Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor D. W. P. Booth.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

The minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 5th November were submitted.

RESOLVED: that the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 5th November 2014 be approved as a correct record.

The minutes of the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 25th September 2014 and 17th November 2014 were submitted.

RESOLVED:

(a)       that, in respect of Minute 47/14 the additional financial and budget data be provided in future Monitoring reports from 2015/16 Quarter 1 following the introduction of the new Financial System. In addition it was felt that it would be appropriate to request the Overview and Scrutiny Board to report back in due course on whether this information was useful to the Board;

(b)       that, in respect of Minute 50/14 the Constitutional Review Working Party be requested to include the Task Group/Short Sharp Procedure Guidelines within the Council’s Constitution; and

(c)        that the remainder of the minutes be noted.         

The minutes of the meeting of the Audit Board held on 18th September 2014 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Audit Board held on 18th September 2014  be noted.

To receive and note the minutes. The recommendation will be considered later in the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting of the Shared Services Board held on 6th November 2014 were submitted.

RESOLVED:

(a)       that the minutes of the meeting of the Shared Services Board held on 6th November 2014 be noted; and

(b)       that Members be encouraged to attend meetings of the Shared Services Board in order to become fully informed on Shared Service/Transformation issues.                  

The Cabinet received the report of the Leisure Provision Task Group. The Chairman of the Task Group, Councillor C. J. Spencer was present to introduce the report and to provide clarification on any matters raised by the Cabinet. Councillor Spencer outlined the work which had been undertaken by the Task Group and thanked Members and officers for their contributions.

The Cabinet then considered the recommendations of the Task Group in detail.

Recommendation 1

(a)       that charges for leisure facilities and services, such as the Dolphin Centre,  should be used to promote usage and participation in leisure activities; and

(b)       that the Council’s concession scheme should be publicised where appropriate to ensure price is not a barrier to participation in leisure activities.

Cabinet Response

The Cabinet felt that the wording of (a) above should be amended slightly as set out below to clarify the intention behind the recommendation

“that the charging structure for leisure facilities and services be used to encourage usage and participation in leisure activities”

Recommendation (b) above was approved.

Recommendation 2

That Members should familiarise themselves with the leisure activities available within their Wards via the information provided by the Sports Development Team and visit activities as appropriate.

Cabinet Response

The Cabinet approved this recommendation.

Recommendation 3

(a)       that  the noticeboard situated adjacent to Blockbuster be utilised;

(b)       that a noticeboard be included in the list of requirements for the Phase 2 Works of the Town Centre; and

(c)        that it was acknowledged that there were often problems with noticeboards being maintained and information displayed kept up to date, so to minimise this it be recommended that  these be maintained by the Local Ward Councillor.

Cabinet Response

The Cabinet approved this recommendation.

Recommendation 4

Sports Hall Facility at the new Dolphin Centre

(a)       that officers continue negotiations with BAM and look for alternative funding sources to fund a Sports Hall moving forward; and

(b)       that if the negotiations with BAM are unsuccessful, then Cabinet reconsider and make recommendations to full Council for the facility to include a Sports Hall.

Cabinet Response

Recommendation (a) was approved.

With regard to recommendation (b) the wording was agreed as follows:

“ that if the negotiations with BAM are unsuccessful, then Cabinet reconsider options for the facility to include a Sports Hall”.

The Leader and the  Portfolio Holder thanked the Task Group for their report.

Prior to the consideration of this matter the Deputy Monitoring Officer explained that depending upon the content of  Members’ discussion, some aspects of this item may need to be considered as an “exempt” matter.( In the event this was not necessary and the discussion took place in public session).

Members considered the detailed report on the outcome of the recent marketing exercise in relation to the Council owned site at Stourbridge Road car park.

The Leader invited the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Board,  Councillor L. C. R. Mallett to report on the outcome of discussions on this matter at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board which had taken place immediately before the Cabinet meeting.

Councillor Mallett reported that the discussions of the Board had mainly focussed on getting the best value from the site, including parking and road issues. The Board had been keen to ensure that the development of the site went ahead within reasonable timescales and without unnecessary delay.

The Board were recommending therefore that consideration be given to putting in place some form of “financial lock in” or at least including explicit timescales for the development so that progress could be encouraged and some costs would be covered in the event of the development not going ahead as envisaged.

