Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

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.

Councillor S. Colella declared an Other Disclosable Interest in his role as Chairman of Hagley Community Centre and as a Parish Councillor for Hagley in relation to Agenda Item Number 8, Minute Number 74/23 Non-Domestic Rates – Discretionary Rate Relief Policy.

Councillor K. Taylor declared an Other Disclosable Interest as a small business owner in relation to Agenda Item Number 8, Minute Number 74/23 Non-Domestic Rates – Discretionary Rate Relief Policy.

It was confirmed by the Monitoring Officer that all Members present had a standing dispensation in respect of Agenda Item Number 8, Minute Number 74/23 – Non-Domestic Rates – Discretionary Rate Relief Policy which was granted at the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee meeting on 1^st June 2023.

Councillor S. J. Baxter declared an Other Disclosable Interest in her role as Trustee and Chair of Wythall Community Association including Wythall Park), in relation to Agenda Item Number 6, Minute Number 72/23 – Playing Pitch Strategy. Following consultation with the Monitoring Officer, it was agreed that although Councillor Baxter was a trustee of Wythall Community Association there were no financial implications contained within the Playing Pitch Strategy report. Therefore, it was decided that Councillor Baxter could remain in the meeting and take part in the vote thereon.

Councillor K. Taylor declared an Other Disclosable Interest as family members were members of Bromsgrove Cricket, Hockey and Tennis and Hockey Club in relation to Agenda Item Number 6, Minute Number Minute Number 72/23 – Playing Pitch Strategy.

Councillor S. Webb declared an Other Disclosable Interest as a community member for Catshill Village Meadow in relation to Agenda Item Number 6 Minute Number, Minute Number 72/23 – Playing Pitch Strategy.

Councillors S. Baxter and K. May declared an Other Disclosable Interest as they were carers of family members who were Blue Badge Holders in relation to Agenda Item Number 10, Minute Number 77/23 - Medium Term Financial Plan 2024/25 to 2026/27 (including Worcestershire Regulatory Services Board Recommendations, Treasury Management Strategy, Capital Strategy, Minimum Revenue Provision and Investment Strategy (Tranche 2)

Councillor K. Taylor declared an Other Disclosable Interest as Chairman of the Hereford and Worcestershire Fire Authority in relation Agenda Item Number 15, Minute Number 81/23 - Levelling Up Funding Update

Councillor C. Hotham informed Cabinet that a local resident, Mr. C. Banner K.C. had recently been ennobled as Baron Banner of Barnt Green. However, would be known as Lord Banner. Members congratulated Lord Banner on this appointment.

The minutes from the Cabinet meeting held on 17^th January 2024 were submitted for Members’ consideration.

RESOLVED that the minutes from the Cabinet meeting held on 17^th January 2024 be approved as a true and accurate record.

The Overview and Scrutiny Board are due to consider a report in respect of the Governance Systems Review at its meeting on 12^th February 2024. Any recommendations from that meeting on this subject will be published in a Supplementary Papers pack for the consideration of Cabinet.

The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Board provided a verbal update in respect of the Governance Systems Review which had taken place earlier in the municipal year. It was noted that a report had been considered at a meeting of the Board that took place on 12th February 2024. During the update it was noted that the recommendations reflected the wishes of Full Council.

The Monitoring Officer also provided further clarification on this matter and explained that the recommendations made by the Overview and Scrutiny Board were in respect of the relevant Parts of the Council’s Constitution and dealt with the future appointment to the roles of the Chairman of the Council, the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Board and the Chairman of Audit, Standards and Governance Committee. It was recommended that, where possible, the above roles would not be allocated to Members of the controlling group of the Council.

In addition to the above, the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Board explained that at its meeting on 12th February 2024, the Board had agreed to initiate a Task Group in respect of Preparing for Extreme Heat Events. This Task Group request had been received by the Board following the Notice of Motion submitted at the Council meeting held on 24th January 2024.

During consideration of this item, it was requested that, as the Overview and Scrutiny Board had not had the opportunity to pre-scrutinise the Bromsgrove Local Heritage List report, it be deferred. It was confirmed that the report would be considered at the next meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board on 11th March 2024 prior to its consideration at the Cabinet meeting on 13th March 2023. Members thanked the Strategic Planning Officer and the Principal Conservation Officer for their attendance at the Cabinet meeting.

