Agenda and minutes

Venue: Rennes Room, Civic Centre, Paris Street, Exeter. View directions

Contact: Mark Devin, Democratic Services Officer  Telephone 01392 265477 or email  mark.devin@exeter.gov

Items
No. Item

17.

Minutes

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2018.

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2018 were approved and signed by the Chair as correct.

18.

Declarations of Interests

Councillors are reminded of the need to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests that relate to business on the agenda and which have not already been included in the register of interests, before any discussion takes place on the item. Unless the interest is sensitive, you must also disclose the nature of the interest. In accordance with the Council's Code of Conduct, you must then leave the room and must not participate in any further discussion of the item.  Councillors requiring clarification should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer prior to the day of the meeting.

 

Minutes:

The Chief Executive & Growth Director declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in respect of the item on the formation of a Development Company (Minute 24) as he advised that he was currently a Director of the companies and withdrew from the room whilst this was discussed.

19.

Sustainable Financing Model for Exeter Infrastructure pdf icon PDF 476 KB

To consider the report of the Chief Executive & Growth Director.

 

Minutes:

The Chief Executive & Growth Director presented the report which sought Member support for the opportunity to explore solutions to the structural challenges of building in the city through a new sustainable financing model.  The report set out the benefits, as well as the risks and mechanics of a collaboration to create a City Development Fund as a means of financing and delivering future developments in the Greater Exeter region and within the city. This model would be unique as it was not in existence anywhere else in the UK.

 

Exeter’s development outcomes, faced issues which included congestion, a lack of available and affordable housing, with planning locked and land values stalled. Although Exeter was not alone, it was felt that the existing development model was under a high level of strain with a divergence between financial gains by developers and housing that would benefit the residents of Exeter.  The creation of a financing and delivery model would help to disrupt the current housing market, increase the supply of housing and consider how to solve the fundamental problem.  The private sector currently financed the majority of developments in Exeter, controlling both the timing of the city’s developments and what was delivered.  A pooled financial source would strengthen assets, allow delivery at a set pace and reduce the financial cost of such projects.

 

The Head of Strategic Partnerships at Exeter City Futures, Roli Martin, was also at the meeting.  He said that there would be an opportunity with the additional financing mechanism to replicate the opportunity afforded to the private sector.  He responded to a Member’s comment of the varying influence of the stakeholders. The Chief Executive & Growth Director explained that the City Council had entered into joint ventures in the past that had been successful such as the development of Princesshay and there were other examples of working with private developers. However, strategic joint ventures had their challenges.

 

In response to questions from Members, the Chief Executive & Growth Director explained that the Fund could not only be used for residential housing development but also for wider commercial development and complement the City Council’s direct role in delivery in a controlled way. There would also be an opportunity to work with a range of stakeholders with significant strategic sites in the city including the University of Exeter and also the NHS and, if the assets were brought together under a single development programme and funding structure, the aggregate asset pool would create greater financial power and borrowing capacity to deliver larger scale developments at pace.

 

It was noted that a Member’s Briefing would be held to provide further detail. 

 

Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee noted the report and requested Executive to approve the following:-

 

(1)       officers to commit support, time and energy into exploring the benefits, risks and mechanics of a collaboration in a City Development Fund as a means of financing and delivering future developments in the Greater Exeter region and within the city. Developments would embrace innovative solutions and a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

20.

Overview of Revenue Budget pdf icon PDF 269 KB

To consider the report of the Chief Finance Officer.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chief Finance Officer presented the report which advised Members of the overall financial position of the Housing Revenue Fund (HRA) & General Fund Revenue Budgets for the 2017/18 financial year. The report sought approval for the General Fund working balance, HRA working balance, supplementary budgets and the creation of new earmarked reserves.  The HRA Outturn Statement depicted an increase in the working balance of £1,644,790, which was now set at £10,212,244. This was a significant variance from the proposed reduction to the balance of £2,487,615 at the start of the year.  He explained that the General Fund budget had an under spend of £1,222,566 against a revised budget of £14,315,240.  A number of supplementary budgets totalling £1,880,480 had been requested as part of the 2018/19 budget. He drew Member’s particular attention to the delay in finalising the arrangements for the transfer of the longer term management of Exeter’s valley parks to the Devon Wildlife Trust, which required the budget to be carried forward. He also referred to the movement of the earmarked reserves for 2017/18 and provided an update on the Debt Write offs figure, which had increased due in part to the increased number of general household debt and insolvency and bankruptcy cases.

