Agenda, decisions and minutes

There were none.

The minutes of the meeting of 4 November 2009 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

In respect of the number of speakers to address Cabinet on each item, the Chair took advice from the Monitoring Officer and determined to limit the number of speakers on item 5A in order to move more effectively through the meeting.

RESOLVED

(1)    That Norman Adams, Beverley Mennell, Chris Swinn and Councillors Clarke and Mildren be granted leave to address cabinet on item 5B – Report of Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2 (Housing and Environment) on the Call-In of Cabinet Decision of 14 October 2009 – New Tenant Participation Structure.

(2)    That Councillors Clarke, Hawkins and Mildren be granted leave to address Cabinet on item 6 – Choice Based Lettings – 12 Month Review.

(3)    That Councillors Clarke and Hawkins be grated leave to address Cabinet on item 7 – Registered Social Landlords (RSL) Development Procurement Framework.

(4)    That Councillors Clarke and Hawkins be granted leave to address Cabinet on item 8 – Parks and Open Strategy – Approval of Strategy.

(5)    That Councillors Clarke, Hawkins and Mildren be granted leave to address Cabinet on item 9 – Medium Term Financial Strategy 2010-2013.

(6)    That Councillor Clarke be granted leave to address Cabinet on item 10 – Prudential Indicators for Capital Finance – Monitoring to End of September 2009.

(7)    That Councillors Clarke and Mildren be granted leave to address Cabinet on item 11A – General Fund and Revenue Monitoring.

(8)    That Councillors Clarke and Mildren be granted leave to address Cabinet on item 11B – Housing Revenue Account Monitoring

(9)    That Councillors Clarke and Mildren be granted leave to address Cabinet on item 11C – Capital Programme Monitoring.

(10)    That Councillors Clarke, Hawkins and Mildren be granted leave to address Cabinet on item 13 – Housing Support: Proposed New Service.

(1)     Councillor Beardsworth declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest in item 8 – Parks and Open Spaces – as she was an allotment holder.

(2)     Councillors Crake, B Hoare, Malpas and B Markham declared personal, non-prejudicial interests in item 5A as concessionary bus pass holders.

The Report is received by Cabinet.

Councillor S Chaudhury presented the report to Cabinet and apologised for the delay in so doing. Referring to the report, he highlighted the cost implications in the event that the three recommendations be adopted.

In response to a question from Councillor Perkins, Councillor Chaudhury confirmed that Councillor Clarke had made a full contribution to the report.

Councillor Perkins then commented on the current underfunding of the scheme and pointed out that implementing the recommendations would have an adverse impact on other services,

Councillor B Markham, whilst in favour of the recommendations, asked officers to come back with affordable recommendations and proposed that these be considered as part of the overall forthcoming budget consultation.

Councillor PD Varnsverry pointed out an error on page 23 of the report: “Free weekday late night travel 11pm-4pm” should read “… 11pm-4am”.  He then thanked Councillor Chaudhury for taking on the role of Chair of the Committee and acknowledged the work of all those noted in the report.

The Chair, Councillor B Hoare, reminded members of the Government consultation resulting in a proposal that Northampton received no additional funding, while other towns in the County were to receive an 80% increase.

RESOLVED

That the report be accepted and its financial implications be considered as part of the forthcoming budget consultation.

The Report is received by Cabinet.

Norman Adams addressed Cabinet giving his opinion that the Committee had reached the right decision.  After referring to the conduct of officers, he was advised by the Chief Executive that his comments were inappropriate in a public forum.

Beverley Mennell then addressed Cabinet in her capacity as a tenant, customer and member of the public. She then outlined the history of the former Customer Panel and NTACT and criticised the Council for its record of customer engagement. She asked that members of tenants’ organisations be recognised for the hard work they put in and requested that there was better communication in the future.

