Items
No. |
Item |
*HC21 |
Apologies for absence
Minutes:
*HC 21
Apologies
for absence were received from Cllrs Oxborough, Roberts and
Sampson.
|
*HC22 |
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 22
Members were invited
to declare any interests in the items of business to be discussed
and the following were made:
Cllr Samuel declared
a personal interest in Item 12: Civil Penalties for breaches of
Housing Standards Enforcement Notices, by virtue of being a
landlord.
|
*HC23 |
Confirmation of Minutes PDF 103 KB
Minutes of meeting held 17 July
2018.
Minutes:
*HC23
The Minutes of the
Hub Committee meeting held on 17 July 2018 were confirmed and
signed by the Chairman as a correct record.
|
*HC24 |
Financial Strategy Review Working Group - Cllr Jory
Minutes:
*HC24
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
circulated to Members an update on the work of the Financial
Stability Review Group. The Group were
due to meet again on 18 September, 2018.
The Lead Member for Assets and
Environment had also circulated a note that outlined the intention
of Plymouth City Council (PCC) to consult on the possibility of
establishing a Marine National Park based on the Plymouth
Sound. The Committee endorsed the view
that West Devon Borough Council should seek to engage in a
collaborative partnership with PCC and as a formal
consultee.
|
*HC25 |
Medium Term Financial Strategy 2019/20 to 2023/24 - Cllr Sanders PDF 543 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
HC25
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. The Council, along with other local authorities,
had faced unprecedented reductions in Government funding since the
Comprehensive Spending Review in 2010.
The
Leader presented the report and the s151 Officer and Head of Paid
Service responded to questions that arose. Recommendations relating to pensions and staff
terms and conditions had caused some concern but the Leader
explained the rationale for the recommendations.
During
discussion, some Members felt that Recommendation 9 within the
presented report that related to Treasury Management and Borrowing
Strategy should be amended to reflect that Council should set the
upper borrowing limit. The s151 Officer
outlined the external advice that had been received that led to the
presented recommendation, and in response to a question, the
ramifications of ignoring that advice.
Other Members felt it was appropriate to accept the advice
given.
It was
then PROPOSED, SECONDED and on
being put to the vote declared LOST, that the Hub
Committee does not make a recommendation on the Upper Limit for
External Borrowing (for all Council Services) and instead defers
that decision to Council as part of the Medium Term Financial
Strategy as per Exempt Appendix G. As a
result, the recommendation as set out in the presented report was
approved as part of recommendation 3 below, which stated that the
Hub Committee recommend to Council an Upper Limit of £50
million on External Borrowing.
ItwasthenRESOLVED that the Hub Committee:
1.
note the forecast
budget gap for 2019/20 of £0.45 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.
RECOMMENDS to
Council to approve recommendations 1 to 10 as set out in the
presented report.
|
*HC26 |
Commercial Property Strategy Amendment - Cllr Jory PDF 84 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
HC26
Members were
presented with a report that sought approval and implementation of
a new commercial property strategy which combined the ability to
make property acquisitions with in-borough asset developments, in
line with the ‘Enterprise’ corporate strategic
objective of creating places for enterprise to thrive and business
to grow.
The Lead Member for
Assets presented the report.
It was then RESOLVED that
Council be RECOMMENDED to:
1.
Approve and Implement the commercial property strategy as
detailed in Appendix A of the presented report; and
2.
Rescind the currently adopted commercial property
acquisition strategy as detailed in presented Appendix
E.
|
*HC27 |
Quarter 1 Revenue Budget Monitoring 2018/2019 - Cllr Edmonds PDF 78 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
*HC27
Members were
presented with a report that enabled monitoring of income and
expenditure variations against the approved budget for 2018/19, and
provided a forecast for the year end position.
The Lead Member for
Resources and Performance presented the report.
It was then
RESOLVED that the Hub Committee note
the forecast income and expenditure variations for the 2018/19
financial year and the overall projected underspend of
£19,000.
|
*HC28 |
Write Off Report - Cllr Edmonds PDF 130 KB
Minutes:
*HC28
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. The
Lead Member advised the Committee of the background to the debt for
which permission was sought. The s151
Officer confirmed that the debt was written off as a whole but that
the cost to the Council was a portion of that
debt.
