Please Contact: Emma Denny
Please email: emma.denny@north-norfolk.gov.uk
Please Direct Dial on: 01263 516010
25 October 2013
Please note change of
venue
A meeting of the Cabinet of North Norfolk District Council will be held at Fakenham Connect at
Oak Street, Fakenham, NR21 9SR on Monday 4th November 2013 at 10.00 a.m.
At the discretion of the Chairman, a short break will be taken after the meeting has been running
for approximately one and a half hours.
Members of the public who wish to ask a question or speak on an agenda item are requested to
arrive at least 15 minutes before the start of the meeting. It will not always be possible to
accommodate requests after that time. This is to allow time for the Committee Chair to rearrange
the order of items on the agenda for the convenience of members of the public. Further information
on the procedure for public speaking can be obtained from Democratic Services, Tel: 01263
516010, Email: democraticservices@north-norfolk.gov.uk
Sheila Oxtoby
Chief Executive
To: Mr B Cabbell-Manners, Mr T FitzPatrick, Mrs A Fitch-Tillett, Mr T Ivory, Mr J Lee, Mr W
Northam, Mr R Oliver, Mr R Wright
All other Members of the Council for information.
Members of the Management Team, appropriate Officers, Press and Public.
If you have any special requirements in order
to attend this meeting, please let us know in advance
If you would like any document in large print, audio, Braille, alternative format
or in a different language please contact us
Chief Executive: Sheila Oxtoby
Corporate Directors: Nick Baker & Steve Blatch
Tel 01263 513811 Fax 01263 515042 Minicom 01263 516005
Email districtcouncil@north-norfolk.gov.uk Web site northnorfolk.org
AGENDA
1.
TO RECEIVE APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
2.
MINUTES
(Page 1)
To approve, as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 07
October 2013.
3.
PUBLIC QUESTIONS
To receive questions from the public, if any.
4.
ITEMS OF URGENT BUSINESS
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.
5.
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
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.
6.
CONSIDERATION OF ANY MATTER REFERRED TO THE CABINET BY THE
OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE OR COUNCIL FOR RECONSIDERATION
To consider matters referred to the Cabinet (whether by the Overview and Scrutiny
Committee or by the Council) for reconsideration by the Cabinet in accordance with the
provisions within the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules or the Budget and Policy
Framework Procedure Rules.
7.
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS FROM THE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
To consider any reports from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, which may be
presented by the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and determination of
any appropriate course of action on the issues so raised for report back to that committee
8.
PLANNING POLICY AND BUILT HERITAGE WORKING PARTY
(Page 7)
To receive and consider the minutes of the meeting of the Planning Policy & Built Heritage
Working Party held on 23 September 2013.
The following recommendation was made to Cabinet:
1.
2.
3.
To adopt the Walsingham Conservation Area Appraisal and Management
Proposals for statutory planning purposes and for it to be a ‘material
consideration’ in the planning process.
To adopt the proposed boundary change as recommended in the Final Draft of
the Appraisal document and that it be publicised in accordance with the
Planning (Listed Buildings & Conservation Areas) Act 1990.
That the buildings identified for Local Listing be formally recognised and
recorded.
4.
9.
That an Article 4 Direction be made in respect of 3-5 Bridewell Street, Little
Walsingham
BUDGET MONITORING REPORT 2013/14 – PERIOD 6
(Page 10)
(Appendix A – p.19 ) (Appendix B – p.20 ) (Appendix C – p. 25) (Appendix D – p.27 )
Summary:
This report summarises the budget monitoring position for
the revenue account to the end of September 2013.
Conclusions:
The overall position at the end of period 6 shows a
forecast under spend of £46,475 for the current financial
year on the revenue account.
Recommendations:
COUNCIL
DECISION
It is recommended that:
1) Cabinet note the contents of the report and the
current budget monitoring position.
2) Cabinet agree and recommend to Council the updated
budget as set out in section 5.1, Table 3.
3) Cabinet agree to the release of £100,000 included
within the approved capital programme for the Wells
Maltings Project (6.2 (h)).
Reasons for
Recommendations:
To update Members on the current budget monitoring
position for the Council.
LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW
(Papers relied on to write the report and which do not contain exempt information)
System budget monitoring reports
Cabinet Member(s)
Ward(s) affected
Contact Officer:
Telephone number
Email:
10.
Cllr W Northam
All
Malcolm Fry
01263 516037
Malcolm.fry@north-norfolk.gov.uk
TREASURY MANAGEMENT HALF YEARLY REPORT
(Page 33)
(Appendix E – p. 38 ) (Appendix F – p. 40 )
Summary:
This report provides information on the Treasury
Management activities undertaken in the first six months
of 2013/14.
Options considered:
It is a requirement of the Chartered Institute of Public
Finance & Accountancy‟s (CIPFA) Code of Practice for
Treasury Management that this mid-year review is
prepared and presented to Full Council.
Conclusions:
That the treasury activities for the year have been
carried out in accordance with the CIPFA Code and the
Council‟s Treasury Strategy.
Recommendations:
That the Council be asked to RESOLVE that the Half
Yearly Treasury Management Report for 2013/14 be
approved.
COUNCIL
DECISION
The recommendation is being made in compliance with
the CIPFA Code.
Reasons for
Recommendations:
LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW
(Papers relied on to write the report and which do not contain exempt information)
Arlingclose Report Template – Semi-Annual Treasury Report 2013/14
Cabinet Member(s)
Ward(s) affected
Contact Officer:
Telephone number
Email:
11.
Cllr W Northam
All
Tony Brown
01263 516126
Tony.brown@north-norfolk.gov.uk
PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT REVIEW
(Page 46 )
Summary:
As part of the 2013/14 budget setting process a capital bid
of £100,000 was requested in order to address those
playgrounds and equipment which are in the poorest
condition. A needs assessment has been completed and a
schedule of works identified. The majority of the equipment
will be purchased through the ESPO playground
equipment (outdoor) framework
contract
(ESPO
framework 115). All identified works are expected to be
completed by the end of the current financial year.
Options considered:
The needs assessment has identified those playgrounds in
greatest need of improvement. The options considered as
regards the actual equipment to be installed have been
informed through consultation with the various user groups
representing the playground areas. The proposed options
are included below within Table 3.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that Cabinet;
1.
2.
CABINET
DECISION
Reasons for
Recommendations:
3.
Note the contents of the report
Approve the allocation of the capital funding as
identified within the report
Give Delegated Authority to the Head of Assets
and Leisure, in consultation with the Portfolio
Holder for leisure, to allocate the unspent balance
of funding
To enable the £100,000 capital budget, approved as part
of the 2013/14 budget setting process, to be allocated to
the various schemes identified within the report.
Cabinet Member(s)
Ward(s) affected
Contact Officer:
Telephone number
Email:
12.
Cllr J Lee & Cllr R Oliver
All
Duncan Ellis
01263 516330
Duncan.ellis@north-norfolk.gov.uk
NORTH NORFOLK FLAG PROGRAMME – PROPOSED IMPROVEMENT OF FACILITIES
AT THE SHERINGHAM WEST GANGWAY FOR THE SHERINGHAM FISHERMENS’
ASSOCIATION
(Page 56 )
Summary:
This report proposes that the District Council supports a project
developed by the Sheringham Fishermans‟ Association under
the North Norfolk FLAG programme, to improve facilities for
fishermen at the Sheringham West Gangway, by providing
matchfunding towards the project.
Conclusions:
The report proposes that the Council provides matchfunding of
up to £40,000 towards the cost of the Sheringham West
Gangway improvements proposed under the North Norfolk
FLAG programme.
Recommendations:
Cabinet is recommended to:-
CABINET
DECISION
1. Indicate its support for the Sheringham West Gangway
project as developed by the Sheringham Fishermens’
Association through providing a matchfunding
contribution of up to £40,000.
2. Authorise the release of £40,000 matchfunding
contribution from the capital receipt previously
received from the disposal of the Lockerbie Flats in
Sheringham.
Cabinet Member(s)
Ward(s) affected
Contact Officer:
Telephone number
Email:
13.
Cllr A Fitch-Tillett & Cllr R Oliver
Sheringham North
Steve Blatch
01263 516232
steve.blatch@north-norfolk.gov.uk
BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION – IT STRATEGY AND CUSTOMER SERVICESS
STRATEGY
(Page 59 )
(Appendix 1 - Customer Management Strategy 2013 – 2016 – electronic only)
(Appendix 2 - IT Strategy 2014-2017 – electronic only) (Appendix 3 – p. 73 )
(Appendix 4 – p. 74)
Summary:
CABINET
DECISION
This report outlines proposed strategies for IT and
Customer Services, which together with associated
management support, will provide a comprehensive
Programme to improve and upgrade the Council‟s IT
infrastructure and the way in which we deal with customers.
Key to this will be laying a foundation by reviewing and
improving the IT infrastructure, from which we can then build
improvements across the Council. This will include enabling
many more customer transactions to be completed via
electronic means and facilitating much more flexible working
arrangements, including more efficient, mobile working
solutions across our services.
The suggested improvements are shown with the required
investment and indicative savings arising directly from them.
However, there is a wide range of further savings, which are
likely to arise from the suggested improvement Programme
and others, which will be enabled by it. Going forward, the
Programme will consist of a number of projects, each of
which will be subject to an individual business plan and
procurement process, to be placed before Cabinet in due
course. Together, these will form the following five work
streams:
Telephony
Document management
IT Infrastructure
Website and Channel shift
Customer management
In addition, there will be an overarching project around
business process review and management change, in order
to support the more defined work streams and to ensure that
every opportunity can be taken to drive efficiency in our
service delivery through better use of IT
The report shows a wide range of potential technologies
which, it is proposed, will be implemented at different times
and to different levels, depending on more detailed business
cases. These will be brought forward as the Business
Transformation Programme progresses.
Options considered:
To do nothing is simply not an option. Our customers expect
to be able to deal transact business with us efficiently and via
electronic means and we need to ensure future financial
stability. The existing infrastructure will not allow us to
achieve either the quality levels or efficiencies we will require
in the future.
Recommendations:
That Cabinet approves the Business Transformation
Programme, which will be based on the reports
attached.
That Cabinet allocates funds of £153,000 from the Invest
to Save Reserve to allow appointment of a Business
Transformation Manager and IT support staff as soon as
possible, in order to support the Programme.
That for each major project forming part of the
Programme, a further report will be made to Cabinet, in
order that approval can be given for the funding of such
projects.
That progress on the Programme will be governed by
the Business Transformation Board, which will report
regularly to Cabinet.
14.
Reasons for
Recommendations:
To set out the management, funding and reporting
arrangements for this programme.
Cabinet Member(s)
Contact Officer:
Telephone number
Email:
Cllr T FitzPatrick & Cllr R Wright
Nick Baker
01263 516232
nick.baker@north-norfolk.gov.uk
MANAGING PERFORMANCE Q2 2013/14
(Page 75 )
(Appendix H – electronic only)
Summary:
The purpose of this report is to give a half year progress
report in delivering the Annual Action Plan 2013 – 14 and
achieving targets. It gives an overview, identifies any issues
that may affect delivery of the plan, the action being taken to
address these issues and proposes any further action
needed that requires Cabinet approval.
Options considered:
Options considering action regarding performance are
presented separately, issue by issue, to the appropriate
Council Committee.
Conclusions:
1. The majority of the 49 activities in the Annual Action
Plan 2013/14 are on track and performance is being
closely monitored. Some activities have already been
completed successfully (four) and a further 35 are on
track or progressing to plan.
2. Of the 19 performance indicators where a target has
been set or assessment against the previous year‟s
performance is taking place 7 are on or above target, 3
close to target, 5 below target, 3 improving and 1 worse
compared to last year.
3. Both of these positions are an improvement on Quarter
1.
4. The delivery of the Annual Action Plan is progressing
according to plan but there are some performance
issues in achieving targets. These are detailed in the
document „Managing Performance Quarter 2 2013/14‟
attached as Appendix H.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that Cabinet notes this report,
welcomes the progress being made and endorses the
actions laid out in Appendix H being taken by
management where there are areas of concern.
