Agenda and minutes

To approve the record of the Cabinet meeting held on 10^th July 2006.                                      (Enclosure)

The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 10^th July 2006 were approved as a correct record with the following amendment at minute CO31, point 7 of the decision:

“To task budget holdersto keep the impacts of the Comprehensive Spending Review and any other specific grants under review and report back to Cabinet on a regular basis.”

Councillor Smith declared a personal interest in agenda item 4 on the Bourne Core Area by virtue of his being a member of a club whose premises were in Bourne town centre, as such, he did not participate in voting on this item.

EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

In accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, it was resolved that the public be excluded because of the likelihood in view of the nature of business to be transacted that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 4 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended. With the press and public excluded, the following item was considered.

Report number PLA607 by the Economic Development Portfolio Holder.                        (Enclosure)

This report is exempt because it contains information on the Council’s contracts.

Having declared a personal interest in agenda item 4, Councillor Smith did not participate in any vote on this item.

DECISION:

1.                  That South Kesteven District Council and Bourne Town Centre Management Partnership terminate all future negotiations/discussions with Henry Davidson Development Ltd (HDDL) concerning the Bourne Core Area site;

2.                  That working in conjunction with (as appropriate) Welland SSP and the second placed developer (Dencora), further investigatory work be undertaken to determine scheme viability and, if appropriate, the level of public subsidy to deliver the scheme;

3.                  That should any South Kesteven District Council budgetary requirement arising from recommendation two be necessary, this be reported to Cabinet in due course, prior to any funding commitment being made.

Considerations/Reasons for Decision:

(1)               Exempt report number PLA607 by the Economic Development Portfolio Holder on the status of the Bourne Core Area project and the selection of a forward plan;

(2)               Four options available to SKDC on the future of the project;

(3)               Comments of the Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer;

(4)               The Council’s Category A Priority on Town Centre redevelopment

(5)               Additional money for HDDL’s scheme had not been budgeted and would not guarantee the future of the development;

(6)               Discussion between Cabinet members during adjournment..

Other options considered and assessed:

Issues surrounding each option include: with option one, a potential risk of Council investment if HDDL deem the project unviable. With option two there would be issues around capital investments required by SKDC within the public subsidy. With option three as a stand-alone there would be questions raised and answered over the skill sets and capacities within the current council teams to undertake the project.

[Meeting adjourned: 11:20-11:25]

Report number AFM018 by the Resources and Assets Portfolio Holder.                        (Enclosure)

DECISION:

That subject to the amendments made at the meeting, the Cabinet adopts the Final Draft of the Asset Management Plan 2006–2009.

Considerations/Reasons for Decision:

(1)               Report number AFM018 by the Resources and Assets Portfolio Holder, the draft Asset Management Plan and attached appendices;

(2)               Feedback from GOEM upon the previously submitted plan, which was rated as good;

(3)               Advice and knowledge obtained from the Beacon Councils and others rated Excellent in Asset Management Planning;

(4)               Publications by the RICS policy unit – Asset Management in local government;

(5)               Reviews of a previous draft by the Resources DSP and the Resources and Assets Portfolio Holder;

(6)               Alignment with the Council’s Category A priority on the use of resources;

(7)               All references to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister should be replaced with the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG);

(8)               The regional average of gross weekly earnings should be clarified because another document had presented a different figure;

(9)               Cabinet access to Mapinfo would be decided on a need basis for each layer of the application;

(10)          The District Council would wish to consider the opportunity from the County Council to adopt responsibility for street lighting;

(11)          Monitoring properties where asbestos has been identified. Before any development could take place at these locations, the District Council would be made aware and monitor all work;

(12)          Tennis clubs and other sports facilities should be included in the list relating to Special Expense Areas;

(13)          Plans showing the utilisation of office facilities should be prepared to reflect a positive and negative vote on large scale voluntary transfer;

(14)          The sale of Conduit Lane car park should be added to the proposed programme for 2007/08.

Report by the Corporate Head of Finance and Resources.                        (Enclosure)

DECISION:

That the Cabinet:

1.                  Recommends to Council the approval of the Medium Term Financial Strategy;

2.                  Adopts the budget timetable set out at paragraph 8 of report CHFR14;

3.                  Requests that the Corporate Head of Finance and Resources, in consultation with the portfolio holders for Resources and Assets and Access and Engagement, draw up budget consultation proposals for implementation during the forthcoming budget cycle.

