Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Council Offices, Thorpe Road, Weeley, CO16 9AJ

Contact: Keith Durran Email:  democraticservices@tendringdc.gov.uk or Telephone:  01255 686585

Note: Meeting date brought forward from 20 December to facilitate a review of the Joint Use Leisure Facility report/policy before it goes to Cabinet in that same week. 

Items
No. Item

37.

Apologies for Absence and Substitutions

The Committee is asked to note any apologies for absence and substitutions received from Members.

 

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillor Land (no substitution) and Councillor Morrison (with Councillor Fowler substituting).

38.

Minutes of the Last Meeting pdf icon PDF 157 KB

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on 1 November 2021.

Minutes:

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on Monday 1 November 2021 be approved as a correct record.

39.

Declarations of Interest

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Personal Interest, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest by Councillors in relation to any on the agenda for this meeting.

40.

Questions on Notice pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 38

Subject to providing two working days' notice, a Member of the Committee may ask the Chairman of the Committee a question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the District of Tendring and which falls within the terms of reference of the Committee.

Minutes:

On this occasion no Councillor had submitted notice of a question.

41.

Scrutiny of Proposed Decisions pdf icon PDF 71 KB

Pursuant to the provisions of Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 13, the Committee will review any new and/or amended published forthcoming decisions relevant to its terms of reference and decide whether it wishes to enquire into any such decision before it is taken.

 

Matters may only be raised on those forthcoming decisions at Committee meetings where the Member has notified the Committee Services Manager in writing (or by personal email) of the question they wish to ask, no later than Midday, two working days before the day of the meeting.

 

Minutes:

Pursuant to the provisions of Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 13, the Committee reviewed any new and/or amended published forthcoming decisions relevant to its terms of reference with a view to deciding whether it wished to look into any such decision before it was taken. The relevant forthcoming decisions were before the Committee.

 

The Committee NOTED the contents of the report including the reference to forthcoming decisions of Cabinet on the Housing Revenue Account Estimates 2022/23, the updated General Fund Financial Forecast and Initial Budget Proposals 2022/23 that would form part of this Committee’s enquiry into the budget to take place on 12 January 2022.

 

42.

Recommendations Monitoring Report pdf icon PDF 246 KB

To present to the Committee the updated Recommendations Monitoring Report, outlining any recommendations the Committee have sent to Cabinet. The Committee is requested to consider the report and determine whether any further action is required on the recommendations submitted.

Minutes:

The Committee before it the current Recommendations Monitoring Report which set out those items which had previously made recommendations to the Cabinet/ Portfolio Holder and the approved response to the recommendations and any subsequent action for the Committee to consider.

 

The Committee NOTED the contents of the report including the follow-up actions as proposed by the Chairman of the Committee and on which there had been no contrary proposals submitted by Members of the Committee during prior consultation with them.

43.

Review of the Work Programme pdf icon PDF 155 KB

To present to the Committee a draft detailed Work Programme 2021/22, to consider the detail and ordering of the Work Programme.

Minutes:

The work programme of the Committee was submitted to it in order to enable the Committee to review that programme.

 

The Committee NOTED the contents of the report including the intention to hold an informal meeting on 5 January 2022 (commencing at 9.30am) followed by a formal meeting of the Committee on 12 January 2022 (again commencing at 9.30am) in order to undertake an enquiry into the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account for the Council for 2022/23.

 

[Note: The enquiry referred to in this Minute shall also include consideration of the Council’s Treasury Strategy and the Quarter Two financial forecasts for 2021/22.]

 

44.

Report of the Leader of the Council. - A.4 - Key Priority Actions 2021/22 Towards Corporate Plan Themes - Monitoring Report at the Half Year Point pdf icon PDF 137 KB

The Committee will enquire into performance of the Council in relation to the Key Priority Actions adopted by Cabinet for 2021/22.  The Key Priority Actions are designed to advance the ambition set out in  the Council’s Corporate Plan Themes for 2020/24.  For this enquiry, the Committee has the report provided to the Cabinet on 8 October 2021.  The Leader of the Council has been invited to the meeting to assist the Committee with its enquiry.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee had before it the report submitted to Cabinet on 8 October 2021 (Minute 57 refers) concerning progress with the highlight priority actions for 2021/22 adopted by Cabinet on 19 March 2021.  The report set out  the six month position for each of those highlight priority actions and the specified milestones for each of the actions.

