Agenda, decisions and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the District Executive meeting held on 5^th July 2018.

The minutes of the District Executive meeting held on 5^th July 2018, copies of which had been circulated, were taken as read and, having been approved as a correct record, were signed by the Chairman.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Val Keitch, Peter Seib and Sue Steele (Chairman of Scrutiny Committee) and Netta Meadows, Director.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (as amended 26 February 2015), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting.

Members are reminded that they need to declare the fact that they are also a member of a County, Town or Parish Council as a Personal Interest. Where you are also a member of Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council within South Somerset you must declare a prejudicial interest in any business on the agenda where there is a financial benefit or gain or advantage to Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council which would be at the cost or to the financial disadvantage of South Somerset District Council. 

There were no declarations of interest made by Members. 

There were no members of the public present. 

The Chairman welcomed the new graduate officers who were observing the meeting.

The Chairman paid tribute to the staff who had helped to arrange the very successful playday at the Yeovil Country Park the previous day. 

The Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture advised that the Council was fortunate that it was still able to grant fund local voluntary and charitable organisations and she paid tribute to the Finance Team for their good management of the Council’s finances which enabling this to continue.

In response to a question from the Scrutiny Committee, the Third Sector and Partnerships Co-ordinator advised that the higher Parish Council contributions towards community grants in Area North was due to one exceptionally high contribution by Martock Parish Council towards the Our Place scheme.

During a brief discussion it was noted that other Town and Parish Councils also precepted to support local voluntary and charitable organisations.

At the conclusion of the debate, Members were content to note the Corporate Grants report 2017 – 2018.

The Leader of Council, in the absence of the Portfolio Holder, introduced the report, noting that as this was a first quarter report, it was only an indication of the Council’s revenue finance position.  He drew Members attention to several points in the report and concluded that the Council was overall in a strong financial position

The Lead Specialist – Finance advised that the Specialist Finance Officers had recently focussed on the year end reports but would now focus on the quarter 2 monitoring reports.

It was noted that the questions raised at the Scrutiny Committee had been answered at the meeting by the Lead Specialist – Finance. The questions included virement to the regeneration budgets for Chard, Wincanton and Yeovil, predicted shortfall in Building Control income, mid-term reporting on the Westland Venue, income from property investments, the Closed Churchyards Reserve and the use of acronyms in the report.

The Chief Executive confirmed that a new business plan was being developed for the Building Control service to be competitive and provide a good service to the development community in the future.  He did note that the service was only allowed to break even and not to make a profit. 

At the conclusion of the debate, Members were content to note the current revenue position of the council for 2018/19.

The Lead Specialist – Finance advised that the Council’s external auditors had required a late to the 2017/18 accounts on the Marlborough investment which required a revision to the 2017/18 capital outturn figures previously reported to Members.  

It was noted that the question raised at the Scrutiny Committee regarding the frequency of reporting for the progress of investments (Commercial Strategy) was now on the Executive Forward Plan.  It was also clarified that the Castle Cary Fairfield Project would benefit from Section 106 funding.

At the conclusion of the debate, Members were content to note the current capital position of the council for 2018/19 and approve the revised capital programme spend as detailed in paragraph 6, Table 1.

The Chairman advised that the layout of the reporting had changed to make the information more meaningful and easier to read.  He noted that there had been an increase in the number of missed refuse collection calls to the contact centre as the Waste Partnership struggled with recruiting collection staff and vehicle breakdowns.  Also, the new duty planner service was experiencing some issues which may continue into September.

The People Performance and Change Lead advised that some services were facing challenges as new ways of working were introduced and staff were becoming accustomed to them.  She noted that several points had been raised by the Scrutiny Committee relating to past performance comparisons and some of the indicators and these would be taken into account in the next quarterly report.  She noted that performance in the planning service was good compared to other Local Authorities however there were issues in the validation of new planning applications which were currently being addressed.

Councillor Nick Weeks asked for clarification on the prioritisation of outstanding planning issues, particularly the completion of the Section 106 Agreement for Henstridge Airfield.  The Chief Executive agreed to follow this up.  

At the conclusion of the debate, Members were content to note the Corporate Performance Report 2018-19: 1st Quarter.

In response to a question, the Chairman agreed to circulate a briefing note to Town and Parish Councils on the availability of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding and to clarify the 123 list, ahead of the parishes precept setting meetings. 

During discussion, it was also noted that some commercial drinks companies were offering landowners funding to remove cider apple orchards with standard trees as they were using less apples in the production of cider.  Whilst it was appreciated that there was little the District Council could do to protect the cider apple orchards, their removal could affect the local character and landscape of the district. 

Members noted that the next scheduled meeting of the District Executive would take place on Thursday 6^th September 2018 in the Council Chamber, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil commencing at 9.30 a.m.