Agenda, decisions and minutes

No declarations of interest were made.

To authorise the Chairman to sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2014, as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2014 were AGREED, subject to the attendance of Councillor Mick Martin at the meeting by invitation being recorded in the minutes, and the amendment of the name Martin Howell to Mark Howell.

No public questions had been received.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Staffing will be in attendance for this item. The report for this item will be available when the Cabinet agenda is published on 5 February 2014.

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee SUPPORTED the recommendations contained within the report, due for consideration by Cabinet on 13 February 2014.

Councillor Simon Edwards, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Staffing, presented the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy.

Councillor Edwards gave an overview of the report, around which discussion ensued as follows:

·         A proposal regarding St Denis Church in East Hatley was discussed, as set out in the report.

·         Members were informed that it was hoped that Local Plan costs would be kept to a minimum through joint working with Cambridge City Council and developer contributions.

·         The key risks outlined within the report were discussed.

·         Councillor Edwards informed the Committee that any additional funding for Parish Councils would have to come from cuts elsewhere in the Council, or Council Tax increases, both of which would burden Parish Councils.

·         Councillor Edwards confirmed that the cost of the Local Plan to South Cambridgeshire District Council, was in addition to the Development Team that was already in place at the Council.

·         Councillor Edwards informed Members that the City Deal would deliver many benefits to South Cambridgeshire in terms of infrastructure if it were to go ahead.

·         Councillor Edwards confirmed that the Council Tax base was fixed.

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee SUPPORTED the recommendations contained within the report, due for consideration by Cabinet on 13 February 2014.

The Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Customer Services will be in attendance for this item. The Council is consulting on a draft Corporate Plan, approved by Cabinet for this purpose in November 2013. The draft plan and Cabinet covering report are attached.

The Committee’s feedback on the draft plan will be welcomed, prior to final drafts being submitted to Cabinet on 13 February and Council on 27 February for adoption.

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee SUPPORTED the recommendations contained within the report, due for consideration by Cabinet on 13 February 2014.

Councillor David Whiteman-Downes, Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Customer Services, presented the Council’s draft Corporate Plan for 2014-2019.

Councillor Whiteman-Downes gave an overview of the report and discussion ensued as follows:

·         Concern was raised regarding the delivery of community transport, and how County Council cuts might have affected the achievement of this objective. Members were informed that this objective was introduced at the request of the Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy and Localism, and that the Council participated in 25 community transport initiatives. Exact details of any County Council cuts to community transport initiatives were not known at the time of the meeting. Councillor Whiteman-Downes offered to research this further.

·         Members were informed that participation in the Green Deal was still an objective and a Green Deal champion would be sought.

·         The inclusion of Key Project Indicators against each objective within the draft Corporate Plan was discussed. Members were informed that these would be included in the plan, in order to provide a measurement for success. Project milestones were for relevant Portfolio Holders to add to the plan, and there would be detailed business cases and project plans for each element of the Corporate Plan.

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee SUPPORTED the recommendations contained within the report, due for consideration by Cabinet on 13 February 2014.

The Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Customer Services will be in attendance for this item. The report and appendices for this item are attached.

Councillor David Whiteman-Downes, Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Customer Services, and Councillor Simon Edwards, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Staffing, presented the position statement on finance, performance and risk.

Discussion ensued, with some areas of performance highlighted:

·         Members were informed that the 10 days average time taken to process new benefit claims was a significant achievement, and was largely attributable to the Council’s Contact Centre.

·         In order to better understand the figures, it was noted that the average and standard deviation or range would have been a helpful inclusion in the position statement.

·         Invoice processing performance was highlighted as an area of concern. Members were informed that staff absence and staff turnover were contributing factors to this.

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee NOTED the report.

The Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economic Development will be in attendance for this item. An update report on the Conservation and Urban Design Service Review is attached.

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee REQUESTED a further update on the Conservation Service Review in April 2014.

Councillor Nick Wright, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economic Development, presented an update on the Conservation and Urban Design Service Review, to help guide implementation of a new structure and associated processes and procedures to be in place by 5 May 2014.

Members were informed that the Council was currently in phase one of implementation of the new service, and that there were three phases of implementation.

There was support for retaining an in-house service and concerns were raised that expertise could be lost. The need to retain standards and expertise was specifically highlighted by Members.

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee NOTED the report, and REQUESTED a further update on the Conservation Service Review in April 2014.

To enable the committee to consider its Work Programme for future meetings.

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee’s Work Programme was discussed.

Members’ contributions were sought to undertake scoping of proposed areas for future investigation by the Committee.

Discussion ensued and it was AGREED that the Democratic Services Team Leader would liaise with Members outside the meeting, regarding scoping.

Scrutiny monitors are invited to report to the Committee regarding Portfolio Holder meetings attended since the last meeting and specifically raise any issues challenged and the result and/or issues where the Committee could add further value.

Councillor Sue Ellington provided a verbal update from the Northstowe Development Committee:

·         Members were informed that this was the first meeting to take place in nine months, that all planning conditions were worked through during the meeting and that the plan for Northstowe was moving forward.

The next scheduled meeting date is:

·         3 April 2014 – 6pm

Future meeting dates need to be scheduled for 2014/2015. Proposed dates are:

·         Thursday 3 July 2014

·         Thursday 4 Sept 2014

·         Thursday 6 Nov 2014

·         Thursday 8 Jan 2015

·         Thursday 10 Feb 2015

·         Thursday 26 March 2015

·         Thursday 30 April 2015

Members noted next scheduled meeting date was 3 April 2014, at 6pm.

Future meeting dates were discussed. These dates were based on the pattern of meeting dates of the Scrutiny and Overview Committee in 2013-14, and took into account other South Cambridgeshire District Council and County Council meetings. Proposed meeting dates were:

·         Thursday 3 July 2014

·         Thursday 4 September 2014

·         Thursday 6 November 2014

·         Thursday 8 January 2015

·         Thursday 10 February 2015

·         Thursday 26 March 2015

·         Thursday 30 April 2015

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee AGREED these meeting dates and that all future meetings of the Committee would take place at 6pm, with a pre-meeting at 5pm.