Agenda and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests 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.

None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Shadow Executive meeting held on 6 June 2007.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Shadow Executive’s remit can do so. The deadline for registering is Tuesday 19 June 2007, at 5.00 pm.

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

The Shadow Executive made the following comments on the Forward Plan at page 7 of the papers circulated for the Executive meeting to be held on 26 June 2007:

The Shadow Executive

·        raised concerns that the report on Neighbourhood Services Provision Highway Maintenance scheduled for 24 July had been deleted from the Forward Plan, and that this would cause further delays in rationalising this service and addressing recognised inefficiencies as shown in Best Value 2002.

·        agreed to provisionally request officers for the following items on the Executive Forward Plan:

Executive on 10 July

Review Report on Improving Consultation and Communication

Executive on 24 July

Finance Strategy 2008/09 to 2010/11

Thin Client Management Arrangements

Update on Job Evaluation and Equal Pay Issues

The Shadow Executive considered a report which was listed as item 6 on the agenda for the Executive meeting on 26 June 2007, at page 13.  The report presented the minutes of a recent meeting of the Economic Development Partnership Board and asked Members to consider the advice given by the Board in its capacity as an advisory body to the Council.

Having discussed the issues set out in the report, the following comments were agreed:

The Shadow Executive:

• noted the minutes of the Economic Development Partnership Board
• raised concerns that the minutes referred to the March meeting and suggested that it would be preferable to have the minutes presented to the Executive sooner after the meeting

RESOLVED:(i)         That the Executive be asked to take the above comments into account when considering this item.

(ii)        That the item not be called in.

The Shadow Executive considered a report which was listed as item 7 on the agenda for the Executive meeting on 26 June 2007, at page 23. The report provided Members with an overview of how the Council had performed in 2006/07 and presented a ‘first draft’ version of the 2007/08 Best Value Performance Plan (BVPP) for referral to Full Council for approval and to provide full details of past, current and future performance across all areas of the Council.

Having discussed the issues set out in the report, the following comments were agreed:

The Shadow Executive:

• noted the report but that there were worrying trends emerging
• raised concerns that the satisfaction of residents at paragraph 63 had decreased
• raised concerns that the satisfaction of leisure facilities for young people had dropped (paragraph 65) as this had been a significant political priority
• raised concerns that the LPSA targets were not likely to be met at Annex D and the consequences of not doing so, especially the loss of the reward grant of up to £1.2million

RESOLVED:(i)         That the Executive be asked to take the above comments into account when considering this item.

(ii)        That the item not be called in.

The Shadow Executive considered a report which was listed as item 8 on the agenda for the Executive meeting on 26 June 2007, at page 59.  The report set out the projected 2006/07 outturn position on the General Fund Revenue Account, the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), the Collection Fund and the Public Sector Agreements (PSAs) for 2006/07. In line with this information it asks the Executive to consider requests for underspent project budgets to be carried forward and resultant transfers to reserves.

Having discussed the issues set out in the report, the following comments were agreed:

The Shadow Executive:

• noted the report.

RESOLVED:(i)         That the Executive be asked to take the above comments into account when considering this item.

(ii)        That the item not be called in.

The Shadow Executive considered a report which was listed as item 9 on the agenda for the Executive meeting on 26 June 2007, at page 97. The report provided Members with the final outturn position of the capital programme for 2006/07 reflecting the capital outturn reports taken to Executive Member and Advisory Panel (EMAP) meetings for each department and sought approval of the statutory declaration on the funding of the 2006/07 capital programme to show how the Council’s expenditure had been financed, along with any financial implications this might result in. It also highlighted significant  achievements from the Council’s largest ever capital programme, informed Members of any under or overspends and sought approval for any resulting changes to the programme, and informed them of any slippage and sought approval for the associated funding to be slipped to or from the financial years to reflect this.

Having discussed the issues set out in the report, the following comments were agreed:

The Shadow Executive:

• noted the report.

RESOLVED:(i)         That the Executive be asked to take the above comments into account when considering this item.

(ii)        That the item not be called in.

The Shadow Executive considered a report which was listed as item 10 on the agenda for the Executive meeting on 26 June 2007, at page 123.  The report enabled the Executive to undertake an examination of the Council’s financial accounts for the financial year 2006/07 and to then submit them for approval by Full Council on 28 June.

Having discussed the issues set out in the report, the following comments were agreed:

The Shadow Executive:

• noted the report.

RESOLVED:(i)         That the Executive be asked to take the above comments into account when considering this item.

(ii)        That the item not be called in.

The Shadow Executive considered a report which was listed as item 11 on the agenda for the Executive meeting on 26 June 2007, at page 129.  The report advised the Executive of progress made in drafting a new Corporate Procurement Strategy for 2007-10, invited comments from them on its scope and content, sought their views as to where the organisation should seek to position itself in relation to a series of key continuums relating to the nature, performance, function and organisation of procurement activities in the future, invited comments on the medium term action plan, and sought endorsement of the Strategy and referral to Full Council for approval.

Having discussed the issues set out in the report, the following comments were agreed:

The Shadow Executive:

• welcomed the much delayed document
• raised concerns that the Competition Strategy had not yet been completed and that should have been done before this
• agreed that there was a need for a coherent policy for procurement

RESOLVED:(i)         That the Executive be asked to take the above comments into account when considering this item.

(ii)        That the item not be called in.

The Shadow Executive considered a report which was listed as item 12 on the agenda for the Executive meeting on 26 June 2007 at page 197. The report sought approval to start formal procurement of future long term waste treatment services subject to approval of the business case by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and updated Members on the proposed approach to sites and planning.

Having discussed the issues set out in the report, the following comments were agreed:

The Shadow Executive:

• noted the report but the Council had not demonstrated that the Waste PFI project was affordable as indicated at paragraph 4 of this report
• raised concerns about whether the Indicative Evaluation Criteria was sufficient to reflect the environmental impact, including pollution emissions and the impact on health.
• highlighted that there was a major affordability gap that existed, without proposals as to how that could be overcome without dramatic cuts to services.

RESOLVED:(i)         That the Executive be asked to take the above comments into account when considering this item.

(ii)        That the item not be called in.

The Shadow Executive considered a report which was listed as item 13 on the agenda for the Executive meeting on 26 June 2007, at page 207.  The report provided officer advice regarding a motion concerning the re-provision of a pool on the Kent Street site, that had been submitted to the Executive for consideration and referral on to Full Council.

Having discussed the issues set out in the report, the following comments were agreed:

The Shadow Executive:

• reserved their position.

RESOLVED:(i)         That the Executive be asked to take the above comments into account when considering this item.

(ii)        That the item not be called in.