Brighton & Hove City Council
Policy & Resources Committee
4.00pm21 January 2021
Virtual
MINUTES
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Present: Councillor Mac Cafferty (Chair) Druitt (Joint Deputy Chair), Gibson (Joint Deputy Chair), Platts (Opposition Spokesperson), Bell (Group Spokesperson), Allcock, Clare, Miller, Yates and Appich
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Also present: Dr Anusree Biswas Sasidharan, Standing Invitee |
PART ONE
118
Procedural Business
(a) Declarations of Substitutes
118.1 Councillor Appich was present in substitution for Councillor Moonan.
(b) Declarations of Interest
118.2 Councillor Druitt declared an interest in Item 125 ‘Brighton & Hove Climate Assembly’ as he ran the Big Lemon bus company who were involved in sustainable transport, and some of the recommendations of the Assembly involved bus companies.
(c) Exclusion of Press and Public
118.3 The Committee considered whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of any of the items listed on the agenda.
118.4 RESOLVED: It was noted that there were no Part Two items on the agenda.
119 Minutes
119.1 RESOLVED: The minutes of the Policy & Resources Committee held on the 3rd December 2020, were approved as a correct record of the proceedings.
120 Chair's Communications
120.1 The Chair gave the following communication:
Can I remind everyone that this meeting is being webcast live and will be capable of repeated viewing. To assist with the management of the meeting I would ask that Members ensure their connection is working and that microphones and video links are turned off when you are not speaking. It is important that everyone can be heard, and you will therefore need to unmute your microphone and enable your video link when you are when you are speaking. Can I ask that Members wishing to speak in any of the debates should indicate their intention by registering their request through the instant messaging facility. You will simply need to type: may I speak or the word ‘hand’. I will then call you as appropriate. I would remind you that the instant messaging facility should only be used for this or to raise a point of order and please note it is visible to all those present in the session.
Before we start the meeting I think it is right that we again
reflect on the ongoing impact of the pandemic on all staff and our
services. Indeed we will receive a report today outlining just one
of the ways that we want to thank staff who at this time are
ensuring our council can continue its vital work during the health
crisis. More people now are using public services
more than ever.
This week I was asked how we in the city can support our local NHS.
The question came as Covid-19 admissions to our city’s
hospitals have risen since the end of the last lockdown. The new,
much more contagious strain of the virus has seen the number of
cases balloon locally. So in response to the query I am
clear– the best way we can support our NHS is to do
everything possible to keep infection rates low
and protect the most vulnerable.
Today’s agenda will also cover the response to the climate
assembly – another piece of work that has been the product of
the incredible input and effort from residents and also of members
of all parties who have helped to oversee, through the carbon
neutral members working group, the development and delivery of the
assembly despite the pandemic and
Its challenges.
We are extremely proud to share the feedback of the city’s
first climate assembly. This has been an independent project, that
has brought together a range of residents from all walks of life.
With a whole third of our city’s toxic emissions coming from
transport, residents have sent a clear message that we must take
action and support our city to make changes.
The conversation certainly doesn’t start and end here –
councillors will now look in more detail at the recommendations and
consider them as part of transport plans already underway. We
welcome the thoughts and views of all residents as all parties
continue to lead the council through these incredibly challenging
times. I hope that members have enjoyed reading the report and
picking up on the feedback of residents as they have worked to
share their suite of recommendations.
On that note members will be aware we have a petition on similar
subject matter coming to committee today. Given some of the
formalities of full council and that the numbers signing do trigger
that required for a debate I would like also to invite members to
comment on this should they so wish as part of the climate assembly
debate.
Finally, today’s meeting will also look at a key challenge
facing our council: the budget. We are able to present our draft
budget to members and have worked tirelessly in the past months to
act in the best interest of our city as we face down the pandemic
and focus on recovery. Our draft budget is a balanced budget
that also represents our priorities and of course we will be able
to debate and determine the outcome of the council’s
financial planning in February, when final decisions are
made.
We know too that the pandemic is hitting incomes hard and the most
vulnerable. Today’s committee will also cover our plans to
make council tax reduction even more generous, following on from
commitments the greens have made every year that such a change
would be vital for those on low incomes.
