Agenda, decisions and minutes

Previously circulated.

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 September 2014 were submitted and approved and the chairman was authorised to sign them as a correct record.

Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) by members as required under Section 31 of the Localism Act and of other interests as required by the Code of Conduct and regulation 12(2)(d) of the 2012 Access to Information Regulations.  (Please see note at end of agenda).

Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) by members as required under section 31 of the Localism Act and other interests as required by the council’s code of conduct and regulation 12(2)(d) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

(a) Councillor David Tutt declared a personal (and non-prejudicial) interest in matters reported in minute 34 (Sustainable Service Delivery Strategy (SSDS) - Update) as he was a council appointed non-executive director iESE Limited.

(b) Councillor Margaret Bannister declared a pecuniary interest in matters reported in minute 37 (Housing Allocation Policy) as a close family member might be affected by the policy for which approval was being sought. She withdrew from the meeting.

Report of Senior Head of Community

Lead cabinet member:  Councillor Margaret Bannister

(1) That cabinet notes the community safety partnership’s achievements and future risks/opportunities to performance and endorses the 2014/2017 community safety plan with continued delegated implementation authority to senior head of community.

(2) That full council be asked to approve the plan.

32.1 Cabinet considered the report of the senior head of community consider the current performance of the Eastbourne community partnership (ECSP) under the updated Eastbourne community safety plan and to outline issues that may potentially impact future crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB) performance.  Bob Gough, Eastbourne crime reduction officer was invited to address the cabinet. 

32.2 Cabinet had previously endorsed the successful crime reduction performance of the partnership.  In 2005/06 Eastbourne was subject to around 11,000 crimes.  For the performance year 2010/11 this had dropped to approximately 7,500 crimes and to the end of June 2014, this had reduced to around 5,700 crimes, a further reduction of 5% compared with the same period last year.

32.3 The current plan (2014/17) had been developed in consultation with key partners including the police and other members of the ECSP.  A copy was appended to the report to cabinet.  Plan targets were reviewed at the end of each performance year and key performance targets had been incorporated into the relevant sections of the council’s corporate plan.

*32.4 Resolved (budget and policy framework): (1) That cabinet notes the community safety partnership’s achievements and future risks/opportunities to performance and endorses the 2014/17 community safety plan with continued delegated implementation authority to senior head of community.

(2) That full council be asked to approve the plan.

Report of Head of Corporate Development

Lead cabinet member:  Councillor Troy Tester

That full council be recommended to approve the amended human resources policies.

33.1 Cabinet considered the report of the head of corporate development.  A review of human resources policies had been taking place over the last 12 months.  The majority of proposed changes were around the style, format and length of the documents, with a view to making them more practical and user friendly. Changes had also been made to reflect statutory (legislative) amendments.  Appendix 1 to the report summarised the more significant changes to policies in respect of disciplinary action, attendance management, drugs and alcohol in the workplace and capability procedure. Copies of the updated policies were appended to the report.

*33.2 Resolved (budget and policy framework): That full council be recommended to approve the amended human resources policies as listed above.

Report of Chief Executive.

Cabinet lead member: Councillor Troy Tester.

(1) That the recommendations of the Improvement and Efficiency Social Enterprise (iESE) review of corporate services and authorise their implementation be endorsed.  This will result in alignment of finance, information technology (IT) and property services; a shared human resources (HR) service for the two authorities provided by Eastbourne Borough Council (EBC) and a shared Legal service provided by Lewes District Council (LDC).

(2) That the principles set out in the report to govern the alignment and sharing of corporate services between EBC and LDC be agreed.

(3) To note that the chief executives of EBC and LDC will use their delegated powers, in consultation with their respective council leaders, to take advantage of opportunities as and when they arise to align systems or posts within the two authorities in order to generate benefits in terms of quality, savings or resilience.

(4) To note the aspiration of service managers to explore the potential to undertake work for a commercial purpose, in order to generate efficiencies and reduce the net cost of their service to tax payers.

(5) To note that both EBC and LDC have designated monitoring officers, as required by the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.  The future arrangements for designation under the proposed new shared service will be reviewed and any proposals for changes will be subject to a future report to council.

(6) That the proposed new structure of the council’s corporate management team (CMT) and delegate authority to the chief executive to appoint to the roles following normal human resources policies and procedures be approved.

