Issue - meetings

Report of Chief Executive

Lead Cabinet members: Councillors James MacCleary and Zoe Nicholson

(Key decision):

(1) To note the progress made with the Recovery and Reset Programme.

(2) To approve an allocation of £250k to be added to the capital programme to ensure immediate start of the Council’s Recovery & Reset work, with detailed advice from the cross party Recovery and Reset Board.

(3) To explore supporting local people in financial distress with a focus on schemes such as council tax relief.

(4) To support a campaign to allow pubs to make off-sales of alcohol in sealed containers for consumption at home during lockdown.

The Cabinet considered the report of the Chief Executive, updating them on the progress of the Recovery and Reset programme and wider District recovery.

The programme was a key element of tackling the budget shortfall of around £12 million over the next four years and supporting the community. Given the significant level of organisational change to deliver services, the requested allocation of £250,000 to the capital programme would enable the Council to invest in IT systems and extra resources that were needed for early stages of delivery.

The Policy and Performance Advisory Committee, at its meeting on 3 November 2020, made the following recommendations to Cabinet:

To support the recommendations in the report subject to consideration by the Cabinet of the following amendments:

(1)  That the Cabinet considers supporting local people in financial distress with a focus on schemes such as council tax relief;

(2)  That the Cabinet support a campaign to allow pubs to make off-sales of alcohol in sealed containers for consumption at home during lockdown; and

(3)  That the Cabinet approval of the requested allocation of £250,000 to the Capital Programme is made subject to the approval of the Recovery and Reset Board.

The recommendations from the Policy and Performance Advisory Committee (PPAC), were presented by Councillor Joe Miller, Chair of PPAC and considered by Cabinet during their discussions.

Visiting member and Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Linington addressed the Cabinet on this item. In reference to the recommendations from PPAC, it was clarified that since the meeting on 3 November 2020, the government had announced that pubs would be allowed to make off-sales of alcohol in sealed containers for consumption at home during lockdown. Councillor Linington also made a reference to PPAC’s third recommendation and sought further details on what the £250,000 would be spent on.

In addressing PPAC’s first recommendation, Councillor Nicholson expressed a wish to explore ways of supporting local people in financial distress, looking at a public consultation, with a view to revising the council tax reduction scheme in future years. A formal paper on the council tax reduction scheme would be considered by Cabinet at its December meeting.

The Cabinet unanimously agreed to make additional resolutions, incorporating PPAC’s first and second recommendations. A revision to Cabinet’s second resolution was made, in an attempt to match the intention of PPAC’s third recommendation and also to accord with the Council’s constitution. This was detailed in full below. Following discussions, Councillor Miller withdrew PPAC’s third recommendation.

Resolved (Key decision):

(1) To note the progress made with the Recovery and Reset Programme.

(2) To approve an allocation of £250k to be added to the capital programme to ensure immediate start of the Council’s Recovery & Reset work, with detailed advice from the cross party Recovery and Reset Board.

(3) To explore supporting local people in financial distress with a focus on schemes such as council tax relief.

(4) To support a campaign to allow pubs to make off-sales of alcohol in sealed containers for consumption at home  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17