Reasons for
Recommendations:
To ensure the objectives of the Council are achieved.
Cabinet Member(s)
Ward(s) affected
Contact Officer:
Telephone number
Cllr T FitzPatrick
All
Helen Thomas
01263 516214
Email:
15.
Helen.thomas@north-norfolk.gov.uk
EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC
To pass the following resolution:
“That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be
excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that they
involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs _ of Part I of
Schedule 12A (as amended) to the Act.”
16.
PRIVATE BUSINESS
Agenda Item 2__
CABINET
Minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on Monday 07 October 2013 at the Council
Offices, Holt Road, Cromer at 10.00am.
Members Present:
Mr B Cabbell Manners
Mrs A Fitch-Tillett
Mr T Ivory
Mr T Ivory
Mr R Oliver
Mr W Northam
Also attending:
Mrs S Arnold
Mrs L Brettle
Mrs A ClaussenReynolds
Mrs P Grove-Jones
Mr P High
Mrs A Moore
Mr P W Moore
Officers in
Attendance:
52.
Miss B Palmer
Mr R Reynolds
Mr E Seward
Mr R Shepherd
Mr B Smith
Mr N Smith
Mr D Young
Mr G Williams
The Chief Executive, the Corporate Director (NB) the Head of
Economic & Community Development, the Head of Assets and
Leisure, the Head of Finance, the Coast and Community Partnership
Manager, the Coastal Engineer and the Democratic Services Team
Leader.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Mr J Lee and Mr R Wright
53.
MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 09 September 2013 were confirmed as a correct
record and signed by the Chairman.
54.
PUBLIC QUESTIONS
None received
55.
ITEMS OF URGENT BUSINESS
None
56.
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
None
Cabinet
1
07 October 2013
57.
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS FROM THE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY
COMMITTEE
A resolution had been made by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at their
meeting on 11 September 2013 regarding the CCTV Review 2013. The Chairman
advised Members that this would be considered at Agenda Item 11.
58.
JOINT STAFF CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
RESOLVED
To receive the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Staff Consultative Committee held
on 16 July 2013.
59.
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT, LAND AT NORTH WALSHAM ROAD,
HAPPISBURGH
Mrs A Fitch-Tillett, Portfolio Holder for Coastal Issues introduced this item. She
explained that the report outlined the final stages of implementation of the Coastal
Change Pathfinder replacement housing project at Happisburgh. The final stage of
the project relied upon a satisfactory agreement being reached with the landowner
and the ultimate disposal of the site to a developer who would build the replacement
houses.
It was proposed by Mrs A Fitch-Tillett, seconded by Mr T Ivory and
RESOLVED
1.
2.
60.
to grant delegated authority to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the
Portfolio Holder to:
a) agree the final terms of a memorandum of agreement with the owner of land
at North Walsham Road, Happisburgh to work together to enable the proposed
development to proceed and to share the financial proceeds of its sale, as
appropriate;
b) determine whether to accept or reject (with reasons and a recommended
alternative course of action) the recommendations of the agent responsible for
the marketing and disposal of the site;
that the matter be brought back to Cabinet if the Chief Executive recommends
that the Council should seek to acquire the landowner‟s interest in the site, in
accordance with the agreement, should the disposal not take place as
anticipated within two years of the agreement being signed.
CROMER COAST PROTECTION SCHEME
Mrs A Fitch-Tillett, Portfolio Holder for Coastal Issues, introduced this item. She
informed Members that this scheme had been had been in the pipeline since 1998.
Delays caused by a change in the grant system and then the revision of the funding
mechanism meant that it had taken considerable time to reach the stage of procuring
a contractor. A robust tendering process had been undertaken and this had resulted
in a clear tender winner.
It was proposed by Mrs A Fitch-Tillett, seconded by Mr B Cabbell Manners and
Cabinet
2
07 October 2013
RESOLVED
that subject to
a. the approval by the Environment Agency of the project and Flood Defence
Grant in Aid and
b. finalising all statutory consents;
i. To accept the tender submitted by Volker Stevin in the sum of £3,858,784.68p;
ii. To appoint Volker Stevin as main contractor for the Cromer Coast protection
Scheme 982 Phase 1.
61.
CCTV REVIEW
Mr R Oliver, Portfolio Holder for Assets introduced this item. He informed Members
that a cross-party working party had been set up to review the CCTV service with the
objective of finding savings within the service. The review had identified in three
potential options which included shared working, internal investment (wireless option)
and the decommissioning of the service.
Members were invited to discuss the options:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Cabinet
Mr R Reynolds, local member for Lancaster North, said Fakenham Town Council
had expressed concerns about the decommissioning of the CCTV service. He
said that the town were aware of the need to save money and they
acknowledged that Fakenham benefitted from many other services but they were
keen to retain CCTV and were investigating ways to fund the service, including
raising the precept. He added that this approach would only work if other towns
across the District could find the funding too.
Mr P W Moore, a member of the CCTV Working Party, commented that CCTV
was a public safety measure and its main purpose was not to protect businesses
but the public and visitors to the towns. He felt that if CCTV was
decommissioned then the public would be put in danger as it was used to solve
crime. He urged Cabinet to consider moving to a wireless service as this would
provide flexibility. He concluded by stating that the Police benefitted from the use
of CCTV but they did not contribute financially. They could do this by raising their
share of the precept.
Mrs A Claussen-Reynolds, Chairman of the CCTV Working Party reminded
members that the Council was facing significant cuts to funding and that the
terms of reference for the Working Party stated that they needed to find savings.
She thanked the Officers for their support and hard work and reminded members
that the results of the review had been to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee
for consideration at their meeting on 11 September. She concluded by saying
that as a local member for Fakenham, she supported CCTV but recognized the
need for the Council to make savings.
Mrs H Cox, local member for Suffield Park said that as a town councillor for
Cromer she valued CCTV. The Town Council wanted to keep the service and
were prepared to contribute to the running costs. They hoped to work with other
towns across the District to ensure that sufficient funding could be provided. She
added that it might be beneficial if some of the CCTV cameras were moved and
placed at „trouble-spots‟ such as traffic junctions. Fines could then be levied on
drivers and used to fund the service.
Mr B Cabbell Manners, local member for Cromer Town, said that when CCTV
was first introduced there was a debate about it whether it infringed on civil
liberty. The District Council‟s role at the time was simply to facilitate the setting
up of the service but not to fund it long-term. He felt that the Town Councils
3
07 October 2013
should now take some responsibility and contribute to the provision of the
service.
Mr E Seward, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, read out the
following resolution that had been unanimously agreed at their meeting on 11
September 2103:
“In considering the CCTV review, this committee expresses widespread concern
regarding the Police Authority‟s unwillingness to contribute to the financial costs of
CCTV in the district. CCTV saves the police money when investigating crime, and is
beneficial in helping the police to identify perpetrators of crime and in bringing people
to justice. Therefore, this committee believes that the police should be making a
financial contribution to the costs of CCTV.”
Mr Seward added that the idea that the decommissioning of CCTV would be a saving
was not true. It would become harder to investigate crimes and therefore more costly.
He said that North Walsham Town Council favoured the wireless option and that they
would contribute financially if there was a need to but they could not do it alone.
Mr N Smith asked whether the Council had approached the Police and requested
that they make a contribution to the cost of running the CCTV service or whether a
request had been made for them to fund it all. Mr R Oliver confirmed that the Council
had requested that the Police make a contribution to the funding of the service and
they had been adamant that they would not contribute at all.
Mrs S Arnold said that there needed to be a partnership between the parties
concerned. The towns should bear the larger part of the funding as they benefitted
the most from CCTV. She added that as a magistrate she had sat in court on many
occasions when CCTV was used as evidence and she believed that it was invaluable
in helping to solve crimes.
Mrs P Grove-Jones queried whether there was any verification that CCTV reduced
crime. She believed that there were no figures available to indicate that CCTV
reduced crime and it was therefore dangerous to assume that it did as there was no
basis in fact.
The Chairman asked Mr R Oliver to respond to some of the points raised and then
make a recommendation to Cabinet.
Mr Oliver said that he had met with the Police and Crime Commissioner and it had
been made clear that they did not have room in their budget to make a contribution to
the funding of the CCTV service and this had since been confirmed in writing. In
response to Mrs P Grove-Jones point about the evidence supporting the view that
CCTV reduced crime, he said that there was no statistical evidence to support this
just anecdotal evidence. Mr Oliver then reminded Members that local authorities were
now working in the context of the worst cuts to Government funding since the 1974
Reform Act and that all decisions going forward would be very difficult to make. He
agreed with Mr Cabbell Manners that the Town Councils and businesses should
contribute to the revenue costs of the CCTV service. At the moment they contributed
just 6%. He then referred to the Fakenham Industrial Estate which had 8 CCTV
cameras. There were 75 businesses on the estate but only 5 were prepared to
contribute financially. Over the previous 13 years the Council had contributed £2m
revenue investment in the CCTV service. He added that large parts of the District
saw no benefit from CCTV, including towns such as Holt, Mundesley and Stalham.
Mr R Oliver then proposed the following recommendation:
Cabinet
4
07 October 2013
To select Option 3 – the decommissioning of cameras and equipment and the
closure of the service subject to the following amendment:
That the following is offered to the town councils which have CCTV:
a. „If all 5 town councils can agree to operate the system collectively at no cost to
the District Council that all the equipment in the current control room and all of
the other equipment is transferred to the town councils at nil cost. The town
councils would then be responsible for all operating costs in the future.
b. Alternatively if individual town councils are interested in establishing a control
room within their own town and operating an independent system then the
Council will leave in place the camera hardware up to the node connection point
within the town. The town council will then be responsible for all future running
costs and the costs of connecting from any new control room to the node point.
The town councils will be given an initial 6 week period to confirm that they wish to
move forward with either of the proposals above, after which they will have a further 6
weeks to make a firm offer prior to the decommissioning of any equipment.‟
Mr T Ivory seconded the amendment. He said that it was a difficult decision but the
administration had made a promise to freeze council tax and that tough decisions
must be made going forward. He added that there was an inconsistency in the
distribution of CCTV across the District and that there was no evidence that it
reduced crime levels and therefore it could not be a priority for the Council. He
welcomed the amendment as this would give others the opportunity to take over the
service.
Mr W Northam commented that when CCTV was installed 10 years previously, the
Council had written to all the Town Councils and only Holt and Mundesley had been
willing to contribute financially. He added that it should be noted that neither town
now had CCTV.
The Chairman thanked everyone for their comments. He said that Mr J Lee who
could not be present supported the Cabinet‟s decision.
It was proposed by Mr R Oliver, seconded by Mr T Ivory and
RESOLVED:
1. To note the content of the Review of the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)
Service 2013 report
2. To select Option 3 – the decommissioning of cameras and equipment and the
closure of the service and that the following is offered to the town councils which
have CCTV:
a.
b.
If all 5 town councils can agree to operate the system collectively at no cost to
the District Council that all the equipment in the current control room and all of
the other equipment is transferred to the town councils at nil cost. The town
councils would then be responsible for all operating costs in the future.
Alternatively if individual town councils are interested in establishing a control
room within their own town and operating an independent system then the
Council will leave in place the camera hardware up to the node connection point
within the town. The town council will then be responsible for all future running
costs and the costs of connecting from any new control room to the node point.
The town councils will be given an initial 6 week period to confirm that they wish to
move forward with either of the proposals above, after which they will have a further 6
weeks to make a firm offer prior to the decommissioning of any equipment.
Cabinet
5
07 October 2013
3. To grant Delegated Authority to the Head of Assets and Leisure to move forward
with the preferred option in consultation with the Portfolio holder for Assets and
the Corporate Director.
62.
BUSINESS RATES POOLING
The Leader, Mr T FitzPatrick introduced this item. He said that the establishment of a
business rates pooling arrangement for Norfolk would maximize the amount of
business rates raised in the District and ensure that they were retained within Norfolk
and invested locally.