Chris Swinn addressed Cabinet claiming that the Council had not acted appropriately in their suspension of the Customer Panel and, owing to systemic errors of principle, the root causes for failure were not addressed.  He considered that this had set a precedent for a failure in pre-decision scrutiny work.  He felt that in this case, work had not been correctly carried out and that tenants had not been involved in the consultation brief.  He commented that if things were to be achieved, they had to be done properly.

Councillor Clarke addressed Cabinet suggesting that consultation outcomes reflected what the Council wanted to hear rather than a true reflection of the resoponse.  With this being the second call-in for the issue in 12 months, he felt that Cabinet had ignored its own findings and failed in its pre-scrutiny and consultation. The consultation, he claimed, had been selective and the report of its findings flawed. He asked Cabinet to act on this item in a manner befitting a Local Authority of this standing.

Councillor Mildren addressed Cabinet and stated that the report was a good example of how the call-in process could help to make better decisions. He congratulated the Scrutiny committee for their hard work and, referring to the recommendations, he suggested that the project be re-started from scratch.

As Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2, Councillor Malpas thanked the officers, portfolio holders and members of the public who had contributed to the report. He pointed out that the report highlighted the need for pre-decision scrutiny and asked that the exercise be done again.  He offered the support of a working party to achieve this so that it could move forward in a fit and proper manner and enhanced a confidence that cabinet could work together with Scrutiny.

Councillor Church established that there was no evidence that people were selected to be interviewed for the consultation on the basis of the expected response.

The Chair, Councillor B Hoare thanked Scrutiny for the report and accepted that timescales had to be met to deal with pre-scrutiny.  Councillor Beardsworth also thanked the Committee and welcomed the opportunity to work together to deliver a new tenancy agreement.

RESOLVED

That the report be received.

Report of the Director of Housing Services

1.      The review and outcomes of the first year of the Choice Based Lettings scheme are noted.

2.      The list is noted of potential improvements to the scheme a number of which will be brought to a future cabinet for approval.

3.      It is noted that further changes to the Council’s Housing allocation scheme may be required following revised statutory guidance from government due later this year.

4.      Agreement is given to consult key stakeholders, Registered Social Landlords, and partner agencies on the proposed contents of the amendments to the Housing Allocations scheme.

Councillor Hawkins declined to address cabinet.

Councillor Mildren addressed Cabinet and was unsure of the availability of information on choice based lettings for residents of sheltered housing. He questioned the number of responses to the consultation in which 74% of people thought that the scheme was fair.

Councillor Beardsworth assured Councillor Mildren that officers were very approachable and happy to respond to individual concerns and information about the system.

Councillor Clarke addressed Cabinet and was supportive of the Administration’s move towards Choice Based Letting as it was a vast improvement on previous allocation methods. However, he was concerned at the ‘band’ system, suggesting that only those in A* category had priority allocation, with those in other bands facing long waits.  He called for more information to be given to those on the waiting list so that a true picture of the housing situation could be seen by all.

Councillor Beardswoth, as Portfolio Holder for Housing Services, presented the report to inform members of the outcome of the review of the first year of the Choice Based Lettings scheme.  She accepted that people in the lower bands may have a longer wait but pointed out that the satisfaction rate was high.  There had been an increase in demand for housing as a result of the economic downturn and work was ongoing with private landlords.  It was made clear that the list of potential enhancements to the system in paragraph 3.3 of the report were being considered and were taken from Government guidance and the outcome of an appreciative enquiry. The list comprised actions to ensure that Choice Based Letting improved for greater efficiency and customer satisfaction.

The survey had gone out to all tenants and there had been a 25% response rate

In response to a question from Councillor PD Varnsverry, it was noted that there were surgeries in the community to inform and update people about the scheme, but nothing specific for sheltered housing residents.  They were addressed in other ways.

The Chair confirmed that the downturn in performance figures on the introduction of the scheme had been as a result of bringing back into productive use hard to let properties.  This had now evened out and there was now an average of 24 days for letting properties, which was in the top quartile nationally.