(7) That the amended implementation timescale for the corporate landlord programme be approved.

34.1 Cabinet considered the report of the chief executive updating members on the progress made within the SSDS programme, with particular reference to the findings of the corporate services review and business case for shared corporate services;   the Future Model programme plan (phase two); the future shape of corporate management of the council as part of the emerging strategy and commissioning structure; and the corporate landlord implementation plan.

34.2 The SSDS was a key response to the increasing cost and demand pressures facing the council. The programme was developed to promote a range of solutions, both internal transformation and effective partnership working with other organisations. The programme aimed to improve service delivery whilst delivering savings estimated at £1.7m to £2m across the organisation. The current phase (phase two) was estimated to save £1.2m - £1.5m.

34.3 In July 2014 cabinet was advised of the revised implementation plan for the Future Model, the resulting 6 month extension of the programme and the reasons behind the changes.  The majority of the phase one outstanding work had been completed, with the remaining processes coming live alongside phase two work.  The next key programme milestone in phase two was the publication of the Target Operating Model (TOM), which would be the subject of a cabinet report in December.

34.4 The TOM would outline significant structural changes to the council, including the expansion of the Customer First structure that was created in phase one, the creation of a number of service delivery units and the strategic core of the organisation, referred to as strategy and commissioning. The TOM would also provide details of how roles and responsibilities for housing management would be aligned between the council and Eastbourne Homes Ltd (EHL) in order to maximise efficiencies, create improved customer journeys and yet ensure that the benefits of having a dedicated housing management organisation were retained.

34.5 The council’s corporate management team (CMT) would sit within strategy and commissioning.  The roles, responsibilities and accountabilities within the CMT were being reviewed to ensure that the configuration of the management team could effectively lead the new organisational structure.  The proposed CMT functional structure was appended as appendix 1 to the report.   Appointments to the new roles would be undertaken in line with the council’s HR polices and procedures.  Any decisions required regarding the statutory ‘section 151 officer’ and monitoring officer roles would be put to full council as required by the council’s constitution.  Since 2009, aggregate savings of £500,000 had been made through restructuring the council’s CMT.  The proposed structure at Appendix 1 would generate an additional £300,000 per annum across EBC and EHL, although was is likely that around £100,000 of these would be re-invested to strengthen the wider strategy and commissioning group.

34.6 The outcomes of the corporate services review conducted by Improvement and Efficiency Social Enterprise (iESE) were set out in appendices 2 to 6 of the report and comprised the business case for the HR service to be merged with that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

Report of Chief Finance Officer

Lead cabinet member:  Councillor Gill Mattock

That the council join a business rate pool with East Sussex County Council (ESCC), other East Sussex borough and district councils and the East Sussex Fire Authority, on the following terms:

(a) Wealden District Council be nominated as the lead authority.

(b) That the basic principle be agreed that no authority will receive a lower level of funding than they would have received without the pool.

(c) To split the resources gained on the basis of the levy amount that was saved by individual authorities. The basis of the split being 40% to ESCC, 10% to the fire authority and the remaining 50% split amongst the district/borough councils.

(d) That the finalisation of the submission, agreement of the memorandum of understanding, and the final decision on whether to partake in the pool, along with the annual review, is delegated to respective chief finance officers for the reasons outlined in the report.

(e) Chief finance officers to review membership of the pool on an annual basis.  Should an authority decide to withdraw membership, notification of intent to do so to be given to the remaining authorities at the earliest opportunity.

35.1 Cabinet considered the report of the chief finance officer seeking agreement to enter into a business rates pool and for an application to be submitted on behalf of the East Sussex County, borough and councils and East Sussex Fire Authority in October 2014, subject to it being financially advantageous to do so. 

