Agenda and minutes

The Council welcomes engagement from members of the public.  To speak at this meeting please register no later than 24 hours prior to the date of the meeting via democracy@southkesteven.gov.uk

There were no public speakers.

All Committee Members were present.

Members are asked to disclose any interests in matters for consideration at the meeting.

Councillors Bridget Ley, Tim Harrison, and Max Sawyer declared an interest on agenda item 7, as they were RAF veterans. They further declared that they would not benefit from the criteria of the scheme proposed in the report and would remain on the Committee for that item.

One Member queried whether any Councillor’s had been ‘whipped’ on agenda item 7.

To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on 8 May 2024.

One Member raised matters arising from the minutes from the previous meeting:

·       A query relating to the Cecil Family Trust and how the Council were involved in regard to the St Martins Park development.

·       A breakdown of costs on the waste depot.

·       Concerns regarding the electricity standing charge on the depot and whether any figures could be provided.

·       Clarification over the cost of the waste depot.

The Cabinet Member for Property and Public Engagement informed the Committee that the Cecil Family Trust was not a registered charity, and therefore, would not appear on the Charities Commission website.  

The Cecil Family Trust was not involved with the planning permission for the St Martins Park development. The Burghley House Preservation Trust was the only organization that was involved with the development.  

The minutes of the meeting held on 8 May 2024 were proposed, seconded, and AGREED as a correct record.

Held on 8 May 2024.

All actions were completed.

There were none.

An update on the proposed Council Tax Support for Veterans.

The Leader of the Council presented the report.

The Finance and Economic Overview and Scrutiny Committee of 28 November 2023 requested that:

‘A report to explore the feasibility of providing Council Tax relief exclusively to employed Veterans residing in Band A properties, considering relief rates of 5% and also 10%, yielding two distinct options. The analysis must encompass a detailed examination of the financial implications on South Kesteven District Council, Lincolnshire County Council and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire.’

The primary and most reliable source of data regarding characteristics of veterans in South Kesteven was from the 2021 Census accessed through the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This data was the source of most of the data outlined in the report.

8,691 veterans, across 6,028 households were living within South Kesteven. The ratio of households to residents implied that a significant number of single-person households. 30.90% of veterans live in single-person households compared to 22% of the general resident population. This data supports the financial modelling assumption surrounding Single Person Discount award in Option 2 (paragraph 2.20 of the report).

Some data was unavailable, e.g. average veteran weekly wage; and median household income of veterans. Data is available for both metrics for the general population and for the median household income down to quite granular geographies. This was best used as a measure of the general area level of affluence rather than the performance of particular demographics. For example, the average modelled gross household income (2020) in Bourne West is £45,600. It is not known how the 378 veterans living in Bourne West are performing relative to that figure. Some likely have a higher household income, others likely have a lower.

The Head of Service (Revenues, Benefits, Customer and Community) drew the Committee’s attention to information within the equality and diversity section of the report. There was an inequality with regards to the eligibility whereby veterans would have to be employed and reside in a Band A property to be eligible for the scheme.

The requirement of veterans being employed can mean that certain veterans that were retired or disabled may not have the employment status to be eligible for the scheme, which was over 50% of the veterans living within South Kesteven.

An amendment to the recommendation was proposed and seconded:

For the following questions in the upcoming consultation about the Localised Council Tax Support Scheme for 2025-26:

a)    Do you support providing targeted council tax relief for employed veterans in Band A properties? Yes or no?

b)    If yes, should the relief for employed veterans in Band A properties be 5% or 10% off their annual council tax bill?

Recommendation two of the reports before us, ‘that no further work is undertaken on the development of a Council Tax Support Scheme for Veterans’, would be nullified.

It was queried as to whether the content of the 2023 consultation on the Council Tax discount was available. It was noted that previous consultation questions related to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Cabinet Member for Corporate Governance and Licensing presented the report. The report outlined the District’s performance against the Corporate Plan from 2020 to 2023, which would be the last indicators for the former Corporate Plan.

The Corporate Plan 2024-27 was adopted by Council in January 2024. The report was in two parts (Q4 for 2023/24 and a summary overview of the Council’s performance in 2020-23).

The Corporate Plan 2020-23 listed twenty-two actions across the priorities Healthy & Strong Communities, Growth & Our Economy, and High Performing Council, which fell within the remit of this Committee. These actions set the Council’s agenda for the life of that Plan.

The first round of performance reporting in 2020/21 introduced a series of criteria for what successful delivery would look like. This criterion has been used as the standard to judge the Council’s overall performance against the twenty-two actions. Out of the twenty-two actions, the Council had achieved eighteen of them.

The performance for Q4 for 2024, nine of the actions were rated green, two of the actions were rated amber and none of the actions were rated red.

A new KPI suite had been agreed by the Committee in March 2024. The first report for the new KPI suite would be presented in Q3 of 2024.

It was noted that some of the twenty-two actions were stated as achieved, however, they had not been achieved, for example it was felt the below actions had not been fully achieved:

·       The regeneration of Grantham Town Centre

·       Working with education providers

·       The People Strategy

·       Strategies and Plans for Commercial Transformation

·       The implementation and usage of an IT investment roadmap.

