Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received.

Members and Officers are requested to give notice of any personal or prejudicial interest and the nature of that interest, relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the relevant Code of Conduct.

The following declarations of interest were received:

Minutes of the meeting held on 15 April 2010

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the Cabinet Meeting held on 15 April 2010 be confirmed as a correct record.

Report of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee (Health & Social Care) Dementia Working Group

The Cabinet considered the report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Health and Social Care) Working Group which undertook a scrutiny inquiry into issues around dementia in the Borough.

Councillor Webster, Lead Member of the Working Group outlined the key findings and recommendations of the scrutiny inquiry and responded to questions from Cabinet Members.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)       care home providers be advised by the Social Care and Well Being Directorate that it is considered to be essential for all care staff in care homes, particularly Elderly, Mental and Infirm (EMI) homes, and domiciliary care staff, to receive training and attend training courses in relation to all aspects of dementia;

(2)       the Social Care and Well Being Directorate be requested to consider and report back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Health and Social Care) on the possibility of the implementation of a voluntary local kite mark or certificate, stating that the staff at care homes have undertaken training in all aspects of dementia care;

(3)       the Social Care and Well Being Directorate be requested to consider and report back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Health and Social Care) on the possibility of delivering training to care staff within some of the larger care homes and that all care homes be advised of relevant training courses and invited to attend;

(4)       the intention for officers of the Social Care and Well Being Directorate to visit 2 star homes within the Borough be welcomed and the Strategic Director be requested to report to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Health and Social Care) on the possibility of extending this to provide for officers to undertake visits to all care homes that are likely to have residents who have dementia;

(5)       the Social Care and Well Being Directorate be requested to prepare information on dementia and its early detection, to appear within the Directorate’s web pages on the Council’s website, providing links to the local Alzheimer’s Society and other useful organisations;

(6)            information on raising awareness of dementia, for all members of the public, be prepared by the Social Care and Well Being Directorate and circulated by the Head of Corporate Finance and Information Services with the Council Tax demands for 2011/12, the wording to be approved by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Health and Social Care), prior to its circulation;

(7)       it be acknowledged that dementia, and care for people with it, particularly for those people living alone without support networks, will increase in the future and place increasing demands on the Council and the NHS;

(8)       it be noted that Members of the Dementia Working Group intend to submit a motion to Council in due course, requesting support for a cross-political motion, calling on the Government to recognise that Sefton has a high number of older people which is likely to increase, within its population, and that the Central Government Formula Grant should allow the Council to meet adequately the needs that this section of the community requires, in order for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Report of the Strategic Director - Children, Schools and Families

Further to Minute No. 145 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member - Children’s Services held on 4 May 2010, the Cabinet considered the report of the Strategic Director - Children, Schools and Families seeking approval to the implementation of schemes at the South and North Sefton City Learning Centres based at Ainsdale C.E. High School and Savio Salesian College to be funded from the Capital Redevelopment Grant Allocation for 2010/11.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)       the schemes detailed in the report be approved, and

(2)       the schemes be included in the Children, Schools and Families Capital Programme 2010/11.

Report of the Strategic Director - Children, Schools and Families

Further to Minute No. 143 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member - Children’s Services held on 4 May 2010, the Cabinet considered the report of the Strategic Director - Children, Schools and Families seeking approval to the implementation of a scheme to enhance the facilities at Maghull High School following its redesignation as a specialist school for Arts.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)       the proposed scheme be approved as detailed in the report; and

(2)       the scheme be included in the Children, Schools and Families Capital Programme 2010/11.

Report of the Strategic Director - Children, Schools and Families

Further to Minute No. 144 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member - Children’s Services held on 4 May 2010, the Cabinet considered the report of the Strategic Director - Children, Schools and Families seeking approval to the implementation of schemes at Crosby Lakeside Adventure Centre to be funded from the Aiming High for Disabled Children Capital Allocation.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)       the schemes detailed in the report be approved, and

(2)       the schemes be included in the Children, Schools and Families Capital Programme 2010/11.

Report of the Strategic Director - Communities

The Cabinet considered the report of the Strategic Director - Communities which indicated that the application to the North West Development Agency for funding towards the demolition of Balliol House had been unsuccessful owing to programme commitments elsewhere.  The report set out the options for the financing of the project, including the marketing of disposal assets.