35.2 A new funding regime was introduced on 1 April 2013 whereby local authorities effectively retained a proportion of any additional business rate income collected (above inflation) or conversely would experience a reduction in resources if business rates declined.  Under the scheme 50% of business rates was localised through a system of top-up and tariffs that fixed an amount to be paid by high yield authorities and distributed to low yield authorities – this amount being increased annually by inflation (RPI). The proportion retained by individual collection authorities (before application of levy deductions) in East Sussex was 40%, 9% was payable to East Sussex County Council, and 1% to East Sussex Fire and Rescue authority. The Government received the remaining 50%.  The 50% central government share was distributed though the formula grant process (now termed settlement funding assessment) – thus enabling the government to control the overall amount received by local authorities.  Where there was a disproportionate growth this would be used to provide a safety net for those authorities experiencing little or negative growth and allowed the treasury to top slice business rates income.  A reset mechanism would be in place with the first reset in 2020 and periods of 10 years between resets thereafter.

35.3 Local authorities were free to come together to form pools for non-domestic rating (NDR) purposes.  In such cases tariffs, top-ups, levies and safety nets could be combined. This could result in more money being retained locally to support economic development objectives as the levy payments would no longer payable to the government but retained by the pool. To date on a national basis there were 18 pools, comprising 111 different authorities.  The next opportunity for pooling was 2015/16, with a deadline for submission to the government of 31 October 2014.

35.4 A pan-Sussex business rates pooling arrangement could result in additional resources being retained within East Sussex.  The estimates identified sums of £1.8m in 2015/16, £2m in 2016/17 and £2.2m in 2017/18 which would be shared between authorities and used for economic development purposes.  The latest modelling indicated that Eastbourne Borough Council could receive and additional £223,000 in 2015/16 from being a member of an East Sussex business rates pool.

35.5 Resolved (key decision): That the council join a business rate pool with East Sussex County Council (ESCC), other East Sussex borough and district councils and the East Sussex Fire Authority, on the following terms:

(a) Wealden District Council be nominated as the lead authority.

(b) That the basic principle be agreed that no authority will receive a lower level of funding than they would have received without the pool.

(c) To split the resources gained on the basis of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

Report of Senior Head of Community

Lead cabinet member:  Councillor Margaret Bannister

That full council be recommended to adopt the 2014/15 local council tax reduction scheme, with the minor amendments referred to in the report and summarised above, as the 2015/16 scheme.

36.1 Cabinet considered the report of the senior head of community.  The coalition government abolished the national council tax benefit scheme and required local authorities to introduce local schemes of support from April 2013.  The council was under a duty to review its local scheme each year and any changes to the scheme must be adopted by 31 January preceding the start of the new financial year. 

36.2 The current scheme, which was also adopted by the other East Sussex districts and boroughs, followed the principles of protecting the most vulnerable, incentivising individuals into work and took into account and responds to the requirement of government to reduce the cost by 10% of the previous council tax benefit scheme.  Key features of the adopted were the removal of the second adult rebate, a minimum award of £5 per week, and a reasonable increase in non-dependant deductions.

36.3 It was recommended that the current 2014/15 scheme, appended to the report as appendix A, with the minor amendments outlined in appendix B, be adopted as the 2015/16 scheme.

* 36.4 Resolved (budget and policy framework):  That full council be recommended to adopt the 2014/15 local council tax reduction scheme, with the minor amendments referred to in the report and summarised above, as the 2015/16 scheme.

Report of Senior Head of Community

Lead cabinet member:  Councillor David Tutt

(1) That the draft revised allocations policy be approved for consultation.

(2) That the senior head of community be given delegated authority, in consultation with the lead cabinet member, to finalise the scheme following consultation.

37.1 Cabinet considered the report of the senior head of community on proposed changes to the allocation scheme that relate to how priorities were determined and the application procedure.  Councils were able to decide who qualified to apply for housing accommodation. The significant changes related to local connection, which would be strengthened in line with government guidance, and the armed forces.  The only other proposed change to qualification was to reduce the level of capital savings or equity held by applicants from £60,000 to £32,000.

37.2 It was proposed to amend the policy to more accurately reflect housing need.  The housing register currently comprised 2,600 applicants.  The council needed to ensure that the register remained manageable and that costs were kept at a reasonable level.  Given the significant mismatch between the number of people on the housing register and the number of lettings each year (approximately 200 per annum), it was also important that people's expectations were managed and that those with little chance of being housed were encouraged to consider alternatives. 

37.3 Other changes and additions to the wording of the policy were described in the report and included the role and terms of reference of the discretionary housing panel, the definition of the size of a property and allocation of bedrooms and the registration process.

