Agenda, decisions and minutes
Venue: Council Chamber, District Offices, College Heath Road, Mildenhall, Suffolk, IP28 7EY
Contact: Sharon Turner: Democratic Services Officer
Email: sharon.turner@westsuffolk.gov.uk
Items
No. |
Item |
8. |
Apologies for Absence
Minutes:
No apologies for absence were received.
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9. |
Minutes PDF 105 KB
To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on
28 May 2019 (copy attached).
Minutes:
The minutes of the meeting held on 28 May 2019
were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
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10. |
Open Forum
At each Cabinet meeting, up to 15 minutes
shall be allocated for questions from and discussion with,
non-Cabinet members. Members wishing to
speak during this session should if possible, give notice in
advance. Who speaks and for how long
will be at the complete discretion of the person presiding.
Minutes:
No non-Cabinet Members wished to speak under
this item.
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11. |
Public Participation
Members of the public who live or work in the
District are invited to put one question or statement of not more
than three minutes duration relating to items to be discussed in
Part 1 of the agenda only. If a question is asked and answered
within three minutes, the person who asked the question may ask a
supplementary question that arises from the reply.
A person who wishes to speak must register at
least 15 minutes before the time the meeting is scheduled to
start.
There is an overall time limit of 15 minutes
for public speaking, which may be extended at the Chairman’s
discretion.
Minutes:
There were no members of the public in
attendance on this occasion.
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12. |
Report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee: 13 June 2019 PDF 140 KB
Report No:
CAB/WS/19/004
Chairman of the Committee: Cllr
David Nettleton
Lead Officer: Christine
Brain
Minutes:
(Report No:
CAB/WS/19/004)
The Cabinet received and noted this report,
which informed Members of the following substantive items discussed
by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at their meeting on 13 June
2019:
(1)
Community Safety Monitoring Report.
(2)
Draft West Suffolk Annual Report (2018-2019).
(3)
Decisions Plan (1 June 2019 to 31 May 2020).
(4)
Appointments to the Suffolk County Council Health Scrutiny
Committee (2019-2020).
(5)
Developing an Effective Scrutiny Work Programme.
Councillor David Nettleton, Chair of the
Overview and Scrutiny Committee, drew relevant issues to the
attention of the Cabinet and confirmed the intention of the
Overview and Scrutiny Committee to undertake a review of car
parking strategy across the District.
Councillor Nettleton specifically referred to
Item (4) where the Committee had made recommendations for the West
Suffolk Council representatives to the Suffolk County Council
Health Scrutiny Committee, for confirmation by Council on 16 July
2019, as follows:
Councillor Margaret Marks (Full Member)
Councillor Paul Hopfensperger (Substitute Member)
Councillor Nettleton informed the Cabinet
that following the meeting, Councillor
Paul Hopfensperger had sent an e-mail to the other members of the
Health Scrutiny Committee and Suffolk County Council Officers
expressing his disappointment that he had not been nominated as the
full Member representative to the Health Scrutiny Committee.
Given the content of this e-mail, Councillor
Nettleton informed the Cabinet of his intention, at the Council
meeting on 16 July 2019, to propose an amendment to the
recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The Cabinet acknowledged the
situation. Technical questions were
asked relating to the procedure for proposing amendments at Council
and the Monitoring Officer agreed to respond to any questions
outside of the Cabinet meeting.
(Councillor Jo
Rayner left the meeting at 6.35 pm, during the discussion on this
item)
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13. |
Report of the Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee: 30 May 2019 PDF 150 KB
Report No:
CAB/WS/19/005
Portfolio Holder: Cllr Sarah
Broughton
Chairman of the Committee: Cllr
Ian Houlder
Lead Officer: Christine
Brain
Minutes:
(Report No:
CAB/WS/19/005)
The Cabinet received and noted this report,
which informed Members of the following substantive items discussed
by the Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee at their meeting
held on 31 May 2019:
(1)
2018-2019 Performance Report – Year End Outturn.