 

Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee noted the report and requested the Executive note and Council note and approve (where applicable):-

 

(1)  the net transfer of £2,419,076 from Earmarked Reserves as detailed in paragraph 8.3.6;

(2)  supplementary budgets of £1,880,480 as detailed in paragraph 8.3.8;

(3)  Earmarked Reserves at 31 March 2018;

(4)  the Council Tax account and collection rate;

(5)  the outstanding sundry debt, aged debt analysis and debt write-off figures;

(6)  the creditor payments performance;

(7)  having regard to the overall financial position of the Council, the General Fund working balance of £4,692,404 as at 31 March 2018; and

(8)  the Housing Revenue Account working balance of £10,212,244 and the Council Own Build working balance of £256,943 as at 31 March 2018.

21.

Capital Monitoring 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 158 KB

To consider the report of the Chief Finance Officer.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chief Finance Officer presented the report which advised Members of the Council’s overall financial performance of the Council’s capital programme for the 2017/18 financial year, and sought approval for the 2018/19 revised capital programme, including commitments carried forward from 2017/18. He explained that all local authorities were required to estimate the total of capital expenditure that it planned to incur during the financial year and which showed that asset management and capital investment strategies were affordable and sustainable. Capital expenditure was a significant source of risk and uncertainty since cost variations, delays and changing specifications were connected to large and complex capital projects. The revised Capital Programme of £12,986,130 and expenditure in 2017/18 amounted to £10,331,102, and represented 79.6% of the revised Capital Programme. A sum of £2.323 million had been identified and would need to be carried forward to be spent in future years. A further funding request for an additional £40,000 was made as part of a replacement lift programme of works at Mary Arches Street Car Park. Advice from a specialist consultant was that a more robust solution was needed.

 

The report also set out the expenditure variances and schemes to be deferred to 2018/19 and beyond.

 

Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee noted the report and requested Executive and Council approve the following:-

 

(1)       overall financial position for the 2017/18 annual capital programme; and

(2)       amendments and further funding request to the Council’s annual capital programme for 2018/19.

22.

Budget Monitoring 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 147 KB

To consider the report of the Chief Finance Officer.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chief Finance Officer presented the final outturn report for 2017/18, and advised Members of the material differences, by management unit, between the approved budget and the outturn for the financial year up to 31 March 2018 in respect of the Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee. The total variance for the year showed a surplus of £962,348, after transfers from reserves, which represented a variation of 12.37% from the revised budget and included supplementary budgets of £573,430 already agreed by Council.

 

The Chief Finance Officer highlighted two significant variations including an underspend relating to Corporate Property assets where it had not been possible to complete some works this year. Strata had also achieved greater savings than had been anticipated due to not recruiting to vacant posts in order to address the increase in savings required for 2018/19. He responded to a Member’s comments about an upgrade of the Council’s telephony system which was currently undergoing a scoping exercise, as part of the final element of IT convergence across the three local authorities.  He also referred to the challenges of the development of Strata and following the appointment of a new IT Director, he was pleased to report that the results had revealed a high level of staff satisfaction. He would share the staff survey and also invited the Member to contact him if he required any further information. 

 

The Chief Finance Officer also responded to a Member’s comment on his role as a member of the Strata Board and confirmed that this was not co-dependent on his role at the City Council.

 

Corporate Scrutiny Committee noted the report.

23.

Treasury Management 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 337 KB

To consider the report of the Chief Finance Officer.

 

Minutes:

The Chief Finance Officer presented the report on the overall performance for the 2017/18 financial year, and the position regarding investments and borrowings at 31 March 2018.  The report, which was a statutory requirement, set out the detail of investments made and levels of borrowing by the City Council, which had been undertaken in accordance with the Council’s approved Treasury Management Practices. He also discussed the Treasury Management Strategy, which had been approved by Council on 20 February 2018, which set out that the investment strategy to continue to hold only small surplus funds and to seek to utilise its Call Accounts, Money Market Funds, using the Government’s Debt Management Office. The Council’s borrowing strategy was to manage short term borrowing as long as interest rates remained low.  He also referred to Council approval to invest in the Local Authority Property Fund as a long term commitment. The report detailed the Council’s investment as at 31 March 2018. 

