Meeting documents

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 1 February, 2017, attached as an appendix.

Members considered the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 1 February, 2017.  With regards to Minute 3 (Budget 2017/18 and the Medium Term Financial Plan), and relating to Councils with responsibility for adult social care, it was noted that Government had announced that those authorities would be able to raise their Social Care precept by up to 3% in any of the following 3 years as long as the total increase did not exceed 6% in that period.

RESOLVED –

That the Minutes of the meeting of Council held on 1 February, 2017, be approved as a correct record, subject to clarification of the information on social care precepting.

By the Chairman of the Council.

By the Leader/Cabinet Members.

There were none.

There were none.

No written questions were submitted by Members during January 2017.

Previous Members’ Written Questions and Answers can be accessed at http://democracy.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeId=441

No written questions had been submitted by Members during January 2017.

Members were informed that written questions and answers previously asked could be accessed on the Council’s website at http://democracy.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeId=441

There will be an opportunity for Members to ask questions of individual Cabinet Members and Committee Chairmen.

Members had the opportunity to ask questions of individual Cabinet Members and Committee Chairmen about issues affecting their portfolios/Committee activities:-

(a)          Planning Enforcement (Councillor Christensen) – the Cabinet Member for Growth Strategy asked the Member to provide her with specific details of planning enforcement examples and concerns after the meeting.

(b)          Council Reserves (Councillor Winn) – the Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Compliance informed Members regarding earmarked reserves, and confirmed that the reserves held by the Council were for legitimate reasons and the balances were reasonable given the Council’s current budgetary pressures.  Members were also informed that the sizeable balance on the New Homes Bonus Reserve (in excess of £10m) included £5m set aside for East West Rail which distorted the overall picture.

(c)          Public Toilets, Buckingham (Councillor Stuchbury) – the Cabinet Member for Communities, Leisure and Civic Amenities gave an undertaking to look at what was delaying this project with a view to progressing it.

(d)          Modernising Local Government in Buckinghamshire (Councillor Stuchbury) – the Leader of the Council updated Members and informed them that the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government had indicated that he would be issuing a ‘minded to’ decision regarding the two unitary proposals for Buckinghamshire before 27 March 2017, which was before the Purdah period started for the County Council elections.

(e)          Planning Portal (Councillor Stuchbury) – the Cabinet Member for Growth Strategy asked the Member to provide her with specific details of problems experienced by people in accessing / responding to planning matters so that she could ask Officers to look into it.

(f)           Taxis, Aylesbury Town Centre (Councillor King) – the Cabinet Member for Communities, Leisure and Civic Amenities informed Members that she would talk with the Council’s licensing team and also ask them to liaise with the County Council regarding re-locating the taxi ranks from their temporary location at the bottom of Market Square (in front of the Court buildings) back to their former location in Great Western Street.

(g)          Connected Knowledge – Technology Strategy (Mrs Glover and Sims) – the Cabinet Member for Business Transformation thanked the Members for their support and enthusiasm for the innovations that were coming forward as part of the Strategy that would be considered later on at the meeting.  The Cabinet Member indicated that the DCLG has expressed an interest in the innovative work undertaken in this respect.

(h)          Household Refuse Bins (Councillor C Adams) – the Cabinet Member for Environment and Waste informed Members that it was the Council’s policy to charge residents for replacement bins although Members could always contact him if they believed a resident was affected by extenuating circumstances.  Each such case would be considered on its merits.

(i)            Aylesbury Vale Broadband (AVB) (Councillors C Adams, Cooper, Huxley, Monger and Stuchbury) – the Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Compliance informed Members that information on AVB’s financial performance would be reported in the next Quarterly Finance Digest.  Members were also informed that information on the governance arrangements would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Councillor Mordue

Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Compliance

To consider the report attached as an appendix.

Council received a report on the amounts of Council Tax that would be payable by residents of the District during 2017/2018, based upon the approved budgets set by the relevant local authorities, and the Police and Fire Authorities which made up the total Council Tax bill.

At the time of issuing the agenda report only the Police and Crime Commissioner, of the major precepting bodies, had formally agreed their precepts. Therefore, because Bucks County Council and Bucks & Milton Keynes Fire precepts were unresolved, the figures in the report had been provisional and may be subject to change.  However, these figures had now been confirmed and were as detailed.

The Council had determined income and expenditure plans for 2017/2018 that would result in a precept requirement for District expenditure of £10,243,300, which represented a District Council Tax of £144.06.  The Aylesbury Special Expenses requirement was £828,100.  The tax base for 2017/18 was again based upon actual levels of Council tax discount and housing growth, and had increased by 2.45% on the previous year.

The following amounts for the year 2017/2018 had been determined under delegated powers in accordance with Regulations made under Section 31B(3) of the Local Government Finance Act, 1992:-

(A)          The Council tax Base for 2017/2018 for the whole Council area as 71,106.59, being the amount calculated by the Council in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations, 1992.

(B)          The amounts calculated by the Council in accordance with Regulation 6 of the Regulations, as the amounts of its Council Tax Base for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one or more special items relate, as detailed in Appendix B to these Minutes.

