Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Keith Hoskins

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Keith Hoskins

To take as read and approve as a true record the minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on the

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 26 March 2019 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chairman.

Audio Recording of Meeting – Start of Item – 51 seconds

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 26 March 2019 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chairman.

Members should notify the Chairman of other business which they wish to be discussed by the Cabinet at the end of either Part I or Part II business set out in the agenda. They must state the circumstances which they consider justify the business being considered as a matter of urgency.

The Chairman will decide whether any item(s) raised will be considered.

There was no other business notified.

Audio Recording – Start of Item – 1 minute 6 seconds

There was no other business notified.

Members are reminded that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda, should be declared as either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or Declarable Interest and are required to notify the Chairman of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda.  Members declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest must withdraw from the meeting for the duration of the item. Members declaring a Declarable Interest, wished to exercise a ‘Councillor Speaking Right’, must declare this at the same time as the interest, move to the public area before speaking to the item and then must leave the room before the debate and vote

(1)    The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting;

(2)    The Chairman explained that this was now a joint Administration consisting of Members of the Labour and Co-operative and Liberal Democrat parties;

(3)    The Chairman advised that members of the public were welcomed to attend meetings and encouraged to take part. There were various ways that members of the public could take part;

(4)    The Chairman welcomed the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee;

(5)    The Chairman reminded those present that the meeting was being audio recorded:

(6)    The Chairman announced that Members of the public and the press may use their devices to film/photograph, or do a sound recording of the meeting, but she asked them to not use flash and to disable any beeps or other sound notifications that emitted from their devices’

(7)    The Chairman reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question;

(8)    The Chairman asked that, for the benefit of any members of the public present at the meeting, Officers announce their name and their designation to the meeting when invited to speak.

Audio recording – Start of Item – 1 minute 10 seconds

(1)    The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting;

(2)    The Chairman explained that this was now a joint Administration consisting of Members of the Labour and Co-operative and Liberal Democrat parties;

(3)    The Chairman advised that members of the public were welcomed to attend meetings and encouraged to take part. There were various ways that members of the public could take part;

(4)    The Chairman welcomed the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee;

(5)    The Chairman reminded those present that the meeting was being audio recorded:

(6)    The Chairman announced that Members of the public and the press may use their devices to film/photograph, or do a sound recording of the meeting, but she asked them to not use flash and to disable any beeps or other sound notifications that emitted from their devices’

(7)    The Chairman reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question;

(8)    The Chairman asked that, for the benefit of any members of the public present at the meeting, Officers announce their name and their designation to the meeting when invited to speak.

To receive petitions, comments and questions from the public.

There were no presentations by members of the public.

Audio Recording – Start of Item – 3 minutes 41 seconds

There were no presentations by members of the public.

Any Items referred from other committees will be circulated as soon as they are available.

There were no referrals from other Committees.

Audio Recording – Start of Item – 3 minutes 44 seconds

There were no referrals from other Committees.

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – REGULATORY

To identify the latest position on key planning issues affecting the District

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the report on strategic planning matters be noted;

(2)       That the submission(s) in Appendices A to C be noted and endorsed.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To keep Cabinet informed of recent development on strategic planning matters and progress on the North Hertfordshire Local Plan.

Audio Recording – Start of Item – 3 minutes 47 seconds

The Executive Member for Planning and Transport presented the report entitled Strategic Planning Matters together with the following appendices:

·                Appendix A - Stevenage CIL response;

·                Appendix B - HCC Minerals representations;

·                Appendix C - Preston NP response.

The Strategic Planning Manager gave the following updates to the report:

Paragraph 8.1.12

The Examiners hearing regarding St Albans’ Local Plan would start in October 2019.

Paragraph 8.4.3

Consultation regarding the making of an Article 4 Direction would start on 20 June 2019.

Paragraph 8.5.5

Consultation on the draft Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC) would run from 12 June 2019 to 10 July 2019.

It was moved by Councillor Clark, seconded by Councillor Albert and:

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the report on strategic planning matters be noted;

(2)       That the submission(s) in Appendices A to C be noted and endorsed.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To keep Cabinet informed of recent development on strategic planning matters and progress on the North Hertfordshire Local Plan.

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR - REGULATORY

To consider the examiners report and the proposed modifications to the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan and to agree that officers make arrangements to conduct a referendum within the Wymondley designated neighbourhood planning area.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the Examiner’s report for the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan be noted;

(2)       That following the inclusion of the Examiner’s proposed modifications to the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan, as set out in Appendix B, it be approved to proceed to a referendum;

(3)       That the Retuning Officer be instructed to conduct a referendum on the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan;

(4)       That the decision to “make” the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan be delegated to the Service Director – Regulatory in consultation with the Executive Member for Planning and Transport.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To progress the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan, enable a referendum to take place and, following a vote of more than 50% in favour of the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan, to “make” the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan.