RECOMMENDEDthat

1)       The proposed amendments to the Committee Terms of Reference, at Part 5 of the Constitution, in respect of special provisions as to the Chairmen of the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Board, be approved; and

2)       The proposed amendments to the Council Procedure Rules, at Part 8 of the Council’s Constitution, in relation to the appointments of the Chairman of the Council and the Chairmen of the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Board, be approved.

Subject to the preamble at Minute Number 70/23 this item was deferred.

Due to length of the document, and inline with the Council’s commitments under the Carbon Reduction Strategy, only the covering report and Executive Summary for this item have been included in the main agenda. The full report, including the Playing Pitch Strategy has been published in a separate supplementary pack for this meeting.

The Overview and Scrutiny Board are due to pre-scrutinise this report at its meeting on 12^th February 2024. Any recommendations from that meeting on this subject will be published in a Supplementary Papers pack for the consideration of Cabinet.

The Development Services Manager presented the Playing Pitch Strategy for Members’ consideration. In doing so, the following was highlighted:

• The Leisure and Culture Strategy had previously been approved by Members in Autumn 2022 and set out the direction of travel for Leisure and Culture Services. Included in that Strategy was the following supporting evidence:

o        Arts and Culture Strategy

o        Parks and Open Spaces Strategy

o        Built Facility Strategy

• The Playing Pitch Strategy was an assessment of the quality and quantity of existing playing pitch provision in Bromsgrove District. It also provided and analysis of the accessibility of playing pitch provision along with the evidence required to confirm both current and future demand for playing pitches between now and 2040.
• Both Officers and an external consultant had carried out the assessment of playing pitch provision within the District.

Following the presentation of the report, Officers were thanked for their hard work on this detailed and lengthy report. It was requested that in any future reports of this type that the recommendations be presented in a clearer and more ‘user friendly’ way.

Members were informed that the Overview and Scrutiny Board had pre-scrutinised this report at its meeting on 12th February 2024. At this meeting, some Members had queried some playing pitches in Rubery. It was noted that although goal posts at the playing fields at Waseley Hills were to be installed this would not necessarily result in them being classed as playing pitches.

Some Members commented that it would be useful in future to consult with Ward Members for strategies such as this. This consultation could provide more detailed information and context, particularly as private playing pitches were also included in the Strategy. Officers clarified that some pitches assessed were for private use only however, they had still been included in the Strategy as they provided playing pitch provision within the communities across the District. In terms of Planning, this helped to feed into the understanding of future supply and demand across the District. Officers also confirmed that work was being undertaken with those privately used pitches to assess whether they could also be used for community use.

RESOLVEDthat

1)       The Playing Pitch Strategy be endorsed

2)       That delegated responsibility be granted to the Head of Planning, Regeneration and Leisure following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Climate Change to implement the following recommendations contained within the Playing Pitch Strategy Executive Summary - 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 3.3, 3.4, 5.1, 6.1, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.3, 8.5

The Climate Change Manager presented the Carbon Reduction Strategy Annual Review. In doing so, the following was highlighted for Members’ information:

• There had been several highlights over the previous year in terms of the delivery of the Carbon Reduction Strategy. These included the following:

1.              LAD3 delivery on 12 low-income homes within the District.

2.          A move to remote working and meeting by Council staff which had reduced staff mileage by 41% for 2023.

3.          The recruitment to the role of the new Climate Change Manager which assisted the Council’s pledge to be operational at net zero by 2040.

4.          A review of Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) use on fleet vehicles to help inform further bids for conversion to HVO for large fleet vehicles in future years.

5.          A contract had been signed with Zest for the installation of Electric Vehicle (EV) chargers across car parks in the District.

In terms of the progress on measures included within the Carbon Reduction Strategy it was noted that Officers would continue to assess low carbon fleet fuel options such as HVO for future bids. Particularly as the use of HVO was not considered the long term option but the best option at this time. Officers confirmed that the Council would endeavour to source HVO from recycled sources to ensure that Climate Change was kept to a minimum.

Another measure that had seen progress since Members endorsed the Carbon Reduction Strategy in October 2022 was in the support for Bromsgrove District Housing Trust (BDHT) to apply for funding to improve efficiency of housing stock within the District. There had already been a successful bid made and the delivery of the resulting work was underway. Further bids would be made when the next wave of funding became available at the end of 2025.

Cabinet was informed that some of the measures were concerned with energy efficiency and the reduction of energy consumption within the Council’s buildings. Work had already been undertaken in this area and the solar panels had been fitted and were operational at Parkside, along with LED lighting upgrades in Bromsgrove Library and at the Aston Fields depot.