Considerations/Reasons for Decision:

(1)               Report number CHFR14 by the Corporate Head of Finance and Resources on the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2006/07 to 2011/12 and Budget preparation and draft strategy;

(2)               Report CHFR12 considered by the Cabinet on 10^th July 2006, which identified a number of issues that would impact on the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) and budget preparation;

(3)               The strategy would provide the framework for the development of service plans as part of budget preparation for 2007/08;

(4)               The strategy needed to be updated to take account of the confirmation of formula grant allocation for 2007/08;

(5)               The strategy would need to reflect the outcome of the ballot of tenants on Large Scale Voluntary Transfer, due to take place in autumn 2006;

(6)               The MTFS identified 14 principles, which would, when applied, enable the Council to effectively use its resources, in accordance with the Council’s category A priority;

(7)               The likely capping at 5% of increases in the level of council tax and indicative budget requirements based on an increase at the ceiling of 5% and an assumed 1% growth in the tax base;

(8)               2007/08 service planning and budget preparation timetable included in report CHFR14.

Report number CEX349 by the Chief Executive.                        (Enclosure)

DECISION:

That the deposited pension scheme should be amended in accordance with the proposals outlined in report CEX349 and that all requests for early release of pension and employer consents (excepting those meeting the rule of 85) are dealt with on the following basis:

“the usual position will be to acquiesce subject to the Council being satisfied that the retirement of an employee is in the interests of efficiency of the service.”

Considerations/Reasons for Decision:

(1)                 Report number CEX349 by the Chief Executive on the clarification of a minor amendment to SKDC’s deposited local government pension scheme;

(2)                 An anomaly between discretion 5 of the County Council deposited scheme and reports to the Finance and Personnel Committee;

(3)                 Proposed changes to the national scheme;

(4)                 Consultation with the unions on Wednesday 26^th July;

(5)                 Comments from the Corporate Head of Corporate and Customer Services.

Report number LAC150 by the Healthy Environment Portfolio Holder.                                  (Enclosure)

DECISION:

1.                  That the Council’s leisure procurement plan should be revised to allow full market testing of all leisure procurement options to be undertaken on a concurrent basis

2.                  That consideration should be given to identifying investment and service delivery issues for inclusion in the procurement exercise.

Considerations/Reasons for Decision:

(1)               Report number LAC150 by the Healthy Environment Portfolio Holder providing a progress report on the procurement of leisure services;

(2)               The Cabinet decision on 12^th June 2006 to agree the indicative project plan, which included soft market testing of the contracting trust;

(3)               Responses received from contacting all members of the Sports and Recreation Trusts Association (SPORTA);

(4)               Advice from the Audit Commission on the procurement of leisure services suggesting that Councils should improve the strategic planning of sports and recreation provision and overall efficiency using a framework created for the purpose;

(5)               A District Council household and user survey on sporting provision in 2001 and a sports facilities assessment in 2003;

(6)               Leisure is a category M priority, meaning that any opportunity for investment in the expansion of facilities would be unlikely;

(7)               Previous experience of the District Council of hands-on management and private sector contract management;

(8)               A hybrid trust, a contracting trust and an independent trust have not been subject to side-by-side comparison; this would involve changing the project plan;

(9)               To establish a true comparison of costs, it would be more appropriate to undertake business planning work and tendering work consecutively so that the cost of setting up a trust could be directly compared to other market options;

Report number CEX346 by the Chief Executive.                        (Enclosure)

DECISION:

The Cabinet recommends to other Lincolnshire Authorities that:

1.                  A target is set to increase participation in sport, the arts and other diversionary activities amongst children and young people from all areas of Lincolnshire;

2.                  Targets are set for increasing detection and prosecution of environmental crime by 20% and a co-ordinated campaign across the county is undertaken with the aim of achieving a 10% increase in satisfaction with our response to fly-tipping and other environmental crimes;

3.                  A target is set for every Council in Lincolnshire to reach at least Level 2 on the Local Government Equality Standard;

4.                  The Health community in Lincolnshire is asked to confirm that the targets being proposed are still achievable if all proposals for service reductions and reconfigurations recently proposed are implemented;