Once again thank you for your engagement on these issues and my wish that you stay sage in the weeks to come.
121 Call Over
121.1 The following items on the agenda were reserved for discussion:
Item 125 - Brighton & Hove Climate Assembly
Item 126 - Covid-19 Staff Recognition - Options
Item 127 - Update on Covid Winter Grant
Item 128 - Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2021/22
Item 131 - Draft General Fund Budget & Resource Update 2021/22
Item 134 - Review of Valley Gardens, Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan and Stanmer Park Restoration Project Task and Finish Member Working Groups
121.2 The following items on the agenda were agreed without discussion:
Item 129 - Council Tax Base 2021/22
Item 130 - Business Rates Retention Forecast 2021/22
Item 132 - Appointment of Deputy Electoral Registration Officers
Item 133 - Life Events Fees and Charges review for Registration Services 2021/2022
Item 135 - New England House
Item 136 - Procurement of the Corporate Cleaning Contract
Item 137 - Fleet Strategy 2020 - 2030
Item 138 - BHCC Accountable Body for Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership
Item 139 - Timetable of Meetings for 2021/2022
122 Public Involvement
(a) Petitions
122.1 A petition was presented on Addressing Children in Poverty in Brighton & Hove by Mr B DeOliveira. The petition was signed by 34 people.
122.2 The Chair gave the following response:
Thank you for your excellent petition Mr DeOliveria, which in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic raises a number of really important and timely issues for the city. Indeed, we have been working hard to do what we can at a local level to combat child poverty. This week we are asking ministers to address the failings of the business grants scheme for the estimated 3 million workers excluded from any kind of support because we know this will have made life for their children dreadful.
The pandemic has pushed the poorest households to the edge and thrown thousands of young people into unemployment. Yet this week Conservative government ministers refused to retain a £20 uplift to welfare benefit universal credit plunging half a million more people into poverty- including 200,000 children- and proving they still don’t understand how this virus is harming communities.
Child Poverty is sadly a growing national problem that requires a national response. It is a pitiful indictment of the inaction of the Conservative government in the world’s 5th richest economy. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation reports that 14.2m people are in poverty in the UK including 4.5m children.
It was announced on 15 January 2021 that a new wide-ranging inquiry from the Work and Pensions Committee is to examine what steps the Government could take to reduce the numbers of children who grow up in poverty in the UK. The initial focus of the Committee will be on the best way to measure child poverty and how the Department for Work and Pensions works with other Government departments and local authorities to reduce the number of children and young people living in poverty.
The council welcomes this inquiry given the issues in the city regarding housing provision and affordability; the effect of welfare reforms and the disproportionate impact of Covid 19 upon the most disadvantaged families.
Due to the pandemic, the council’s focus has clearly been on responding to the emergency and ensuring that it does everything possible to support people in need including securing substantial additional emergency accommodation to help the homeless and rough sleepers, implementing the additional £150 Council Tax Reduction discount using the government’s Hardship Fund, issuing thousands of food vouchers to people and families in need through the Winter Package, providing funding to support the work of food banks and the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership through the Emergency Assistance Scheme, and distributing over £150 million to businesses, through government grants and reliefs, to help sustain them and ultimately help them to retain jobs and employment in the City.
The council has also been focussing on moving forward through our Recovery & Renewal Programme where we want to analyse the information we have gathered throughout the pandemic and take the lessons learned into our planning for the future delivery of the council’s services and support, including its Welfare Support approach. We will therefore be bringing this together over coming weeks and months to inform our service planning as we approach the time when we will be able to talk about moving out of the pandemic but will also be keenly following the national research programmes.
122.3 RESOLVED: That the petition be noted.
(b) Written Questions
122.4 There were no written questions
(c) Deputations
122.5 There were no deputations.
123 Items Referred from Council
123.1 The Committee considered the petition ‘Brighton & Hove City Council Act on the Climate and Biodiversity Emergency Now!’ which had been signed by 1,445 people. The petition was submitted by Ms T Fairbanks.
123.2 The Chair noted that although it had been presented at Full Council in December 2020, he wanted to ensure that the Committee were able to listen to the grounds for the petition, and so exceptionally he invited Ms Fairbanks to present the petition.
