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

To confirm and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Cabinet held on Friday 11 April 2025. 

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Other Registerable Interests of Non-Registerable Interests, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

The Leader of the Council will read out the statement attached to this agenda in relation to an urgent decision that the Leader of the Council recently took on behalf of the Cabinet.

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

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

There are no matters referred to the Cabinet by a Committee on this occasion.

There are no Leader of the Council’s items on this occasion.

To recommend for approval the acceptance of the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) transition year 2025/26 allocation to the Council which totals £197,761.00, and recommends an approach to its spend, building on the successes of the previous REPF programme over the past two financial years, which aligns with Tendring District Council’s (TDC) External Funding Framework.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

a)    formally accepts £197,761.00 from the Rural England Prosperity Fund for 2025 to 2026;

b)    approves the allocation of £120,000.00 for the Rural England Prosperity Fund Business Grants Scheme and further approves the allocation of £77,761.00 for the Rural England Prosperity Fund Community Grants Scheme;

c)    approves the criteria for the assessment of grants for both Schemes under the Rural England Prosperity Fund, as set out in Appendix A to the Portfolio Holder’s report (A.1);

d)    authorises the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism and the Portfolio Holder for Arts, Culture and Heritage to approve the award of grants to organisations under the Rural England Prosperity Fund in line with its sister fund’s (the UK Shared Prosperity Fund) criteria; and

e)    acknowledges that the documentation to accept the grant funding from Government will require signing by the Council’s Section 151 Officer, and which will be undertaken following that Officer’s consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth and Tourism.

The Constitution (Article 12.03(a)) requires the Monitoring Officer to report to Cabinet (or to Council for non-executive functions) if any decision or omission has given rise to maladministration.  This report concerns actions that the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman has determined were maladministration/service failings. 

This report is also required under section 5A of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 in view of the aforementioned decision in this matter by the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman.

RESOLVED that Cabinet formally receives and notes the Monitoring Officer’s report (A.3) and, in particular, the findings/orders/recommendations from the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman in the case covered by that report, the compliance with those matters by the Council and the wider learning points set out therein.

To provide the legal advice referred to in Part A, on the options available for the procurement process, that must be considered in Part B due to maintaining legal professional privilege.

RESOLVED that Cabinet -

(a)  notes the indicative annual costs emerging at this stage in the procurement process, as set out in the Portfolio Holder’s report (B.1);

(b)  notes the financial position that the Council finds itself in and associated risk, uncertainty and associated value for money matters;

(c)   acknowledges that, as a direct implication of the Local Government Reorganisation programme for Greater Essex, the Council should no longer be pursuing a contract term for eight years plus and that a shorter term is necessary;

(d)  notes that through any proposed Local Government Reorganisation, a Shadow Authority for the Unitary Authority could be in place by April 2027, and be able to consider major contracts and liabilities together with the Sovereign Council, but that there is still significant uncertainly around any proposals and timetables;

(e)  notes the contents of the Legal Advice received by the Council’s external solicitors, Sharpe Pritchard, as set out in full in Appendix A to report B.1;

(f)    undertakes an assessment of the risks identified together with the required mitigation measures, as set out in the aforementioned Appendix A and the body of the report (B.1);

(g)  subject to the above, determines whether to recommend proceeding with consideration of Option 1 (being confirmed in Part A following further information being taken into account through the content of that report (A.2)); and

(h)  authorises the Corporate Director (Operations and Delivery), in consultation with the Leader of the Council, the Portfolio Holders for Environment & ICT and Assets & Community Safety, and the Section 151 and Monitoring Officers to exercise a degree of flexibility with regards to the contract term following the dialogue sessions, to ensure the Council can deliver a statutory service from April 2026, to be included within the Invitation to Submit Final Tenders (which includes the detailed specification), without the need to revert to Cabinet.

To provide an update to Cabinet following receipt of detailed submissions from bidders at the Invitation to Submit Detailed Solutions (“ISDS”) stage of the procurement process, to set out options for the way forward and seek agreement to a revised set of Core Specification Principles based upon the following circumstances:

·      Greater Essex is now part of the Government’s Priority Programme for Devolution which includes responding to Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), which has been announced since the commencement of the procurement process and the risk and uncertainty that this brings; and

·      the detailed solutions received from the bidders indicate a contract price that is not affordable to the Council.

RESOLVED that, following consideration of the legal advice and options available (in report B.1) and following its assessment and analysis of the risks and their mitigations, and the contents of that report (B.1), Cabinet formally -

(a)  notes the extensive work undertaken on the procurement process so far, both by Officers and external consultants following the Core Principles adopted in July 2024 and subsequent decisions;

(b)  acknowledges the impact of Greater Essex being part of the Government’s Priority Programme and responding to Local Government Reorganisation, the Council must reassess its position with regards to the duration of the contract term;

(c)  acknowledges that, in addition to (b) above, the information received through the current procurement exercise to date would place the Council in the position of not being able to reasonably afford the cost should it decide to continue with the service as currently specified;

(d)  agrees that, in addition to (b) and (c) above, to balance associated risks, uncertainty and value for money alongside affordability, the option to purchase the vehicle fleet and the risk sharing option in respect of DMR will no longer be considered;

(e)  commits to ensuring it continues to fulfil its statutory duties and to provide a Waste Collection service beyond the ending of the current contract in March 2026 and complying with the additional requirements of the Environment Act 2021 from April 2026;

(f)   subject to (b) to (e) above and having considered the legal advice and options available (in Part B) and following its assessment of the advice, analysis of the risks and their mitigations, and the contents of this report, agrees to continue with the existing procurement process but with amendments to the contract length and specification (Option 1) based on the following key principles:

(i)              the contract term will be reduced to 3 years with an option for an extension period of 2 years based upon responding to the risk and uncertainties of LGR;

(ii)             a reduction in the service specification to ensure affordability and comply with our statutory duty to provide a waste collection service and street cleaning service;

(iii)            the Council will not take any financial risk on the value of DMR material collected (Service Delivery Option A); and

(iv)            the Council will not fund the up-front purchase of any vehicle fleet (Vehicle Funding Option B).

(g)  in addition to (e) and (f) above, a revised set of Core Specification Principles, as set out in Table 3 of the Portfolio Holder’s report (A.1), will form the basis of the revised detailed contract specification;

(h)  authorises the Corporate Director (Operations and Delivery), in consultation with the Leader of the Council, the Portfolio Holder for Environment & ICT, the Portfolio Holder for Assets and Community Safety, the Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer, following the dialogue stage, to determine the detailed revised service specification for the Invitation to Submit Final Tenders stage, ensuring the principles set out in (f) above are adhered to;

(i)    approves that an additional budget of £100k  ...  view the full decision text for item 10.

Cabinet is asked to consider passing the following resolution:

“That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Agenda Item 13 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 3 and 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A, as amended, of the Act.”