Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 12 April 2010. 

                                                                                                (Enclosure)

It was noted that minute CO79 under bullet point (b) of other options considered should have stated “Possession action can only be taken against the registered owner. The registered owner is not the person operating the car sales. Once proceedings have been started the vehicle has been sold or moved from the Council land and different vehicles are put in their place. Possession action in respect of each vehicle is not an effective remedy.”

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 April 2010 were then approved as a correct record.

No declarations of interest were made.

Report number CHSC0024 by the Cabinet Champion for Equalities.

                                                                                                (Enclosure)

DECISION:

That the Cabinet approves the publication of the annual review of the Corporate Equalities Scheme and Equalities in Employment monitoring report

Considerations/reasons for decision:

(1)       Report number CHSC0024 by the Cabinet Champion for Equalities.

(2)       Comments made by the Corporate Head for Sustainable Communities at the meeting regarding the Council’s legal requirements to report and the changes made by the Council to meet commitments made by the Council under the Corporate Equalities Scheme 2009-12.

(3)       Comments made by Cabinet Members noting that this was not an exercise in “ticking boxes” but were changes that ran throughout the Council.

Other options considered:

The Council was required under previous legislation to produce an annual review of its Corporate Equality Scheme. Following the promulgation of the Equalities Act 2010, this will be reviewed in new regulations expected by the autumn of this year. Similarly monitoring of equalities in employment is a requirement under the current legislation.

Report number AFM143 by the Healthy Environment Portfolio Holder.

                                                                                                            (Enclosure)

DECISION:

(1)       The District Council enters into a Leisure Management Agreement, associated schedules and related documents for the provision of the management of its leisure services at Bourne, Deepings, Grantham and Stamford centres with Leisure in the Community (LITC), an industrial provident society (IPS) through a five year contract with the option of a break clause available to either party at the end of year three of the contract term.

(2)       The District Council grants leases or licences to the IPS for each centre for the term of the Management Agreement.

(3)       The District Council enters into a collateral warranty between Leisure Connection and the Council by which Leisure Connection will warrant the skill and care of the performance of the services and other obligations in the Management Agreement.

(4)       The District council agrees the IPS provides the management of the leisure centres  through a contract (related to the Management Agreement) between the IPS and Leisure Connection to transfer, for the venues set out below, giving Leisure Connection responsibility for performance of the Services.

(5)       The Cabinet delegate the negotiations on the terms of the documents required to implement the proposed management provision to the Corporate Head of Resources in agreement with the Portfolio holder for Resources and Assets in consultation with the Portfolio holder Healthy Environment and to the satisfaction of the Council’s Statutory Officers.

Considerations/reasons for decision:

(1)       Report AFM143 by the Portfolio Holder for Healthy Environment.

(2)       Comments made by the Corporate Head for Resources and Organisational Development at the meeting, specifically highlighting the importance of community benefit and noting that an IPS would have access to funding streams otherwise unavailable to the Council.

(3)       Comments made by Cabinet Members at the meeting noting the significant work done by the team.

(4)       Comments by Cabinet Members noting a need for the contract to include provision for facilities to be added or removed from the contract where necessary.

(5)       Comments from Cabinet Members noting that a five year contract would provide a degree of certainty which would be good for customers.

Other options considered:

          The other option considered was to extend the interim agreement with Leisure Connection for a period of time and proceed to a tender process which would incur significant cost. The proposal from Leisure Connection is more economically advantageous than the previous second lowest bid from the original tender procedure. The proposal was considered to provide value for money and is from the company which was selected from the competitive dialogue as preferred bidder to negotiate contractual terms.

Report number CHFCS100 by the Assets and Resources Portfolio Holder.

                                                                                                            (Enclosure)

DECISION:

(1)       That initial consideration be given to allocate up to a total of £500,000 on a variety of specific one-off community projects with the balance to be held in reserves for future use.

(2)       That the Cabinet ask Resources PDG together with the Chair and Vice-Chair of Communities and Engagement PDGs to consider initiatives identified by Cabinet together with any further ideas for one-off projects which would benefit the community and which must also support the Council’s priority actions.

(3)       That consideration be given to the following suggested uses for the funding:

a.     The provision of play equipment

b.    Supporting local business

c.     Cabinet agree to recommend to Council the deferment of Sunday and evening charging in the Council’s car parks until the next charging review for the financial year 2012/13.

Considerations/reasons for decision:

(1)       Report number CHFCS100 by the Portfolio Holder for Assets and Resources.

(2)       Comments made by the Corporate Head for Finance and Customer Services noting that potentially the Council could receive an additional amount if compound interest is applied to the refund.

(3)       Comments from Cabinet Members noting the potential future reduction in grant income, but recognising that this was an unbudgeted windfall which should be used to benefit the community.

(4)       Comments from Cabinet Members noting that there had been little funding for play equipment and that improvements could be made in a number of areas.

(5)       Comments from Cabinet Members stressing that this was a one-off windfall and that any uses for the money would need to be projects without ongoing revenue costs due to existing budgetary pressure.

DATE DECISIONS ARE EFFECTIVE

Decisions CO3-CO5 as made on 10 May 2010 can be implemented on 19 May 2010 unless subject to call-in by the Scrutiny Committee Chairman or any five members of the Council from any political groups.