RESOLVED

1.      That the review and outcomes of the first year of the Choice Based Lettings scheme be noted.

2.      That the list potential improvements to the scheme a number of which will be brought to a future cabinet for approval be noted.

3.      That it be noted that further changes to the Council’s Housing allocation scheme may be required following revised statutory guidance from government due later this year.

4.      That agreement be given to consult key stakeholders, Registered Social Landlords, and partner agencies on the proposed contents of the amendments to the Housing Allocations scheme.

B Report of the Director of Housing Services

1.      It has been agreed in principle to tender for a new RSL Procurement Framework, to address the future affordable housing requirements.

2.      The final Procurement Framework Agreement is to be reconsidered and approved by Cabinet at the end of the process.

Councillor Clarke addressed Cabinet and questioned the need to spend money to go through a tender process with potential new partners.  He favoured partnership with all housing associations rather than having a limited list selected through procurement.  He claimed that the report itself was light on detail and was unsure that it addressed the council’s need for social housing.

Councillor Hawkins addressed Cabinet and was unhappy with the option to bid for funding at short notice when sites became available.  She referred to a recent problem in her constituency where a lack of coordination had resulted in a development being pushed through against the wishes of local residents.

Councillor Beardswoth, as Portfolio Holder for Housing Services, presented the report to Cabinet and asked cabinet to agree in principle to the recommendations in order that the first steps could be taken to built an effective framework.

Councillor PD Varnsverry referred to a development in Upton where the RSL had worked hard to create a cohesive community and had engaged closely with homeowners and tenants.  Councillor Church commended the report.

Councillor B Hoare welcomed a new way forward for partnership working with RSL partners and felt that lessons had been learned from the scheme introduced two years previously.

RESOLVED

1.      That it has be agreed in principle to tender for a new RSL Procurement Framework, to address the future affordable housing requirements.

2.      That the final Procurement Framework Agreement be reconsidered and approved by Cabinet at the end of the process.

Report of the Director of Planning and Regeneration

1.      The outcome of the consultation on the Consultative Parks and Open Spaces Strategy has been considered and the key summary responses are noted.

2.      Approval is given to the Parks and Open Spaces Strategy for Northampton.

3.      Approval is given to the use of the Accessibility, Quality and Quantity Standards as set out in Appendix B as the agreed standards for green space, as required for new development in accordance with Policy E19 in the Northampton Local Plan.

4.      The process is noted to develop an Action Plan from the workstreams identified, and to receive an annual briefing in respect of progress.

Councillor Hawkins addressed Cabinet commenting that it was a tremendous piece of work containing some issues that had been highlighted by the Friends of Eastfield Park, of which she was a member. She was disappointed that Becket’s Park and Delapre Park were being treated separately to the strategy as she sensed a lack of coordination.  She then suggested that the document be put forward in a draft form to stakeholders for final comments before the work came back to Cabinet.

Councillor Clarke addressed Cabinet and praised the work of officers on the strategy.  He called for a further drilling down to address individual uses of the parks and asked particularly that the needs of junior and adult footballers be considered.  He was concerned at potential conflicts in requirements in parks giving the example of the need for footpaths during the week being at variance with the need for sports pitches at weekends.  He then expressed his frustration at the County Council’s failure to protect open spaces and playing fields at school sites.

As Portfolio Holder for Planning and Regeneration, Councillor Church presented the report to cabinet explaining that it was, in fact, a joint report with the Portfolio Holder for Environment and Culture and the Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement.  He praised Northampton for its wealth of parks and open spaces but warned that even with unlimited resources, there would be a need to prioritise the various demands and improvements requested. The strategy would enable the Council to work with other groups and would ultimately inform the planning and local development framework and enable the submission of more robust bids for external funding.  A lot of work had gone into the strategy and now it was time to adopt the policy. He then referred to Appendix E, which outlined the workstream leading to the action plan, although he emphasised that all work going forward was dependent on financial restraints.  It was confirmed that the Playing Field Strategy had been addressed.

