Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor N Rushton.

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

There were no interests declared.

Mr G. Tyers asked the following question:

“I am concerned about the amount of money being spent on ‘Coalville Special Expenses’, especially relating to Grounds Maintenance. The Grounds Maintenance budget for this year, excluding Broomleys Cemetery, is £296,600. Since only £4,000 is allocated to flower bed planting and £27,000 to grass cutting, I decided to submit a Freedom of Information request in July this year (ref no 1125) to try to establish where the remaining budget allocation was being spent.  I have been refused this information and have just been given a list of functions without any monetary allocation.

Could the portfolio holder please explain why the information was refused and the justification for spending over a quarter of a million pounds annually, on the remaining functions (as listed in your reply to my FOI request) - trimming bushes, clearing litter, spraying, street furniture, various inspections/tests, locking/unlocking and line markings?”

Councillor T. Gillard referred to the following response:

Whilst we apologise to Mr Tyers for not providing the level of detail he requested, I can assure him that this is due to us not having that required level of detail. The cost to Coalville Special Expenses of the Grounds Maintenance Function doesn’t have a specific financial amount attached to each area or task, it is based on the number of staff that have been historically allocated to delivering the service. Currently this is just slightly over four full-time members of staff, although the fluidity of the service dictates that this isn’t always the same members of staff. The average hourly rate for a Grounds Maintenance Operative is £49.30 and, therefore, the total cost for these staff over the year is £160,160, and this covers their salary, national insurance and pension contributions. In addition to this, there are Operational Overheads which total £56,350 and this cost covers elements such as vehicle costs, operational equipment, fuel, servicing, tipping fees, staff training, personal protective equipment, and a contribution towards the running of the depot at Coalville Park which includes elements such as business rates, electricity, service contracts, refuse collection and insurance.

On top of these are two further costs. The first is a cost of £32,630 Management and Admin Overheads which is a contribution towards the cost of the Parks and Open Spaces Team Leader, the Parks and Open Spaces Development Officer, the Grounds Maintenance Supervisor, and the Parks and Open Spaces Admin Assistant, to cover a proportion of their salaries, national insurance and pension contributions. The final element is a cost of £47,460 towards Service Management Costs. This is a contribution towards the salary, national insurance and pension contributions of the Leisure Services Team Manager, the Head of Community Services, and the Strategic Director, as well as a contribution towards the other internal Council services that support the delivery of the service such as Human Resources, Payroll, Finance, Communications, Information and Communication Technology, Legal Services, and Customer Services in line with normal council accounting practises.

The total of all these elements is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 19 September 2023

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 September 2023 were considered.

It was moved by Councillor T Gillard, seconded by Councillor M Wyatt and

RESOLVED THAT:

The minutes of the meeting on 19 September 2023 be approved as an accurate record of proceedings.

The report of the Chief Executive

Presented by the Infrastructure Portfolio Holder

The Infrastructure Portfolio Holder presented the report.

In response to a written submission, the Chair invited Councillor S Lambeth to provide comments on the report on behalf of the Labour Group.

Councillor S Lambeth discussed the key criticisms that the Labour Group had of the Delivery Plan, as set out in the document circulated at the meeting. He suggested that the administration’s plan lacked ambition, had created a serious financial issue in the long term, failed to address the impact of inflation on reserves in the current year and future years and consequently meant that the real value of the reserves was being reduced. The result was the deterioration of services, the potential need for service cutbacks, and declining employment conditions for Council staff. There was a failure to do prudent long term planning. The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were, he added, insufficient and failed to provide the appropriate metrics to scrutinise performance.

Councillor K Merrie refuted these criticisms. He noted that there had been a recent update in the process of reporting on the budget and explained what this entailed. He also outlined that the in-year position for 2023-24 will be reported to Cabinet on a quarterly basis.   

In terms of Council Tax increases, he explained that this will be considered as part of the approach to setting the budget for 2024-25 alongside a range of budget options and after consideration of the funding announcements from the Government’s Autumn Statement and the Local Government Finance Settlement. 

He also explained that the Council has a timetable for its budget setting process which will examine a range of budget options in support of setting a balanced budget for 2024-25.  All Councillors are scheduled to be briefed on the budget options on 12 December 2023. 

He added that the Council Delivery Plan reflected an attempt to bring in all stakeholders including the opposition, and the Scrutiny comments lacked specific, direct suggestions of how the Delivery Plan should be reshaped. Nevertheless, Officers and the Alliance had tried to accommodate Scrutiny comments where possible, and more so than in previous Delivery Plan drafting processes. These comments were captured in Appendix 5 of the report.  He also had a conception of how KPIs should operate which was different to the conception of KPIs held by the Labour Group.

The Chair said the KPIs as existed reflected the Portfolio Holders private industry experience, though he accepted there was still work to be done. The Opposition still had a constructive role to play.

Councillor S Lambeth advised the Cabinet that he had a lot of experience of setting appropriate KPIs and wanted to work with the administration on the KPIs in the Delivery Plan.

The Chair welcomed Councillor Lambeth’s input going forwards.

Councillor K Merrie confirmed that he would engage with Councillor S Lambeth again during the next stage of the process.

It was moved by Councillor K Merrie, seconded by Councillor M Wyatt, and

RESOLVED THAT:

The Council Delivery Plan be noted by prior to its  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

The report of the Strategic Director of Place

Presented by the Housing and Property Portfolio Holder

The Housing and Property Portfolio Holder presented the report.

It was moved by Councillor A Woodman, seconded by Councillor K Merrie, and

RESOLVED THAT:

The grant of leases detailed in Table 2.1 be approved.

Reason for Decision: to enable the letting of council commercial properties to proceed and rental income to be generated.

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.  Members are reminded that they must have regard to the public interest test and must consider, for each item, whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure outweighs the public interest in making the item available.

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

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.

The report of the Strategic Director of Resources

Presented by the Corporate Portfolio Holder

The Leader of the Council presented the report.

It was moved by Councillor R Blunt, seconded by Councillor K Merrie, and

RESOLVED THAT:

The recommendations within the report be approved.

Reason for Decision: the council’s Financial and Contract Procedures require that exemptions be reported to Cabinet.

The Report of the Strategic Director of Place

Presented by the Infrastructure Portfolio Holder

The Infrastructure Portfolio Holder presented the report.

It was moved by Councillor K Merrie, seconded by Councillor R Blunt, and

RESOLVED THAT:

The recommendations within the report be approved.

Reason for Decision: to enable the Council to respond to the “Funding Notice” request for 2023/24 from East Midlands Development Company.

The report of the Strategic Director of Resources

Presented by the Corporate Portfolio Holder

The Leader of the Council presented the report.

It was moved by Councillor R Blunt, seconded by Councillor A Woodman and

RESOLVED THAT:

The recommendations within the report be approved.

Reason for Decision: the level of expenditure on the proposed contract exceeds the authority level in the Scheme of Delegation.