccine delivery sites, pop up testing/vaccination sites, and booster jab locations. The work in this area increased significantly in December as the desire for more vaccination sites and testing sites was increased.
The team successfully relocated DENS into their temporary accommodation in Dacre House over December and early January.
Commercial Property Team
Although the last quarter has seen a period when the 100% business rates relief for the retail, leisure and hospitality sector end, along with furlough, the service has managed to work very effectively with leaseholders and the financial performance of the commercial portfolio has been strong in the first 3 quarters of 2021/22 and to date the occupancy levels of the commercial portfolio remain very high.
Going forward the customer/business response to Covid Recovery will be key to income performance. The Government’s support for businesses in 20/21 and 21/22 was significant and at present support for 22/23 is unclear. The Government’s Moratorium on debt collection is due to come to an end in March 2022 and it is unknown at this point in time what impact that will have upon income and void levels.
Revenues and Benefits service
Over the festive period the government made several announcements in regards to additional Covid Support that the revenues service had to implement as soon as possible.
The first was the new Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant aimed to provide grants of up to £6k per property liable for business rates in the Hospitality and Leisure sectors. These sectors have been deemed hardest hit by the implementation of Plan B restrictions.
The council received final guidance on the 7th January and initiated the scheme in the week commencing 10th January. The government estimates this will provide circa £1.3m of additional business rates support to businesses but present Dacorum estimations are closer to £0.8m to support circa 200 businesses.
The revenues service have also supported the Economic development team to roll out the next phase of the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG), with this phase focusing on supporting those businesses that won’t receive the Omicron Relief grant but are involved in the hospitality and leisure supply chain sectors.
In addition to this the government have announced an additional ARG top up grant and Dacorum is due to receive £345k, the revenues service will continue to support the Economic Development Service in developing a policy for allocating these funds to local businesses impacted by Covid restrictions.
This team continues to play an important role in providing financial support to local residents and having seen numbers of test and trace support applications reduce during November these have then increased significantly to the highest levels experienced in December and January.
The Revenues service is working with the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities and software partners to ensure the issuing of the 2022/23 business Rates bills are on time and include the new reliefs for 2022/23.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Council Officers in my team who has shown great professionalism in dealing with residents and businesses –they are the unsung heroes of the Council.
Questions
Councillor Guest said the DBC commercial assets seemed to be doing well in comparison with private landlords. She asked what our occupancy rates were.
The Portfolio Holder recognised that commercial assets at Rossgate were close to Councillor Guest’s heart being in her County Division and although there are a few vacant premises there, the Portfolio Holder reassured her that they were seeking to upgrade them and move tenants in as soon as possible. He advised that on average the occupancy rates were 95% which he felt was a fantastic result given the circumstances.
Councillor Guest queried how many void properties we had.
The Portfolio Holder advised there were 30 voids out of our 901 properties.
Councillor Beauchamp asked for more information on the Revenue Support Grants (RSG) mentioned in the Portfolio Holder’s update.
The Portfolio Holder explained the RSG were Government grants given to local authorities which can be used to finance revenue expenditure on any service. The amount of RSG to be provided to authorities is established through local government finance settlements.
Councillor Beauchamp sought clarification on the concept of negative RSG.
The Portfolio Holder explained the concept of negative RSG was introduced to enable the government to reduce the level of funding paid to an authority when there was no further RSG left to reduce. The idea was that the negative RSG would net off against the business rates funding to bring the total authority funding down to a level which in the government’s opinion reflected the level of need. In this respect negative RSG was only ever a transitional tool until each authorities needs level funding was captured and baselined within the business rates future funding. The government has previously stated that RSG will cease to exist as a funding stream once a new funding model is rolled out.
Councillor Symington queried how many commercial asset tenants were taking payment holidays.
The Portfolio Holder replied he didn’t have the figure to hand but believed it was approximately 20%. He said he would aim to provide an updated figure to members. Action.
Councillor Allen understood it was the intention to install Electric Vehicle Charging Points (EVCP) in the Borough’s car parks. He said given that St Johns Road car park was within 500 metres of an electrical sub-station which is one of the key criteria’s and he questioned why that car park wasn’t on the list to be surveyed and explored further.
Councillor Williams advised the matter fell within his remit so he would provide a response. Action.
Councillor Adeleke asked if there was any plan to support local businesses in 22/23 if Government support wasn’t forthcoming or was limited.