The Cabinet discussed the report together with the input from the Overview and Scrutiny Board. The intentions of the Board to ensure that development of the site proceeded as expeditiously as possible were appreciated and Members concurred with this view. It was felt however that the inclusion of any form of financial “ lock in” or penalty would not be useful and may in fact result in a reduction of this Council’s own flexibility. The inclusion of a timetable for the development with specific timescales was felt to be a useful measure and would enable this Council to explore alternative options at an earlier stage if necessary.

RESOLVED:

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

(b)       that the disposal of the freehold land at Stourbridge Road Car Park as shown marked in red on the plan attached as Appendix 1 to the report to Cordwell Property Group be approved;

(c)        that delegated authority be granted to the Executive Director for Finance and Resources to agree the final terms for disposal of the land;

(d)       that delegated authority be granted to the Head of Legal, Equalities and Democratic Services   to enter into the necessary legal documents required for the disposal of the land in accordance with the terms agreed pursuant to (c) above;

(e)       that in accordance with the discussion referred to in the preamble a timetable for development stages be incorporated into the legal documents; and

(e)       that officers consider the loss of car parking income of approximately £12,000 as part of the Medium Term Financial Plan.  

That under Section 100 I of the Local Government Act 1972 , as amended, the public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the item of business the subject of the following minute on the grounds that it involved the disclosure of “Exempt Information” as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act the relevant part being as set out below and that it is in the public interest to do so.

            Minute No                             Paragraph

              61/14                                          3

Members considered in detail the report on the options appraisal undertaken by officers since September 2014 following the decision of Opus not to proceed with the purchase of the Hanover Street Car Park and George House site. The Cabinet noted the view of officers that the site should now be re-marketed, together with the proposed timetable for the marketing exercise.

The Leader invited the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Board, Councillor L. C. R. Mallett  to report on the outcome of discussions on this matter at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board which had taken place immediately before the Cabinet meeting.

Councillor Mallett gave the views of the Overview and Scrutiny Board that the marketing exercise should proceed and that as part of the consideration of the scoring matrix to be drawn up for the project, due regard be given to the proposals of potential developers in respect of the Spadesbourne Brook as referred to in the Area Action Plan for the Town Centre.

Following detailed discussion it was

RESOLVED:

(a)       that the contents of the report be noted and that the option of remarketing the site as set out in Option 4 of the Options Appraisal attached at Appendix 2 to the report be approved;

(b)       that delegated authority be granted to the Executive Director for Finance and Resources to instruct the Council’s appointed agent, GJS Dillon to remarket the site with immediate effect;

(c)        that when the scoring matrix in respect of this site is drawn up, due regard be given to the provisions of the Town Centre Area Action Plan in relation to the environmental enhancement of the  site.                    

The Executive Director for Finance and Resources gave a brief presentation on the updated Budget Position for 2015/16 to 2017/18. It was reported that the current shortfall for 2015/16 was £305,000.

It was noted that a more detailed report, including the Capital Programme would be considered at the next meeting of the Cabinet in January 2015.

RESOLVED that the current position be noted.    

The Cabinet considered a report on the Council’s financial position for Revenue and Capital for the April to September 2014  - Quarter 2 2014/15.

The Executive Director for Finance and Resources drew attention to the overall predicted saving against budget of £210,000. It was noted this included a shortfall in income in relation to Environmental Services as the budget had originally included £250,000 income from the sale of the Trade Waste Service. This was now being reviewed whilst officers reviewed alternative options for the service delivery.

The Executive Director for Finance and Resources reported  on the requirement to draw down £90,000 from a Business Transformation earmarked reserve in order to fund work necessary to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Public Services Network.

RESOLVED that the current financial position on Revenue and Capital as detailed in the report be noted.

RECOMMENDED that the sum of £90,000 be drawn down from a Business Transformation earmarked reserve to be utilised to help to meet the Capital  costs of compliance with the Public Services Network project.  

That under Section 100 I of the Local Government Act 1972 , as amended, the public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the item of business the subject of the following minute on the grounds that it involved the disclosure of “Exempt Information” as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act the relevant part being as set out below and that it is in the public interest to do so.

            Minute No                             Paragraph

              65/14                                       1 and 4

Cabinet considered a detailed report on the proposed Transformation and Shared Service restructure of Environmental and associated services.

Members referred to the benefits which had derived from a new way of working to transform service delivery and provide better services to residents.

It was noted there would be a presentation to all Members prior to the next meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board at 5.30pm on Monday, 15th December 2014. 

RECOMMENDED that the Business Case for the Transformation and Shared Service restructure of Environmental and associated services attached as an appendix to the report be approved.