Agenda item

Report No: COU/SE/18/002

Council considered the Referrals Report of Recommendations from Cabinet contained within Report No: COU/SE/18/002.

(A)    Referrals from Extraordinary Cabinet: 9 January 2018

Council noted there were no referrals emanating from the extraordinary meeting of Cabinet held on 9 January 2018.

(B)    Referrals from Cabinet: 6 February 2018

1.       Treasury Management Report 2017/2018 and Investment Activity (April to December 2017)

Approval was sought for the Treasury Management Report 2017/2018 for the third quarter.

Councillor Ian Houlder, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Performance, drew relevant issues to the attention of Council.

On the motion of Councillor Ian Houlder, seconded by Councillor John Burns, and duly carried, it was

RESOLVED:

That the Treasury Management Report 2017/2018 for the period 1 April 2017 to 31 December 2017, attached at Appendix 1 to Report No: TMS/SE/18/001, be approved.

2.       Treasury Management Policy Statement and Investment Strategy 2018/2019 and Code of Practice

Approval was sought for the Treasury Management Policy Statement and Investment Strategy 2018/2019  and Code of Practice.

Councillor Ian Houlder, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Performance, drew relevant issues to the attention of Council, including highlighting the main changes to the proposed Strategy and the Code of Practice, as summarised in paragraph 2.3 of the referrals report.

On the motion of Councillor Ian Houlder, seconded by Councillor Sarah Broughton, and duly carried, it was

RESOLVED:

(1)     the Updated (December 2017) Treasury Management in the Public Services Code of Practice and Cross-Sectional Guidance Notes, be adopted;

(2)     the Treasury Management Policy Statement and Investment Strategy 2018-2019, as set out in Appendix 1 to Report No: TMS/SE/18/002, be approved; and

(3)     the Treasury Management Code of Practice 2018-2019, as set out in Appendix 2 to Report No: TMS/SE/18/002, be approved.

3.       Budget and Council Tax Setting: 208/2019 and Medium Term Financial Strategy 2018-2022

Members noted that the recommendations emanating from this report would be considered separately under Agenda Item 9 (see minute 327 below.)

4.       Overarching West Suffolk Growth Investment Strategy, Governance and Delegation

Approval was sought for a new Overarching West Suffolk Growth Investment Strategy, together with associated governance arrangements and delegation proposals.

Having approved a set of principles by which to develop the Overarching Growth Investment Strategy, this had now been produced and was attached to the Cabinet report (and for ease of reference to the Council report), together with an Executive Summary as Attachment A. The Strategy aimed to support the vision and objectives in the recently adopted West Suffolk Strategic Framework 2018-2020 and set out how the West Suffolk Councils (FHDC and SEBC) would invest to achieve these strategic priorities contained in the Framework.

Councillor Alaric Pugh, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Growth, drew relevant issues to the attention of Council, including that the Strategy (which was subject to minor typographical and grammatical errors, which would be amended under existing delegated authority) included opportunities in four key areas (housing, business, infrastructure and inclusive growth) for investment in Growth across West Suffolk; not all of which the Councils had a role or could deliver. As such, the document  would also act as a window to channel and focus energies and activities of external stakeholders and investors.

Members noted that additional investment opportunities would continue to be presented to the Councils from external stakeholders. The development of an assessment framework/guidance would be completed over the coming months to be available for proposals (both internal and externally) to be considered, taking into account various elements required as summarised in paragraphs 1.6 to 1.8 of the Cabinet report.

The proposed approaches to investing in growth and associated governance arrangements, together with proposed delegation thresholds to authorise applicable funding commitments from the previously approved capital and revenue Growth Investment Fund were provided in the report.  The delegations, as set out in the table at paragraph 6.4 had been proposed to allow decisions to be made more quickly and efficiently to enable opportunities to be seized, whilst ensuring decisions remained in accordance with the Strategy, and were subject to safeguards to ensure a democratic process was undertaken so the Council did not take unnecessary risks with public funds. It was noted that the proposed delegation thresholds applied to all investments with the exception of property and land acquisition, which would be guided by the emerging West  Suffolk Councils’ Asset Management Strategy.

A discussion was held on the future of Haverhill Research Park (HRP) and following previous investment from the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership and HRP’s designation as an Enterprise Zone, progress had been limited.  In response, Council was informed that the HRP was not under the Council’s direct control; however a team of officers were now looking at options in respect of how the Council could work collaboratively with others to bring this project forward.  This was an example of where the adoption of the Growth Investment Strategy would help support the development of projects such as this.

Discussion was then held regarding the extended time it had taken to construct the Eastern Relief Road in Rougham/Bury St Edmunds and whether the Borough Council could have had any influence on avoiding this; and how housing schemes that had received planning consent were generally on target and being completed within the consent period, and within the adoption of the Growth Investment Strategy this would help the Council to consider actions that might support smaller developers in the delivery of their smaller housing schemes.

On the motion of Councillor Alaric Pugh, seconded by Councillor Tony Brown, and duly carried, it was

RESOLVED:

That

(1)     the Overarching West Suffolk Growth Investment Strategy, as attached at Appendix A to Report No: CAB/SE/18/012, be approved;

(2)     subject to the safeguards set out within Report No: CAB/SE/18/012, as detailed in Table 1 at paragraph 6.4, decisions on expenditure made from the previouslyapproved capital and revenue Growth Investment Fund, be agreed as follows:

(a)     in accordance with Section 1.3 (b) of the Cabinet Procedure Rules contained within Part 4 of the Constitution which allows the Leader to amend the delegations to individual Cabinet Members, the relevant Portfolio Holder and Leader, in consultation with the statutory officers, be authorised to make decisions of up to £0.5m expenditure;

(b)     Cabinet be authorised to make decisions of up to £2m expenditure; and

(c)     Council shall make decisions where the expenditure is anticipated to exceed £2m.

(3)     The Monitoring Officer shall make the necessary amendments to the Cabinet’s scheme of delegation in accordance with her existing delegation, and be authorised to make other amendments to the Constitution as a consequence of (2) above.