Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllrs. Atherstone and McKinlay.

There were none.

Minutes of 15^th June meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 15^th June were approved and signed as a correct record.

These must be received no later than 12 noon on Tuesday 6^th July.

There was one public question. As the questioner was not present, the response was taken as read.

Cllr. Barrell referred a matter from the June meeting of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee. She explained that there had been concerns regarding the changes at Cheltenham General Hospital, and the committee had suggested that the Leader could write to the hospital and to other councils who would be affected by and involved in these changes. The Leader had sent this letter and a positive response had been received, which had been circulated to Cabinet Members.

Cllr. Barrell added that she had attended a meeting of the county council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) earlier that day, and that the papers for this meeting suggested that all concerns regarding the Fit For The Future programme had been addressed. She did not believe that this was the case.

Report of the Cabinet Member Housing

The Cabinet Member Housing presented the report and noted that when an updated report or action plan was presented to Cabinet, the tracked changes would normally be the main focus. However, in this case, the amount of raw data coming from a wide variety of sources made it impossible to present the changes in this way. Instead, he sought to highlight some of the key issues.

The Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2018-23 was approved by Cabinet in July 2018, and consisted of a five year strategy which set out both the council’s vision and its priorities in order to achieve the desired outcomes. During 2020/21, 80 new affordable homes were provided, while significant progress had been made to identify a wide range of sites for the potential delivery of CBC-owned affordable housing across the borough. A pipeline was in place to deliver around 371 affordable homes within 5 years from April 2021.

During the first few months of the new financial year alone, the council and CBH had already delivered 27 new affordable homes at Radford Court, Hesters Way. This was in addition to the land recently acquired at Monkscroft School (potentially delivering 70 affordable homes) and the recent acquisition of land at Swindon Road (subject to planning permission being awarded), which had the potential to provide a further 24 affordable homes.

It was expected that approximately £89m would be invested from the Housing Revenue Account on new affordable homes over 3 years to March 2024. The Cyber Park/Golden Valley development in West Cheltenham would also see the provision of up to 3,700 new homes, of which 35% would be affordable covering a variety of tenures.

He added that during the last year, nearly 300 homes in the private sector in Cheltenham had been made safer, while 13 long term empty homes were been brought back into use. CBH had completed its fire door renewal programme, installing over 6,000 new doors across properties over the last 5 years. It was anticipated that the window replacement and boiler programme would be completed during 2021/22. These improvement programmes had so far contributed to a further uplift in the SAP energy efficiency rating of their homes from 72.02 in 2019 to 72.96 in 2021. Following a funding bid to the government’s Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator Project, CBH were successful in securing a £40k grant to finance the transformation of two low energy performing homes through a ‘deep retrofit’ pilot, which should be implemented during 2021/22.

He moved onto the topic of tackling homelessness and rough sleeping, acknowledging that the Covid crisis had meant that 2020/21 was a challenging year, particularly during the first national lockdown when housing pathways were significantly reduced. During the year, CBC and CBH responded positively to the government’s ‘everyone in’ message by making 125 placements into emergency, hotel accommodation for those who were either rough sleeping or at imminent risk of rough sleeping. CBC also collaborated closely with partners across the county to bid for funding for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Report of the Leader of the Council

The Leader of the Council presented the report, noting that there was a slight update in that Cllr. Seacome had withdrawn from nomination to the Everyman Theatre. This meant that this would not need to be decided by Council, as previously thought.

The Leader moved to a vote, where it was unanimously:

RESOLVED THAT:

1.    Nominations/appointments be made to the outside bodies as set out in Appendix 2A in accordance with the following principles:

·         All nominations are made on the basis that the nominee/appointee is a representative of Cheltenham Borough Council insofar as that is compatible with any overriding legal duty to the outside body;

·         Cabinet/the Leader reserves the right at any time to withdraw/terminate a nomination/appointment which it has made;

·         A nomination/appointment to an outside body is referred to Council for determination where consensus on that nomination/appointment cannot be achieved between the political Group Leaders.

2.    Appointments be made to joint committees as set out in Appendix 2B;

3.    The Cabinet Member responsibilities for the bodies/groups listed in Appendix 2C be noted;

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance and Assets

The Cabinet Member Finance and Assets presented the report, reminding members that the government had implemented a 100% business rates discount to eligible businesses as part of its Covid support measures. In its budget on the 3^rd March 2021, the government announced that this would continue at 100% until 31^st June, falling to 66% until 31^st March 2022, and then down to 0%. The reliefs were a temporary measure and legislation was not amended, so councils were expected to use discretionary powers to adopt a scheme using government guidance. Details of the schemes were attached at Appendices 2, 3 and 4.

The Leader thanked officers for their quick and effective responses throughout the Covid crisis, which made a real difference for local businesses.

The Leader moved to a vote, where it was unanimously:

RESOLVED THAT:

1.    The business rates Expanded Retail Discount scheme for 2021/22 as detailed in appendix 2 and the detailed guidance in appendix 4 be approved;

2.    The Nursery Discount scheme for 2021/22 in line with appendix 3 and the detailed guidance in appendix 4 be approved;

3.    The Head of Revenues and Benefits be authorised, in consultation with the Cabinet Member Finance and Assets, to implement any further changes in 2021/22 made by the Government to the reliefs detailed in appendix 2;

4.    Due to the volume of cases, decisions relating to the application of these reliefs be delegated to the Head of Revenues and Benefits and officers in the Business Rates team. In the case of a dispute reconsideration is to be made by the Executive Director Finance and Assets.

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance and Assets

The Cabinet Member Finance and Assets presented the report, which would go on to full Council on 19^th July. After a decade of austerity, the council’s budget monitoring position had been solid, but then came another challenge in the form of Covid-19. A unique, innovative and ambitious response was required. During the first national lockdown, it was estimated that Covid would create a budget deficit for the council of £1.813m in 2020-21 through additional expenditure and income losses. Council therefore passed a recovery budget in November 2020, including a strategy to review assets for disposal in order to close the income gap. This budget made assumptions about how much the crisis would cost, with an ultimate underspend of £394k compared to this budget. Had the recovery budget not been passed, members would be discussing an enormous overspend at this meeting. Some of the underspend would be used to fund the first steps of a long-term, sustainable recovery for the town.

The Leader added that given the position local authorities found themselves in last year, it was remarkable to end up with an underspend. Income had been lost and things had slowed down, but no services had been cut. It was important to be careful about where this money was spent.

The Cabinet Member Finance and Assets thanked the finance team for their hard work.

The Leader moved to a vote, where it was unanimously:

RESOLVED THAT:

Council be recommended to:

1. Receive the financial outturn performance position for the General Fund, summarised at Appendix 2, and notes that in delivering services in 2020/21, there was an underspend of £394,663 against the recovery budget approved by Council in November 2020;
2. Notes £609,345 of carry forward approved by the Section 151 Officer under delegated powers at Appendix 5;
3. Approve the proposal for the use of the underspend after the carry forward requests outlined in Section 2.10 of this report and delegates authority to the Executive Director of Finance and Assets in consultation with the Lead Member for Finance and Assets to ensure the underspend it spent in line with this proposal;
4. Note the annual treasury management report at Appendix 7 and note the actual 2020/21 prudential and treasury indicators;
5. Note the capital programme outturn position as detailed in Appendix 8 and approve the carry forward of unspent budgets into 2021/22;
6. Note the year end position in respect of Section 106 and CIL agreements and partnership funding agreements at Appendix 9;
7. Note the outturn position in respect of collection rates for council tax and non-domestic rates for 2020/21 in Appendix 10;
8. Note the outturn position in respect of collection rates for sundry debts for 2020/21 in Appendix 11;
9. Receive the financial outturn performance position for the Housing Revenue Account for 2020/21 in Appendices 12 and 13 (as detailed in Section 11) and approves the carry forward of capital budgets in 2021/22 as set out in paragraph 11.9.

The Cabinet Member Safety and Communities reported that she had taken a decision to get the council involved in the Summer of Play, which provided activities for children and families in the town’s parks and gardens. She updated members on the Laptops for Learning program, which had received 50 laptops from DXC and a £2,000 donation from CityFibre. The laptops would be refurbished and allocated to children who did not have one at home. She thanked all those who had donated to the scheme.

The Cabinet Member Customer and Regulatory Services reported that he had recently approved a revised Gambling Policy, which would go to consultation very shortly. The reduction of stakes on fixed odds betting terminals had made a difference, but there was still more to be done. He added that he was proceeding with the promised engagement on the council’s WAV policy, and would meet with the taxi trade and the Disability Forum in the coming weeks. Proposals for a larger Christmas market, in order to fit in all the licensed stalls, had been approved. Clubs would reopen shortly, and he hoped that government guidance would be forthcoming on this.

The Cabinet Member Waste, Recycling and Street Services reported Cheltenham had been chosen to work with Keep Britain Tidy on a waste reduction project for communal residences, building on work with CBH in Lansdown and Monkscroft.

The Cabinet Member Housing added that the council had recently agreed to take in up to 7 Afghan families for services to British forces, as part of up to 35 families taken in across the county. In the past, similar schemes were administered by the Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service, but they would not be involved in this scheme. CBC had contacted partners to cover several key posts.

The Cabinet is recommended to approve the following resolution:-

“That in accordance with Section 100A(4) Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the remaining agenda items as it is likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, if members of the public are present there will be disclosed to them exempt information as defined in paragraphs 3 and 5, Part (1) Schedule (12A) Local Government Act 1972, namely:

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

Paragraph 5; Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

Members resolved to move into exempt session.

Exempt minutes of 15^th June meeting.

The exempt minutes of the meeting held on 15^th June were approved and signed as a correct record.

Report of the Cabinet Member Cyber and Strategic Transport

In the absence of the Cabinet Member Cyber and Strategic Transport, the Leader presented the report, which related to a confidential property matter.

She moved to a vote, where it was unanimously:

RESOLVED THAT:

1.    The recommendations be approved.

Report of the Cabinet Member Cyber and Strategic Transport

In the absence of the Cabinet Member Cyber and Strategic Transport, the Leader presented the report, which related to a confidential property matter.

She moved to a vote, where it was unanimously:

RESOLVED THAT:

1.    The recommendations be approved.

Report of the Cabinet Member Culture, Wellbeing and Business

In the absence of the Cabinet Member Culture, Wellbeing and Business, the Leader presented the report, which related to a capital grant award to support the redevelopment of The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum.

She moved to a vote, where it was unanimously:

RESOLVED THAT:

1.    The recommendations be approved.