Agenda and minutes

The Chair was taken by Councillor Charles Gerrish, Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out in the Notes

The Senior Democratic Services Officer drew attention to the evacuation procedure as set out in the Agenda.

Councillor Tim Warren, Leader of the Council, had sent his apologies for this meeting.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Questions submitted before the deadline will receive a reply from an appropriate Cabinet member or a promise to respond within 5 days of the meeting.  Councillors may ask one supplementary question for each question they submitted, up to a maximum of two per Councillor.

There was one question from a Councillor and one question from a member of the public.

[Copies of the questions and responses have been placed on the Minute book as Appendix 1 and are available on the Council's website.]

Councillors and members of the public may register their intention to make a statement if they notify the subject matter of their statement before the deadline.  Statements are limited to 3 minutes each.  The speaker may then be asked by Cabinet members to answer factual questions arising out of their statement.

Susan Charles read out a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 2 and on the Council's website] where she expressed her concerns that there was no warm water pool in the area. 

Nicolette Boater read out a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 3 and on the Council's website] expressing concerns about the way in which the Park & Ride East decision is being taken.

To be confirmed as correct records and signed by the Chair

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings held on Wednesday 4^th May 2016 and Wednesday 29^th June 2016 be confirmed as correct records and signed by the Chair.

This is a standard agenda item, to cover any reports originally placed on the Weekly list for single Member decision making, which have subsequently been the subject of a Cabinet Member requisition to the full Cabinet, under the Council’s procedural rules

This is a standing agenda item (Constitution rule 14, part 4D – Executive Procedure Rules) for matters referred by Policy Development and Scrutiny bodies.  The Chair of the relevant PDS Panel will have the right to attend and to introduce the Panel’s recommendations to Cabinet.

This report updates the Cabinet on the work being undertaken to identify a preferred location for a new P&R to the east of Bath and provides a response to the recommendations from the Scrutiny Inquiry day held on 22^nd March 2016.  The Cabinet are asked to agree with their response to the recommendations from the Communities Transport and Environment Policy Development & Scrutiny Panel’s Scrutiny Inquiry Day.  The next meeting of the Panel is on 25th July 2016.

Annie Harman read out a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 4 and on the Council's website].

Councillor Dine Romero made a statement by asking for rationale of the update report and requested some sort of clarification on Park and Ride timescales.  Councillor Romero also said that transport solutions were not considered as per initial plan and that the whole matter had been diluted into Park and Ride at one of the two sites.  Councillor Romero welcomed that a number of smaller sites on the Box Road had been considered.  Councillor Romero concluded her statement by asking for clarification on where further £400k would be spent on.

Councillor Anthony Clarke said that an update on Park and Ride east of Bath had been presented to the Cabinet on the work being undertaken to identify a preferred location for a new P&R to the east of Bath, together with a response to the recommendations from the Scrutiny Inquiry day held on 22nd March 2016.  Councillor Clarke thanked all contributors who made their statements at the meeting.  Councillor Clarke also thanked officers, Local Development Framework group and Communities Transport and Environment PDS Panel for their contribution on this matter.  The Cabinet would be making a decision on Park and Ride in near future.

Councillor Anthony Clarke moved that the Cabinet note the update on the work being undertaken to identify a preferred location for a new P&R to the east of Bath and agree with a response to the recommendations from the Scrutiny Inquiry Day held on 22nd March 2016.

Councillor Charles Gerrish seconded the motion.

Councillor Martin Veal said that he was pleased that the Cabinet had received an update and response to the recommendations from the Scrutiny Inquiry Day.  Councillor Veal felt that whole process had been engaging and reflective and that he supported recommendation to increase the use of the Lansdown P&R to use together with a smaller site or sites east of Bath to provide sufficient spaces for current and future need recognising the concerns of the population around the Meadows proposals.  Councillor Veal concluded by saying that the Cabinet was well aware of his concerns to the P&R east of Bath, and for those reasons he would not support the motion.

Councillor Liz Richardson said that a response to Scrutiny Inquiry Day recommendations was appropriate and fair and within the required timescale.

Voting:  7 in favour.  Councillor Martin Veal abstained from voting.

It was RESOLVED that the Cabinet noted the work currently being undertaken by officers to progress this important issue and agreed with the Cabinet’s response to the recommendations from the Communities Transport and Environment Policy Development & Scrutiny Panel’s Scrutiny Inquiry Day.  The next meeting of the Panel is on 25th July 2016 to which Councillor Anthony Clarke would present Cabinet’s response. 

This report lists Cabinet Single Member decisions taken and published since the last Cabinet meeting.

The Cabinet agreed to note the report.

