Agenda and decisions

Apologies were received from Cllr Rennison and Cllr Moema.

NOTED

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of Urgent Business. (Late items of Urgent Business will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items of Urgent Business will be dealt with under Item 16 below. New items of exempt business will be dealt with at Item 21below).

There were no items of urgent business.

NOTED

A Member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A Member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 8.1-15.2 of Section Two of Part 5 of the Constitution  and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

There were no new declarations of interest.

NOTED

On occasions part of the Cabinet meeting will be held in private and will not be open to the public if an item is being considered that is likely to lead to the disclosure of exempt or confidential information. In accordance with the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 (the “Regulations”), members of the public can make representations about why that part of the meeting should be open to the public.

This agenda contains exempt items as set out at Item 17: Exclusion of the Press and Public.  No representations with regard to these have been received.

This is the formal 5 clear day notice under the Regulations to confirm that this Cabinet meeting will be partly held in private for the reasons set out in this Agenda.

There were no representations received.

NOTED

There were no formal deputations, questions or petitions.

The Mayor advised that, at his discretion, he would permit a member of the public to speak during consideration of item 10 – the emergency transport strategy.

NOTED.

To receive the minutes of the Cabinet Procurement Committee (CPC) held on 6 July 2020 - for noting only.

RESOLVED

That the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet Procurement Committee held on 6 July 2020 were received and noted.

To agree the minutes of the previous meeting of Cabinet held on 20 July 2020.

RESOLVED

That the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 20 July 2020 were confirmed as an accurate record of the meeting.

This report  will advise Cabinet of the July 2020 OFP latest position on the Council’s budgetary position in 2020/21. 

RESOLVED

To update the overall financial position for July, covering the General Fund, HRA and Capital.

REASONS FOR DECISION

To facilitate financial management and control of the Council's finances.

CHILDREN, ADULT SOCIAL CARE AND COMMUNITY HEALTH (CACH)

  Summary

The CACH directorate is forecasting an overspend of £13.9m after the application of reserves and drawdown of grant with COVID-19 related expenditure accounting for £11.3m of the reported overspend. 

Children & Families Service

Children and Families Service (CFS) is forecasting a £3.080m overspend as at the end of July against budget after the application of reserves including a £1.735m forecast drawdown in respect of COVID-19 related spend. The draw down from reserves includes:

?  £3.869m from the Commissioning Reserve, set up to meet the cost of placements where these exceed the current budget.

?  £1.6m for additional staffing required to address a combination of increased demand across the service and management response to the Ofsted inspection. 

The forecast also incorporates £4.650m of Social Care Grant funding (that is an additional £3.450m in 2020/21 when compared to last year). Set against this, there is a significant increase in spend driven by looked-after children (LAC) and leaving care (LC) placements costs within Corporate Parenting where the overall spend is forecast to increase by £4.9m (£0.9m has been identified as relating to COVID-19) compared to last year. There is also an increase in forecast spend on staffing across CFS of £2.87m when compared to last year (£0.6m has been identified as relating to COVID-19 and £0.67m relates to an increase in the employer pension contribution from 15.6% to 18.5%). £1.6m is linked to increased staffing levels agreed in response to increased demand and additional posts agreed to assist in responding to the Ofsted recommendations arising from the inspection in November 2019 in which the Council received a ‘requires improvement’ judgement. 

Corporate Parentingis forecast to overspend by £2.72m after the use of £3.9m of commissioning reserves (includes £0.943m of COVID-19 expenditure). This position also includes the use of £2.9m of Social Care funding that was announced in the October 2019 Budget. The overall position for Corporate Parenting has increased by £1.06m since May 2020 and this is due to a significant increase in high cost LAC placements such as Residential Care (£801k) and Independent Fostering Agency (£217k). Gross expenditure on LAC and LC placements (as illustrated in the table below) is forecasted at £27.5m compared to last year’s outturn of £22.7m – an increase of £4.8m (this includes £0.943m of COVID-19 expenditure). 

