Agenda item - Cabinet Members' Items - Report of the Leisure & Public Realm Portfolio Holder - A.6 - Joint Committee Agreement of the North Essex Parking Partnership

To inform Cabinet of the current reported financial position of the North Essex Parking Partnership and the options available to Tendring District Council and to also seek authority to service notice to withdraw from the Joint Committee, if required.

RESOLVED that -

(a) in consideration of the lack of financial information on the level of deficits for 2023/24 and future longer term financial sustainability of the North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP), the options available to protect the Council’s position be noted;

(b) the feedback from the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s enquiry at its meeting on 5^th March 2023 be noted and welcomed;

(c) the Leader of the Council and the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm, in discussion and consultation with Cabinet Members, be authorised to decide whether to service a Notice of Withdrawal from the NEPP following the meeting of the Joint Committee on 21^st March 2024;

(d) subject to (c) above, cabinet approves such decision being taken up to 31^st March 2025, being supported with a detailed report on the updated position and the assessment of risk to the Council;

(e) the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm, in consultation with the relevant Officers, be authorised to seek a variation to the Partnership Agreement to allow a Notice of Withdrawal to be served coinciding in a timely manner with the receipt and consideration of financial information certified by the NEPP Treasurer and/or to allow a Notice of Withdrawal to be rescinded upon receipt of such information being provided; and

(f) the Leader of the Council and the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm, in consultation with the relevant Officers, be authorised to finalise and request any additional information in respect of financial and governance matters required to support resolutions (c) and (d) above.

Earlier on in the meeting, as reported under Minute 96 above, Councillors Guglielmi, I J Henderson and M E Stephenson had indicated that they each had an Other Registrable Interest (ORI) in this item insofar as they were also Essex County Councillors. The Monitoring Officer had granted each of them a Dispensation for this meeting as they were not part of any decision making body at Essex County Council in relation to the North Essex Parking Partnership and their interests were ORIs.

Cabinet considered a report of the Leisure and Public Realm Portfolio Holder (A.6), which informed it of the current reported financial position of the North Essex Parking Partnership, the options available to Tendring District Council and which also sought the necessary authority to service notice to withdraw from the Joint Committee, if so required.

Cabinet noted that, at its meeting held on 5^th March 2023, the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee had enquired into “On street parking arrangements in the District – and parking PCNs, Permits, Traffic Regulation and enforcement and this Council’s participation in the North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP), and the work and business model of the Partnership.” In respect of the NEPP, the enquiry had considered the role of the Council within the Partnership, the overall financial risks to the Council and road safety matters. Following that enquiry the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee had made the following recommendations to Cabinet:-

“That alongside and in addition to the recommendations being considered by the Cabinet on 12 March 2024 concerning the Council’s membership of the North Essex Parking Partnership, the following options be authorised as part of the negotiations with Partnership and Essex County Council (ECC):

(1) The return of all on-street parking and management to the district by means of a service level agreement with ECC creating a situation where local parking enforcement would be tailored to meet local needs by this Council. This Council would operate the on-street service at nil cost with surpluses paid to ECC for local highway related schemes and any losses would be met by this Council; or

(2) For delegated authority to be given to this Council’s enforcement staff to enforce on-street parking within Tendring alongside officers from the NEPP. In this option, this Council would not seek any financial remuneration for this arrangement.”

Cabinet considered the following options in relation to this matter:-

1. Remain as we were and allow the partnership to operate as per the new Business Plan;

2. Serve notice on the NEPP before the end of the financial year; or

3. Submit a request to the Partner Authorities to vary the Partnership Agreement that the deadline for serving notice on the partnership was extended from the end of the financial year until such a time that the full end of year accounts were available and the restructure of the NEPP was completed.

Having duly considered the recommendations put forward by the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the available options:-

It was moved by Councillor Barry, seconded by Councillor M E Stephenson and:-