(2)
West Suffolk Strategic Risk Register Quarterly Monitoring Report
– March 2019.
(3)
Internal Audit Report (2018-2019).
(4)
Internal Audit Charter.
(5)
Internal Audit Plan (2019-2020).
(6)
Ernst and Young – 2019-2020 Indicative Fees.
(7)
Work Programme Update.
(8)
Appointments to the Financial Resilience Sub-Committee and the
Health and Safety Sub-Committee.
Councillor Ian Houlder, Chair of the
Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee, drew relevant issues to
the attention of the Cabinet.
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14. |
Proposal to Establish a West Suffolk Rural Taskforce PDF 169 KB
Report No: CAB/WS/19/006
Portfolio Holder: Cllr John
Griffiths
Lead Officer: David Collinson
Decision:
RESOLVED:
That:-
1.
A Cabinet Taskforce be established to make recommendations on West
Suffolk Council’s approach to supporting rural areas.
2.
The Terms of Reference for the Taskforce be approved, as set out in
Appendix A to Report No: CAB/WS/19/006.
Minutes:
(Report No:
CAB/WS/19/006)
The Cabinet received this report which
proposed that a Rural Taskforce be established to review the
qualitative and quantitative evidence base relating to rural areas
and to identify the key issues, assets and challenges.
This review would encompass all of West
Suffolk’s areas, in order to understand the issues and
opportunities that all rural or all urban areas have in common, as
well as those facing specific localities. The review would draw on existing evidence and
research produced by other bodies. In
response to this evidence review, the Taskforce would develop
options both to directly address some of the issues identified and
also to ensure rural considerations were taken into account in
future Council processes and decision making.
The proposed outputs from the Taskforce were
expected to be interim recommendations to Cabinet in September 2019
for how taking forward the lead options identified for addressing
rural considerations in the Council’s ways of
working. The Taskforce would then make
a final report to Cabinet in November 2019.
The proposed Terms of Reference for the West
Suffolk Rural Taskforce were attached at Appendix A to the
report.
Councillor John Griffiths, Leader of the
Council, explained that the Terms of Reference stated that he would
appoint the Chair and the Taskforce Members. Councillor Griffiths indicated that he would wish
to nominate Councillor Mike Chester as the Chair of the
Taskforce.
RESOLVED:
That:-
1.
A Cabinet Taskforce be established to make recommendations on West
Suffolk Council’s approach to supporting rural areas.
2.
The Terms of Reference for the Taskforce be approved, as set out in
Appendix A to Report No: CAB/WS/19/006.
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15. |
Review of West Suffolk Council Grants to External Organisations PDF 171 KB
Report No: CAB/WS/19/007
Portfolio Holder: Cllr Robert
Everitt
Lead Officer: Davina Howes
Additional documents:
Decision:
RESOLVED:
That:-
1.
A Cabinet Taskforce be established to carry out a review of West
Suffolk Council’s Grants to External Organisations.
2.
The Terms of Reference for the Taskforce be approved, as set out in
Report No: CAB/WS/19/007.
Minutes:
(Report No:
CAB/WS/19/007)
The Cabinet received this report which
proposed the establishment of a Group to carry out a review of West
Suffolk Council’s Grants to External Organisations.
The aim of the review was to ensure that
locality budgets, grants and reliefs made from 1 April 2020 were
aligned to the Council’s strategic objectives and offer value
for money.
The proposed review would only cover grant and
relief schemes which were entirely discretionary or funded by West
Suffolk Council and where the Council was not under a duty to have
a scheme or operate the scheme in a certain way. Therefore, the review would cover the following
existing schemes:
-
Families and Communities grants
-
Leisure and Culture grants
-
Economic development grants
-
Environment/sustainability grants
In order for the Council’s approach to
locality budgets, grants and reliefs to be shaped, the Cabinet
would be informed of initial findings and feedback in September
2019. Final recommendations would be
made to Cabinet in November 2019 in order to ensure that
stakeholder and Member feedback could be fully taking into
account.
