Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence was received from Councillors C Manning and D Whitby.

To approve the minutes from the Corporate Performance Panel held on

The minutes of the Corporate Performance Panel held on 27 November 2018 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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 any item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area.

There were no declarations of interest.

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

There was no urgent business.

Members wishing to speak pursuant to Standing Order 34 should inform the Chairman of their intention to do so and on what items they wish to be heard before the meeting commences.  Any Member attending the meeting under Standing Order 34 will only be permitted to speak on those items which have been previously notified to the Chairman.

There were no Members present under Standing Order 34.

There was no Chairman’s correspondence.

The Regeneration and Development and Environment and Community Panels have been invited to attend for this item.

The Panels will receive a presentation from the Executive Director – Finance/Deputy Chief Executive.

The Environment and Community Panel and Regeneration and Development Panel were invited to attend for this item.

Councillors Moriarty and Tilbrook commented that it would have been useful if reference to the Cabinet agenda of 5 February was included in the Agenda.

Members received a presentation from the Deputy Chief Executive/S151 Officer.

The Chief Executive/Deputy Chief Executive responded to questions and comments relating to:

·         Savings achieved to date.

·         Savings to be achieved over the period of the current Financial Plan.

·         Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP).

·         Budget setting process.

·         Cost Reduction Programme which had been in operation since 2008 and was a continual process and included a reduction in staff, delivery of services in a different way and more efficiently?  Members were advised that the Cost Reduction Programme had taken £6.7m out of the budget.  Management Team monitored the Cost Reduction Programme on a quarterly basis and Cabinet also received an update on progress on a quarterly basis.

·         Reduction in the Central Government Grant.

·         Rural Services Delivery Grant adverse effect on parishes if the grant was to cease in 2 years.

·         More commercial approach to identify new income streams.  The Leader gave an overview of the housing development being undertaken by the Borough Council for either sale or rent.

·         Fair Funding Review – recognition of additional cost to deliver services in rural areas.   District Council Rural Network and lobbying of MPs.

·         Collection Fund surplus.

·         Business Rates funding growth projection.

·         Fees and Charges.

·         Funding

·         75% Business Rates retention.

·         Parish Council Elections saving over a 4 year period. L Gore to check figures and confirm to the Panel.

·         New Homes Bonus.

·         Internal Drainage Board (IDB) Levies.  The Leader advised that the Deputy Chief Executive and him had visited three drainage boards and each board had a different way of calculating the precept.  Currently, some IDBs set their precept after the Borough Council has set the level of Council Tax. The Leader encouraged Members of IDBs to encourage the boards to set their precept in accordance with the required timescale.

·         Explanation of £4.50 increase on council tax per year

The Chairman, Councillor Humphrey thanked the Deputy Chief Executive for the presentation.

Councillor Sampson thanked the Chairman for inviting all Panels for the budget presentation but expressed disappointment on the number of Members who were in attendance.

The Policy, Performance and Personnel Manager presented the report containing information on the corporate performance monitoring undertaken during Q2 2018/2019, which relates to the period up to 30 September 2018.

Members were reminded that Performance indicators for 2018/2019 had been agreed by Portfolio Holders and Executive Directors as the key performance measures for the year which covered all Directorates.  The monitoring report highlighted specific performance issues; where indicators had not met agreed targets they were drawn out into an Action report, which provided additional detail on what actions were being taken to correct performance that had a variance to target.

The Q2 2018/19 monitoring report showed that 54% of targets had been met, and performance had improved against target for 17 indicators.

In response to questions on:

·         EP3c - % of decisions on applications for major development that had been overturned at appeal, measured against total number of major applications determined and

·         EP3d - % of decisions on applications for non-major development that have been overturned at appeal, measured against total number of non-major applications

And the reasons as to why there was a significant gap, the Policy, Performance and Personnel Manager explained that the decision had been taken to use the national target as a benchmark to just how the planning department were performing.  It was suggested that the Council could set itself an alternative target and the Policy, Performance and Personnel Manager undertook to liaise with the Planning Department regarding the reason why the Government target was used.  Councillor Moriarty commented that he felt the Government targets were not useful and that it would be helpful to know the total amount of appeals and the number of those that were lost.   It was noted that performance indicators EP6, Ep7 and EP8 had recently been added to the suit of indicators to assist with the provision of this information.  Councillor Moriarty suggested than an indicator monitoring the number of appeals were costs were awarded against the Council might be a useful benchmark.

