Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - South Cambs Hall. View directions

Contact: Ian Senior  03450 450 500 Email: democratic.services@scambs.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

To receive Apologies for Absence from Cabinet members. 

Minutes:

There were no Apologies for Absence.

2.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

3.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 83 KB

To authorise the Leader to sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 3 April 2019 as a correct record.

Minutes:

Cabinet authorized the Leader to sign, as a correct record, the Minutes of the meeting held on 3 April 2019, subject to the following:

 

Minute 4 – Announcements

In the first paragraph, between the words “…the development…” and “…of the first…”, delete the commas and the words “…at Orchard Park…”, and insert “…- at Marmalade Lane, Orchard Park …”

4.

Announcements

Minutes:

There were no announcements.

5.

Public Questions

Alison Webb, Chairman of the Gamlingay Community Safety Group, to ask the following question:

 

Gamlingay Community Safety Group have had good support from our Police and Crime Commissioner Jason Ablewhite and his team.  We would now like to ask what expertise, support and resource can South Cambridgeshire District Council offer to our Group?  We need to make this new initiative a success.  How can we all work together to create a model which sends a clear message that remote villages like Gamlingay are not an easy target for criminal activity?

 

Thinking ahead, if this initiative is a success, could South Cambridgeshire District Council use this model to engage other parishes throughout South Cambridgeshire to adopt similar schemes?”

 

Minutes:

Alison Webb, Chairman of the Gamlingay Community Safety Group, attended the meeting and asked the following question:

 

“Gamlingay Community Safety Group have had good support from our Police and Crime Commissioner Jason Ablewhite and his team.  We would now like to ask what expertise, support and resource can South Cambridgeshire District Council offer to our Group?  We need to make this new initiative a success.  How can we all work together to create a model which sends a clear message that remote villages like Gamlingay are not an easy target for criminal activity?

 

Thinking ahead, if this initiative is a success, could South Cambridgeshire District Council use this model to engage other parishes throughout South Cambridgeshire to adopt similar schemes?”

 

Members had previously received a copy of the Group’s mission statement.

 

Alison Webb summarised the local circumstances that had prompted the Group to contact South Cambridgeshire District Council. She said that the Group’s aims were, liaison with residents and key stakeholders, awareness of the issues and, ultimately, prevention of those issues.

 

The Leader, who was the local Member for Gamlingay, said that the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough had so far engaged positively and innovatively with residents, who had identified the addressing of rural crime as their leading priority.

 

The Programme Manager outlined the kind of resource that could be offered by the District Council. This might include, for example, a Development Officer attending meetings of the Gamlingay Community Safety Group and helping the Group to access funding from elsewhere and other forms of support from the police and from organisations such as the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership. Alison Webb highlighted the areas where help would be appreciated as including the promotion of activities, printing, website design and the costs associated with holding events.

 

Councillor Dr. Claire Daunton was grateful for the willingness of officers to provide such support as they could, and highlighted the Police and Crime Commissioner’s efforts to identify funding for community work and resilience.

 

Councillor Nick Wright said that, in the past, South Cambridgeshire District Council had helped to fund Police Community Support Officers. In reply, the Leader said that there was now less emphasis on PCSOs but that she was confident that appropriate liaison between stakeholders would help to secure community resilience.

6.

Issues arising from the Scrutiny and Overview Committee pdf icon PDF 106 KB

Where comments from the Scrutiny and Overview Committee relate to specific items on this Cabinet agenda, these comments may be dealt with in conjunction with the relevant agenda item.

 

Report attached from the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Scrutiny and Overview Committee.

Minutes:

Cabinet received and noted a report summarising the discussions of the Scrutiny and Overview Committee at its meeting on 16 April 2019. The report referred to

 

·         The purchase of investment property

·         The latest ICT Working Group update

·         Vision and ambition for Scrutiny

·         Work programme and Task and Finish Group

 

In connection with the ongoing issues with ICT, the Leader reported that the Local Government Association would be providing five days support. It would be vital for members of the ICT Working Group to engage with the LGA representatives in an effort to proceed towards resolving those issues. Councillor Philippa Hart (Lead Cabinet Member responsible for ICT) commented that the recent ICT outage at Cambridge City Council had been more systemic than had been the earlier one at South Cambridgeshire District Council. The Leader agreed that, while tolerance was in order, it was critical that solutions be found soon.

 

At the Leader’s invitation, the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development explained briefly how officers were addressing the issue of planning performance. There ensued a short discussion among those present.

 

7.

New Zero Carbon Communities Grant pdf icon PDF 152 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

Cabinet agreed to the establishment of a new Zero Carbon Communities grant scheme with criteria as set out in Appendix 1 to the report from the Director for Health and Environmental Services.

Minutes:

Cabinet considered a report seeking its agreement to the establishment of a new Zero Carbon Communities grant scheme including criteria and guidance.

 

Councillor John Williams (Lead Cabinet Member for Finance) hoped that the new grants would help to promote behavioural change within local communities by encouraging the adoption of more environmentally-friendly energy and other measures. The Leader welcomed the opportunity for joint working between the Climate and Environment Advisory Committee and Grants Advisory Committee.

 

Following a short discussion, during which consideration was given to the need for a progress report in about 12 months’ time, Cabinet agreed to the establishment of a new Zero Carbon Communities grant scheme with criteria as set out in Appendix 1 to the report from the Director for Health and Environmental Services.

8.

South Cambridgeshire District Council - An Organisation for a Sustainable Future: Update pdf icon PDF 128 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet received and noted a report updating it on the organisational review following the completion of the first phase of work by Castlerigg. Phase one had involved collating data from across the Council relating to structures, financial information, policies and service delivery information and further informed by interviews with Cabinet members, senior management, staff and external partners.

 

In response to questions from Councillor Anna Bradnam, the Leader said that Castlerigg had used its own methodology, which had included an analysis of other local authorities.

 

Councillor Peter Topping expressed grave concern at the limited extent of consultation carried out, and the amount of money involved. The Leader explained that the report had identified an existing unacceptable culture and the sum of money referred to was the amount anticipated as being necessary to improve the situation. The objective was to transform South Cambridgeshire District Council into a 21st Century Local Authority.

 

In response to several issues raised by Councillor Heather Williams, The Leader said that every effort would be made to minimise the risk of job losses and to empower officers. Option 5 set out in the Castlerigg report gave rise to the opportunity for financial savings. The Council’s Business Plan highlighted the importance of farming to the local economy.

 

In response to concern about the escalating cost of the review, Councillor Neil Gough outlined the options for further development work, but confirmed that there was no commitment to incurring further costs.

 

There followed a short discussion focussing on capacity.

 

Councillor Heather Williams paid tribute to the effectiveness of the legal and monitoring officers available to South Cambridgeshire District Council.

 

Councillor Nick Wright raised the issue of the increased number of meetings.

9.

Date of next meeting

Wednesday 5 June 2019 starting at 9.30am

Minutes:

Those present noted that the next scheduled Cabinet meeting would be on Wednesday 5 June 2019 starting at 9.30am.