Agenda, decisions and minutes
Venue: Conference Chamber West (FR1-09), West Suffolk House, Western Way, Bury St Edmunds IP33 3YU
Contact: Claire Skoyles: Democratic Services Officer
Email: claire.skoyles@westsuffolk.gov.uk
Items
No. |
Item |
49. |
Apologies for Absence
Minutes:
No apologies for absence were received.
|
50. |
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 in attendance wished to
speak under this item.
|
51. |
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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52. |
Report of the Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee: 26 September 2019 (Report No: CAB/WS/19/033) PDF 144 KB
Report No:
CAB/WS/19/033
Chairman of the Committee: Cllr
Ian Houlder
Portfolio Holder: Cllr Sarah
Broughton
Lead Officer: Christine
Brain
Minutes:
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 26 September 2019:
(1) Ernst and Young – Annual
Audit Letters 2018-2019;
(2) Local Government Ombudsman
– Annual Report;
(3) Treasury Investment Limits
2019-2020;
(4) Approach to Delivering a
Sustainable West Suffolk Council Budget 2020-2021 and Medium Term Financial Strategy 2020-2024; and
(5) Work Programme 2019-2020.
Councillor Ian
Houlder, Chair of the Performance and
Audit Scrutiny Committee, drew relevant issues to the
attention of Cabinet.
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53. |
Report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee: 2 September 2019 (Report No: CAB/WS/19/034) PDF 143 KB
Report No:
CAB/WS/19/034
Chair of the Committee: Cllr
David Nettleton
Lead Officer: Christine
Brain
Minutes:
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 held on 2
September 2019:
(1) West Suffolk Homelessness
Reduction and Rough Sleeping Strategy;
(2) Suffolk County Council: Health
Scrutiny Committee – 11 July 2019;
(3) Cabinet Decisions Plan (1
September 2019 to 31 May 2020); and
(4) Work Programme Update.
Councillor David Nettleton, Chair of the
Overview and Scrutiny Committee, drew relevant issues to the
attention of the Cabinet, including that a separate report
containing the recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny
Committee was contained elsewhere on the Cabinet agenda in respect
of Item (1) above.
Councillor Nettleton commended Councillor Sara
Mildmay-White, Portfolio Holder for
Housing for her informative presentation of the proposed West Suffolk
Homelessness Reduction and Rough Sleeping Strategy to the
Committee, as referred to above.
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54. |
Recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee: 2 September 2019 - West Suffolk Homelessness Reduction and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2018-2023 (Report No: CAB/WS/19/035) PDF 253 KB
Report No:
CAB/WS/19/035
Portfolio Holder: Cllr Sara
Mildmay-White Lead Officer:
Davina Howes
Additional documents:
Decision:
RESOLVED:
That:
(1) the revised West Suffolk
Homelessness Reduction and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2018-2023
(Appendix 1 to Report No: CAB/WS/19/035), be approved;
(2) the performance of the Housing
Options and Homelessness Team in the evidence base (Appendix A to
Report No: CAB/WS/19/035), be noted;
(3) progress made against the
Homelessness Reduction and Rough Sleeping Strategy delivery plan
(Appendix B to Report No: CAB/WS/19/035), be noted; and
(4) the new West Suffolk Temporary
Accommodation Procurement and Placement Policy (Appendix C to
Report No: CAB/WS/19/035), be approved.
Minutes:
The Cabinet considered this report, which
sought approval for a revised Homelessness Reduction and Rough
Sleeping Strategy 2018-2023.
A revised Homelessness Reduction and Rough
Sleeping Strategy had been produced, as attached as Appendix 1 to
the report, in response to new duties and requirements being placed
on local authorities. Whilst the Council’s previously adopted
Homelessness Reduction Strategy (approved in June 2018) included
actions to reduce rough sleeping, the document had been updated to
reflect the new duty being placed on local authorities to adopt a
rough sleeping strategy. This was considered prudent to reflect the
Council’s commitment to tackling rough sleeping in the
Strategy agreed in 2018.
In addition, local authorities now had a duty
to adopt a Temporary Accommodation Procurement Policy, which
requested that local authorities formally stated that they should
be looking in advance at their temporary accommodation needs, which
West Suffolk was already doing within non-adopted documentation.
West Suffolk also had in place an existing Temporary Accommodation
Allocations Policy that set out how the Council would place
households in temporary accommodation. It was therefore considered
appropriate to take both of these
policies and create one Temporary Accommodation Procurement and
Placement Policy, as attached as Appendix C.
Councillor Sara Mildmay-White, Portfolio Holder for Housing, drew
relevant issues to the attention of Cabinet, including the fact
that homelessness and rough sleeping were two very separate issues
that needed to be addressed in different ways. This was a
continuous challenge for West Suffolk Council’s teams and,
together with other Cabinet Members, she expressed her gratitude
towards the officers and staff involved. Councillor Mildmay-White also reported that the Overview and
Scrutiny Committee had considered the draft Strategy and had not
recommended any amendments.