The Chairman, Councillor Humphrey referred to the following indicators:

·         EP7 - % of refused applications then appealed/lodged and

·         EP8 - % of appeals allowed

and asked why they were marked “to monitor only”.  The Policy, Performance and Personnel Manager agreed that a note to explain this would be included in the Q3 report.

The Leader explained that the indicators provided overall policy direction, reminding Members that the Regeneration and Development Panel monitored planning indicators and suggested that the Corporate Performance Panel ask the Regeneration and Development Panel to look at those specific targets and include an item on their future work programme.  The Leader informed those present that the Council was not negligent in costs being awarded against the authority.  Councillor Moriarty commented that the Planning Committee should look at each application on its own merits before determining a decision.  The Chairman, Councillor Humphrey commented that it would be useful to know of any lessons learned as to why appeals were allowed.  Councillor Morrison stated that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item CP79

The Policy, Performance and Personnel Manager presented the Corporate Business Plan monitoring report containing information on the progress made on the key actions up to the end of Quarter 2 2018/19.

The Panel was informed that there were currently 51 agreed actions being undertaken to progress the Council’s Corporate Business Plan.  The Q2 2018/19 monitoring report indicated that 49 of the actions were progressing well and 2 new key actions had been added.

Members were advised that 27 actions had been completed from Q4 2015/16 to Q2 2018/19.

In response to questions regarding the purpose of the monitoring report, the Policy, Performance and Personnel Manager explained that the information was collected on a quarterly basis from service areas and was subject to a review by Management Team prior to being presented to the Panel.  During the review process, if necessary, targets could be adjusted and actions taken if any targets were found not to be on track.

The Chief Executive responded to questions on the construction of the West Winch road and provided background on the funding to enable the design work to be undertaken.  It was highlighted that work was at an early stage, but it was anticipated that a planning application would be submitted in the autumn 2019 and the project was currently on track to deliver.

Following questions on the following Corporate Performance Indicators:

·         Priority 3:  Reduce contamination of recycling to 10.00% by 31 March 2019 (cumulative) and

·         Priority 4:  Footfall in King’s Lynn compared to same quarter in the previous year

The Leader explained that at the recent Town Centre Partnership meeting it had been reported that there was a reduction in the footfall which presented a variance in previous years.  The camera on the former Beales building had been removed due to the construction works in that area and those numbers were not recorded.  It was therefore assumed that this represented a reduction of between 1% - 2% which was in line with the national average.  The Chairman, Councillor Humphrey proposed that an action note be added to explain the variances.

Councillor Moriarty commented that the Portfolio Holder was keen to reduce the level of contamination of recycling and added that the collection vehicles in his ward had inspected the green bins and if there were any contaminated items, they did not empty the recycling bin.

In response to comments made on page 28, key action – implement the King’s Lynn town centre action plan not reconciling with the reduction in the town centre footfall, the Policy, Performance and Personnel Manager explained that the information provided came from a number of sources and undertook to cross check the information in the next monitoring report. 

The Chief Executive concurred with the comments made by the Leader regarding the loss of the camera on the former Beales building and also referred to the number of vacant retail units in the town centre.  The Chief Executive explained that a Future High Streets Fund had been launched on 26  ...  view the full minutes text for item CP80

The Panel received the Cabinet Forward Decision List.

To note the Panel’s Work Programme for 2018/2019.

The Panel noted the work programme.

The Chairman, Councillor Humphrey informed Members that the Town Hall Bar Proposal report scheduled for 19 February 2019 would be deferred until a later date to be advised by the Executive Director, Commercial Services.

To note that the date of the next meeting of the Corporate Performance Panel will take place on 19 February 2019 at 6 pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn.

The next meeting of the Corporate Performance Panel will take place on 19 February 2019 at 6 pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn.