Agenda, decisions and minutes

There were no apologies.

There were no declarations of interest.

Minutes of the meeting held on 16 September

The minutes of the last meeting were approved and signed as a correct record.

Interim report of the scrutiny task group – Hidden deprivation in the town centre

The Chair of Overview and Scrutiny, Councillor Tim Harman, was invited to address Cabinet. He firstly gave thanks to the work of the Scrutiny Task Group and in particular former Councillors Driver and McClain and Councillor Coleman for their contributions. The intention of the report was to address the fact that there were parts of the town which risked being ignored.

Report of the Cabinet Member Healthy Lifestyles

The Cabinet Member Healthy Lifestyles thanked the Scrutiny Task Group for its report. She said that whilst it was well documented that the town had areas of social deprivation one that did not come to mind was the town centre and she thanked the scrutiny group for identifying these hidden areas and for producing some practical recommendations as set out in the cabinet response. She explained that the recommendations cut across several portfolios and they had already been consulted upon.

The Cabinet Member Healthy Lifestyles added that after looking carefully at current and proposed work streams all of the scrutiny recommendations could be included therefore there would be no need for the STG to undertake any further work at this stage. She took the opportunity to thank officers who had supported the work of the task group and Bernice Thomson from Cheltenham West End Partnership.

Members welcomed the work of the STG and in particular the recommendation relating to plans to licence all private rented sector accommodation. The Cabinet Member Development and Safety said that before an effective scheme could be put in place there would need to be an assessment of staff and resources and the aim would be to start in the town centre as a pilot. There were 9500 private sector houses with most not up to decent homes standard.

In terms of the recommendation relating to the night time economy work would be undertaken with the Police and agencies in terms of using late-night levy funds to implement initiatives which would reduce the impact on local residents. Specific proposals would come forward in early 2015.

Summing up, the Leader acknowledged that the private landlord proposal could be a major piece of work. With regard to the other recommendations these would be referred in various directions without the requirement of extra resource.

RESOLVED THAT

1.    the O+S committee’s proposal that the recommendations relating to the work of the Town Centre Neighbourhood Coordination Group (NCG) (1,11 and 12) are passed to the Group coordinator to action, be supported;

2.    the O+S committee’s proposal that the recommendations relating to reducing alcohol related violence (2) and the late night levy (3) are passed to the Cabinet Member Development and Safety to action, be supported;

3.    the action relating to developing a collaborative approach to drug dealing (4) is already a commitment within the 2014-15 corporate strategy with the Deputy Chief Executive being the lead officer be recognised

4.    the O+S committee’s proposal that the recommendation in respect of greater promotion of housing advice services (6) is passed onto the Housing and Communities Manager to action be supported;

5.    the Scrutiny Task Group’s proposals to licence all private rented sector accommodation in the borough (5) and the introduction of a more pro-active enforcement regime (7) are passed to the Cabinet Member Development and Safety and the Cabinet Member Housing to consider within the scope of the commissioning review looking at Environmental and Regulatory Services and its work-strand looking at private-rented sector  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

The Cabinet Member Finance introduced the report and explained that as part of the planning permission for a new retirement development at 2 Gloucester Road a bridge needed to be constructed to allow flat owners easy access onto the Honeybourne line. In order for the bridge to be built, the developer required permission from the Council as owner of the Honeybourne line. The developer had also expressed an interest in acquiring a lease of two embankments for landscaping purposes. He explained that approval was therefore sought from Cabinet to dispose of 2 small pieces of council owned land which were technically public open space.

Members agreed that this was a positive way forward and would encourage the use of the Honeybourne line.

RESOLVED THAT

1.    the parcels of open space land outlined in green and blue on the attached plan be declared surplus (attached as Appendix A) and the granting of a lease in respect of  these two areas of land (together with necessary ancillary rights) to Rusty Shilling Limited for a term of 20 years be approved

2.    authority be delegated to the Head of Property and Asset Management, in consultation with the Borough Solicitor, to agree the terms of the leases and the Borough Solicitor be authorised to enter into such documents as she considers necessary or advisable to reflect the terms agreed, and upon such other terms as she considers appropriate to reflect the agreement reached.

