Agenda, decisions and minutes

To sign the minutes of the meetings held on 18 January, 26 January and 9 February 2016.

The minutes of the meetings held on 18 January, 26 January and 9 February 2016 were taken as read and signed by the Chair as correct.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest were made.

To receive the minutes of the Major Grants and New Homes Bonus Panel Minutes of 25 February 2016.

The minutes of the meeting of the Major Grants and New Homes Bonus Panel meeting held on 25 February 2016 were submitted.

In response to a Member, the Community and Social Inclusion Officer clarified that the minutes stated Exeter Community Initiatives had been awarded a rent grant of £6,500 for the rent of Exwick Community Centre.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Major Grants and New Homes Bonus Panel meeting held on 25 February 2016 be received and, where appropriate, adopted.

To receive the minutes of the Leisure Complex and Bus Station Programme Board Minutes of11 February 2016.

The minutes of the meeting of the Leisure Complex and Bus Station Programme Board meeting held on 11 February 2016 were submitted.

The Leader advised of an additional recommendation that in accordance with paragraph C1.3 of Contract Regulations, and in order to progress the bus station development within the required timeframe, the Deputy Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council, the Corporate Manager Legal Services and Assistant Director Finance, to appoint WSP Engineering Services to progress both the interim solution and other elements of the bus station operation. The rationale behind appointing WSP is that they have previously worked with Crown Estates in progressing their planning application which has included many elements of the bus station operational requirement. Therefore to appoint WSP will mean that the Council are able to reuse the work that they have previously done; reducing the overall timeframe for delivery and overall cost to the Council.

This was agreed by the majority of the Members.

RESOLVED that:-

(1)          the minutes of the Leisure Complex and Bus Station Programme Board meeting held on 11 February 2016 be received and, where appropriate, adopted; and

(2)          in accordance with paragraph C1.3 of Contract Regulations, and in order to progress the bus station development within the required timeframe, the appointment by the Deputy Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council, the Corporate Manager, Legal Services and Assistant Director Finance, of WSP Engineering Services to progress both the interim solution and other elements of the bus station operation, be approved. The rationale behind appointing WSP is that they have previously worked with Crown Estates in progressing their planning application which has included many elements of the bus station operational requirement. Therefore to appoint WSP would mean that the Council would be able to reuse the work previously done by WSP; reducing the overall timeframe for delivery and overall cost to the Council.

(In accordance with Standing Order no.43, Councillor Leadbetter requested that his vote against this recommendation be recorded).

To consider the report of the Assistant Director Housing.

Scrutiny Committee – Community considered the report at its meeting on 1 March 2016 and its comments will be reported.

The report of the Assistant Director Housingwas submitted to advise Members of the proposed Housing Strategy for 2016-2020 and to explain the context in which it had been developed.

Members were advised that the Housing Strategy had been informed by a number of significant factors including emerging Government Policy and work commissioned from the University of Exeter on housing need in the city.

 The three priorities of the Strategy were:-

• address housing need by providing housing advice and support to all residents;
• explore ways of delivering new affordable housing across all tenures; and
• be a good landlord – as the largest landlord in Exeter the Council has an important role to play, both in being a good landlord to its own tenants and as an example to other landlords in the City.

Members supported the Strategy.

Scrutiny Committee – Community considered the report at its meeting on 1 March 2016 and its comments were reported.

RECOMMENDED that Council approves the new Housing Strategy for 2016-2020.

To consider the report of the Assistant Director Public Realm.

Scrutiny Committee – Economy considered the report at its meeting on 3 March 2016 and its comments will be reported.

The report of the Assistant Director Public Realmwas submitted to seek the adoption of the new Parking Strategy. This would provide a new strategic approach to the parking services provided by the Council, with a focus on four key objectives of economic growth, parking capacity, congestion and maintaining parking income. The Consultant’s work had also enabled a number of Member Spotlight Review meetings to be held and also deliberate over the consultant’s findings and contribute to the final Strategy. The Action Plan sought to deliver a revised pricing and tariff structure for the City Council’s car parks in September 2016 and an Investment Strategy for the City Council’s car parks in November 2016.

In response to a Member, the Assistant Director Public Realm clarified that the pricing and tariff restructure was not predicated on increasing income and would focus on redesigning the structure to take account of use behaviour to address the key strategic objectives.

Scrutiny Committee – Economy considered the report at its meeting on 3 March 2016 and its comments were reported, including an additional recommendation that the Parking Strategy and accompanying action plan be reviewed in 12 months’ time and take account of emerging proposals such as the Exeter City Futures.

Members supported the additional recommendation.

RECOMMENDED that Council:-

(1)          adopts the Parking Strategy 2016 – 2026 and that work commences towards the delivery of the actions set out in its Action Plan; and

(2)          that the Parking Strategy and accompanying action plan be reviewed in 12 months’ time and take account of emerging proposals such as the Exeter City Futures.

To consider the report of the Assistant Director, City Development.

Scrutiny Committee – Community considered the report at its meeting on 1st March 2016 and its comments will be reported.

The report of the Assistant Director City Development and Community Involvement and Inclusion Officer was submitted advising Members of the work over the past 12 months to develop the Exeter Community Strategy (ECS),which has been led by Exeter Community Forum (ECF) with the support of consultants Gerard Couper and Andrew Shadrake (CAG Consultants).