123.3 The Chair gave the following response:
Your petition was considered and responded to fully by Cllr Heley at last full council I will add a few comments before we note the petition and move to the first item on the agenda which is reporting the brilliant work of the climate assembly which will support our ambition to become carbon neutral by 2030. As the co-chair of the Carbon neutral member working group, alongside Cllr Platts from the Labour group, I am ensuring that we deepen the work around the climate crisis and extend it to every team in the council and to every relationship the council has whether it be procurement or public health. There is too little time left to do anything else.
Your petition asks
for a biodiversity and climate action plan by April 2021. The
carbon neutral plan is due to be published in full by March. The
plan to transition the city to carbon neutrality by 2030 will
include work in Transport, Energy and water, waste, built
environment, food and agriculture, circular economy, carbon offset,
and adaptation. The plan also follows principles of the Green New
Deal, that focusses on social justice and future generations
alongside rapid decarbonisation.
One of the asks of the petition is to allocate £5m of the council’s budget to climate and biodiversity action. We are planning on allocating four times that at budget council in a few weeks- around £20 million.
But as we understand the absolute urgency of this work, I have made it clear to the top 100 managers of the organisation that this is one of the essential pieces of work for the city council. We are, in any case, doing lots of work already and progressing other projects to help us achieve carbon neutrality such as a local cycling and walking infrastructure plan, implement the £2.3 million pounds of government investment in active travel. Everything from installing solar panels on council buildings, through to reducing the risk of flooding in innovative ways, like rain gardens and supporting outdoor events to be sustainable as it’s vital we make progress now to drive down toxic carbon emissions.
We have just finished our first climate assembly, and this is the opening item on the agenda today. We had a huge response to this assembly, with more than 700 people in our city wanting to take part. Ipsos Mori who did this work with us, reported that there was only more interest in the assembly on Scottish independence.
The climate crisis is the biggest issue we face, which has become even clearer during the pandemic. The city council declare a climate and biodiversity emergency, which was agreed unanimously 2 years ago; despite the ravages of the pandemic, we are doing all that we can to make sure the council is doing all that it can to evert climate and ecological breakdown. Thank you for your petition and for your focus on this issue.
123.4 RESOLVED: That the petition be noted.
124 Member Involvement
124.1 There were no Petitions, Written Questions, Letters or Notices of Motion.
125 Brighton & Hove Climate Assembly
125.1 The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Economy, Environment & Culture which formally welcomed the final report on the Brighton and Hove Climate Assembly and the interim report of the Youth Climate Assembly, noted the findings, noted the initial city council response and requested that officers consider the findings in the development of the Carbon Neutral Plan, fifth Local Transport Plan and the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan.
125.2 Councillor Platts welcomed the report and was proud of what had already been achieved and that the Council had been able to deliver the Climate Assembly on-line. It was important to raise awareness of the relevant issues, and consideration should be given to how that could be done particularly for those who did not access to the internet such as information being available in libraries. She thanked all officers involved and members of the cross-party working group.
125.3 Councillor Gibson welcomed the report and that all parties were working together. He said that it was important to accept this was now an emergency and to respond accordingly. He said that there many active groups in the city and it was important to include them and harness their enthusiasm in work being undertaken to have a carbon neutral city by 2030. He noted the funding which would be available next year and suggested that the Council build up reserves for future expenditure.
125.4 Councillor Miller welcomed the report and noted that this country was the first to commit to being carbon neutral by 2050 and he wanted the City to be the greenest Council. He said that it was important to ensure the recommendations were pushed forward and to continue the consultation with the Climate Assembly.
125.5 Councillor Clare thanked the Youth Council for their involvement and said how important it was to consult with young people in the City and looked forward to receiving the final report from the Youth Climate Assembly.
125.6 Councillor Bell said he welcomed the report and the work being undertaken and that it was in the interest of everyone to work together and to start addressing the issues now.
125.7 Councillor Druitt said that there was a climate emergency, and this was opportunity to improve things, and it was important that if the report was agreed that the actions were implemented.