Councillor Crake, as Portfolio Holder for Environment and Culture, had been impressed by the enthusiasm of the public during the consultation process.  She regretted that the Council did not have the money to provide abundant flowers and play equipment and pointed out the Council’s willingness to support Friends’ groups in their bids for funding.  She commented that the strategy would help with the assessment of future need for allotments and cemeteries.

Councillor PD Varnsverry applauded the number of people who took part in the consultation workshops and recommended strong partnership work to minimise the conflicts of users’ needs.  He congratulated the authors of the report. It was confirmed that the responses set out in Annex C of the report had been communicated back to the relevant people.

Councillor B Hoare commended the report and commented on the lively support and interest for Abington Park.

RESOLVED

1.      That the outcome of the consultation on the Consultative Parks and Open Spaces Strategy be considered and the key summary responses be noted.

2.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

B Report of the Director of Finance and Support

1.      The Medium Term Financial Strategy 2010-13 as set out in appendix A of the report is approved.

2.      It is agreed that the Medium Term Financial Strategy is used as a guide to financial planning for the 2010/11 and medium term budgets.

Councillor Hawkins addressed Cabinet referring to her interest as a member of the Friends of Northampton Museum and Gallery expressed anxiety over the working of the strategic business review set out in paragraph 3.2.32 of the report. She appealed to Cabinet not to make any further cuts to the town’s cultural provision.  She further commented on the cost pressures of car parking suggesting that reliance on this income did not enhance the retail take-up in the town.

Councillor B Hoare asked Councillor Hawkins to suggest how to counterbalance a loss of income from car parks.  Councillor Hawkins responded that she had insufficient information of the budget details to be able to do this.

Councillor Mildren addressed cabinet sympathising with them over the difficulties of budget setting in these times.  He mentioned that the council was looking at needing a saving of £3 million within the three year plan and referred to a recent report of the County Council having to save £100 million over four years.  He hoped that the good news for the Council was that the bad news was not so bad.

Councillor Clarke addressed cabinet commenting that the Medium term Financial Strategy was dominated by the need to cut cloth.  He queried local government’s perceived need to offer services differently and to focus on financial demands rather than value for money and efficiency. He felt that if car-parking charges were increased, it would affect the economic vitality of the town.  He also commented that other suggestions may come under scrutiny to be delivered in a different way.

Councillor Perkins, as Portfoliio Holder for Finance and Support, presented the report to Cabinet. He felt it was a positive report and congratulated the chief Executive and officers for accepting the challenge to push ahead to deliver the best quality service for tax payers. He referred to the cost implications of concessionary fares but maintained that the biggest pressure was to be ambitious in the delivery of quality services.  The report would go forward to inform budget decisions.  He commented that the business reviews were to establish the most economic way of delivering services whilst maintaining quality.  He appreciated that there would be choices to make but was confident that the local tax payers knew the current situation and expected the council to be fair and balance community objectives.

Councillor Church also referred to the car parking income and reminded members of the free parking on Sundays in the lead up to Christmas to help the town’s businesses.  Regarding the Market Square, the project was bringing in new people and businesses into the town and creating jobs and activity.  He cited the German Christmas Market as an example.  He was not dogmatic about whether services were privately or publicly run but simply wanted to deliver the best services possible within the available budget.

Councillor B Markham commented that the Council’s MTFS probably made better reading than that of the County Council and was please to see the challenges clearly set  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Report of the Director of Finance and Support

1.      The prudential indicators monitoring information attached at Annex B are noted.

2.      Cabinet is to recommend to Council that they approve revisions to the Council’s prudential indicators for 2009-10 as set out in Paragraph 2.2 (a) and (b) of Item 10 of the Cabinet Agenda.

3        The following change to the Council’s investment counterparty limits, approved by the Chief Finance Officer on 2 November 2009 is noted.