The Council’s published Waste Strategy “Working Towards Zero Waste” (as amended 2014) details a   number of strategic aims (see section 5 of this report) along with a key action to   review its waste & recycling collection methodology to limit the volumes of waste collected by 2020. In addition, the Council faces the following challenges;

·  to mitigate against the financial pressures forecast in the waste & recycling collection services taking into account the loss of the DCLG grant of £450k pa from March 2017;

·  the end of the Initial Term of the Recycling Services Contract with Kier on 5th November 2017 ;

·  to reduce the amount of recyclable waste that is currently presented as non-recyclable waste (recent analysis shows that 58% of the contents of our black bag waste collection is still material that could be recycled using our current service);

In addition, the Council has a priority of ‘promoting cleaner, greener and healthier communities’, which is supported by a number of the proposals within this report, including:

- continuing a weekly waste collection service for the majority of household waste, including food and recyclables;

- increasing recycling rates and prioritising sustainability & environmental performance in accordance with our waste strategy;

- reducing street waste and preventing access to waste by gulls and other scavengers.

The national recycling league table for 14/15 ranked B&NES 80 out of 353 local authorities in England.  The majority of B&NES residents embrace recycling, and our performance has previously been at the forefront in the UK, however in recent years our recycling performance has plateaued.  This can be directly attributed to the fact that we have not evolved our collection services to incentivise further recycling by restricting the amount of non-recyclable waste collected.  Various collection options have been modelled by the Council to help improve performance, and recommendations are made as to the approach which most closely meets objectives.

Councillor Dine Romero made an ad-hoc statement by expressing her concerns on potential increase in Anti-Social Behaviour; on reduced hours of operation for recycling sites; on consultation; and that wheeled bins would not be suitable for some areas across the authority.  Councillor Romero suggested that the Communities Transport and Environment PDS Panel should be more involved and also that the Council should run a pilot scheme to test effectiveness of wheeled bins.

Councillor Martin Veal said that the Cabinet were asked to implement in 2017, following a period of public engagement, a new waste & recycling collection service using tried and tested methodology, which would prioritise a weekly recycling service and most closely would meet the Council’s objectives detailed within the Waste Strategy.  Councillor Veal also said that current methods of waste collection did not encourage residents to maximise recycling, and had contributed negatively to street cleansing issues.  In the current financial climate, with the ending of central government funding subsidising our collection service, the Council must assess alternative options to keep the service affordable, and to meet objectives to recycle as much waste as possible whilst reducing litter on our streets.

Councillor Martin Veal moved the recommendations.

Councillor Patrick Anketell-Jones seconded the motion and said that the Council would be working with much more emphasis towards recycling, aiming to recycle 80-90% of waste.  Councillor Anketell-Jones also emphasised the importance of public engagement.

Councillor Charles Gerrish welcomed the introduction of wheeled bins so that waste could be stored and presented safely for collection, whilst also being better protected from gulls and other scavengers to reduce problems with littering.  Councillor Gerrish also said that the Council would need to improve residents’ education on recycling food waste.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet decided:

1)  To implement in 2017, following a period of public engagement, a new waste & recycling collection service using tried and tested methodology, which prioritises a weekly recycling service and most closely meets the Council’s objectives detailed within the Waste Strategy.

2)  To ensure the retention of a weekly collection service, continuing to deliver one of the most comprehensive recycling services in the UK which includes the following items:

·  Food waste

·  Plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays

·  Glass

·  Paper and cardboard

·  Aluminium and steel cans

·  Aerosols

·  Foil

·  Tetrapaks

·  Textiles

·  Batteries

·  Small electrical and electronic items

·  Spectacles/mobile phones/used engine oil.

3)  To provide residents with additional recycling containers (lidded green boxes and lockable food waste containers) as required, to enable easy storage and collection of this material. To clearly mark the boxes so it is easy to understand what can be collected.

4)  To phase out the current blue bag for cardboard over time, and replace with a recycling box to help with storage and collection for residents.

5)  To continue with the opt-in fortnightly garden waste recycling service.

6)  To collect the small amount of non-recyclable waste that remains after all of these materials are recycled, every other week (detailed in section 6) in containers provided by the Council.

7)  To  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

The report presents the revenue and capital outturn for 2015/16, highlighting an underspend of £270,000. This represents a significant achievement in the context of the continuing government’s public sector deficit recovery plan which resulted in a revenue savings requirement of over £9.7 million for 2015/16.

The report refers to requests to carry forward specific revenue budget items to 2016/17 and to write-off revenue overspends where recovery in future years would have an adverse impact on continuing service delivery. The Council underspent by £270,000, after these carry forwards and transfers to reserves.