5.                  A new target is set for improving the provision of affordable homes in the county by 10% per annum;

6.                  A new target is set for the engagement of young people in local democracy by the establishment throughout the county of youth forums or councils;

7.                  A more ambitious target is considered for improving employment in deprived areas;

8.                  A new target is introduced to undertake health checks on all market towns in the county and to prepare specific action plans for improving the economy and vitality of these settlements;

9.                  Serious consideration is given to introducing a new target relating to improving transport within the county;

10.             In negotiating the Local Area Agreement, a specific flexibility is sought for all Lincolnshire authorities to use any MRA reserves to fund the provision of new social housing and to retain these reserves for this sole purpose following any transfer of the housing stock;

11.             In negotiating the Local Area Agreement a specific flexibility is sought to enable collection authorities in Lincolnshire to offer rebates to householders to reflect the amount of recyclable waste being produced from their property;

12.             The Council strongly urges partners to engage in a process that can lead to a clear vision or theme for the Lincolnshire Local Area Agreement.

Considerations/Reasons for Decision:

(1)               Report number CEX346 by the Chief Executive on the consultation on Local Area Agreement outcome framework, the draft Local Area Agreement (LAA) document and the supplementary consultation document on the Local Area Agreement Safer Stronger Communities Block;

(2)               Sign-off of the LAA’s first stage would be in September 2006;

(3)               LAA offer the opportunity of improving efficiency and effectiveness by merging funding streams into a single pot;

(4)               Local Authorities could identify any freedoms or flexibilities that could be given under ministerial delegated authority to help deliver outcomes;

(5)               Agreement sign-off is on a county basis; it was anticipated that the County LAA would be submitted to the Government Office by September 2006;

(6)               The ‘Safer and Stronger Communities’ element of the document relates closely to SKDC’s priorities;

(7)               Little has been made on preventative approaches for creating ‘Safer and Stronger Communities’ and there little reference had been made to the equality and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

Report by the Chief Executive.                        (Enclosure)

DECISION:

1.                  That the Cabinet approves in principle, participation in the Lincolnshire Shared Services initiative and applies for £17,000 of funding from the provision approved for the capacity building fund;

2.                  That Strategic Partnerships and Community Safety Portfolio Holder should be appointed as the member representative from South Kesteven on the Member Management Board.

Considerations/Reasons for Decision:

(1)                Report number CEX350 by the Chief Executive on the recently endorsed bid to the East Midlands Centre of Excellence for capacity funding in order to develop a shared services model for Lincolnshire;

(2)                Funding has been provided by the Centre of Excellence on a match funding basis;

(3)                Efficiency gains of almost £3million were forecast for phase 1;

(4)                The Partnership Framework of the Lincolnshire Shared Services Partnership attached as an appendix to report CEX350;

(5)                Comments of the Section 151 officer given at the meeting: to fund the project, virement of funds from the capacity building and reorganisation reserves would be necessary.

Other options considered and assessed:

As a member of the partnership South Kesteven District Council has been asked to commit, in principle, to the shared services programme. Such a commitment would not mean that council would participate in all of the particular service groupings but it would mean that the council would work with colleagues in Lincolnshire in the spirit of trust, openness, clarity and fairness.

It should be recognised that the partnership members might require the council to amend some service policies in order to achieve consistencies and harmonisation required for effective partnership working and delivery of efficiency savings.

NON-KEY DECISIONS:

Councillor Frances Cartwright: Portfolio – Housing Services and Organisational Development

DECISION:

That approval is granted for the Anite database to have information in respect of adaptations to existing dwellings transferred to it from the old Openhouse database and that tenants currently awaiting floor showers, stairlifts etc be canvassed to apply for entry onto the council’s transfer register with the facts in respect of current waiting times, means testing and the council’s need for stock optimisation highlighted.

[Decision made on 07/08/06]

DECISION:

That approval is granted to accept the tender from J & S Seddon, Bulwell, Nottingham in the sum of £21,366.00 for external painting contract HPT0605 for 151 properties situated in Grantham Rural South.

[Decision made on 07/08/06]

Minute CO38, being a Policy Framework Proposal, stands referred to the Council meeting on 7^th August 2006. All other decisions as made on 7^th August 2006 can be implemented on the 16^th August 2006 unless subject to call-in by the Chairman of the relevant Development and Scrutiny Panel and five members of the Council.