Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.  The Chair informed the meeting that Councillor Martin Veal had resigned from the post of Cabinet Member for Community Services due to personal reasons.

The Chair also welcomed the new Members of the Cabinet.

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 Bob Goodman has send 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.

The Chair agreed to take on one urgent item (Park and Ride East of Bath) at agenda item 12.

The Chair informed the meeting that he had agreed to take one urgent item (Park and Ride East of Bath) at agenda item 12.

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 were 28 questions from Councillors and 5 questions from members of the public.

[Copies of the questions and responses, including supplementary questions and responses if any, have been placed on the Minute book as Appendix  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.

David Redgewell read out the statement (attached as Appendix and available on the Minute Book at Democratic Services) where he highlighted transport issues in the West of England Combined Authority.

Dione Pemberton read out the statement (attached as Appendix and available on the Minute Book at Democratic Services) where she expressed her concerns against Modern Libraries options for Bath consultation.

Caroline and Kiki Ambrose read out their statements (attached as Appendix and available on the Minute Book at Democratic Services) where she expressed their concerns against Modern Libraries options for Bath consultation.

Gillian Kirk read out the statement (attached as Appendix and available on the Minute Book at Democratic Services) where she expressed her concerns against Modern Libraries options for Bath consultation.

Fiona Carne read out the statement (attached as Appendix and available on the Minute Book at Democratic Services) where she expressed her concerns against changes to rubbish collection.

Ben Palmer read out the statement (attached as Appendix and available on the Minute Book at Democratic Services) where he expressed his concerns against adoption of the HMO Policy.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 12^th April 2017 be confirmed as a correct record 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.

A list of Cabinet Single Member decisions taken and published since the last Cabinet meeting to note (no debate).

The Cabinet agreed to note the report.

At a Special Cabinet meeting on 25 January 2017, Cabinet considered an extensive report on the need for a Park & Ride (P&R) to the east of Bath and authorised the Strategic Director, Place, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport and Highways to make all necessary arrangements to implement a P&R at either site B or site F, subject to certain conditions.

This report outlines the work undertaken since January 2017.

RECOMMENDATION

The Cabinet is recommended to:

1.1  Cease progressing site B as a possible location for a Park & Ride site to the east of Bath for access safety reasons and because it has not been possible to negotiate the purchase of the land within a reasonable timescale; and to cease progressing site F because of potential access safety issues.

1.2  Continue to implement new opportunities emerging from the Joint Transport Plan for the West of England and new mayoral transport powers associated with the recently created West of England Combined Authority to address the transport issues facing Bath and North East Somerset to ensure that we sustain economic growth and support the provision of new homes.

1.3  To continue to investigate and implement approved schemes as identified  in paragraph 4.13 of this report.

Annie Kilvington read out the statement (attached as Appendix and available on the Minute Book at Democratic Services) where she welcomed the report though she expressed her concerns that the report had not highlighted objections from a number of organisations and individuals.

Christine Boyd read out the statement (attached as Appendix and available on the Minute Book at Democratic Services) where she welcomed the report though she expressed her concerns on the lack of survey and detail of where the traffic is going and why.

Andrew Mercer read out the statement (attached as Appendix and available on the Minute Book at Democratic Services) where he welcomed the report though he expressed his concerns that the views of the stakeholders were not taken on board and that project planning had failed. 

Nicolette Boater read out the statement (attached as Appendix and available on the Minute Book at Democratic Services).

Patrick Rotheram read out the statement (attached as Appendix and available on the Minute Book at Democratic Services) where he expressed Federation of Bath Residents' Associations concerns on the future of transport in Bath.

Councillor Andrew Furse said that, as per bullet point 2.5 of the report, there was no capital scheme attached to revenue revision and this money would need to be seen as revenue expenditure.  Councillor Andrew Furse expressed his concerns that the revenue would be attached to other balances which would put the Council in difficult situation.

Councillor Richard Samuel said that he was astonished to find out that there was no survey held on asking drivers why they come to the city.  Councillor Richard Samuel also said that for such expensive scheme there should be a survey on drivers’ behaviours and urged the Cabinet to conduct such survey before any further plans.

Councillor Alison Millar welcomed the decision though she also expressed her concerns that there was no relevant traffic survey.  Councillor Alison Millar also urged the Cabinet to enforce long term protection of that area so the residents would not get stressed out with another or similar proposal.

Councillor Geoff Ward said that he was delighted with the Cabinet decision not to go ahead with Park and Ride East of Bath.  Councillor Geoff Ward recognised that this was a difficult decision and congratulated the Cabinet on it, and asked the Cabinet to enforce a long term protection of that area and give Site F under control of Parish Council.

Councillor Neil Butters said that Liberal Democrat Group was delighted with the decision not to go ahead with Park and Ride East of Bath, though years of unnecessary work put into this scheme could have been avoided long time ago.  Councillor Neil Butters urged the Cabinet to listen next time what the majority of residents want.

Councillor Mark Shelford thanked everyone who addressed the Cabinet on this matter.  Councillor Mark Shelford also said that he would make sure that correct data would be used for transport in Bath scheme and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 108.

Bath Central Library is one of our 3 main Libraries and is part of our overall strategic review of the Modern Library Agenda in which we are seeking to integrate our Library and One Stop Shop (OSS) services.

Following an appraisal of the potential options, a review of local needs and public consultation on design, this report and the attached papers sets out the reasoning for the recommendation to consult on two options for integrating Bath Library and OSS services in one location.

Councillor Dine Romero started her statement by asking the Cabinet why had already dismissed three options out of five before local residents had their say on their preferences.  Councillor Dine Romero also said that the Cabinet had not explored other options to deliver £800k in savings and urged the Cabinet to pause the consultation and consider other options for the Podium library.

