Agenda, decisions and minutes
Venue: Council Chamber, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil. View directions
Contact: Angela Cox, Democratic Services Specialist - 01935 462148 Email: angela.cox@southsomerset.gov.uk
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Minutes of Previous Meeting To approve as a correct record the minutes of the District Executive meeting held on Thursday 6th June 2019. Minutes: The minutes of the District Executive meeting held on 6th June 2019, copies of which had been circulated, were taken as read and, having been approved as a correct record, were signed by the Chairman.
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Apologies for Absence Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillor John Clark and Clare Pestell, Director. |
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Declarations of Interest 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. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest made by Members. |
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Public Question Time Minutes: There were no questions from members of the public present.
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Chairman's Announcements Minutes: The Chairman congratulated the Chief Executive and his family on the birth of their daughter the previous week.
The Chairman advised that she and officers had attended the MJ Awards ceremony in London the previous week where they had been highly commended in the two categories they had entered. She congratulated officers for their work in reaching the final stage of the awards.
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Allowenshay Private Water Supply PDF 95 KB Additional documents: Decision:
(Voting: 8 in favour, 1 against, 0 abstentions) Minutes: The Chief Executive introduced the report and advised that although it was the Council’s responsibility to regulate the private water supply, it was not responsible for rectifying it. He said this was a complicated issue which was being used as a case study by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) as it was so unusual. As there was no Parish Council, there was no body to lend the money to and to lend individually would be an administrative burden therefore it was easier to grant the money. The sum requested was lower than expected and this was the only area where water improvement notices had been served so it was an exceptional circumstance.
In response to questions from Members, the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer replied:-
· It had been investigated but was not legally possible to add a supplement to a parish precept as they were a Parish Meeting. Also, Secretary of State approval would be required. · It was for each individual community on a private water supply to resolve any issues themselves and any further requests for assistance would be considered on a case-by-case basis by the Executive. · The grant request was linked to the water improvement notices served. · The total cost of the scheme was commercially confidential. · The water supply had deteriorated over a number of years to the point where the notice served recommended that all drinking water was boiled. · The grant exceeded the amount allowed to be granted by an Area Committee (£12,500). · It was not possible to have a scheme which provided a solution to all the private water supplies in the district as they all required different solutions, and, it was for residents to find their own solutions.
During discussion, the following points were made:
· Concern that giving a grant sets a precedent for other private water supply users to apply for a grant as well. · The money should be in the form of a loan. · The residents could apply for a Wessex Home Improvement Loan and the criteria for the loan scheme should be amended if it did not currently allow loans for this purpose. · The Council provided grants to many communities and this grant would help local residents with a local solution.
It was noted that the comments of the Scrutiny Committee had been answered during their discussion.
Councillor Peter Seib proposed and Councillor Henry Hobhouse seconded that the decision be deferred for clarification of whether the Wessex Home Improvement Loan scheme could be utilised, and, for an assessment on the number of private water supplies across the district and of the potential cost implications were some or all of them to make a request for funding.
This proposal to defer the decision was put to the vote and carried by 8 votes in favour and one against.
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Revenue Budget Outturn Report for 2018/19 PDF 133 KB Additional documents:
Decision:
Minutes: The Portfolio Holder for Finance, Legal and Democratic Services introduced the report and drew Members attention to the formal transfer of funds to the Regeneration Fund for key town centres, the funding for the green agenda to support the Environment Strategy and the exceptional treasury management for which he thanked officers. He said that officers were looking at new ways to express the reports in the future to make them easier to read. The recommendations were proposed and seconded.
In response to questions from the Scrutiny Committee, the Director for Service Delivery and the Section 151 Officer replied:-
· A peer review were looking at a number of options for the future of the Building Control service. · The outturn in car park income was the same trend as the previous year and this had been adjusted downwards in the current year and was updated in the current budget.
Councillor Tony Lock said he had attended the Building Control peer review and he was sure that positive suggestions for the future of the service would be made shortly.
There was no debate and Members unanimously agreed to confirm the recommendations of the report.
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Capital Budget Outturn Report for 2018/19 PDF 134 KB Additional documents:
Decision:
Minutes: The Portfolio Holder for Finance, Legal and Democratic Services introduced the report and drew Members attention to the investment in property acquisition and the Council’s ability to continue to fund disabled facilities grants, support the Yeovil Innovation Centre and other sports and leisure investments. He noted the availability of funds for the Wessex Home Improvements loans which were recirculated as the loans were repaid. He proposed the recommendations of the report and they were seconded by Councillor Mike Best.
There was no debate and Members unanimously agreed to confirm the recommendations of the report.
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SSDC Transformation Programme - Progress report PDF 149 KB Decision:
Minutes: The Portfolio Holder for Protecting Core Services including Transformation advised that there had been a constructive debate on the report at Scrutiny Committee and it had been agreed that the programme would be monitored quarterly by Scrutiny Committee in the future.
The Director for Strategy and Support Services reminded Members that it had been an ambitious programme to change how officers worked and how they worked with customers. She said that lots of processes were coming on-line and those customers who wanted to were shifting to on-line access so that officers could spend more time with those customers who were not able to access on-line services. Some of the service-redesigns had not gone according to plan and so there was a longer transition period and additional resource was requested to assist officers through a sustained period of pressure. SSDC were the first in the county to use Connect 360 with Civica and so there were no lessons to be learned from other authorities.
The Director for Service Delivery said there was a plan to clear the backlog of work, increase customer satisfaction and reduce the pressure on staff to allow the new technology to bed-in. A series of targets were being developed and they would be monitored through the quarterly reports to the Scrutiny Committee.
During discussion, the following points were made:
· There were problems in certain areas but they were improving. · Staff had coped exceptionally well to continue to deliver their services during this period. · There had been long delays in phones being answered in the contact centre due to the volume of calls but this was improving.
In response to questions from Members, the Chief Executive and Directors confirmed:-
· Some of the savings achieved through Transformation were being used in the interim so the £2.5m saving was only being delayed as more time was required to bed-in new systems. · Because of the Homeless Reduction Act 2018, thorough assessments of individuals circumstances was taking longer. · Additional resource would be added to the Customer Focus team, Development Management team and the Council Tax team but it took time to train new staff and time to change the public shift to on-line access. · The transformation programme would be closing towards the end of the year as it was now considered business as usual.
It was noted that officers had answered questioned raised at the Scrutiny Committee at that meeting, and, at the conclusion of the debate, Members unanimously agreed to confirm the recommendations of the report.
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Decision:
Minutes: The Chairman advised that purchasing the property allowed the current occupiers to move to another area and it would now be let to another family in need of a home.
In response to a question from the Scrutiny Committee, the Director for Service Delivery advised that the purchase was not a commercial investment but it would provide a rental income and the future occupiers would have the opportunity to purchase a percentage of the property.
There was no debate and Members were content to note the urgent decision taken by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of Council.
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District Executive Forward Plan PDF 72 KB Additional documents: Decision:
Minutes: In response to a question from the Scrutiny Committee, the Lead Specialist for Strategy and Commissioning confirmed that although the timetable to produce the Environment Strategy by October 2019 was tight, she was confident that an overarching strategy would be produced in that timeframe.
The Portfolio Holder for Environment advised of the consultation events which had taken place and were due to be held and it was noted that Town and Parish Councils could still provide feedback after the advised date.
The following addition to the Forward Plan was noted:
· Public Space Protection Orders – September 2019
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Date of Next Meeting PDF 39 KB Minutes: Members noted that the next scheduled meeting of the District Executive would take place on Thursday 1st August 2019 in the Council Chamber, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil commencing at 9.30 a.m.
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