Items
No. |
Item |
*HC10 |
Apologies for absence
Minutes:
*HC 10
Apologies
for absence were received from Cllr Mott.
|
*HC11 |
Declarations of Interest
Members are invited to declare
any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests, including the
nature and extent of such interests they may have in any items to
be considered at this meeting.
If Councillors have any questions
relating to predetermination, bias or interests in items on this
Agenda, then please contact the Monitoring Officer in advance of
the meeting.
Minutes:
*HC 11
Members were invited
to declare any interests in the items of business to be discussed
and the following were made:
Cllr Jory abstained
from the vote on Agenda Item 3: Items requiring Urgent
Attention: Future Partnership Funding
(Minute HC 12 below refers), as there was a reference made during
the debate to Business Information Point and he had previously
declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in relation to this
organisation. Whilst the recommendation
did not directly relate to the funding of BIP, Cllr Jory remained
in the meeting and abstained from the vote on this agenda
item.
|
*HC12 |
Items Requiring Urgent Attention PDF 63 KB
To consider those items which, in the opinion
of the Chairman, should be considered by the Meeting as matters of
urgency (if any)
Future Partnership
Funding
Additional documents:
Minutes:
HC 12
The Chairman advised
that he had agreed for one item of urgent business to be presented,
being a report on Partnership funding.
The report was deemed urgent as partners had been advised that they
would be made aware of their future funding following the Council
meeting on 24 July 2018.
The Deputy Leader
presented the report and asked that the Chairman of Overview and
Scrutiny Committee also take part in the discussion on this
item. A similar report had been
presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, setting out the
recommendations of the Partnerships Task and Finish Group (Minute
O&S 12(a) refers). However, those
recommendations were not fully accepted by the
Committee. The Deputy Leader expressed
her views, and with the Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Committee
went on to respond to questions.
During discussion, a
Member proposed a revised recommendation, and this was seconded.
Whilst accepting that a five year settlement would help partner
organisations with financial planning, Members generally felt that
it would not be appropriate for the Borough Council to be
allocating funding amounts beyond 2019/20, particularly before the
Medium Term Financial Strategy had been finalised. It was noted that this view had been shared by a
majority of Overview and Scrutiny Committee Members. Members also felt that those partnerships that had
been defined during the review as either ‘key’ or
‘statutory’ should not be included, as the basis for
their funding from the Borough Council was quite different to the
discretionary partnerships.
It was then
RESOLVED that the Hub Committee RECOMMEND to Council that future partnership funding be set
for 2019/20 only in line with the proposals outlined in the table
at paragraph 3.1 below, with the exception of the four key
partnerships being removed from the table as they should be
considered separately to establish terms of reference, benefits
arising and whether their funding should be allocated to a
different funding stream (NB. These four partnerships being: Heart
of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership, Tamar Valley Area
of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Tamar Estuaries Consultative Forum
and World Heritage Site).
|
*HC13 |
Confirmation of Minutes PDF 93 KB
Minutes of meeting held 5 June
2018
Minutes:
*HC13
The Minutes of the
Hub Committee meeting held on 24 April 2018 were confirmed and
signed by the Chairman as a correct record.
|
*HC14 |
Waste Procurement - verbal update - Cllr Sampson
Minutes:
*HC14
(Paragraph 3 – Information
relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular
person (including the authority holding that
information)
The Lead Member for
Commercial Services provided an exempt update to Members on the
progress of the Waste Procurement project. A report would be presented to the full Council
meeting next Tuesday, 24 July, 2018.
|
*HC15 |
Financial Stability Review Group - Notes - Cllr Jory
Minutes:
*HC15
(Paragraph 3 – Information
relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular
person (including the authority holding that
information)
In accordance with the Council
decision at its meeting on 27 March 2018 (Minute CM 73 refers) for
updates to be included as a standing agenda item, the Lead Member for Assets and Environment
presented Members with an exempt briefing note that updated the
recent work of the Financial Stability Review Group.
|
*HC16 |
Medium Term Financial Position 2019/20 - Cllr Sanders PDF 197 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
*HC16
Members were presented with a
report that set out the Council’s Medium Term Financial
Position over a rolling five year timeframe to 2023/24. This report represented a snapshot position
statement, and future Member decisions on the budget strategy would
inform figures within the Medium Term Financial Strategy to be
presented to the Hub Committee on 11 September 2018.
The
Leader presented the report.
