Agenda, decisions and minutes

Decision: The minutes of the meeting of the Executive Cabinet held on 22 January 2015 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Executive Leader.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda.

If you have a pecuniary interest you must withdraw from the meeting. Normally you should leave the room before the business starts to be discussed. You do, however, have the same right to speak as a member of the public and may remain in the room to enable you to exercise that right and then leave immediately. In either case you must not seek to improperly influence a decision on the matter.

There were no declarations of any interests.

Members of the public who have requested the opportunity to ask a question(s) on an item(s) on the agenda will have three minutes to put their question(s) to the respective Executive Member(s).  Each member of the public will be allowed to ask one short supplementary question. 

The Executive Leader reported that there had been no requests from members of the public to speak on any of the meeting’s agenda items.

To receive the report of the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group and accept it for consideration, with a view to the Executive Cabinet’s recommended response to the recommendations being reported to a future meeting.

The report of the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group was received and accepted for consideration, with a view to the Executive Cabinet’s recommended response to the recommendations being reported to a future meeting.

The report of the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group was presented by the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor Walker commended the report and requested that the Executive Cabinet accept and approve the recommendations. 

Councillor June Molyneaux had chaired the Task Group and explained that the Scrutiny inquiry into Neighbourhood Working had been chosen as the current arrangements had been in place since a review of the neighbourhood working model in 2012.  Up until this time, neighbourhood working had been seen as a stand-alone service or at best an extension of community development. 

In line with the agreed definition “working with our partners to improve the quality of life, health and wellbeing of all our citizens and to improve the environment of the neighbourhoods in which they live”, neighbourhood working had started to transcend all Council delivery and integrate with Council and partners services and Members were tasked with providing the evidence that this was starting to take place. 

Members highlighted that recommendation 10, in relation to local neighbourhood forums, was aimed to follow the South Ribble model, rather than the Chorley model which had been used several years ago. 

Decision: The report of the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group was received and accepted for consideration, with a view to the Executive Cabinet’s recommended response to the recommendations being reported to a future meeting.

Report of the Customer and Advice Services.

1.         Approval granted to consultation on the DRR policy by other precept authorities and wider community.

2.         Approval granted to the adoption of the policy under delegated powers (EMD) by the Executive Member for Resources, following a successful consultation outcome.

3.         Approval granted for further changes of the Policy to be made by the Executive Member for Resources under delegated powers (EMD) where changes were cost neutral.

4.         Approval granted to delegate authority to the Council’s Section 151 Officer to continue approving the granting of relief.

5.         To include within the consultation response a suggestion that a level be set up to which the Section 151 Officer could grant relief. 

The report of the Director of Customer and Advice Services was presented by the Executive Leader and Executive Member (Economic Development and Partnerships).  The report sought approval for the National Non-Domestic Rate (Business Rates) Discretionary Rate Relief (DRR) policy.

The Council had a number of policies relating to the granting of discretionary rate relief.  These had been introduced over a number of years and in response to changing legislation and new initiatives.  This policy brought together the existing policies and also includes some new ones required as a result of recent government guidance.  Primarily the rationale and use of the policy would be to develop business rather than hardship relief.

Members discussed the delegation to the Council’s Section 151 Officer to continue approving the granting of relief and expressed a wish to set a limit up to which could be delegated.

Decision:

1.         Approval granted to consultation on the DRR policy by other precept authorities and wider community.

2.         Approval granted to the adoption of the policy under delegated powers (EMD) by the Executive Member for Resources, following a successful consultation outcome.

3.         Approval granted for further changes of the Policy to be made by the Executive Member for Resources under delegated powers (EMD) where changes were cost neutral.

4.         Approval granted to delegate authority to the Council’s Section 151 Officer to continue approving the granting of relief.

5.         To include within the consultation response a suggestion that a level be set up to which the Section 151 Officer could grant relief. 

Reasons for recommendation(s)

1.         The policy consolidates and brings up-to-date existing discretionary rate relief policies.

2.         The policy is in line with the most recent government legislation and guidance.

3.         The policy provides a consistent and transparent approach to the consideration of discretionary rate relief applications.