This was a Key Decision and was included in the Council’s Forward Plan of Key Decisions.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)       the report be noted;

(2)            approval be given to the revised proposal for the demolition of Balliol House, with a total cost of £1.3m;

(3)       the capital programme provision for this scheme be increased by £0.55m and be met from prudential borrowing;

(4)            officers be authorised to seek tenders for the demolition of Balliol House;

(5)            approval be given to the marketing of the former ‘Z’ blocks site in Netherton, with any resultant proceeds being used to accelerate the repayments of the debt incurred on the initial phases of the Accommodation Strategy; and

(6)       it be noted that a further report will be submitted to the Cabinet if the sale of the ‘Z’ blocks site is agreed.

Report of the Strategic Director - Communities

Further to Minute No. 282 of the meeting held on 4 February 2010, the Cabinet considered the report of the Strategic Director - Communities which provided details of the progress made with regard to Expressions of Interest submitted for funding from funding bodies and an update on further external funding opportunities.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

Report of the Strategic Director - Communities

The Cabinet considered the report of the Strategic Director - Communities on the tenders received for the provision of a new sports changing facility at Portland Street Playing Fields, Southport.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)            Subject to the confirmation of receipt of all funding for the scheme, the lowest tender submitted by Nobles Construction Ltd. of Liverpool in the sum of £349,500 be accepted; and

(2)       the Interim Head of Corporate Legal Services be requested to enter into a formal contract with the successful tenderer; and

(3)       it be noted that the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Performance and Corporate Services) had given her consent under Rule 17 of the Scrutiny Procedure Rules, for this decision to be treated as urgent and not subject to “call in” on the basis that any delay in the implementation of the decision will mitigate delays during the design development process and allow the required completion date to be achieved.

Report of the Strategic Director - Communities

The Cabinet considered the report of the Strategic Director - Communities on the tenders received for the refurbishment of five science laboratories at Birkdale High School.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)            approval be given to the inclusion of the scheme at Birkdale High School in the Children, Schools and Families Capital Programme 2010/11 in the sum of £328,527;

(2)       the lowest tender submitted by John Denman Associates of Darlington in the sum of £294,527 be accepted; and

(3)       the Interim Head of Corporate Legal Services be requested to enter into a formal contract with the successful tenderer.

Report of the Strategic Director - Communities

Further to Minute No. 15 of the meeting of the Cabinet Urgent Business Committee held on 21 January 2010, the Cabinet considered the report of the Strategic Director - Communities which sought approval to the award of the Second Stage tender for the construction of the Southport Cultural Centre and provided an update on the progress of the project.

This was a Key Decision and was included in the Council’s Forward Plan of Key Decisions.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)            approval be given to the underwriting of a further £400k of funding to the project from the Capital Programme.  This funding contribution to be reduced by the amount of any further funding offered to the project from either the North West Development Agency or Sea Change or value engineering reductions;

(2)       on the basis of the two stage tendering exercise completed, a contract be entered into with Bovis Lend Lease of Preston for the delivery of the Southport Cultural Centre project for a Target Cost of £11,366,801;

(3)       based upon the Officers’ advice, approval be given to the waiving of the requirement for a Performance Bond for Bovis Lend Lease and reliance be placed upon the parent company guarantee; and

(4)       that the Interim Head of Corporate Legal Services be given authority to negotiate new leases with the owners of Cambridge Walks as part of the process of securing consent to the proposed works.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive

The Cabinet considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive seeking the appointment of representatives to serve on the General Assembly of the Local Government Association (LGA) for 2010/11 and to attend the Annual Meeting to be held on 6 |July 2010 at Bournemouth; and agreement on the distribution of the voting power between the representatives appointed.

