Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor R D Bayliss.

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 14 March 2017

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 14 March 2017.

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

RESOLVED THAT:

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 March 2017 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Reason for decision: To comply with the Constitution.

Report of the Chief Executive

Presented by the Leader

The Leader presented the report to Members. He updated Members on the progress of the project and highlighted the following:-

·         That in phase one of the shop front improvement scheme 75% of eligible businesses or properties were in discussion with officers and 29% of eligible properties were either complete or progressing.

·         That in relation to phase two of the improvement scheme a Local Development Order was in place and 26 (41% of eligible properties) had expressed an interest.

·         Grant support had been agreed to for works to the frontages of two key buildings in the town.

·         Officers had met with Leicestershire County Council to discuss a new design for Marlborough Square which had been created by the Council’s Urban Designer. It was hoped that vehicle domination of the square and speeds could be reduced and make the square more flexible for events and easier for shoppers to move around. It was highlighted that £523,000 had been allocated to the design and delivery and a further report would be brought to Cabinet once the costs had been formalised.

·         The Council is monitoring the progress of the sale of the former police station site and highlighting to potential buyers the work of the project.

·         Officers have met with Leicestershire County Council to discuss a new design for Memorial Square following meetings with stakeholders such as the Royal British Legion, local businesses and Arriva Buses. It was hoped that the project would enhance the setting of the Memorial to coincide with 100^th anniversary of the end of World War One. Once the scheme was agreed external contributions and funding to support the project would be sought through a funding plan.

·         Officers continued to progress the plan for the Market Hall and five new traders had started trading. There were a number of Easter activities for young children over the Easter weekend and during the spring time the market would be participating in Love Your Local Market.

·         Work to provide more cycle rack provision and improve the existing racks in the town centre was currently underway.

·         The Coalville Heroes were now based in the Market Hall and they had recently held an event to engage the young people of the town to gage their thoughts on how and where public money was spent. In return for their time and thoughts the participants were given a food voucher. The turnout was excellent with over a 100 young people.

·         Worked continued on the heritage and culture projects with officers working with Coalville Heritage Society. Plans were being developed to celebrate Palitoy’s 80^th birthday and as part of the engagement process the Century Theatre would be hosting the Vienna Festival Ballet performance of Cinderella.

·         Officers continued to monitor all media coverage and had issued 10 press releases since the last Cabinet report.

·         The existing model of adverting ‘what’s on in Coalville’ continued and the poster of summer events was being worked on.

The Leader advised that all the work on the project could not be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 117.

Report of the Director of Services

Presented by the Regeneration and Planning Portfolio Holder

The Regeneration and Planning Portfolio Holder presented the report to Members. He reminded Members that over the years the authority has struggled with good design and now the authority had done a 180 degree turn with the Local Plan in the last phase. He stated that there had been a change in the quality of design for housing and the developments were not just at the building for life standard but at national prize winning standard. He informed Members that the document had been out to consultation and highlighted that some developers were unsure of what was expected.

Councillor R Blunt thanked Councillor T J Pendleton and the staff in the planning service and the Urban Designer for the hard work that had been put into the design quality for the district and that he hoped that if developers wished to build in the district and move their applications swiftly, they would listen to what the authority expected.

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

RESOLVED THAT:

1.     The ‘Good Design for North West Leicestershire’ be adopted as a supplementary planning document.

2.     The difference between the District Council and County Council’s aspirations regarding the use of straighter streets and the potential implications for dealing with planning applications in the future be noted.

3.     The design expectations established within the SPD will also apply to any land disposed of or developed by the District Council.

4.     Authority be delegated to the Director of Services, in consultation with the Regeneration and Planning Portfolio Holder, responsibility to implement modifications to the document as detailed in appendix 2.

Reason for decision: By adopting the SPD, Cabinet will afford appropriate status to the document which will be a useful tool in pre-application negotiations. It will also provide a stronger policy basis on which to support decision making on planning applications and provide greater clarity and certainty to planning applicants.

Report of the Director of Housing

Presented by the Housing Portfolio Holder

The Director of Housing presented the report to Members. He informed Members that before them were three revised policies and one new policy that had been out to consultation with the relevant stakeholders, tenants and the Policy Development Group. He highlighted the following:-

·         Anti-Social Behaviour Policy had been revised following a review by the Tenant Scrutiny Panel and the policy also reflected a change of focus away from dealing with every reported case to allow officers to deal with the more serious cases.

·         Tenancy Policy had been revised due to a Government announcement that all new social housing tenancies must be fixed and no new lifetime tenancies. He stated that there was no start date for the changes but the revision put the framework in place for the changes once the date was confirmed.

·         Compensation Policy had been revised following previous experiences and allowed best practice.

·         Private Rented Offer Policy was a new policy that was required following a change of legislation and gave the option to offer suitable privately rented accommodation to homeless applicants to whom the Council owed a rehousing duty.

Councillor T J Pendleton stated that as Chair of the Safer North West Leicestershire Partnership he was pleased to see that the different services of the authority when dealing with anti-social behaviour were working to the same legislation, and content that the fixed term tenancy was in place if required.

Councillor A V Smith stated that there were four excellent policies before them and felt that the Private Rented Offer Policy had been well thought out.

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

RESOLVED THAT:

The four new and revised policies attached as appendix 1 to 4 be approved.

Reason for decision: To provide a robust policy framework to guide the delivery of housing services

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 Corporate Portfolio Holder presented the report to Members. He advised Members that due to the length of time that the contracts would awarded for, the value would require Cabinet approval. He asked to be engaged in the contract and reviews relating to agency staff as that was one of the authority’s biggest expenses.

It was moved by Councillor N J Rushton, seconded by Councillor A V Smith and

RESOLVED THAT:

Authority to award the contracts for (1) workwear, PPE and safety footwear, (2) cleaning consumables, (3) water and (4) agency staff be delegated to the Interim Director of Resources in consultation with the Corporate Portfolio Holder.

Reason for decision: The level of expenditure on this contract exceeds the authority threshold in the Scheme of Delegation.

Before closing the meeting the Leader advised Members that it was the Chief Executive’s last Cabinet meeting.

The Chief Executive thanked Cabinet for all the support that they had given her over the years and had never underestimated the support that she had been provided. She highlighted that when she had first joined the authority, under the previous administration, it had been Executive Board who had provided her with the support to make the necessary improvements. She informed Members that she had every confidence that the new Chief Executive would continue to deliver on the seeds of development and improvements that already had been sown in the District and the Council.

On a personal note she thanked the Leader and Deputy Leader for the advice and support in ensuring their policies were being delivered correctly. She stated that mid-term was the right time to leave especially with the strength of leadership within Cabinet / Council and took the opportunity to thank the Management Leadership Team for their support and she knew that the authority would go from strength to strength.

The Leader thanked the Chief Executive for all her support and felt over the years she had balanced the role with the right advice at the right time, adding that it had been a pleasure to have her sitting to the right of him during the Cabinet meetings.