It was proposed by Mr T FitzPatrick, seconded by Mr B Cabbell Manners and
RESOLVED
1. In principle and subject to the negotiation of the detailed financial and governance
arrangements, North Norfolk District Council agrees to join a business rates pool with
Norfolk County Council and other Norfolk district councils;
2. Subject to the approval of the detailed pooling and governance arrangements the
Chief Executive, in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer and the Leader of the
Council, be given delegated authority to enter into a business rates pooling
arrangement for Norfolk.
Mr T FitzPatrick concluded the meeting by saying that the news that the Northern
relief road around Norwich was to go ahead should be welcomed as it would bring
economic benefits to North Norfolk.
The Meeting closed at 11.36 am
_______________
Chairman
Cabinet
6
07 October 2013
23 SEPTEMBER 2013
Minutes of a meeting of the PLANNING POLICY & BUILT HERITAGE WORKING PARTY
held in the Council Chamber, Council Offices, Holt Road, Cromer at 10.00 am when there
were present:
Councillors
B Cabbell Manners (Chairman)
Mrs S A Arnold (Vice-Chairman)
Mrs A R Green
Mrs P Grove-Jones
Miss B Palmer
P W High
P Williams
D Young
R Reynolds – observer
Officers
Mr M Ashwell – Planning Policy Manager
Mr P Godwin – Conservation, Design and Landscape Manager
(11)
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
An apology for absence was received from Councillors N D Dixon and P W High.
(12)
MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting held on 24 June 2013 were approved as a correct record
and signed by the Chairman.
(13)
ITEMS OF URGENT BUSINESS
The Chairman stated that there were no items of urgent business which he wished to
bring before the Working Party.
For Members’ information, the Planning Policy Manager stated that it may be
necessary to call an additional meeting to consider a Development Brief for the
former HL Foods site at North Walsham in advance of consideration of a planning
application for that site. Details would be forwarded in due course if necessary.
(14)
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
No interests were declared.
(15)
WALSINGHAM CONSERVATION AREA APPRAISAL AND MANAGEMENT
PROPOSALS
The Working Party considered the Officer’s report which recommended that the
Walsingham Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Proposals be adopted
for statutory planning purposes and become a material consideration in the planning
process.
The Conservation, Design and Landscape Manager commended Martha Moore,
Planning Officer, who had carried out the majority of the work on the Walsingham
Planning Policy & Built Heritage Working Party
1
7
23 June 2013
Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Proposals, in conjunction with Paul
Rhymes, Conservation and Design Officer. He also expressed his appreciation to
the Walsingham Parish Council and Councillor T FitzPatrick, the local Member, for
their involvement.
The Conservation, Design and Landscape Manager stated that there was a need to
review Conservation Areas from time to time to ensure that they were up to date,
including reviewing their boundaries. To date, 22 of the 82 Conservation Areas had
been reviewed and 9 documents had been adopted by the Council, mainly relating to
the towns. Once adopted, the documents could be used to inform decisions on
planning applications within the designated areas.
The Conservation, Design and Landscape Manager stated that the management
proposals were most important. Further controls could be considered at a later date,
which would cost nothing except staff time in assessing whether or not they were
required, (eg. Article 4 Direction). In Walsingham, many buildings were nationally
listed but there were gaps between them where changes could be made under
permitted development rights without further controls. It would be difficult to find
funding to carry out public realm enhancement in the current economic climate,
however some work could be done without investing a large amount of financial
resources, merely by co-operating with other bodies such as Norfolk County Council.
The Conservation, Design and Landscape Manager answered Members’ questions:






Article 4 Directions had full legal status under the Planning legislation.
Contravention of an Article 4 Direction could be subject to enforcement
action.
Any major enhancement of Friday Market Place would require substantial
investment from this authority and Norfolk County Council. However, much of
the surfacing in Walsingham was of a simple treatment and it might be
possible to make improvements without spending large sums of money, in
conjunction with Norfolk County Council (as part of an ongoing programme of
maintenance).
Friday Market Place did not currently host a market; however it was one of
the two most important public spaces. Its main purpose was currently for use
as a car park. This was a valid use, since management of Conservation
Areas was not always about aesthetics, but how a place worked. Serious
concerns had been expressed regarding the impact of traffic though, and it
was necessary to get the balance right. The issue of buses entering the
Friday Market Place and High Street was a very real one and needed to be
addressed.
Local listing alone would not prevent alterations being made to buildings, (eg.
replacement windows). An Article 4 Direction would be required to remove
permitted development rights. The report suggested that an Article 4
Direction could be made in respect of 3-5 Bridewell Street..
No additional land had been identified for car parking.
There were some buildings around The Green at Great Walsingham which
were not nationally listed.
Additional points were raised by Members:


The Pump should be put forward for national listing.
It would be very difficult to restrict traffic in the High Street as there were a
number of care homes which required access.
Planning Policy & Built Heritage Working Party
2
8
23 June 2013

It was suggested that Article 4 Directions should be automatic when buildings
were locally listed and removed if they were not necessary.
It was proposed by Councillor P W High, seconded by Councillor Mrs S A Arnold and
RESOLVED unanimously
That Cabinet be recommended:
1.
To adopt the Walsingham Conservation Area Appraisal and
Management Proposals for statutory planning purposes and for it
to be a ‘material consideration’ in the planning process.
2.
To adopt the proposed boundary change as recommended in the
Final Draft of the Appraisal document and that it be publicised in
accordance with the Planning (Listed Buildings & Conservation
Areas) Act 1990.
3.
That the buildings identified for Local Listing be formally
recognised and recorded.
4.
That an Article 4 Direction be made in respect of 3-5 Bridewell
Street, Little Walsingham.
The meeting closed at 10.45 am.
Planning Policy & Built Heritage Working Party
3
9
23 June 2013
Agenda Item No_____9_______
BUDGET MONITORING REPORT 2013/14 – PERIOD 6
Summary:
This report summarises the budget monitoring position
for the revenue account to the end of September 2013.
Options considered:
Not applicable
Conclusions:
The overall position at the end of period 6 shows a
forecast under spend of £58,885 for the current financial
year on the revenue account.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that:
1) Cabinet note the contents of the report and
the current budget monitoring position.
2) Cabinet agree and recommend to Full
Council the updated budget as set out in
section 5.1, Table 3.
3) Cabinet agree to the release of £100,000
included within the approved capital
programme for the Wells Maltings Project
(6.2 (h)).
Reasons for
Recommendations:
To update Members on the current budget monitoring
position for the Council.
LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW
(Papers relied on the write the report and which do not contain exempt information)
System budget monitoring reports
Cabinet Member(s)
Ward(s) affected
Cllr Wyndham Northam
Contact Officer, telephone number and email: Malcolm Fry, 01263 516037,
malcolm.fry@north-norfolk.gov.uk
1.
Introduction
1.1.
This report compares the actual expenditure and income position at the end
of September 2013 to the budget for 2013/14 as updated by Period 4
amendments as approved by Cabinet in September 2013.
10
1.2.
The base budget for 2013/14 included savings and additional income of
£163,097. This report includes the latest position on both of these areas.
2.
Budget Monitoring Position – Revenue Services
2.1
The general fund summary at Appendix A shows the high level budget
monitoring position at 30th September 2013 which shows a year to date
variance of £846,002 underspend. Appendix B provides further details of the
individual service variances.
2.2
The following tables provide reasons for the more significant variances along
with those which are anticipated to have a full year effect. The cumulative
total full year effect column provides the movement from the approved base
budget set in February 2013.
Table 1 – Service Variances
Over/
(Under)
Spend to
Date
£
Assets and Leisure
Car Parking – Additional car park cash of (£45,236) excess
parking (£17,245) year to date. Though ahead of budget with
seasonal adjustments taken into account the full year effect
(FYE) from period 6 is anticipated to be a further (£20,000)
additional income. This budget will be continually monitored.
Administration building Services - (£17,242) Service
charge invoices re Fakenham Town Council and Norfolk
Registrars at Fakenham Connect still to be raised re
2012/13.
Leisure complexes – Delay in receiving invoice for
management fee from Stalham School (£32,866), repairs
and maintenance (£4,266)
Investment properties - (£13,815 ) Rates paid for Grove
Lane depot, now vacant therefore Business rates fall to
NNDC. Additional vacant premises insurances (£2,323).
Shortfall in rental income for Grove lane depot (£6,455).
*This property is being marketed but the FYE assumes
premises are not able to be relet during this financial year.
Sports Centres – (£39,918) invoice not yet received for hall
hire from schools for 12/13.
Officers have now developed a promotional package and a
wider range of school holiday opportunities to drive user
numbers up. The period 4 anticipated shortfall in income of
£20,000 is now forecast to be £5,000. £15,000 reduction
represents the anticipated additional income as a result of the
promotional packages. This could still be affected by any
inclement weather during the winter months affecting the
availability of the astropitches and the willingness and ability
of people to travel to use facilities.
The new lease arrangements for the Dual Use Sports
Centres (DUSC) have yet to be finalised but the agreement
with North Walsham has now been signed by County Council
11
Estimated
Effect July
to March
2014
£
Cumulative
total Full
Year Effect
(20,000)
(90,000)
18,505
0
0
(38,137)
0
0
*43,255
43,255
*(10,000)
35,000
(54,952)
32,557
(38,075)
Table 1 – Service Variances
Over/
(Under)
Spend to
Date
£
Estimated
Effect July
to March
2014
£
Cumulative
total Full
Year Effect
and is awaiting signatures of School Governors.
Work is still on-going in relation to the agreements with
Cromer and Stalham although it is unclear at this point if
these agreements will be completed and signed in the current
financial year.
*This delay means that the budgeted savings for 2013/14 of
£40,000 are unlikely to be realised in the current year
although it is anticipated that North Walsham will contribute
£10,000 this year. The position will continue to be monitored
and an updated position will be provided as part of the period
9 budget monitoring report.
Community and Economic Development
Community and Localism – Grants awarded in 2012/13 via
the Big Society Fund and Coast and Community Partnership
totalling (£95,254) have not yet been claimed.
Customer Services
Tourist information Centres - Greater than expected sales
of souvenirs etc. Still expected to meet budget for the year.
Customer services – corporate - Salaries and on-costs –
lower than budgeted. Given the recent departure of the Head
of Customer Services, some this will be used towards
recruiting a successor. It is not currently anticipated that
there will be any full year effect.
Development Management
Development Management – (£19,288) Delays in appointing
a temporary planning assistant. This post is being funded
from the Planning Reserve an adjustment will be required to
ensure that the funding is available to fund the balance of the
post in 2014/15.
Increase in planning fee income (£65,821), increase is due to
a number of large fee earning applications (Solar and Wind
Farm). It is anticipated that additional income will be placed
in an earmarked reserve in order to fund actions from the
planning review and preparing for the future development
plan review.
Building Control and Access – Salaries underspend
(£22,897) because of a post held vacant to mitigate predicted
shortfall in income, part of which is being mitigated by the use
of a contractor and additional hours by existing staff.
Increase in income (£11,457) all minor variances. Overall
service priorities will be managed within cash limits of the
12
(97,480)
0
0
(£17,042)
0
0
(£27,197)
0
0
(95,602)
(34,354)
(85,000)
0
(85,000)
0
Table 1 – Service Variances
Over/
(Under)
Spend to
Date
£
budget.
Planning Management and Community Support –
* Savings not achievable in the year from an anticipated
service restructure, which was further delayed when the Head
of Planning retired. The anticipated saving will be taken into
account when reviewing the overall Planning structure. It is
hoped that this will be implemented April 2014.
Environmental Health
Licensing - Increase in licensing income, comprising
(£22,000) taxi licensing and (£10,000) general licensing, part
of this relates to the three year driver licences but this will not
result in a variance in the year overall.