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

The Cabinet Member Finance introduced the report which updated Members on the Council’s current financial position for 2014/15. He explained that in terms of negative variations there was a shortfall in income for off street car parking by around £175.6k. This was due to the sale of North Place and Portland Street car parks. A reserve had been set-aside to counterbalance this and once development at North Place and Portland Street commenced the Council would be in receipt of a guaranteed £350k of replacement income per annum from the developer.

The Cabinet Member also reported the downturn in income at the cemetery and crematorium in comparison with the same period in the previous financial year. This had been compounded by loss of income arising from the essential maintenance in July which resulted in a two week shutdown of both cremators. It was anticipated that outturn would be 15 % short of target if the downward trend continued.

In terms of positive news the Cabinet Member reported that the net positive variance for business rates in 2014/15 was estimated at £294 k. He also informed members of a predicted surplus of interest of £70k on treasury management within the General Fund.

Finally, the Cabinet Member paid tribute to the hard work of officers in monitoring and managing the budget situation. He assured Cabinet that further work would be undertaken to bring in a balanced budget at the end of the financial year.

RESOLVED THAT

1.    the contents of this report be noted including the key projected variances to the original 2014/15 budget, and the projected delivery of services within budget.

2.    officers be authorised to take corrective action to ensure that the council delivers services within the overall budget for the year if, following the more detailed monitoring process currently being undertaken, a potential overspend is identified.

3.    a contribution from general balances of £20,000 be approved to fund additional Joint Core Strategy costs in 2014/15, as recommended in paragraph 2.4.

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

The Cabinet Member Finance introduced the report which proposed a broad strategy and outlined a process for setting the budget, housing rents and council tax for 2015/16. It outlined a number of principles that needed to be established at this stage to enable budget preparation to commence.

The Cabinet Member explained that over the last 5 years the Council’s core funding from Government had been cut by £4.2 million. The starting point for constructing the 2015/16 budget had been a MTFS funding gap of £902k. The MTFS table outlined in Appendix 3 identified £602k prospective savings which included a reduction in senior management costs, sharing services, restructuring Public Protection and transferring leisure and culture services to the Cheltenham Trust. He explained that there was still some way to go and Cabinet and Council would need to consider using New Homes Bonus money to support the budget. It was likely that this would increase next year by £400k. Meanwhile officers would work hard to present a budget in December to ensure that local services could be delivered to the standard expected and Council tax could be kept to the lowest level feasible.

The Cabinet Member Finance informed members of two amendments to the budget timetable. The November meeting of the Treasury Management Panel would be 17 November and the Council budget setting meeting would be on 26 February 2015.

He then took the opportunity to thank finance officers and all officers who had worked hard to Bridge the Gap and generate the savings needed to maintain services for the people of Cheltenham.

In summing up the Leader of the Council paid tribute to the work that had been done by officers. Consideration would now be given to how best to consult on the budget package once published.

RESOLVED THAT

1.    the budget setting timetable at Appendix 2 (as amended) be approved.

2.    the expected cut in government funding of £835k for 2015/16, the estimated funding gap of £902k and the large amount of work done so far to bridge this gap be noted.

3.    the budget strategy outlined in section 5 and appendix 3 be approved.

4.    the increases in garden waste charges as at paragraph 5.15 be approved

5.    the Section 151 Officer and the Cabinet Member for Finance be requested to consider suggestions from the Budget Scrutiny Working Group in preparing the interim budget proposals for 2015/16 as outlined in section 5.

The Cabinet Member Clean and Green Environment informed the meeting that he had attended a meeting that afternoon of the Joint Waste Committee. It was proposed that the partnership and committee meetings would be combined into 1 meeting with Gloucester City and Stroud becoming observers at the committee meetings.

He also reported the news that food waste caddies could now be lined with normal plastic bags which would hopefully encourage residents across town who rarely used the service to use it. He hoped all Councillors would help promote the process.

The Cabinet Member Development and Safety reported that following a consultation a decision had been taken that in future taxis in Cheltenham would be silver. There would be a three month introductory period after which all new taxis would be expected to conform with the new arrangements.

The Leader informed Cabinet that the proposed strike by the unions had been called off. The unions had agreed to consult on new proposals and it was hoped that the negotiations would come to an agreed conclusion shortly.