Issue - meetings

Report of the Chief Executive

The Chief Executive introduced the report and explained that the REST (Regulatory and Environmental Services Transformation) project envisaged that a restructuring of the Environmental and Regulatory Services Division would be necessary to achieve its aims of providing more of a customer focus, drive efficiency and create a more commercial focus to drive economic development in the town. Many elements of the restructuring were within the authority delegated to the Chief Executive (as Head of Paid Service), but where director level posts were affected by any proposed changes, the authority to approve these rested with the Appointments and Remuneration Committee. The Chief Executive went on to report that the Committee had now endorsed the Chief Executive’s proposals for a new divisional triumvirate structure and Council approval was now requested to approve the structure proposals and agree their financing in view of the fact that the intended structure was initially more expensive than the current one. However he explained that the intention was that any additional cost in 2015/16 and 2016/17 would be funded from other budgets and in subsequent years the aim would be to recoup any additional costs by organisational changes elsewhere in the division as a Phase 2 restructure. The proposal was therefore for one off investment over two financial years with no overall increase in ongoing revenue costs; the objective being to create senior capacity to achieve better, more focussed and more efficient services in the longer term. The Chief Executive explained that the Budget Scrutiny Working Group had also considered the proposals and added value to the report which had changed considerably as a result. It was proposed that BSWG continue to be involved in a monitoring role.

The Chief Executive explained that the current structure of the division was not fit for purpose with the existing Director having nine direct reports. The REST programme was based on continued direct council provision of services commissioned against clear outcomes with customer focus, efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery and financial savings achieved through a systems thinking approach. The other key influence on the proposal was the urgent need to create senior level capacity to improve Cheltenham’s economic performance in the light of the Athey Consulting report. It emphasised the need for collaboration with Cheltenham Development Task Force, GFirst LEP, government agencies and local businesses.  He highlighted that Government policy continued to promote economic growth and reward local authorities who were successful in this objective through the business rates retention scheme and via New Homes Bonus. The Chief Executive emphasised that REST was crucial to shaping the council response to the need for economic growth in that it embraced the land use and infrastructure planning functions which were crucial to unlocking growth potential by facilitating the growth in existing business.

In terms of the financial implications of the proposals the Chief Executive reiterated that the cost arising from the structure would for a full year be approx. £157k. The full cost would not fall on this current financial year  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8