Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - South Cambs Hall. View directions

Contact: Patrick Adams  03450 450 500 Email: democratic.services@scambs.gov.uk

Note: Moved from 6 July 

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

Councillor Nick Wright declared a non-pecuniary interest as an unpaid Director of Conington Pub Company.

 

Councillors Ben Shelton and Charlie Nightingale declared non-pecuniary interests as occasional patrons of the Tree Pub.

2.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 124 KB

The Portfolio Holder is asked to sign the minutes of the meeting held on 29 January 2016 as a correct record.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 29 January 2016 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

3.

Compulsory Purchase Order - The Tree Public House, Stapleford

Member of the public will be invited to make representations before the Committee goes into confidential session.

Decision:

The Business and Customer Service Portfolio Holder

 

AGREED

 

That officers pursue the ‘next steps’ with regard to undertaking a CPO on The Tree, Stapleford, with or without reimbursement from The Tree Community Limited, before taking a report to Cabinet for consideration.

 

The next steps required in order for Council to make a formal decision as to whether a CPO should be undertaken, taking into account any costs that may be incurred by the Council or The Tree Community Limited. These will include:

A)   Making an approach to the owner of The Tree, Stapleford with a view to encouraging a sale to The Tree Community Limited without recourse to Compulsory Purchase powers;

B)   Commissioning further appropriate legal advice, which may or may not be available in-house and at further cost to the Authority or The Tree Community Limited;

C)   Commissioning further valuations of the property, likely at further cost to the Authority or The Tree Community Limited.

Minutes:

The Business and Customer Services Portfolio Holder welcomed the members of the public to the meeting and invited them to make representations on the report which provided options to the Council for the use of a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) with regard to The Tree, Stapleford which was listed as an Asset of Community Value on the Council’s Asset Register.

 

Bill French, Chair of The Tree Action Group, Archie Garden, who focussed on the Business Case and Mandy Knapp, who focussed on communication and marketing issues, all gave presentations to the meeting and the following points were raised:

·         There was considerable support from the community, including 30 organisations in the area, for the re-opening of The Tree.

·         Approximately 65 residents had attended a meeting in Shelford to support re-opening.

·         Residents of Stapleford gained experience of community ownership when setting up the Magog Trust, which raised £320,000 to own 170 acres of land for the benefit of the public.

·         £136,000 had been pledged from local residents.

·         The pub had closed due to high rent, “tied-in” brewery beer prices and restricted opening hours.

·         No community pubs had ever closed down after re-opening.

·         If the pub did close the asset would revert back to the parish council.

·         The Plunkett Foundation had examined the figures in the Business Plan and confirmed that they were viable.

·         In order to receive a 50% tax rebate the HMRC had confirmed that funding would have to be committed within a year of being received and so no money had been collected from the community.

·         The Business Plan estimated that funding could be raised in 9-10 months.

·         A loan would be sought from Triodos bank, who had expertise in funding community owned assets.

·         The pub could offer Bed & Breakfast accommodation, which would benefit the local economy.

·         The aim was to make The Tree a community hub.

·         The proposed re-opening was supported by a large number of community groups, who wished to meet in The Tree.

·         Local businesses supported the re-opening, as a place to meet clients and to make use of the overnight accommodation.

·         There was support for the serving of coffee during the day.

 

Thanks were expressed to Council officers for their time, information and support.

 

The Business and Customer Services Portfolio Holder invited the councillors present to speak.

 

Councillor Ben Shelton, local member for Stapleford, spoke in favour of re-opening The Tree, as it was clear that there was a large amount of community support. Funding was available and the Business Case showed that the venture was viable. Councillor Charlie Nightingale, local member for Stapleford, also voiced his support. Councillor Bridget Smith offered her support and advice as a Trustee of the community owned Gamlingay Eco-hub. She also suggested that management should consider charging groups for using the Tree for their meetings. It was noted that the Business Plan currently assumed that groups would use the facilities free of charge. Councillor Nigel Cathcart spoke in support of the venture and stated that the Bell in Bassingbourn  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

2017-18 Performance Indicators for the Business & Corporate Customer Services Portfolio Holder pdf icon PDF 171 KB

Decision:

The Business and Customer Services Portfolio Holder

 

AGREED        to endorse the three indicators set out in paragraph 7 of the report, and accompanying target and interventions levels for 2017-18, as recommended by Corporate Management Team.

Minutes:

The Policy and Performance Manager presented this report which invited the Business and Customer Services Portfolio Holder to endorse Key Performance Indicators for his Portfolio. The three Key Performance Indicators listed in paragraph 7 were recommended by the Corporate Management Team.

 

Contact Centre

It was noted that performance towards the end of 2016-17 had significantly improved from that of the summer of 2016. This trend had continued and recent performance indicated that the 2017-18 targets for both abandoned calls and call answer time could be met. It was suggested that instead of “percentage of calls to the Contact Centre not abandoned” the Key Performance Indicator should read “percentage of calls to the Contact Centre answered”.

 

The Business and Customer Services Portfolio Holder thanked officers and councillors present for their input and

 

AGREED        to endorse the three indicators set out in paragraph 7 of the report, and accompanying target and interventions levels for 2017-18, as recommended by Corporate Management Team.

5.

Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 215 KB

The Portfolio Holder will maintain, for agreement at each meeting, a Forward Plan identifying all matters relevant to the Portfolio which it is believed are likely to be the subject of consideration and / or decision by the Portfolio Holder, or recommendation to, or referral by, the Portfolio Holder to Cabinet, Council, or any other constituent part of the Council.   The plan will be updated as necessary.  The Portfolio Holder will be responsible for the content and accuracy of the forward plan.

Minutes:

The Business and Customer Services Portfolio Holder NOTED the report.

6.

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Friday 8 September at 10am.

Minutes:

It was NOTED that the next meeting would be held on Friday 8 September at 10am in the Monkfield Room.