Alternative option(s) considered and rejected

None.

Report of the Chief Executive.

The report was noted.

The report of the Chief Executive was presented by the Executive Leader and Executive Member (Economic Development and Partnerships).  The report set out performance against the Corporate Strategy, and key performance indicators for the third quarter of 2014/15. 

Overall performance of key projects was excellent, with the majority of projects either complete or on track.  One project; Market Walk had been rated amber due to slight delays in bringing the operational and financial management of the mall in house however work was underway to bring this project back on track.

Overall performance on the Corporate Strategy indicators and key service delivery measures was excellent.  71% of the Corporate Strategy indicators and 90% of the key service measures were performing above target or within the 5% tolerance.

The Corporate Strategy measures performing below target were; the number of long term empty properties in the borough, and the percentage of customers dissatisfied with the way they were treated by the council.  Action plans had been developed to outline what action would be taken to improve performance.

The key service delivery measure performing below target was; the time taken to process all new claims and change events for Housing and Council Tax benefit.  Again, an action plan was included within the report which outlined what actions were being taken to improve performance.

Additional information relating to trends would be included in future reports. 

Decision: The report was noted.

Reasons for recommendation(s)

To facilitate the on-going analysis and management of the Council’s performance in delivering the Corporate Strategy.

Alternative option(s) considered and rejected

None.

Report of the Director of Public Protection, Streeetscene and Community.

Approval granted for the appointment of Canvas Spaces Ltd. to deliver Ranglett’s Recreation Ground (Phase 3) Skate Park.

The report of the Director of Public Protection, Streetscene and Community was presented by the Executive Leader and Executive Member (Economic Development and Partnerships). 

The purpose of the report was to appoint Canvas Spaces Ltd to deliver Ranglett’s Recreation Ground Skate Park (Phase 3) under a fixed price design and build contract.  The procurement approach and evaluation criteria for this project had been approved by Executive Member Decision in October 2014.

Following the tender evaluation process the top two designs (Canvas and Freestyle) were shortlisted.  Due to the close scoring of these two highest scoring tenderers, the designers were invited to present their designs to the ‘Design Team’ of local stakeholders on 31 January at Eaves Green Community Centre and a vote was then taken.  Provision for this vote in the event of very close scoring tenders was made within the Invitation to Tender Document.  All three members of the design team panel voted in favour of the Canvas Spaces Ltd. design.

Members noted that local skateboarders and BMX riders had expressed a wish for a facility similar to the one at Euxton. 

Decision: Approval granted for the appointment of Canvas Spaces Ltd. to deliver Ranglett’s Recreation Ground (Phase 3) Skate Park.

Reasons for recommendation(s)

The tenders were evaluated in accordance with the evaluation criteria approved in October 2014 and the provisions of the Invitation to Tender Document.  The Canvas Spaces Ltd. design was the highest scoring tender return and was also voted the favourite by all the stakeholders following the designer presentations.

Alternative option(s) considered and rejected

None.  The evaluation criteria approved in October 2014 and the provisions of the Invitation to Tender have been followed.

Report of Director Public Protection, Streetscene and Community. 

Approval granted to the Council being a signatory to the Local Government Declaration on Tobacco Control. 

The report of the Director of Public Protection, Streetscene and Community was presented by the Executive Member (Community Services). 

Since the successful introduction of ‘smokefree’ legislation in 2007, there had been a significant impact on the prevalence of tobacco use both regionally and nationally.  However the cost, both in direct health impact and economics, remained high and more needed to be achieved to ensure the promotion, distribution and use of tobacco products were discouraged.  This was seen as essential in order that existing tobacco users were encouraged to stop using tobacco products and new users were discouraged from starting.

The declaration was appended to the report. 

Decision: Approval granted to the Council being a signatory to the Local Government Declaration on Tobacco Control. 

Reasons for recommendation(s)

To contribute to and enhance our reputation as a community leader.

Alternative option(s) considered and rejected

Not signing the Local Government Declaration presents reputational risks for the Council insofar as our community leadership role is concerned.