Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive Apologies for Absence from Cabinet members. 

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

To authorise the Leader to sign the Minutes of the meeting held on Monday, 20 March 2023 as a correct record.

Cabinet authorised the Leader to sign, as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on Monday, 20 March 2023.

Councillor Anna Bradnam, Scrutiny and Overview Committee member asked for confirmation that the Investment training for members requested by Scrutiny and Overview Committee, item 12, page 9 was to be actioned.

Liz Watts, Chief Executive confirmed the training but was unable to give an exact date, at the time of the meeting.

The deadline for receipt of public questions is 23:59 on Tuesday, 9 May 2023.

The Council’s scheme for public speaking at committee meetings may be inspected here:

Public Speaking Scheme

It was noted that Mr Daniel Fulton did not wish to give a statement and would return to next full Council.

Councillor Anna Bradnam thanked the Scrutiny and Governance advisor for their precise notes. The Committee congratulated the Homes for Ukraine team and Moving on team for their work and stated their reassurance that Ukrainian families had the same access to Home Link as South Cambridgeshire residents.

It was recognised that staff had done an excellent job and were urged to keep record of what actions were taken and any lessons learned so best practice was recorded and stored. There was gratitude for the necessary funding from Government.

Councillor John Batchelor, Lead Cabinet Member for Housing clarified that Ukrainian residents went through the same process in accessing social housing but told the committee that there would be funding from the government to purchase 40 houses to home Ukrainian and Afghanistan guests who were going through difficulty. Those houses would eventually be made available to residents.

Cabinet:

a)     Adopted the unified 3C Building Control Street Naming and Numbering policy.

Councillor Dr. Tumi Hawkins, Lead Cabinet Member for Planning presented the report and stressed the importance of clear numbering and naming of buildings.

The review included combining the existing policies of Cambridge City Council, Huntingdonshire District Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council into one unified policy for 3C Building Control that worked effectively and efficiently for communities and the public.

Heather Jones, Head of 3C Building Control Consultancy, advised the Committee that the policy was like the one already in place at South Cambridgeshire District Council and there were no major changes.

Councillor Brian Milnes, Deputy Leader, thanked the officers for their work and acknowledged the improvement of the service there had been over the last few years. It was felt the combined policy would further enhance the service.

Councillor Heather Williams, Opposition Group Leader, asked for the Waste Service to be updated with changes quicker to enable missed bins to be logged.

Heather Jones confirmed that there had been a meeting with the Waste Service regarding the migration of data from one system to another to improve efficiency and to update systems quicker.

Councillor Anna Bradnam referred to 14.1, page 16 of the report, regarding boundaries and noted previous member Douglas De Lacey expressed concern where sites crossed them and how residents would know whether they were in a district or city council area.

Heather Jones confirmed that site signage was dealt with separately to Cambridge City but would discuss the matter with them.

Heather Jones stated that it was a personal preference as to whether residents displayed numbers on houses and that no action had ever been taken for those who did not.

Cabinet agreed to Adopt the unified 3C Building Control Street Naming and Numbering policy.

Cabinet:

a)    Confirmed the Council’s membership of the Oxford to Cambridge Partnership as it became formally recognised and funded by Government as a Pan-Regional Partnership (PRP) and the appointment of the Leader as the Council’s representative on the PRP.

Councillor Bridget Smith, Leader of Council introduced the report and confirmed it was not a decision-making body but was led by District and County Councils, Local Enterprise Partnerships and Universities.

Chief Executive, Liz Watts, clarified that funding from Pan Regional Partnership was to fund projects that could be approved by the board, but decisions that were fundamental to councils would be decided by them.

Councillor Brian Milnes noted that due to recent elections and changes in local government there could be changes to the report.

Councillor Bridget Smith clarified that it would have been correct at time of print, but item 14 would have very likely changed.

Cabinet agreed to confirm the Council’s membership of the Oxford to Cambridge Partnership as it became formally recognised and funded by Government as a Pan-Regional Partnership (PRP) and the appointment of the Leader as the Council’s representative on the PRP.

