Agenda item

Report number PPMO04 of the Performance and Projects Team Leader.    (Enclosure)

The Performance and Projects Team Leader presented report number PPMO04 for the Quarter 1 Corporate Plan Performance Report. This was the first report in the new style format and set out the progress against outcomes detailed in the Corporate Plan together with the corporate priority measures that underpinned them.

 

The Corporate Plan is a key document that had been approved by Council on 16 June 2016.  Senior Officers had worked with Members to develop the priorities and define the outcomes required. 

 

To achieve its goals, the Council was working towards two priority themes; Open for Business and being Commercially and Customer Focused. 

 

Members were informed that fourteen outcomes and thirty-one measures would be monitored this year.  Seventeen of the measures are either annual measures, or used to demonstrate the effectiveness of key strategies such as the Housing Strategy and would be reported on later in the year.  For this particular quarter under Open for Business the report would focus on six outcomes and nine measures.  Under Commercially and Customer Focused, there would be five outcomes and five measures.

 

The six tasks covered under the Open for Business Priority were: Local Plan; Register of Brownfield Sites; Build new Council housing; St Peters Hill; Southern Quadrant and Gravity Fields.

 

The Local Plan: This task was expected to meet the due date.  It was proposed that the final version would be published in early 2018 after it had been submitted to the Secretary of State in 2017.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

Register of Brownfield sites: This task was on track and the register of brownfield sites and land available for development would be routinely monitored.  A bid to be a pilot scheme had been submitted but this had been unsuccessful.  A new bid would be submitted should a second phase be announced.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

Build new Council housing: The task was expected to meet the due date.  A total of 27 new homes are in the process of being completed and further plans were being prepared for more low cost housing within the district.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

St Peter’s Hill: There were two alerts showing for this item.  These were because of the delay in the Grantham Senior Citizen Club signing the agreement for lease later than anticipated due to delayed contract negotiations.  The Grantham Senior Citizen Club was now temporarily based at the Jubilee Church Life Centre.  Protection fencing was in place around the building and work was expected to start on site after Gravity Fields. 

 

A market prospectus to engage cinema and A3 operators had been submitted.

 

In response to Members queries about what negotiations with neighbours were being undertaken, the Executive Manager – Property explained that an initial notice had been issued in respect of the right to vary access to the doctor’s surgery.  A more official notice would be served once work began. 

 

In respect of the public house, discussions were taking place regarding providing an appropriate “pull in” area for delivery vehicles.

 

Southern Quadrant:  It was noted that one or two milestones had passed the due date.  This was due to timelines for a number of external elements being outside the Council’s control.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

Gravity Fields:  It was noted that preparations were well under way.  A grant of £89,000 had been secured from the Arts Council towards the outdoor programme.

 

In response to a query regarding whether there were any areas where ticket take up was low, the Executive Manager, Commercial noted she would provide this information outside the meeting.

 

No further questions were asked.

 

LACC (Local Authority Controlled Company): It was noted that one or two milestones had passed.  This was due to the company having no name at present which meant it could not be registered with Company’s House.  A Shareholder Committee had been agreed at full Council on 21 April 2016. Members would be: Councillor Bob Adams, Councillor Terl Bryant, Councillor Mrs Cartwright, Councillor Mike Cook and Councillor Ashley Baxter. Target dates for the registration of the Council’s company would be confirmed following the next Shareholder Committee meeting in October.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

Flexible Organisation:  It was noted that the task was expected to meet the due date. 

 

The Customer Relations Management System (CRM) was now in place and kept a record of customer queries and previous contact. Freedom of Information (FOI) requests had also been moved from Covalent to CRM.

 

The Document Management System (DMS) was also up and running.  This system kept track of workflow and directed work items to the relevant area.  Both systems enhanced the range of service delivery and enabled more availability of services through the website for customers.  This in turn freed up time for staff to help customers who were not computer literate or required additional support.

 

Mobile technologies for officers to access when working out in the field were also being enhanced.  

 

The Chairman commented that it was anticipated the report next year would show the benefits of streamlining these systems.

 

Customer Service centre re-design:  It was noted that the task was expected to meet the due date.  The aim was to re-design the customer service centre, reduce the cost of office space used by SKDC, maximise flexible working arrangements which would enable space to be shared with other public sector organisations.  A project team had been established and terms of reference were being drafted for outside partners wanting to come into the building. The space would provide self service opportunities for people but there would also be floor walkers directing people to the appropriate area.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

Delivering Differently: It was noted that one or more milestones had passed the due date.  Timelines had been re-cast and milestones re-aligned.  A report had also been lodged and matters were in hand.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

Open for Business Corporate Measures: It was noted that Quarter 1 performance had shown a slowdown in the housing market.  A review of the Housing Strategy was in progress.  Discussions were taking place with land owners and utility companies to ensure that services would be available once future schemes had been approved.

 

There were no questions for this item.

           

Percentage of Planning Applications approved:  It was noted that of the 316 applications received this quarter 284 had been approved.  A high turn over of staff in the section had meant a slow down in processing applications.  A householder team had been established and the new team members fully trained so the processing of applications would be back on track.

 

In response to a Member’s query about whether the report included land charges it was noted that it did not.  It was also noted that the RAG for this item was “data only” because it was not a targeted measure.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

Occupancy rates of retail units in town centres: It was reported out of the 881 units across the four town centres 51 were vacant.  Three quarters of these units were in Grantham.  Occupancy rates had improved due in part to the Council’s investment in shop front improvements and other town-wide improvements which had been supported by the Growth Point.  Stamford rates were close to 100% and Bourne had seven vacant units.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

Percentage of Food establishments in the area broadly compliant with food hygiene law: It was noted that there were currently 1468 registered food premises in the district.  Broadly compliant business remained at a high level of 98%.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

Percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling and composting:  It was noted that good recycling continued to be promoted through the web and media.  Levels of contamination had increased but a countywide campaign was planned.  Take up had increased due to easier access to green waste services. 

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

Percentage of streets that meet clean streets standards:  This was a quarterly measure with 91% of the streets meeting the (national) clean streets standard and was on target.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

Number of fly tipping incidents received:  It was noted that education campaigns and target actions were being undertaken.  Fly tipping was on the increase nationally.  Locally there had been a slight reduction with 245 incidents for the current year compared to 278 and 289 in previous years.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

Percentage of self service transactions:  It was noted that the performance levels for 2016/17 would be used as a baseline for future years in order that realistic targets could be set.  There had been around 2057 online transactions during June which was 56% of demand for services.  38% of demand was via the telephone and 6% face to face.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

Percentage of Council Tax Collected; Percentage of Non-domestic Rates collected and Percentage of Rent collected:

 

Two of these were at amber partly due to the reduction in the number of hearings that could be heard at Lincoln Magistrates Court.  The Grantham Magistrates Court had recently been closed.  The hearings had now been increased from one to two which would enable an improvement in the figures.  The rent collection process was being monitored and a review of the recovery process was being undertaken.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

Right to Buy Sales: The number of right to buy sales continued to be at a high level and were expected to exceed targets.

 

There were no questions for this item.

 

The Chairman thanked the Performance and Projects Team Leader for a concise report and for the work that had been undertaken.  He commented that future reports would contain more information.