Issue - meetings

Report of the Leader.

Resolved that:

• Board membership of 15 members be approved with effect from October 2012 to be comprised of 4 tenants and 1 leaseholder) (appointed by a panel), 5 independents (appointed by a panel) and 5 Councillors (appointed by the Council).
• Cabinet Members are not eligible to be a board member of CBH
• The changes to the articles of association as set out in appendix 2 be approved.
• Authority be delegated to the Director Commissioning in consultation with the Borough Solicitor to amend the provisions of the Management Agreement to include the requirement for CBC to be consulted upon any proposals to alter the structure of CBH’s senior leadership team.

The Leader of the Council introduced the report and said that Cheltenham Borough Homes (CBH) had been doing an excellent job on behalf of the Council in managing its housing stock, in bringing on new sites for development and undertaking activities in the community. It was now important to ensure that the organisation was fit for purpose for the future as more challenges lay ahead. 

He reported that the Council had appointed 5 members to the Board of CBH and the skills set of these members together with the areas they represented had been considered when making these appointments. In terms of tenants and leaseholder representation on the Board their appointment would be subject to an assessment process to ensure their contributions were effective.

In terms of constitutional changes the Leader confirmed that the roles and responsibilities of the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member had now been clearly defined with the Leader representing the authority as shareholder of the company and the Cabinet Member having the service level agreement monitoring role.

With regard to communications about senior staffing the Leader reported that this would be formalised in the management agreement with the Chief Executive and the Leader of the Council now having regular meetings with the Chair of the Board.

Members welcomed the report which in their view positively addressed the issues. The leaseholder representative on the Board was also a positive step as previously leaseholders did not have a voice at Board level.

Resolved that:

• Board membership of 15 members be approved with effect from October 2012 to be comprised of 4 tenants and 1 leaseholder) (appointed by a panel), 5 independents (appointed by a panel) and 5 Councillors (appointed by the Council).
• Cabinet Members are not eligible to be a board member of CBH
• The changes to the articles of association as set out in appendix 2 be approved.
• Authority be delegated to the Director Commissioning in consultation with the Borough Solicitor to amend the provisions of the Management Agreement to include the requirement for CBC to be consulted upon any proposals to alter the structure of CBH’s senior leadership team.