The Authority had been invited to nominate up to four representatives to attend and exercise the Council’s votes at the meetings of the LGA General Assembly.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)            Councillors Brodie-Browne and P. Dowd be appointed named representatives to attend meetings of the General Assembly of the LGA in 2010/11 and the Annual Meeting on 6 July 2010; and

(2)       the distribution of the voting power between the representatives appointed be as follows:

            Councillor Brodie-Browne - 3 votes

            Councillor P. Dowd - 2 votes.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive

The Cabinet considered a report of the Assistant Chief Executive which sought the appointment of Council representatives to serve on Outside Bodies set out in the report for 2010/11 or for periods longer than one year.  Details of the existing representation on Outside Bodies was set out in the report.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)       the following Members be appointed to serve on the undermentioned Outside Bodies for 2010/11:

Report of the Interim Head of Corporate Finance and ICT Strategy

The Cabinet considered the report of the Interim Head of Corporate Finance and Information Services which provided an update on the Treasury Management Activities undertaken during the fourth quarter of 2009/10.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

Report of the Leisure and Tourism Director

Further to Minute No. 110 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member - Leisure and Tourism held on 21 April 2010, the Cabinet considered the report of the Leisure and Tourism Director which sought approval to the development of a Sefton Coast Landscape Partnership Scheme with the Council acting as the accountable body and provided details of the offer of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the cost of the scheme.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)       the report be noted;

(2)            officers be authorised to complete the necessary agreements with partners for the Sefton Coast Landscape Partnership Scheme;

(3)            approval be given to the Council, as the accountable body, accepting the offer of grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund;

(4)       the Interim Head of Corporate Legal Services be authorised to enter into a contract with the Heritage Lottery Fund for the Sefton Coast Landscape Partnership Scheme.

Report of the Neighbourhoods and Investment Programmes Director

The Cabinet considered the report of the Neighbourhoods and Investment Programmes Director which sought approval to the disposal of the Council’s freehold interest in the site at Palmerston Avenue, Litherland, to Liverpool Housing Trust, for less than “best consideration”.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)            approval be given to the disposal of the Council’s freehold interest in the site at Palmerston Avenue, Litherland, to Liverpool Housing Trust for £1, on terms and conditions as previously approved by the Cabinet on 20 April 2006; and

(2)       the Neighbourhoods and Investment Programmes Director in consultation with the Interim Head of Corporate Legal Services be granted delegated authority to agree any other terms as are necessary to enable the completion of the transaction.

Report of the Environmental and Technical Services Director

Further to Minute No. 105 of the meeting of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee held on 19 April 2010, the Cabinet considered the report of the Environmental and Technical Services Director which sought approval to the restructure of the Taxi Licensing Enforcement Team and the reduction of the hackney carriage and private hire driver licence fees.

RESOLVED:            That approval be given to:

(1)       the temporary increase in the establishment of the Taxi Licensing Enforcement Team;

(2)       the increase in the ‘Hackney Stands’ budget; and

(3)       the Taxi Licensing Fees set out in Annex 1 of the report.

To consider passing the following resolution:

That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.  The Public Interest Test has been applied and favours exclusion of the information from the Press and Public.

RESOLVED:

That under section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it would involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.  The Public Interest Test has been applied and favours exclusion of the information from the press and public.

Report of the Neighbourhoods and Investment Programmes Director

The Cabinet considered the report of the Neighbourhoods and Investment Programmes Director which sought approval to provide ‘gap’ funding for the development of new housing for sale and rent at Queens Road, Bootle, using funding from the Council’s Housing Market Renewal Programme.

RESOLVED:

That approval be given to a total Gap Funding Grant of £875,895 being made available to Keepmoat Limited subject to the completion of the necessary grant agreement for land remediation and the development of 69 new dwellings at Queens Road, Bootle and subject to confirmation of Homes and Communities Agency ‘Kickstart’ grant funding for the scheme.

Report of the Strategic Director - Communities

Further to Minute No. 188 of the meeting held on 29 October 2009, the Cabinet considered the report of the Strategic Director - Communities which provided details of the progress made with regard to the development of the Independent Living Centre at Scarisbrick Avenue, Southport, and sought approval to the appointment of Thomas Barnes to undertake the fit-out works.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)            approval be given to the appointment of Thomas Barnes to undertake the fit out works for the Independent Living Centre as outlined in paragraph 3 of the report;

(2)            approval be given to an increase in the provision for the Independent Living Centre of up to a maximum of £43,112.  The sum of £20,000 can be met from the 2010/11 capital allocation for social care in the Health and Social Care capital programme with the balance of £23,112 being met from prudential borrowing; and

(3)       the existing Lease Agreement between Sefton Carers and Sefton Council for the Shopmobility operation on Tulketh Street Car Park be terminated and the vacated space be reverted back to Tulketh Street Pay and Display Car park.