37.4 Resolved (key decision): (1) That the draft revised allocations policy be approved for consultation.

(2) That the senior head of community be given delegated authority, in consultation with the lead cabinet member, to finalise the scheme following consultation.

(Note: See minute 31 above as to pecuniary interest declared by Councillor Margaret Bannister. She withdrew from the meeting.)

Report of Senior Head of Community.

Cabinet lead member:  Councillor Margaret Bannister.

(1) That progress to date of the housing and economic development programme be noted.

(2) That in respect of the previously approved scheme to develop 23 new homes at (?) an exception be agreed to the council’s contract procedure rules to allow contracts to be issued to the chosen contractor for the reasons outlined above.

(3) That the invest to save case be agreed and approval given to include £135,240 in the 2013/18 capital programme for the purchase of 20 traditional beach huts, installation, associated works and utilities.

(4) That the invest to save case be agreed and approval given to include a further £100,000 in the 2013/18 capital programme for a design competition, the purchase of 5 bespoke designed beach huts, installation, associated works and utilities.

(6) That the senior head of community be given delegated authority, in consultation with the lead cabinet members for community and finance, to take all steps and make all decisions necessary to effect the installation of beach huts referred to above subject to; planning approval, consultation, procurement, legal checks and final financial appraisal.

(7) That the senior head of community be given delegated authority, in consultation with the lead cabinet members for community and finance, to approve the design competition brief, appointment of outside agency to deliver the competition, installation of 5 bespoke designed huts subject to planning approval, consultation, procurement, legal checks and final financial appraisal.

(8) That the chief finance officer be given delegated authority, in consultation with the lead cabinet member for finance, to incorporate a council owned and controlled asset holding company upon terms which ensure that it is accountable to the chief finance officer, including establishing its governance, management and financial arrangements, and to take all legal financial and other steps necessary to ensure that the company is in a position to be able to commence operations.

38.1 Cabinet considered the report of the senior head of community setting out proposals to take forward the next phase of HEDP programme delivery, including an update development and initiatives already underway, on proposals for the development of beach huts to the east of the pier and the establishment of a new asset holding vehicle.

38.2 In July 2014 cabinet agreed to the release up to £14.34m of capital programme allocation for new housing if bids for external funding, outstanding at the time, were successful.  The council had been successful with capital funding bids from both the Local Growth Fund (LGF) and National Affordable Housing Programme (NAHP). The total grant funding secured from NAHP was £1.045m with a further £380k of additional housing revenue account  borrowing capacity secured via LGF.  This new grant, combined with grant previously secured and the additional borrowing capacity, meant that the council could proceed to deliver 97 of the planned new homes with a net capital programme allocation of £10.09m. The programme was scheduled to be delivered by March 2017 and would provide 85 new affordable homes, 8 homes for shared ownership and 4 homes for out-right sale.

38.3 Delivery to date had focused on 3 areas:

a)   Local authority new build: providing new housing on mainly council owned land. The first phase of the programme was underway to provide 56 new homes by March 2016.

b)   Empty homes programme: Bringing empty properties back into use, including redundant retail units. Phase 1 of this programme would provide 40 affordable homes, and the refurbishment and commercial letting of 3 retail units, by March 2016.

c)       Driving Devonshire Forward (DDF): A ward focused and locally led neighbourhood improvement project. A local steering group has been established to co-ordinate delivery and to prioritise and bring forward initial projects.  These included improvements to the public realm, tourist offer and working with the local business community to improve the Seaside Road retail offer.  To support this work an application had been made to the Coastal Communities Fund for £1.8m of funding in April 2014. The council was through to stage 2 of the process and was now preparing a more detailed submission.  These included improvements to the public realm, tourist offer and working with the local business community to improve the Seaside Road retail offer. To support this work an application had been made to the Coastal Communities Fund for £1.8m of funding in April 2014.  The council was through to stage 2 of the process.

38.4 Mindful of the continuing economic climate and the likelihood of reducing public subsidy in the medium term the HEDP project board had considered how additional new housing could be brought forward based on the assumption that no further external grant would be forthcoming.  This would enable to council to sustain regeneration impact, and continue to directly meet new housing supply targets.  The project board had noted that subsidy could instead come from a higher proportion of commercial development subject to a full appraisal  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.