 

 

The Deputy Leader addressed the Committee on the progress with the highlight priority actions for 2021/22 and emphasised the linkages of those actions back to the Council’s Corporate Plan 2020-24.

 

The Chairman conveyed the thanks of the Committee for adopting the milestones approach for the highlight priority actions and for reporting on these in the way set out in the report.  He stated that this level of openness in reporting was very much welcomed and had been something requested by the Committee in the past.  It provided a balanced score card on the work of the Council.

 

After a brief discussion, the Committee NOTED the report and thanked the Deputy Leader for attending and presenting it.

 

45.

Joint Use Facilities Options Report pdf icon PDF 209 KB

At this meeting the Committee is to undertake an enquiry into the Options being assessed for the future of the Joint Use Sports/Leisure Facilities at Brightlingsea and Harwich.  This matter is scheduled to be considered by the Cabinet on 17 December 2021 and the Committee will be provided with a copy of the report being submitted to Cabinet (once published).  The Portfolio Holder has been invited to the meeting to assist the Committee with its enquiry.

 

Please note that site visits took place to both locations on Monday the 3 of December 2021:

 

Brightlingsea Sports Centre

 

Attended: Cllr’s M Stephenson, Scott, Codling, Harris, Barry and Griffiths. Officers Keith S, Keith D and  Michael Carran. Site tour by Steve Ham, Sports Facilities Manager.

 

Apologies: Cllr’s Morrison, Land and Allen

 

Harwich Leisure Centre

 

Attended: Cllr M Stephenson, Scott, Harris and Griffiths. Officers. Keith S, Keith D and Michael Carran. Site tour by James Prior Temporary Sports Facility Manager.

 

Apologies: Cllr’s Morrison, Land, Allen, Codling and Barry.

 

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Prior to the day of the meeting a site visit to the Brightlingsea and Harwich joint use sports facilities for Members of the Committee had been arranged. The site visits had taken place on 6 December 2020 and the Assistant Director (Leisure and Sport) had escorted Members and support officers around the two facilities. A note of the site visits was circulated at the meeting.

 

The Committee received advice from the Monitoring Officer in relation to the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 18 – that set out the exceptions to Call-in.  The rules were set out in the Constitution, Part 5.31 (Cream) Rule 18 (ii)(d) which stated that “Unless the decision has taken into account new material considerations arising since the original consultation with the Council or an Overview and Scrutiny Committee a decision by the Cabinet in response to such consultation shall not be subject to call-in.” 

 

In view of the fact that the Committee was considering the report that was also on the Cabinet’s agenda for its meeting on Friday, 17 December 2021 (in respect of the future of joint use sports facilities) any resultant decision of Cabinet at that meeting would be unlikely to be subject to ‘call-in’ as other decisions were. The Committee was urged to make the most of the debate on the joint use sports facilities and to consider the options within the Report to Cabinet.  If the Committee did not agree with the proposed approach, as recommended within the report to Cabinet, it was it’s opportunity to give recommendations to Cabinet for it to consider.

 

The report submitted to the Committee  outlined the Community use agreements with the Sigma Trust for the Joint Use Sports Facilities at Brightlingsea and Harwich Sports Centres.   The term of the agreements was until 31 December 2021.  This paper set out options for consideration by Cabinet and a recommendation on how to proceed.

 

The Committee heard that over a period of 30 years and 15 years respectively, the Council had managed community use arrangements at Brightlingsea and Harwich Sports Centres on the basis of the allocated element of the relevant school buildings. Agreements with the respective schools had enabled the Council to open facilities to the public on those non-Council owned sites after curriculum hours and, in some cases, for daytime use also.  The schools were Colne Community School & College in Brightlingsea and the Harwich & Dovercourt High School in Harwich.

 

Members also heard that in August 2021, the Council in conjunction with the Sigma Trust decided to extend the agreements for five months, from their original expiry date of 31 July 2021, until 31 December 2021.  That was to ensure all appropriate residents and stakeholders were consulted and an evaluation could be undertaken for a considered decision by Cabinet on the Council’s future involvement.        

 

It was reported to the Committee that the combined subsidy for managing community use facilities on the school sites was £146,969 and, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, combined attendances decreased year on year  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.