At Bromsgrove Sports and Leisure Centre bids were also being submitted to enable energy efficiency upgrades in this building.

Additional measures that were highlighted were as follows:

·       Commercial partners were being sought in respect of the Bromsgrove District Heat Network partnership.

·       An energy audit of server rooms was due to take place in 2024.

·       The further reduction staff travel and increased use of video conferencing.

·       A reduction to the Council's paper waste by offering papers electronically to Members and Officers.

·       Implementation of the recommendations of the 2020 report for the 'grey fleet’ which included plans across all service areas of the Council.

Members were informed that there were recommendations included within the report that would be implemented during year two of the Strategy. These were as follows:

·       Development of a performance dashboard to improve monitoring of progress of the Strategy.

·       Progress on measures within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 73/23

The Deputy Chief Executive presented the Non-Domestic Rates Discretionary Rate Relief report. During the presentation the following was highlighted for Members’ attention:

• This was a ‘sister’ policy of the Council Tax Discretionary Council Tax Reduction Policy that had been considered by Cabinet on 17th January 2024 and subsequently agreed by Full Council on 24th January 2024.
• That Section 47 of The Local Government Finance Act 1988 [the act] provided Local Authorities with the power to award discretionary rate relief.
• The Council had awarded approximately £3.1m of Government funded Section 31 funding since the start of Covid-19. Most of which had been awarded to the retail and hospitality sectors.

It was confirmed that the Policy that was presented had not been changed other than when relief could be awarded, which the Council could set. The proposed changes were as follows:

a)       The application for relief was made and determined within 6 months of the end of that financial year; and

b)       Where a hereditament was entered into the rating list for the first time and an application for relief was made within 3 months of the hereditament entering the rating list.

It was reported that this was an important policy that would help protect the Council having to back fund changes over previous years.

This report had been pre-scrutinised by the Finance and Budget Working Group when a number of areas had been raised as follows:

1)              What was the actual definition of “Rural”?

Rural Rate Relief was available for properties which were within rural settlements as identified in the authority’s rural settlement list.  A rural settlement was one wholly or partly within the authority’s area, which had a population of less than 3,000, and was within a rural area as designated by the Secretary of State.

Rural areas were designated in The Non-Domestic Rating (Rural Settlements) (England) Order 1997 – defined rural areas as those areas identified within: The Housing (Right to Acquire or Enfranchise) (Designated Rural Areas in the West Midlands) Order 1997.

Relevant areas within Bromsgrove District were whole Parishes of Belbroughton, Bentley Pauncefoot, Beoley, Dodford with Grafton, Hunnington, Tutnall and Cobley.

Specific Areas within the Parish reference by Maps were Alvechurch, Clent, Frankley, Romsley, Stoke Prior, Wythall and the unparished area (bounded by the parishes of Cofton Hackett, Alvechurch, Tutnall Cobley, Stoke Prior, Dodford with Grafton, Belbroughton, Romsley; and by the borough constituency of Birmingham Northfield in the West Midlands.

The Non-Domestic Rating (Rural Settlements) (England) Order 1998 were identified as Finstall.

There were no relevant areas for Bromsgrove District Council in respect of Non-Domestic Rating (Rural Settlements) (England) (No. 2) Order 1998     

The Non-Domestic Rating (Rural Settlements) (England) Order 1999 were identified as Barnt Green, Bourneheath, Catshill and Lickey.

2)              The word “Mainly” was used in the Policy – what was meant by mainly?

The phrase “wholly or mainly used” referred to the use of the premises. 

Mainly was usually considered to be more than half – so  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74/23

The Deputy Chief Executive presented the Pay Policy 2024/25 report for Cabinet’s consideration.

Members were informed that the Localism Act required English and Welsh Local Authorities to produce a Pay Policy statement which needed to be approved by Full Council on an annual basis. The Pay Policy Statement needed to set out the following:

(a)        The remuneration of its Chief Officers,

(b)        The remuneration of its lowest-paid employees, and

(c)         The relationship between-

(i)          The remuneration of its chief officers, and

(ii)         The remuneration of its employees who were not chief officers.      

Members were reminded that Council Officers did not receive any bonuses as part of their pay.

RECOMMENDEDthat

the Pay Policy 2024/2025 be approved.