Cabinet:

a)    Approved an extension of the trial up until March 2024, in order to assess the impact on recruitment and retention, with regular reports on progress being submitted to Employment & Staffing Committee during 2023/24 and a final report to Cabinet and Council at the end of the extended trial period.

b)    Noted the position of Cambridge City Council regarding the Shared Planning Service trial extension (to be provided on 11 May, but not available at the time this report was published) and, should the City Council agree to proceed with the trial extension, Cabinet ensure equivalent reporting arrangements were established in order to provide Cambridge City Council with appropriate oversight arrangements regarding the Shared Planning Service.

c)     Approved a three-month trial for Facilities Management colleagues at South Cambs Hall, with a report being presented to Employment & Staffing Committee at the end of the trial.

Before agenda item nine was introduced by the Lead Cabinet Member for Resources, the Leader, Cllr Bridget Smith, spoke about the Council’s four-day week trial. Cllr Smith said that last year, she was asked at a Local Government Association conference about the challenge of recruiting and retaining people in Local Government; particularly in very expensive areas like South Cambridgeshire where it was very expensive for people to live and where the private sector could afford to pay them more. Cllr Smith said that, at that conference, she was asked if a four-day week would solve some of those recruitment issues. Cllr Smith said that her response was that it might well do. 

Cllr Smith said that, recently, there had been some commentary relating to studies concerning the four-day week which our Chief Executive was undertaking. Cllr Smith said that the Chief Executive chose not only to pay for the studies herself, but to spend weekends and annual leave working on them. Cllr Smith said that it’s perfectly normal for senior Local Government staff to do similar studies. 

Cllr Smith said that the Chief Executive’s studies were never dependent on the Council trialling a four-day week. Cllr Smith said that the Chief Executive had always been completely open about her studies. She added that verbal advice, sought from the previous Monitoring Officer and reaffirmed more recently, said that there was nothing to declare when it came to those studies. They were self-funded and done in her own time. 

Cllr Smith said that, however, with the benefit of hindsight, she accepted the Chief Executive’s studies should have been reflected in the original report which went before Councillors when a trial of a four-day week was first considered. Cllr Smith said that doing so would have made no difference to the trial – but would have ensured the Chief Executive’s studies were stated for everyone in the clearest terms. 

Cllr Smith said that in any other walk of life, where you had an experienced leader who had gained further knowledge about something that’s very relevant to their work, it would be considered a benefit. 

Cllr Smith handed over to the Lead Cabinet Member for Resources who formally introduced agenda item nine. 

Councillor John Williams, Lead Cabinet Member for Resources, introduced the report and referred to page 65 of the report pack, specifically to the ‘What we’ve done and why’ section, reminding members of the reason why the trial was introduced. It was confirmed that a £300,000 annualised saving had been identified during the three-month trial and that a £1m saving was expected over the full year.  

Cllr John Williams emphasised that although Health and Wellbeing of staff was important the four-day week would also improve the quality of services to residents and provide savings that could be put back into services to ensure they were maintained against a backdrop of high inflation rates.  

Cllr John Williams explained that the three-month trial had maintained performance, as confirmed independently by the Bennett Institute. It was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Cabinet:

a)    Noted the round optimisation process and revised number of routes as set out at paragraph 33.

b)    Noted the impact that past and future growth and legislative changes would have on the collection service.

c)    Approved the trial of a four-day week waste collection service for three months from Summer 2023 to be funded by existing operational budgets within the service, with a report on the outcome of the trial presented to Cabinet in the Autumn of 2023.

d)    Noted that any agreement to trial a four-day week would need to be approved by Cambridge City Council (part of the Greater Cambridge Shared Waste Service.)

Councillor Henry Batchelor introduced the report.

Cllr Batchelor noted that it was good practice to review bin collection rounds every two to three years, noting that the last review was in 2017.

Due to housing development collection rounds had expanded at a significant rate since they were last reviewed in 2017 and therefore the routes were not operated at their best capacity.

Cllr Batchelor repeated the benefits of the four-day-week trial, noting that the improvement of recruitment and retention would enhance the quality of services provided to residents, as permanent staff would be more familiar with routes.

It was clarified by Cllr Batchelor that the four-day week trial did not happen at the same time as office-based staff due to the length of time it took for the external consultant that was used to run the route optimisation process.

Cabinet was informed that Service operatives and their Union had been consulted, and they had received positive feedback regarding the trial. It was clarified if Cambridge City Council did not agree, the trial would not go ahead.

Cllr Batchelor noted that since the report went to Scrutiny, changes had been made resulting in further data being available.

Cllr Batchelor confirmed that the cost of the trial would be around 0.3% of the Waste Service entire budget for the current year and 1% if it was to be made permanent.

