Agenda, decisions and minutes

The Cabinet is asked to note any apologies for absence received from Members.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor T M Ferguson (Portfolio Holder for Tourism and Culture), Councillor P B Honeywood (Portfolio Holder for Housing) and Councillor I J Henderson (Leader of the Labour Group).

The Leader of the Council informed Members that Councillor Honeywood’s absence was due to illness.

The Leader of the Council welcomed Lisa Hastings, the Council’s Head of Governance and Legal Services & Monitoring Officer back to Cabinet following her recovery from a back operation. Members welcomed Lisa with a round of applause.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Cabinet held on Friday 17 February 2017.

It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the last meeting of the Cabinet, held on Friday 17 February 2017, be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Members are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, or other interests, and the nature of them, in relation to any item on the agenda.   

There were no declarations of interest made at this time though later on in the meeting, as reported under Minute 164 below, and in relation to Citizens Advice Tendring – Service Level Agreement 2017/18 (Report A.3):

(1)    Councillors G V Guglielmi and Stephenson each declared a personal interest insofar as they personally knew the Acting Chairman of the Citizens Advice Tendring Board;

(2)    Councillor Broderick declared a non-pecuniary interest as a member of Citizens Advice Tendring; and

(3)    Councillor McWilliams declared a non-pecuniary interest as she was the Council’s appointed representative on the Citizens Advice Tendring Board.

The Cabinet is asked to note any announcements made by the Leader of the Council.

The Leader of the Council referred to the significant amount of McDonald’s packaging that was left as litter in road verges across the District by customers using the drive-through McDonald’s Restaurant at Weeley. He announced that he intended, along with the Environment Portfolio Holder, to invite senior figures from the McDonald’s hierarchy to a positive and constructive meeting to see if more could be done by them to reduce the amount of litter.

The Leader of the UKIP Group suggested that this meeting should be extended to include all of the drive-through fast food restaurants in the District.

The Deputy Leader of the Council suggested that the appropriate overview and scrutiny committee [Service Development and Delivery Committee] should also take this matter forward and widen it to include discussions with Highways England regarding litter on the A120.

The Cabinet is asked to note any announcements made by Members of the Cabinet.

There were none.

There are none on this occasion.

There were no matters referred to the Cabinet by the Council on this occasion.

To enable Cabinet to give consideration to comments made to it by the Corporate Management Committee in respect of the above.

That the recommendations of the Resources and Corporate Services Portfolio Holder be approved.

Cabinet was informed that, at the meeting of the Corporate Management Committee held on 13 February 2017, Members had considered the Performance Report for Quarter Three. An officer update was provided in relation to several indicators and projects.

The Committee had agreed to make the following comments to Cabinet:

(a)  the Committee is concerned at the ongoing decline in performance in the handling of planning applications, especially major applications;

(b)  the Committee would like to see the various Portfolio Holder financial savings working parties continue in some form and that any reports/briefing papers submitted to those meetings should be circulated to all Members for their information;

(c)  the Committee would like to see an All Member briefing at which Members would be informed of, and could contribute towards forming, the overall vision for the future waste management and recycling contracts and the retender process and which should include a focussed initiative to promote recycling amongst the general public.

The Cabinet had before it the following comments of the Resources and Corporate Services Portfolio Holder made in response to the comments of the Corporate Management Committee:

“The comment about Planning could imply that it was considered that there was concern about the way that planning applications are processed. I would like to make it absolutely clear that Cabinet do not consider there is an issue about the way that planning applications are dealt with. Furthermore, the time taken to consider minor and other applications is ahead of target. Whilst it is accepted that the time taken to deal with major applications is behind target, Planning have been receiving exceptional numbers of applications and should be commended for the way in which they have managed this workload.

With regard to the comment about the Portfolio Holder financial savings working parties, these were established for a particular purpose which was to consider potential savings options. The work on the budget has now moved on. As Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Finance I will lead the work with Cabinet colleagues to undertake the difficult decisions both about implementing savings and balancing the budget. Overview and Scrutiny will be consulted as necessary as part of this ongoing process.”

