In response to feedback from the 2008 training and development survey, we will be staging 2-hour morning and early evening sessions introducing the work of the Council’s Revenues Service on Thursday 9 July 2009 at the Council Offices. Both sessions will take place in the Swansley Room, ground floor. Please note that these are repeat sessions: you aren't required to attend both.

The morning session will take place between 10am-12 noon, with refreshments from 9.45am, and the evening session between 6-8pm, with refreshments from 5.45pm.

If you have not already done so, please could you let me know which session you wish to attend as soon as possible, so that I can make the necessary logistical arrangements? 

The session will cover the following topics, which have been agreed in consultation with Members who identified revenues as a high-priority training and development need:

• Responsibilities of the Council and those of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP);
• Brief introduction to each service area: Council Tax, housing rents and benefits, business rates, benefit fraud prevention and investigation;
• Scope and size of the service  - financially, and in terms of annual enquiries;
• Specific areas for clarification, e.g., what is the Council Tax base and how does it relate to annual parish precepts?
• Dealing with common Member / resident enquiries: the recovery process, benefit availability and eligibility.

Lee Phanco, the Council's Head of Revenues, will lead the session, supported by officers from his service, using presentation slides and relevant case studies and examples of the work of the service, e.g., anonymised benefit fraud investigations and prosecutions, including some interesting anecdotes about the detective work of our investigators.

We hope that the sessions will be interesting, eye opening and useful to you when dealing with residents' enquiries in the future.

Please do not hesitate to contact Richard May, Democratic Services Manager, 01954 713016, richard.may@scambs.gov.uk if you require further information. 

Gypsy & Traveller Development Plan Document Issues and Options 2 Consultation – Additional Exhibitions and Planning Parish Forum

Consultation on the Gypsy and Traveller DPD Issues and Options 2 Site options and Policies begins on 10 July and runs to 9 October 2009.  

There will be a variety of ways of finding out more and becoming involved in the process, including opportunities to discuss the issues with council officers at a series of exhibitions close to existing Gypsy / Traveller communities and where site options have been identified. 

Exhibitions will be held between 1pm and 8pm at the following:

• Monday 20 July - The Ploughman Hall, West Fen Road, Willingham
• Wednesday 22 July - Cottenham Village College Common Room, High Street, Cottenham
• Friday 24 July - The Limes Communal Room, High Street, Bassingbourn
• Friday 31 July - Milton Community Centre, Coles Road, Milton

In addition, two further exhibitions have been added:

• Monday 27th July - Fulbourn United Reformed Church Hall, Home End, Fulbourn
• Wednesday 29th July - Girton Glebe Primary School, Cambridge Road, Girton

There will also be a permanent exhibition displayed in the reception area of the Council’s offices at Cambourne for the duration of the consultation.

In addition, a meeting of the Planning Parish Forum will take place on 30^th July to provide further information on the consultation to invited parish council representatives.

Further information is available on the Gypsy and Traveller DPD webpage:

http://www.scambs.gov.uk/Environment/Planning/DistrictPlanning/LocalDevelopmentFramework/Gypsy_and_Traveller_DPD.htm

A copy of the July edition of the EERA newsletter is attached for information. 

The Rural Services Network is a group of over 250 service providers and local authorities working to establish best practice across the spectrum of rural service provision. The network has representation across the complete range of rural services.  For general comments or enquiries, email: editor@ruralcity.co.uk 

To view the list of planning applications submitted in the past seven days, please visit the Council’s on-line Planning Application Search.  Once the page has loaded, select the relevant parish from the drop-down list, set the date period to ‘7 days’ and click the Search button or click the Advanced button, select a ward from the drop-down list, then set the date period to ‘7 days’ and click the Search button.

The system will provide a range of information on current and decided applications since 1948, including a brief description of the development, reference number, decision and the date of decision.  More recent applications show the name and telephone number of the council officer who is dealing with the application.

Search results are presented in a collection of pages, the number of which depends on the number of results your search produces.  Each page displays 30 results and there are navigation tools to allow you to browse these results.

With nearly a quarter of people nationally admitting to dropping litter from their vehicle, Keep Britain Tidy is launching a campaign this week to reduce vehicle littering. We have signed up to support the campaign, and a supply of car stickers and posters are available in the Members' Lounge if Councillors would like to take any. Posters are also being distributed to Parish Councils for display. Extra copies can be sent out on request, please email communications@scambs.gov.uk or call (01954) 713262.

Kelly Quigley
Communications Officer

In accordance with the Access to Information Procedure Rules in Part 4 of the Council’s Constitution, any executive decision shall be published normally within five days of being made.  That record will bear the date on which it is published and will specify that the decision will come into force, and may then be implemented, on the expiry of 5 working days after the publication of the decision, unless called in for review by the Chairman of the Scrutiny and Overview Committee or by any five other councillors.

A list of decisions currently within the call-in period is available on the Council’s website.