125.8 The Chair thanked everyone who was involved and for the huge amount of work which was being done and gave his commitment to look at the recommendations as part of the Council’s future plans.
125.9 Councillor Platts requested that the report be referred for information to the next meeting of Full Council.
125.10RESOLVED: That the Committee –
(i) Welcomed the final report of the Brighton & Hove Climate Assembly (Findings Report attached in Appendix 1) and the interim report of the Youth Climate Assembly (attached in Appendix 2);
(ii) Noted the findings of the Brighton & Hove Climate Assembly, including the Assembly’s 10 key recommendations that are set out on page 4 of the Climate Assembly report at Appendix 1, and notes the interim findings of the Youth Climate Assembly at Appendix 2;
(iii) Noted the initial response of the city council as set out in Appendix 3;
(iv) Requested that officers consider the findings of the Brighton & Hove Climate Assembly and the Youth Climate Assembly in the development of the 2030 Carbon Neutral Plan.
126 Covid-19 Staff Recognition Options
126.1 The Committee considered the report of the Assistant Director HR & OD which set out proposals on how the Council may recognise and reward the contribution of employees during the pandemic.
126.2 Councillors Bell and Druitt and Dr Sasidharan said that they fully supported the report and thanked staff for their work during the pandemic.
126.3 The Chair noted that there was an amendment from the Labour Group and asked Councillor Allcock to propose the amendment.
126.4 Councillor Allcock welcomed the report and the recommendations, but noted that public sector pay had been frozen and said that staff should be awarded for their work and therefore proposed the following additional recommendation:
2.4 That the Chief Executive writes to the Chancellor highlighting the significant contributions of Council staff in responding to the pandemic, and urging the public sector pay freeze be lifted, in favour of an improved pay award for Local Government staff.
126.5 Councillor Platts seconded the proposed amendment.
126.6 Councillor Clare said that the Green Group would be supporting the proposed amendment.
126.7 Councillor Miller noted that if there were a pay increase an additional £2m would need to be found at a time when many vulnerable residents relied on Council services, and financing that would mean that some services would need to be cut.
126.8 Councillor Platts said that staff were supporting residents and suggested that the Government increased the funding to Local Authorities to allow for a pay increase.
126.9 The Chair said that staff had been out working on the front line to support residents and thanked them for all they had done.
126.10 The Committee voted on the amendment and it was agreed.
126.11 RESOLVED: That the Committee –
(i) Agreed to an additional day’s leave being awarded to all directly employed staff, as set out in paragraphs 3.10 – 3.13, during the 21/22 annual leave year;
(ii) Noted that the council will introduce a new scheme to recognise those individuals and teams who have made a significant contribution to our Covid-19 response;
(iii) Noted that further work will be done to promote the benefits to wellbeing of taking time off;
(iv) Agreed that the Chief Executive writes to the Chancellor highlighting the significant contributions of Council staff in responding to the pandemic, and urging the public sector pay freeze be lifted, in favour of an improved pay award for Local Government staff.
127 Update on Covid Winter Grant Scheme
127.1 The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Families, Children & Learning which provided an update on the allocation of the Covid Winter Grant which was awarded to the council to provide support to residents with food and bills up to 31 March 2021.
127.2 Councillor Allcock thanked officers for their work in responding so quickly and arranging the distribution of the grants.
127.3 Councillor Miller noted that the distribution of £25 supermarket food
vouchers would cost in the region of £0.678m, and to date £0.400m had been committed, with £0.185m to be distributed in February which would leave a shortfall of £0.093m and asked if that was for December’s payments which hadn’t yet been paid out. He was advised that the total allocation was £0.865m and of that £0.678m had been used for the distribution of vouchers for the Christmas school holidays and the February half term of which only £0.400m had been spent, so there was still £0.185m for the February half term. Of the remaining £0.185m, £0.011m would be for Early Years, £0.084m for Schools and Colleges and that left £0.090m which was being split between groups for young people and small grants and there was £0.002m left which would be used for the administration of the grants.