Councillor Bill Handley expressed his support for the trial being extended to Shared Services.

Councillor Anna Bradnam confirmed Scrutiny and Overview’s support, noting the requirement for close monitoring of musculoskeletal injuries, as this was more prevalent in the Waste Service area than any other department.

Cllr Bradnam reported that the feedback received from the service and staff was positive, many had reported looking forward to spending their day off with families.

It was agreed that there would be a reduction in disruption on bank holiday weekends, and savings from not needing to employ agency staff for weekend collections.

It was recognised that commercial waste would still need to be collected seven days a week.

Cllr Henry Batchelor confirmed that prior to the trial, additional vehicles had been purchased and were accounted for in the costing if the trial was to be made permanent. 

Cllr Batchelor explained to Cabinet that the refuse collectors were on task and finish contracts, which incentivised staff to be more productive, noting, part of the agreement of the four-day week trial was to ask staff to work an extra 30 minutes in lieu of having the fifth day off.

In reply to Councillor Heather Williams, it was explained by Cllr Batchelor, that there would be an extra day in the week for missed bin collections and due to use of more permanent staff, there would likely be a reduction in the number of missed bins.

Councillor Heather Williams stated it would be useful for all councillors to be provided with upfront costs and officer hours, including Waste Services and office-based staff, to gain a reflection on what time  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Cabinet:

a)    Agreed the consultation response to be sent jointly with Cambridge City Council set out in Appendix 1 and that it should be sent to Defra.

b)    Agreed that any subsequent material amendments be delegated to the Lead Cabinet Member for Economic Development in consultation with the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development.

c)     Agreed that any subsequent minor amendments and editing changes that did not materially affect the content be delegated to the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development in consultation with the Lead Member for Economic Development.

Councillor Peter McDonald, Lead Cabinet Member for Economic Development

introduced the report.

It was noted that the draft plan set out the significant challenges faced in meeting demand for water; including population growth, changes in water use due to Covid-19, climate change which caused an increased likelihood of drought and the need to reduce abstractions to protect the environment.  The plan considered the challenges and set out the options to best meet them.

The Water Resources Management Plan covered the period between 2025 and 2050. 

It was stated by Cllr McDonald, that it was important Cambridge Water worked with the authority in developing the water resources plan.

Nancy Kimberley, Principal Planning Policy Officer explained there had been negotiations with Cambridge Water and it was agreed that the pipeline would go through Cambridge water area and could be used by them in the short term.

Councillor Dr. Tumi Hawkins thanked officers and members for their work adding that there was a need to provide for the growing population of Greater Cambridge and was pleased it had been identified.

Cabinet

a) Agreed the consultation response to be sent jointly with Cambridge City Council set out in Appendix 1 and that it should be sent to Defra.

b) Agreed that any subsequent material amendments be delegated to the Lead Cabinet Member for Economic Development in consultation with the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development.

c) Agreed that any subsequent minor amendments and editing changes that did not materially affect the content be delegated to the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development in consultation with the Lead Member for Economic Development.

Cabinet:

a)    Agreed the joint response to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities’ technical consultation on the Infrastructure Levy included in Appendix 1.

b)    Agreed that any subsequent material amendments be delegated to the Lead Cabinet Member for Planning in consultation with the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development.

c)     Agreed that any subsequent minor amendments and editing changes that did not materially affect the content be delegated to the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development in consultation with the Lead Member for Planning.

Councillor Peter McDonald introduced the report, noting the concerns raised from South Cambridgeshire and Greater Cambridge planning service regarding the replacement of the S106 arrangements within the Infrastructure Levy.

Cllr McDonald expressed concerns around the timing of revenues, due to the Government proposals that the council borrowed to fund the gap between development and Levy payments.

Cllr McDonald noted that the bill was going through parliament and changes would be seen between the test and trial period of 2024 and 2025.

Cllr McDonald thanked officers involved for their comprehensive and thoughtful submission of responses to questions.

Cabinet

a) Agreed the joint response to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities’ technical consultation on the Infrastructure Levy included in Appendix 1.

b) Agreed that any subsequent material amendments be delegated to the Lead Cabinet Member for Planning in consultation with the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development.

c) Agreed that any subsequent minor amendments and editing changes that did not materially affect the content be delegated to the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development in consultation with the Lead Member for Planning.