Agenda item

This report presents the Place Directorate Plan to the Panel for initial consideration and feedback as part of the Council’s service planning and budget development process.

The Strategic Director for Place introduced this item to the Panel. She explained that a new Corporate Strategy was agreed by Cabinet at their meeting on 4th November 2015 and that it sets out the vision and the Council’s direction of travel over the next four years. She added that it is shaped by and will deliver the ‘Putting Residents First’ manifesto commitments.

She stated that during November, the draft Directorate Plans will be presented to the Policy Development and Scrutiny (PDS) Panels and that each Panel should only concentrate on the parts of the plan relevant to their own remit.

She said that a number of Budget Fair meetings have been scheduled during November in order to provide people with the opportunity to hear about the Council’s financial plans for the next four years. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and feed into the discussions on the budget proposals at the meetings.

She informed the Panel that in terms of workforce it is possible that there may be a small number of posts reductions as a result of the proposals put forward and there may also be requirements to amend working patterns. She added that there will be a shift in skills requirements towards a commercial skills focus in order to maximise income generating opportunities and there will be a refocus of skills usage to ensure most efficient and effective use of staff resources. 

She stated that initial Financial Planning work to look at the future scale of financial challenge for the Council originally estimated that the likely savings, or additional income required, would be around £38M for this 4-year period. The position has been reviewed in light of both local and national decisions and announcements resulting in a reduction in the estimated financial planning target to just over £30M.

Councillor Lisa O’Brien asked with regard to the delivery of 2,880 new homes by 2018/19 whether developers would be penalised if they had not built the properties they had gained permission for.

The Strategic Director for Place replied that this was not a major problem in the District, but unfortunately the Council does not have any powers to penalise developers.

Councillor Lisa O’Brien asked if different social housing providers could be encouraged to take part in the planned delivery of 720 affordable homes by March 2019.

The Strategic Director for Place replied that they do work with various providers, but it is the case that Curo is the largest provider in the area.

The Head of Housing replied that it is the choice of the developer who they work with and that the Council works with a number of providers through the Homes West Partnership. He added that he would welcome further competition to the market.

Councillor Colin Blackburn stated that he was concerned over some of the proposed cuts and asked how income would be generated.

The Strategic Director for Place replied that she had identified a number of key risks within the report and that one of them was a lack of capacity and recruitment difficulties within specific service areas and that this was primarily within engineering. She added that income would be generated by ddeveloping the Digital and WIFI network across B&NES to provide WIFI and improved connectivity across the district to generate additional incomes of £100,000 in 2016/17, potentially growing by a further estimated £1,000,000 by 2019/20.

She said that the Bath Quays development of office, retail and residential spaces has the objective of generating substantial future year incomes estimated at £1,200,000 by 2019/20.

Councillor Colin Blackburn asked if the Council had considered moving to fortnightly waste collections.

The Strategic Director for Place replied that the current contract ends in 2017 and that matters relating to sites and vehicles are currently under review and this forms the main component for the funding in 2016/17.

Councillor Barry Macrae asked if some of the dates within the report were accurate and suggested that they may need some revision. He asked how many Neighbourhood Plans would be completed by December 2015.

The Strategic Director for Place replied that three had been completed and acknowledged that there were more to do, she said that she would review this part of the report.

Councillor Barry Macrae asked how many jobs would be created on the Bath Quays North and South development.

The Divisional Director for Community Regeneration replied that the intention is to create 2,500 jobs across the site. He added that services across the directorate would look to be procured more efficiently and that another ‘market’ type event may be held at another time of the year.

Councillor Macrae asked if this would be of benefit to the community.

The Divisional Director for Community Regeneration replied that it is the initial intention to involve the residents more in the event.

The Chairman asked if local salaries were likely to increase.

The Divisional Director for Community Regeneration replied that they are not as high as we would like them to be.

Councillor Colin Blackburn asked how they would make the planned efficiencies within the directorate.

The Strategic Director for Place replied that they were pursuing extending the conversion of street lighting units to LEDs and introducing dimming technology to reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs. She said that this is expected to result in recurring annual savings of £83,000 in 2016/17 growing to £106,000 by 2017/18.

She added that they intended to bring housing support services currently outsourced for Disabled Facilities Grant in house to maximise use of existing skills and reduce commissioning costs and that this was expected to generate budget reductions of £25,000 from 2016/17.

Councillor Lisa O’Brien asked for a little further information regarding the decision to stop printing & posting applications for Parish Consultations.

Councillor Charles Gerrish, Cabinet Member for Finance & Efficiency replied that discussions have been held with the Parish Councils and that routine applications will be communicated electronically and that major ones will be distributed in hard copy.

The Chairman asked if an increase in income could be generated by increasing the fees within Homesearch.

The Head of Housing replied that there is currently a charge of £50 per letting applicable to the relevant Housing Association and that the Council was looking to increase that figure.

Councillor Fiona Darey asked how the pre application review service for Planning Services was working.

The Strategic Director for Place replied that it was working well currently and resulting in shorter reports.

Councillor Colin Blackburn commented that he would like to know of any changes to staff as a result of the plan.

Councillor Charles Gerrish asked for the Panel to contact him if they have further comments on the plan.