Cabinet decisions were published on 2 July 2009 and therefore the Democratic Services Manager must be notified of any call in by 5 pm on Friday 10 July 2009.  All Cabinet decisions not called in by this date may be implemented on Monday 13 July 2009.  Unless otherwise specified, the Democratic Services Manager must receive notification of call in of any other executive decision by Thursday 16 July 2009.  All decisions not called in by this date may be implemented on Friday 17 July 2009.

Any member considering calling in a decision is requested to contact the Democratic Services Section to determine whether any relevant amendments have been incorporated.

The call in procedure is set out in full in Part 4 of the Council’s Constitution, ‘Scrutiny and Overview Committee Procedure Rules’. 

Cabinet AGREED

(a) to adopt the Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) relating to Biodiversity and Listed Buildings, and to proceed with their adoption in accordance with Regulations 18 and 19; and

(b) that no changes be made to the Sustainability Appraisals for each SPD and that these be published in their final form alongside the SPDs.

Other Options Considered: None considered.

Reason For Decision: Formal public consultation on both Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) had now concluded and, as a result of representations made, the draft SPDs had been amended and now required formal adoption to become part of the Local Development Framework. All preparatory work had been done in compliance with the legislative and regulatory framework 

Cabinet AGREED to adopt the Community Engagement Strategy and Action Plan.

Other Options Considered: Rejected:

(a) To request amendments to the Community Engagement Strategy and / or Action Plan prior to adoption; or

(b) Not to adopt the Community Engagement Strategy and / or Action Plan and propose an alternative approach to ensure compliance with the Duty to Involve.

Reason For Decision: The Community Engagement Strategy had been published according to the white paper ‘Communities in Control – real people, real power’ and the introduction of the new Duty to Involve local people in decision-making, which came into effect in April 2009. Adoption of an engagement strategy, although not mandatory, will assist the authority in providing evidence of compliance with the Duty to Involve. 

Cabinet AGREED the following appointments to Outside, Joint and other Member bodies:

Cambridgeshire Together (Local Area Agreement) Partnership Boards:

Cabinet AGREED not to make appointments to the Local Government Association Annual Conference and General Assembly and asked that appointments to these be reviewed during 2009/10.

Cabinet NOTED that the Joint Member Reference Groups for Cambridge East, Cambridge Southern Fringe and Northwest Cambridge had been disbanded and their duties assumed by the Cambridge City Fringes Joint Committee.

Cabinet AGREED to delegate authority to the Leader and the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Finance and Staffing and Sustainability, Procurement and Efficiency Portfolio Holders, for submitting the total net value of ongoing cash-releasing value for money gains achieved since the start of the 2008/09 financial year.

Other Options Considered: None considered.

Reason For Decision: Guidance from the Department for Communities and Local Government is that the Leader of the Council, the Chief Executive and the Chief Finance Officer (Section 151 Officer) should certify and approve the NI 179 (value for money gains) calculation. 

Cabinet RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that a revenue grant of £261,000 be awarded to Cambridge Sport Lakes Trust towards the cost of an extension and improvements to the Visitor Centre at Milton Country Park.

Other Options Considered: Recommendation to Council.

Reason For Decision: Recommendation to Council.

Cabinet RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that the Food Safety Service Plan 2009-10 be approved.

Other Options Considered: Recommendation to Council.

Reason For Decision: Recommendation to Council.

The Leader AGREED:    

1. Option 3 of the report: to maintain the existing grants scheme and the total funding available (minimum £156,130 plus inflationary increases where appropriate) but to redefine it, implementing all of the changes detailed in the report to ensure clarity, consistency and transparency.

2. That all organisations seeking three-year grants be informed that the financial situation of the Council could make it impossible for the authority to commit to a grant payment over a three-year period. 

The Finance and Staffing Portfolio Holder APPROVED that the budget rollovers, as summarised in Appendix A, be carried forward into the 2009-10 financial year, subject to final confirmation by the Section 151 Officer being given on an individual basis at the appropriate time during the year.

The rollover requests total £72,820 on General Fund budget accounts, £170,760 on the Capital Programme and £40,000 on the Housing Revenue Account. 

Agendas

·                      Joint Development Control Committee, Cambridge Fringes: 8 July 2009

·                      Licensing Committee: 13 July 2009

·                       

Reports

·                      Concessionary Fares

Decisions

·                      Cabinet (Decision Sheet): 2 July 2009

·                      Leader’s Meeting (Decision Sheet): 2 July 2009

·                      Planning Committee (Decision Sheet): 1 July 2009  

·                      Finance and Staffing Portfolio Holder’s meeting (Decision Sheet): 7 July 2009

Minutes

·                      Council: 18 June 2009

·                      Senior Management Team: 1 July 2009 (Intranet only)

Issues

·                      Complaint Reference 30156

Meetings

·                      Housing Portfolio Holder’s meeting: 16 July 2009

Starters

Trevor Faulkner, Principal Planning Officer – Major Developments, will be starting on 13 July 2009.

Adrian Hill, Street Cleaning Operative, started on 22 June 2009.

Leaver

Barbara Crothers, Sheltered Housing Officer, will be leaving on 5 July 2009.