Agenda item

The Locality Team Manager presented the report that provided members with an overview of the first year of delivery of the Area Chapter for Area North. He highlighted key elements of the report and noted there were no further updates. Some lessons had been learned during the first year of the chapter, and he advised there was probably a need to develop clearer milestones to facilitate easier monitoring of outcomes. He reminded members that quarterly updates were posted on the members portal for information, however in the future he suggested that the updates were agenda items, so that any concerns or changes to delivery of priorities could be discussed and agreed when necessary.

During a short discussion the Locality Team Manager and Locality Team Leader responded to points of detail, and some of their comments included:

·         Area North had done well with grant funding over the year, and the 4:1 ratio of funding was comparable with the other Areas. Officers would always strive to increase the funding ratio.

·         A request for a further update on the status of the funding request for Cartgate TIC would be made to the Leisure & Recreation Manager and circulated to members.

·         A further update on the latest situation regarding the works at Somerton Recreation Field would be circulated to members.

·         Due to Covid-19 there were likely to be some reviews of budgets and probably some changes to priorities. Some projects might be delayed or delivered differently, or there was the possibility that some projects may no longer happen.

·         Grant applications were still welcomed.

Some further queries were raised about whether any SSDC meetings had been convened to consider budgets or service reductions in light of the Covid-19 situation, and also about the decision making processes that were in place. The Director (Service Delivery) responded to points of detail and clarified that:

·         No urgent meetings had been held to consider the budget or service reductions.

·         A report on the Impact of Covid-19 on the Council was due to be considered by District Executive in June.

·         An urgent report had been considered by full Council in March regarding additional delegation of decision making to the Chief Executive temporarily.

·         All of the decision making committees had held a virtual informal / consultative meeting so that the Monitoring Officer could be satisfied that decisions were able to made appropriately using technology at virtual meetings, and to ensure that the Chairmen were comfortable they could chair a meeting using Zoom. Where a committee had met had once virtually, the decision making had transferred back to that committee. The only committee that had yet to meet virtually was full Council.

At the end of discussion the Chairman thanked the officers for the report. Members were content to note the report.