Environmental protection - There are currently two vacant
Environmental Protection officers posts vacant (£14,096)
including on costs. Attempts to fill these posts have been
unsuccessful. An element of this underspend is being used
to fund any short term agency staff. The remainder of the
variance to date relates to a sundry debtor invoice raised.
Waste collection and Disposal – (£13,000) outstanding
creditor provision from 12/13 for work yet to be invoiced.
Additional fee income (£22,687). There is no full year effect
anticipated at this time.
Financial Services
Local Taxation – (£49,882) additional grant monies for
implementation of Council Tax scheme.
Estimated
Effect July
to March
2014
£
Cumulative
total Full
Year Effect
693
*26,860
26,860
(34,362)
0
0
(45,391)
0
(25,000)
(34,274)
0
(10,000)
(20,645)
*(50,000)
(50,000)
(18,599)
*(14,000)
(14,000)
* Estimated that £50,000 should be ring fenced in Unspent
Grants reserve to offset expenditure on on ICT and staffing
requirements in the next financial year. Balance is minor
variance.
Benefits - £16,672 Bad debts that were not budgeted for.
(£13,280) one off staff costs not yet offset. (£18,779)
Professional fees budget for agency staff not required at this
time.
There are a number of vacant posts and staff secondments.
Because of uncertainties surrounding the effect of universal
credit/shared service it has been difficult to fill these posts.
*In addition the Fraud manager post has been vacant since
beginning of the year, which is anticipated not to be filled
before Jan 2014. Overall there is an anticipated saving of
(£14,000) for the year which at this stage is being
13
Table 1 – Service Variances
Over/
(Under)
Spend to
Date
£
recommended for earmarking for enforcement work.
Discretionary Payments – All payments for the year have
now been paid. These are funded from earmarked reserves,
which will be adjusted accordingly. FYE is over provision
within Base Budget.
Corporate Finance – Staff savings due to vacant posts and
recruitment advertising.
*The post of Trainee Accountant remains vacant (£15,000)
and will not be filled this financial year. Options to be
considered as to how best to utilise this post in future years.
Savings in professional fees no longer required (£4,000).
New appointment advertising no longer required (£6,000).
Organisational Development
Registration Services – 2012/13 Police and Crime
Commissioner election postage costs yet to be charged
( £34,000)
Postal charges relating to County Council elections (£7,000)
Corporate
Legal Services - Fee income currently lower than anticipated
£10,502. It is still anticipated that budget income for the year
will be achieved.
TOTALS
14
Estimated
Effect July
to March
2014
£
Cumulative
total Full
Year Effect
(28,163)
(28,163)
(28,163)
(29,538)
*(25,000)
(25,000)
40,616
0
0
11,624
0
0
(509,816)
(162,048)
(212,048)
3.
Budget Monitoring Position – Savings and Additional Income
3.1
The budget for 2013/14 included savings and additional income totalling
£163,097 within the service areas; the revised figure for the current year is
now £133,397 although it is anticipated that apart from the Dual Use Sports
Centres (DUSC) the remainder of the savings will be on target for 2013/14.
The following table shows a summary of the savings across each of the
service areas. The detail for each of the service savings is included at
Appendix C. Table 2 below summaries the current position for each service
heading.
Table 2 – Savings and Additional
Income 2013/14
Assets Coastal Defence & Leisure
Customer Services
Development Management
Environmental Health
Financial Services
Organisational Development
Corporate
Total
2013/14
Updated
Budget
£
33,000
24,740
2,150
22,507
19,700
5,000
26,000
133,097
4.
Treasury Management Position
4.1
The budget for 2013/14 anticipated that a net total of £392,900 would be
earned in interest. This assumed an average balance of £24m at a rate of
1.65%.
4.2
At the end of period 6, a total of £193,393 had been earned resulting in a
shortfall against the year to date budget of £5,726. The rate of interest
achieved was 1.61% from an average balance available for investment of
£23.5m.
4.3
Based on the actual results to period 6, a total interest receivable figure of
some £382,000 is forecast for the year from an average balance £23.6m at an
average rate of 1.63%. This will result in an estimated shortfall against the full
year budget £3,000.
4.4
The rate of interest on the long-term investment of £5m in the Local
Authorities property fund (LAMIT) in the first 4 months was in line with budget
and is anticipated to earn around 5% over the year. Units in the fund were
purchased for £2.2348p, and at the end of August the price had fallen to
£2.232p (most up-to-date price at time of preparing report). This equates to a
small fall in value “on paper” of £6,233 compared to the purchase amount,
and would only be realised if the holding is sold.
4.5
The rate of interest achieved on term deposits was 0.56% to period 6 which
is 0.2% below the budget figure, reflecting the very low interest rates currently
available.
15
4.6
Further details of the treasury activity in the first six months of the financial
year are set out in the Treasury Management half-yearly report which is
included on the agenda for this meeting.
5.
Budget Monitoring Position - Summary
5.1
The following table provides a summary of the full year projections for the
service areas along with an updated use of reserves figure where applicable.
Table 3 - Summary of Full Year Effects
2013/14
Service Areas (Table 1)
Non Service Expenditure (Para 4.3)
NNDR rates retention (Para 5.2)
Transfers to/(from) reserves
Development Management
Discretionary payments
Financial services
Benefits
Total Impact - Transfer to General Reserve
Estimated
Full Year
Effect
(£)
(162,048)
3,000
(77,000)
85,000
28,163
50,000
14,000
(58,885)
5.2
The Authority was notified in February 2013 of its Government assessed
baseline funding position re retention of National Non Domestic Rates
(NNDR) income. This was the figure upon which the base budget was set.
On the basis of a subsequent statutory return made by the Authority the
funding received was increased by £77,000 for the year.
6.
Budget monitoring position – Capital
6.1
Members were provided with an updated capital programme for both current
and future years as part of the Period 4 Budget monitoring report which was
approved by Cabinet on the 9th September 2013. Appendix D shows the
latest position for the updated programme. The Appendix also provides
details of spend up to Period 6, along with comments on individual schemes
were applicable.
6.2
The following commentary provided an update on individual schemes as they
stand at the current time:
a) Housing Loans to Registered Providers – As part of the Local Investment
Strategy considered at the Cabinet meeting of the 9th September, approval
was given for the Council to provide loan funding to Registered Providers
and/or their wholly owned subsidiaries, in order to facilitate the provision of
more housing in North Norfolk. As a result it was agreed that a budget of
£3.5million be established, to be funded by a £1,168,478 virement from the
uncommitted element of the Housing Associations budget, with the balance of
£2,331,522 to come from internal or external borrowing as required. This has
now been incorporated into the capital programme and appears within
Appendix D.
16
b) Sheringham Promenade Lighting – As part of the Period 4 Budget Monitoring
Report it was identified that in order to complete the replacement of lighting
along Sheringham Prom, there is a commitment to spend £12,000. As such a
virement of £1,500 has been undertaken from the Refurbishment Works to
Seaside Shelters capital budget, to give an amended budget of £12,002
within Appendix D.
c) Refurbishment Works to Seaside Shelters – The budget for this scheme has
been reduced by £1,500 within Appendix D to reflect the virement required to
be undertaken to Sheringham Promenade Lighting.
d) Big Society Fund – In the Cabinet Report of April 2013, it was agreed that the
Enabling Budget for the Big Society Fund would be increased by £25k, to a
total of £225,000. This additional budget is to be funded from a Revenue
Contribution to Capital Outlay and the Capital Programme has been amended
to reflect this.
e) PC Replacement and Mobile Technology – At their meeting of the 9th
September, Cabinet agreed that a budget of £65,000 should be established
for PC replacements and upgraded mobile technology. This was as a direct
result of Windows XP not being supported from April 2014, and it was also
deemed necessary in order to address the issue of slow boot up times being
experienced by some members of staff. This budget has now been included
within Appendix D.
f)
Handyman Vehicle – The vehicle used by the Handyman Service is currently
out of commission, having been used continuously for a period of 11 years.
Delegated authority has been given by Cabinet members for the replacement
of this vehicle, to be funded from revenue contributions to capital outlay from
the current and future financial years. A budget of £13,200 has therefore
been established within the capital programme in order to fund the purchase
of a new vehicle to be used by the Handyman Service.
g) Reception Project - The budget for the Reception Project was originally part
of the BPR EDM scheme, which was shown as a single reference within the
Capital Programme Appendix. As the remaining budget expenditure relate
solely to the Reception works that are currently being undertaken, all
references to other elements of the BPR scheme have been excluded from
the updated appendix.
h) Maltings Wells – The capital programme includes £100,000 as a contribution
for this project. Previous budget/monitoring reports updated that the scheme
was currently on hold, pending the outcome of grant funding submissions. It
has recently been confirmed that a Heritage Lottery bid for grant funding has
been successful and therefore this report recommends Cabinet approve
release of these funds as budgeted.
6.3
Capital Receipts - The updated capital programme for 2013/14 assumed
receipts of £390,000 from preserved right to buys. In the current financial year
a total of eight preserved right to buys have been completed so far, and the
values due to the Authority amount to £352,731. The position with regards to
capital receipts and financing requirements will continue to be monitored
through the year to ensure that the current capital programme remains
affordable.
17
7.
Conclusion
7.1
The revenue budget is showing an estimated full year under spend for the
current financial year of (£58,885). The overall financial position continues to
be closely monitored and it is anticipated that the overall budget for the
current year will be achieved.
8.
Financial Implications and Risks
8.1
The detail within section 2 of the report highlights the more significant
variances including those that are estimated to result in a full year impact.
8.2
The budget for 2013/14 included service savings and additional income
totalling £163,097 and whilst there have been some in the current year that
have been reduced, the progress in achieving these is being monitored as
part of the overall budget monitoring process and where applicable corrective
action will be identified and implemented to ensure the overall budget remains
achievable.
8.3
Of the full year effects (FYE) shown in Table 1 £177,163 will be transferred to
earmarked reserves as shown in Table 3. The impact of this will be that the
budgets effected will reduce and reserves will increase. By taking these FYE
adjustments at the end of the reporting period, a constantly updated budget is
achieved, rather than as previously done updating at one point in time during
the year.
9.
Sustainability - None as a direct consequence from this report.
10.
Equality and Diversity - None as a direct consequence from this report.
11.
Section 17 Crime and Disorder considerations - None as a direct
consequence from this report.
