Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Assembly Room, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King's Lynn

Contact: Sam Winter, Democratic Services Manager 01553 616327 

Link: View Live Stream

Items
No. Item

CAB38

MINUTES

To approve the Minutes of the Meetings held on  3 and 24 August 2021    (previously circulated).

 

Decision:

RESOLVED:  The Minutes of the meetings held on 3 and 24 August 2021 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Minutes:

Click here to view the recording of this item on You Tube

 

RESOLVED:  The Minutes of the meetings held on 3 and 24 August 2021 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

CAB39

URGENT BUSINESS

To consider any business, which by reason of special circumstances, the Chair proposes to accept, under Section 100(b)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

 

Decision:

None

Minutes:

None

CAB40

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of an interest should indicate the nature of the interest (if not already declared on the Register of Interests) and the agenda item to which it relates.  If a disclosable pecuniary interest is declared, the member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed.

 

These declarations apply to all Members present, whether the Member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local Member on an item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area.

Decision:

None

Minutes:

None

CAB41

CHAIR'S CORRESPONDENCE

To receive any Chair’s correspondence.

Decision:

None relevant to the meeting.

Minutes:

None relevant to the meeting.

CAB42

MEMBERS PRESENT UNDER STANDING ORDER 34

To note the names of any Councillors who wish to address the meeting under Standing Order 34.

 

Members wishing to speak pursuant to Standing Order 34 should inform the Chair of their intention to do so and on what items they wish to be heard before a decision on that item is taken.

 

Decision:

Councillors A Kemp C Morley, T Parish, A Ryves and  M de Whalley attended under standing order 34.

Minutes:

Click here to view the recording of this item on You Tube

 

Councillors A Kemp C Morley, T Parish, A Ryves and M de Whalley attended under standing order 34.

CAB43

CALLED IN MATTERS

To report on any Cabinet Decisions called in.

Decision:

None

Minutes:

None

CAB44

FORWARD DECISIONS pdf icon PDF 158 KB

A copy of the Forward Decisions List is attached

 

Decision:

The Forward Decisions list was noted

Minutes:

The Forward Decisions list was noted

CAB45

MATTERS REFERRED TO CABINET FROM OTHER BODIES pdf icon PDF 106 KB

To receive any comments and recommendations from other Council bodies which meet after the dispatch of this agenda. 

 

 

Environment and Community Panel meeting on 31 August 2021 – Comments on Climate Change report.

Decision:

Comments from the Environment and Community Panel on the Climate Change item were received and noted by Cabinet.

Minutes:

Click here to view the recording of this item on You Tube

 

Comments from the Environment and Community Panel on the Climate Change item were received  and noted by Cabinet.

CAB46

CLIMATE CHANGE STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN pdf icon PDF 399 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

 

RECOMMENDED:     1)         That the Climate Change Strategy & Action Plan be adopted.

 

2)         That the Borough Council’s carbon footprint net zero date be brought forward to 2035 or sooner if financially and practically deliverable

 

Reason for Decision

To provide a Strategy and Action Plan to achieve the Borough Council’s carbon footprint net zero target by 2035 and work towards the UK’s net zero target of 2050.

 

Minutes:

Click here to view the recording of this item on You Tube

 

Cabinet considered a report which explained that the Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (CCS&AP) presented followed on from the Climate Change Policy document and provided a clear Strategy and an Action Plan to deliver the Council’s Climate Change agenda.  The CCS&AP had been split into Phase 1 works which would deal with the reduction of the Council’s own carbon footprint to carbon net zero by 2035. Phase 2 would deal with the BEIS district carbon emissions and would be led by several factors such as national policy initiatives and local stakeholders such as the Norfolk Climate Change Partnership to deliver net zero by the Government’s policy target date of 2050.

 

Under standing order 34, Councillor Kemp addressed Cabinet calling for district heating, green transport, rail transport to Hunstanton and no incineration.

 

Under standing order 34 Councillor de Whalley drew attention to the low lying coastal element of the Borough and called on the same response as given to covid.  He called for more meaningful community consultation on the documents and a community assembly.  He considered that £25,000 too small a figure for the work.