Audio Recording – Start of Item – 7 minutes 1 second

The Executive Member for Planning and Transport presented the report entitled Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan – Examiner’s Report together with the following appendices:

·                Appendix A - Wymondley NP Examiners Report:

·                Appendix B - Examiners report - schedule of amendments comments.

It was moved by Councillor Clark, seconded by Councillor Albert and:

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the Examiner’s report for the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan be noted;

(2)       That following the inclusion of the Examiner’s proposed modifications to the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan, as set out in Appendix B, it be approved to proceed to a referendum;

(3)       That the Retuning Officer be instructed to conduct a referendum on the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan;

(4)       That the decision to “make” the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan be delegated to the Service Director – Regulatory in consultation with the Executive Member for Planning and Transport.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To progress the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan, enable a referendum to take place and, following a vote of more than 50% in favour of the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan, to “make” the Wymondley Neighbourhood Plan.

REPORT OF: SERVICE DIRECTOR - REGULATORY

To consider and adopt an Action Plan to increase housing delivery in the District as required by national planning policy.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the context for the introduction of the Housing Delivery Test (HDT) and the first result for North Hertfordshire District Council be noted;

(2)       That the actions undertaken to date be endorsed and that officers be instructed to continue to implement the activities identified in the Action Plan;

(3)       That the Housing Delivery Test Action Plan, attached as Appendix 1, be approved for publication.

REASON FOR DECISION: To meet the requirements of national planning policy.

Audio Recording – Start of Item – 8 minutes 48 seconds

The Executive Member for Planning and Transport presented the report entitled Housing Delivery Test Action Plan together with the following appendix:

·                Appendix A - Action Plan

Councillor Ian Mantle queried where the target figures were sourced from.

The Strategic Planning Manager advised that these figures were sourced from Government household projections.

It was moved by Councillor Clark, seconded by Councillor Albert and:

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the context for the introduction of the Housing Delivery Test (HDT) and the first result for North Hertfordshire District Council be noted;

(2)       That the actions undertaken to date be endorsed and that officers be instructed to continue to implement the activities identified in the Action Plan;

(3)       That the Housing Delivery Test Action Plan, attached as Appendix 1, be approved for publication.

REASON FOR DECISION: To meet the requirements of national planning policy.

To consider implementing a Cabinet Panel on Climate Emergency.

The Leader of the council advised that a paper would be presented to a special meeting of Cabinet due to be held on 27 June 2019 to consider the implementation of a Cabinet Panel on the Environment.

Further papers would be considered regarding joining the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network and a Modern Day Slavery Charter.

Audio Recording – Start of Item – 12 minutes 11 seconds

The Leader of the council advised that a paper would be presented to a special meeting of Cabinet due to be held on 27 June 2019 to consider the implementation of a Cabinet Panel on the Environment.

Further papers would be considered regarding joining the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network and a Modern Day Slavery Charter.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the report entitled Revenue Budget Outturn 2018/19 be noted;

(2)       That a decrease of £555k in the 2018/19 net General Fund expenditure, as identified in table 3 and paragraph 8.1, to a total of £14.626million be approved;

(3)       That the adjustments to the 2019/20 General Fund budget, as identified in table 3 and paragraph 8.2, a £467k increase in net expenditure be approved;

(4)       That, as referred to in paragraph 8.3, the transfer of £48k from the underspend on the General Fund to the Strategic Priority fund to enable the Senior Management Team to undertake invest to save and/or continuous improvement Projects be approved;

(5)       That the transfer of £5k from the underspend on the General Fund to create a budget for joining the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network, subject to a future report to Cabinet be approved;

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL: That Council approves the net transfer to earmarked reserves, as identified in table 8, of £1.504million.

REASON FOR DECISIONS:

(1)       Members are able to monitor, make adjustments within the overall budgetary framework and request appropriate action of Services who do not meet the budget targets set as part of the Corporate Business Planning process.

(2)       Changes to the Council’s balances are monitored and approved.

Audio Recording – Start of Item – 13 minutes 50 seconds

The Executive Member for Finance and IT presented the report entitled Revenue Budget Outturn 2018/19.

He thanked Ian Couper, Service Director – Resources, Antonio Ciampa, Accountancy Manager and their team for the work undertaken last year.

He also thanked former Executive Member for Finance and IT, Julian Cunningham and Councillor Terry Hone for their work in this area.

The Executive Member for Finance and IT stated that the new administration would be undertaking a lot of work and that funding would be an important issue.

The Executive Member for Finance and IT proposed that, subject to consideration by Cabinet on 27 June 2019, £5,000 of the forecast underspend be allocated to allow the Council to join the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network.

As a result he proposed a new recommendation 2.5 to read:

“that Cabinet approves the transfer of £5k from the underspend on the General Fund to create a budget for joining the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network, subject to a future report to Cabinet.”

 The existing recommendation 2.5 would be renumbered 2.6.