The Cabinet also had before it the following recommendations ofthe Resources and Corporate Services Portfolio Holder:

(a)  It is noted that only the major applications are behind target due to the exceptional numbers of applications being received and Planning be commended for the way they have managed this workload.

(b)  The Portfolio Holder financial savings working parties do not continue but that, going forward, Cabinet will consider all options surrounding the difficult decisions facing us in relation to the budget and consult with Overview and Scrutiny as necessary.

(c)  The All Member Briefing on 26^th April will include a session on the waste and recycling contract.

Having considered the comments of the Corporate Management Committee and the comments and recommendations of the Resources and Corporate Services Portfolio Holder:

It was moved by Councillor G  ...  view the full minutes text for item 174.

To enable Cabinet to give consideration to requests made to it by the Community Leadership and Partnerships Committee in respect of the above.

That the recommendations of the Leisure and Partnerships Portfolio Holder be approved.

Cabinet was informed that,at the meeting of the Community Leadership and Partnership Committee held on 20 February 2017 the Council’s Head of Environmental Services (John Fox) had introduced the Council’s Public Health Improvement Co-Ordinator (Cassie Barrett) and Essex County Council’s Interim Public Health Specialist (Laura Taylor-Green) to the Committee and had given an overview of their respective roles.

The Council’s Public Health Improvement Co-Ordinator had then given a presentation to the Committee on Public Health. That presentation had covered the following:

(1) Public Health in Tendring – Local Priorities;

(2) Clacton Seafront Parkrun;

(3) Breastfeeding Welcome Scheme;

(4) Making Every Contact Count (MECC) – Partnership with Provide and Essex County Council Commissioner;

(5) Housing and Hazard Awareness Project;

(6) Upcoming Projects; and

(7) Health and Wellbeing Board.

Officers had then responded to questions raised by Members on various issues which had included:

• Ensuring that the approach to Public Health was district wide;
• Community transport options;
• Reaching out to, and including, those who live in the rural areas of the District;
• Funding for outdoor Gyms;
• Mental Health in Schools; and
• Production of a Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

The Committee had agreed to make the following comments to Cabinet:

(a)  look at ways to ensure that public health projects are available across the district;

(b)  look at ways of measuring the success of the work carried out; and

(c)  note concerns that funding was currently in place for a fixed term only and the implications for the future provision of the Public Health Improvement Co-ordinator post.

The Cabinet had before it the following recommendations of the Leisure and Partnerships Portfolio Holder:

“(a)      The Portfolio Holder liaises with officers to ensure that public health projects continue to be implemented across the District.

(b)        The projects continue to be monitored through the Corporate Performance Report and, if necessary, through the local Health and Wellbeing Board alongside evaluation of the projects being undertaken.

(c)        The Council uses its influencing role to liaise with Essex County Council and uses the evaluation of projects to demonstrate outcomes and urge ECC to further fund this post at the end of the current term.”

Having considered the comments of the Community Leaderships and Partnerships Committee and the recommendations of the Leisure and Partnerships Portfolio Holder:

It was moved by Councillor McWilliams, seconded by Councillor G V Guglielmi and:

RESOLVED that the recommendations of the Leisure and Partnerships Portfolio Holder be approved.

There are none on this occasion.

There were none on this occasion.

To agree an updated Service Level Agreement (SLA) with Citizens Advice Tendring for 2017/18.

That the Service Level Agreement between Tendring District Council and Citizens Advice Tendring for 2017/18, as attached at Appendix A to item A.3 of the Report of the Leisure and Partnerships Portfolio Holder, be approved.

The following declarations of interest were made:

(1)     Councillors G V Guglielmi and Stephenson each declared a personal interest insofar as they personally knew the Acting Chairman of the Citizens Advice Tendring Board;

(2)     Councillor Broderick declared a non-pecuniary interest as a member of Citizens Advice Tendring; and

(3)     Councillor McWilliams declared a non-pecuniary interest as she was the Council’s appointed representative on the Citizens Advice Tendring Board.

There was submitted a report by the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Partnerships (Report A.3), which sought Cabinet’s agreement to an updated Service Level Agreement (SLA) with Citizens Advice Tendring for 2017/18.

Cabinet was aware that Tendring District Council (TDC) had, for many years, supported Citizens Advice Tendring by way of grant funding. Since 2013/14 the core grant had been £144,000. This had been backed up by an annually agreed Service Level Agreement setting out what Citizens Advice was expected to deliver.

It was reported that a review of the operations of Citizens Advice had recently been undertaken driven by a number of factors, namely:

·                The Chairman of Citizens Advice and 3 other trustees had recently resigned. The change in leadership and the appointment of new people to the Board would allow a fresh approach from the Trustees on the future direction of Citizens Advice.

·                The CEO of Citizens Advice had left the organisation in June 2016. The post of CEO had been deleted and new part-time posts of Operations Director and Strategic Director had been created.

·                Citizens Advice was now moving towards more electronic communication and National Citizens Advice was requiring all local bureaux to provide an advice line and webchat capability.

·                There had been on-going discussions between officers from TDC and Citizens Advice to look at where Citizens Advice could be more efficient. As overall TDC funding continued to reduce it was essential to ensure that funding to Citizens Advice was providing value for money to the Council.

The two key areas of the SLA were:-

·                Delivery of core services; and

·                Provision of advice at localities outside of Clacton.

Cabinet was informed that those areas had been reviewed and updated in order to ensure that they reflected the current position and were relevant both to the service Citizens Advice provided and what the Council expected for its money. In addition, the SLA 2017/18 included a requirement for Citizens Advice to provide information that would measure how well they were delivering on those two areas.

Cabinet was advised that in order to further ensure that value for money from the grant paid to Citizens Advice was being achieved, representatives from Citizens Advice would be attending a future meeting of the Community Leadership and Partnership Committee in order to provide an update on their activities.

Having considered the information provided:-

It was moved by Councillor G V Guglielmi, seconded by Councillor McWilliams and:-

RESOLVED that the Service Level Agreement between Tendring District Council and Citizens Advice Tendring for 2017/18, as attached at Appendix A to item A.3 of the Report of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 177.

To enable Cabinet to give consideration to the programme of meetings for the 2017/2018 Municipal Year.

That the programme of meetings for the Council and Committees, as set out in the Appendix to item A.4 of the Report of the Resources and Corporate Services Portfolio Holder, be approved and be submitted to the Annual Meeting of the Council for formal approval, subject to the inclusion of the following extra meetings:

Corporate Management Committee – 24 July 2017; and

Corporate Management Committee – 16 October 2017.

There was submitted a report by the Portfolio Holder for Resources and Corporate Services (Report A.4), which sought Cabinet’s agreement, as required by the Constitution, to submit for formal approval to the Annual Meeting of the Council a programme of meetings for the 2017/2018 municipal year.

Having considered the proposed Programme of Meetings:

It was proposed by Councillor G V Guglielmi, seconded by Councillor McWilliams and:

RESOLVED that the programme of meetings for the Council and Committees, as set out in the Appendix to item A.4 of the Report of the Resources and Corporate Services Portfolio Holder, be approved and be submitted to the Annual Meeting of the Council for formal approval, subject to the inclusion of the following extra meetings:

Corporate Management Committee – 24 July 2017; and

Corporate Management Committee – 16 October 2017.

To agree the Annual Treasury Strategy for 2017/18 (including Prudential and Treasury Indicators) for submission to Council.

That the comments of the Corporate Management Committee be noted; and  that it be:

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that the Annual Treasury Strategy for 2017/2018 (including Prudential and Treasury Indicators), be approved and implemented.

There was submitted a report by the Portfolio Holder for Resources and Corporate Services (Report A.5), which sought Cabinet’s agreement for the Annual Treasury Strategy for 2017/2018 to be submitted to Council.

There are none on this occasion.

There were none on this occasion.