Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Panel meeting held on 25 September 2014 (enclosed)

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Panel meeting held on 25 September 2014 be confirmed as a correct record for signing by the Chair.

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.

Report of the Chief Executive (enclosed)

Members considered a report of the Chief Executive that set out performance against the Council’s Corporate Strategy and key performance indicators for the second quarter of 2014/15, 1 July to 30 September 2014.

Overall performance of key projects was excellent, with the majority either completed or on track. Only two projects, deliver the Chorley Youth Zone and the Friday Street Health Centre were rated amber due to issues relating to timescales in delivering the initial actions, however work was underway to bring these projects back on track. Both of these projects would be contained within the Corporate Strategy for 2015/16.

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

Two indicators, the number of long term empty properties in the borough and percentage of customers dissatisfied with the way were treated by the Council were currently below target, however, work had been undertaken to address these figures and improvements were starting to be made.

The Home Office has introduced a new classification for the recording of crimes which is based on a positive outcomes framework. This has resulted in changes to the way Domestic Violence is measured with positive outcomes now being recorded rather than the number of detections. This has meant that the Council is no longer able to report on one of its key performance indicators within the corporate strategy; the percentage of domestic violence detections, target 70% and Members were informed that alternative measures for obtaining this indicator were currently being explored.

There was one indicator that was performing below target, the time taken to process new claims and change events for Housing and Council Tax benefit was currently performing at 10.5 days against a target of 12.5 day. The service was still impacted by the high work volumes which occurred during the first quarter and overtime had been and still continued to be offered to help manage the workload. Performance has been further impacted on due to the ongoing implementation of the single front office transformation programme approved by Members in January this year. Members were informed that the programme of staff training and mentoring in this area was a two year programme, and to assist in keeping reductions in performance to a minimum while the training was being delivered, the Council were temporarily using the Capacity Grid to process some housing benefit work.

Members were also informed that there had been a change to the way the processing of planning applications is now calculated, to align with the planning performance submitted through government returns to the DCLG and also to reflect the actual performance of the service in determining applications within agreed timescales.  Performance would be reported under two measures from quarter 3 onwards, the number of applications where extensions had been agreed and the percentage of extended applications determined in the agreed time and it was expected that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.OSP.64

To consider the exclusion of the press and public for the following items of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

By Virtue of Paragraph 3: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

Condition:

Information is not exempt if it is required to be registered under-

The Companies Act 1985

The Friendly Societies Act 1974

The Friendly Societies Act 1992

The Industrial and Provident Societies Acts 1965 to 1978

The Building Societies Act 1986 (recorded in the public file of any building society, within the meaning of the Act)

The Charities Act 1993

Information is exempt to the extent that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Information is not exempt if it relates to proposed development for which the local planning authority may grant itself planning permission pursuant to Regulation 3 of the Town & Country Planning General Regulations 1992(a).

RESOLVED - To exclude the press and public for the following item of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

Report of the Chief Executive (enclosed)

The Panel received a report of the Chief Executive that provided contextual information and proposed initial questions to initiate discussions regarding the performance of the Corporate Strategy project, Market Walk.

The Executive Member for Resources, Councillor Peter Wilson and Head of Governance, Chris Moister attended the meeting to answer questions of the Panel about the information contained within the report.

The Market Walk shopping centre had been purchased by the Council on 29 November 2013 as the purchase supported the council’s priorities in developing a vibrant town centre. The purchase enabled the Council to have greater control and influence over the future development of the town centre and would improve opportunities to implement Economic Development Strategies and the Town Centre Masterplan over the long term. In addition the purchase supported the council’s medium term financial strategy by providing additional income stream which could the Council could use to further invest in the Town Centre.

The centre has 35 units with a good spread or tenants and the centre is not solely reliant on an anchor tenant. Vacancy rates are similar to the rest of the town centre in that they are low and at the time of purchase only four retail units were empty. The average footfall is 460,000 a month and is the highest concentration of footfall across the town centre.

Following the purchase the Council had entered into a 12 month agreement with Deloitte regarding the management of the site that consisted of the following arrangements:

·         The day to day management of the centre, financial management, managing a database of tenant lease terms and working with letting agents to fill voids and providing regular maintenance reports on the performance of the centre in terms of footfall and rental income.

·         Contract management arrangements which include regular meetings between the Council and Deloitte as well as monthly management reports.

·         The development of a lettings strategy, which the Council plans to develop into a more comprehensive document

·         The day to day operational works, including general maintenance and minor repair work and developing relationships with existing tenants

Following a review of the arrangements after the first 12 months, the Executive Cabinet agreed proposals to bring the operational and financial management of Market Walk in house at the end of the contract in 2015.

In addition, work has been undertaken to look at the feasibility of a range of options for extending market walk. This work is being considered by the Market Walk Steering Group who has selected one of the six available options as a preferred option and as a basis for further detailed design and consultation work. Consultation had been undertaken with the residents of Chorley and the Panel were informed of the feedback received.

The Panel asked if the Council were happy with the amount that they had paid for the shopping centre and if they were confident that they would be able to make the repayments in addition to achieving a reasonable income.

Councillor Wilson reported that it is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.OSP.66