Decisions

Agreed

RECOMMENDED that Council:-

(1)  agree to the permanent in-sourcing of the Leisure Services when the current contract terminates on 31st August 2020 and the abandonment of the procurement process;

(2)  agree to officers effecting an expedient transfer of staff and services into the Council and bringing forward a detailed business plan by 31 December 2020 setting out governance options for the future operation of the service;

(3)  support the allocation of a supplementary budget of up to £270,000 to allow the cost recovery agreement to be settled;

(4)  allocate a revenue budget of £1,542,310 to cover the costs of the transfer and the re-launch of the services;

(5)  allocate a capital budget of £330,000 towards the costs of re-opening facilities in a COVID-Secure environment, ICT systems and equipment and re-branding; and

(6)  allocate a capital budget of £1.5 million for the fitting out of St Sidwell’s Point Swimming Pool and Leisure Complex.

RESOLVED that:-

(1)  the staged re-opening of leisure services take place from September 2020, when it is safe and cost-effective to do so; and

(2)  the cost recovery payment of £337,833 agreed with Parkwood Leisure which terminates the contract on 31st August 2020 be noted.

Reason for Decision:

As set out in the report.

Agreed

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Programme Board be requested to agree the investigation by the relevant scrutiny committee of the continued appropriateness of the statue of General Buller and his horse Biffen, and to act accordingly on its findings.

Reason for Decision:

As set out in the report.

Agreed

RECOMMENDED that Council:-

(1)  approve the Council’s revised spending proposals in respect of both its General Fund and HRA revenue budgets; and

(2)  notes that the future budget monitoring reports will assess the position against the revised budget and further decisions may be required depending on the economic impact being experienced as the year progresses; and

(3)  approves a budget of up to £1 million delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader and Chief Finance Officer, the budget to be used to fund urgent issues arising out of the response to Covid-19 and to offset the reductions in service budgets if required for urgent issues with the funds to be allocated from the income loss compensation announced by the Government.

Reason for Decision:

As set out in the report.

Agreed

RESOLVED that:-

(1)     the contents of the Joint SCI that has been prepared for the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan (GESP) be approved; and

(2)     delegated authority be given to the Chief Executive & Growth Director in consultation with the Council Leader and the relevant Portfolio Holder to agree changes to the Joint SCI arising from decisions by the other Greater Exeter local planning authorities and approve it as a Local Development Document, noting that it will apply jointly to East Devon District, Exeter City, Mid Devon District and Teignbridge District Councils.

Reason for Decision:

As set out in the report.

Agreed

RECOMMENDED that Council approve:-

(1)  the permanent insourcing of the leisure services when the current contract terminates on 31st August 2020 and the abandonment of the procurement process;

(2)  an expedient transfer of staff and services into the Council and the bringing forward of a detailed business plan by 31st of December 2020 setting out governance options for the future operation of the service;

(3)  the allocation of a supplementary budget of up to £270,000 to allow the cost recovery agreement to be settled;

(4)  the allocation of a revenue budget of £1,542,310 to cover the costs of the transfer and the re-launch of the services;

(5)  the allocation of  capital budget of £330,000 for the costs of re-opening facilities in a COVID-Secure environment, ICT systems and equipment and re-branding; and

(6)  the allocation of £1.5 million capital budget for the fitting out of St Sidwell’s Point Swimming Pool and Leisure Complex.

RESOLVED that:-

(7)  the staged re-opening of leisure services take place from September 2020, when it is safe and cost-effective to do so; and

(8)  the cost recovery payment of £337,833 agreed with Parkwood Leisure which terminates the contract on 31st August 2020 be noted.

Reason for Decision:

As set out in the report.

Agreed

RECOMMENDED that Council:-

(1)  note the Housing Revenue Account Development Programme progress update;

(2)  approve the additional capital budget provision of £3m to allow urgent market opportunities to be pursued and secured where the Committee reporting timescales do not allow a full reporting process to be followed;

(3)  approve for delegated authority to given to the Director in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Portfolio Holder for Council Housing Development and Services to spend the £3 million referred to in paragraph 2.1.2 of the report presented at the meeting to addressed in year market opportunities; and

(4)  approve the acquisition of all three, 3 three bedroom houses in Anthony Road, Heavitree, Exeter, as part of the HRA Development Programme at a cost of £900k.

Reason for Decision:

As set out in the report.

Agreed

RECOMMENDED that Council:-

(1)  approve the creation of a CHD Advisory Board, with the composition and terms of reference detailed in sections 9 and 10 of the report presented at the meeting;

(2)  agree the terms of reference set out in paragraph 9 of the report presented at the meeting and the Council’s constitution be amended accordingly;

(3)  request the Independent Remuneration Panel to consider the position of Chair of the CHD Advisory Board would attract a Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) and if so, the level of SRA, and recommend this to Council accordingly; and

(4)  approve a budget of up to £16,000 to cover the cost of an additional resource, if required and a budget of up to £10,000 for the Special Responsibility Allowance.

Reason for Decision:

As set out in the report.

Agreed

RESOLVED that:-

(1)  the GESP Draft Policies and Site Options consultation document be approved for public consultation;

(2)  the GESP Draft Policies and Site Options Sustainability Appraisal Report be approved for public consultation;

(3)  the Initial Habitat Regulations Assessment Report be approved for public consultation;

(4)  the content and conclusion of the GESP Equality Impact Assessment Screening Report be noted;

(5)  delegated authority be given to the Chief Executive & Growth Director in consultation with the Leader and relevant Portfolio Holder to agree changes to the documents presented at the meeting, following decisions made by the other GESP authorities and before they are published for consultation;

(6)  a ‘call for sites’ process be approved, alongside the consultation on the GESP Draft Policies and Site Options document presented at the meeting; and

(7)  the content of the consultation statement for the 2017 Greater Exeter Strategic Plan Issues consultation be noted.

RECOMMENDED that Council approve the GESP team being brought up to eight full time equivalent members of staff and that local planning authority staff resources be provided equitably to the team through equalisation arrangements. Subject to future confirmation of the additional GESP staff roles that will be required, for Exeter City Council this would likely equate to a total contribution of approximately £62,000 per annum towards staff costs, or an additional £33,330 per annum on top of existing staff contributions.

Reason for Decision:

As set out in the report.

Agreed

RECOMMENDED that Council note the content of the report.

Reason for Decision:

As set out in the report.

Agreed

RECOMMENDED that Council approve:-

(1)  the overall financial position for the 2019/20 annual capital programme; and

(2)  the amendments and further funding requests to the Council’s annual capital programme for 2020/21.

Reason for Decision:

As set out in the report.

Agreed

RECOMMENDED that Council notes and approves (where applicable):-

(1)  the supplementary budgets of £657,040 as detailed in paragraph 8.4 of the report presented to the meeting;

(2)  the HRA financial position for 2019/20 financial year; and

(3)  the revision of the HRA Capital Programme to reflect the reported variations detailed in Appendix 4 of the report presented to the meeting.

Reason for Decision:

As set out in the report.

Agreed

RECOMMENDED that Council notes and approves (where applicable):-

(1)  the net transfer of £717,309 from Earmarked Reserves as detailed in paragraph 8.11 of the report presented to the meeting;

(2)   the supplementary budgets of £1,198,960 and budget transfers as detailed in paragraph 8.13 of the report presented to the meeting;

(3)  the Earmarked Reserves at 31 March 2020;

(4)  the Council Tax account and collection rate;

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

(6)  the creditors payment; and

(7)  the General Fund working balance of £5,856,249 at 31 March 2020.

Reason for Decision:

As set out in the report.