 

Under standing order 34 Councillor Parish commented that the public were concerned about the impact of climate change now on their lives.  He asked ow strong mitigation levels on things such as surface flooding, he asked if the Borough would monitor the plans of other agencies on programmes of mitigation and improvements and maintenance.

 

Under standing order 34 Councillor Ryves supported the comments on flooding, and asked if the borough could encourage planning laws to expect more environmentally sound houses working with the developers.

 

Under standing order 34 Councillor Morley supported the comments about surface water flooding and the need for it to be in the policy.  He considered it a practical and reasonable document, but felt the tone of the document should reflect the urgency, and the organisation should embue the emergency.  He felt the Task and Finish Groups should be ongoing.  He drew attention to the new ways of working and building assets which could potentially be disposed of, and that the pathway was backloaded, he felt more vigour needed to be brought to it.

 

Councillor Kunes reminded Members that the costs of all things had to be considered and vehicles would be changed when they were due.  He did not agree with delaying the plan to carry out more consultation.

 

Councillor Long considered it was a sensible raft of measures, he congratulated the officers for the work on this.

 

Councillor Blunt re-iterated this comment.  He asked what was happening in the rest of the County, to which it was explained that there was a Norfolk Climate Change Partnership of all local authorities and the NALEP, which was chaired by the Chief Executive.  It worked to look at joint working and climate change opportunities for Norfolk.  The Chief Executive confirmed the arrangements.

 

Councillor Middleton acknowledged the important work carried  ...  view the full minutes text for item CAB46

CAB47

RE-FIT STREET LIGHTING pdf icon PDF 280 KB

Decision:

RESOLVED:  That the streetlighting replacement scheme with the longer payback period be approved.

 

Reason for Decision:

To improve the council’s streetlighting (some of which have columns in need of replacement), achieve wider energy savings and help reduce the Borough Council’s carbon footprint to net zero.

 

Minutes:

Click here to view the recording of this item on You Tube

 

Cabinet considered a report which explained that in 2018 the Council started Re:fit Phase 1, in which Ameresco were selected to deliver energy efficiency and emissions reduction projects. Ameresco produced an investment grade proposal (IGP) for our last remaining project; improving the streetlighting portfolio.

 

Streetlighting was slipped from Phase 1 following an assessment of all of the Council streetlighting stock, which identified significant additional work required to identify what was required to allow all columns to be fitted with the new LED heads.

 

Ameresco were to install high efficiency LED lighting, by replacing units on a one for one basis. Streetlighting columns were also included within the replacement scope. From our 684 streetlights, 126 columns needed replacement due to having serious defects or having defects whilst being situated in a high-risk area.

 

Council approved £2,000,000 of capital funding on 29 November 2018 to progress the projects.  This approval was granted assuming the identified schemes remained at or improved the agreed payback. Payback for the streetlighting project was identified at 17.30 years and for the total Re:fit project, at 10.50 years.

 

Following the streetlighting IGP, the payback period of 22.95 years was identified, which is outside of the above agreed payback terms.  Cabinet were invited to approve the new payback period.

 

Under standing order 34 Councillor Parish asked for detail on the type of LED lighting to be used.  It was agreed that this could be provided outside of the meeting.

 

Under standing order 34 Councillor Morley made reference to £2m being a lot of money for the scheme and suggested it was delayed for a joint procurement to potentially take place.

 

Councillor Long drew attention to the fact that the whole re-fit project had been £2m, with £1.4m already allocated elsewhere.  The damaged or aged columns needed replacing at the same time as the lights.  He drew attention to the fact the Treasury backed funding was awarded and the usage of Ameresco permitted the procurement benefits of national schemes.

 

Councillor Dark drew attention to the annual CO2 savings proposed, and the numbers involved, the budget had increased by a small amount.

 

RESOLVED:  That the streetlighting replacement scheme with the longer payback period be approved.

 

Reason for Decision:

To improve the council’s streetlighting (some of which have columns in need of replacement), achieve wider energy savings and help reduce the Borough Council’s carbon footprint to net zero.

 

CAB48

NORFOLK STRATEGIC FLOOD RISK STRATEGY pdf icon PDF 295 KB

Please note that Questions and Answers will be permitted on this item as there was not the opportunity for it to be brought to Panel for comments.

