Meeting documents

            Meeting: Cabinet (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 2 - 19/02/2009 10:00:00 AM)

                  Item: A1 Minutes of the meetings held on 29 January and 5 February 2009

         

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AT A MEETING of the CABINET held at the County Hall, Durham on THURSDAY 29 JANUARY 2009 at 10.00 a.m.

PRESENT
Cabinet Members:

Councillors Foster, Hodgson, Hovvels, E Huntington, Nicholls, Robson, Stephens, Vasey and B Young.

Other Members:

Councillors Armstrong, Avery, A Bainbridge, Blakey, Chaplow, Graham, Gray, Hancock, N Harrison, Hopgood, G Huntington, Johnson, Jopling, Liddle, Martin, Rodgers, Shuttleworth, Simmons, Southwell, Stradling, Temple, K Thompson, Todd, Tomlinson, Walker, Wilkes, Wilkinson, Williams, Woods and Zair.

A1 Declarations of Interest

None Declared.

A2 Budget 2009/10 incorporating the Medium Term Financial Plan 2008/09 - 2010/11
[Key Decision Corp/TR/01/08

The Cabinet considered a Report of the Corporate Director, Resources providing information to enable Cabinet to make recommendations to the meeting of the County Council on the 27th February about the 2009/10 Budget (for copy see file of Minutes).

In the ensuing discussion the Chairman, Councillor Hodgson the Cabinet Portfolio for Resources and the Corporate Director, Resources answered a series of questions from Members about the preparation and construction of the budget, its aim of protecting frontline services, as well as adhering to the County Council’s bid for Unitary local government for County Durham.

With specific reference to establishing a capital programme the Chairman explained how the proposed Working Group of Members would play a pivotal role in this regard, examining not only existing projects but also new ones. It was expected the Working Group, the membership of which remained to be agreed, would commence its work from 1 April 2009.

The Corporate Director Resources also pointed out that a separate report would be presented to Council dealing with the LSVT of Sedgefield Borough Council’s housing stock and associated rent setting issues.

With regard to the Countryside Budget the Corporate Director, Environment explained that the reduction would not be at the expense of frontline service, but would be achieved by support services rationalisation.

Following Members’ questions Councillor Hodgson moved and it was

Resolved
That the following recommendations be adopted for inclusion in the report to the County Council on 27 February 2009 with regard to the County Council Budget -

1 That the recommendations be approved as set out in:-
· Section B Priorities, Section C - Consultation Reponses, Section D · Financial Reserves,
· Sections Section H - Capital Budget, Section I - Prudential Code and · Section L - Council Tax Base and Estimated Collection Fund Surplus/Deficit
· Section M Risk and N. Section 25 Report

2 That the County Council be recommended to agree an average Council Tax increase of 2.94% (ranging from an increase of 4.75% to a reduction of 1%) and authorise incorporation into the Cabinet’s report appropriate recommendations to put this into effect.

3 That, as a consequence of adopting 2 above, it be noted the Budget gap is now £5.961m

4 That Section G - Service Investments and Service Savings be agreed subject to the following variations:

That the County Council be recommended to close the Budget gap by:

a)	Additional support recharged for Area Action Partnerships, reduced from Bid (£1.4m), saving	£1.200m
b)	In Adults Wellbeing and Health, assume that if necessary any double running costs will be met from the County Council contingency provision, saving	£0.200m
c)	In Children’s & Young People’s Services assume that the staffing for the 14-19 planning will not be in place soon enough to incur the total investment proposed, saving	£0.050m
d)	In Corporate Resources, removing the additional support to replacing the lost grant, saving	£0.053m
e)	In the calculation of the additional revenue cost of capital, assuming that the programme will be contained within existing levels of budget provision, saving	£1.000m
f)	That earmarked reserves and trading account profits from across the Council contribute the balance of	£3.458m

5 That the Corporate Director, Resources be authorised to make any proper accounting transactions that would be in the interests of the County Council in relation to the accounts for 2008/09.

AT A MEETING of the CABINET held at the County Hall, Durham on THURSDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2009 at 10.00 a.m.

PRESENT Cabinet Members:
Councillors Foster, Hodgson, Hovvels, E Huntington, Nicholls, Robson, Stephens, Vasey and B Young.