The Community Involvement and Inclusion Officer advised that it was anticipated that the ECF would make future recommendations to Council on process for decision making regarding how the neighbourhood portion of the CIL should be spent. The criteria for applying for funds and the make-up of the application panel were being worked through and would be brought back through to Scrutiny and Executive for agreement.

The Portfolio Holder for the Housing Revenue Account welcomed this community development work and commented that there was a great variation across the city in respect of community engagement. There would still be a need for the Council to offer some support to community organisations that took on the running of Council owned assets. 

The Portfolio Holder for City Development commented that there was a need to ensure that there was an equable distribution of funding across the city.

In response to Members, the Community Involvement and Inclusion Officer clarified that the New Homes Bonus element of the funding would be used in the next couple of years to support capacity building work with community groups across the city that require investment to enable them to access the CIL neighbourhood funding and other external funds.

Members thanked Christine Fraser and Diana Moore and Dawn Rivers, the City Council’s Community Involvement and Inclusion Officer for their work on this strategy.

Scrutiny Committee – Community considered the report at its meeting on 1 March 2016 and its comments were reported.

RECOMMENDED to Council that:-

(1)        the Exeter Community Strategy as a living document that would inform the allocation of the neighbourhood portion of the Community Infrastructure Levy, be welcomed and approved in principle;

(2)        the recommendations from ECF as to how to spend the neighbourhood portion of the CIL and the New Homes Bonus allocation, be welcomed;

(3)        the ECF be invited to put forward a process by which recommendations for spending the neighbourhood portion of the CIL are put to the Council for approval on a periodic basis, taking account of the availability of funds secured in the neighbourhood portion of the CIL and of the Council’s inability to borrow against future CIL receipts;

(4)        the ECF be invited to put forward a suggestion for how the spend of the neighbourhood portion of the CIL will be communicated publicly;

(5)        Council officers be consulted, as appropriate, on the future review of the purpose, function and future of the ECF to ensure that the ECF continues to perform the representative role it has developed to date; and

(6)        through its Community Involvement and Inclusion Officer, the Council retains accounting responsibilities in relation to the neighbourhood portion of the CIL.

To consider the report of the Corporate Manager Property.

Scrutiny Committee – Economy considered the report at its meeting on 3 March 2016 and its comments will be reported.

The report of the Corporate Manager Property was submitted which set out the need to review the future of South Street and the Corn Exchange block and to ask Council to approve initial funding to resource the projects.

The Corporate Manager Property clarified that, in response to a comment raised at Scrutiny Committee – Economy regarding a review, KPMG were undertaking for British Homes Stores and it had been confirmed that the current position was that they were not looking to close the Exeter Store.

In response to Members’ questions, the Corporate Manager Property clarified the position with regard to the occupation of units on South Street and that the Council would keep tenants and businesses in the area informed of any proposals as they come forward.

The Portfolio Holder for Economy and Culture commented that there were no immediate changes proposed and that residents and businesses in the locality would be consulted on any projects coming forward.

Scrutiny Committee – Economy considered the report at its meeting on 3 March 2016 and its comments were reported.

RECOMMENDED that Council approve a budget of £75,000 to progress the project for a review of South Street and the Corn Exchange block.

The report of the Assistant Director Environmentwas submitted advising of the 2016/17 Recycling Plan. Members were advised that the Citizen and Insight Magazines were valuable tools in educating and informing the public in waste reduction and that continued community engagement was vital to encourage further re-cycling. Officers would continue to explore the feasibility of introducing a food waste collection service in association with the Disposal Authority (Devon County Council) and, in particular, examine how the potential savings in disposals costs could be used to fund such a service.   

The Portfolio Holder for Health and Place commented that there was an in principle agreement with Devon County Council regarding the disposal of food waste although the details of how the costs would be shared had yet to be worked through.

In response to Members, the Assistant Director Environment clarified that work would be undertaken through community engagement programmes in order to encourage people to buy perishable foods more carefully, to store them appropriately, and re-use leftovers for another meal. Residents would also be encouraged to compost more food waste, individually or as part of a community project. 

The Portfolio Holder for Health and Place commented that there was an in principle agreement with Devon County Council regarding the sharing of savings from waste diversion schemes, although the details of how the costs would be shared had yet to be worked through.

In response to Members, the Assistant Director Environment clarified that there would be a greater emphasis on behavioural change through community engagement programmes in the year ahead. This work would seek to overcome some of the simple barriers to recycling (e.g. confusion over whether a can needs to be thoroughly washed for recycling), and encourage waste minimisation, e.g. reducing food waste by careful purchasing of perishable foods, storing them appropriately, and re-using leftovers for another meal. Residents would also be encouraged to compost more food waste, individually or as part of a community project. 

Scrutiny Committee – Community considered the report at its meeting on 1 March 2016 and its comments were reported.

RECOMMENDED that Council approves the Recycling Plan for 2016/17.

RESOLVED that, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of item 12 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part I, Schedule 12A of the Act. 

To consider the report of the Museum Manager & Culture Lead.

The report of the Museums Manager and Culture Lead was submitted providing a business case for the restructure and review of the RAMM’s Audience Development Team.

Members were advised that the proposed restructure would improve the smooth running of all events to give a better service to the public, attract funding for projects and ensure engagement of specific harder to reach audiences.

Members welcomed this proposal.

RESOLVED that:-

(1)     the business case for the Audience Development Team restructure as set out in this report be agreed; and

(2)     the Marketing and Audience Development Manager be authorised to proceed to the first consultation stage in accordance with the Council’s Organisational Change Policy.