Agenda and minutes

Cabinet - Thursday 23rd June, 2011 10.00 am

Venue: Town Hall, Bootle

Contact: Steve Pearce  Head of Committee and Member Services

Items
No. Item

14.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Booth, Brodie-Browne and Shaw.

15.

Declarations of Interest

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.

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were received.

16.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 87 KB

Minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2011

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

That the Minutes of the Cabinet Meeting held on 26 May 2011 be confirmed as a correct record.

17.

Transformation Programme 2011-2014 pdf icon PDF 133 KB

Report of the Chief Executive

Minutes:

Further to Minute No. 6 of the meeting held on 26 May 2011, the Cabinet considered the report of the Chief Executive which provided an update on the progress made under the Transformation Programme and the implementation of the savings proposals, reviews and cessation of external funding, previously approved by the Council.

 

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

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       the progress to date on approved savings proposals, reviews and cessation of external funding as set out in the report be noted;

 

(2)       the proposed changes in priorities associated with paragraphs 3.1.1, 3.1.2 and 3.1.3 in the report be deferred for consideration at a future meeting; and

 

(3)       the progress to date on public consultation and engagement set out in the report be noted.

 

 

18.

Secondary ICT Centre to provide Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery pdf icon PDF 93 KB

Report of the Head of Corporate Finance and ICT

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Corporate Finance and ICT which set out the risk that exists in having a single ICT Data Centre and detailed proposals for the provision of a secondary Data Centre facility to provide business continuity and disaster recovery.

 

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

 

RESOLVED:            That

 

(1)       the risk that exists by having only one ICT Data Centre be noted;

 

(2)       the need for a secondary ICT Data facility be approved;

 

(3)       the selection of the Prinovis site in Liverpool as the most cost effective solution be approved;

 

(4)            approval be given to the inclusion of £250,000 in the capital programme funded from earmarked reserves; and

 

(5)            approval be given to the virement of £35,000 from the IT Development budget to meet the ongoing revenue costs of the project.

19.

Health Inequalities Working Group - Recommendations pdf icon PDF 74 KB

Report of the Director of Corporate Commissioning

Minutes:

Further to Minute No. 254 of the meeting held on 14 April 2011, the Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Corporate Commissioning on the proposals by the relevant Officers for the implementation of the recommendations in the report by the Overview and Scrutiny Health Inequalities Working Group.

 

RESOLVED:            That

 

(1)       the proposals put forward by the Strategic Director – People, to progress recommendations (1) to (3) of the Working Group be accepted; and

 

(2)       the proposals put forward by NHS Sefton to progress recommendations (4) to (7) and (9) of the Working Group be accepted.

20.

Introduction of Charges on Waterloo Car Parks pdf icon PDF 85 KB

Report of the Director of Built Environment

Minutes:

Further to Minute No. 180 of the meeting held on 27 January 2011, the Cabinet considered a report by the Director of Built Environment on proposals for the introduction of charges on car parks in Waterloo in order to generate income in the Revenue Budget previously approved by the Council.

 

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 introduction of charges on the Civic Hall and Hougoumont Avenue car parks in Waterloo as set out in the report; and

 

(2)            approval be given to the inclusion of £40,000 in the capital programme for the works necessary to install the pay and display machines and associated signage, to be funded from earmarked reserves.

21.

Davenhill Primary School Extension and Refurbishment Phase 2 pdf icon PDF 70 KB

Report of the Director of Built Environment

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Built Environment which provided details of the tenders received for the second phase of the Davenhill Primary School refurbishment proposals.

 

RESOLVED:            That

 

(1)       the lowest tender submitted by Conlon Construction Limited of Preston in the sum of £1,584,777 be accepted;

 

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

 

(3)       it be noted that the proposal was a Key Decision but, unfortunately, had not been included in the Council’s Forward Plan of Key Decisions.  Consequently, the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Children’s Services) had been consulted under Rule 15 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules of the Constitution, to the decision being made by the Cabinet as a matter of urgency, on the basis that it was impracticable to defer the decision until the commencement of the next Forward Plan, because such a delay would mean that the works could not commence in the school summer holiday period, leading to disruption to the operation of the school.

22.

Award of Contract for Hightown Coastal Defences Phase 2 pdf icon PDF 71 KB

Report of the Director of Built Environment

Minutes:

Further to Minute No. 50 of the meeting held on 17 December 2009 and Minute No. 84 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member – Environment held on 12 January 2011, the Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Built Environment which provided an update on the discussions held with the preferred contractor on the target cost for the second phase of the Hightown Sea Defences Contract.

 

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

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)      approval be given to a contract being entered into with the preferred Contractor, Birse Coastal of Cheadle Hulme;

 

(2)      a target cost of no greater than £1.15m be approved for inclusion in the Capital Programme; and

 

(3)      approval be given to the release of the balance of the Section 106 funds for the future revenue costs of environmental and maintenance works following the capital scheme.

23.

Housing Market Renewal Future Activity - Part 1 pdf icon PDF 138 KB

Report of the Director of Built Environment

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered a report by the Director of Built Environment which set out the potential implications of the cessation of Housing Market Renewal funding by the Government and sought authority to use the New Homes Bonus allocation for 2011/12 to fund activity and prudential borrowing in order to fund the completion of the incomplete elements of the Housing Market Renewal Programme.

 

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 inclusion of £9.32m in the capital programme to meet both contractual obligations and the costs of future activity in respect of Housing Market Renewal, in order to remove any liabilities relating to the cessation of dedicated funding;

 

(2)      approval be given to the expenditure outlined in (1) above being funded from the following sources:-

 

          (a)      the £2.4m New Homes Bonus allocation for 2011/12, paid as £0.4m per annum for six years;

 

          (b)      estimated £5.7m of future New Homes Bonus monies generated in the Housing Market Renewal Area between 2012/13 and 2019/20 inclusive; and

 

          (c)      £1.22m of prudential borrowing previously earmarked by the Cabinet for housing purposes;

 

(3)      it be noted that because the New Homes Bonus allocation, detailed in the report, would be paid to the Council over a number of years, short term borrowing may be required to finance the expenditure over the early part of the programme;

 

(4)      approval be given to the submission of bids for grant funding support, utilising the above funding sources as ‘match funding’; and

 

(5)      the Housing Market Renewal Programme be reviewed in the light of any successful bids for funding and any changes that may be made in the future by the Government to the New Homes Bonus Scheme.

24.

Exclusion of Press and Public

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 items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph3 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.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items 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.

25.

Housing Market Renewal Future Activity - Part 2

Report of the Director of Built Environment

Minutes:

Further to Minute No. 23 above, the Cabinet considered a further report by the Director of Built Environment which set out the legal implications of implementing the proposals for the completion of the Housing Market Renewal Programme.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the report be noted.

26.

Affordable Housing Programme 2011-2015

Report of the Director of Built Environment

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Built Environment on the changes to the funding regime for new affordable housing funded by the Government via the Homes and Community Agency and proposals to ensure continued investment in new affordable housing in the Borough.

 

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 principles set out in Paragraphs 6.1 to 6.7 of the report relating to securing new supply, land supply, conversions and reinvestment, supported housing, tenancy strategy, alternative investment and empty homes; and

 

(2)       the prioritisation of the bids submitted to the Affordable Housing Programme for Sefton as set out in Paragraphs 6.8 and 6.9 of the report, be approved.