The report also refers to requests to re-phase specific capital budget items to 2016/17 and to remove net capital underspends.  The impact of this will be considered in the 2016/17 Capital Review.

Councillor Charles Gerrish said that this report had provided information about the Council’s financial performance against its revenue and capital budgets in 2015/16.  The report had identified that after carry forwards and transfers to reserves, the Council had underspent by £270,000. This had represented a significant achievement in the context of the continuing government’s public sector deficit recovery plan which had resulted in a revenue savings requirement of over £9.7 million for 2015/16. In addition to this, a further £1.695m of in-year rebasing was actioned removing the requirement to use reserves to balance the 2015/16 budget.  The capital spend in 2015/16 was £39.999m against a budget of £61.455m giving a variance of £21.456m, primarily reflecting the delivery time to complete projects moving into future financial periods. Of this variance, £20.296m was requested for carry forward to 2016/17 to cover re-phased costs of capital projects.

Councillor Charles Gerrish moved the recommendations.

Councillor Paul Myers seconded the motion by saying that this was a significant achievement and a testament to this administration’s financial prudence.  Councillor Myers paid tributes to Councillor Gerrish and officers for this report. 

RESOLVED (unanimously) the Cabinet agreed that:

1.  The revenue budget outturn underspend of £270,000 for 2015/16 is noted.

2.  The revenue carry forward proposals and write-off requests are approved.

3.  Transfers to Earmarked Reserves are agreed.

4.  The revenue virements for 2015/16 are approved.

5.  The resulting reserves position is noted and that unearmarked reserves remain at the target level of £10.5m (excluding Invest to Save drawdowns).

6.  The provisional outturn of the 2015/16 capital programme, and the funding as laid out in the report is noted.

7.  The capital rephasing and write-off of net underspends are approved.

8.  The adjustments to the 2015/16 to 2020/21 capital programme, and the final capital programme for 2015/16 are noted.

In February 2012 the Council adopted the 2011 edition of the CIPFA Treasury Management in the Public Services: Code of Practice, which requires the Council to approve a Treasury Management Strategy before the start of each financial year, review performance during the year, and approve an annual report after the end of each financial year.

This report gives details of performance against the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy and Annual Investment Plan for 2015/16.

Councillor Charles Gerrish said that this was a routine, though pre-Brexit report which sets satisfactory position of the Council.  Councillor Gerrish also said that officers would continue to monitor interest rates and act appropriate to the management of short and long term borrowings.

Councillor Charles Gerrish moved the recommendations.

Councillor Vic Pritchard seconded the motion by paying tributes to Councillor Gerrish and to officers for this report.

RESOLVED (unanimously) the Cabinet agreed that:

1.  The 2015/16 Treasury Management Report to 31st March 2016, prepared in accordance with the CIPFA Treasury Code of Practice, is noted.

2.  The 2015/16 Treasury Management Indicators are noted.

The development of Regional Adoption Agency proposals is part of the national regionalising adoption agenda as set out in ‘Regionalising Adoption’ (July 2015), and further developed in ‘Adoption; A Vision for Change’ (March 2016). Proposals are also informed by the Education and Adoption Act 2016. 

This proposal involves formal collaboration with a number of local authorities to establish a Regional Adoption Agency in line with Government requirements.  The local authorities involved are:

Bath and North East Somerset Council

City of Bristol Council

Gloucestershire County Council

North Somerset Council

South Gloucestershire Council

Wiltshire Council

Councillor Charles Gerrish informed the meeting that this report may be discussed in exempt session, and the public may be asked to leave the room during duration for this item only if the Cabinet debate is likely to disclose information contained within confidential section of the report.

Councillor Michael Evans said that improvement of adoption services was a priority of central Government and part of the manifesto from the current administration. This proposal would involve formal collaboration with six local authorities to establish a Regional Adoption Agency in line with Government requirements.  This proposal would meet the requirements placed upon the Council to develop a new form of service to deliver our statutory adoption functions.  The preferred model would secure best outcomes for children, prospective adoptive families and it would enable the Council to ensure that its excellent record and reputation in relation to adoption is secured into the future.

Councillor Michael Evans moved the recommendations.

Councillor Liz Richardson seconded the motion by saying that adoption was one of the best forms of permanent care for children who cannot remain with their birth family.  Nationally, the Government have placed a priority on improving local authority adoption performance with a view to securing more adoptions and speeding up the process.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet:

1.  Agreed the outlined proposal for the development of a Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) in the form of a Local Authority Controlled Company.

2.  Agreed public and stakeholder engagement and consultation to secure this development.

3.  Agreed to receive a further report on a final proposal in Autumn 2016.