Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was submitted by Councillors Garry Bull and Saul Penfold

There were no substitutes at the meeting.

To receive questions / statements from the public, if any.

None received.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 24 January 2024.

Councillor Housden stated that in relation to Minute 114 Treasury Management Strategy his question on the Liquidity ratio was more about who set the ratio and if it was set by the Government and the Government decided to change it, what would be the effect of that change on the Council and the Council’s investments and its wider investment portfolio.

Councillor Holliday updated the Committee on the work of the Homelessness Task and Finish Group and that it was starting to undertake some evidence gathering especially from external witnesses on the issues that were causing people to be made homeless in North Norfolk. The group were looking for innovative solutions to address those issues and improve the situation. 

Councillor Cushing stated that he was yet to receive the details of where in the District the Shared prosperity fund had been spent he had asked for in respect of Minute 112 Managing Performance Quarter 2 2023/24. Councillor Heinrich, Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Growth advised that the work on providing that information was still ongoing and it would be passed on as soon as it was completed.

Resolved - the minutes of the meeting held on 24th January 2024 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman subject to the alteration to Minute 114 Treasury Management Strategy to reflect that Councillor Housden question on the Liquidity Ratio was on who set the ratio and if it was set by the Government and the Government decided to change it, what would be the effect of that change on the Council and the Council’s investments and its wider investment portfolio.

To determine any other items of business which the Chairman decides should be considered as a matter of urgency pursuant to Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

None received.

Members are asked at this stage to declare any interests that they may have in any of the following items on the agenda. The Code of Conduct for Members requires that declarations include the nature of the interest and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest.

None received.

To consider any petitions received from members of the public.

None received.

To consider any requests made by non-executive Members of the Council, submitted to the Democratic Services Manager with seven clear working days’ notice, to include an item on the agenda of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

None received.

To consider any responses of the Council or the Cabinet to the Committee’s reports or recommendations:

The Democratic Services and Governance Officer advised that a recommendations tracker had been added to the agenda with the purpose of showing what the progress had been from the Committee’s recommendations throughout the year.

To consider the latest iteration of the Council’s budget for 2024/25 and details of the proposed Capital Programme for 2023/24 to 2027/28 along with proposed bids for inclusion in the Capital Programme.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance, Estates and Property Services, Councillor Shires, presented a report on the Council’s Draft Revenue Budget for 2024-25, along with proposed budget savings and use of Reserves used to set a balanced budget for 2024/25.

Councillor Shires drew the committee’s attention to Table 2 Summary of Movements to Achieve Balanced Budget and that due to an additional £305,000 being received from the Government in its final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024/25, the additional use of reserves to balance the budget for 2024/25 would now be £111,000 and not £416,000.

Councillor Shires commented that in respect of the line in the table that said savings to be identified £250,000 she had mentioned this verbally at the last Overview and Scrutiny Committee and it had been added to the table for the last cabinet meeting.

Councillor Shires, in response to Councillor Holliday’s question, stated that she and the Director of Resources was confident enough that the savings could be realised to put them into budget.

The Director of Resources advised in response to a question from Councillor Dixon on whether full council could approve a budget with savings yet to be identified, that it was common practise for local authorities to do so.

Councillor Shires commented in respect of Councillor Dixon’s question about whether it was transparent for members of the public, that the budget was being prepared on what is best for the residents and in line with the council’s plans for the years ahead. The budget was specific in detailing the savings in each service area.

Councillor Shires added that it was not fair to the staff or the public to consider the array of choices that the council had to make further savings without some funnelling down of the proposals.

The Assistant Director Finance Assets Legal as the Council’s Monitoring Officer, responded to Councillor Dixon’s question by saying that no budget can be completely free of risk and there needs to be assumptions made with a degree of uncertainty. Councillor Shires had indicated that there were savings to be made but were being worked on but had not been identified publicly due to personal data that could not be shared in public. At the full council meeting, there would be the Director of Resources report as required by legislation and with all these factors it was a lawful basis to consider them.

Following on from this, the Assistant Director Finance Assets Legal advised that each councillor would have a fiduciary duty at the full council meeting to consider all the information before them but didn’t think there was an unlawfulness problem following all the information that had been provided at the meeting.

Councillor Shires advised that if the committee wanted to consider the £250,000 budget savings it would need to do that in an exempt information session of the committee as they contained confidential information.

Councillor Housden proposed the exclusion of the press and public to enable the committee to discuss those budget savings  ...  view the full minutes text for item 128.

The consider the draft Economic Strategy and Action Plan (2023-2027) which sets out the approach and actions the Council will undertake to support delivering against its ‘Investing in Our Local Economy & Infrastructure’ objective and supporting the growth of the local economy over the next four years.

Councillor Heinrich, Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Growth, presented a report on a draft Economic Strategy and Action Plan (2023-2027) that sets out the approach and actions the Council will undertake to support delivering against the ‘Investing in Our Local Economy and Infrastructure’ objective in the Council’s Corporate Plan and in supporting the growth of the local economy over the next four years.