Councillor Richard Samuel said that two of the least desirable options had been highlighted.  Councillor Richard Samuel expressed his concerns about the consultation and felt that the Council would have to borrow the money in order to achieve some savings, and urged the Cabinet to end this scheme.

Councillor Joe Rayment said that political circumstances had changed nationally and urged the Leader of the Council to ask central government for a financial support for libraries.

Councillor Tim Warren said that the Council had made provision for a capital budget of £5.953m plus £0.773m identified balances (a total of £6.726m overall) in order to deliver the modern libraries programme with focus on the delivery of integrated Library and One Stop Shop services in Bath.  The proposed scope of works for each of the two options was described within the business case. The capital costs used in the analysis were derived using standard rates and calculations were only on the assumption that all integrated services would be delivered from each site. No design had been developed at this stage. This had been done in order to assess and confirm assumptions on indicative costs and timescale.  The design work would commence on the chosen option once the budget is approved later this year.

On a request from Councillor Tim Warren, Andrew Pate (Strategic Director Resources) explained that the Council was well protected under the lease, as explained in the Appendix 2 of the report. 

Councillor Tim Warren moved the recommendations as printed.

Councillor Paul Myers seconded the motion by welcoming the consultation scheme which would be of the community benefit. 

Councillor Charles Gerrish highlighted a success of the Keynsham Library which has integrated with One Stop Shop.  Councillor Charles Gerrish also said that savings set by Library Services were integral part of the budget.

Councillor Karen Warrington said that this Cabinet had been proactive in keeping libraries open whilst other Council had had to close their libraries, and also highlighted a success of Keynsham Libraries integration with One Stop Shop.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet agreed to:

2.1  Note and be cognisant of the Business Case and the appendices, in particular the consultation proposals at appendix F (1, 2 & 3).

2.2  Approve the proposed consultation approach as set out in Appendix F (1, 2 & 3) in order to determine the preferred option.

2.3  Receive a further report in October which will include consultation findings, a further Equalities Impact Assessment of the selected option to implement and a request to approve capital funding.

The report presents the revenue and capital outturn for 2016/17, highlighting a net revenue overspend of £2.221m after allowing for proposed carry forwards. The overspend has increased since the last report, which forecast an overspend of £1.039m based on monitoring for the year to December 2016, mainly due to the closure of four care homes during the year, which required supporting the move of existing residents to new placements at significant additional cost, as well as the continuing cost pressures within Children’s statutory services. The report highlights that the majority of the £12.6m of budgeted savings and additional income generation have been achieved during the year.

The report refers to requests to carry forward specific revenue budget items to 2017/18 and to write-off revenue overspends where recovery in future years would have an adverse impact on continuing service delivery. It is proposed that the overspend is funded by appropriate drawdowns from specific earmarked reserves held as contingency against in year spending pressures and includes use of the specific transitional grant funding provided by the government and set aside by the Council at the start of the financial year.

The report also refers to requests to re-phase specific capital budget items to 2017/18 and to remove net capital underspends.

Councillor Andrew Furse expressed his concerns that the revenue budget outturn overspend for 2016/17 was £2.221m and felt that the present performance was damaging the credibility of the Council.

Councillor Charles Gerrish said that this report had provided information about the Council’s financial performance against its revenue and capital budgets in 2016/17.  The report had identified that after allowing for carry forwards, the Council overspent by £2.221m, which to give some context, represents less than 1% of gross budgeted spend excluding schools. It was proposed that the overspend is funded by drawdowns from both the Revenue Budget Contingency (£1.155m) and the Adult Social Care Reserve (£1.066m). The 2016/17 revenue budget had included a requirement for the delivery of £12.644m of savings and additional income generation of which over 90% were achieved during the year.

The ongoing implications arising from the year end position would be considered as part of the 2017/18 budget monitoring process, including appropriate mitigating actions.

The capital spend in 2016/17 was £53.910m against a budget of £78.591m giving a variance of £24.681m, primarily reflecting the delivery time to complete projects moving into future financial periods. Of this variance, £23.932m was requested for carry forward to 2017/18 to cover re-phased costs of capital projects.

Councillor Charles Gerrish moved the recommendations as printed.

Councillor Paul May seconded the motion by thanking Councillor Charles Gerrish and the officers on the report.  Councillor Paul May also said that the Council was in difficult situation, with even more difficult task to achieve savings. 

The rest of the Cabinet Members highlighted financial pressures within their portfolios.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet agreed to:

2.1  The revenue budget outturn overspend of £2.221m for 2016/17 as set out in Appendix 2 is noted.

2.2  The revenue carry forward proposals and write-off requests listed in the tables in Appendix 4 are approved.

2.3  Transfers from Earmarked Reserves to fund the revenue overspend are agreed as set out in Appendix 1 paragraph 1.8.

2.4  The revenue virements for 2016/17 reported for information in Appendix 6(i) are noted.

2.5  The resulting reserves position shown in Appendix 1 paragraph 1.10 is noted and that unearmarked reserves remain at the target level of £13.5m (excluding Invest to Save drawdowns).

2.6  The provisional outturn of the 2016/17 capital programme in Appendix 7, and the funding as laid out in the table in Appendix 1 Paragraph 1.20, is noted.

2.7  The capital rephasing and write-off of net underspends as listed in Appendix 8 are approved. This reflects the outturn spend position on projects against final budgets as detailed in Appendix 9.

2.8  The adjustments to the 2016/17 to 2021/22 capital programme as recorded in Appendix 10, and the final capital programme for 2016/17 in Appendix 9 are noted.