Agenda item

D Skinner introduced the report and went through the highlights in quarter 2. The quarter was fairly consistent with quarter 1 and was showing a positive trend in line with previous years.
The pressures in the service is employees – there was a £50,000 overspend in waste services due to the additional round for hard to access properties not being factored in last year’s budget. Also, there was a £130,000 overspend in building control. There are a lot of vacant posts in this department so agency staff are currently helping to carry out the work.
There has been an under achievement of income in planning due to the uncertainty in the housing market after the EU referendum and there has been an over achievement of income in waste services as a result of an incentive payment from Hertfordshire County Council as a reward for improving recycling in the co-mingled waste service.

D Skinner was happy to take questions

Councillor Birnie asked for clarification in paragraph 2.4. Are the additional burden grants the same as section 31 grants?

D Skinner said the section 31 grants are now the new burden grant. It adds responsibility.

Councillor Birnie referred to the waste collection and the problem with access. Is the pressure of £50,000 likely to be a recurring problem?

D Skinner said this had arisen due to an error in the budgeting process last year. The round structures will be corrected for 2017/18 so we shouldn’t see this problem again.

C Thorpe said the new fleet vehicles are slightly larger than the old fleet therefore some areas have become difficult to navigate. For example, some areas in Dacorum have become permit only parking and so parked cars spill over into surrounding roads, making it difficult for the vehicles to get down.

Councillor Matthews referred to page 6 paragraph 4.2 and the under achievement of income in the planning service. Can this be solely due to the result of the referendum or are there other factors?

J Doe said this mainly commercial uncertainty. The budget income was set when there was modest growth and a large trajectory of sites coming forward. At the moment, these sites have not been forthcoming but there is hope that it will improve.

Councillor Anderson asked if this was a local issue as the current economic indicators do not show that trend.

J Doe said this was a trend nationally. There has been a mixed response from businesses and didn’t understand it to be a local issue.

Councillor Matthews asked if the same pressures were being seen within commercial building.

J Doe said a little. We are currently awaiting the revised planning application for the retail park at Maylands. The volume of activity has increased and most of the work in the planning department is small householder applications.

Councillor Hicks referred back to commercial waste. Does the service include recycling? If not, maybe this is why private companies can undercut on price.

C Thorpe said that the department has been running a commercial recycling waste service for a while. However, we do not want to invest in this and extend the service until we are certain of the market.

Councillor Fisher asked about the overspend on disabled facilities. Does this reflect an increase in costs or demand?

C Troy said they do not know why. The grants awarded have been higher and the demand has increased.

Councillor Birnie noticed that the grant was larger than we were expecting but was still not sufficient. Can these costs be recouped from Treasury in the future?

C Troy said a larger grant was given to Dacorum because we were able to demonstrate that we had a greater need than other authorities. This grant comes from the Better Care fund from Herts County Council.

D Skinner said the level of grant was increased across the whole of Hertfordshire and is based on the Better Care fund. It is allocated to local authorities on a formula basis.

Councillor Birnie asked what facilities were provided.

C Troy said bathrooms, ramps, level floor accesses and stair lifts.

Councillor Tindall referred to line 169 and the slippage of £60,000. What is causing the delay?

J Doe said the projects are moving along in phases. The litters bins and benches are being installed.

Councillor Birnie mentioned the commercial waste shortfall and that another overview and scrutiny committee were told that an investigation is ongoing. Would it be possible to see the results once it is completed?

C Thorpe said the investigation is going through customers who the council are not providing the service to anymore to find out why. At the moment, the main reasons are companies are closing down or relocating.

Outcome

That the Strategic Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee note the report.