Issue - meetings

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – RESOURCES

The final report showing progress of projects to support the Council Plan in the 2020-21 year.

RESOLVED: That delivery against the key projects for 20/21 be noted.

REASON FOR DECISION: To enable achievements against the key projects for 2020/21 to be considered.

Audio recording 34 minutes 41 seconds

The Controls, Risk and Performance Manager presented the report entitled 4^th Quarter Monitoring Report on Key Projects for 2020-21 together with the following appendix:

·                Appendix A – 4^th Quarter Monitoring against Key Projects for 2020/21.

She drew attention to the following:

·                The Status Report showed 4 projects with green status, 7 with amber;

·                The Councillor Portal had now gone live so this project would be moved to completed status;

·                The renovation of Howard Park Play Area had moved to amber due to delays in the delivery of playground equipment. The project would now commence in September after the school holidays;

·                The Crematorium hearing had taken place on 22 February 2021 and the appeal was dismissed. Officers were now considering the reasons for the decision and would be submitting a report to Cabinet in due course;

·                The development of a long-term museum storage solution had moved to amber. The overall project costs appeared to be in excess of the identified budget. The Commercial Team was exploring all the potential options for the site and once completed a procurement process could be undertaken;

·                This would be the last report showing the number of YouTube views of meetings, as meetings were starting to be held in person again, although the data could be produced on request if required.

The following Members commented and asked questions:

·                Councillor Claire Strong;

·                Councillor David Levett;

·                Councillor Sam Collins.

Comments from Members included:

·                The museum storage project had been ongoing for a significant amount of time and it would be good to see some progress regarding

·                 somewhere to store the District’s many artefacts;

·                The Appeal Decision appeared to exclude the development of a crematorium on that site;

·                Cabinet would need to give a clear steer on the direction of the crematorium project when next considering it.

The Controls, Risk and Performance Manager confirmed that:

·                The Key Projects report would continue to be considered by the Committee at future meetings.

In response to questions from Members, the Service Director – Commercial advised that:

·                Costs had been sought from a contractor for the museum storage solution but this had come in significantly over-budget. Alternative options were actively being explored and the Committee would be updated on any progress;

·                An options appraisal was being undertaken for the crematorium either on the current site or another location and the aim was for this to go to Cabinet in September.

RESOLVED: That delivery against the key projects for 20/21 be noted.

REASON FOR DECISION: To enable achievements against the key projects for 2020/21 to be considered.