Other Members:
Councillors Armstrong, Arthur, Bailey, Blakey, Burnip, Chaplow, Graham, Hancock, N Harrison, Holland, Johnson, Jopling, Martin, O’Donnell, Shuttleworth, Tomlinson, Wilkes, Wilkinson and Williams.

A1 Minutes

The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 January 2009 were confirmed as a
correct record and signed by the Chairman.

A2 Declarations of interest

Councillor Hovvels in respect of Minute A6 as a Member of Sedgefield Borough Council.

A3 LGR Update

The Cabinet considered a Report of the Chief Executive (for copy see file of Minutes) providing an update on the LGR programme that had been considered by the full Council on 4 February.

Resolved:
That the progress detailed in the appended full Council Report be noted.

A4 Durham Private Sector Housing Renewal Financial Assistance Policy
[Key Decision Corp/LGR/11/08]

The Cabinet considered a Report of the Corporate Director, Regeneration and Economic Development (for copy see file of Minutes) about the ‘Durham Private Sector Housing Renewal Financial Assistance Policy’.

Resolved:
That the recommendations in the Report be agreed.

A5 Civil Contingencies Unit

The Cabinet considered a Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (for copy
see file of Minutes) outlining the issues around the future of the County
Durham and Darlington Civil Contingencies Unit (CCU) and proposing the Unit’s return to Durham County Council (DCC), as the ‘lead’ local authority.

Resolved:
That the recommendations in the Report be agreed.

A6 Ceremonial Issues arising from the Local Government Review - Update

The Cabinet considered a Report of the Acting Director of Corporate Services
(for copy see file of Minutes) making recommendations on various ceremonial
matters and highlighting further emerging legislation.

Resolved:
That the recommendations in the Report be agreed.

A7 Local Area Agreement (LAA) Review (2009 - 11)

The Cabinet considered a Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (for copy
see file of Minutes) providing a review of the County Durham Local Area
Agreement (LAA) for the period 2009 -11 and outlining the timetable for its
completion.

Resolved:
That the recommendations in the Report be agreed.

A8 South and East Durham New Growth Point The Cabinet considered a Report of the Corporate Director, Regeneration and
Economic Development (for copy see file of Minutes) providing an update on
the progress of the South and East Durham New Growth Point, advising on the Government funding awarded (and confirm that the County will inherit accountable body status for the processing of such funds) and the next steps.

Resolved:
That the recommendations in the Report be agreed.

A9 Harmonisation of Household Waste Collection Policies The Cabinet considered a Report of the Corporate Director, Neighbourhood
Services (for copy see file of Minutes) outlining the current position regarding waste collection policies from across the seven existing Districts in County Durham and seeking views on the adoption of a harmonised set of policies, effective from 1st April 2009 as part of a programme of work towards converged collection arrangements for the new Council.

Resolved:
That the recommendations in the Report be agreed.

A10 Garden Waste Collection and Composting Service: Plans for Extension

The Cabinet considered a Report of the Head of Direct Services (for copy see
file of Minutes) seeking agreement to the operational details for the extension
of the garden waste collection service.

Resolved:
That the recommendations in the Report be agreed.

A11 Sub-Regional Homelessness Strategy The Cabinet considered a Report of the Corporate Director, Regeneration and
Economic Development (for copy see file of Minutes) seeking approval for the
County Durham Sub Regional Homelessness Strategy.

Resolved:
That the recommendations in the Report be agreed.

In the opinion of the Chairman the following item was considered to be of sufficient urgency to warrant consideration due to the matter having arisen in the national press.

A12 Winter Maintenance

Councillor Wilkes referred to the current weather conditions and the press reports about the national shortage of salt to grit the roads for the remainder of the winter, and he sought clarification on the position in Durham.

Councillor Young, the Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Environment, advised that, although over the past few days much salt had been used, the Authority still had 14,000 tonnes of salt in stock. Although the companies delivering the salt were limiting the amounts, they had guaranteed to deliver at least 200 of the 500 tonnes per day requested by this Authority. He anticipated that providing there were no major changes to the weather as forecast for the next four weeks, and the undertaking made by the company that they would deliver the stock each day was honoured, he was reasonably confident that there would be sufficient salt.

He also advised that a capital growth bid for £600k had been made to build 3 new additional storage depots for salt, to supplement the 35,000 tonnes of salt that was already stocked at the beginning of the winter.

Attachments

 02.05.09 minutes.pdf;
 01.29.09 minutes.pdf