18
Appendix A
General Fund Summary Report for Period 06 Year 2013/2014
Base Budget
£
Net Cost Of Services
Savings To Be Identified
Assets & Leisure
Clt / Corporate
Customer Services
Community, Econ Dev & Coast
Organisational Development
Environmental Health
Finance
Development Management
Full Year
Rolling
Budget
£
YTD Budget
£
Actuals YTD
£
Total
YTD Variance Commitments
£
£
Remaining
Budget
£
(23,000)
2,325,691
0
697,597
4,379,430
875,690
4,226,832
2,974,845
556,353
(23,000)
2,368,140
62,550
722,994
4,466,446
846,139
4,309,896
3,092,505
574,965
0
629,822
15,543
353,510
769,732
517,928
1,207,818
1,899,743
284,004
0
543,033
16,959
263,556
587,415
509,888
1,065,739
1,761,507
124,821
0
(86,789)
1,416
(89,954)
(182,317)
(8,040)
(142,079)
(138,236)
(159,183)
0
648,515
3,973
20,460
226,079
95
2,207,290
5,792
11,884
(23,000)
1,176,592
41,618
438,978
3,652,952
336,156
1,036,867
1,325,206
438,260
Net Cost Of Services
16,013,438
16,420,635
5,678,100
4,872,918
(805,182)
3,124,088
8,423,629
Non Service Expenditure/Income
Precepts Of Parish Councils
Interest Receivable
External Interest Paid
Capital Charges
Retirement Benefits
Revenue Financing for Capital
Contributions To/From Reserves
1,457,091
(392,490)
0
(4,803,930)
266,577
400,000
776,535
1,457,091
(386,490)
0
(4,803,930)
266,577
1,006,311
(242,973)
1,457,091
(199,119)
0
(1,146,264)
0
0
1,457,091
(193,393)
349
(1,146,282)
0
0
0
0
5,726
349
(18)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
(193,097)
(349)
(3,657,648)
266,577
1,006,311
(242,973)
Non Service Expenditure/Income
(2,296,217)
(2,703,414)
111,708
117,765
6,057
0
(2,821,179)
Income
Council Taxpayers
Central Government Grants
Non-Domestic Rate Income
(9,357,207)
(4,360,014)
0
(9,357,207)
(4,360,014)
0
(5,170,631)
(2,325,285)
0
(5,217,418)
(2,325,375)
0
(46,787)
(90)
0
0
0
0
(4,139,789)
(2,034,639)
0
(13,717,221)
(13,717,221)
(7,495,916)
(7,542,793)
(46,877)
0
(6,174,428)
0
0
(1,706,108)
(2,552,110)
(846,002)
3,124,088
(571,978)
Income
(Surplus) / Deficit
19
Appendix B
Service Area Summaries 2013-14 p6
Assets & Leisure
Cost
Centre
Code
R200
R200A
R201
R202
R203
R204
R262
R262A
R300
R301
R302
R303
R304
R305
R306
R309
R310
R312
R314
R315
R318
R397
R414
Full Year Budget
Car Parking
Markets
Industrial Estates
Surveyors Allotments
Handy Man
Parklands
Administration Buildings Svs
Property Services
Parks & Open Spaces
Foreshore
Community Centres
Sports Centres
Leisure Complexes
Other Sports
Recreation Grounds
Pier Pavilion
Foreshore (Community)
Woodlands Management
Cromer Pier
Public Conveniences
Investment Properties
Leisure
Cctv
Total Assets & Leisure
Base Budget
£
(1,260,909)
64,621
(83)
2,840
10,057
(4,555)
78,137
0
481,346
183,734
11,038
294,316
746,818
107,718
12,738
106,347
399,666
169,042
35,871
537,354
112,243
0
237,352
Full Year Rolling
Budget
£
(1,328,509)
64,621
9,667
2,840
(15,830)
(4,555)
70,447
0
477,296
211,134
11,038
353,886
744,518
124,218
12,738
106,347
391,366
176,236
35,871
563,341
115,118
9,000
237,352
2,325,691
2,368,140
20
YTD Rolling
Budget
YTD Actuals YTD Variance
£
£
£
(1,053,089)
(1,108,041)
(54,952)
(8,335)
(16,697)
(8,362)
7,643
8,450
807
1,446
1,446
0
(7,650)
(10,433)
(2,783)
(25,346)
(23,630)
1,716
86,542
105,047
18,505
940
9,026
8,086
221,317
220,377
(940)
104,969
106,589
1,620
5,467
2,732
(2,735)
125,516
87,441
(38,075)
341,626
303,489
(38,137)
68,379
81,394
13,015
5,668
4,357
(1,311)
87,717
94,947
7,230
220,306
223,890
3,584
86,993
73,652
(13,341)
30,300
31,721
1,421
289,597
280,270
(9,327)
(72,188)
(39,631)
32,557
24
(3,052)
(3,076)
111,980
109,689
(2,291)
629,822
543,033
(86,789)
Commitments
£
74,262
21,237
3,254
0
0
0
40,709
0
205,984
1,042
385
753
3,954
484
5,045
0
148,236
2,468
633
123,065
2,755
131
14,118
Remaining Budget
£
(294,730)
60,081
(2,037)
1,394
(5,397)
19,075
(75,309)
(9,026)
50,935
103,503
7,921
258,622
437,075
42,340
3,336
11,400
19,240
100,116
3,517
160,006
151,994
11,921
113,545
648,515
1,169,522
Appendix B
Clt / Corporate
Cost
Centre
Code
R460A
R481
Full Year Budget
Corporate Leadership Team
Legal Services
Total Clt / Corporate
0
0
Full Year Rolling
Budget
£
5,000
57,550
0
62,550
Base Budget
£
YTD Rolling
Budget
YTD Actuals YTD Variance
£
£
£
(1,313)
(11,521)
(10,208)
16,856
28,480
11,624
15,543
16,959
1,416
Commitments
£
3,574
399
Remaining Budget
£
12,947
19,871
3,973
32,818
Community, Econ Dev & Coast
Cost
Centre
Code
R112A
R307
R308
R330
R333
R340
R341
R391
R398
R399
R412
R415
R472
Full Year Rolling
Budget
£
Full Year Budget
Health
Arts & Entertainments
Museums
General Economic Development
Tourism
Coast Protection
Pathfinder
Regeneration Management
Housing (Health & Wellbeing)
Housing Strategy
Environmental Strategy
Community And Localism
Coastal Management
Total Community, Econ Dev & Coast
YTD Rolling
Budget
£
0
141,270
41,587
404,465
115,208
1,333,091
7,697
0
1,182,860
1,204,457
84,755
(135,960)
0
0
141,270
41,587
419,465
150,208
1,393,091
67,697
(6,552)
1,193,074
1,123,929
81,755
(139,078)
0
0
84,158
40,792
244,743
67,595
545,936
0
30
133,154
(102,951)
30,881
(304,624)
30,018
4,379,430
4,466,446
769,732
21
YTD Actuals YTD Variance
£
£
(11,155)
(11,155)
81,850
(2,308)
40,805
13
248,424
3,681
68,730
1,135
545,898
(38)
790
790
(4,306)
(4,336)
115,718
(17,436)
(97,062)
5,889
22,641
(8,240)
(402,104)
(97,480)
(22,814)
(52,832)
587,415
(182,317)
Commitments
£
0
28,877
0
80,090
17,588
84,513
0
0
0
7,319
7,606
86
0
Remaining Budget
£
11,155
30,543
782
90,951
63,890
762,680
66,907
4,306
1,077,356
1,217,584
51,508
257,940
22,814
226,079
3,658,416
Appendix B
Customer Services
Cost
Centre
Code
R261
R311
R372
R394
R411
R430
R481B
R481C
R481D
0
237,296
390,001
0
39,220
31,080
0
0
0
Full Year Rolling
Budget
£
18,900
237,296
388,001
0
39,220
31,080
0
0
8,497
697,597
722,994
600,689
(470,424)
124,686
136,464
73,109
0
91,829
Full Year Rolling
Budget
£
626,548
(486,671)
122,186
147,964
73,109
0
91,829
556,353
574,965
Full Year Budget
It - Support Services
Tic'S
Homelessness
Customer Services Housing
Transport
Publicity
Graphical Info System
Media & Communications
Customer Services - Corporate
Total Customer Services
YTD Rolling
Budget
YTD Actuals YTD Variance
£
£
£
(20,869)
(51,473)
(30,604)
133,006
115,964
(17,042)
194,004
191,876
(2,128)
18
(6,649)
(6,667)
3,864
4,128
264
15,546
15,099
(447)
8,373
7,293
(1,080)
15,279
10,226
(5,053)
4,289
(22,908)
(27,197)
Commitments
£
13,400
2,478
0
0
0
0
900
0
3,682
Remaining Budget
£
56,973
118,854
196,125
6,649
35,092
15,981
(8,193)
(10,226)
27,723
(89,954)
20,460
438,978
YTD Rolling
YTD Actuals YTD Variance
Budget
£
£
£
329,888
234,286
(95,602)
(248,224)
(259,451)
(11,227)
61,526
56,559
(4,967)
63,776
64,404
628
38,608
4,254
(34,354)
(6)
687
693
38,436
24,082
(14,354)
Commitments
£
6,073
729
400
682
540
1,787
1,673
Remaining Budget
£
407,404
(227,949)
73,727
92,378
68,315
(2,474)
66,074
11,884
477,475
353,510
263,556
Development Management
Cost
Centre
Code
R100
R101
R102
R103
R121
R150
R402
Full Year Budget
Development Management
Planning Policy
Conservation & Design
Landscape
Building Control & Access
Planning Man And Comm Support
Property Information
Total Development Management
22
284,004
124,821
(159,183)
Appendix B
Environmental Health
Cost
Centre
Code
R111A
R114
R115
R117
R117B
R118
R119A
R120
R151
R316
R317
R413
R420
464,536
353,303
101,120
67,472
39,384
18,085
623,306
57,018
0
1,671,185
677,445
24,650
129,328
Full Year Rolling
Budget
£
464,536
353,303
101,120
67,472
39,384
30,927
640,733
57,018
5,200
1,664,128
732,097
24,650
129,328
4,226,832
4,309,896
Full Year Budget
Commercial Services
Rural Sewerage Schemes
Travellers
Licensing
Street Signage
Pest Control
Environmental Protection
Dog Control
Env Health - Service Mgmt
Waste Collection And Disposal
Cleansing
Community Safety
Civil Contingencies
Total Environmental Health
23
YTD Rolling
YTD Actuals YTD Variance
Budget
£
£
£
231,687
226,416
(5,271)
176,654
176,654
0
67,004
70,049
3,045
53,569
19,207
(34,362)
10,255
7,291
(2,964)
7,946
7,783
(163)
302,011
256,620
(45,391)
27,518
29,414
1,896
(3,866)
(14,065)
(10,199)
(24,792)
(59,066)
(34,274)
284,433
281,102
(3,331)
10,663
8,600
(2,063)
64,736
55,734
(9,002)
1,207,818
1,065,739
(142,079)
Commitments
£
3,920
0
310
5,503
250
89
2,829
3,058
11,881
1,773,069
405,568
0
813
Remaining Budget
£
234,200
176,649
30,761
42,762
31,843
23,055
381,284
24,546
7,384
(49,875)
45,427
16,050
72,781
2,207,290
1,036,867
Appendix B
Finance
Cost
Centre
Code
R210
R211
R213
R214
R219
R251
R263
R263C
R450
R450A
514,134
992,050
135,164
259,702
1,580
0
0
0
0
1,072,215
Full Year Rolling
Budget
£
538,085
1,012,050
135,164
280,870
1,580
0
33,549
0
0
1,091,207
2,974,845
3,092,505
0
0
0
316,703
558,987
Full Year Rolling
Budget
£
22,100
0
(53,330)
319,703
557,666
875,690
846,139
Full Year Budget
Local Taxation
Benefits
Treasury Management
Discrectionary Payments
Non Distributed Costs
Benefits & Revenues Mgmt
Corporate Finance
Internal Audit
Central Costs
Corporate & Democratic Core
Total Finance
YTD Rolling
Budget
YTD Actuals YTD Variance
£
£
£
227,794
207,149
(20,645)
838,653
820,054
(18,599)
68,289
68,239
(50)
191,702
163,539
(28,163)
111,862
112,176
314
6
(925)
(931)
19,731
(9,807)
(29,538)
(54,816)
(67,884)
(13,068)
636
(24,876)
(25,512)
495,886
493,842
(2,044)
1,899,743
1,761,507
(138,236)
Commitments
£
808
52
0
0
0
0
4,852
0
80
0
Remaining Budget
£
330,128
191,944
66,925
117,331
(110,596)
925
38,504
67,884
24,796
597,365
5,792
1,325,206
Organisational Development
Cost
Centre
Code
R260
R263B
R263D
R400
R450B
Full Year Budget
Human Resources & Payroll
Insurance & Risk Management
Policy & Performance Mgt
Registration Services
Members Services
Total Organisational Development
24
YTD Rolling
Budget
YTD Actuals YTD Variance
£
£
£
10,197
(12,410)
(22,607)
116,285
111,248
(5,037)
(26,642)
(34,478)
(7,836)
139,232
179,848
40,616
278,856
265,680
(13,176)
517,928
509,888
(8,040)
Commitments
£
0
0
0
95
0
Remaining Budget
£
34,510
(111,248)
(18,852)
139,760
291,986
95
336,156
Appendix C
Savings Summary - 2013/14
Ref.
