Agenda and minutes
PDF 76 KBVenue: Council Chamber - South Kesteven House, St. Peter's Hill, Grantham. NG31 6PZ
Contact: Democratic Services
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Register of attendance and apologies for absence
Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Barry Dobson, Robert Reid, Rosemary Trollope-Bellew and Mark Whittington. |
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Minutes of the previous meeting
Minutes of the meeting held on 13 January 2022. Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting held on 13 January 2022 were confirmed as a correct, subject to the amendment of a typographical error in relation to minute number 78. |
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Disclosure of Interests
Minutes: Councillor Kelham Cooke (Leader of the Council), Councillor Adam Stokes (Deputy Leader of the Council) and Karen Bradford (Chief Executive) declared that they were Directors of InvestSK Ltd and would therefore leave the meeting prior to consideration of the item entitled ‘Future Ways of Working for InvestSK Ltd’ and not participate in the debate or vote. |
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Budget Proposals for 2022/23
Additional documents: Minutes: Purpose of report
The Council was required to set a balanced budget and agree the level of Council Tax for 2022/23 and this report contained a summary of the proposals that had been considered for inclusion.
Decision
That Full Council be recommended to:
· Set a General Fund budget requirement of £14.407m for 2022/23 detailed at section 2 of this report and shown in detail at Appendix A of the report (inclusive of special expenses).
· Propose a Council Tax level of £173.59 for 2022/23 (Band D property) after taking into consideration the consultation findings.
· Note the indicative base estimates for 2023/24 and 2024/25 as detailed in the summary at Appendix A of the report.
· Approve Housing Revenue Account dwelling rent increases of 4.1% (CPI + 1%) in accordance with Government guideline rent providing an average rent of £84.06 (an average rental increase of £3.28 per week).
· Approve an increase in Housing Revenue Account garage rents of 3%.
· Approve an average increase of 3% in Housing Revenue Account service charges for communal facilities and communal rooms.
· Approve an increase in shared ownership rents by 4.1% (CPI + 1%).
· Approve the Housing Revenue Account Revenue Summary for the year 2022/23 and to note the indicative budgets for 2023/24 and 2024/25 shown in Appendix A of the report.
· Approve the fees and charges detailed at section 4 of the report and shown in Appendix B.
· Approve the General Fund Capital Programme for 2022/23 to 2024/25 detailed in section 5 of the report and shown at Appendix C.
· Approve the General Fund Capital Financing Statement detailed at Appendix C of the report.
· Approve General Fund Capital Programme budget carry forward of £1.296m from 2021/22 shown at Appendix G of the report.
· Approve the Housing Capital Investment Programme for 2022/23 to 2023/24 detailed at section 5 of the report and as shown at Appendix C.
· Approve the Housing Revenue Account Capital Financing Statement detailed at Appendix C of the report.
· Approve the Housing Revenue Account Capital Investment Programme budget carry forward of £2.173m from 2021/22 shown at Appendix C of the report.
· Approve the movements in the General Fund Revenue and Capital reserves and balanced detailed at section 7 of the report and shown at Appendix D.
· Approve the movements in Housing Revenue Account Revenue and Capital reserves and balances detailed at section 7 of the report and shown at Appendix D.
· Approve the Treasury Management Strategy Statement detailed at section 9 of the report and shown at Appendix G.
· Include the acceptance of the Sustainable Warmth Competition (Homes Upgrade Grant phase 1 and Local Authority Delivery phase 3) Grant within these budget proposals for 2022/23.
· Delegate authority to the Assistant Director for Housing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Waste Services, to undertake procurement, award contracts and to ensure compliance with the grant conditions.
Alternative options considered and rejected
A number of options were presented for consideration in the body of the report.
Reason for decision
The Council had approved a Corporate Plan that ... view the full minutes text for item 84. |
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Local Plan Issues and Options Consultation Statement
Additional documents: Minutes: Purpose of report
The report provided Cabinet with an opportunity to consider a statement of consultation responses received to the Local Plan Review and Issues and Options Consultation which ran from October to November 2020 and sought approval to publish the Consultation Statement.
Decision
That the Issues and Options Consultation Statement be published onto South Kesteven District Council’s website.
Alternative options considered and rejected
None. It was important to provide the public with an opportunity to suggest any issues they felt should be addressed, comment on which options they thought were the most appropriate and suggest other options. Such an approach could only be achieved through public consultation.
