Issue - meetings

Report of Chief Executive

The report was presented by Sandra Prail, the independent consultant. The independent report detailed the Council’s management of the New Homes Project. Mrs Prail highlighted the following points:

The Council had provided a professional and evidence-based response to the litigation and had kept Members informed of key decisions at each stage, including briefings.

A number of Councillors used private email addresses for Council work. It was recognised that this was not good practice. This had been addressed since and there was no longer a need for Members to use private email addresses. This is an area that requires monitoring by both officers and group leaders.

There was not an issue in terms of the delegation in the Council being unlawful; however, the breadth of delegation meant that the necessary officer engagement was insufficient. A wider discussion at an earlier stage would have resolved this.

Project management and a more structured approach to due diligence had been identified as an area for improvement. The focus on early conclusion of the agreement outweighed the need to make basic checks of the two key sites in the project. The project management toolkit recently adopted by the Council would have provided an opportunity for discussion on the key issues in the project at an early stage, such as on what time and money had been spent on it.

The induction training undertaken for Councillors is considered good practice. The skills-base within the Council membership needs to be maximised. This will be dealt with through undertaking a skills-audit.

It was recognised that a number of constructive steps have been taken by the Council to address these issues.

RESOLVED that:

1)    The report with the measures implemented following conclusion of the New Homes project be noted; and

2)    The recommendations set out in paragraphs 22, 30 and 31 of the report at Appendix 1 (including the request for an all-member skills audit to be undertaken for decision making bodies) be approved.