127.4 Dr Sasidharan welcomed the report and the allocation of funds for support groups in the City but noted that refugee and asylum seekers were not amongst the provided groups. The Executive Director Families, Children & Learning said that the support groups were given direct funding as they were youth groups working with young people in the city and they would be providing food, with regard to refugee and asylum seeker groups they could make an application through the open grants process.
127.5 RESOLVED: That the Committee –
(i) Noted the remaining allocation of the Covid Winter Grant through a series of methods, including a grant application process for community and voluntary sector organisations direct awards to groups working with specific cohorts of children and young people and discretionary awards;
(ii) Noted the amount of grant funding already allocated in line with the recommendations from the committee held on 3 December 2020.
128 Council Tax Reduction Review
128.1 The Committee considered the report of the Acting Chief Finance Officer regarding the Council Tax Reduction (CTR) Scheme for 2021/2022.
128.2 Dr Sasidharan asked what other approaches the Council had to support low income families. The Acting Chief Finance Officer said that the Council provided funding of around £1m per year for a variety of advice agencies. The Revenues and Benefits department had suspended debt collection during the pandemic and, where appropriate, were signposting people to welfare rights advice groups as well as offering support through hardship funds. All services in the Council were aware of the difficulties some families faced both currently and in ‘normal’ times and the Council tried to ensure that there was a joined-up approach to supporting them.
128.3 Councillor Druitt said that he was pleased with the proposals put forward in the report, and that the new scheme was more financially generous and easier to apply for than it had been before.
128.4 Councillor Gibson said he agreed with the proposals in the report which would support the poorest people and noted that the consultation carried out was representative of residents in the city and the recommendations reflected the views of those people.
128.5 Councillor Miller said he supported the report and noted that it was good that the Council were in a position to be able to spend additional money on those who needed it most.
128.6 The Chair noted that there was an amendment from the Labour Group.
128.7 Councillors Gibson and Bell said that the Green and Conservative Groups would fully support the amendment and asked Councillor Yates if he would be agreeable to the amendment being a joint cross-party amendment. Councillor Yates said he was pleased that all parties would support the amendment but declined the offer and said he would prefer to continue as a Labour Group amendment.
128.8 Councillor Yates said that it was important to support the most vulnerable residents in the city and agreed with the recommendations in the report, but felt that it didn’t make financial sense to have a minimum award of 50p or 20p per week and that 1p per week would be the most appropriate. He therefore proposed the following amendment to Recommendation 2.2:
2.2 The minimum award of
Council Tax Reduction be reset to one of three options to be
recommended by the Policy & Resources Committee:
1) Option 1: reset the minimum
award to 50p per week;
2) Option 2: reset the minimum
award to 20p per week;
3) Option 3: reset the minimum
award to 1p per week.
128.9 Councillor Appich seconded the proposed amendment.
128.10 The Committee voted on the proposed amendment and it was agreed.
128.11RESOLVED:
That the Committeerecommends to Council that:
(i) The maximum rate of Council Tax Reduction discount be increased from 80% of Band D to 82% of Band D.
(ii) The minimum award of Council Tax Reduction be reset to 1p per week.
(iii) Funding of £0.200m be allocated for the Discretionary Council Tax Reduction fund.
(iv) The requirement for completing a Council Tax Reduction claim form be removed for Universal Credit recipients, in the circumstances described in paragraph 4.9 of the report.
(v) It is noted that the council’s appointed S151 Chief Financial Officer will, prior to 1 April 2021, exercise delegated powers to increase the appropriate calculative elements of the scheme to give effect to national changes.
(vi) It is noted that a more fundamental review of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme will be undertaken and consulted on for 2022/23, including the alignment of the scheme with a wider review of the council’s Welfare Support Framework.
129 Council Tax Base 2021/22
129.1 The item was agreed without discussion, but Councillor Bell asked for it to be noted that the Conservative Group would have abstained from voting on the recommendations.
