Agenda for Cabinet on Tuesday 8 October 2019, 6.00 pm

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.

52.

Report of the Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee: 26 September 2019 (Report No: CAB/WS/19/033) pdf icon 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.

53.

Report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee: 2 September 2019 (Report No: CAB/WS/19/034) pdf icon 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.

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 icon 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.

55.

Decisions Plan: 1 October 2019 to 31 May 2020 pdf icon 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.

56.

West Suffolk Asset Management Strategy and Plan (Report No: CAB/WS/19/037) pdf icon 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.

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:

See minute 58. below.

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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