Agenda, decisions and minutes

Councillor Jeffries

There were none.

Minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 2019

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 February were approved and signed as a correct record.

There were none.

Report of the Cabinet Member Healthy Lifestyles

The Cabinet Member Healthy Lifestyles introduced the report which proposed the establishment of a Cheltenham Lottery to create a longer-term sustainable source of funds that would support our people, good causes and communities to thrive.

She reported that there were now over 60 councils operating or in the process of setting up a local Community Lottery as a means of accessing a new funding stream to support local good causes. Whatever the type of lottery, it was required to deliver a minimum of 20% of proceeds to good causes. It was proposed that 60% of the proceeds of the Cheltenham Lottery were allocated to good causes.

The Council would be the overall licence holder with two responsible officers named to administer it. The licence was renewable annually and the licence holders would be required to provide monthly returns to the commission.

The Cabinet Member reported that the beneficiary of the central fund was the No Child Left Behind year of action until at such point that Cabinet agreed a replacement good cause.

Finally, she wished to put on record her thanks to the Executive Director Finance and Assets, Paul Jones and the Strategy and Engagement Manager, Richard Gibson for enabling this to be established.

When asked what the incentive was for playing the Cabinet Member explained that this was principally to donate to good causes and people across Cheltenham would have the opportunity to decide which organisation they wished to support. There would, on a regular basis, be a lottery draw with small prizes of up to £25k. She emphasised that there was no ‘instant’ gratification or ‘instant reward’ to taking part.

Finally, the Leader added that the Cheltenham Lottery would provide another source of funding to community groups who were already eligible to apply for community pride funding, awarded by the council.

RESOLVED THAT

a)           A Cheltenham Lottery be established to create a longer-term sustainable source of funds that will support our people and communities to thrive.

b)           the council submit an application to the Gambling Commission to be the licence holder and that the Executive Director Finance and Assets and the Strategy and Engagement Manager be appointed to be responsible for holding the licence and submit the necessary application to the Gambling Commission.

Report of the Leader

The Leader introduced the report and explained that the starting point for the new plan was Cheltenham’s Place Vision; the collective commitment to ensure that Cheltenham is a place where everyone thrives supporting by a thriving economy, a thriving cultural offer and thriving communities. The commitments in the corporate plan supported this vision. The strategy would be backed up by an annual action list. He welcomed the new style document and wished to emphasise the following :

·         The plan would take the overall place strategy forward

·         It incorporated the positive feedback from the Peer review challenge and references from Overview and Scrutiny had been included

·         Reference to the Council motion declaring a climate emergency had been included in the sustainable ambitions and would be picked up in the action plans later in the year.

In terms of priorities these were as follows :

·         Making Cheltenham the Cyber-Capital of the UK.

·         Continuing the revitalisation and improvement of our vibrant town centre and public spaces.

·         Achieving a cleaner and greener sustainable environment for residents and visitors.

·         Increasing the supply of housing and investing to build resilient communities.

·         Delivering services to meet the needs of our residents and communities.

Finally, the Leader explained that the 3 year longer-term plan would be supported by a specific 1 year plan that would set out the details of the projects that would contribute to the delivery of the priorities and their supporting performance indicators.

RESOLVED THAT

the draft corporate strategy 2019-23 (appendix 2) be endorsed ahead of it going to Council for final approval.

Report of the Cabinet Member Development and Safety

The Cabinet Member Development and Safety introduced the report and made reference to the scrutiny task group report which Cabinet had considered in December 2018 but at the time had not endorsed its specific recommendations.

He reported that officers were currently working on costing the recommendations but at this stage Cabinet was requested to agree the additional £10k in the budget which was necessary to include further nest identification and egg oiling in time for the nesting season.

He was aware of the issues for residents and wished to address these. He stated however that the recommendation to purchase a drone for the purposes of identifying nests would not be appropriate at this time given government guidelines on flying drones within a 5km radius of an airport.

When asked whether sonic deterrents could be used in residential areas or in areas where gulls fed the Cabinet Member explained that officers would look into this. He highlighted the difficulty in finding what worked and what didn’t work.

RESOLVED THAT

1)    a £10k additional budget allocation for 2019-20 be agreed, funded from additional income generated in 2018-19; and

2)    the Enforcement Manager be instructed to develop and implement a costed action plan, within identified resources, in consultation with the Cabinet Member Development and Safety.

Report of the Cabinet Member Corporate Services

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services explained that the purpose of the modernisation programme was to deliver a positive customer experience by being a digitally enabled council whose employees have a commercial mind-set and appropriate expertise to deliver our priorities.

In practice this meant that by utilising existing technologies, the council could take a ‘Digital by Design’ approach, meaning residents and other customers could interact with the council in a manner that they preferred and at times that convenienced them. Digital by Design did not mean that other contact channels would not be available, but that digital would become the preferred choice for communicating and dealing with the council. This also meant that staff would have more meaningful data when setting priorities and would help them make more informed decisions when helping customers, members and other council employees.

The Cabinet Member explained that the versatility offered by being more digitally enabled meant a shift towards more flexible working practices for council staff could be promoted; enabling them to work from different locations and improve their work-life balance by giving them the option to work from home, reducing the council’s office space requirements and the overhead costs associated with it.

It also meant that, in order to help us fulfil our ambitious agenda to improve our town and support local residents, the council needed to be working as efficiently and effectively as possible, so it was necessary to make sure the benefits that digital technology provided was maximised.

This also meant efficiency in how we utilise our financial resources, and the Cabinet Member reported that a number of potential savings had already been identified, such as an estimated £55,000 per year from a change in telephone contracts alone. As the council needed to continue to make savings to support objectives set out in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, a minimum target saving of £300,000 had been set which could be allocated for new or pre-existing projects, or could be reinvested back into the professional develop and training of staff.

Finally, the Cabinet Member said that the modernisation programme was an exciting one, and he wished to thank all officers, in particular the Executive Director People and Change, for their hard work in putting this report together.

The Leader added that it was important that progress was made so the public could derive the benefits from modernisation.

RESOLVED THAT

the Modernisation Case for Change be approved.

The Cabinet Member Healthy Lifestyles informed Cabinet that the programme of activities for “No Child Left Behind” had now been finalised and the council would be working with schools with regard to the Cheltenham offer. Bids would be submitted for both local and national funding and this would be a good opportunity to make a difference to Cheltenham.

She also informed that this week the Period Poverty Project would be launched which would provide girls with the opportunity to access free sanitary protection in the town.

The Cabinet Member then reported that posters would be put up around the town next week (race week) advising women how to keep safe and how to access help should this be needed.

Finally she informed that alongside business colleagues in the EU she was working on a project on the rights of women and was considering the impact of this work on women in Cheltenham.

The Cabinet Member Clean and Green Environment reported that the new crematorium was officially opened last Wednesday and an open day was held at the weekend. Hundreds of residents attended and positive feedback was received. The project had been delivered on time and on budget and he was proud of officers on this achievement. He referred to the promotional video which had been produced on what represented the largest capital project this council had undertaken in 20 years.

He wished to put on record his thanks to officers and in particular the communications team.

The Leader took the opportunity to endorse these comments. This had been a massive project with a difficult background and he wished to thank all who had been involved.

He then referred to the briefing note on Brexit, highlighting that the council was working with others, particularly in relation to emergency planning. £35k had been allocated over 2 years albeit it was not clear at this stage how or whether this would be required.