Meeting documents

To sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 23 March 2016.

The Minutes of the meetings held on 23 March 2016 and 17 May 2016 were agreed and signed by the Chairman.

There were no declarations of interest.

Members examined the 28 Day Notices to identify potential topics for review and agreed that there were no additional items to be added at this time.  It was noted that Cabinet would be discussing the Modernisation of Local Government review involving the four district councils.

The annual performances of Council services against performance indicators and service objectives for 2015-16 were presented to the Committee.  The Heads of Services had also been asked to highlight their main achievements which were presented in an info-graphic format.  The same amount of detailed information was still available in addition to the info-graphic.  Members agreed that this made the information clearer and accessible to the residents of Chiltern District.  With regard to the staff sickness absence performance indicators, it was noted that from April 2016, the short-term and long-term sickness absence rates would be reported separately, and detailed reports would be presented to the Personnel Committee on these matters.

On the key achievements info-graphic, there was a request to change the wording relating to HS2 from “further mitigation to prevent damage by HS2” to “further mitigation to minimise damage by HS2”, to reflect the current situation.  With regard to the Parking section, it was asked where the “main centres” that would get additional parking would be.  It was advised that this essentially related to Amersham.  Members commented that there were parking issues in other areas that should not be overlooked.  A specific point regarding the Snells Wood car park in Little Chalfont was raised.

There was reference to the Members Working Group looking at the supply of affordable housing in the district as this is an important issue.  The group were being proactive in seeking options and it was hoped that there would be suitable solutions identified, but there was no quick solution to the issues.

RESOLVED -

That the draft Cabinet report be noted and that the comments of the Resources Overview Committee be forwarded to the Cabinet.

The regular quarterly report for quarter 4 of 2015/16 was presented to the Committee in respect of write offs.  It included Sundry Debts, Council Tax, benefit overpayments, business rates and also Penalty Charge Notices for the whole year.  Members were interested in the parking information and were advised that more detail would be included in future reports.  A rolling total was provided as requested and also totals for each quarter on page 30.  There were some increases due to the end of year process and tidying up of figures.

Councillors generally agreed that the write-offs were very low in relation to the overall volumes. 

It was advised that some errors relating to benefits were later reimbursed by the DWP providing that they did not exceed 0.48% of the total, which for CDC was approximately £39,500 which was well within the allowed limit.

RESOLVED -

That the draft Cabinet report be noted and that the comments of the Resources Overview Committee be forwarded to the Cabinet.