ItwasthenRESOLVED that:
1.
in accordancewithFinancialRegulations,thatthe
s151Officerhadauthorisedthe write-offofindividualWest DevonBoroughCouncildebtstotalling£27,950.96as
detailedinTables1 and2 benoted; and
2.
the write off of individual debts in excess of £5,000
totalling £26,564.80, as detailed
in Table 3 of the presented report, be approved.
|
*HC29 |
Council Tax Reduction Scheme - Cllr Leech PDF 142 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
*HC29
Members were
presented with a report that set out the annual requirement for
Councils to revisit their existing council tax support scheme and
decide whether to replace or revisit their scheme, the requirements
for changing the scheme and the associated time
constraints.
The Lead Member for
Health and Wellbeing presented the report. The Benefit Specialist
responded to questions of clarity.
It was then RESOLVED that:
1.
The proposal to consult on Option 1 (as set out in
section 4 of the presented report) on a banded scheme which would
assess the maximum level of Council Tax Reduction based on the net
income of the claimant and partner, be approved; and
2.
The results of the consultation exercise be
presented back to the Hub Committee prior to a revised scheme being
considered for approval by the Council.
|
*HC30 |
Civic Penalties for breaches of Housing Standards Enforcement Notices - Cllr Leech PDF 69 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
HC30
Members were
presented with a report that outlined how Civil Penalties had been
introduced by government legislation as an alternative to
traditional criminal law enforcement against landlords, mostly
relating to Housing offences. Local
Authorities had the power to set civil penalty amounts locally up
to a statutory maximum. Civil Penalties
allowed for a higher financial penalty than the currently low court
fines, they would provide an effective deterrent and protect
residents against rogue landlords, unscrupulous letting agents and
other poor business practices. Civil
penalties would also deliver more cost efficient and faster
enforcement in the area of housing disrepair.
The Lead Member for
Health and Wellbeing presented the report. The COP Lead
Environmental Health responded to questions and confirmed that
there was statutory guidance that provided details on the
considerations to be taken into account as part of the fine setting
process.
It was then
RESOLVED that Council be RECOMMENDED
to update the existing Enforcement Policy with the Civil Penalty
Policy.
|
*HC31 |
Tamar Valley AONB Management Plan 2019-2024 Consultation Draft - Cllr Jory PDF 56 KB
Minutes:
*HC31
Members were presented with a
report that outlined the process of the review of the Management
Plan for the Tamar Valley AONB, the issues identified for
consideration within the Plan review, and detailed the method by
which members could contribute to the formal consultation response
by the Council, with a view to bringing the final Plan to Hub
Committee for adoption in early 2019.
The Lead Member for Assets and
Environment presented the report, and the Specialist Assets and
Place Making responded to questions.
During discussion, it was confirmed that the Management Plan would
have a separate annex that would cover planning matters and would
interact with Neighbourhood Plans and the emerging Joint Local
Plan. It was also confirmed that the
annual contribution paid to the TVAONB was towards production and delivery of the Management Plan, and
the majority of projects were separately grant funded.
ItwasthenRESOLVED that:
1.
The content of the Consultation Draft of the
Management plan be noted, and members send any comments to the
author of the report for incorporation into a formal Council
consultation response before the end of October 2018;
2.
Authority be delegated
to the COP Lead Place making the final content of the formal
Council consultation response; and
3.
The final version of
the Management plan for 2019-2024 be brought to Hub Committee prior
to adoption in early 2019.
|
*HC32 |
IT Systems Procurement - Cllr Edmonds
Minutes:
HC32
(Paragraph 3 – Information
relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular
person (including the authority holding that
information)
Members were presented with an exempt report that sought
direction on a preferred option in respect of the IT systems
procurement.
The
Lead Member for Resources and Performance presented the
report.
It
was then RESOLVED that the Hub Committee endorse
the ICT systems procurement and recommendations to Council, as set
out in the presented report.
(NOTE: THESE DECISIONS, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF HC 25, 26,
30
and
HC 32 WHICH ARE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE COUNCIL
MEETING TO BE HELD ON 25 SEPTEMBER 2018, WILL BECOME
EFFECTIVE FROM WEDNESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2018 UNLESS
CALLED IN, IN ACCORDANCE WITH
SCRUTINY PROCEDURE RULE 18).
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