Agenda, decisions and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interest they may have in the business on this agenda.

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.  No interests were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Executive meeting held on 29 March 2011 and the minutes of the Executive (Calling-In) meetings held on 21 December 2010, 11 January 2011, 1 March 2011 and 22 March 2011.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Executive meeting held on 29 March 2011 and of the Executive (Calling In) meetings held on 21 December 2010, 11 January 2011, 1 March 2011 and 22 March 2011 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record of each meeting.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or a matter within the Executive’s remit can do so.  The deadline for registering is 5:00 pm on Monday 11 April 2011.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

To receive details of those items that are listed on the Forward Plan for the next two Executive meetings.

Members received and noted details of those items currently listed on the Forward Plan for the next two Executive meetings.

This report presents the findings of the Edible York Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee, Councillor D’Agorne, the Chair of the Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee, will be in attendance to present the report.

Note:  copies of the A5 booklet style final report have been distributed with this agenda to Members only.  The final report can also be viewed on-line.

RESOLVED: That the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee be supported and approved, subject to the following amendments:

a)     in Recommendation 6, delete the words ‘reflect a broad presumption in favour of it being suitable for’ and substitute ‘encourage areas to be used for’;

b)     in Recommendation 7, note that the Schools Forum no longer exists, so the request should be made to the relevant successor body.

REASON:      In order to provide an appropriate response to the Scrutiny Committee’s findings and address the issues raised by the review.

Members considered a report which outlined the findings of the Edible York Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee on their recent review, aimed at improving the Council’s support for community food growing.  Cllr D’Agorne, as Chair of the Committee, was in attendance to present the report.

The seven recommendations arising from the review were set out in paragraph 5 of the cover report.  The implications of accepting the recommendations were outlined in paragraphs 12 to 21.  The Committee’s final report had been circulated separately to Members as an A5 booklet and made available on the Council’s website. 

With regard to Recommendation 1, Cllr D’Agorne confirmed that the Community Furniture Store did not have the capacity to assist with a system to distribute garden tools; however, St Nicholas Fields would look into the possibility of working with the Council on this.

Having noted the comments of the Labour Group Spokespersons on this item, it was

RESOLVED: That the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee be supported and approved, subject to the following amendments:¹

a)     in Recommendation 6, delete the words ‘reflect a broad presumption in favour of it being suitable for’ and substitute ‘encourage areas to be used for’;

b)     in Recommendation 7, note that the Schools Forum no longer exists, so the request should be made to the relevant successor body. ²

REASON:      In order to provide an appropriate response to the Scrutiny Committee’s findings and address the issues raised by the review.

This report outlines the City of York’s commitments to the EU Covenant of Mayors (CoM) campaign, seeks approval for the Sustainable Energy Action Plan and provides a brief update on other sustainability work being carried out across the Council and the City.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the draft SEAP at Annex 2 be approved.

REASON:      To enable the Council to submit the SEAP to the EU Covenant of Mayors team.

                        (ii)        That the significant actions required to deliver a 20% reduction in city-wide CO₂ emissions by 2020 be noted.

REASON:      To understand the scale of action required to achieve this reduction.

                        (iii)       That the proposed revisions to the Sustainable Development Board, and the formation of a renewable energy generation task and finish group, as set out in Annex 3, be approved.

REASON:      To ensure that the Council can take an enhanced leadership role installing and promoting renewable energy internally and across the City.

                        (iv)       That the risks of delivering the SEAP, specifically the risk of delivering such challenging city-wide targets that rely on limited existing staff and partnership working to achieve them.

REASON:      To highlight the ambition and challenge ahead in meeting the SEAP and CCFAP, where co-ordination of action and delivery of projects is on a city-wide scale.

Members considered a report which outlined the City of York’s commitment to the EU Covenant of Mayors (CoM) campaign, to which it had signed up in December 2009.  The report also sought approval for the Sustainability Energy Action Plan (SEAP) that was a core requirement of the campaign and provided an update on other sustainability work across the Council.

