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

In relation to members of the Committee, an apology had been submitted by Councillor Bensilum (with no substitution).

The Committee was informed that the Leader of the Council (Councillor M Stephenson) who had been due to attend the meeting had given his apologies due to a clash in his diary schedule.

It was then RESOLVED to defer the consideration of Item A.2 – Report of the Leader – Portfolio Holder Projects – Update and that a separate public meeting of the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee be arranged and held to enable the Committee to discuss this report with the Leader of the Council as well as any relevant Cabinet members.

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on 13January 2025.

It was moved by Councillor M Cossens, seconded by Councillor S Honeywood and:-

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 13 January 2025 be confirmed as a correct record and be signed by the Chairman.

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.

There were no Declarations of Interest made by Members on this occasion.

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 Tendring District and which falls within the terms of reference of the Committee.

No Questions on Notice pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 38 had been submitted by Members for this meeting.

The report provides the Committee with the review document arising from the review of the Spendells House Capital Scheme. That review document is set out at Appendix A to this report.  This report also reminds the Committee that the Council’s Audit Committee also has a role in reviewing the subject of Appendix A and provides details of guidance in respect of the roles of Audit and Overview & Scrutiny in relation to such matters.

The Committee considered the report with the related document arising from the review of the Spendells House Capital Scheme. That review document was set out at Appendix A of the Officer report (A.1). The report further reminded the Committee that the Council’s Audit Committee also had a role in reviewing the subject of Appendix A and provided details of guidance on the respective roles of Audit and Overview and Scrutiny in relation to such matters.

The Committee was made aware that, the matter of the Spendells refurbishment project to provide temporary accommodation for homeless families had been referenced in several reports provided to the Committee over a number of years. The issue of unauthorised expenditure in respect of the project had been reported to the July 2024 meeting of the Committee. On 17 December 2024 the Committee was advised that arrangements would be made with the Chairmen of this Committee and of the Audit Committee to receive the findings in relation to the investigation into the Council’s development of Spendells House, Naze Park Road, Walton-on-the-Naze (and specifically the unauthorised expenditure).

Members considered the investigation report into the project (Appendix A of the Officer report). Prior to the meeting, it had been the subject of a joint briefing for this Committee and Members of the Audit Committee held on 26 March 2025. The Audit Committee had then considered the detail at Appendix A at its meeting on 27 March 2025. At that meeting, on 27 March, the Audit Committee had approved the following having considered that detail:

“[…] (b) […] that the findings be noted and that Officers be requested to bring these together with the outcomes from other various reviews of major projects, in addition to any associated recommendations from External/Internal Audit for consideration as part of the annual review of the Council’s governance arrangements at the earliest opportunity in 2025/26;

[…]

(d) the Chief Executive Officer be invited to attend a future meeting of the Committee to give a half yearly update on matters raised in the review of the Spendells Capital Scheme Review;”

The Council’s Chief Executive (Mr Ian Davidson) was in attendance at this Committee meeting and presented the report to the Committee.

This report implements the commitment given at the 17 December 2024 meeting of the Committee by the Leader (Minute 64 refers) to “pull together a comprehensive list of all of TDC’s current projects” and to submit these at a meeting of the Committee.

The consideration of this item had been deferred for the reasons stated in Minute 74 above.

The report provides the Committee with an update on its approved Work Programme for 2024/25 (including progress with enquiries set out in its Work Programme), feedback to the Committee on the decisions in respect of previous recommendations from the Committee in respects of enquiries undertaken and a list of forthcoming decisions for which notice has been given since publication of the agenda for the Committee’s last meeting. 

The report also provides an opportunity for updates on the work of the Committee’s Task and Finish Groups.

The Committee considered a report of the Assistant Director (Corporate Policy and Support) which provided the Committee with an update on its approved Work Programme for 2024/25 (including progress with enquires set out in its Work Programme), feedback to the Committee on the decisions in respect of previous recommendations from the Committee in respect of enquires undertaken and a list of forthcoming decisions for which notice had been given since publication of the agenda for the Committee’s last meeting.

Members were reminded that the Council had commissioned the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS) to undertake an ‘Overview & Scrutiny Development Review’ in 2021 as a way of further improving that function at the Council. Two relevant recommendations arising from that review had been:

“Further strengthening the annual process for developing work programmes for each of the O&S committee – Engaging Members, Officers, partners and the public to prioritise the topics for review. This could include a selection criterion to identify appropriate topics for the work programme. Currently the work programme is also the last item on the agenda at the O&S meetings, we would recommend bringing it to the beginning, so it can be given greater priority and benefit from more considered discussion, rather than being subject to the inevitable end of meeting fatigue.

Reviewing how the recommendations are made and how impact is measure – This could include putting the ‘recommendations monitoring report’ at the beginning of agendas to orientate O&S towards outcomes-focused meetings, alongside an emphasis on finding strong recommendations from questioning to present to Cabinet (or partners) as improvement or challenge proposals.”

The inclusion of the matters set out in the “purpose of the report” section of the report sought to further re-enforce the inter-relationship of the matters referred to. As such, it was designed to further support consideration of work programming of the Committee and contribute to addressing progress with the Corporate Plan.

The detailed matters relating to the following matters were set out in the relevant Appendix identified:

(1)  Work Programme for 2024/25 approved by Full Council on 6 August 2024 (Appendix A);

(2)  feedback to the Committee on the decisions in respect of previous recommendations from the Committee in respects of enquires undertaken (Appendix B); and

(3)  a list of forthcoming decisions for which notice had been given since publication of the agenda for the Committee’s last meeting (Appendix C).

in considering working programming matters, the Committee was further reminded of the other recommendations from the CfGS review undertaken in 2021 namely:

“Considering greater use of take and finish groups – This more informal type of O&S can allow improved cross-party working and detailed investigation of a single issue focussed on producing substantive recommendations.

Improved agenda planning and management – Committees should focus on one or two substantive items per agenda to allow for cross-cutting themes to be properly identified and explored, and different insights brought to bear on critical issues.

Considering how to engage the public in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 80.