It was highlighted that a report going to a forthcoming meeting of the Employment Committee revealed turnover of staff in 2022/23 was 23%, the turnover of staff for 2023/24 had reduced to 14%. The predominant reasons for Employee’s leaving was due to career advancement and new opportunities.

The Deputy Chief Executive (S151 Officer) confirmed that the Council’s website had recently been upgraded and was one of the best examples in East Midlands. Officers welcomed any user feedback on articles, in the event the website needed to be reconfigured.

It was noted the criteria set for 2020-23, was set by a different administration. The criteria evidence for satisfactory actions could not be commented on. The criteria and actions for the new Corporate Plan were measurable, specific and objective. 

One Member queried the ‘achieved’ action on maximising the value of the Council’s own spend by utilising local suppliers, wherever practical and possible. Further information was requested on the action.

It was confirmed that contract procedural rules and procurement law was a priority over decisions. There were certain thresholds to save money, however, to ensure the best products possible. It was noted this may be a local contractor or a contractor outside of the local supply chain. The definition of a ‘local supplier’ was discussed and whether it should be based on a postcode or more regionally.

A ‘minor works framework’  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

This report provides a progress update on the new Waste Depot project.

The Cabinet Member for Property and Public Engagement presented the report.

The Finance and Economic Overview and Scrutiny Committee had previously been presented with an update on the depot project on 8 May 2024. It was agreed the Committee would be provided with regular updates during the project delivery phase.

The report outlined the latest status of the projects and provided details of the activities since the last update.

A dashboard had been developed which provided a high-level summary of the project. The dashboard concluded the value engineering had been developed, undertaken in conjunction with Lindum’s but within the parameters of already approved planning permission of the development. The detailed design was the next phase in the project.

The report included movement on the original provisional dates due to the additional time it had taken to secure the value engineering savings necessary to reduce the project costs. This had taken additional time to ensure the scheme quality and operational practicality was not compromised and also to ensure any design changes did not conflict with the approved planning permission. Only when the value engineering review had been completed, could the project move to the next stage (stage 4 design) so any slippage on the value engineering phase would have a direct impact on the subsequent project phase. The summary timetable does show, however, that the current expectation was the operational go live date could still be achieved and there would be opportunities to claw back the time which had currently slipped.

A query was raised on paragraph 2.3 of the report. The value engineering had concluded with £350,000 worth of savings to reduce construction costs down to £7.9million. Clarification was sought around the figures presented.

The Deputy Chief Executive (S151 Officer) highlighted there were 2 elements to the project: project cost (delivering the project) at £8.8million and then a construction cost (direct cost incurred to Lindums for the construction of the depot) at £7.9million. £8.2million was the bid received by Lindums which went to Cabinet in April 2024. The value engineering brought the £8.2 million down to about £7.9 million, headroom of £900,000 between the cost of the construction and the overall budget of £8.8m, this difference would be used to fund the other costs associated with the delivery of the project.

It was further queried whether budget items for the outfitting and for enabling the depot to open and the full cost would not exceed £8.8m and the final cost may come in under the budget due to

It was clarified the budget for the depot was £8.8m, the construction costs were being driven down by value engineering to achieve the lowest cost possible (£7.9m), which was providing £900,000 headroom between the construction budget and the overall project budget. The £900,000 would need to be used to fund the project management, unforeseen costs, mobilisation and the fit out.

ACTION: For financial figures to be included within the dashboard, which would be brought back to every Committee.

ACTION: A breakdown of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To inform members of the Finance and Economic Overview and Scrutiny Committee (FEOSC) on progress made toward the development of an Economic Development Strategy 2024 – 2028.

The Leader of the Council presented the report providing an update on the development of the Economic Development Strategy. The Committee were requested to agree for a Workshop to be held for Committee Members on 17th July 2024.

During consultation, Officers wrote directly to Stakeholders introducing the consultation process for the Economic Development Strategy and asked them to visit the Council’s website to make representation. This Stakeholder group included over 250 public sector partners, Town and Parish Councils, business club representatives and citizens 58 who had expressed an interest in Planning, Economic or similar consultation exercises.

The consultation had received over 50 responses, an early review of the responses had identified several themes: connectivity around the District, consideration to commercial business premises to meet demand, identify and key sectors which were most likely to drive the economy and further consideration to productivity drivers and inclusion of plans to address them.

One Member noted that the Strategy would be in use from the years 2024-2028, however, it would not be heard by Cabinet until 8 October 2024. It was suggested the Strategy be in place from 2025-2029.

It was clarified that if the strategy was adopted on 8 October 2024, it would be in place from that point onwards.

One Member shared their disappointment on the lack of responses to the consultation. It was felt that a 5-year plan had now turned into a 3.5 year plan.

The Chairman informed the Committee that the workshop would be to discuss the responses received from those 50 respondents.

The Assistant Director of Planning highlighted the workshop would be useful and valuable in assisting Officers understand any concerns and arrive at final decisions. 

