Agenda and minutes

Apologises for absence were received from Councillors Lappin and Veidman.

Members are requested at a meeting where a disclosable pecuniary interest or personal interest arises, which is not already included in their Register of Members' Interests, todeclare any interests that relate to an item on the agenda.

Where a Member discloses a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, he/she must withdraw from the meeting room, including from the public gallery, during the whole consideration of any item of business in which he/she has an interest, except where he/she is permitted to remain as a result of a grant of a dispensation.

Where a Member discloses a personal interest he/she must seek advice from the Monitoring Officer or staff member representing the Monitoring Officer to determine whether the Member should withdraw from the meeting room, including from the public gallery, during the whole consideration of any item of business in which he/she has an interest or whether the Member can remain in the meeting or remain in the meeting and vote on the relevant decision.

No declarations of any disclosable pecuniary interests or personal interests were received.

Minutes of the meeting held on 5 January 2023

Decision Made:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 5 January 2023 be confirmed as a correct record.

Report of the Assistant Director of People (Communities)

The Cabinet considered the report of the Assistant Director of People (Communities) on the draft 5-year Domestic Abuse Strategy which had been produced to meet the requirements of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, which places a statutory duty on local authorities to:

· Form a Local Domestic Abuse Partnership Board

· Conduct a Local Needs Assessment

· Develop and Publish a Strategy

· Give effect to the Strategy

· Monitor Strategy effectiveness

· Report back to government via the Domestic Abuse Commissioners Office.

Sefton Council has had a Domestic Abuse Strategy for several years but it had taken the opportunity, following the statutory duty placed on local authorities under the Act, to refresh the existing strategy to not only meet its statutory requirements but to reach much further in addressing such an important issue.

Decision Made:

That the Council be recommended as per the Constitution, to adopt the 5-year Domestic and Sexual Abuse Strategy as part of its statutory responsibilities.

Reasons for the Recommendation(s):

By adopting the strategy, the Council can bid for additional funding streams that will serve to address the priorities contained within it. The strategy will also ensure compliance with statutory requirements and prevent any intervention from the Domestic Abuse Commissioner.

By adopting the strategy, the Council, and wider partnership, will have an overarching strategic document to inform the delivery of services and can bid for additional funding streams that will serve to address the priorities contained within it.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

The alternative option is to not adopt the strategy which will leave the Council vulnerable to future funding allocations and risk Domestic Abuse Commissioner intervention.

Report of the Assistant Director of People (Communities)

The Cabinet considered the report of the Assistant Director of People (Communities) on the draft 3-year Safer Sefton Together Strategy, which had been produced by the Safer Sefton Together Partnership to reflect the priorities of the Police and Crime Commissioner, the priority themes contained within the annual Sefton Strategic Needs Assessment as well as local knowledge gained from staff, elected members and community groups.

Decision Made:

That the Council, be recommended as per the Constitution, to adopt the 3-year Safer Sefton Together Strategy as part of its statutory Community Safety responsibilities.

Reasons for the Decision:

By adopting the strategy, the Council can bid for additional funding streams which would serve to address the priorities contained within it. The strategy places the priorities for Community Safety on a more realistic 3-year timetable that allow for longer term projects, which would affect significant change, to be commissioned.

By adopting the strategy, the Council, and wider partnership, would have an overarching strategic document to inform the delivery of services and can bid for additional funding streams which would serve to address the priorities contained within.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

The alternative option is to not adopt the strategy which would leave the Council vulnerable to future funding allocations.

Report of the Assistant Director of People (Operational In-House Services)

The Cabinet considered the report of the Assistant Director of People (Operational In-House Services) which sought approval to invite tenders through an open procurement procedure, for the provision of a land based coastal remote sensing services to collect a range of datasets to support sustainable coastal management decisions.

Decision Made: That

(1)      approval be given to the tender process to procure the provision of land based coastal remote sensing services, to be published on The Chest using an open tender procedure, as outlined in the report;

(2)      approval be given to the awarding of a core contract period of 4 years from 1 May 2023 to 31 March 2027, with an option to extend by 3 x 12-month option periods available following the core period; and

(3)      the Assistant Director of People (Operational In-House Services), in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing be granted delegated authority to award the Contract resulting from the procurement and any extension.

Reasons for the Decision:

There are a number of existing radar systems across the North West region under contract through the existing framework. To enable the continued use of these and establishing new deployments a framework supplier was required. As this technology is relatively new there are a limited number of suppliers who can provide this service as such national frameworks have yet to be established and an open tender is the most appropriate manner in which to establish a new framework.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

Deployments could be considered on a case by case basis, but this would significantly increase the number of procurement exercises and associated officer time. It could also result in several different systems being introduced that would reduce the efficiencies and compatibility across the region.