129.2 RESOLVED: That the Committee
(i) Approved the calculation of the council’s Council Tax base for the year 2021/22 as set out at paragraphs 3.5 to 3.8 and Appendices 1 and 2, subject to council approval of the recommended changes to the CTR scheme and delegates authority to the Acting Chief Finance Officer to amend the tax base accordingly in the case of amendment to, or non-approval of, the CTR scheme recommendations;
(ii) Noted the collection rate for 2021/22 has been assessed at 98.30%;
(iii) Agreed that in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Tax Base) (England) Regulations 2012, the amounts calculated by Brighton & Hove City Council as its council tax base for the year 2021/22 shall be as follows:
1. Brighton and Hove in whole – 89,493.0 (as detailed in appendix 1)
2. Royal Crescent Enclosure Committee – 31.0 (as detailed in appendix 2)
3. Hanover Crescent Enclosure Committee – 39.5 (as detailed in appendix 2)
4. Marine Square Enclosure Committee – 70.7 (as detailed in appendix 2)
5. Parish of Rottingdean – 1,576.7 (as detailed in appendix 2)
(iv) Agreed that for the purposes of Section 35(1) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, the expenses of meeting the special levies issued to the council by the Enclosure Committees shall be its special expenses;
(v) Agreed that the Enclosure Committees and Rottingdean Parish are paid the required Council Tax Reduction Grant of c£4,000 in total, to ensure they are no better or no worse off as a result of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme for the reasons set out in paragraph 3.8.
130 Business Rates Retention Forecast 2021/22
130.1 The item was agreed without discussion, but Councillor Bell asked for it to be noted that the Conservative Group would have abstained from voting on the recommendations.
130.2 RESOLVED: That the Committee
(i) Noted that the amount forecast to be received by the council in 2021/22 from its share of local business rates and section 31 Local Government Act 2003 compensation grants is £67m, based on the latest data;
(ii) Delegated the agreement of the final business rates forecast and the NNDR1 2021/22 return to the Acting Chief Finance Officer following consultation with the Chair of this Committee for the reasons given in paragraph 1.2.
131 Draft General Fund Budget and Resource Update 2021/22
131.1 The Committee considered the report of the Acting Chief Finance Officer which provided an update on the General Fund resource position.
131.2 Councillor Yates noted that the report set out a number of sources of how to address the budget gap (Tables 2 and 3), and asked that as the budget gap was recurrent how many of the sources of funding were recurrent and how many were one-off sources of funding. The Acting Chief Finance Officer said that key one-off resources were the Covid grant of £8m and a rough sleeping initiative of £1m (not yet announced but expected to be £1m), and so there would be £9m of one-off sources, Councillor Yates therefore noted that the additional funding was being placed against recurrent budget pressures. The Acting Chief Finance Officer confirmed that was correct and said that without that funding the budget gap would be £19m rather than £10m.
131.3 Councillor Druitt thanked officers for their assistance in enabling the administration to propose a balanced budget. He said that the administration was fully aware of the financial situation and would not be proposing cuts of £19m to essential public services if ways could be found to bridge the budget gap. He said that all budget lines and possible savings had been carefully considered and had tried to minimise any possible job losses. It was possible that eleven posts would be lost, but any staff affected would be offered redeployment or voluntary redundancy. However, a number of positions would also be created and so the overall impact on staff numbers would be zero.
131.4 RESOLVED: That the Committee
(i) Noted the updated forecasts and latest resource information set out in the report;
(ii) Noted the draft budget savings proposals at Appendix 1 and accompanying Equality Impact Assessments at Appendix 2;
(iii) Noted that subsequent decisions, updated financial data and information from central government regarding the final Local Government Financial Settlement (LGFS) may impact further on the development of budget proposals for 2021/22.
132 Appointment of Deputy Electoral Registration Officers
132.1 RESOLVED: That the Committee
(i) Formally appoints the Monitoring Officer and the Electoral Services & Local Land Charges Manager for the time being to act as Deputy Electoral Registration Officers;
(ii) Delegates the power to the Electoral Registration Officer to appoint one or more Deputy Electoral Registration Officers and revoke or vary such appointments from time to time.
133 Life Events Fees and Charges review for Registration Services 2021-2022
133.1 RESOLVED: That the various fees and charges increases to non-statutory services by varying amounts above the annual inflationary uplift as set out in Appendix One to the report be approved. The proposals take account of the current pandemic conditions that the service is working in.