Service
AL2
Assets and
Leisure
AL3
Assets and
Leisure
CS1
EH2
EH4
Customer
Services
Brief outline of
Saving/Additional
Income
Brief Outlione of Saving/Additional
income (Where applicable)
introduction of concessions
Car Parks
(refreshments, trailors etc) to some
concessions
of the car parks
Revised arrangements fir the DUSC
(Cromer and Stalham) (in addition to
Dual Use Sports
current review of NW)
Centres
Generating efficiencies through
maximising use of Front Office
Customer Services
Reception, Cabinet report December
2012
Reduction in establishment for
handyman function. (0.5fte).
Previously post used for waste
associated work (now within
contract) and street signs backlog of
work - mostly now complete
Environmental
Health
Handyman
Environmental
Health
Reduction in the recycling initiatives
budget, currently used for
promotional activities associated with
Recycling Initiatives
recycling and composting, previous
years spend has been less than level
budgetted.
25
2013/14
Budget
Savings
/Income
2013/14
P6 Update Variance
(15,000)
(15,000)
0
(40,000)
(10,000)
30,000
(24,740)
(24,740)
0
(9,007)
(9,007)
0
(6,500)
(6,500)
0
Appendix C
Ref.
Service
F2
Finance
C1 (no
form)
Corporate
DM2
Development
Management
AL6
Assets and
Leisure
AL7
Brief outline of
Saving/Additional
Income
Brief Outlione of Saving/Additional
income (Where applicable)
Deletion of vacant Exchequer
Services Assisatant post.
Cessation of the publication of
Outlook
outlook.
Landscape contributions - not
Grants and contributions review
currently committed.
Staffing and Other
2013/14
Budget
Savings
/Income
2013/14
P4 Update Variance
(19,700)
(19,700)
0
(26,000)
(26,000)
0
(2,150)
(2,150)
0
Reduction in the 13/14 contribution
Grants and contributions
fromreview
£6k to £3k then full amount
thereafter for the Folk on the Pier
(3,000)
(3,000)
0
Assets and
Leisure
Grants and
Contribution to Village Games event.
contributions review
(5,000)
(5,000)
0
OD1
Organisational
Development
Grants and
Norwich and Norfolk Racial Equality
contributions review Council
(5,000)
(5,000)
0
EH6
Environmental
Health
Community Safety - Remove
Grants and
contribution of £7k for funding
contributions review
analyst.
(7,000)
(7,000)
0
(163,097)
(133,097)
30,000
TOTAL
26
Appendix D
GENERAL FUND CAPITAL PROGRAMME
Scheme
Scheme Total
Current Estimate
Pre 31/3/12 Actual
Expenditure
Updated Budget 13/14 Actual Expenditure at
at Period 6
Period 6
Variance to 13/14
Updated Budget
Comments
Updated Budget 14/15 Updated Budget 15/16
£
Jobs and the Local Economy
North Norfolk Enterprise Innovation Centre
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
50,000
Rocket House
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
77,084
Wells Sackhouse Refurbishment
Financed by;
Other Contributions
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
71,752
Maltings Wells
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
Carbon Reduction Scheme
Financed by;
NNDC (Cap Receipts - Carbon Reduction Fund)
Car Park Resurfacing and Refurbishment
Financed by;
NNCD (Capital Receipts)
Public Conveniences (Plumbing and Drainage)
Financed by;
NNCD (Capital Receipts)
10,295
39,705
0
(39,705)
0
0
26,928
50,156
5,240
(44,916)
There has been a delay in
completing this scheme, due
to the requirement to cease
works during the busy
summer period.
0
0
45,029
26,723
0
(26,723) This scheme is currently on
0
0
0
100,000
0
0
0
68,379
5,000
0
(5,000) Works have been identified in
0
0
207,758
153,923
2,890
(151,033) The tender process has been
0
0
0
15,000
369
(14,631)
0
0
358,389
390,507
8,499
(382,008)
0
0
50,000
77,084
hold, although progression is
now anticipated following the
positive outcome of a
Heritage Lottery Fund bid for
grant funding.
27,752
44,000
100,000
(100,000)
100,000
73,379
The report recommends
release of these funds,
following the positive
outcome of a Heritage
Lottery Fund bid for grant
funding.
relation to this scheme
73,379
361,681
completed and works are
due to commence on the
14th October 2013.
361,681
15,000
15,000
748,896
27
Appendix D
Scheme
Scheme Total
Current Estimate
Pre 31/3/12 Actual
Expenditure
Updated Budget 13/14 Actual Expenditure at
at Period 6
Period 6
Variance to 13/14
Updated Budget
Comments
Updated Budget 14/15 Updated Budget 15/16
£
Housing and Infrastructure
Housing Renovation Grants
Private Sector Renewal Grants
Annual programme
552,091
0
Annual programme
977,536
263,927
925,100
100,650
(552,091)
500,000
355,000
(713,609) Expenditure continues to be
850,000
772,578
323,600
(601,500) Projects are progressing with
0
0
20,000
0
(20,000) Expenditure on this scheme
0
0
950
199,050
2,135
(196,915)
0
0
19,845
27,155
4,848
(22,307)
0
0
0
3,500,000
0
(3,500,000)
0
0
121,445
6,200,932
594,510
(5,606,422)
1,350,000
1,127,578
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
Disabled Facilities Grants
low by comparison to the
budget, but it is is anticipated
that there will be an increase
in completions and
approvals.
Financed by;
Specified Capital Grant
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
Housing Associations
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
NNDC (Capital Projects Reserve)
Affordable Housing Contributions
Strategic Housing & Choice Based Lettings System
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital receipts)
Capital Projects Reserve
Empty Homes
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital receipts)
Equity Loans
Financed by;
EERA Contribution
Housing Loans to Registered Providers
Financed by;
Capital Receipts
Capital Projects Reserve
Internal/External Borrowing
Annual programme
120,650
this scheme and the
uncommitted balance of the
budget has been vired to the
new Housing Loans to
Registered Providers as
agreed at the September
Cabinet meeting.
is anticipated later in the
financial year.
113,950
6,700
200,000
200,000
47,000
47,000
3,500,000
1,077,678
90,800
2,331,522
3,867,650
28
A budget of £3.5M was
agreed at the September
Cabinet meeting, with a
virement from the Housing
Associations budget, and
further funding being
identified from Borrowing as
required.
Appendix D
Scheme
Scheme Total
Current Estimate
Pre 31/3/12 Actual
Expenditure
Updated Budget 13/14 Actual Expenditure at
at Period 6
Period 6
Variance to 13/14
Updated Budget
Comments
Updated Budget 14/15 Updated Budget 15/16
£
Coast, Countryside and Built Heritage
Gypsy and Traveller Short Stay Stopping Facilities
Financed by:
Grant
Sheringham Beach Handrails
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital Projects Reserve)
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
Cromer Pier Structural Works - Phase 2
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
Sheringham Promenade Lighting
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
Other Contributions
1,409,000
40,023
1,418,631
(45,646)
40,000
220,000
37,028
2,995
494
(2,501)
0
0
691,976
726,655
459,814
(266,841) Works are continuing on this
0
0
67,498
12,002
0
(12,002)
This budget has been
increased by £1,500 with a
virement from the capital
budget for the refurbishment
of seaside shelters, in line
with the September Cabinet
Report.
0
0
110
199,890
956
(198,934)
0
0
33,449
120,051
3,887
(116,164)
0
0
320,710
9,636,290
105,651
(9,530,639)
Works are progressing.
443,000
0
1,654,783
312,232
8,101
(304,131)
Works are progressing.
0
0
56,623
53,377
9,763
(43,614)
Works are progressing.
0
0
scheme with a number of
signficant contractor
payments having been made.
1,418,631
79,500
46,500
33,000
Refurbishment Works to the Seaside Shelters
Financed by:
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
153,500
Cromer to Winterton Scheme
Financed by:
Environment Agency Grant
0
5,023
35,000
200,000
Pathfinder Project
Financed by:
DEFRA Grant
45,646
1,409,000
Cromer Pier and West Prom Refurbishment Project
Financed by:
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
Cromer Coast Protection Scheme 982 and SEA
Financed by:
Environment Agency Grant
1,103,354
200,000
153,500
10,400,000
A virement of £1,500 has
been taken to the budget for
Sheringham prom lighting in
line with the September
Cabinet Report
10,400,000
1,967,015
1,967,015
110,000
110,000
29
Appendix D
Scheme
Scheme Total
Current Estimate
Pre 31/3/12 Actual
Expenditure
Updated Budget 13/14 Actual Expenditure at
at Period 6
Period 6
Variance to 13/14
Updated Budget
Comments
Updated Budget 14/15 Updated Budget 15/16
£
0
60,000
0
262
35,738
15,240
262
21,738
6,867
15,895,669
3,966,055
11,226,614
610,773
(10,615,841)
North Lodge Park
Financed by;
NNCD (Capital Receipts)
197,000
732
196,268
0
(196,268)
Big Society Fund
Financed by:
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
RCCO
507,000
282,000
225,000
0
17,045
52,955
(0)
0
54,370
0
0
100,000
0
(100,000)
299,777
628,593
(0)
(628,593)
Coastal Erosion Assistance
Financed by:
Government Grant
60,000
Chalet Repairs
Financed by;
NNCD (Capital Receipts)
36,000
Doctors Steps
Financed by;
NNCD (Capital Receipts)
22,000
(60,000)
0
0
(20,498) Works are now progressing
0
0
(14,871) Works have been completed
0
0
483,000
220,000
0
0
(225,000) The enabling budget for the
0
0
(52,955) The scheme is currently on
0
0
(54,370) Contractors are shortly to be
0
0
A review paper has been
completed in order to assess
needs for play areas, and this
will be presented to Cabinet
in their November meeting.
0
0
0
0
60,000
that the summer season has
finished.
36,000
and final invoices are
awaited.
22,000
Localism
North Walsham Regeneration Schemes
Financed by:
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
Victory Swim and Fitness Centre
Financed by;
NNCD (Capital Receipts)
Play Areas
Financed by;
NNCD (Capital Receipts)
This scheme is on hold
pending the outcome of
public consultation.
197,000
Big Society fund has been
increased by £25,000 in
accordance with the decision
list of the April Cabinet
meeting. The additional
funding is to come from an
RCCO.
482,000
25,000
70,000
hold pending agreements of
the design for the town
centre enhancement works.
70,000
54,370
invited to quote for the works
to be undertaken.
54,370
100,000
100,000
928,370
30
Appendix D
Scheme
Scheme Total
Current Estimate
Pre 31/3/12 Actual
Expenditure
Updated Budget 13/14 Actual Expenditure at
at Period 6
Period 6
Variance to 13/14
Updated Budget
Comments
Updated Budget 14/15 Updated Budget 15/16
£
Delivering the Vision
Trade Waste Bins/ Waste Vehicle
Financed by:
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
LPSA Grant
272,700
Reception Project
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
143,026
Personal Computer Replacement Fund
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
NNDC (RCCO)
204,282
Waste Management & Environmental Health IT System
232,427
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
WPEG Grant
DEFRA Grant
131,514
83,486
17,427
34,010
e-Financials Financial Management System Software
Upgrade
Financed by:
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
(134,767)
The reception works have
commenced following the
tender process and are
anticipated to be complete in
November 2013.
0
0
18,721
(1,279)
Personal computers have
been purchased, and it is
anticipated that the budget
will be fully spent by the end
of the financial year.
20,000
20,000
16,494
2,965
(13,529)
0
0
62,593
12,407
0
(12,407)
0
0
31,600
2,410
950
(1,460)
The project related to the
public access module which
has now successfully been
implemented.
0
0
142,916
163,240
44,143
(119,098)
Works are progressing.
0
0
21,050
11,950
228
(11,722)
0
0
2,486
140,540
5,773
144,282
20,000
215,933
been purchased.