Table 3: Placements Summary for LAC and Leaving Care - gross costs

This report updates Cabinet on the current position of the Capital Programme and seeks spending and resource approval as required to enable officers to proceed with the delivery of those schemes as set out in section 9 of this report.

RESOLVED

That the schemes for Finance and Corporate Resources as set out in section 9.2 be given approval as follows:

Tier 1 Commercial Asset Solar Project: Resource and spend approval of £700k (£310k in 2020/21 and £390k in 2021/22) is requested for the installation of solar panels on the roofs of nine corporate sites in the borough.

That the schemes for Neighbourhood and Housing (Non) as set out in section 9.3 be given approval as follows:

Residual Waste Wheeled Bins: Resource and spend approval of £683k in 2020/21 is requested for the procurement of plastic wheeled bins as part of the introduction of fortnightly residual waste collections.

Dalston & Hackney Town Centres Feasibility Studies: Resource and spend approval of £335k (£30k in 2020/21 and £305k in 2021/22), resource approval of  £1,505k (£505k in 2021/22 and £1,000k in 2022/23) is requested to commission development feasibility studies for various sites in Dalston and Hackney.

Connecting Green Spaces - Daubeney Fields: Resource and spend approval of £40k in 2020/21 and virement and spend approval of £20k in 2020/21 is requested to fund the redesign of the entrances to the park.

That the schemes for Housing as set out in section 9.4 be given approval as follows:

Street Lighting SLA: Virement and spend approval of £1,000k in 2020/21 is requested to support the maintenance of Street Lighting for the Council’s Housing Estates as a result of the asset survey in August/September 2018.

PAM Delay Costs Covid-19: Virement and spend approval of £1,000k in 2020/21 is requested to support the expenditure for the delay in costs associated with Covid-19.

That the re-profiling of the budgets as detailed in para 9.5 and Appendix 1 be approved as follows:

That the capital programme adjustments summarised below set out in detail in para 9.6 be approved accordingly.

That the schemes outlined in section 9.7 be noted.

REASONS FOR DECISION

The decisions required are necessary in order that the schemes within the Council’s approved Capital programme can be delivered as set out in this report.

In most cases, resources have already been allocated to the schemes as part of the budget setting exercise but spending approval is required in order for the scheme to proceed. Where however resources have not previously been allocated, resource approval is requested in this report.

DETAILS OF ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND REJECTED

None.

This report seeks Cabinet approval for the overall Emergency Transport Plan and the projects contained within it.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet approve the overall Emergency Transport Plan and the projects contained within it as a live document that establishes the first and most immediate response to a quickly changing situation and works alongside existing Hackney policy. The projects are summarised below in Table 1 (Hackney Emergency Transport Plan 2020 - Programme)

Subject to obtaining funding from the DfT Emergency Active Travel Fund as detailed in paragraph 2.7, that Cabinet approve the Stoke Newington Church Street Town Centre Scheme and:

a)  Authorise the Head of Streetscene to make and implement the necessary Experimental traffic order, subject to the requirements of the Local Authorities’ Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996,

b)  Authorise the Head of Streetscene to make minor adjustments to the proposals as required, following design development and feedback from key stakeholders, including local residents.

c)  Authorise the Head of Streetscene to decide whether to make permanent or not the related experimental traffic orders following consideration of all objections/responses received in the statutory six month period. Any such decision shall be recorded in writing and signed by the Head of Streetscene in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Energy, Waste, Transport, and Public Realm. 

Table 1 (Hackney Emergency Transport Plan 2020 - Essential Works Programme)

This report requests Cabinet authority to appropriate for planning purposes the land outlined in red on the plan at Appendix 1 - Woodberry Down - Phase 3

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

Agree to the appropriation of land for planning purposes under section 122 of the Local Government Act 1972 of the land known as Woodberry Down Phase 3 shown outlined in red on the plan at Appendix 1.

Authorise the Group Director of Neighbourhoods and Housing and the Director of Legal to deal with all necessary legal arrangements to effect the appropriation as set out in this report.