In response to a question, the Cabinet was
informed that the ‘No Second Night Out’ initiative was
being developed with partners to mitigate homelessness and rough
sleeping. This was a long term aim and ambition of the Council and
its partners to focus their efforts on trying to help individuals;
however many had complex needs where they did not feel able to
accept accommodation provided which together with other factors,
made this initiative extremely challenging to achieve.
The Cabinet acknowledged and supported the
approaches set out in the revised Strategy.
RESOLVED:
That:
(1) the revised West Suffolk
Homelessness Reduction and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2018-2023
(Appendix 1 to Report No: CAB/WS/19/035), be approved;
(2) the performance of the Housing
Options and Homelessness Team in the evidence base (Appendix A to
Report No: CAB/WS/19/035), be noted;
(3) progress made against the
Homelessness Reduction and Rough Sleeping Strategy delivery plan
(Appendix B to Report No: CAB/WS/19/035), be noted; and
(4) the new West Suffolk Temporary
Accommodation Procurement and Placement Policy (Appendix C to
Report No: CAB/WS/19/035), be approved.
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55. |
Decisions Plan: 1 October 2019 to 31 May 2020 PDF 135 KB
To consider the most recently published
version of the Cabinet’s Decisions Plan
Report No:
CAB/WS/19/036
Portfolio Holder: Cllr John
Griffiths
Lead Officer: Ian Gallin
Minutes:
The Cabinet considered this report which was
the Cabinet Decisions Plan covering the period 1 October 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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56. |
West Suffolk Asset Management Strategy and Plan (Report No: CAB/WS/19/037) PDF 383 KB
Report No:
CAB/WS/19/037
Portfolio Holders: Cllrs Susan
Glossop and Peter Stevens
Lead Officers: Julie Baird and
Mark Walsh
Additional documents:
Decision:
RECOMMENDED to COUNCIL
:
That:
(1) the West
Suffolk Asset Management Strategy attached at Appendix A to Report
No: CAB/WS/19/037, be approved; and
(2) the
delegations for property acquisitions as outlined in the Asset
Management Plan attached at Appendix B, be approved and funded
through the Investing in Growth Fund to be brought in line with
those for non-property transactions from the same fund, as set out
in Section 2.4 of Report No: CAB/WS/19/037.
Minutes:
The Cabinet considered this
report, which sought approval for the adoption of a new West
Suffolk Asset Management Strategy and Plan (AMSaP), together with
proposed delegations associated with property and asset
transactions.
The overall strategic approach to investing
in, managing and disposing of land and property assets, which was
attached as Appendix A, was proposed to satisfactorily integrate
with the Council’s wider policy framework, which comprised
key policies such as the West Suffolk Strategic Framework and
Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).
Councillor Susan Glossop, Portfolio Holder for
Growth, drew relevant issues to the attention of Cabinet, including
that the accompanying Asset Management Plan, attached as Appendix
B, had been produced to satisfactorily address how the strategic
approach would be applied through the Plan’s division into
nine categories. Each asset category was described in the Plan; how
the asset types would deliver the Council’s strategic
priorities; and the strategic approach for each asset category
(Appendix B1). Details of Acquisitions (Exempt Appendix B2), Estate
Management (Appendix B3) and Disposals (Exempt Appendix B4) were
also contained in the Plan and these set out the actions for each
asset category under each these aforementioned headings.
Attention was also drawn to appropriate
delegations to be put in place for property and asset transactions
made from the Investing in Growth Fund, which would align with
those previously approved for other investments made utilising the
Investing in Growth Fund.
The Cabinet recognised the benefits of the
adopting the AMSaP, which supported the Council’s behaving
more commercially approach contained in the MTFS and would also
provide the framework to enable the Council to maximise the value
of its existing assets. Members fully
supported the AMSaP and recommended it to Council for final
approval.
RECOMMENDED to COUNCIL (17
December 2019):
That:
(1) the West
Suffolk Asset Management Strategy attached at Appendix A to Report
No: CAB/WS/19/037, be approved; and
(2) the
delegations for property acquisitions as outlined in the Asset
Management Plan attached at Appendix B, be approved and funded
through the Investing in Growth Fund to be brought in line with
those for non-property transactions from the same fund, as set out
in Section 2.4 of Report No: CAB/WS/19/037.
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57. |
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:
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58. |
Exempt Appendices: West Suffolk Asset Management Strategy and Plan (para 3) (Report No: CAB/WS/19/037)
Exempt Appendices B2 and B4 to Report No:
CAB/WS/19/037
Portfolio Holders: Cllrs Susan
Glossop and Peter Stevens
Lead Officers: Julie Baird and
Mark Walsh
Minutes:
The Cabinet considered the Exempt Appendices
to this report. However, no reference
was made to specific detail and, therefore, this item was not held
in private session.
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In this section
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