It was proposed by Councillor Mordue and seconded by Councillor Mrs Glover that the report recommendations be approved and adopted.

As required by Council Procedure Rules and Statutory Regulations, a recorded vote was taken on the Council Tax Setting resolutions and the voting was as follows:-

FOR

Councillors Bateman, Mrs J Blake, N Blake, Mrs Bloom, Bond, Mrs Brandis, Branston, Chilver, Christensen, A Cole, Cooper, Everitt, Fealey, Foster, Mrs Glover, Mrs Harrison, Hewson, Mrs Jenkins, King, Lambert, Lewis, Mrs Macpherson, Mills, Monger, Moore, Mordue, Mrs Paternoster, Poll, Powell, Mrs Renshell, Mrs Russel, Sims, Smith, Ms Stamp, Stanier, Stuchbury, Town, Mrs Ward, Whyte and Winn.

AGAINST

Councillors B Adams, C Adams and Huxley.

ABSTENTIONS

There were none.

Accordingly, it was,

RESOLVED –

(1)          That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2017/2018 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended by the Localism Act, 2011):-

Councillor Mordue

Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Compliance

To consider the report attached as an appendix.

Council received a report that had been considered by Cabinet on 13 December, 2016 and by the Finance and Services Scrutiny Committee on 9 January, 2017.  The report covered the position in relation to capital resources from 2017/18 to 2020/21 and explained the situation in connection with the three main elements that make up the Capital Programme, namely, major projects, housing schemes and other projects, within the context of both the national and local economic climate.

The Finance and Services Scrutiny Committee had commented on a number of specific issues, including the business case for the Silverstone Heritage Experience, the loan facility made available in respect of a commercial property in Aylesbury, the treatment of New Homes Bonus and on the development of Pembroke Road Depot.  However, the Committee had been satisfied with the information provided in response to its comments and endorsed the Capital Programme overall.

Proposed by Councillor Mordue, seconded by Councillor Branston, and

RESOLVED –

That the updated Capital Programme for 2017/18 onwards be approved.

Councillor Mrs Blake

Cabinet Member for Business Transformation

To consider the report attached as an appendix.

Council received a report that had been submitted to Cabinet on 10 January 2017 and set out a robust technology strategy for AVDC for 2017-2022.  It had been designed to be the catalyst for technological innovation and change, propelling the Council into the future.

Extensive work had been done with the senior management team to understand the Council’s future direction and requirements which had let to an initial vision being produced and agreed priority to the full strategy document being created.

The report and Strategy had previously been considered by the Finance and Services Scrutiny Committee on 1 December 2016 and the comments made at that meeting were reported to the Cabinet meeting in January 2017.  Cabinet had noted that most of scrutiny’s comments related to the implementation of the strategy and not the direction or approach set out within the document.  Members of the Scrutiny Committee had been assured that before implementing any of the changes the issues raised would be addressed or were in fact in hand, to ensure that they were satisfactorily resolved.  For example, it had been indicated that work had commenced on developing an Information Management Strategy that would address the issues around data security and regarding how data and knowledge would be shared within teams.

The impacts of the strategy were also well understood by staff and unions as it had formed the main driver behind the recently agreed restructure proposals within the IT teams.  Members had been invited to a presentation on the strategy given immediately prior to the Council meeting and a number of those who attended had been impressed by the proposals.

Proposed by Councillor Mrs J Blake, seconded by Councillor A Cole, and

RESOLVED –

That the Connected Knowledge – Technology Strategy 2017-2022 be adopted.

Councillor Mordue

Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Compliance

To consider the attached report.

Under the terms of the Statutory Code of Practice for Treasury Management, the Council was required each year to consider its treasury management performance before 1 April and to determine its Treasury Management Strategy for the succeeding year.  Consideration was given to a report outlining the factors taken into account in formulating the Strategy for 2017/18.

Council received a report on the Treasury Management Policy Statement for 2017/18.  The statement, as well as the Treasury Management Strategy Statement and the Annual Investment Strategy were attached as appendices to the report.

The annual Treasury Management Strategy included the Prudential Indicators that were used as part of the self governance framework.  The Prudential Indicators that needed to be determined along with some changes were highlighted and were as follows:-

Capital and Debt Indicators

Capital Expenditure -      Represented the agreed Capital Programme and set out the planned capital expenditure over the next three years.

Affordability Index -         This was the proportion of the Authority’s income which was taken up by loan repayments and interest. The more the Authority borrowed the less was available for delivering services.

Capital Financing

Requirement -                 The amount the Authority needed to borrow in order to deliver its Capital Expenditure plans.

Authorised Limit -            The combined maximum amount the Authority could take in borrowing to finance its capital expenditure plans and its day to day cash flow purposes.

Operational Limit -           The amount the Authority realistically expected to borrow and represented the figure that the Authority would not expect to exceed on a day to day basis.