·              That the maximum period for investments with counterparties on the existing counterparty list be extended from 3 months to 12 months, provided that this is within the Sector recommended time limit for the counterparty, and that a maximum of £10m is invested in this way. The £10m maximum is in addition to £6m already placed in 2-year investments in 2008-09 and due back in June 2010. 

Councillor Clarke addressed Cabinet suggesting that greater detail might have been helpful for the breakdown of the estimated expenditure increase so that there could have been a fuller discussion.  He referred to several individual items in the report, including improvements to the Grosvenor centre car park, and recommended that matters be identified earlier so that they did not come as such a shock.

Councillor Perkins presented the report to Cabinet and explained that this was an indication of the council’s good governance arrangements. He then took Cabinet through the proposed changes to Indicators, especially highlighting the change to the maximum period for investment, which would move the council from averse to neutral risk for financial management.  It was confirmed that within the investment policy, the council was still investing in Government guaranteed British financial institutions.

Councillor B Hoare then confirmed that the changes to the indicators set out in paragraph 3.2.11 had been brought to Cabinet earlier in the year, at which time councillors would have been able to make comments. Cabinet was now being asked to recommend to Council that they accept the additional revisions.

RESOLVED

1.      That the prudential indicators monitoring information attached at Annex B are noted.

2.      That Cabinet recommend to Council that they approve revisions to the Council’s prudential indicators for 2009-10 as set below.

a.      Estimate of capital expenditure

b.      Estimate of capital financing requirement (CFR)

3        That Cabinet note the following change to the Council’s investment counterparty limits, approved by the Chief Finance Officer on 2 November 2009.

·              That the maximum period for investments with counterparties on the existing counterparty list be extended from 3 months to 12 months, provided that this is within the Sector recommended time limit for the counterparty, and that a maximum of £10m is invested in this way. The £10m maximum is in addition to £6m already placed in 2-year investments in 2008-09 and due back in June 2010. 

Report of the Director of Finance and Support

The report and the forecast under spend of £295k net of management action are noted.

Councillor Mildren addressed Cabinet congratulating them on managing the Council’s finances during a difficult year.  He referred to the emotive issue of public toilets, set out on page 7 of the report and asked if there were plans to close them now that the budget allocation had run out.  He also mentioned the expected saving on concessionary fares, which would be reversed depending on how tough the budget round was.

Councillor Clarke addressed cabinet drawing attention to potential confusion in the General Fund summary because of the numerous variations set out in the table at paragraph 3.2.3 of the report.  He denied that he was dogmatic about the retention of all services in-house and claimed that he was simply looking for the best value for money.  He then cited an example of poor staff management where temporary workers queued up at Westbridge Depot on a daily basis to find work and many were turned away.  He doubted the efficiency of this practice.

Councillor Perkins presented the report, which he saw as good news.  He announced an underspend of £295,000 congratulating the management for their action to achieve this.  He reminded Cabinet that savings had been made without cuts to services or quality.  In reference to the use of low paid workers, Councillor Perkins felt that council taxpayers would not want to pay more for a service than was necessary and that the forthcoming pay and grading review may address this. 

Coucnillor Crake commented that in order to save £8 million without front line services suffering, everyone had to work very hard.  She congratulated staff and welcomed the Value for Money review and market testing to ensure that taxpayers’ money was not wasted.

Councillor Church reiterated that strategic business reviews would continue if this was the best way to deliver services offering the best value for taxpayers.

Councillor B Hoare noted the report as a demonstration of good management throughout the year and thanked all the officers involved.

RESOLVED

That the report and the forecast under spend of £295k net of management action be noted.

Report of the Director of Finance and Support

The report and the forecast overspend of £1,243k on the Net Cost of Services are noted.

Councillor Mildren addressed Cabinet and referred to the repairs and maintenance forecast overspent.  He felt this was justified if it was improving the housing stock and enabling properties to be re-let and demonstrated good value for money. He cautioned against spending more than was necessary to achieve the improvements.