The proposed Terms of Reference for the Group
were attached as Appendix 1 to the report.
RESOLVED:
That:-
1.
A Cabinet Taskforce be established to carry out a review of West
Suffolk Council’s Grants to External Organisations.
2.
The Terms of Reference for the Taskforce be approved, as set out in
Report No: CAB/WS/19/007.
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16. |
Decisions Plan: 1 June 2019 to 31 May 2020 PDF 130 KB
To consider the most recently published
version of the Cabinet’s Decisions Plan
Report No:
CAB/WS/19/008
Portfolio Holder: Cllr John
Griffiths
Lead Officer: Ian Gallin
Minutes:
(Report No:
CAB/WS/19/008)
The Cabinet considered this report which was
the Cabinet Decisions Plan covering the period 1 June 2019 to 31
May 2020.
Members took the opportunity to review the
intended forthcoming decisions of the Cabinet. However, no further information or amendments were
requested on this occasion.
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17. |
Exclusion of Press and Public
To consider whether the press and public
should be excluded during the consideration of the following items
because it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be
transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the
public were present during the items, there would be disclosure to
them of exempt categories of information as prescribed in Part 1 of
Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, and indicated
against each item and, in all circumstances of the case, the public
interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest
in disclosing the information.
Minutes:
As Report No: CAB/WS/19/009
needed to be considered by the Cabinet in private session, it was
proposed, seconded and
RESOLVED:
That
the press and public be excluded during the consideration of the
following items because it is likely, in view of the nature of the
business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if
members of the public were present during the items, there would be
disclosure to them of exempt categories of information as
prescribed in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act
1972, and indicated against each item and, in all circumstances of
the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption
outweighs the public interest in disclosing the
information.
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18. |
Exempt: Investing in our Commercial Asset Portfolio (para 3) PDF 222 KB
Exempt Report No: CAB/WS/19/009
(TO FOLLOW)
Portfolio Holder: Cllr Susan
Glossop
Lead Officers: Julie Baird and
Colin Wright
Additional documents:
Decision:
RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL: (16 July 2019)
The recommendations were approved as set out
in Exempt Report No: CAB/WS/19/009.
Minutes:
(Report No:
CAB/WS/19/009) (para 3)
The Cabinet received this report which advised
of the opportunity to acquire a commercial property
investment. It was considered that the commercial element of
the property would complement the Council’s existing
commercial property portfolio. The
overall investment would also be in line with the Council’s
principles of its Investing in Growth Strategy.
RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL: (16 July 2019)
The
recommendations, as set out in Exempt Report No: CAB/WS/19/009,
were approved.
(This decision and
associated papers will be available in the public domain in due
course)
The exemption
relating to this item was removed on 30 March 2020, and therefore
the following resolution is now published. This is not however,
contained in the signed minutes for this meeting:
RECOMMENDED TO
COUNCIL: (16 July 2019)
Subject to approval of
Council:
(1)
Subject to satisfactory negotiation, due diligence,
contract and surveys, delegated authority be given to the Assistant
Director for Growth, in consultation with the Portfolio Holders for
Growth and Resources and Performance, to exercise the purchase of
the freehold interest of land and property at Flats 1-5 and 8
Elsey’s Yard, Bury St Edmunds for a maximum sum of
£319,000 (three hundred and nineteen thousand pounds),
allowing for the £656,000 discount due, excluding VAT, fees
and Stamp Duty Land Tax, to be funded from the Investing in the
Growth Agenda fund; and;
(2)
The establishment of a capital budget of
£379,400 to be made available to facilitate the purchase,
including fees and Stamp Duty Land Tax, to be funded from the
Investing in our Growth Agenda Fund; in additional a one-off
revenue budget of £64,311 as set out in the 2.2.7 of the
Financial case, to be funded from the Strategic Priority and MTFS
reserve; and:
(3)
That should the purchase be made, the
Council’s Section 151 Officer will make the necessary changes
to the Council’s prudential indicators as a result of
Recommendation (1) above.
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In this section
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