Agenda and minutes

Cabinet - Thursday 6th February, 2020 10.00 am

Venue: Committee Room, Town Hall, Bootle

Contact: Paul Fraser  Senior Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

100.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Hardy.

 

 

101.

Declarations of Interest

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.

 

Minutes:

In accordance with Paragraph 9 of the Council’s Code of Conduct, the following declarations of personal interest were made and the Member concerned left the room, took no part in the consideration of the items and did not vote thereon:

 

Member

Minute No.

Nature of Interest

Councillor Veidman

Minute No. 104 - Green Sefton: Golf Driving Ranges Development

By virtue of his position as Chair of the Planning Committee

 

Councillor Veidman

Minute No. 107 - Ainsdale

By virtue of his position as Chair of the Planning Committee

 

 

 

102.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 113 KB

Minutes of the meeting held on 9 January 2020.

Minutes:

Decision Made:

 

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 January 2020 be approved as a correct record.

 

103.

Ethical Business Practices Working Group Final Report pdf icon PDF 111 KB

Report of the Head of Corporate Resources

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Further to Minute No. 34 of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Services) held on 14 January 2020 the Cabinet considered the report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer that presented formally the final report of the Council’s Ethical Business Practices Working Group.

 

Councillor McKinley, Lead Member of the Working Group presented the Final Report to Cabinet.

 

Decision Made:

 

That Council be recommended to: 

 

(1)

request the Head of Corporate Resources to make arrangements, via the Council’s decision-making processes, to include the revised statement of draft ethical business/investment principles as referred to below in the Treasury Management Strategy and to adopt it as part of the Council’s Policy for investment:

 

ETHICAL INVESTMENT POLICY

 

“The Local Authority at times invests surplus funds with third party organisations and institutions and the Council’s core values will play a major role in making investment decisions which will be aligned where possible to the following four overarching core principles;

 

  • Sustainable and Responsible – manage the effect on the environment, community and for the good of society
  • Value Based – invest in businesses that are aligned with the organisations core values;
  • Maximising Impact – achieve a measurable positive, social or environmental impact, in addition to a financial return;
  • Green – improving the environment.”

 

In deciding and then approving the counterparty list in which the Council will invest, the principles of security, liquidity and yield will always be the primary consideration to ensure compliance with statutory guidance. As part of this evaluation, the Council will consider ethical investment opportunities and identify and apply an appropriate weighting based on the Council’s Core Values/overarching core principles.

 

Where the Council deposits surplus balances overnight or for a short-term, investments will be made with financial institutions in a responsible manner (aligned to the overarching core principles/councils core values) where possible and in accordance with advice from its Treasury Management Advisor. In the event that the Council has surplus balances that it can invest for the longer term (e.g. terms over 1 year) it will exclude direct investment in financial products that do not contribute positively to society and the environment. This will include the principle that investment in specific financial products whose performance is driven by off-shore trading, financial malpractice, debt swops, short selling, the arms trade and tobacco industry will be avoided. The same rigorous criteria will be used to assess whether investment in certain countries will be contrary to Sefton’s core values.

 

It is recommended that the Head of Corporate Resources, to assess whether investment in certain countries will be contrary to Sefton’s core values,  

give consideration to the exclusion of those countries on theEU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions(the black list and the grey list), which aims to tackle external risks of tax abuse and unfair tax competition, within the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy. 

 

In order for these organisations to be included on the Council’s counterparty list they will be evaluated against the same criteria as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103.

104.

Green Sefton: Golf Driving Ranges Development pdf icon PDF 75 KB

Report of the Head of Locality Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Locality Services seeking approval of the construction of driving ranges within the Council’s two Municipal Golf Courses in Bootle and Southport during 2020/21.

 

Decision Made: That

 

(1)

subject to Council approving the inclusion of the development of the two driving ranges in the Capital Programme and the Council obtaining the necessary planning permissions, the Head of Locality Services be authorised to conduct a procurement exercise to appoint a contractor or contractors to build the new facilities and provide machinery and maintenance thereafter;

 

(2)

the Head of Locality Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing be granted delegated authority to award the contract or contracts resulting from the procurement exercise; and

 

(3)

the outcome of the community engagement for the Southport Golf Links be reported to the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing in due course and should the Cabinet Member consider that it should change the above recommendations then a further report be Submitted to Cabinet before Phase 2 of the project is commenced.