160,646
43,636
Probass 3
Financed by:
Procurement for Upgrade of Civica System
Financed by:
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
Other Grants (RIEP)
DWP Performance Standards Fund
0
29,387
143,026
75,000
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
0
121,688
194,784
77,916
Asset Management Computer System
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital Projects Reserve)
NNDC (Asset Management Reserve)
Planning Delivery Grant/Housing and Planning Delivery Grant
(92,302) Replacement vehicles have
151,012
60,000
15,000
5,600
28,410
306,156
222,397
53,800
29,959
33,000
33,000
31
Appendix D
Scheme
Scheme Total
Current Estimate
Pre 31/3/12 Actual
Expenditure
Updated Budget 13/14 Actual Expenditure at
at Period 6
Period 6
Variance to 13/14
Updated Budget
Comments
Updated Budget 14/15 Updated Budget 15/16
£
Administrative Buildings
Financed by;
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
Replacement of Planning Printer and Scanner
Financed by:
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
6,754
268,246
15,957
0
21,000
0
0
16,000
0
(252,289)
Some works have been
undertaken in relation to the
central heating system within
the Cromer Office.
0
0
(21,000) Purchase of this equipment
0
0
12,500
(3,500) This scheme is progressing.
0
0
65,000
0
(65,000) A budget of £65k has been
0
0
0
13,200
0
(13,200) A budget of £13.2k has been
0
0
1,690,801
778,626
872,175
130,623
(741,552)
20,000
20,000
23,131,386
5,524,292
19,318,821
1,344,405
(17,974,416)
1,853,000
1,367,578
9,749,667
357,878
443,000
27,155
50,996
8,000
4,580
38,200
976,731
5,331,092
2,331,522
443,000
40,000
443,000
0
0
0
0
0
0
927,000
0
0
220,000
443,000
0
0
0
0
0
0
704,578
0
19,318,821
1,853,000
1,367,578
275,000
275,000
21,000
has been postponed pending
the office reorganisation.
21,000
Committee Management Information System
Financed by:
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
16,000
PC Replacement and Mobile Technology
Financed by:
NNDC (Capital Receipts)
65,000
Handyman Vehicle
Financed by:
RCCO
13,200
16,000
established for the
replacement of all computers
with XP systems, following
the recommendation from
the September Cabinet
meeting.
65,000
established for the purchase
of an alternative vehicle for
the Handyman Service.
Delegated authority has been
received, and the order
placed.
13,200
Capital Programme Financing
Environment Agency Grant
DEFRA Grant
Disabled Facilities Grants
Other Grants
Affordable Housing Contributions
Other Contributions
Asset Management Reserve
Revenue Contribution to Capital (RCCO)
Capital Project Reserve
Capital Receipts
Internal / External Borrowing
TOTAL FINANCING
32
Agenda Item No____10________
HALF YEARLY TREASURY MANAGEMENT REPORT FOR 2013/14
Summary:
This report provides information on the Treasury
Management activities undertaken in the first six months
of 2013/14.
Options considered:
It is a requirement of the Chartered Institute of Public
Finance & Accountancy‟s (CIPFA) Code of Practice for
Treasury Management that this mid-year review is
prepared and presented to Full Council.
Conclusions:
That the treasury activities for the year have been
carried out in accordance with the CIPFA Code and the
Council‟s Treasury Strategy.
Recommendations:
That the Council be asked to RESOLVE that the Half
Yearly Treasury Management Report for 2013/14 be
approved.
Reasons for
Recommendations:
The recommendation is being made in compliance with
the CIPFA Code.
LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW
(Papers relied on the write the report and which do not contain exempt information)
Arlingclose Report Template – Semi-Annual Treasury Report 2013/14
Cabinet Member(s)
Ward(s) affected
Cllr Wyndham Northam
All
Contact Officer, telephone number and email:
Tony Brown
01263516126
tony.brown@north-norfolk.gov.uk
1.
Introduction
1.1
The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) defines
treasury management as “the management of the Council‟s investments and
cash flows, its banking and its capital market transactions; the effective
control of the risks associated with those activities and the pursuit of optimum
performance consistent with those risks”.
1.2
The Council‟s treasury management activities are undertaken in accordance
with the CIPFA Code of Practice on Treasury Management 2009, which
includes a requirement to prepare a strategy for the treasury activities in the
forthcoming financial year. The Code also recommends that Members are
informed of treasury management activities at least twice a year. This report
33
therefore ensures that the Council is following Best Practice in accordance
with CIPFA‟s recommendations.
2.
Economic Background
2.1
The UK economy showed some improvement in the period with consumer
spending boosting growth. In the first quarter of 2013 Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) increased by 0.4% and in the second quarter by 0.7%.
Recent data suggests the increase for the third quarter will be stronger.
2.2
Consumer confidence has improved and although household savings
remained high, these have begun to fall suggesting the increased spending
was met by borrowing or from savings. This however raises questions about
whether the recovery and rate of growth can be sustained.
2.3
The rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) was
2.7% for August (published September). Inflation has fallen in line with
expectations and is expected to remain close to this level throughout the
autumn, before falling back to the 2% target set by the government for the
Bank of England.
2.4
There was no change to UK monetary policy with the Bank of England
maintaining official interest rates at 0.5%, and asset purchases under the
quantitative easing programme of £375bn. The main development for UK
monetary policy was the implementation of forward guidance by the new
Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney. In its August Inflation
Report, the Bank stated its forward guidance, the main element of which is to
defer raising interest rates at least until unemployment falls to 7%. The Bank
projected that the probability of this happening would remain below 50% until
2016. The Governor has had to defend the Bank‟s guidance in the face of
rising financial market expectations of an earlier rate rise based on the
encouraging economic data.
3.
Debt Management
3.1
The Council has remained debt-free. Capital expenditure has been financed
from usable capital receipts, government grants and revenue contributions.
This has lowered the overall treasury risk by reducing the level of investments
and avoiding external debt, and continues to be the most cost effective way of
funding capital expenditure.
4
Investment Activity
4.1
The Investment Guidance from the Department for Communities and Local
Government, gives priority to security and liquidity, and the Council‟s aim is to
achieve an interest return commensurate with these principles.
4.2
The table below gives Members an appreciation of the investment activity
undertaken in the first six months of 2013/14, showing the position at the start
and end of the period, together with the transactions during the period. The
percentages show the investment return achieved for each investment
category.
34
Balance
01/4/2013
Invested
Matured
£000s
£000s
£000s
Short Term
%
£000s
13,115
63,402
(61,027)
15,490
0.56
Bond issued by
The European
Investment Bank
1,000
0
0
1,000
0.78
Pooled Property
Fund
5,000
0
0
5,000
5.61
19,115
63,402
(61,027)
21,490
1.61
Total
4.3
Balance
30/9/2013
Security of the capital sum remained the Council‟s main investment objective.
This was maintained by following the Council‟s investment counterparty policy
set out in its Treasury Management Strategy Statement for 2013/14. New
investments were made with the following institutions:
a. Deposits with UK Banks and Building Societies
b. AAA-rated Stable Net Asset value Money Market Funds
c. The Debt Management Office
4.4
Counterparty credit quality was assessed and monitored with reference to
Credit Ratings (the Council‟s minimum long-term counterparty rating of A- (or
equivalent) across the rating agencies Fitch, S&P and Moody‟s); credit default
swaps; GDP of the country in which the institution operates; the country‟s net
debt as a percentage of GDP; sovereign support mechanisms and potential
support from a well-resourced parent institution and share price.
4.5
The base budget for 2013/14 anticipated that £392,000 would be earned in
interest from an average balance of £24m at 1.65%. In the first 6 months of
the financial year the average amount invested was £23.5m at an average
rate of interest of 1.61%, resulting in an overall interest return of £193,393.
5.
Credit Risk and Counterparty Update
5.1
Counterparty credit quality as measured by credit ratings is summarised
below. The table below and charts at Appendix E show that, compared to the
Arlingclose client base (for English non-metropolitan district councils), the
credit quality of the Council‟s investments at the end of June 2013 on a value
weighted basis was marginally better than the client base average of 5.31.
On a time weighted basis the average was considerable better than the client
base figure of 5.25, indicating that for longer term investments, higher credit
quality counterparties have been used.
35
Date
Value
Weighted
Average –
Credit Risk
Score
Value
Weighted
Average –
Credit
Rating
Time
Weighted
Average –
Credit Risk
Score
Time
Weighted
Average –
Credit
Rating
31/03/2013
A+
5.30
AA
3.07
30/06/2013
A+
5.21
AA
3.39
Scoring:
Value weighted average reflects the credit quality of investments according to
the size of the deposit
Time weighted average reflects the credit quality of investments according to
the maturity of the deposit
AAA = highest credit quality = 1
D = lowest credit quality = 15
Aim = A- or higher credit rating, with a score of 7 or lower, to reflect current
investment approach with main focus on security
5.2
In April the credit rating agency Fitch downgraded the UK‟s long-term
sovereign rating from AAA to AA+. They became the second rating agency to
do so, following the downgrade by Moody‟s agency in February to Aa1.
5.3
The proposed sale of 632 Lloyds Bank branches to the Co-op Bank – referred
to as Project Verde – fell through in April. These branches will now be
transferred in September to a new bank, TSB Bank, and sold through a listing
on the stock market in 2014.
5.4
In May Moody‟s downgraded the long-term rating of the Co-op Bank from A3
to Ba3, which is sub-investment grade. The downgrade reflected the agency‟s
opinion that the bank faced the risk of further substantial losses. In June the
Co-op announced it had a £1.5bn capital shortfall which it planned to meet by
raising money from its bondholders and sale of its insurance business.
Moody‟s downgraded the bank‟s long-term rating to Caa1 whilst Fitch
downgraded the long-term from BBB- to BB-. The Co-op is the Council‟s
banker and, although not on the lending list for treasury investments, there is
therefore has daylight exposure to the institution. To mitigate exposure in the
event of a failure by the bank, credit balances with the bank are kept to a
minimum each day.
5.5
The government has begun to sell its stake in the Lloyds Banking Group, and
this has had a positive impact on the bank‟s credit rating. The situation with
its holding in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is more complex, and the
government favours a „good bank‟ and „bad bank‟ split. The banks credit
rating has been downgraded amid concerns about the possible impact of any
potential breakup on creditors. Although the possibility of loss remains low
there is a possibility investments may be impaired, especially as the
government has clearly indicated that it will not provide any more public funds
36
to support the bank. As a precautionary measure the maximum duration for
RBS investments has been reduced to overnight in accordance with
Arlingclose advice, although the Council does not currently have any funds
with the bank.
6.
Compliance with Prudential Indicators
6.1
The Council can confirm that it has complied with its Prudential Indicators in
the first six months of 2013/14. The Indicators have been revised where
appropriate and details can be found in Appendix F
7.
Conclusion
In compliance with the requirements of the CIPFA Code of Practice this report
provides members with a summary of the treasury management activity
during the first 6 months of 2013/14. As indicated in this report none of the
Prudential Indicators have been breached and a prudent approach has been
taking in relation to investment activity with priority being given to security and
liquidity over yield.
8.
Implications and Risks
8.1
The treasury management activities in the first 6 months of 2013/14 have
been undertaken in accordance with the Treasury Management Strategy
Statement and Investment Strategy 2013/14 to 2015/16.
9.
Financial Implications and Risks
9.1
The financial implications and risks of treasury decisions have been
considered in the light of advice from the Council‟s treasury advisor and this
report confirms that the Council considers that security and liquidity are the
primary objectives of its prudent investment policy.
10.
Sustainability
10.1
This report does not raise any issues relating to Sustainability
11.
Equality and Diversity
11.1
This report does not raise any issues relating to Equality and Diversity.
12.
Section 17 Crime and Disorder considerations
12.1
This report does not raise any issues relating to Crime and Disorder
considerations.
37
Appendix E
Credit Score Analysis
Long-Term
Credit Rating
Score
AAA
1
AA+
2
AA
3
AA-
4
A+
5
A
6
A-
7
BBB+
8
BBB
9
BBB-
10
Not rated
11
BB
12
CCC
13
C
14
D
15
38
39
Appendix F
Prudential Indicator Compliance
1.
