Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Katie Coughlan  01427 676594

Items
No. Item

99.

Public Participation

Up to 15 minutes are allowed for public participation.  Participants are restricted to 3 minutes each.

Minutes:

There was no public participation.

100.

Minutes of Previous Meeting

Meeting of the Prosperous Communities Committee held on Tuesday 21 March 2017 (Previously Circulated)

Minutes:

(a)          Meeting of the Prosperous Communities Committee – 21 March 2017

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Meeting of the Prosperous Communities Committee held on 21 March 2017 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

101.

Matters Arising Schedule pdf icon PDF 69 KB

Matters Arising Schedule setting out current position of previously agreed actions as at 21 March 2017

Minutes:

Members gave consideration to the Matters Arising Schedule which set out the current position of all previously agreed actions as at Monday 21 April 2017.

 

In the absence of the Chief Operating Officer, the Chief Executive sought to update Committee in respect of the green action entitled “Contact County Commissioner”, which related to the extension to the Wolds AONB.

 

Members were advised that the Joint Committee of Greater Lincolnshire Leaders had met and discussed this matter early in the New Year.  All authorities had been supportive of the extension proposal and thus the matter would now be going through the necessary formal processes.

 

Regarding the black action entitled “CIL training, parish council attendance” whilst Members welcomed the fact that a training session would now be held, some Members were of the view that this should be very much of a workshop style, and gave reasons.  CIL offered a new potential source of income to local councils.  Local council’s finances continued to be pressured as tasks and services devolved.  Members were of a view that CIL was a central element of the Localism agenda and Central Government had consistently expressed a view that the beneficiaries of monies generated thorough CIL should be those communities where development had taken place.

 

Members were of the view that the District Council had a proven record of adopting the spirit of localism, having offered communities invaluable help through Neighbourhood Planning Support and a raft of community grants scheme, and therefore the District Council’s approach to CIL should reflect this.  It was important local councils expectations were understood and taken into consideration so that the best outcome for all residents could be achieved, hence the suggestion of a workshop style session being the preference. There was concern that the suggested approach would not deliver such.

 

The Chief Executive requested that the CIL training item remain on the schedule, as amber status until such time as the training had a confirmed date.  The Lead Officer would be made aware of Members’ comments.

 

The Chief Executive also sought to update Members on the action entitled “Market Rasen Car Parking Consultation”.  The Chief Executive had been working with the Chairman regarding the methodology for engaging stakeholders.  The Lead Officer for this work was now the Commercial and Economic Growth Director and she had been requested to ensure the Committee had sight of the project plans which related to Parking as a whole, for oversight and monitoring purposes.  This would be the subject of a report in the future.

 

Councillor Smith, as Local Ward Member, indicated that he had been made aware that the parking meters in Market Rasen had been removed over the weekend and sought indication as to why and by whom.  Officers undertook to feedback outside of the meeting. 

 

RESOLVED that progress on the Matters Arising Schedule, as set out in the report, together with the verbal updates detailed above, be received and noted.

102.

Members' Declarations of Interest

Members may make any declarations at this point but may also make them at any time during the course of the meeting.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made at this point in the meeting.

103.

Progress and Delivery - Period 4 pdf icon PDF 362 KB

Minutes:

The report was introduced by the Chief Executive who noted that it reflected the performance of the Council over the 2016/17 municipal year (April 16 – March 17). In opening, the Chief Executive indicated that Council was now on the cusp of a major delivery phase in a number of complex areas and it was important that Committee had an oversight of these major projects and focussed on risk areas.  The Chief Executive further advised that an area which closely needed to be monitored was that of capacity.  Concerns were being raised by both Members and Officers yet on the other hand, through enthusiasm, new projects and initiatives were regularly being suggested.  A broader conversation needed to be had following annual council to ensure that priorities were agreed and that these were the focus.

 

The report summary was structured to highlight those areas that were performing above expectations, those areas where there was a risk to either performance or delivery and those areas where further work was required for next year’s report.

 

Areas described as performing well included: Economic Development with good progress made with the Gainsborough Growth Investment Plan, Hemswell Cliff, Business Growth and Employment and Skills; Development Management; the Benefits Services, despite extensive changes to legislation; Land Charges; and Contract management.

 

Those areas described as risks included: Enforcement; Homelessness and Corporate Governance.

 

Further information was given on each of the above. 

 

Data relating to Complaints, Comments and Compliments was being reconsidered to present a more sophisticated way of monitoring and the Chief Executive drew Members’ attention to the information contained in Section 4.3 of the report and indicated that she intended to make a presentation to the Committee that evening regarding this area.

 

The Home Options Team Manager was also present to further expand on the challenges currently facing the homelessness service and the work which needed to be undertaken over the coming months.

 

The Chief Executive then addressed the Committee, by way of presentation, regarding her vision for consistent quality customer services explaining why this should be a priority for the Council, the present situation and solutions.

 

Complaints had become a priority for the Chief Executive following escalation by Members, escalation was encouraged and was a positive action.  Complaints were a way to learn for the future, and offered an opportunity to take actions to prevent similar issues in the future.  The Chief Executive had spent time reviewing 3 months’ worth of Planning and Planning Enforcement complaints analysing the issues in detail and any learning to be taken from them.

 

Fundamentally the best way to resolve complaints was by making use of good governance systems.  Historically cases had been reviewed on a case by case basis rather than a holistic overview of the common issues and learning.  There was an absence of an overall strategy. This had been made more difficult by the often ad hoc approach to reporting and trying to resolve complaints, examples were given.  It was important that Members made use of the formal  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103.

104.

Work Plan pdf icon PDF 71 KB

Minutes:

Members gave consideration to the Committee Work Plan.

 

RESOLVED that the Work Plan as set out in the report, be received and noted.

 

105.

Exclusion of Public and Press

To resolve that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

106.

Leisure Contract

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report which sought to update Members with progress made in respect of the leisure contract procurement.

 

Section 2 of the report outlined to Members a number of potential factors within the contract opportunity that had the ability to affect the market interest in it.

 

Section 3 of the report outlined a number of recommended actions the Council could take to mitigate against these by way of amending the contract opportunity.

 

Debate ensued and in response to Members’ questions, Officers confirmed that all contracts had a “get out clause” and the Council had considerably upped its resource in terms of contract monitoring, regular inspections and financial penalties for poor performance, this would continue.  Profit generation would always be sought.

 

A recent condition survey had highlighted no concerns.

 

Members were supportive of the proposed amendments and on that basis it was

 

RESOLVED that:

 

(a)     the contents of the report be noted; and

 

(b)     in order to achieve the best financial result for the Council, the length of the new contract be amended to be a minimum of 15 years with an opportunity to extend to a further five should this be beneficial to the Council.

 

Note:              Councillor Tom Smith declared a personal interest as the Ward Member                      for Market Rasen, a potential area for investment.

 

107.

Closing Remarks

Minutes:

This being the last meeting of the Civic Year, the Chairman thanked all Members and Officers for their contribution to the Committee’s work over the past year.  The Committee in turn paid tribute to the Chairman for the fair, reasonable and professional approach she had applied when chairing committee.