Agenda and minutes

            The Minutes of the meeting held on 1^st November 2007 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

            The Sub-Committee was advised that tenders had been invited from six contractors to carry out the refurbishment of Runcorn Town Hall. The first stage entailed the provision of a notionally priced document from each contractor based upon a pre-determined elemental cost analysis of the proposed project.

 

            Following analysis of the stage one bids which were assessed on both price and quality, three contractors were chosen to progress to stage two. At stage two a detailed presentation and rigorous interview of each of these contractors was undertaken by an appointed panel to establish quality levels as part of the overall review. The aggregate of both price and quality from this two stage process resulted in a preferred contractor, Globe Management Services Limited, being chosen for this project and a contract had been entered into.

 

            RESOLVED: That Members note that the tender submitted by Globe Management Services Limited had been accepted by the Operational Director Property Services, and a contract had been entered into, with a contract sum of £2,981,299.00.

            As part of the Safer Halton Partnership Tasking and Co-ordination Group the Council’s Waste Management Division was currently working in partnership with the local Fire Brigade, Police, Registered Social Landlords and Land Owners on a number of initiatives to reduce the number of nuisance and abandoned vehicles across the Borough. The Council had agreed to a Local Public Service Agreement target of reducing the number of incidents of vehicle arson and to support the current activities of the Waste Management Division to meet this target. Therefore, it was now proposed to provide a dedicated resource to deal with problems associated with nuisance and abandoned vehicles across Halton.

 

            In order to provide this additional resource, which was to be funded from the LPSA “pump prime” money, the Waste Management Division had two options:

 

- to recruit a suitably qualified individual on a temporary basis, or; and

- to acquire the services of an external agency or organisation to provide this function to the Authority.

 

            If the Authority was to create a new post within the establishment to provide the support, it would be a temporary appointment and it was likely that there would be difficulty in attracting a suitably qualified candidate with the required experience and environmental legislation background. Overall, the recruitment process could be lengthy and it was expected that there would be training and development issues associated with this role.

 

            It was therefore proposed that the services of an external agency or organisation would be acquired to provide this function. The Sub Committee considered a request that Standing Orders be waived and a Service Level Agreement be developed and agreed with the Environment Agency without seeking quotations from other organisations/ agencies. At present the Environment Agency carry out a similar role as part of the Environmental Crime Team. It was unlikely that the above experiences could be provided by any other external organisation/body without incurring excessive costs and protracted arrangements. The estimated value of such service provision was £33,500 per annum.

 

            RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       the Operational Director for Environmental and Regulatory Services in consultation with the portfolio-holder for Environment be authorised to award the contract for vehicle regulation enforcement services to The Environment Agency in the sum of £33,500 starting immediately and continuing for an initial period expiring on 31^st March 2008 with scope for extension at the Council’s option for a period of up to a further two years;

 

(2)       the Operational Director for Environmental and Regulatory Services, in consultation with the portfolio-holder for the Environment be authorised to enter into negotiations with the Environment Agency to agree a Service Level Agreement for dealing with Nuisance and Abandoned Vehicles. In light of the exceptional circumstances set out below, in accordance with Procurement Standing Order 1.6, Standing Orders 3.1 to 3.7 and 3.9 to 3.10 be waived on this occasion in view of the fact that compliance with these Standing Orders would be inconsistent with partnership/special external funding arrangements in that this service can only be prescribed by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

            The Sub-Committee was advised that at present Liverpool Housing Trust (LHT), Riverside Housing Trust (RHT), Corporative Development Services (CDS) and Maritime Housing Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) who had properties mostly in the Runcorn New Town area had between them 14 contracts for the delivery of landscape maintenance and cleansing on their respective land holdings.

 

            All four RSLs were acutely aware that this current arrangement did not provide a good level of service, often led to confusion of responsibility and did not offer the best value for money. The four RSLs led by the largest partner, LHT had, over the past year, worked together to develop a joined up approach to the issue of public realm maintenance. As a result of this Joint Procurement Partnership four distinct contract areas had been created based on geography, rather than land ownership. The areas were Castlefields, Murdishaw, Palacefields and Windmill Hill.

 

            It was proposed that a single contractor would have responsibilities for all aspects of landscape maintenance and cleansing in a specific area in a similar way to how the Council had modelled its Streetscene operations. This approach had been supported by the Neighbourhood Boards.

 

            It was reported that the RSL Joint Procurement Partnership had engaged with consultants to design contracts that offered more than just a basic maintenance service. Successful contractors would be expected to meet a high standard of environmental good practice, would have to facilitate the training and employment of local people through partnerships with the intermediate labour market and through the delivery of apprenticeships would have to demonstrate that they could form effective partnerships with other organisations. The RSL Joint Procurement Partnership had also made it clear that no single contractor would be allowed to hold more than two contracts at any one time. The total value of the contracts was approximately £670,000.

 

            The Board was also advised that the Landscape Services Division had previously secured a two-year SLA contract with Halton Housing Trust to deliver landscape maintenance. In September 2007 HHT notified the Council that they would be extending the contract until October 2008 after which they would be seeking to join the Joint Procurement Partnership with the other RSLs. The present HHT contract currently employed 8 full time and 6 seasonal staff. If the Council decided not to bid for the recently advised RSL contracts or if it failed to secure at least one of the advertised contracts it was likely that it would not be invited to tender for the HHT contract in October 2008. This would put the current staff that delivered the present contract at risk as there would be no other work for them and no funding for their retention. The staff would have rights under TUPE legislation.

 

            RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       the Strategic Director, Environment, in consultation with the relevant portfolio, be given delegated authority to complete and prepare bids for the four separate contracts proposed; and

 

(2)       the Strategic Director, Environment, in consultation with the relevant portfolio holder, be given delegated authority to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

            The Sub-Committee were advised of a single combined byelaw which allowed for the regulation of persons carrying on businesses of acupuncture, tattooing, semi-permanent skin colouring, cosmetic piercing and electrolysis, and considered a report which sought adoption of new byelaws under the Local Government Act 2003 and set fees for registration. It was proposed that Halton would charge fees having benchmarked against other Merseyside local authorities as follows:

 

Premises Registration – a fee of £90;

Additional Operators Registration – a fee of £30; and

Additional Activities – a fee of £5.

 

            RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       it is recommended to the Council to resolve to apply to the whole of the Halton Borough Section 15 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous) Provisions Act 1982 adopting the new byelaw to cover: acupuncture, tattooing, semi permanent skin colouring, cosmetic piercing and electrolysis introduced by Section 120 and Schedule 6 of the Local Government Act 2003;

 

(2)       and in doing so

a) authorising the affixing of the common seal to the byelaws and

b) authorising the Council Solicitor to carry out the necessary procedure and apply to the Secretary of State for confirmation;

c) upon adoption of the byelaws that the powers and duties within the byelaws necessary to effect regulation be delegated to the Council Solicitor and the Operational Director Environmental and Regulatory Services as appropriate;

d) new charges and costs are adopted and that these will reflect the administrative and officer costs involved in the process of registering a premises and a practitioner; and

e) the plan for updating registration certificates including the retrospective application of the process to existing businesses is accepted.

MINUTES ISSUED: 20 November 2007

CALL IN:  26^th November 2007

Any matter decided by the Executive Board Sub Committee may be called in no later than 26^th November 2007