The Portfolio Holder replied that business rate relief has not directly cost the Council any income as we receive a Government grant to cover this.
Councillor Griffiths, Portfolio Holder for Housing
Cllr Griffiths presented a report on Housing:
TENANT & LEASEHOLDER SERVICES
· Rent Arrears at 4.07% compared with 4.4% last year. Excellent performance given previous 12 months
· Supported Housing survey conducted re: tenants experience during Covid. Positive feedback about the team and the support made available.
· Two families settled via Afghan LES resettlement programme, both doing well. In the process of matching families 3 and 4.
STRATEGIC HOUSING
· Engagement with DLUHC and HCC in relation to co-production for Rough Sleeper Initiative (RSI) 5 bid due end February 2022
· Matched 2nd Afghan LES household to 5 bedroom registered provider property. Matching for 3rd property is currently underway.
· Liaising with Tenant & Leaseholder and Development teams to finalise gearing up proposals for new build site at Consiton Road, Kings Langley.
· Commencement of Allocations policy implementation project following successful recruitment of Project Officer.
PROPERTY & PLACE
· Achieved 100% gas safety compliance in December, which is very positive, as usually a difficult month to gain access.
· Ongoing issues with increased average times to complete non-urgent repairs, which is impacting tenants.
· Osborne are working on an improvement plan to reduce any delays in completing repairs and works to voids properties and have on-boarded additional suppliers to address the issues.
· The stock condition surveys have commenced, but the access rate has been variable due to Covid, so this is being closely monitored.
HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
|
St Margaret’s Way |
Planning Approval achieved Dec 2021. |
|
Mountbatten View (Paradise Fields) |
Appointment of Principal Contractor approved. Mobilising a start on site for April / May 2022. |
|
Coniston Road |
On site progressing well. Completion due April / May 2022 |
|
Wilstone |
Appointment of Principal Contractor approved. Mobilising a start on site. |
|
Bulbourne |
Approval to purchase land approved at Sept Cabinet. Tring Town Council (TCC) are not committing to agreeing to sell the site to us until a planning application is achieved. Positive meeting held with Clerk, Heads of Terms and Contract now being progressed subject to TTC approval. Project ready to submit for Planning but waiting for the sale to be agreed. |
|
LA1 |
Stage 2 design progressing. Resident consultation event held and scheme will be ready to submit for planning Feb 2022. |
|
Cherry Bounce |
Stage 2 design completed. |
|
Paradise Depot |
Approval to appropriate land achieved at Sept Cabinet. Planning application submitted Dec 2021. |
|
Garage Sites |
5 No Planning applications approved at Beechfield, Sleddale, Housewood End Sempill and Dione Road. Demolition commenced. Contractor approved for the new build and in the process of going into contract. |
|
Randall’s Ride |
Appointment of Principal Contractor approved at Sept Cabinet. Mobilising a start on site April / May. Site due to be demolished shortly. Homes England funding request formally submitted. |
|
Aragon Close RSAP |
Homes England funding approved. Planning approval achieved Dec 2021. Contractor instructed. Mobilising start on site Feb 2022. |
Questions
Councillor Banks asked if the Portfolio Holder agreed with her that the Community Safety Team and the Homelessness Team working together have had magnificent success with the Tap & Give machines located in The Marlowes. She understood the amount donated so far was £225 and felt this was worthy support for our homeless communities.
The Portfolio Holder congratulated both teams for all the hard work that had been put in and said it gave extra safety and support to those suffering from homelessness.
Councillor Symington advised she had a question regarding the rehoming of Afghan refugees that the Portfolio Holder had referred to in her announcement. She said it was fantastic we had rehomed two families and that we had pledged to help two more families. She questioned if it was possible for Dacorum to change its rules so that we can rehome families from other Afghan Refugee schemes to enable families that are local to be housed in the other two homes we were offering.
The Portfolio Holder advised that any changes to rules would need to go through Full Council as the decision was made through a Motion of this council. She explained they needed to review the options and consideration would be given, however it was difficult to balance the needs of the Refugees with the needs of our existing residents.
The Mayor advised that the sponsored sleep out for the homeless raised £50k. He said this was an incredible achievement for a one-night event.
Councillor Williams, Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Contracted Services
Councillor Williams presented a report on Corporate and Contracted Services:
The Chief Executive mentioned the by-elections in her announcements. Services were preparing for those Elections on 3rd February.