REASONS FOR DECISION

This report seeks authority to appropriate the land outlined in red on the plan at Appendix 1 for planning purposes to facilitate the development of Woodberry Down Phase 3. The site has obtained a resolution to grant planning permission. Appropriation of the land for planning purposes would prevent any legal action by a party whose rights may be infringed, which could delay or prevent the proposed redevelopment. It will also ensure that the commercial and market attractiveness of the scheme i s not diminished by the existence of injunctive rights which can frustrate a development.

Appropriation of land for planning purposes under section 122 of the Local Government Act 1972 (“the 1972 Act”) provides the Council with a mechanism for helping minimise the delay or uncertainty associated with regeneration projects by ensuring that the proposed development cannot be held up by injunctions in support of third party rights.

The purpose of an appropriation of l and for planning purposes i s to ensure that the redevelopment of the Council’s l and may benefit from the power in Section 203 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to override all third party rights including covenants and easements. Parties with interests and rights which are infringed as a result of the development following appropriation will not have a right to seek an injunction to prevent the development from being implemented. However, they may be entitled to claim compensation for any injuries caused.

Section 203 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 provides that, subject to exceptions (for example the rights of statutory undertakers and

communication code operators), any building works or changes of use which have the benefit of planning permission are authorised to be carried out on land that is appropriated for planning purposes, notwithstanding that such works or change of use might constitute an interference or disturbance with an easement or breach a restrictive covenant.

The Council in its capacity as a local authority is required to act in a way which is compatible with the Human Rights set out in the European

Convention on Human Rights. Article 1 of the First Protocol of the European

Convention on Human Rights i s enshrined i n English l aw by the Human

Rights Act 1998 and seeks to protect property rights by providing that: “No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of international law.”

In exercising its powers to appropriate land the Council will have to consider  ...  view the full decision text for item 11.

This report seeks Cabinet’s authority to dispose of a parcel of freehold land held by the Council at Chipping Ongar, Essex.

RESOLVED

To authorise the disposal of the freehold of the land edged in black on the attached plan.

To delegate authority to the Group Director of Finance and Corporate Resources to settle all commercial terms in relation to this disposal in discussion with the Mayor as portfolio holder for Property.

To delegate authority to the Director of Legal Services to agree and sign all transfers and other legal agreements necessary or expedient to facilitate this disposal.

REASONS FOR DECISION

Sale of freehold land requires a specific Cabinet authority but the leaseholder has an option to acquire the land upon meeting certain conditions. This report seeks to regularise that situation by authorising the sale of land so that no issue arises when the option conditions are met.

DETAILS OF ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND REJECTED

The lease granted on the 16 March 1998 allowed the developer an option to purchase land on fulfilment of certain conditions. Without the necessary authority the Council could find itself in the position of being contractually obliged to sell the land but without the necessary authority to do so. Doing nothing is therefore not an option.

The only other option would be to accept a surrender of the lease. There is no guarantee the leaseholder would acquiesce and such a route would be very expensive if they did. Under the current arrangements the leaseholder is obliged to to undertake the work necessary to achieve planning permission and so accepting a surrender would place those costs in terms of money and time onto the Council

There were no appointments.

NOTED

There were no appointments.

NOTED

To consider any items admitted at Item 2 above.

There were no new items of unrestricted urgent business.

NOTED

Note from the Governance Services Manager

Items 18-20  allow for the consideration of exempt information in relation to items 7,  and 11 respectively.

PROPOSED RESOLUTION TO BE MOVED BY THE MAYOR:

That the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting as the items below contain exempt information, as defined under paragraph, 3 & 5 of Part 1, schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

Cabinet confirmed there was no discussion required to approve the items of exempt business, therefore there was no resolution to exclude the press and public.

To confirm the exempt minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 20 July 2020 as a correct record.

RESOLVED

That the restricted minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 20 July 2020 were confirmed as an accurate record of the meeting.

RESOLVED

That the restricted minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet Procurement Committee held on 6 July 2020 were received and noted.

To consider any EXEMPT items admitted at Item 2 above.

There were no new items of exempt urgent business.

NOTED