The Overview and Scrutiny Board are due to pre-scrutinise this report at its meeting on 12^th February 2024. Any recommendations from that meeting on this subject will be published in a Supplementary Papers pack for the consideration of Cabinet.

It was agreed that the above report be considered prior to the Medium Term Financial Plan 24/25 to 2025/26 report as the outcomes of the recommendations contained within the Parking Management and Enforcement Service Level Agreement report may need to be considered as part of the Medium Term Financial Plan item.

The Interim Head of Environmental Services presented the Parking Management and Enforcement Service Level Agreement report for Members consideration. In doing so the following was highlighted:

·       Wychavon District Council had been contracted under a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to manage the Parking Service on behalf of the Council for a ten year period. Over which time an excellent working relationship had been developed. The current SLA came to end at the end of the 2022/23 financial year and was currently being operated in a month by month basis. This was unsustainable for a number of reasons.

·       The Overview and Scrutiny Board had looked at this report in detail and after this consideration it was thought that a strategic assessment was required in order to determine what requirements were needed.

Members thanked Wychavon District Council for their work throughout the period of the SLA noting that evolving needs for the Council had resulted in the extension not being for the proposed full five years term.

RESOLVED that

1)    A strategic review of requirements for parking services including on and off street enforcement, be undertaken. This review would provide a Business Case based on options that would consider agreement of a longer-term SLA with WDC, tendering all or part of the service, in house delivery of the service or other options to be brought back to Cabinet for further consideration.

2)    Delegation be given to the interim Head of Environmental and Housing Property Services following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Economic Development and Regeneration, and the Head of Legal, Democratic Services and Property Services to agree a shorter-term (18 month) SLA with WDC with an appropriate end/term to enable recommendation 4 to take place.

RECOMMENDEDthat

1)    An increased budget of £60K for Car Parking be included in the Medium-Term Financial Plan from April 2024.

2)    Subject to agreement of recommendation 2 above, a one off budget of £50K be included in the MTFP to fund the proposed work.

The Deputy Chief Executive presented the Medium Term Financial Plan 2024/25 to 2026/27 (Including Worcestershire Regulatory Services Board Recommendations, Treasury Management Strategy, Capital Strategy, Minimum Revenue Provision and Investment Strategy (Tranche 2) for Cabinet’s consideration.

It was reported that the Council had set the budget in two Tranches as had been done in the previous 2023/24 financial year. The first Tranche had been approved by Full Council in Autumn 2023. Due to the timing of the second Tranche, Officers had been able to take in to account the final Local Government Settlement figure which had been confirmed in December 2023.

Members were reminded that, at Tranche one, the Council’s Revenue position had a projected overall deficit of £795,000 of pressures to mitigate. It was reported that this deficit had now been mitigated and at Tranche two a £27,000 surplus was forecast.

The financial settlement, which had been confirmed on 18th December 2023 by the Government, had allowed the following opportunities for additional funding to be considered. These opportunities included:

·       Increasing Council Tax from 1.99 per cent to 2.99 per cent resulting in additional funding of £91,000.

·       Increasing Planning fees for small applications by 25 per cent and other applications by 35 per cent. This would recoup £145,000 at present activity levels.

·       Additional Business Rates Income, linked to the Local Government Settlement and also being in the Worcestershire and Herefordshire Business Rates Pool of grant funding of £427,000.

By February 2024, the Council fully understood the implications of the 20232/23 and 2023/24 pay awards to staff following the pay award implementation in December 2023. As a result of this clearer picture, £125,000 could be released from the 2023/24 Pay Award contingency budget which had been approved as part of the Tranche one budget setting process.

Members were advised that were additional pressures amounting to £649,000 that would need to be accounted for. The pressures were highlighted as follows:

·       Increase in staffing numbers in Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) due to higher levels of Food Safety compliance testing requirements by the Food Standards Agency at a cost of £33,000.

·       Increased Parking SLA charges with Wychavon District Council to take account of staffing cost increases over the past two years at a cost of £60,000.

·       The use of WRS Officers for Planning and Environmental Enforcement case at a cost of £85,000

·       A Play Audits and Investment Strategy and associated revenue cost implications.  These estimated revenue costs were expected to start at £10,000 rising to £50,000.

·       A Housing Strategy Review at a cost of £71,000

·       The cost of additional Committee support of £40,000 which was approved by Council in September 2023, as part of the Governance Review.