134 Review of Valley Gardens, Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan and Stanmer Park Restoration Project Task and Finish Member Working Groups
134.1 The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Economy, Environment and transport regarding the three Task & Finish Member Working Groups.
134.2 Councillor Appich said that member working groups were a great way of working together for the residents of the City and enabled those involved to gain a greater insight and understanding of the issues.
134.3 Councillor Clare said that whilst she understood the need to review the number and length of working groups, was concerned that due to the time limit of six months the status of the groups had to be constantly reviewed which caused unnecessary anguish and therefore hoped that the Constitution Review Working Group would look at the six-month rule.
134.4 RESOLVED: That the Committee
(i) Noted the achievements of the three Task & Finish Member Working Groups for Valley Gardens, the Local Walking & Cycling Infrastructure Plan and the Stanmer Park Restoration Project, as summarised in Appendix 1 of this report;
(ii) Agreed that the Valley Gardens, Local Walking & Cycling Infrastructure Plan and Stanmer Park Restoration Project Task & Finish Member Working Groups status, be made permanent;
(iii) Agreed the Terms of Reference for the Valley Gardens, Local Walking & Cycling Infrastructure Plan and Stanmer Park Restoration Project Member Working Groups as set out in Appendices 2, 3 and 4 of this report, and that the Constitution be amended accordingly.
135 New England House
135.1 RESOLVED: That the Committee
(i) Approved the preparation and submission of a planning application to provide for the refurbishment and extension of New England House;
(ii) Delegated authority to the Executive Director Economy, Environment & Culture to undertake any necessary procurements and seek financial opportunities to enable the project to move forward to the implementation stage.
136 Procurement of a Corporate Cleaning Contract
136.1 RESOLVED: That the Committee
(i) Approved the procurement and the award of contracts for a Corporate Cleaning Service for an initial term of 4 years commencing on the 1st May 2022 with an option to extend for a further 2 year period, by way of a restricted tender process based on dividing the estate into 3 separate geographical lots, where a maximum of one lot can be won by each tenderer, in order to encourage local SME cleaning contractors to participate;
(ii) Grants delegated authority to the Executive Director, Economy, Environment and Culture –
1. To carry out the procurement referred to in 2.1 above, including the award and letting of Corporate Cleaning Service Contracts.
2. To grant an extension to Corporate Cleaning Service Contracts referred to in 2.1 above, of two years subject to performance and the Executive Director, Economy, Environment and Culture considering it appropriate to do so.
137 Fleet Strategy 2020 -2030
137.1 RESOLVED: That the Committee
(i) Agreed to adopt the Fleet Strategy 2020-2030 (appx 1) and Action Plan (appx 2);
(ii) Agreed that the model of centralised purchasing through the Fleet Service using unsupported borrowing is preferred to leasing;
(iii) Approved £1 million additional capital investment funded from unsupported borrowing in 2021/22 to enable the decarbonisation of the council’s refuse vehicle fleet.
138 BHCC Accountable Body for Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Council
138.1 RESOLVED: That the Committee
(i) Agreed in principle that the City Council becomes the Accountable Body for Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership (C2C LEP) for the period April 2021- March 2024;
(ii) Delegated authority to the Chief Executive following consultation with the Council’s Chief Finance Officer, Monitoring Officer and Head of Legal Service to conclude final agreement with the C2C LEP;
(iii) Agreed that the Chief Executive implements the necessary staffing commitments to ensure that the Strategy Governance & Law and the Finance & Resources directorates are resourced to provide the service;
(iv) Agreed that an annual update is made available to the Committee.
139 Timetable of Meetings for 2021/2022
139.2 RESOLVED: That the proposed timetable of meetings for the 2021-2022 municipal year be agreed; subject to any necessary amendments following changes to the Constitution and/or Committees’ requirements.
140 Items Referred For Council
140.1 Councillor Platts requested that Item 125 Brighton & Hove Assembly be referred to the Council meeting for information.
140.2 RESOLVED: That Item 125 Brighton & Hove Assembly be referred to the Council meeting on the 28 January 2021 for information.
141 Part Two Proceedings
141.1 The Chair noted that there were no part two items and formally closed the meeting.
The meeting concluded at 7.00pm
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Signed
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Dated this |
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2021
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