Minutes for Overview Committee meeting, Jan 28 2009, 7.00PM official page

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Doyle and Thomas.

(a)            Disclosures of interest and their nature ie prejudicial or personal.

(b)            Disclosures of lobbying.

(c)            Disclosures of whipping.

Councillor Margaret Flaherty declared a personal and prejudicial interest in the car parks item, as was a holder of a residents parking permit.

Councillor Calvert-Mindell declared a personal interest in the draft housing revenue and capital budget as it related to disabled adaptations.

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

To confirm as a true record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2009 were agreed as a correct record.

There were no matters arising.

TO CONSIDER whether any of the decisions made by the Executive at its meeting on 22 January 2009, should be called-in.

Please bring your copy of the agenda and the minutes for the Executive meeting.

Copies of both will be available at the meeting for members of the public.

Members are reminded that a request for call-in must be delivered to the Monitoring officer within three clear working days of the publication of the decision.

There were no call-ins of any decisions made by the Executive at its meeting on 22 January 2009.

TO REVIEW the forthcoming decision list and consider, in accordance with Article 6 of the Constitution, if the proposed level of consultation is appropriate for the decision to be taken.

In accordance with Article 6 of the Constitution, the Committee reviewed the Forthcoming Decision List for the period 1 February 2009 to 31 May 2009 to decide if the proposed level of consultation for each decision was appropriate.

RESOLVED – That the level of consultation as indicated on the Forthcoming Decision List for 1 February to 31 May 2009 be considered appropriate.

Page 14 of the agenda for the meeting of the Executive – 22 January 2009 refers.

The Committee considered the recommendations of the Executive related to car parking charges as set out in Minute No E243.  They raised points relating to the following key issues:

i)                    Would the car parking charges be reviewed in future on an annual basis from January rather than the current April? – No decision had been made on this as yet.  January had been quoted as this would avoid a car parking increase before Christmas and the Governments reduction in VAT was until January.

ii)                  Would comparison car parking figures be made available? – These were already regularly reported to the Scrutiny Management and Review Sub-Committee.

iii)                Some charges were still increasing – those for resident and business permits were

iv)                The representations received from businesses were related to the proposals for arrangements for business users’ permits in Hawk’s Lane and St John’s Lane which were not now going to be proceeded with

v)                  The level of VAT and any adjustments being made to prices – where charges were inclusive of VAT there would be no change in the price.  Where charges were plus VAT there would be.

RESOLVED - That the report and the recommendations of the Executive as set out in Minute No E242 be noted and the right to make comments or move amendments at the Council meeting be reserved.

Page 48 of the agenda for the meeting of the Executive – 22 January 2009 refers.

The Director of Community Services advised upon the reasons why the proposed rent levels were above inflation.  She stated that the Housing Revenue account was in a very healthy position and that there was a full programme of works to tenants’ homes.

The Committee discussed the report.  They raised points including the following key issues:

i)                    the possible rent level next year because of inflation – inflation was only part of the formula

ii)                  the budget for disabled adaptations, the number of people on the waiting list for such adaptations and how many could be undertaken with the budget available? – There was £612000 in the General Fund and £197000 in the Housing Revenue account making a total of £809000.  Occupational Therapists and helped to prioritise those on the waiting list.  A written response would be sent to Councillor Calvert- Mindell on the outstanding questions.

iii)                What were the average rents for different types of dwellings including enhanced care and sheltered schemes in both Council ownership and the private sector – a written reply would be sent to all members of the Committee.

iv)                Would rents ever come down? – This was unlikely to be the case.

v)                  In view of the very low rates for borrowing, had officers considered buying smaller properties in bulk as council housing as the rental income could cover the cost of borrowing and the council house waiting list would then decrease? Were any other local authorities considering this idea? – Housing Associations had been given the resources to do this and the Council worked with them to place people from the Housing Register.  Often the specification of private housing, particularly at the cheaper end of the market, was not as high as social housing.  However, there was a consultation paper being considered at the moment to develop council houses outside the subsidy system.  The Council’s response on the consultation paper would probably be considered by the Executive on 2 April 2009.    The whole life costings of any proposal to purchase or to build would need to be considered.  A full written response would be sent to all members of the Committee on this idea.

RESOLVED – That the report and the recommendations of the Executive at Minute No E243 be noted.

Page 70 of the agenda for the meeting of the Executive – 22 January 2009 refers.

The Director of Corporate Services advised the Committee on the changes in the revenue budget projections since it had considered them in November 2008.  These were as set out on page 94 of the Executive agenda for their meeting on 22 January 2009.