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED:To endorse the Norfolk Strategic Flooding Alliance Strategy and Action Plan as set out in Appendices A and B of the report.

 

Reason for Decision

To encourage greater cooperation and coordination across Norfolk in response to flood risk.  The item was within Cabinets powers , not a recommendation to Council.

Minutes:

Click here to view the recording of this item on You Tube

 

The Chair reminded Members that he would permit standing order 34 Members to ask questions as it had to be brought forward with a short timeframe to comply with the request of the Alliance.  He explained that the report was within Cabinets powers, not recommendations to Council.

 

Cabinet considered a report which explained that the Norfolk Strategic Flooding Alliance (NSFA) was established by Norfolk County Council in February 2021 in response to major surface water flooding events across Norfolk in January 2021.  It was intended to help ensure that Norfolk communities and infrastructure were safer and more resilient to the risks of inland and coastal flooding.

 

It was noted that multi-agency work had fed into the development of the strategy which was intended to set out the goals, vision and objectives for the NSFA and provide a framework for the various flood risk management authorities to work to resolve priority flood sites and improve community resilience.

 

The main aims of the strategy were to:

 

·                              Update Norfolk’s Flood Risk Management Strategy

·                              Strengthen partnership working amongst the many organisations with responsibilities for flood risk management in Norfolk, and

·                              Capitalise on the current strong political will to help protect Norfolk better from future flood events

 

The terms of reference for the NSFA were set out in the NSFA Overall Strategy (Appendix A to the report). It was planned that the strategy would be ratified at the NSFA Board meeting on 20 September 2021. The Strategy would then be reviewed annually at the July NSFA meeting, where organisations would affirm their commitment to the NFSA and the delivery of collaborative working in accordance with the principles.

 

Under standing order 34 Councillor Kemp asked Cabinet to contact those agencies who she considered were drawing back on their responsibilities such as the Environment Agency.  Councillor Long offered to discuss her points raised outside of the meeting.

 

Councillor Long endorsed the approach and referred to it as a scaled up version of what was done locally.  He hoped it would reduce barriers for the public in getting issues dealt with and drew attention to the important work of the IDBs and this body of managing water.

 

Councillor Dark drew attention to the importance to be able to be part of the group.

 

RESOLVED:To endorse the Norfolk Strategic Flooding Alliance Strategy and Action Plan as set out in Appendices A and B of the report.

 

Reason for Decision

To encourage greater cooperation and coordination across Norfolk in response to flood risk.

CAB49

REVENUE OUTTURN 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 498 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED:1)         That the draft revenue outturn position for 2020/2021 be approved.

 

2)     That the amendments to the Earmarked Reserves Policy be approved.

 

Reason for Decision

To approve the draft revenue outturn position for 2020/2021 for the Council.

Minutes:

Click here to view the recording of this item on You Tube

 

Cabinet considered a report presented by the Assistant Director Resources which set out in summary the revenue outturn for 2020/2021 for the Council. The report showed details of the major differences between actual costs/income compared to the revised estimates for 2020/2021 reported in February 2021 monitoring.

The accounts showed the Borough’s spend of £16,330,894 which was £7,866 less than the revised position following February’s monitoring for 2020/2021. This included a proposal to transfer £1,690,243 to reserves for continued operations in 2021/2022 and a drawdown of £1,083,135 from reserves to fund the budget. This was a reduction of £174,405 to the estimated drawdown of £1,257,540 as reported in February monitoring position, which meant that the unused amount would remain within the General Fund Reserve balance that will be carried forward to 2021/2022. 

The Council’s continuing strategy was to identify budget savings in year, as part of the monitoring process and at year end. Any savings were then transferred to the General Fund Reserve balance for use in future years.

 

Under Standing Order 34 Councillor Kemp drew attention to the community safety initiative and suggested more funding be allocated to this area to deal with issues people were dealing with.

Under standing order 34 Councillor Ryves asked no plans to cap the loans for the West Norfolk Housing Company which surprised him as he considered they would be involved with the Parkway project.

 

Councillor Long reminded Members that the report was the Outturn report for the year past.  He congratulated officers on the final position of the Council after the pandemic year and the work undertaken to reach that position. 