Councillor Heinrich stated the key thing the strategy needed to be was flexible and adaptable especially with a fluid national economic picture and a forthcoming general election.

Councillor Heinrich added that he wanted the council to move forward by creating an environment in which business could thrive, where new businesses could flourish, inward investment is nurtured, and innovation and creativity are welcomed.

Councillor Heinrich in response to a question from Councillor Boyle commented that he thought the national economic situation would be the biggest barrier to achieving the strategy. There was a need for the government to produce an industrial strategy that included rural areas.

The Assistant Director Sustainable Growth responded to Councillor Holliday’s question stated that if you wanted to define a future unique selling point for North Norfolk that could be the Green Industry Sector to include renewable energy, hydrogen capture and storage and ensuring that there is a transition for jobs in traditional industries to green ones. There could also be an opportunity to look at innovation in nature based solutions that are currently being trialled in North Norfolk.

The Economic Growth Manager added that it would be good for the Council to concentrate on its economic strengths and the Council could grow its brand of Sustainable Tourism and build a narrative around that and the beautiful environment and heritage in the district.

The Assistant Director Sustainable Growth replied to Councillor Holliday’s question that there was some further work to be done to understand the value of other sectors to the local economy beyond that work already done on the Tourism sector. This could be in the form of a dossier that would provide relevant information to help those companies who were thinking of relocating to North Norfolk.

Councillor Heinrich in response to a question from Councillor Dixon stated that there was a an Invest North Norfolk website and the Council needed to promote itself online but there was work to be done make it more visible for the public to access,

Councillor Heinrich in response to a question from Councillor Housden stated that the Council didn’t have money to directly invest for businesses and that a National Investment Bank might get around the reluctance of commercial banks to invest in local schemes. Any government money that has been time limited has already gone out to businesses.

The Assistant Director Sustainable Growth stated in response to Councillor Hankins question that the Local Economic Partnership’s (LEP) powers has been transferred to the two county Councils in their area. The Council was administering some of the Shared Prosperity and Rural England Schemes from the New Anglia Growth  ...  view the full minutes text for item 129.

To consider an update on the Council’s Waste and Related Services Contract.

The Director for Communities presented a report that provided an update on the performance of the Council’s waste, grounds maintenance and street cleansing contract.

The Director for Communities stated that completion of rounds on the scheduled day of collection remained high. Most daily reports now show 100% completion rates of rounds and missed collection reporting showed a continuation of an improving trend across all collection areas.

The Director for Communities in response to a question from Councillor Dixon stated that the setting up a website to report any missed bins disruption/incompletions was being progressed and he would provide a written update to the committee.

The Director for Communities in response to a question from Councillor Housden on the modelling of costs by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for the new requirement to provide a food waste collection service to all households and certain businesses would require an entirely separate collection scheme with new additional smaller vehicles.

The Director of Resources advised that the projected additional cost of this for the Council could range from £1.04m-£1,8m less £0.716m and would incur an annual revenue cost to the council of between £46k-£155k Minimum Revenue Provision costs plus the interest costs on external borrowing. It was not currently within the Council’s Capital Programme but once the costs were confirmed they would need to be approved by full council.

The Chief Executive in response to a question from Councillor Cushing on the route and round reorganisation leaflet will go out to residents between Monday 4 and Thursday 28 March, an article explaining the reasons for the changes will be in the Council’s outlook publication which will be delivered during the week starting on 11 March and the new rounds will commence on Monday 8 April.

Recommended – that  (A) Given the current performance levels and the arrangements in place, to monitor performance and the gap analysis, through the governance structures within the contract that further updates on performance are only made to Overview and Scrutiny committee if, in the view of the Authorised Officer (Director for Communities) for the contract, performance has dropped to a level that is of significant concern or that progress on the gap analysis items is not adequate,

(B) the Overview and Scrutiny Committee provide scrutiny of the progress made in planning, implementing, and embedding the round reorganisation on a regular basis, and

(C) full Council be requested to agree to write a letter to Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs setting out the evidence associated with the shortfall in allocation and the anticipated capital costs that the Council will incur in relation to food waste collection.

To receive an update from the Scrutiny Officer on progress made with topics on its agreed work programme, training updates and to receive any further information which Members may have requested at a previous meeting.

The Democratic Services and Governance Officer advised that in respect of the Scrutiny Training that the Committee had requested, three specialist providers had now submitted their proposals for the training. It was proposed that the Committee Chair and Vice Chair would consider those proposals and confirm which provider should be used with the intention that the training would be in mid to late March.

Resolved that the Committee Chair and Vice Chair agree the proposals for the Scrutiny training to be held in mid to late March 2024.

To pass the following resolution, if necessary:

“That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph _ of Part I of Schedule 12A (as amended) to the Act.”

Cllr Housden proposed exclusion of the press and public in order to discuss those budget savings proposals that could include exempt information. The proposal was

seconded by Cllr Vickers.

RESOLVED

That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and

public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the

grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as

defined in paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A (as amended) to the

Act.