ItwasthenRESOLVED that the Hub Committee:
1.
notes the forecast
budget gap for 2019/20 of £0.7 million and the position for
future years;
2.
notes the current
options identified and timescales for closing the budget gap in
2019/20 and future years, to achieve long term financial
sustainability; and
3.
agrees to maintaining the current Council policy on the minimum
level of unearmarked reserves being
£750,000.
|
*HC17 |
Business Rates - Locally Administered Business Rate Relief Policy - Cllr Oxborough PDF 53 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
HC17
Members were
presented with a report that asked that they consider and recommend
the policy to administer Year 2 of the four year funding agreement
awarded by central Government, to support those who had seen an
increase in their rates bill due to the 2017 revaluation
exercise.
The Lead Member for
Economy presented the report, and advised Members that the Council
had been one of the first to publish their policy, which had
successfully seen all funds distributed. Members noted their appreciation for the hard work
of the officer who was responsible for the policy.
It was then
RESOLVED that Council be RECOMMENDED
to adopt the Year 2 Locally Administered Business Rate Relief
Policy.
|
*HC18 |
Homelessness Strategy Action Plan 2018/19 - Cllr Leech PDF 45 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
*HC18
Members were
presented with a report that set out a proposed Homelessness
Strategy Action Plan for 2018/19, following completion of the
review of the 2017/18 Action plan.
Widespread consultation with partner organisations on the proposed
action plan had been completed in April 2018 with 100% of
respondents either agreeing or strongly agreeing with the proposed
actions.
The Lead Member for
Health and Wellbeing presented the report. Members praised the
proactive nature of the Action Plan.
It was then
RESOLVED that the Homelessness
Strategy Action Plan 2018/19 be adopted with immediate
effect.
|
*HC19 |
Public Toilet Review - Cllr Sampson PDF 69 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
*HC19
Members were
presented with a report that asked Members to consider options for
saving the £50,000 previously approved as part of the budget
for 2019/20.
The Lead Member for
Commercial Services presented the report. He confirmed that the
report was not deciding on closures, but was about giving officers
instruction on how to proceed. The
published recommendation gave a number of options for
consideration, and in introducing the report he proposed a revised
recommendation that more clearly set out the purpose of the
report.
During discussion, a
number of Members had suggestions on ways to prevent public toilets
being closed, such as sharing the responsibility with Town and
Parish Councils. Members were concerned
at the financial impact on Parish Councils of taking on the
toilets, and the health and wellbeing implications of closing
public toilets. The Lead Member
concluded the item by thanking Members for their comments and
stated that a range of options that were tailored to the needs of
different communities was likely.
It was then
RESOLVED:
1.
To approve, and deliver efficiencies of
£50,000 (or more) in 2019/20 from the overall public
convenience service as set out in the Medium Term Financial
Strategy through consideration of the following:
·
the provision of pay on entry systems (where pay
back can be achieved on a capital spend within a reasonable period,
depending on the choice of equipment)
·
closure of toilet facilities where adequate
provision may be found within reasonable proximity or where
footfall is not such as to justify continued provision
·
the transfer of toilet facilities to parishes or
other partners where agreement can be reached to maintain service
continuity
2.
It is recommended that officers proceed on the
basis of consideration of a combination of all the above options in
order to achieve this, subject to seeking the authority of this
Council to any closure(s) to be considered.
|
*HC20 |
Write Off Report - Cllr Edmonds PDF 128 KB
Minutes:
*HC20
TheLead Member
forResources and
Performance introduceda reportthat informed
Members of thedebtwrittenoff forrevenuestreamswithinthe Revenueand Benefitsservice. Debtsupto thevalueof £5,000werewrittenoffby the s151Officerunderdelegatedauthority. Permissionwassoughtto writeoff
individualdebts witha valueof morethan £5,000.
ItwasthenRESOLVED that:
1.
in accordancewithFinancialRegulations,thatthe
s151Officerhadauthorisedthe write-offofindividualWest DevonBoroughCouncildebtstotalling£114,989.98as
detailedinTables1 and2 benoted; and
2.
the write off of
individual debts in excess of £5,000 totalling £46,248.19, as detailed in Table 3
of the presented report, be approved.
(NOTE: THESE DECISIONS, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF HC 12 AND HC17
WHICH ARE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE COUNCIL MEETING TO BE HELD ON 24
JULY 2018,
WILL
BECOME EFFECTIVE FROM WEDNESDAY 25 JULY
2018 UNLESS CALLED IN, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SCRUTINY PROCEDURE RULE
18).
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