Treasury Management Indicators

Exposure to Interest

Rate Risk -                      The maximum proportion or borrowing which could be on either fixed or variable interest rates. By setting a maximum proportion a limit was placed on the amount by which the Authority’s finances would be affected by movements in base rates.

Maturity Profile -             The maximum length of time over which borrowing could be taken. Authorities could borrow for any length providing that they could afford to do so.

There had been a couple of changes to the 2017/18 strategy to take account of the changes to the Capital Programme and the need to increase the number of potential counter parties.

The Capital Programme now included the scheme to refurbish the Pembroke Road depot, the cost of which was to be met from borrowing.  As a result there was a need to increase both the Operational and Authorised Limits otherwise the total borrowing would exceed the current limits.  Increasing the limits would also allow for any short term borrowing that might be required as a result of changes in cash flow.  It was not envisaged that there would be a need to take any short term borrowing in 2016/17 and 2017/18.

Members were informed of the increase in limits, as detailed in the table below:

Councillor Mordue

Chairman of the Standards Committee

To consider the attached report.

Section 28 of the Localism Act required the Council to have arrangements in place for dealing with allegations that District/Parish Councillors had breached their respective Codes of Conduct.  The arrangements had to include the appointment of at least one Independent Person.  Individual Councillors who were the subject of complaints were also able to consult with these Independent Person(s).

Although no longer a statutory requirement, AVDC had decided to appoint a Standards Committee to emphasise the Authority’s firm commitment to the promotion of high ethical standards in public life and to deal with complaints according to an open and transparent complaints procedure.  In addition to their role specified in the Localism Act, the Independent Persons attended meetings of the Standards Committee in a non voting capacity, representing a non partisan view on complaints.  They also participated in all of the training arrangements made for Members of the Standards Committee.

The Council received a report seeking approval to extend the terms of office of the existing Independent Persons who assisted with the work of the Council’s Standards Committee.  The terms of office of the existing Independent Persons, namely, Caryl Billingham and Dr Sadie Reynolds, were due to expire in May 2017.  However, it was explained that rather than wait until then, it would be better in terms of efficiency and continuity for the options for the future to be examined well in advance.

When the current Independent Persons had been appointed, only three applications had been received, following an extensive advertising process and subsequent interviews.  The interviews had been undertaken by the Senior Officers Appointments Committee.  All three candidates had been appointed, having met the specified criteria.  In 2016, one of the Independent Persons had resigned as he had relocated to another part of the country.  The Monitoring Officer and the Chairman of the Standards Committee had been consulted at that time and were both satisfied that having just two Independent Persons would not have a detrimental affect on the work of the Standards Committee.  This had proved to be the case.

Going forward, starting a new recruitment process would be costly in terms of Officer/Member time and there was no guarantee that individuals with the necessary attributes would apply.  Re-advertisement would also extend the recruitment process and hence increase the costs further.

Both Mrs Billingham and Dr Reynolds were familiar with the local standards regime and had built up a great deal of knowledge in relation to the Code of Conduct.  They had indicated that they would be happy to continue in the role of Independent Persons and this approach was recommended by the Monitoring Officer.

Taking into account these circumstances, it was suggested that the terms of office of the existing Independent Persons, namely, Caryl Billingham and Dr Sadie Reynolds be extended until September 2020.  This would also enable new Members appointed to the Standards Committee after the District and Parish Council elections in May, 2019, to have the benefit of the experience and expertise of the Independent Persons  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Councillor N Blake

Leader of the Council and Chairman of the General Purposes Committee

To consider the attached report.

The Council was required to review and publish its Pay Policy annually.  Council received a report similar to that submitted to the General Purposes Committee on 24 January, 2017, and summarised in the Minutes of that meeting, reviewing the current Policy.

The updated pay policy Statement had been discussed with the trades unions who had suggested a minor amendment in relation to any apprenticeship scheme that the Council might introduce and the General Purposes Committee had agreed that this was eminently sensible.  The Pay Policy Statement submitted to Council reflected this decision.

It was proposed by Councillor Mordue, seconded by Councillor Fealey and

RESOLVED –

That the AVDC Pay Policy 2017, attached as an appendix to the Council report, be adopted.

Councillor N Blake

Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Major Projects

To consider the attached report.

The Leader of the Council reported on the outcome of the negotiations undertaken by the Member Negotiating Team with the Joint Unions and Employee Representatives concerning a pay award for staff with effect from 1 April, 2017.

Both sides had agreed that a fundamental review of the pay and reward framework was required given that the current scheme had been introduced in 1988.  It would be important for any new framework to be aligned with the Council’s commercial and cultural aspirations.  It was also agreed that the proposed review should proceed during 2017.

The Council’s staff had been balloted on and had subsequently voted in favour of a two year pay award as follows:-

·                    an award of 1% on all grades/scale points from 1 April, 2017.

·                    a further award on all grades/scale points from 1 April, 2018.

It was therefore proposed by Councillor Mordue, seconded by Councillor Bond and

RESOLVED –

That the proposed pay award as set out above be approved with effect from 1 April, 2017.

(Note:  Further approval would be required next year before the further Staff Pay Award from 1 April, 2018).