Agenda and minutes

The Minutes of the meeting held on 21 November 2012 having been printed and circulated were signed as a correct record.

The Board was advised that no public questions had been received.

        The Board considered the Minutes of the meetings of the Executive Board relevant to the Environment and Urban Renewal Policy and Performance Board.

  The Board noted the introduction of the Traffic Regulation Orders to impose ‘At Any Time’ waiting restrictions in various locations in Widnes and Runcorn.

RESOLVED: That the minutes be noted.

Note: Councillor Woolfall declared a Disclosable Other Interest in item 5 (a) on the agenda paragraph 2.2.3 as a previous employee of the Environmental Enforcement Department; and

Councillor McManus declared a Disclosable Other Interest in item 5 (A) paragraph 6.5.2 and item 5 (B) ER1 and ER2 on the agenda as Director of Halton Borough Transport Ltd.

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director Policy and Resources which detailed the second quarter performance management reports to September 2012, on progress against service objectives/milestones and performance targets affecting the services.

The Board was advised that key priorities for development or improvement in 2012-15 had been agreed by Members and included in Directorate Plans, for the various thematic areas and service functions reporting to this Board. The report detailed progress against service objectives/ milestones and performance targets and described factors affecting the service.

The following comments arose from the discussion:-

·       Page 25 – dog fouling enforcement - Clarity was sought on whether prosecutions were publicised. In response, it was reported that numerous prosecutions had taken place for dog fouling and they had been publicised.  However, it was reported that further information on this matter would be circulated to Members of the Board;

·       EEP 2 – Clarity was sought on the question mark.  In response, it was reported that because of various factors, it was uncertain whether the target would be met by March 2013.  However, it was anticipated that it would be achieved;

·       DIS LI 01 – Occupancy of HBC Industrial Units – The Board noted that the downturn in the economy was hindering the ability to let properties and some companies had terminated their leases.  The Board also noted that the situation was being reviewed; and

·       The Board noted that the ice ring in Widnes had opened before Christmas but at the current time it was not fully completed.

RESOLVED: That the report and comments raised be noted.

The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Resources which provided information on the progress in achieving targets contained within the 2011 - 2016 Sustainable Community Strategy for Halton, and highlighted the annual “light touch” review of targets and measures.

The Board was advised that a new SCS (2011 – 26) had been approved by the Council on 20 April 2011.  The new Sustainable Community Strategy and its associated “living” 5 year delivery plan (2011-16), identified five community priorities that would form the basis of collective partnership intervention and action over the coming five years. The strategy was informed by and brought together national and local priorities and was aligned to other local delivery plans such as that of the Halton Children’s Trust. By being a “living” document it would provide sufficient flexibility to evolve as continuing changes within the public sector continued to emerge.

The Board was further advised that in response to legislative changes, Placeholder measures had also been included where new services were to be developed or new performance information was to be captured. Baselines for this would also be established in 2011/12 or 2012/13, against which future services would be monitored. The availability of information was currently being reviewed with partners.

It was reported that progress for the six month period April - September 2012, which included a summary of all indicators for the Safer Priority within the SCS was set out in Appendix 1 of the report.

Furthermore, an annual ‘light touch review‘ of targets contained within the SCS, had also been conducted to ensure that targets remained realistic over the 5 year plan to ‘close the gaps’ in performance against  regional and statistical neighbours. This review had been conducted through the Safer Halton Partnership with all Lead Officers being requested to review targets for 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16. Targets, were appropriate had been updated. All SCS measures had been included in the medium term draft Communities Directorate Business Plan 2013-16.

The Board were also asked to consider the inclusion of any additional measures to the above set to “narrow gaps” in performance where appropriate or respond to legislative/ policy changes; thereby ensuring that all measures remain “fit for purpose”.

The Board noted that Schools Service Level Agreement (SLA) income would not be achieved due to a number of schools not signing up for the SLA. The Board agreed that the SLA represented good value for money and clarity was sought on what was being done to address this matter.  In response, it was reported that it could be as a result of the new Academies in the Borough. It was suggested that Councillors who were Governors of a school could be contacted if their school did not have an SLA in place to enable them to discuss it with their Governor colleagues.  It was reported that SLA’s were considered by the Governing Bodies annually and the Governing Body had a responsibility to ensure that the SLA delivered the best delivery and terms  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources which provided an update on Business Planning for the period 2013-16 and the Directorate priorities, objectives and targets for services for this period that fell within the remit of the Board.

The Board was advised that each Directorate was required to develop a medium term business plan, in parallel with the budget, that was subject to annual review and refresh.  Draft Service Objectives and Performance Indicators and targets had been developed by each department and the information had been included in the Appendices to the report.  These objectives and measures would form the basis of the quarterly performance monitoring received by the Board during the future year.

The Board was further advised key priorities for development or improvement in 2013-16 had been agreed by Members at a briefing meeting on 21 November 2012.

It was reported that comments could also be made to the relevant Operational Director by no later than 18 January 2013 to allow inclusion in the Draft Business Plan. 

It addition, the draft Directorate Business Plan would be revised given proposed reconfiguration of Directorates during January and would be presented to the Executive Board for approval on 7 February 2013, at the same time as the draft budget.  This would ensure that decisions on Business Planning were linked to resource allocation.  All Directorate plans would be considered by full Council at its 6 March 2013 meeting.

RESOLVED: That

(1)                 The report be noted; and

(2)                 Members of the Board pass any detailed comments that they may have on the information in the report to the relevant Operational Director by 18 January 2013.

        The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources which gave an overview of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and proposed the commencement of CIL investigatory work to establish whether a CIL financial charge on new development was a viable option in Halton.

        The Board was advised that the CIL was a mechanism for charging developers a set fee to provide physical infrastructure in the local authority area. The CIL charge was in £ per m² and varied between types of development (housing, offices etc.) and geographic areas.

        The Board was further advised that if the CIL was found to be a viable, option, a CIL Charging Schedule should be prepared and adopted to deliver the infrastructure required by the Borough for future economic prosperity. The adoption of CIL would ensure that the Council could continue to pool contributions towards strategic infrastructure and consequently that new development continued to be supported by appropriate infrastructure.

        The Board noted that the local neighbourhood would retain a percentage of the charge, but the Regulations had not as yet defined what the ‘local area’ would be i.e. ward or town etc.

        It was reported that it was anticipated it would operate similarly to the Section 106 in that there would be a one off charge.  In addition, it was reported that on large developments payments could be deferred to enable developers to have a cash flow at the beginning of the development.  This, however, would result in a gap in the receipt of funding as some developments would be established before the infrastructure was subsequently developed. 

          It was suggested that this could exacerbate some situations i.e Clifton Court as they could be left without a road.  In response, it was reported that regardless of the introduction of the CIL this situation could still occur as a number of companies had gone into liquidation before the infrastructure had been put into place. 

        It was noted that it the rate would not be set too high initially to ensure viability and there was an option to only introduce the CIL to high value areas i.e Daresbury and Sandymoor.

        The Board noted the CIL and the Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP) and the Regulatory 123 which listed the structures across the Borough that the Council wanted to fund.  It was also noted that the structure would have to be on the list to be funded and these could be added to the list at any time.

RESOLVED: That the Board

(1)        Note the issues surrounding the potential introduction of a Community Levy Infrastructure (CIL) in Halton;

(2)        Endorse the preparatory work required to produce a CIL charging schedule with the results being reported back to a future meeting of the Board;

(3)        recommend that a report be submitted to a future meeting of the Executive Board for consideration once the preparatory work for a CIL Charging Schedule for Halton has been completed.