·       Following the approach from Wyre Forest to disband the North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration (NWEDR) service, Officers had been working on the exit agreement to ensure that Bromsgrove was protected from any claims brought as a result of the break-up of the service and any decisions made by NWEDR prior to the split. Members were reminded that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77/23

The Overview and Scrutiny Board are due to pre-scrutinise this report at its meeting on 12^th February 2024. Any recommendations from that meeting on this subject will be published in a Supplementary Papers pack for the consideration of Cabinet.

The Executive Director (Interim) presented the Termination of Shared Service Arrangement: North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration report for Members’ consideration. In doing so the following was highlighted:

·       NWEDR was a shared service that served Bromsgrove, Redditch and Wyre Forest Councils and had successfully operated for over a decade.

·       The Leader of Wyre Forest DC (WFDC) had approached the Leader of Bromsgrove DC (BDC) and Redditch BC (RBC) in August 2023 to request a mutual termination of theCollaboration Agreement which related to the Provision of Economic Development and Regeneration Services across North Worcestershire.

·       Officers from BDC and RBC (lead by the Executive Director (Interim)) and WFDC (Led by their CEO) had met regularly to draft and agree the Exit Agreement that included indemnity clauses that protected the Council from any future claims that related to staff, or commercial decisions taken by NWEDR or during the separation. The Collaboration Agreement included many similar provisions on establishing the shared service and it was inevitable that they would be mirrored in exiting that agreement.

·       Subject to the agreement of the Exit Agreement it had been agreed that the mutual termination, took effect from 30 June 2024.

·       Additional funding for the new structure had been included in the MTFP, discussed earlier in this meeting, at a cost of £73,000 per annum.

Following presentation of the report Members expressed that although this termination had not been anticipated it was felt that a suitable solution had been identified. This solution had been arrived at following in-depth conversations with both Members and Officers and that this was a great opportunity to continue to improve Economic Development within the District in the future.

It was noted that this report had been pre-scrutinised by the Overview and Scrutiny Board at its meeting on 12^th February 2024.

RECOMMENDEDthat

1)    An additional budget of £72,836 be approved for the new structure.

RESOLVEDthat

2)    To agree that the Collaboration Agreement relating to the Provision of Economic Development and Regeneration Services should be terminated mutually under clause 15.1 (Determination of this Agreement), with effect from 30 June 2024 and that a new Exit Agreement be entered into;

3)    Delegation be given to the Executive Director (interim) following consultation with the Cabinet Member forEconomic Development and Regeneration, and Executive Director Resources authority to negotiate, finalise and approve the Exit Agreement and to take any other steps that arise from the termination process.

There was no Urgent Business on this occasion.

"RESOLVED: 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 following item(s) of business on the grounds that it/they involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act, as amended, the relevant paragraph of that part, in each case, being as set out below, and that it is in the public interest to do so:-

RESOLVED: 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 following item(s) of business on the grounds that it/they involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of scheme 12A to the Act, as amended, the relevant paragraph of that part, in each case, being as set out below and that it is in the public interest to do so:-

The Deputy Chief Executive presented the update report in respect of Levelling Up Funding (LUF).

In doing so, it was noted that the Council had been awarded £14.1m of LUF in 2022. In addition to this, the Council had added £1.6m of its own funding, bringing the total amount of monies available for projects to £16.1m.

Members were reminded that NWEDR provided overall programme management for the Bromsgrove LUF programmes. Given the changes to this arrangement in the future, plans were to be put in place on how these programmes were to progress moving forward.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was to be signed with Worcestershire County Council (WCC) to undertake the Public Realm works.

Officers reminded Members that the Planning application for the Market Hall site was to be considered at the Planning meeting due to take place on 19^th February 2024.

The present plan for the Market Hall site would result in a construction completion date of September 2025, which was six months after the present deadline for spending of any Government LUF Grant. The Council had been in communication with DLUHC and sought a six month extension to this project.  This was provisionally approved by DLUHC on 5^th February 2024.

It was noted that this report had been pre-scrutinised by the Overview and Scrutiny Board at its meeting on 12^th February 2024. At this meeting, the Board agreed that they would include a monthly update in respect of LUF on its Work Programme.

The Chairman invited Councillor S. Nock to speak on this matter, in his role as Vice-Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

RESOLVED to note the report.

(During consideration of this item, Members discussed matters that necessitated the disclosure of exempt information. It was therefore agreed to move to exclude the press and public prior to any debate on the grounds that information would be revealed Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).