Meeting documents

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 6 September, 2016, attached as an appendix.

RESOLVED –

That the Minutes of 6 September, 2016, be approved as a correct record.

Councillor Mordue

Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Compliance

To consider the attached report

Contact Officer: Jan Roffe (01296) 585186

(a)       Decision(s)

That the Panel’s recommendations as set out in the Appendix to this Decision Notice, now including approval for funding towards the construction of a new village hall at Chearsley, be approved.

(b)       Reason(s) for Decision(s)

            The rationale behind the decisions is explained in the appendix attached to the Cabinet report.  Cabinet was of the view that the application from Chearsley Parish Council should be supported.

(c)       Alternative Options Considered

            The options considered by the Panel and subsequently by Cabinet were whether or not to fund the applications (specifically in the case of the application from Chearsley Parish Council) and whether or not to impose specific conditions.

            NOTE:  The Chairman of Chearsley Parish Council attended the meeting and read out a statement in support of the Parish Council’s application.

(d)       Relevant Scrutiny Committee

            Finance and Services. 

(e)       Conflicts of Interest / Dispensation(s)

None.

Cabinet was advised that the Informal New Homes Bonus (NHB) Grants Panel had met on 7 September, 2016, to consider applications for funding from Parish and Town Councils under the NHB grant funding scheme.  Members were reminded that New Homes Bonus (NHB) was a national initiative whereby funding from the revenue support grant for local authorities had been top sliced and allocated to councils in proportion to the number of new homes in their area.

In December, 2012, AVDC had agreed to allocate a share of the NHB to Parish/Town Councils to help alleviate the impacts of housing growth on local communities.  20% of the allocation had been set aside for the funding scheme, which equated to £1,282,000 being available in 2016/2017, the fourth year of funding for Town/Parish Councils.  In addition, £15,578 had been carried over from the third round of funding, making a total of £1,297,578 available in the current funding round.

In January, 2013, Cabinet had agreed to establish an informal Panel to consider applications and make recommendations to Cabinet.  The Cabinet report summarised the approved criteria for applications.  Prospective applicants were required to submit a preliminary "expression of interest (EOI)" to identify whether projects met the key criteria and to enable an assessment to be made about alternative forms of funding such as that available in accordance with Section 106 Agreements.

In total, 12 EOIs or enquiries had been received and 8 Parish and Town Councils had subsequently submitted firm applications with a total value of £1,485,099.  The Informal Panel had also been asked by Turweston Parish Council to consider increasing the amount of grant awarded in the 2014/15 funding round.

The Panel had been unanimous in recommending funding for 4 of the applicants, totalling £674,295.  The Panel had also recommended increasing the grant to Turweston Parish Council by the amount requested, making a total of £684,295.  The Panel had declined to fund two applications.

In considering the first of two applications from Haddenham Parish Council for a Haddenham to Aylesbury cycleway, the Panel had been supportive of the principle of the project but had felt that the level of information in the application was insufficient.  The Panel had therefore recommended that the funds be ring fenced and the Parish Council invited to re-submit a more detailed application with a clear project and delivery plan and costings.  It had been felt that this application should be submitted by the end of this financial year, i.e. no later than 31 March, 2017.

With regard to an application from Chearsley Parish Council for the rebuilding of the village hall, the Panel had been divided.  Although the application was very thorough, and the scheme was of high quality, the Panel had not been entirely convinced that the application was in keeping with the original NHB funding criteria because of the limited impact of growth in the village.  The Panel had had therefore referred the final decision to Cabinet.  The Chairman of Chearsley Parish Council attended the meeting and made  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

Councillor Mordue

Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Compliance

To consider the attached report.

Contact Officers: Andrew Small (01296) 585507 / Isabel Edgar Briancon (01296) 585862

(a)       Decision(s)

That Council be recommended to:-

(1)  Make a provision of £3.6 million within the Capital Programme for the procurement and purchase of a new waste collection fleet, subject to OJEU and the satisfactory conclusion of negotiations.

(2)  Approve a capital budget of £9.2 million for option 1 and option 1a in the report submitted for the depot development project in order to provide certainty of compliance with statutory and regulatory obligations relating to waste collection, waste transfer and fleet parking.

       (It being noted that a review of the depot development project will be undertaken before the implementation of option 1 to ensure that the requirements have not significantly changed regarding staff parking and waste storage at the site, and to identify other improvements or use of this area of the site following expiry of the tenancies of the existing units in December, 2018).

(3)  Permit additional borrowing up to a maximum of £12,860,000 in order to fund these schemes, whilst recognising that these amounts may be reduced when a review of capital resources takes place later this financial year as part of the normal budget development process.