The City of York was committed to tackling climate change through the creation of a climate change strategy and compliance with three separate city-wide carbon reduction targets, including the target of a 20% reduction in CO₂ emissions by 2020 set by the CoM campaign.  Another requirement of the campaign was to produce a SEAP setting out how the target reduction would be delivered.  Full details of the CoM requirements were set out in Annex 1 to the report and a draft SEAP was attached as Annex 2.

Action to meet other carbon reduction targets would be delivered via the Climate Change Framework and Action Plan (CCFAP).  The draft consultation CCFAP was currently being re-evaluated to take account of the Council’s decision to sign up to the Friends of the Earth ‘Get Serious’ campaign.  It was clear from the carbon modelling study that had informed the SEAP and the CCFAP that maximising the potential of renewable energy and energy efficiency in York would be vital to meeting targets.  A proposed approach and management structure to ensure a co-ordinated approach to this work, including revisions to the Council’s Sustainable Development Board, was outlined in Annex 3.  An update on work across the City to support climate change commitments was provided in Annex 4.

Having noted the comments of the Labour Group Spokespersons on this item, it was

RESOLVED: (i)         That the draft SEAP at Annex 2 be approved. ¹

REASON:      To enable the Council to submit the SEAP to the EU Covenant of Mayors team.

                        (ii)        That the significant actions required to deliver a 20% reduction in city-wide CO₂ emissions by 2020 be noted.

REASON:      To understand the scale of action required to achieve this reduction.

                        (iii)       That the proposed revisions to the Sustainable Development Board, and the formation of a renewable energy generation task and finish group, as set out in Annex 3, be approved. ²

REASON:      To ensure that the Council can take an enhanced leadership role installing and promoting renewable energy internally and across the City.

                        (iv)       That the risks of delivering the SEAP, specifically the risk of delivering such challenging city-wide targets that rely on limited existing staff and partnership working to achieve them.

REASON:      To highlight the ambition and challenge ahead in meeting the SEAP and CCFAP, where co-ordination of action and delivery of projects is on a city-wide scale.

This report requests the Executive to approve revenue funding of £657k from Council contingencies for the undertaking of additional highway maintenance schemes.

RESOLVED: That the release of £657k from contingency for the additional highway maintenance schemes in Annex 1 be approved, in order that City of York Council can continue to maintain the road network in its current condition and to ensure that the authority is able to meet the Government’s requirements in respect of the £434k ‘pothole fund’, which demands that councils identify works over and above those in the normal highway maintenance programme.

REASON:      For the reasons detailed above, and in accordance with Council’s decision to allocate £657k from reserves to the contingency budget for additional highway maintenance schemes.

Members considered a report which sought approval for the release of £657k contingency funding to undertake additional highway maintenance schemes.

The report had been brought to the Executive to in accordance with the decisions made at Budget Council on 24 February 2011, which had included approval of:

“a one-off investment in highways maintenance of £657k to be funded from reserves, to be held in contingency but earmarked – and only released following submission of a report from officers detailing spend.”

Details of the additional schemes were contained in Annex 1 to the report.  Members requested that details of the total spend on highway resurfacing in the current year and the previous year also be provided.

Officers confirmed that financial regulations required the Executive to approve the release of any funds from contingency.

Having noted the comments of the Labour Group Spokespersons on this item, it was

RESOLVED: That the release of £657k from contingency for the additional highway maintenance schemes in Annex 1 be approved, in order that City of York Council can continue to maintain the road network in its current condition and to ensure that the authority is able to meet the Government’s requirements in respect of the £434k ‘pothole fund’, which demands that councils identify works over and above those in the normal highway maintenance programme. ¹

REASON:      For the reasons detailed above, and in accordance with Council’s decision to allocate £657k from reserves to the contingency budget for additional highway maintenance schemes.