 

The Chief Finance Officer highlighted a fixed term deposit relating to Guildford Borough Council which had exceeded the level set out in the Treasury Management Strategy made available to a lower tier authority.  Colleagues in Internal Audit had been made aware. He responded to a Member’s enquiry and confirmed that following a review of the brokering arrangements, the loan would remain as the local authority was considered to be a low risk and was due to be repaid later this year.  He also responded to the Member and advised the inclusion of the Property Fund fluctuation in the Council’s Risk Register was not at this moment necessary as there was a statutory override to protect the Council, but if this changed then it should be included.  

 

Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee noted the Treasury Management report for the 2017/18 financial year and recommended approval by Executive and Council.

 

24.

Formation of a Development Company

To consider the report of the Shadow Director.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chief Executive & Growth Director declared an interest and withdrew from the room whilst this matter was discussed. It was noted that he was named as Director but would soon be replaced to prevent any conflicts of interest ahead of the development company trading should Members approve the request.

 

The Shadow Director presented the report which sought Member’s approval for the establishment of a group of wholly-owned Council companies to be collectively known as Exeter City Group Ltd (ECG). The four companies would be comprised as follows:-

 

·           Exeter City Group Ltd – (the holding company);

·           Exeter City Living Ltd – (the development company);

·           Exeter City Homes Ltd – (the residential property company); and

·           Exeter City Living Property Ltd – (the commercial property company).

 

The Shadow Director confirmed that Exeter City Homes Ltd and Exeter City Living Property Company Ltd would not be in operation until approval was received from Council to be able to operate based upon sound and viable business cases.  The structure would be made up of Exeter City Council Group Ltd (the holding company) with the three subsidiaries operating under the parent company. The Council would own 100% of the shares in Exeter City Group Ltd and 100% in all of the subsidiaries. She explained the reasons for setting up the ECG, which included the acute need for housing where home ownership was out of the reach for many local people and private rents were increasing; and, although the demand for affordable homes had grown, existing approaches to the building of new housing were increasingly not delivering affordable homes of the type and quality required by the city’s residents. The City Council sought to deliver more affordable homes themselves through developing new council homes through the HRA but this was not enough to meet the housing need. Finance available to the HRA in terms of borrowing had been capped preventing new council homes being built.  More than 150 local authorities had created a wholly owned housing company and the Government supported local authorities in establishing such companies to provide well designed high quality homes in a range of tenures. 

 

The report set out the strategic and Year One business case and included the structure, governance and operational arrangements which had been designed with the assistance of external legal support.  A Steering Group had been set up to ensure the Council’s interest for retaining the necessary level of control over ECG, and the need to ensure that it had the autonomy to carry out the proposed actions in the Year One business case. The group consisted of the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holder for Economy, Culture and Chair of Planning, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Revenue Account, Portfolio Holder for City Transformation, Energy and Transport, Portfolio Holder for People. The Group also included City Solicitor, Head of HR Services and the Chief Finance Officer.  The governance structure also included the appointment of shareholder representation to support the Council and scrutinise and manage its interests  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

25.

Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 - Exclusion of Press and Public

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 - Appendix E, on the grounds that it involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1, Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED that, under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of the following item, Appendix E on the grounds that it included the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3, of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

26.

Exeter City Group Ltd Business Case - Appendix E

Minutes:

The Shadow Director presented detail of Appendix E which included the financial element of the Business Case and other information of a commercial sensitive nature in relation to the formation and operation of Exeter City Living Ltd.

27.

Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 - Exclusion of Press and Public

Minutes:

RESOLVED that, under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be not excluded during consideration of the following items on this agenda.

28.

Equality and Diversity Policy pdf icon PDF 140 KB

To consider the report of the Policy Officer.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Policy Officer (MP-J) presented the report which sought approval for an updated Equality and Diversity Policy which provided a clear framework for the council to meet its legislative duties. Executive approved the current Equality and Diversity Policy in November 2016 and following a review to ensure the document was up to date, an amendment had been made with the additions of sections 7.16 to 7.21, which related to accessible services and information.

 

A number of actions had also been agreed including:-

 

·         training to ensure that Equality Impact Assessments were carried out correctly,

·         revision of the Committee reporting template to ensure that a separate section is included on equality and diversity, 

·         development of a mechanism to identify the need for Equality Impact Assessments in tandem with the General Data Protection Compliance (GDPR) requirement for a Privacy Impact Assessment,

·         a breakdown of protected characteristics in the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, and

·         a refresh of the Council’s equality objectives as part of the development of the Corporate Plan.