Reason for decision
The adopted Local Plan included an obligation to undertake an early review of the Local Plan with submission to the Secretary of State by the end of December 2023. Cabinet, at its meeting on 18 August 2020, approved the publication of the Issues and Options document for consultation, which set out the scope and identified policies which were intended for review. This was attached to the report at Appendix A. The review of the Local Plan would assist in the Council achieving its vision of being the best place in which to live, work and visit.
The Issues and Options document was published for public consultation on 12 October 2020 with a closing date for representations of 23 November 2020. This consultation took place with the public as well as a wide range of stakeholders including developers, landowners, statutory consultees, internal departments within the Council and elected Members.
In total, over 1,700 individuals or key stakeholders had been consulted, with over 1,600 responses received from 124 respondents. The main summary set out at Appendix A to the report provided a description of the responses received to each question raised in the consultation statement, with an officer response provided for each comment received. A summary of the headline responses was set out in paragraph 2.3 of the report.
The importance of having Local Plans adopted was emphasised. An informative design guide had been produced for developers in South Kesteven and the Local Plan was entrenching the values and needs of the Council in relation to quality homes and housing across the district.
The Planning Policy Team and the Cabinet Member for Planning and Planning Policy were thanked for the hard work they had undertaken. |
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Authority Monitoring Report
Additional documents: Minutes: Purpose of report
This report provided Cabinet to consider publication of the Authority’s Monitoring Report, which was a statutory requirement for all Local Authorities, and covered the period from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.
Decision
That Cabinet:
1. Endorses the 2020-21 Authority Monitoring Report and approve its publication via the Council’s website.
2. Agrees that future Authority Monitoring Reports will be reported to the Planning Committee for information prior to publication.
Alternative options considered and rejected
Publication of the monitoring reports was a statutory requirement which must be published online as soon as they become available to enable to public to be informed of the monitoring information collated. No other options were therefore considered.
Reason for decision
It was a statutory requirement for the Council to publish up-to-date information which had been collected for monitoring purposes and report on the progress against the Local Development Scheme. These requirements were set out in Regulation 34 of the Town and Country (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012.
Headline monitoring results were set out in paragraph 1.12 of the report and the following in particular were highlighted by the Cabinet Member in presentation of the report:
· The Council was reviewing its current Local Plan for 2011-2036 as adopted in January 2020 in line with the Local Development Scheme · A total of 466 new homes were completed in the monitoring period, which accounted for 12.56% of total completions · 56 of these completed new homes were affordable · All affordable completions were within the four market towns and 100% on qualifying sites, set to deliver 30%, or 20% in the urban area of Grantham · The Council continued to fulfil the Duty to Co-operate with neighbouring authorities and other stakeholders
A number of points were made during discussion of the report, which included:
· The annual Authority Monitoring Report was a useful mechanism with which to monitor progress and performance against the Local Plan and represented an open and transparent process outlining details of housing across the district · It was important to recognise that whilst there were four market towns within the district, 35% of the district’s residents lived in rural areas · It was confirmed that the study into the accommodation needs of gypsy, traveller and travelling show people was being led by external consultants who had committed to provide a full report by September 2022
The Cabinet Member thanked the Planning Policy Team for their comprehensive report and the useful information contained within. |
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Corporate Peer Review
Additional documents: Minutes: Purpose of report
This report provided Cabinet with an opportunity to formally receive the outcomes of the recent Corporate Peer Challenge undertaken with the Council by the Local Government Association.
Decision
That Cabinet:
1. Notes the Corporate Peer Challenge report, accepts the findings of the Corporate Peer Challenge and agrees to receive an action plan to implement the findings.
2. Formally thanks the Local Government Association, the Peer Challenge team and their respective Councils for undertaking the review.
Alternative options considered and rejected
None.
Reason for decision
The Local Government Association ran a sector-led improvement programme, the flagship of which was the Corporate Peer Challenge. This involved a team of political and officer leaders with Local Government spending time on site and meeting with internal and external stakeholders to highlight key strengths and areas for improvement for a Council. In addition, the process included Remote Peer Support which involved a short period of online meetings between peers and internal stakeholders, together with a review a key documentation.
The final report and findings of the Corporate Peer Challenge were set out in Appendix 2 of the report and represented a largely positive report, highlighting in particular the following strengths of the Council:
· The response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which was seen as exemplary by a range of partners · The strength of leadership from both the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive in identifying long-standing organisational issues and tackling them · The development of the Corporate Plan, key performance indicators and action plan.