The Committee then made points on the following key issues:

i)                    What roundabout locations would be enhanced? – A written response would need to be sent to Councillor Matthews.

ii)                  How would the savings of £1.8m be made to the staffing budget? – By budget prioritisation, zero based budgeting, efficiency reviews and a planned reduction in staff numbers by strong scrutiny of vacant posts.  Redundancies would be avoided wherever possible. 

iii)                The current percentage turnover of staff – normally 10-12% that equated to approximately 80 people.

iv)                What properties were on the asset disposal programme schedule and had the Executive seen the schedule? How could the programme be scrutinised if the details were unknown? Had any additional properties been added to the schedule? – I t was not considered to be appropriate for this list to be available to all members.  The three Group Leaders had seen it however.  It was not thought that any new properties had been added to the schedule.

v)                  What was the Restructure reserve for? To assist in the funding of any redundancies arising from the efficiency reviews.

vi)                The proposed increase in beach hut rents when the amount of property rates payable was unknown – a standard £78 per hut had been allowed for each hut.  Hut owners would be given an individual rateable value for their hut and many of them would be eligible for small business rate relief.

vii)              A standard £78 per hut was unfair to people who had Herne Bay beach huts – A written response to be provided to Councillor Matthews on the rateable amount per hut in the coastal towns.

RESOLVED - That the report and the recommendations of the Executive as set out in Minute No E244 be noted and the right to make comments or move amendments at the Council meeting be reserved.

Page 159 of the agenda for the meeting of the Executive – 22 January 2009 refers.

The Director of Corporate Services advised upon the proposed changes to the capital programme, which were set out on page 163 of the agenda for the Executive meeting held on 22 January 2009.

A member raised her concern at the proposed level of new borrowing in addition to the amount already borrowed and the benefits/return from it.  The Chief Executive advised that borrowing had been used to pay for small projects in the capital programme for some years.  Larger projects had previously been funded by selling Council assets but this was not possible in the current economic climate.  Borrowing was now allowed over a longer period of 40-50 years and payments did not need to be made until the project had been completed.

RESOLVED - That the report and the recommendations of the Executive as set out in Minute No E245 be noted and the right to make comments or move amendments at the Council meeting be reserved.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted and the relevant Finance staff be thanked for the easy to understand report they had submitted on this complex issue.

The Head of Safety and Wellbeing advised the Committee that a £50000 grant to the Scrine Foundation to boost the volunteering aspect of their work had now to be included in Appendix C.  He advised upon the key actions for the City Council detailed in Appendix B of the report and that he would be leading on rough sleepers in East Kent.  There were growing concerns about the number of young homeless people.

A member raised issues relating to the extent the strategy covered opportunities to help people manage their own finances and homes once they had been housed and the multi-agency arrangements to link their resources.  The Head of Safety and Wellbeing stated that supporting people arrangements would be an integral part of the strategy, as would multi-agency integration.

RESOLVED – That this Committee support the adoption of the East Kent Homelessness strategy as the general approach in the district to tackle homelessness.

(Prior to consideration of this item, the Head of Safety and Wellbeing, declared an interest as the Council’s representative on the Scrine foundation)

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 11 February 2009 at 7pm at the Guildhall. Green burials (Minute No 230 (2007/08) refers) and the Housing Maintenance Contract performance (Councillor Seath’s request) will be discussed.

The next meeting would be held on Wednesday 11 February 2009 at 7pm at the Guildhall. The Beach Hut scrutiny review, green and woodland burials and the Housing Maintenance Contract performance would be discussed.

11 March 2009

Six month efficiency review update

Revised Play Strategy

Relocation of sports facilities in Herne Bay

Date unknown

Concessionary Travel

Crime and Disorder Committee

Graffiti (one-off report)

Tree conservation in the city centre (one-off report)

Litter collection arrangements (one-off report)

Councils current consultation process (one-off report)

The items for future meetings would include:

11 March 2009

Six month efficiency review update

Revised Play Strategy

Relocation of sports facilities in Herne Bay

Date unknown

Crime and Disorder Committee

Graffiti (one-off report)

Tree conservation in the city centre (one-off report)

Litter collection arrangements (one-off report)

Councils current consultation process (one-off report)

TO RESOLVE – That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act or the Freedom of Information Act or both.

RESOLVED – That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act or the Freedom of Information Act or both.

The Director of Corporate Services advised upon the advice that had recently been received relating to some of the Council’s investments.

The Chairman drew attention to a press release he had received from a Local Government Association Select Committee on local government funding and assessments.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.