Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor N J Rushton

Under the Code of Conduct members are reminded that in declaring disclosable interests you should make clear the nature of that interest and whether it is pecuniary or non-pecuniary.

There were no interests declared

There were no questions received.

Minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2017

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2017.

It was moved by Councillor R Blunt, seconded by Councillor A V Smith and

RESOLVED THAT:

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2017 be approved and signed as a correct record.

Reason for decision: To comply with the constitution.

Report of the Interim Director of Resources

Presented by the Corporate Portfolio Holder

The Leader presented the report to Members.

He advised that the report summarised the main elements of the financial performance for 2016/17, however the results were provisional as they were still subject to external audit and could change. He informed Members that the final audited accounts would be considered and approved by the Audit & Governance Committee on 27 September 2017.

He asked Members to note the outturn position on both the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account, and moving forward, that a greater emphasis would be placed on robust financial management in forecasting the Council’s financial position and reducing variance between budgeted and outturn position. 

He highlighted that: the expected final position on the General Fund was £1.825m surplus against a budget of £0.983m with the major variances being due to an increase in business rates, recycling and planning fee income; that Cabinet had agreed throughout 2016/17 to use the surplus for initiatives totalling £1.178m and that the remaining surplus of £0.647m would therefore be transferred to reserves of which £0.577m would be allocated to Marlborough Square following the decision by Cabinet on 13 June 2017 that this be funded from any 2016/17 remaining surplus and the predicted surplus for 2017/18; that the outturn on the HRA was an expected surplus of £3.234m against a budget of £2.395m with the major variances being additional rental income, under spend on cyclical repairs and a reduction in corporate recharges paid to the general fund. He added that with the additional income received the Council was able to put more funds into the Coalville project.

Councillor R D Bayliss stated that the report was a testament to good financial management and advised Members that in relation to the HRA surplus the authority needed to accumulate surplus to be able to redeem debt, and with £10million to redeem in 2021/22 the authority was on target to do so.

It was moved by Councillor R Blunt, seconded by Councillor A V Smith and

RESOLVED THAT:

The Provisional Financial Outturn Position for 2016/17 be noted.

Reason for decision: Requirement of Financial Procedure Rules

Report of the Chief Executive

Presented by the Community Services Portfolio Holder

The Community Services Portfolio Holder presented the report to Members.

She stated that she was pleased to bring the update to Cabinet, that all Members recognised that the project had the potential to be the largest undertaken by the Council for many years, impacting on current and future generations of residents, that many of the residents recognised that the Council’s leisure facilities, whilst good, were not large enough, or flexible enough to meet future, or even current demand and that the paper before Cabinet explained the current status of the project and set out the broad shape of ongoing work that would come forward for future Cabinet and Council consideration and ultimately a decision.

She informed Members that the project was about creating state of the art leisure facilities that would ensure the authority could meet the leisure needs of North West Leicestershire’s current and future residents and that Cabinet would recall previous discussions about the need for a leisure centre during which Members considered a number of alternative sites. The decision was made to pursue further investigation of the Bridge Road car park site, in the centre of Coalville. Following consultation with district council members, parish councils, sports clubs, current leisure centre users and the general public the Council had received a clear message that the Bridge Road car park was not considered suitable. This was due to its confined nature, difficulty of access, disconnection from what would remain as outdoor leisure facilities on the current Hermitage leisure centre site, and businesses in the town centre expressed concern that it might harm, rather than improve, footfall in the town centre. A number of consultees, including Members and parish councils, suggested that the Council’s land off the A511 would be a suitable site for a new indoor leisure facility. As such, the council team has done some preparatory work, and Cabinet was now asked to endorse progress made to date.

She highlighted the following points of the report to Members:

Financial implications

The report explained that more work was needed to develop the financial modelling into a formal business case and detailed financial forecast that would be completed in the coming months. The affordability model provided with the report presented a ‘worst case’ scenario and indicated that, with a minimum saving of current corporate overheads of £200,000 per annum, the project would ‘break even’. In simple terms it meant that the current level of subsidy to the leisure service would continue in return for the creation of a new facility. The new facility was expected to cost £18 million, of which it would be aimed for £4 million to be funded from receipts from sale of the Council’s land off Cropston Drive and the existing footprint of the Hermitage Leisure Centre.

Staff implications

Cabinet, all other Members and the project team were acutely aware of the sensitivity of the project proposal for the hardworking staff within the leisure service. Much effort had been put into keeping staff informed, most  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

The officers consider that the press and public should be excluded during consideration of the following items in accordance with Section 100(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 as publicity would be likely to result in disclosure of exempt or confidential information.

RESOLVED THAT:

In pursuance of Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting on the grounds that the business to be transacted involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act and that the public interest in maintaining this exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Reason for decision: To enable the consideration of exempt information.

Report of the Interim Director of Resources

Presented by the Corporate Portfolio Holder

The Leader presented the report to Members.

It was moved by Councillor R Blunt, seconded by Councillor A V Smith and

RESOLVED THAT:

The grant of an exemption to the Council’s Contract Procedure Rule 6.4 to allow the award of a contract for support and maintenance of its SharePoint intranet platform on the grounds that only one supplier was available for technical reasons be noted.

Reason for decision: The CPR requires that the exercise of the Statutory Officers’ discretion to grant exemptions is reported to Cabinet

Report of the Interim Director of Resources

Presented by the Corporate Portfolio Holder

The Leader presented the report to Members and invited Councillor J Legrys to address the meeting as ward member.

Councillor J Legrys addressed the meeting putting forward his concerns in relation to the report that was being considered.

Councillor R Blunt thanked Councillor J Legrys for addressing the meeting and detailing his concerns and that from the comments made advised Members of an additional recommendation to be agreed.

Members discussed the report in front of them and the concerns that had been raised by Councillor J Legrys and how they could be addressed.

It was moved by Councillor R Blunt, seconded by Councillor T J Pendleton and

RESOLVED THAT:

The recommendations as set out in the report and the additional recommendation as outlined in the meeting be agreed.

Reason for decision: To enable the Council to take steps to develop Stenson Square and enter negotiations with a third party.

Report of the Interim Director of Resources

Presented by the Corporate Portfolio Holder

The Leader presented the report to Members.

It was moved by Councillor R Blunt, seconded by Councillor T Gillard and

RESOLVED THAT:

The contract for the provision of insurance be awarded to the provider as detailed in the report.

Reason for decision: Value of the contract exceeds thresholds in the scheme of delegation