Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors P. Andrews and Powell.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the above meeting, having been circulated, be approved as a correct record, subject to the following amendment: Councillor Poole’s attendance at the meeting to be recorded.

None received.

i)             Rolling programme of Portfolio Holder Holding to Account

The Chair informed Members that due to the unavailability of the Portfolio Holder, Community Development, to attend this meeting, the item and questions relating to the ‘Locality Working’ area of Councillor Fox’s portfolio would be rescheduled to a later date in the rolling programme of Portfolio Holder holding to Account.

ii)            Council Plan 2013/14: Overview of Year End Performance

Stephen Bray, Corporate Director, provided Members with key highlights of year-end performance 2013/14 as follows:

2013/14 had been a very positive year in terms of performance, particularly in the context of the requirement for significant expenditure reductions.

93% of Actions in the Council Plan 2013/14 had either been completed or were on target at year-end, compared to 83% in the previous financial year.

78% of performance indicators had been met (55 out of 70). This compared to 67% in 2012/13.

Furthermore, performance against 17 specific indicators had significantly exceeded targets, all of which were in high priority areas. i.e. speed of processing of Housing Benefit  claims and the provision of Affordable Housing.

Highlights had included:

1.    Refurbishment of Bonnington Theatre

2.    Commencement of work on Gedling Country Park

3.    Co-location arrangements within the Civic Centre and Arnot Hill House

4.    Extension of Locality Working to include Killisick

5.    Progression of the Gedling Access Road

6.    Implementation of the tripartite Collaboration Agreement

7.    The Men in Sheds initiative

8.    Expansion of CAB services

Of the remaining indicators, a small number had shown red at year –end, however those were showing an improvement.

Further information requested from Members

a)    Members asked whether the footpaths had been completed on the Gedling Country Park, as they are currently closed to public access.

b)    Further information was requested on performance in respect of the processing of minor and major planning applications.

c)    Further information about staff absence levels was also requested.

d)    An explanation of the changes to grass cutting, winter garden bin collection and the timing of street cleansing.

Councillor Barnes, Portfolio Holder for Environment, who was present at the meeting, provided the following further information:

a)    Contractors were still operating on Gedling Country Park up until the week prior to this meeting and the second phase had commenced on the day of this meeting. The Solar Farm will be implemented in September 2014 therefore the site is technically a working unit until then. Official opening of the site will take place in March 2015.

b)    On the matter of grass cutting, Councillor Barnes reported that the Council has implemented a new arrangement for targeted grass cutting of verges and parks in order to achieve cost savings.

c)    On the matter of garden bin collections, Councillor Barnes reported that winter collections had been reduced as a cost saving, particularly as these collections had been under used, due to the winter weather.  

d)    On the matter of street cleansing, Councillor Barnes acknowledged that parked cars are an issue which sometimes impacts on the street cleansing timetabled in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

Members considered the standing report detailing items referred to the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny under the Constitution or Law.

This included the following notification received where it had not been possible to obtain 3 quotations for a contract estimated to be between £10,000 and £50,000:-

Waiver of Contract Standing Orders in order to enable the Council to enter into a contract for a Facilities Planning Model assessment with Sport England.

RESOLVED:

To note the information.

None.