Assistant Director of Place (Economic Growth and Housing)

The Cabinet considered the report of the Assistant Director of Place (Economic Growth and Housing) which provided details on the progress made with the acquisition of leasehold interests in property at the Ainsdale Neighbourhood Centre and an update on the delivery of the Sandbrook Way Neighborhood Centre project including agreement to progress market testing of the site development opportunity to identify market interest in the site.

Decision Made: That

(1)      the content of the report be noted, and in particular progress on the acquisition of outstanding lease interests;

(2)      the Development Brief for the site be noted and officers be authorised to progress market testing of the site to identify developer interest in the site;

(3)      the Assistant Director of Place (Economic Growth and Housing) report to the Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Skills on the outcome of the market testing process; and

(4)      the Assistant Director of Place (Economic Growth and Housing) be authorised to undertake preparatory work for the use of Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) powers, if required to assemble any remaining outstanding interests in the site and bring forward comprehensive development of this site.

Reasons for the Decision:

In order to bring forward comprehensive development of the site, the whole site needs to be within Council ownership. Considerable progress has been made (through negotiation by agreement) with a number of the leasehold interest for the site however, there remain a number of leaseholders with which Sefton Council had been unable to yet reach agreement. Sefton Council was considering using compulsory acquisition powers to conclude these negotiations and in order to do this, the Council needs to be able to demonstrate it had a viable and deliverable development proposal for the site.

Sefton Council therefore needs to market the opportunity and establish market interest. This would enable market testing to be undertaken based on a development brief prepared for the site.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

Do not acquire leasehold interests

The risk is the continued physical deterioration of the property in Ainsdale and associated problems for the local community.

Not acting now simply risks delaying the inevitable requirement for the Council to intervene at a point in the future with higher cost to the public purse. The Council could continue to negotiate by agreement with the existing owners and not consider using its compulsory acquisition powers. Given the time taken to date and reluctancy of the outstanding leaseholders to agree terms for buying them out, officers are of the view that the use of compulsory acquisition powers is needed to draw these negotiations to a conclusion.

Do not progress the marketing exercise

If the Council wish to use compulsory acquisition powers, it needs to demonstrate that a viable scheme can be delivered. Establishing market interest at this point is required to have confidence that a viable scheme is capable of being delivered. Market demand for the site needs to be established before proceeding with any formal process and the market testing will establish what interest there is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 117.

Report of the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services

The Cabinet considered the report of the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services which provided details of:

1)       The current position relating to the 2022/23 revenue budget;

2)       The current forecast on Council Tax and Business Rates collection for 2022/23;

3)       The monitoring position of the Council’s capital programme to the end of December 2023:

· The forecast expenditure to year end.

· Variations against the approved budgets and an explanation of those variations for consideration by Members.

· Updates to spending profiles and proposed amendments to capital budgets necessary to ensure the efficient delivery of capital projects are also presented for approval.

4)       The latest performance management information for 2022/23; and

5)       The latest corporate risk management information for 2023/23.

Decision Made: That

Revenue Budget

1)       the current position relating to the 2022/23 revenue budget be noted;

2)       the actions being taken to offset the budget pressures being faced in 2022/23 be noted;

3)       the financial risks associated with the delivery of the 2022/23 revenue budget be recognised and it be acknowledged that the forecast outturn position will continue to be reviewed, and remedial actions put in place, to ensure a balanced forecast outturn position and financial sustainability can be achieved;

4)       the current position relating to the High Needs budget be noted and that officers are currently reviewing all options available to the Council to mitigate the additional pressure and to make the overall High Needs budget financially sustainable;

Capital Programme

5)       the spending profiles across financial years for the approved capital programme (paragraph 8.1) be noted;

6)       the latest capital expenditure position as at 31 December 2022 of £24.208m (paragraph 7.6); and the latest full year forecast of £46.707m (paragraph 7.8) be noted;

7)       approval be given to a supplementary capital estimate of £0.500m for the Crosby Lakeside Development project to be fully funded by grant from the Combined Authority (paragraph7.5);

8)       it be noted that capital resources will be managed by the Executive Director Corporate Resources and Customer Services to ensure the capital programme remains fully funded and that capital funding arrangements secure the maximum financial benefit to the Council (paragraphs 7.14-7.16);

Performance

9)       the latest position relating to key performance measures be noted; and

Risk Management

10)     the latest position relating to key risk management areas be noted.

Reasons for the Decision:

To ensure Cabinet are informed of the current position in relation to the 2022/23 revenue budget.

To provide an updated forecast of the outturn position with regard to the collection of Council Tax and Business Rates.

To keep members informed of the progress of the Capital Programme against the profiled budget for 2022/23 and agreed allocations for future years.

To progress any changes that are required in order to maintain a relevant and accurate budget profile necessary for effective monitoring of the Capital Programme.

To approve any updates to funding resources so that they can be applied to capital schemes in the delivery of the Council’s overall capital strategy.

To ensure Cabinet  ...  view the full minutes text for item 118.