The report also highlighted some areas for focus and improvement across the Council, particularly:
· The need to continue to develop robust financial plans for future financial challenges and ensure that robust financial management was in place · A focus on developing effective Member and Officer relationships, with a real clarity needed on roles and responsibilities and a positive working culture as part of #TeamSK · The need to be prepared to invest in #TeamSK at an individual level in both Members and Officers to ensure maximisation of the skills and abilities in achieving the goals set out in the Corporate Plan
It was proposed that the development and publication of an action plan would take place in March 2022, together with a six-month check-in process which would take place later in the year.
The Leader of the Council, in presenting the report, put on record his personal thanks to the Corporate Peer Challenge Team which included Stephen Baker (Chief Executive, East Suffolk Council), Councillor Abi Brown (Leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council), Kirsten Burnett (Head of Policy and Organisational Development, Hyndburn Borough Council), Paul Ellis (Director of Services and Deputy Chief Executive, Craven District Council), Stephen Cooper (Senior Workforce Advisor, Local Government Association) and Frances Marshall (Programme Manager, Local Government Association) for the work that they put into the challenge. He also thanked everyone who engaged and participated in the Corporate Peer Challenge process.
A number of points were raised during discussion of the report, which included the following:
· The report ... view the full minutes text for item 87. |
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Key and Non-Key Decisions taken under Delegated Powers
Report of The Leader of the Council. Minutes: No key or non-key decisions taken under delegated powers were reported. |
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Cabinet's Forward Plan
Report of The Leader of the Council. Additional documents: Minutes: It was confirmed that the meeting of Cabinet scheduled to be held on 1 March 2022 would be cancelled due to a lack of business.
Cabinet noted its Forward Plan, subject to the inclusion of the following items scheduled for considered at the meeting on 29 March 2022:
· Integrated Housing Management System · Empty Home Strategy |
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Future Ways of Working for InvestSK Ltd
Additional documents: Minutes: Further to their declarations of interest, Councillor Kelham Cooke (Leader of the Council), Councillor Adam Stokes (Deputy Leader of the Council) and Karen Bradford (Chief Executive) as Directors of InvestSK Ltd left the meeting at this stage of proceedings.
Councillor Linda Wootten, Cabinet Member for Corporate Governance and Licensing, chaired the meeting for this item.
Purpose of report
To provide Cabinet with an opportunity to consider options and recommendations relating to the efficiencies and financial considerations of insourcing InvestSK Ltd.
Decision
That Cabinet approves:
1. InvestSK Ltd be dissolved as a company as at 31 March 2022 and the activity be transferred to the Council’s Growth and Culture Directorate for implementation at the earliest opportunity.
2. The successful InvestSK brand be retained.
3. The annual funding allocated to InvestSK Ltd be included in the Council’s Growth and Culture Directorate and the remaining InvestSK Ltd financial reserve be utilised to fund the additional pension costs that will be incurred by the Council.
4. The development of a communication plan for both external and internal announcements by the outgoing InvestSK Ltd Board of Directors.
Alternative options considered and rejected
In terms of the delivery model for 2022 onwards, based on the evaluation work undertaken, three options were considered as follows:
· Retain the existing InvestSK model · Bring InvestSK Ltd in-house · Cease delivery
Reason for decision
In recognition of the economic landscape resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Invest SK Ltd Business Plan presented to the Companies Committee on 22 September 2020 refined the focus to the priorities of business support, regeneration, place making and the visitor economy. Following a series of further restructures, the functions of the team had returned to those originally identified and the staffing numbers had reduced accordingly. For the current financial year, the number of budgeted posts was seven, with the budget for the year being £370,000. Of that budget, 84% had been allocated towards staffing costs.
InvestSK had achieved several objectives and outcomes since it was first formed and more recently had been working extremely closely with the Council to support the administration of over £51 million of Covid grant support to 3,000 businesses across the district. Further recent successes included securing £5.56m for the Grantham Future High Street Fund and additional funding to support delivery of the Grantham High Street Heritage Action Zone. Externally and amongst the business community, InvestSK had an excellent reputation and a strong track record of delivery.
A review by the InvestSK Board undertaken in November 2021 considered an in-house alternative for both practical reason and as a means of achieving the Council’s economic development and regeneration leadership responsibilities. Having gone through a consultation process and in considering all of the options available, the following advantages of insourcing the services associated with InvestSK were noted:
· The role and responsibility would embed alongside Planning, Planning Policy, Leisure and Cultural Services, under the leadership of the Director of Growth and Culture · Terms and conditions for staff would improve which should aid morale and retention · Potential ... view the full minutes text for item 90. |