 

Councillor Dark whilst referring to the very difficult previous year also thanked all the officers involved in getting to this position and the work on the pandemic over the last year.

 

RESOLVED:1)         That the draft revenue outturn position for 2020/2021 be approved.

 

2)    That the amendments to the Earmarked Reserves Policy be approved.

 

Reason for Decision

To approve the draft revenue outturn position for 2020/2021 for the Council.

CAB50

CAPITAL PROGRAMME AND RESOURCES 2020-25 OUTTURN pdf icon PDF 589 KB

For the exempt element of the report

 

Exclusion of the Press and Public

 

The Cabinet is asked to consider excluding the public from the meeting under section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 for consideration of the items below on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined by paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act, and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

           

PRIVATE ITEM

Details of any representations received about why the following reports should be considered in public will be reported at the meeting.

 

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED:1)         That the outturn of the capital programme for 2020/2021 of £11,814,538 including Exempt Schemes be noted;

 

2)      That the financing arrangements for the 2020/2021 capital programme be noted;

 

3)      That the revised 2020/2025 capital programme and financing as detailed in the report be approved.

Reason for Decision

To report the outturn 2020/2021 for the Capital Programme and update members on capital spending and resources for 2020/2025

Minutes:

Click here to view the recording of this item on You Tube

 

Cabinet considered a report which provided details of the outturn of the 2020/2021 capital programme and outlined amendments and rephasing to the spending on schemes, revising the programme for 2020/2025.  The capital programme outturn for 2020/2021 totalled £9,647,035 (£11,814,538 including Exempt and Capital Loans) against an approved budget of £15,519,610 (£20,642,450 including Exempt and Capital Loans).  It had been necessary to rephase a total of £6,247,370 (£9,596,710 including Exempt)of scheme costs to future years.  Useable capital receipts generated in the year totalled £14,429,635.   The capital resources available to fund expenditure in 2020/2021 were detailed in section 3 of the report.

 

The Chair reminded Members that the report had a small element of it that was exempt, and that if members wished to discuss the detail of that part of the report it would be necessary to exclude the press and public for that.  Members confirmed they did not have any points to make on the exempt part, so open session was retained.

 

Under standing order 34 Councillor Kemp commended the inclusion of funding for play equipment in King’s Lynn.

 

Under standing order 34, Councillor Ryves asked for some detail on the S151 Officer resources in table 6 in the report.  The Assistance Director undertook to provide him with the detail.

 

RESOLVED:1)         That the outturn of the capital programme for 2020/2021 of £11,814,538 including Exempt Schemes be noted;

 

2)      That the financing arrangements for the 2020/2021 capital programme be noted;

 

3)      That the revised 2020/2025 capital programme and financing as detailed in the report be approved.

Reason for Decision

To report the outturn 2020/2021 for the Capital Programme and update members on capital spending and resources for 2020/2025

CAB51

APPOINTMENT TO VACANCY ON ALIVE WEST NORFOLK BOARD pdf icon PDF 112 KB

Decision:

RESOLVED:  That Cllr Middleton, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Business, Culture and Heritage be appointed to the vacant position on the Board of Alive West Norfolk.

 

Reason for decision

 

The Board is responsible for the governance of Alive West Norfolk and this appointment will ensure all positions on the Board of Alive West Norfolk are filled.

 

Minutes:

Click here to view the recording of this item on You Tube

 

Cabinet considered a report which sought approval for the appointment to the vacant position on the Board of Alive West Norfolk.

 

Under standing order 34 Councillor Parish asked why no places on the Board had been allocated to opposition members.

 

Under standing order 34 Councillor Morley asked when the governance review for the Council’s Companies would be undertaken.

 

Councillor Middleton explained that the review would come through in January, but this report was to temporarily fill a vacancy on the Board.

 

Councillor Long as Chair of the Board welcomed Councillor Middleton to the Board.

 

The Chair drew attention to the good and varied work carried out by Alive staff during the pandemic.

 

RESOLVED:  That the Cabinet appoints Cllr Middleton, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Business, Culture and Heritage to the vacant position on the Board of Alive West Norfolk.

 

Reason for decision

The Board is responsible for the governance of Alive West Norfolk and this appointment will ensure all positions on the Board of Alive West Norfolk are filled.