(4)  Require officers to make the necessary adjustments to the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy and Medium Term Financial Plans for 2017/18 and beyond, consistent with the above.

(b)       Reason(s) for Decision(s)

            Full depot and waste transfer infrastructure will give the Council certainty regarding health and safety and environmental compliance in the mid term and will allow for growth in households and accommodate additional waste during this period.

            The enhanced waste workshop will give the Council flexibility in managing its own fleet and improve operations by reducing vehicle down time.  In addition, the workshop allows for income generation from HGV testing and expansion for taxi and privately owned vehicle MOTs.

            Changing the procurement approach for the fleet from leasing to outright purchase will save the Council around £300,000 per annum from reduced borrowing costs and will contribute to paying off the capital loan for the depot infrastructure.

(c)       Alternative Options Considered

            To do nothing.  However, currently the site is not fit for purpose and has been identified through the business risk assurance assessment as the Council’s primary health and safety risk.

Alternative sites to which the depot might possibly be transferred have been researched.  However given growth and land constraints, no suitable alternative site was identified that met the Council’s requirements.

(d)       Relevant Scrutiny Committee

            Finance and Services.  That Committee received a similar report at its meeting on 4 October, 2016 and supported the proposals.  However as the recommendations will be considered by full Council, they are not subject to call-in. 

(e)       Conflicts of Interest / Dispensation(s)

None.

Cabinet received a report on the business needs and benefits of redeveloping the waste and recycling depot at Pembroke Road and the capital investment required to put in place the infrastructure necessary to meet the regulatory and growth needs of the Vale.  The report also covered a proposal for replacement of the vehicle fleet.  In relation to both issues, a schedule showing the projected rate of return was submitted as part of the confidential agenda.

The need to redevelop the depot was driven by the following factors:-

The need to address health and safety risks

The current constraints on the site and the configuration posed considerable risks, in particular because of the inadequate segregation of vehicles and people.  The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 made clear recommendations concerning the operation of traffic routes on site, but the existing configuration and condition of the site did not comply in a number of key respects.

The need to address environmental risks

The depot site was bordered to both the north and south by rivers and the water table was relatively close to the surface.  This posed a risk of flooding to the site.  Despite recent attenuation works to cover a one in 100 year event, the site had to be closed temporarily following a flooding incident in 2014.  In addition, there were identified risks associated with pollution from diesel and detergents escaping into the watercourses because of inadequate drainage.

Operational improvements

The current site configuration did not lend itself to effective operational management. All operational activities were currently managed in an area of less than 2 acres, hence the requirement to park all HGVs off site during the past 3 months.  Other Council owned vehicles were parked within operational areas and roadways and resulted in further constrictions on the effective management of the site.

The need to accommodate the growth of the District

Recent demographic projections showed that the population of the District would increase as a result of the construction of around 33,000 new homes between 2011 and 2031.  Assuming growth of around 1,500 new homes per year, this would increase the requirements of the waste collection and recycling service in terms of the volumes of waste, number of HGVs and the number of staff.  The current size and configuration of the depot did not allow for this growth and all recent works undertaken in 2012 were now at capacity.

Existing disrepair

There were repair and investment requirements on the current site which needed to be addressed.  The yard also required major resurfacing as its current condition contributed to the pollution risks identified above.

Income generation and development costs

The redevelopment of Pembroke Road would allow new commercial opportunities to be developed as well as efficiencies and savings to be made elsewhere in the waste and recycling budgets.

The provision of an enhanced workshop would achieve total expected income/savings in year one of £364,000 net, increasing to £837,100 net in year ten.  This figure was primarily made up of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The following matters are for consideration by Members "In Committee". It will therefore be necessary to:

RESOLVE –

That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the Paragraph indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act:-

Item 8: Capital Programme (Depot development and new fleet)

The public interest in maintaining the exemptions outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information because the reports contain information relating to the financial or business affairs of organisations (including the Authority holding that information) and disclosure of commercially sensitive information would prejudice negotiations for contracts and land disposals/transactions.

RESOLVED –

That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the Paragraph indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act:-

Financial information concerning the Pembroke Road redevelopment proposals and the purchase of a new vehicle fleet (Paragraph 3)

The public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information because the report contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of organisations (including the Authority holding that information) and disclosure of commercially sensitive information would prejudice negotiations for contracts and land disposals/transactions.

Councillor Mordue

Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Compliance

To consider the attached confidential report.

Contact Officers: Andrew Small (01296) 585507 / Isabel Edgar Briancon (01296) 585862

CAPITAL PROGRAMME: DEPOT DEVELOPMENT AND NEW FLEET

In connection with the decisions referred to above in relation to the proposed redevelopment of the depot and the acquisition of a new waste collection fleet, consideration was given to commercially sensitive financial information.