Agenda, decisions and minutes

A minutes silence was observed for Councillor David Watts.

Apologies were received from Councillors Cliff Hughes and Susan Snape.

Decision made (Unanimously):

That the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 17 October be approved as a correct record for signing by the Leader of the Council.

Members are requested to indicate at this stage in the proceedings any items on the agenda in which they intend to declare an interest. Members are reminded that if the interest is a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (as defined in the Members’ Code of Conduct) they must leave the room for the whole of that item. If the interest is not a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, but is such that a member of the public could reasonably regard it as being so significant that it is likely that it would prejudice their judgment of the public interest (as explained in the Code of Conduct) then they may make representations, but then must leave the meeting for the remainder of the item.

There were no declarations of any interests.

Cabinet Forward Plan for the four month period 1 November to 28 February 2019 attached.

Decision made (Unanimously):

That the Forward Plan for the four month period 1 November 2018 – 28 February 2019 be noted.

Report of the Chief Executive attached.

RESOLVED Unanimously:

That the report be noted.

The Chief Executive presented a report that provided Members with an overview of performance against the Council’s Corporate Plan for 2018/19 at the end of the second quarter, 30 September 2018.

The Cabinet were pleased to note that the majority of projects were on track and thanked officers for all their hard work.

The Leader and Deputy Leader also commented that they had attended one of the consultation events that had taken place with partners and residents aimed at strengthening the Council’s strong working relationship with the South Ribble Partnership. Feedback across the board had been excellent and they were pleased with the number of innovative ways that the authority were deploying to better engage with the community.

The work taking place on the MH2K, a mental health initiative and the Dementia Friendly Community was also praised.

Decision made (Unanimously):

That the report be noted.

Reason(s) for the decision:

To effectively monitor the Council’s performance against the implementation of the Corporate Strategy.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

None.

Report of the Temporary Director of Customer and Digital attached.

RESOLVED Unanimously:

1.    Approval to undertake a procurement exercise to renew the Council’s current Microsoft licence arrangements via a further competition exercise through an EU compliant framework with evaluation weightings of 90% Cost and 10% Quality.

2.    Approval to grant delegated authority to the Temporary Director (Customer and Digital) in consultation with the Cabinet Member (Corporate Support and Assets) to enter into a 3 year contract on the basis that the final proposal does not exceed 100K per year.

The Cabinet received a report of the Temporary Director of Customer and Digital that sought approval to undertake a procurement exercise to renew the Council’s current licensing arrangements with Microsoft. The Licences would be purchased for a three year term from 1 April 2019 and would consolidate two contracts.

In anticipation of a price increase of 3% to 6% from December it was important for the Council to undertake a procurement exercise before this date so they could take advantage of the reduced offer.

Decision made (Unanimously):

1.    Approval to undertake a procurement exercise to renew the Council’s current Microsoft licence arrangements via a further competition exercise through an EU compliant framework with evaluation weightings of 90% Cost and 10% Quality.

2.    Approval to grant delegated authority to the Temporary Director (Customer and Digital) in consultation with the Cabinet Member (Corporate Support and Assets) to enter into a 3 year contract on the basis that the final proposal does not exceed 100K per year.

Reason(s) for the decision:

1.  The Council’s current Microsoft licensing agreements are due to expire. In order for the Council to obtain the best value and ensure excellence and financial sustainability, a procurement exercise is recommended as the best way forward to achieve a fully licenced Microsoft estate.

2.  Renewal of Microsoft licences will also allow the Council to take advantage of the latest technologies offered by Microsoft including Office 365 (O365) and mobile working opportunities.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

Due to the Council’s heavy reliance on Microsoft technology and Microsoft’s dominance in the market, there are no realistic alternatives to the use of Microsoft products.

Report of the Temporary Director of Customer and Digital attached.

RESOLVED Unanimously:

1.    That Cabinet notes the recent Government budget announcements and supports the requirement to carry out modelling impact assessments and report to Budget Council in February 2019.

2.    That Cabinet supports the proposal to review the hardship schemes and proactively promote such schemes as outlined in the report.

The Cabinet received a report that updated on the current situation with the Council’s Council Tax Support Scheme following recent Government Budget announcements. The report also sought agreement on how the Council should proceed with the scheme including a review of the exceptional hardship funds.

It has always been the Cabinet’s intention to consult on and implement a new scheme from April 2019 and work to progress this had continued. Details of a proposed alternative scheme was set out in the report.

However the recent Government announcement on changes to Universal Credit (UC) meant that they now needed to review the potential impact of these changes. Given the timing it was therefore deemed sensible to undertake an impact assessment and remodelling of the current/alternative scheme options.

In response to the Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Leader, Councillor Caroline Moon explained that the CTSS could not be removed at Budget Council, as legally there had to be a period of consultation with all preceptors on proposed options.

Members discussed the need to review and amend the local hardship scheme to ensure that those most in need, received additional support automatically instead of having to apply.

Decision made (Unanimously):

1.    That Cabinet notes the recent Government budget announcements and supports the requirement to carry out modelling impact assessments and report to Budget Council in February 2019.

2.    That Cabinet supports the proposal to review the hardship schemes and proactively promote such schemes as outlined in the report.

Reason(s) for the decision:

1.     The adoption of a revised Council Tax Support scheme has been agreed as a priority in the five year Corporate Plan (2018-23).

2.     To ensure that any future new or revised scheme is intended to address the potential administrative burden of the rollout of Universal Credit and satisfy the statutory requirement within the localisation of Council Tax Support that consultation must take place with major preceptors and residents.

Alternative Option Considered and Rejected:

1.     Modelling work has been carried out on retaining the current scheme, and alternative schemes. The advantages and disadvantages of the schemes are outlined in Appendix 1 of the report. The rationale behind the analysis is to identify CTS scheme options, and consult upon the adoption of the said options. To adopt a banded scheme we would need to purchase specialist software. Any relevant software required may attract procurement requirements and software would need to be compatible with the existing processing system.

2.     It is also noted that any new scheme should address member dissatisfaction with the elements of the current scheme, and the potential administrative burden due to the roll out of Universal Credit.

3.     In light of the announcements in the budget regarding UC further work is required in order to ascertain the impact this could have for South Ribble under its current scheme and modelled options and it is proposed that this further detailed analysis is undertaken.

4.     Benchmarking with other Lancashire Local Authorities has shown that the majority are making no major  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

Report of the Interim Deputy Chief Executive (Resources and Transformation) attached.

RESOLVED Unanimously:

That the report be noted.

The Cabinet received a report of the Section 151 Officer that provided an update on the second quarter of 2018/19 on the Council’s overall financial position. The report also provided a forecast of the projected outturn to 31 March 2019 in comparison to the budget approved in February 2018.

The report was a positive one and a number of points were highlighted that included:

The Projected Outturn forecast at quarter 2 in respect of the full year 2018/19 provided a net underspending of £320,000, which included an overall saving in staff related costs of £150,000.

Income and transformational savings of £0.352m had been secured in the first half of the financial year, largely due to additional income from Garden Waste charges.

Spending was a little behind profile with £1.880m (21.5%) committed as at 30 September 2018, although it is expected that the total spend at the year-end would be £7.752m, with a forecasted re-phasing of expenditure into 2019/20 of £0.972m, that would achieve an in-year saving of £0.36m.

Decision made (Unanimously):

That the report be noted.

Reason(s) for the decision:

To effectively monitoring the Council’s financial position and projected outturn to 31 March 2018.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

None.

Report of the Director of Neighbourhoods and Development attached.

RESOLVED Unanimously:

That Cabinet agree the adoption of the revised Air Quality Action Plan.

The Director of Neighbourhoods and Development presented a report that sought approval and adoption of the Council’s revised Air Quality Action Plan.

Within the South Ribble borough, five Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA) had been declared. The Council has a legal obligation under Part IV of the Environment Act to produce an Air Quality Action Plan following the declaration of an AQMA that will work towards the improvement of air quality within its area to achieve the air quality national objective values.

Members welcome the Plan as the issue of air quality within the Borough was a long standing one that had taken some considerable time to formally identify and urged the Council to act and implement the actions within the Plan as a matter of urgency.

Members of the public were also in attendance to explain that the air quality in the Turpin Green Lane area was now starting to affects residents’ health. They reported that HGV’s are continually using the lane as a short cut to junction 28 of the motorway and that this had been going on for 14 years. The only way to stop this from happening would be to put weight restrictions in place and the Cabinet were requested to put pressure on the Lancashire County Council and the Highways Agency who are the responsible authority’s to get this issue addressed.

The Cabinet Member (Public Health and Safety, Wellbeing and Environmental) lives close by to the area and understands what the residents are going through, stating that the Council were committed to working with the relevant agencies to implement workable solutions to improve air quality issues.

Decision made (Unanimously):

That Cabinet agree the adoption of the revised Air Quality Action Plan.

Reason(s) for decision:

1.    Air Quality represents the largest environmental health risk to the population of the UK and one of the greatest overall health risks, with over 63,000 premature deaths occurring in the UK every year from poor air quality.

2.    Within South Ribble five Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA) have been declared following the identification of five particularly poor areas of air quality.

3.    The Council is under legal obligation, Part IV of the Environment Act, to produce an Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) following declaration of an AQMA and to work towards the improvement of air quality within its area and achieving the air quality national objective values.

4.    Statutory Guidance issued by DEFRA identifies the need for all partner organisations and political leaders to demonstrate leadership, commitment and take responsibility for actions, especially where measures will have a knock on effect on other policy areas.

5.    The legislation also identifies the need to periodically review the AQAP’s, with the guidance suggesting a maximum of every five years, the last AQAP launched in 2016 became out of date in December 2017 following the declaration of the fifth AQMA in Leyland, and an update was required.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

Details of all suggested measures are included within the back of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

To consider the exclusion of the press and public for the following items of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

By Virtue of Paragraph 3: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

Condition:

Information is not exempt if it is required to be registered under-

The Companies Act 1985

The Friendly Societies Act 1974

The Friendly Societies Act 1992

The Industrial and Provident Societies Acts 1965 to 1978

The Building Societies Act 1986 (recorded in the public file of any building society, within the meaning of the Act)

The Charities Act 1993

Information is exempt to the extent that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Information is not exempt if it relates to proposed development for which the local planning authority may grant itself planning permission pursuant to Regulation 3 of the Town & Country Planning General Regulations 1992(a).

RESOLVED Unanimously:

That the press and public be excluded from the meeting.

Decision made: (Unanimously)

That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following item of business as it involved the discussion of information defined as exempt from publication under paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, ‘Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) ‘ and in which the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing it.

Report of the Director of Neighbourhoods and Development attached.

RESOLVED Unanimously:

That the recommendations in the confidential report be approved.

The Director of Neighbourhoods and Development presented a confidential report that updated Members on progress made towards the implementation of the Leyland Health and Wellbeing Campus, including updated governance and reporting processes.

The report also sought approval for a procurement strategy that would allow early commencement of meaningful work on site. Information was also provided on land identified for the project.

Decision made (Unanimously):

1.    That the progress report, updated governance arrangements and revised implementation plan be noted.

2.    Approval of the outline procurement strategy.

3.    Delegated authority granted to the Deputy Chief Executive (Regeneration and Growth) in consultation with the Cabinet Member (Regeneration and Leisure), Cabinet Member (Public Health and Safety, Wellbeing and Environmental) and Cabinet Member (Corporate Support and Assets) to secure appropriate title to part of the land shown on the attached plan in the report.

4.    Approval of quarterly Member briefing sessions to update on the Health and Wellbeing Campus.

Reason(s) for the decision:

1.     Development of the Campus is a priority for the Council, the revised strategy sets out an efficient way to implement the Leyland Campus, effectively and economically, securing early delivery of Green infrastructure.

2.     The Leyland Campus is the first element in a programme that will promote active and healthy lifestyles across the Borough.

3.     The procurement strategy will be based on sound principles of early contractor engagement, designing in efficient construction and logistics together with reducing adverse impacts on adjacent residents and businesses. The principles are set out in the report.

4.     In order to open up the woodland area for active leisure to its optimum extent securing sufficient title to part of that land to include it within phase one is an important objective.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

This report takes forward implementation of the decisions taken on 21 June and 12 September 2018.