Councillor Clarke addressed Cabinet commenting that it would have been helpful to have a clearer breakdown of how much of the reduction in income was caused by the decrease in the rent increase.  He was seeking evidence of a confidence of the recovery of the figures by the end of the year and did not think the projections were in line with the emerging pattern.

Councillor Perkins presented the report to Cabinet and pointed out that the forecast overspend was similar to that in the previous period.  Work was being done to assess how much of the repairs and maintenance costs should be capitalised. The net effect of the rental income was £203,000 as against a total £43 million.

Councillor B Hoare was satisfied that officers were confident in their projections and pointed out the historical effect of the Christmas period on rent income

RESOLVED

That the report and the forecast overspend of £1,243k on the Net Cost of Services are noted.

B Report of the Director of Finance and Support

1.      Approval is given for the scheme as set out in Paragraph 2.1 of Item 11C of the Cabinet Agenda to be added to the capital programme for 2009-10.

Further details of the appraisal can be seen at Annex A of the same report.

2.      Approval is given for the variations to schemes in the capital programme for 2009-10 as outlined in Paragraph 2.2 of item 11C of the Cabinet Agenda. Further details of these variations can be seen at Annex B of the same report.

3.      It is noted that:

a)     The capital programme monitoring position as at end of September 2009, including forecast outturns, revenue expenditure funded by capital and slippage into 2010-11, as set out at Annex C, D and E of the report presented to Cabinet.

b)     The funding arrangements for the 2009-10 capital programme as set out at Annex F of the report presented to Cabinet.

Councillor Mildren addressed Cabinet and commented on the wording in the report that suggested the Market Square was dark and unwelcoming, which it was not at this time, since the German Christmas market had been trading.  He then mentioned a number of other schemes and hoped that they would not slip off the radar.

Councillor Clarke addressed Cabinet commenting that he could think of preferable capital projects to the Market Square. He felt that some of the projects were shrouded in mystery and there was no explanation as to what the money was being spent on.  He queried the under-spend on lift refurbishment, as he knew of housing complexes where this work was needed.

Councillor Perkins presented the report to Cabinet and described the various schemes it referred to.  He explained that if funding from WNDC was not forthcoming for the Market Square lighting project, then it would not go ahead.  Where schemes were not being progressed the funding was being used to do other work to enhance the quality of the housing stock.  He pointed out that the maintenance and repair of lifts was not from the same funding as refurbishment. He referred to appendix F and confirmed that all proposed projects were fully funded.

RESOLVED

1.      That approval be given for the following scheme to be added to the capital programme for 2009-10.

Further details of this appraisal can be seen at Annex A of the report.

2.      That approval be given for the following variations to schemes in the capital programme for 2009-10.

THE CHAIR TO MOVE:

“THAT THE PUBLIC AND PRESS BE EXCLUDED FROM THE REMAINDER OF THE MEETING ON THE GROUNDS THAT THERE IS LIKELY TO BE DISCLOSURE TO THEM OF SUCH CATEGORIES OF EXEMPT INFORMATION AS DEFINED BY SECTION 100(1) OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 AS LISTED AGAINST SUCH ITEMS OF BUSINESS BY REFERENCE TO THE APPROPRIATE PARAGRAPH OF SCHEDULE 12A TO SUCH ACT.”

The Chair moved that the public and Press be excluded from the remainder of the meeting on the grounds that there was likely to be disclosure to them of such categories of exempt information as defined by Section 100(1) of the Local Government Act 1972 as listed against such items of business by reference to the appropriate paragraph of Schedule 12A to such Act.

The Motion was Carried.

B Report of the Director of Housing Services

The recommendations as set out in Paragraphs 2.1 and 2.2 of Item 13 of the Cabinet Agenda have been agreed.

Councillors Hawkins, Mildren and Clarke addressed Cabinet.

Councillor Beardsworth presented the report to Cabinet.

RESOLVED

That the recommendations outlined in the report be agreed.