Agenda, decisions and minutes

None.

The Portfolio Holder is asked to sign the minutes of the meeting held on 26 November 2013 as a correct record. 

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 November 2013 were agreed as a correct record.

It was noted that a review of the Independent Living Grants, referred to at the last meeting, would be carried out at the Leader’s Portfolio Holder Meeting.

The Environmental Services Portfolio Holder

AGREED        the proposed fees and charges set out in Appendix 1 of the report and delegated authority to the Health and Environmental Services Director to agree the proposed fee for caravan sites and mobile homes, should the Council not have the authority to do so on 1^st April 2014.

The Environmental Services Portfolio Holder introduced this report on the proposed fees and charges for Health and Environmental Services for the 2014/15 financial year. He explained that the statutory fees could not be amended and whilst discretionary fees could be changed he was minded to keep them in line with those levied by other local authorities in the area.

Houses in Multiple Occupation meeting the legal definitions

The Environmental Services Portfolio Holder explained that a member of Orchard Park Community Council had suggested that a larger fee for multiple occupied houses could alleviate the problem of a lack of car parking spaces. However, he acknowledged that it was probable that the number of houses in multiple occupation was under-reported and an increase in fees would exacerbate this problem, with little or no effect on the car parking issue. After a brief discussion the Portfolio Holder agreed to not amend the figure in the report. It was suggested that concerns regarding the availability of car parking spaces in new communities be reported to Planning Policy.

Hackney carriage & private hire vehicle licensing

The Head of Service, Environmental Health and Licensing explained that the proposed charges reflected the fact that the smaller operators provided the Council with more work per vehicle than the larger firms.

Caravan sites and mobile homes

The Head of Service, Environmental Health and Licensing explained that legal advice was required to establish whether the Council could approve a fee for caravan sites and mobile homes on 1 April 2014. It was agreed that authority should be delegated to the Health and Environmental Services Director, in consultation with the Environmental Services Portfolio Holder, to agree the proposed fee for caravan sites and mobile homes, if it transpired that the Council did not have the authority to levy such a charge along with the other amounts indicated in Appendix 1 on 1 April 2014.

The Environmental Services Portfolio Holder

AGREED        the proposed fees and charges set out in Appendix 1 of the report and delegated authority to the Health and Environmental Services Director to agree the proposed fee for caravan sites and mobile homes, should the Council not have the authority to do so on 1 April 2014.

The Director of Health and Environmental Services presented this report, which updated the Portfolio Holder on the current and planned projects across the Health & Environmental Services Directorate.

Impact on the service

The Environmental Services Portfolio Holder commended officers within the section for the extra work being carried out in additional to their normal duties. He assured the meeting that the savings could be realised without a large impact on the service or its staffing levels. He expressed the hope that if there were any redundancies, none would be compulsory.

Waste Review

The Environmental Services Portfolio Holder explained that the Business Improvement and Efficiency Programme Waste Review was a priority due to the amount of potential savings associated with the project.

Digitising drainage records and grants

The project to digitise the records on the awarded drains was welcomed. It was noted that the Resource Officer was the project manager for the Grant Grabber project.

Medium Term Financial Strategy

It was noted that setting the budget was impossible until the Government announced what the limit was for raising Council Tax without triggering a referendum.

The Environmental Services Portfolio Holder NOTED the report.

The Environmental Services Portfolio Holder requested that a report on the cross border waste working with Cambridge City Council be taken to his next meeting on 18 March 2014.

The next meetings of the Environmental Services Portfolio Holder will be held on:

·         18 March 2014 at 2pm

·         29 April 2014 at 2pm

The Environmental Services Portfolio Holder NOTED that the next meetings would be held on:

·         18 March 2014 at 2pm

·         29 April 2014 at 2pm