 

Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee noted the updated Equality and Diversity Policy report and requested approval by the Executive.

29.

Revised Exeter City Council Health & Safety Policy pdf icon PDF 132 KB

To consider the report of the Principal Health & Safety Officer.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Environmental Health and Licensing Manager presented a revision of the Council’s Health and Safety at Work Policy. The document reflected the changes to the Council’s structure, also to take account of changes to legislation and best practice for all of the Council’s activities and performance in health and safety in the work place. The revision of the document emphasised more clearly the Council’s corporate aim to be an exemplar of health and safety at work to ensure that staff and also Members were placed in a better position.  The Policy was also presented in a new format and offered a clearer guidance for all employees.

 

Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee noted the report and requested Executive and Council to note, and approve the revised Health & Safety Policy.

30.

Health and Safety Report 2017 pdf icon PDF 118 KB

To consider the report of the Principal Health & Safety Officer.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Environmental Health and Licensing Manager presented a report which detailed the Council’s activities and performance in health and safety in the work place during 2017. He stated that the Council’s ambition was to maintain and advance its positive health and safety culture by creating an environment with fairness and clear lines of responsibility at its core.

 

The Environmental Health and Licensing Manager responded to Member‘s comments on the previous spend on health and safety and the protection afforded to staff who faced attacks when carrying out their daily duties. The new culture of health and safety under the strategic leadership of the Director (JY) incorporated a reformed Corporate Health and Safety Committee with all members of the Senior Management Board and Representatives Committee including representatives from all departments and union safety representatives and provided a forum for staff to raise any concerns as part of a responsible and efficient culture. He also responded to a Member’s comments on the Council’s approach to portable appliance testing (PAT) and the potential for ‘robot’ grass cutting on steep gradients, and provided an update on the progress made with checking all electrical equipment in the Civic Centre and satellite offices.  A contractor had been appointed to carry out PAT testing and they had made rapid progress having finished their inspections at the Civic Centre and moved to other external location areas with a range of action undertaken to ensure compliance. Certainly mechanical grass cutting would be desirable for steep gradients.

 

The City Surveyor also responded to a Member’s comment on the stance taken by the Police at recent incidents at Eastern Fields in Pinhoe, and stated that police did not routinely attend such instances as a general rule.

 

Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee supported the report and requested Executive to recommended Council approval of the revised Health and Safety report for adoption.

 

31.

Renewables and Energy Programme Update pdf icon PDF 719 KB

To consider the report of the Corporate Energy Manager.

 

Minutes:

The City Surveyor presented the report which provided an update on the Renewables and Energy Efficiency Programme, including income generation, energy and carbon savings, as well as feasibility work for new projects to commence in 2018/19. He highlighted a number of projects the Energy team had been working on including the progression of a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) grant to support smart grid systems and the benefits of battery storage, on sites on Clapperbrook Lane and the Livestock Centre.  New LED lights had also been installed at Princesshay 3 Car Park.  

 

Data for the Council’s Annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions for 2017 was now available and reflected further reductions in energy consumption and total carbon emissions which were detailed in an appendix to the report. Total CO2 emissions had illustrated a 25% reduction in emissions from buildings and 34% in emissions from transport since 2012.  Energy consumption at the Civic Centre had also reduced by 36% and was a clear endorsement of the benefits of a combination of Solar PV, energy saving LED lights, hand dryers and a more efficient gas boiler.  The Energy Strategy target of a 50% energy reduction in energy consumption and carbon emissions by 2022 was still achievable if invested in.  He also drew attention to the new savings and income streams made in energy by the City Council of £1.5 million since 2012.

 

Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee noted the report and the energy saving progress made to date, income and savings generated up to April 2018, and projects planned for the Renewables and Energy Efficiency Programme.

32.

Members Allowances Paid 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 128 KB

To consider the report of the Corporate Manager Democratic & Civic Support.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Corporate Manager Democratic and Civic Support presented the report on the allowances paid to Elected Members in 2017/18, as the Council had a statutory obligation to publish all allowances paid, and expenses claimed by Members each financial year. In response to an observation from a Member, he would clarify the detail for the Travel and Subsistence claims made.

 

Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee noted the report and the allowances paid and expenses claimed by Members in 2017/18.