That the Committee:

1. Notes the content of this report including the revised timetable for the Economic Development Strategy set out in Table 1 of the report.

2. Agrees a Workshop be held for FEOSC Committee Members on 17th July 2024 to consider feedback from the consultation and its impact on the development of the strategy.

The Cabinet Member for Property and Public Engagement presented the report.

The High Street Heritage Action Zone in Grantham was funded by Historic England and the Council over 4 years, beginning in May 2020 and completing on 31 March 2024. 

The report outlined successes, challenges and lessons learnt from the delivery of the programme and the additional associated cultural programme funded by Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which ran from 2021 to March 2024.

Further details were provided within the appendices of the report. The Committee’s attention was drawn to the following key points

·       The programme delivered successfully shopfront, building regeneration projects to seven properties.

·       Supported significant restoration works to Westgate Hall in Grantham, whereby ongoing repair and restoration of the building for future plans to reopen as a restaurant in 2025.

·       The total grant received from Historic England over the 4-year programme was £672, 719 which was matched by £284,652 in funding from the Council.

·       The total private sector match funding directly leveraged by grant funding through the scheme was £307,000, which was 3 times the value of the private sector match targeted in the original 2019 bid.

·       The recorded added value leveraged through or as a direct result of the scheme was over £370,000, which included the value of additional non grant-funded works carried out on building which received a grant and other buildings encouraged by the involvement of the scheme elsewhere but had no direct grant involvement.

Challenges faced from the programme were Historic England’s restriction on preventing the rollover of underspending to following years of the programme. This impacted the delivery on historic buildings on delivery scheduled works.

In 2022, Historic England changed their policy with regards to programme alterations, and as a result programmes no longer had the flexibility to reallocate funding from areas which were under performing to new projects. This limited the ability of the programme to utilise funding where projects delivered under budget, or where the delivery was unsuccessful, resulting in underspend.

The scheme was a great opportunity for learning, and some of the numerous lessons learned through the delivery of the programme are outlined in the formal Closure Report produced for Historic England, which has been included with this report as Appendix A.

A common criticism of the scheme was that the majority of the funding for shopfront regeneration grants was awarded to one or two larger organisations within the town centre, and it was hard for independent property owners to access funding.

In some instances, this was due to the significant increase in cost of shopfront regeneration projects through the duration of the scheme, which made projects unviable for many independent property owners even with the grant support available.

All potential applicants were offered in person support in understanding the application process and completing the application. However, following a review of the scheme during the closure process, ways that any future scheme could be made more equitable and transparent for applicants were identified.

The HSHAZ Shopfront Regeneration  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

The Leader of the Council presented the report.

The Market Place, Grantham works started on site on 7 May 2024 and included the reconstruction of the road from a tarmac surface to York stone sett paving, whilst also raising the current road height to deliver a single level structured and interconnected space. The scheme was scheduled to conclude on 19 August 2024.

The contractors have mobilised which had caused some consternation among shopkeepers who feel that the works were having a detrimental affect on businesses.

The reports of reduced footfall were potentially overstated, as presented in the graphs shown to the Committee. The report was centred around mitigation and action to be taken during the works and following the works.

Mitigations were provided within the report, which particularly looked into enhancing communications, social media, improving signage, developing an events programme, monitoring footfall data and indicative budget for future activities, which included:

·       Extended event programme to deliver further events within the town centre between January and May 2025, to deliver a mixture of weekend and midweek activities, with a focus on larger scale events to be delivered during school holidays and or spring bank holidays.

·       Voucher/ loyalty card scheme for businesses within the Market Place area, to run for 12 months with monthly prize draws offering cash rewards or vouchers for town centre experiences.

·       Long term promotional activity to highlight Grantham as a destination in general, and Grantham businesses specifically. The focus of this promotion will be to audiences outside of Grantham i.e. surrounding towns and potentially railway routes. This would build upon short- medium term marketing and promotional activity which will be delivered by the Grantham Engagement Manager and Town Team from the existing budget.

·       Incentives schemes including:

• free parking on Market days/ mid-week to encourage shoppers,

• grant scheme for businesses to access marketing support,

• Financial incentives for new market traders taking up stalls, While the budget requirements for any/ all of these schemes would likely be high, further feasibility work will be required to determine

• Financial incentives to support rent costs for new town centre businesses,

• Provision of free buses to Grantham from outlying regions/ other towns for market days.

The Committee were provided with footfall figures and diagrams to show the geofences of Grantham town centre.

The footfall for 2023 in the month of May was compared with May 2024. It appeared that the footfall was higher at the end of May 2024, than it was in 2023. Increases in footfall were Tuesday’s, which seemed a common day for people to commute to work and Saturday’s, which was Grantham’s market day.

Footfall data within the geofence was measured by smartphones having their location enabled on Apps. This data was gathered and would be used to inform graphs.

The technology was able to compile data on how many people had travelled into Grantham, from outside of Grantham.

It was queried whether the data compiled was pedestrian specific or whether it would pick up individuals  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

The Committee noted the Work Programme 2024-25. 

An update was requested on St Martins Park to be brought to the Committee in September.

There were none.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 17:00.