 

Reasons for the Decision:

 

The new facilities will enable much needed growth and improvement in the two municipal golf courses encouraging new people to play the sport and be active and have improved wellbeing. The project will also assist in meeting the Council’s budgetary requirements and income targets for Green Sefton – initially contributing to meeting the £212k increase already accounted for in 2019/20, but over time to be increased as outlined in the enclosed report.

 

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

 

Undertake no investment into the sites that would result in Green Sefton not hitting the required income targets and for the existing facilities to further degrade over time.

 

 

 

 

105.

Revenue and Capital Budget Update 2019/20 pdf icon PDF 182 KB

Report of the Head of Corporate Resources

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Corporate Resources that advised of:

 

(1)

the current forecast revenue outturn position for the Council for 2019/20;

 

(2)

the current forecast on Council Tax and Business Rates collection for 2019/20; and

 

(3)

The monitoring position of the Council’s Capital Programme to the end of December 2019 in respect of:

 

·       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 and seeking approval of such; and

·       seeking a review of the spending profiles across financial years; and the new schemes added to the Capital Programme under delegated authority for 2019/20 (as detailed in paragraphs 5.1.1 and 5.1.3 of the report respectively)

 

Decision Made: That

 

(1)

In respect of the Revenue Budget:

 

(A)

the current forecast revenue outturn position for 2019/20 and the current position relating to delivery of savings included in the 2019/20 revenue budget be noted;

 

(B)

the mitigating measures being used to partially mitigate the forecast outturn position, as outlined in paragraph 2.2 of the report, excluding a forecast deficit on Housing Benefits which will be considered at the end of the financial year if it materialises be noted; and

 

(C)

it be acknowledged that a comprehensive review of all forecast outturn estimates and potential remedial measures has been undertaken and the outcome has significantly reduced the forecast overspend reported; and that the position will continue to be reviewed to ensure a balanced forecast outturn position can be achieved or understand a potential call of General Fund Balances; and

 

(2)

in respect of the Capital Programme:

 

(A)

the latest capital expenditure position as at 31 December 2019 of £12.104m (as detailed in paragraph 5.2.2 of the report) with the latest full year forecast being £21.234m (as detailed in paragraph 5.3.1 of the report) be noted;

 

(B)

the explanations of variances to project budgets (as detailed in paragraph 5.3.2 of the report) be noted; and

 

(C)

it be acknowledged that capital resources will be managed by the Head of Corporate Resources to ensure the capital programme remains fully funded and that capital funding arrangements secure the maximum financial benefit to the Council (as detailed in section 5.5 of the report).

 

Reasons for the Decision:

 

To ensure Cabinet are informed of the forecast outturn position for the 2019/2020 Revenue Budget as at the end of December 2019, including delivery of agreed savings, and to provide an updated forecast of the outturn position  regarding the collection of Council Tax and Business Rates. 

 

To keep members informed of the progress of the Capital Programme against the profiled budget for 2019/20 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  ...  view the full minutes text for item 105.

106.

Exclusion of Press and Public

To comply with Regulation 5(2) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, notice has been published regarding the intention to consider the following matter in private for the reasons set out below.

 

The Cabinet is recommended to pass the following resolution:

 

That, under the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.  The Public Interest Test has been applied and favours exclusion of the information from the Press and Public.

 

Minutes:

Decision Made:

 

That, under the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. The Public Interest Test has been applied and favours exclusion of the information from the Press and Public.

 

 

107.

Ainsdale

Report of the Head of Corporate Resources

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Corporate Resources seeking approval to negotiate the acquisition of the leasehold interests in a property in Ainsdale.

 

Decision Made: That

 

(1)

the appointment of the professional valuers, detailed within the report, to act for the Council in negotiating the acquisition of the leasehold interests at a property in Ainsdale be approved;

 

(2)

negotiations be undertaken with the leaseholders to acquire their interests in the property; and

 

(3)

approval be granted to set aside the sum, detailed within the report, to acquire all the leasehold interests in the property.

 

Reasons for the Decision:

 

The overall condition and appearance of the property in Ainsdale is very poor and in need of total redevelopment. The site suffers from anti-social behaviour and has a negative impact on the local community and area.

 

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

 

Do not acquire leasehold interests – risk is the continued physical deterioration of the property in Ainsdale and associated problems for the local community.  

 

Risk: current residential leaseholders look to extend their Leases in the near future under the relevant legislation as there are currently less than 50 years remaining – one new tenant has made an approach already.

 

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.