Work continues on the Berkhamsted Sports Centre Project. A public consultation will be launched in the second week of February with online presence on our website as well as two in-person sessions subject to any issues that may arise. The in-person events will be drop-in sessions in Berkhamsted and residents will have the opportunity to ask questions and raise their comments.
The latest issue with the Highbarns project is being resolved, subject to not having any unexpected issues arise this should be completed mid-February.
Questions
Councillor Symington referred to a question she asked at the previous meeting regarding artificial grass on the pitches at Berkhamsted Sports Centre. She said the minutes advised the Portfolio Holder would provide an update on the pitches the following week, so did he have an update for them two months later.
The Portfolio Holder didn’t remember that being his response but to his knowledge the pitches were part of the ongoing project and consultation. They were looking at the possible relocation of the pitches but he hadn’t been advised of any updates from those discussions.
Councillor Harden thanked the Portfolio Holder for the speed in which he responded to his question at the last Full Council meeting and took action regarding the exit of the Water Gardens car park and the pedestrian crossing. He noticed that a mound of soil had been left by the entrance of the car park and he asked if the Portfolio Holder would arrange for the entrance to look more attractive than it does at present.
The Portfolio Holder agreed he would look into the matter.
Councillor Barrett, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services
Cllr Barrett presented a report on Environmental Services:
Environmental Projects:
· Our Christmas Tree recycling day was a big success! Over 6400 trees were collected and chipped by our teams. Seven scout groups and the local St Francis hospice were welcomed back after not being able to take part last year. We offered residents wood chippings to take away for their garden.
· We held our second prize draw for our Street Champions volunteer group, of which we now have 530 registered residents. Every volunteer who sent us a picture of their litter pick throughout the last quarter was entered into the draw. We had 9 winners, all of which won a pizza voucher generously donated by FireAway Pizza Hemel. The top two winners also won a litter picking hoop.
· Plans for the first Dacorum ‘Nappy Natter’ (reusable nappies) on 21 February are well under way, which will include demonstrations and available discounts. The talk will be followed by a reusable nappy swap. We have been making lots of fliers and posters ready for distribution to local baby groups and nurseries soon. Event is live on our website and EventBrite: https://hertsreusablenappynatter.eventbrite.co.uk
· Starting promoting our Additional Garden Waste Subscription Service for extra green bins ahead of collections re-starting end of Feb/beginning of March.
· Delivered prize to the winning school from our Monsters on a Mission classroom food caddy competition. The winning school chose to spend their £250 on gardening equipment and are starting a lunchtime gardening club to grow their own food for the school kitchen.
Trees and Woodlands:
· Sat 15th Jan – Friends of Bunkers Park (15 persons on site) planted approx. 450 trees on the site. These comprised 17 fruit trees as part of an informal orchard, with the remainder being a native hedgerow species mix to form a new copse.
· We are due to receive this Fri (21st) our delivery of 95 standard trees for planting in roadside verges and housing areas. Included within the number are 15 trees to be planted within Gadebridge Park. Planting will commence within the next four weeks.
· Whip planting (x500) occurred in Gadebridge Park last month, expanding on last years’ planting of the same number.
· Whip planting (x350) occurred in Keens Field last month, replacing plants that failed to establish last year.
· Further planting will occur at Bunkers Park of more native species to expand the new copse, and further whip planting as boundary screening.
CSG:
· Recruitment drive starting.
· Staff refresher training completed, it was cancelled last year due to Covid.
· CPC training starting.
· LGV - 4 staff passed theory.
· Project work - Allotment renovations funded by s106 money from new developments has started working closely with estates department.
· Last batch of street nameplates for this financial year processed with install date of approx. end of January.
Waste Services:
· Driver situation appears to have stabilised with one more driver returning on the agency after only a week away.
· Christmas back log went well and the service is now back on the routine schedules. Now planning schedules for April 2022 and beyond. WS have expressed a wish to work the Queens Bank Holiday.
· Refresher training for CSG 95% complete. Refresher training for WS staff ongoing.
· DCPC training to be commenced. Training room now booked up until commencement of garden waste collections.
Questions
Councillor Douris asked for confirmation that the name of the new Cemetery would be Poppy Fields.
The Portfolio Holder confirmed that was correct.