In response to a question from Councillor Judi Billing, the Leader of the Council advised that the proposed £5,000 would cover the subscription costs, which were based on budget and population.

It was moved by Councillor Albert, seconded by Councillor Clark and:

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the report entitled Revenue Budget Outturn 2018/19 be noted;

(2)       That a decrease of £555k in the 2018/19 net General Fund expenditure, as identified in table 3 and paragraph 8.1, to a total of £14.626million be approved;

(3)       That the adjustments to the 2019/20 General Fund budget, as identified in table 3 and paragraph 8.2, a £467k increase in net expenditure be approved;

(4)       That, as referred to in paragraph 8.3, the transfer of £48k from the underspend on the General Fund to the Strategic Priority fund to enable the Senior Management Team to undertake invest to save and/or continuous improvement Projects be approved;

(5)       That the transfer of £5k from the underspend on the General Fund to create a budget for joining the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network, subject to a future report to Cabinet be approved;

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL: That Council approves the net transfer to earmarked reserves, as identified in table 8, of £1.504million.

REASON FOR DECISIONS:

(1)       Members are able to monitor, make adjustments within the overall budgetary framework and request appropriate action of Services who do not meet the budget targets set as part of the Corporate Business Planning process.

(2)       Changes to the Council’s balances are monitored and approved.

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR - RESOURCES

To consider the Capital Programme Outturn 2018/19

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the expenditure of £5.574million in 2018/19 on the capital programme, paragraph 8.2 refers, and in particular the changes detailed in table 3 which resulted in a net  increase on the working estimate of £0.620million be noted;

(2)       That the adjustments to the capital programme for 2019/20 as a result of the revised timetable of schemes detailed in table 2, increasing the estimated spend in 2019/20 by £0.542million (re-profiled from 2018/19) be approved;

(3)       That the position of the availability of capital resources, as detailed in table 4 paragraph 8.6 and the requirement to keep the capital programme under review for affordability be noted;

(4)       That the application of £0.626million of capital receipts towards the 2018/19 capital programme and the drawdown of £4.431million from set aside receipts, paragraph 8.6 refers be approved

REASON FOR DECISIONS: Cabinet is required to approve adjustments to the capital programme and ensure that the capital programme is fully funded.

Audio Recording – Start of Item – 21 minutes 34 seconds

The Executive Member for Finance and IT presented the report entitled Capital Programme Outturn 2018/19 together with the following appendices:

·           Appendix A - Capital Outturn Report 18/19;

·           Appendix B - Capital Outturn Report 18/19.

He advised that recommendation 2.2 should be amended to read:

“That Cabinet approves the adjustments to the capital programme for 2019/20 as a result of the revised timetable of schemes detailed in table 2, increasing the estimated spend in 2019/20 by £0.542million (re-profiled from 2018/19).

It was moved by Councillor Albert, seconded by Councillor Stears-Handscomb and:

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the expenditure of £5.574million in 2018/19 on the capital programme, paragraph 8.2 refers, and in particular the changes detailed in table 3 which resulted in a net  increase on the working estimate of £0.620million be noted;

(2)       That the adjustments to the capital programme for 2019/20 as a result of the revised timetable of schemes detailed in table 2, increasing the estimated spend in 2019/20 by £0.542million (re-profiled from 2018/19) be approved;

(3)       That the position of the availability of capital resources, as detailed in table 4 paragraph 8.6 and the requirement to keep the capital programme under review for affordability be noted;

(4)       That the application of £0.626million of capital receipts towards the 2018/19 capital programme and the drawdown of £4.431million from set aside receipts, paragraph 8.6 refers be approved

REASON FOR DECISIONS: Cabinet is required to approve adjustments to the capital programme and ensure that the capital programme is fully funded.

RESOLVED: That the position of Treasury Management activity as at the end of March 2019 be noted.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL: That the report entitled Annual Treasury Management Review 2018/19 be noted and that:

(i)         the actual 2018/19 prudential and treasury indicators be approved;

(ii)        the annual Treasury Report for 2018/19 be noted.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To ensure the Council’s continued compliance with both the CIPFA code of Practice on Treasury Management and the Local Government Act 2003, and that the Council manages its exposure to interest and capital risk.

Audio Recording – Start of Item – 25 minutes 3 seconds

The Executive Member for Finance and IT presented the report entitled Annual Treasury Management Review 2018/19.

It was proposed by Councillor Albert, seconded by Councillor Stears-Handscomb and:

RESOLVED: That the position of Treasury Management activity as at the end of March 2019 be noted.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL: That the report entitled Annual Treasury Management Review 2018/19 be noted and that:

(i)         the actual 2018/19 prudential and treasury indicators be approved;

(ii)        the annual Treasury Report for 2018/19 be noted.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To ensure the Council’s continued compliance with both the CIPFA code of Practice on Treasury Management and the Local Government Act 2003, and that the Council manages its exposure to interest and capital risk.