Gross Debt and the Capital Financing Requirement:
1.1
This is a key indicator of prudence. In order to ensure that over the medium
term debt will only be for a capital purpose, the Council should ensure that
debt does not, except in the short term, exceed the total of the capital
financing requirement in the preceding year plus the estimates of any
additional capital financing requirement for the current and next two financial
years. The Council had no difficulty in meeting this requirement as no long
term borrowing was undertaken in the period.
2.
Estimates of Capital Expenditure:
2.1
This indicator is set to ensure that the level of proposed capital expenditure
remains within sustainable limits and, in particular, to consider the impact on
Council Tax. The increase in the expenditure for the 2013/14 revised
estimate is due to the inclusion of the Cromer Coast Protection Scheme and
loans to Housing Associations under the Local Investment Strategy.
Capital Expenditure
Total
2.2
2013/14
Approved
£000s
2013/14
Revised
£000s
2014/15
Estimate
£000s
9,267
19,319
1,853
2015/16
Estimate
£000s
1,368
Capital expenditure will be financed or funded as follows:
Capital Financing
2013/14
Approved
£000s
2013/14
Revised
£000s
2014/15
Estimate
£000s
Capital receipts
3,421
5,331
927
705
Government Grants
5,443
10,551
926
663
403
1,106
9,267
16,988
1,853
1,368
1,853
1,368
Revenue contributions
and Reserves
Total Financing
Internal Borrowing
Total Financing and
Funding
2015/16
Estimate
£000s
2,331
9,267
19,319
This table shows that the capital expenditure plans of the Council can be
funded entirely from sources other than external borrowing.
40
3.
Ratio of Financing Costs to Net Revenue Stream:
3.1
This is an indicator of affordability and highlights the revenue implications of
existing and proposed capital expenditure by identifying the proportion of the
revenue budget required to meet financing costs. The definition of financing
costs is set out in the Prudential Code.
3.2
The ratio is based on costs net of investment income.
Ratio of Financing
Costs to Net
Revenue Stream
Total
2013/14
Approved
%
2013/14
Revised
%
(2.87)
(2.78)
2014/15
Estimate
%
(3.00)
2015/16
Estimate
%
(3.09)
The indicator is negative because the Council has interest receivable and no
financing costs.
4.
Capital Financing Requirement:
4.1
The Capital Financing Requirement (CFR) measures the Council‟s underlying
need to borrow for a capital purpose. The calculation of the CFR is taken
from the amounts held in the Balance Sheet relating to capital expenditure
and financing.
Capital Financing
Requirement
Total CFR
2013/14
Approved
£000s
2013/14
Revised
£000s
1,634
1,634
2014/15
Estimate
£000s
1,328
2015/16
Estimate
£000s
998
The total CFR indicated in the table relates to vehicles and equipment used
on the Council‟s refuse and car park management contracts. These are
recognised under IFRS accounting regulations which require equipment on
an embedded finance lease to be recognised on the balance sheet.
5.
Incremental Impact of Capital Investment Decisions:
5.1
This is an indicator of affordability that shows the impact of capital investment
decisions on Council Tax levels. The incremental impact is calculated by
comparing the total revenue budget requirement of the current approved
capital programme with an equivalent calculation of the revenue budget
requirement arising from the proposed capital programme.
Incremental Impact of
Capital Investment
Decisions
Increase in Band D
Council Tax
2013/14
Approved
£
2013/14
Revised
£
Nil
Nil
41
2014/15
2015/16
Estimate Estimate
£
£
Nil
Nil
5.2
The Council‟s capital plans, as estimated in forthcoming financial years, have
a neutral impact on council tax. This reflects the fact that capital expenditure
is predominantly financed from internal resources (grants, contributions, and
revenue and capital receipts), and there is no increase in the underlying need
to borrow.
6.
Authorised Limit and Operational Boundary for External Debt:
6.1
The Council has an integrated treasury management strategy and manages
its treasury position in accordance with its approved strategy and practice.
Overall borrowing will therefore arise as a consequence of all the financial
transactions of the Council, and not just those arising from capital spending
reflected in the CFR.
6.2
The Authorised Limit sets the maximum level of external debt on a gross
basis (i.e. excluding investments) for the Council. It is measured against all
external debt items (i.e. long and short term borrowing, overdrawn bank
balances and long term liabilities). The indicator separately identifies
borrowing from other long term liabilities such as finance leases. It is
consistent with the Council‟s existing commitments, its proposals for capital
expenditure and financing and its approved treasury management policy
statement and practices.
6.3
The Authorised Limit is the statutory limit determined under Section 3(1) of
the Local Government Act 2003 (referred to in the legislation as the
Affordable Limit).
6.4
The Operational Boundary is based on the same estimates as the Authorised
Limit reflecting the most likely, prudent but not worst case scenario, and
without the additional headroom included within the Authorised Limit for
unusual cash movements.
2013/14
Approved
and
Revised
£000s
2014/15
2015/16
Estimate Estimate
£000s
£000s
Authorised Limit for Borrowing
6,900
6,900
6,900
Authorised Limit for Other Long-term
Liabilities
1,634
1,328
998
Authorised Limit for External Debt
8,534
8,228
7,898
Operational Boundary for Borrowing
4,840
4,840
4,840
Operational Boundary for Other Longterm Liabilities
1,634
1,328
998
Operational Boundary for External
Debt
6,474
6,168
5,838
42
7.
Adoption of the CIPFA Treasury Management Code:
7.1
This indicator demonstrates that the Council has adopted the principles of
best practice.
Adoption of the CIPFA Code of Practice in Treasury Management
The Council approved the adoption of the CIPFA Treasury Management
Code at Full Council on 28 April 2010.
8.
Upper Limits for Fixed Interest Rate Exposure and Variable Interest Rate
Exposure:
8.1
These indicators allow the Council to manage the extent to which it is
exposed to changes in interest rates. The Council calculates these limits on
net principal sums outstanding (i.e. fixed rate debt net of fixed rate
investments).
8.2
The purpose of the limit is to ensure that the Council is not exposed to interest
rate rises on any borrowing which could adversely impact the revenue budget.
Variable rate borrowing can be used to offset exposure to changes in short
term rates on investments. However, the Council does not anticipate entering
into a borrowing during the period of the Strategy. The limit therefore allows
maximum flexibility for fixed or variable rate investments and investment
decisions will ultimately be made on expectations of interest rate movements
as set out in the Strategy.
2013/14
Approved
%
2013/14
Revised
%
2014/15
Estimate
%
2015/16
Estimate
%
Upper Limit for
Fixed Interest
Rate Exposure
(100%)
(100%)
(100%)
(100%)
Upper Limit for
Variable Interest
Rate Exposure
(100%)
(100%)
(100%)
(100%)
8.3
As the Council‟s investments exceed its borrowing, these calculations have
resulted in a negative figure.
9.
Maturity Structure of Fixed Rate borrowing:
9.1
This indicator highlights the existence of any large concentrations of fixed rate
borrowing needing to be replaced at times of uncertainty over interest rates
and is designed to protect against excessive exposures to interest rate
changes in any one period, in particular in the course of the next ten years.
43
9.2
It is calculated as the amount of projected borrowing that is fixed rate
maturing in each period as a percentage of total projected borrowing that is
fixed rate. The Council does not anticipate entering into any external
borrowing therefore the limits have been set to allow the Council maximum
flexibility should any borrowing be required (potentially for cash flow
purposes).
Maturity structure of fixed rate
borrowing
under 12 months
10.
Lower
Upper
Limit
Limit
for 2013/14 for 2013/14
%
%
0
100
12 months and within 24 months
0
100
24 months and within 5 years
0
100
5 years and within 10 years
0
100
10 years and within 20 years
0
100
20 years and within 30 years
0
100
30 years and within 40 years
0
100
40 years and within 50 years
0
100
50 years and above
0
100
Credit Risk:
10.1
The Council considers security, liquidity and yield, in that order, when making
investment decisions.
10.2
Credit ratings remain an important element of assessing credit risk, but they
are not a sole feature in the Council‟s assessment of counterparty credit risk.
10.3
The Council also considers alternative assessments of credit strength, and
information on corporate developments of and market sentiment towards
counterparties. The following key tools are used to assess credit risk:
 Published credit ratings of the financial institution (minimum A- or
equivalent) and its sovereign (minimum AA+ or equivalent for non-UK
sovereigns);
 Sovereign support mechanisms;
 Credit default swaps (where quoted);
 Share prices (where available);
 Economic fundamentals, such as a country‟s net debt as a percentage
of its GDP);
 Corporate developments, news, articles, markets sentiment and
momentum;
 Subjective overlay.
44
10.4
Credit ratings are the only indicator where an absolute prescriptive value can
be applied. The other indicators of creditworthiness are considered in relative
terms.
11.
Upper Limit for total principal sums invested over 364 days:
11.1
The purpose of this indicator is to limit exposure to the possibility of loss
which may arise as a result of the Council having to seek early repayment of
the sums invested.
Upper Limit for
total principal
sums invested
over 364 days
Total
2013/14
Approved
£m
2013/14
Revised
£m
15
15
45
2014/15
Estimate
£m
15
2015/16
Estimate
£m
15
Agenda Item No____11________
PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT REVIEW
Summary:
As part of the 2013/14 budget setting process a capital
bid of £100,000 was requested in order to address
those playgrounds and equipment which are in the
poorest condition. A needs assessment has been
completed and a schedule of works identified. The
majority of the equipment will be purchased through the
ESPO playground equipment (outdoor) framework
contract (ESPO framework 115). All identified works are
expected to be completed by the end of the current
financial year.
Options considered:
The needs assessment has identified those playgrounds
in greatest need of improvement. The options
considered as regards the actual equipment to be
installed have been informed through consultation with
the various user groups representing the playground
areas. The proposed options are included below within
Table 3.
Conclusions:
The needs assessment has now been completed and a
schedule of improvement works has been identified.
Table 3 highlights the proposed schemes, the cost of
which is estimated to be around £78k, which leaves an
unallocated balance of £22k. Once approved it is
anticipated that all works will be completed by the end of
the current financial year.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that Cabinet;
1.
2.
3.
Reasons for
Recommendations:
Note the contents of the report
Approve the allocation of the capital funding as
identified within the report
Give Delegated Authority to the Head of Assets
and Leisure, in consultation with the Portfolio
Holder for leisure, to allocate the unspent
balance of funding
To enable the £100,000 capital budget, approved as
part of the 2013/14 budget setting process, to be
allocated to the various schemes identified within the
report.
LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW
(Papers relied on to write the report, which do not contain exempt information and which are not
published elsewhere)
Cabinet Member(s)
Ward(s) affected
Cllr John Lee
Sheringham
Cllr Rhodri Oliver
Contact Officer, telephone number and email: Duncan Ellis (Head of Assets and
Leisure), 01263 516330, duncan.ellis@north-norfolk.gov.uk
1.
Introduction
46
1.1
The Council owns a number of play areas containing traditional equipment,
some of which is now approaching the end of its useful economic life. As part
of the 2013/14 budget setting process a capital bid of £100,000 was therefore
requested in order to address those playgrounds and equipment which are in
the poorest condition.
1.2
As part of approving this capital budget it was agreed that a needs
assessment would be undertaken to identify those areas which would benefit
most from the funding prior to undertaking any improvements. The results of
this assessment can be found below.
2.
Scope
2.1
This review considers existing equipped play areas under the control of North
Norfolk District Council (NNDC) in terms of condition of equipment, safety,
land ownership, level of use and available resources.
2.2
The review is necessary to properly target £100,000 of capital funding to be
made available for 2013/14 for improvement works.
2.3
This review considers the physical condition of actual equipment and ancillary
items and makes recommendations regarding replacement where
appropriate. The review is not intended to consider the wider intrinsic
approach to play, nor is it intended to recommend complete redesign of play
areas to follow a more contemporary ethic although where possible, new
provision will seek to be as innovative and forward thinking as possible.
3.
Timescales
3.1
The review considers all play areas and includes a costed action plan for
replacement equipment and remedial works to be completed by the end of
March 2014.
4.
Background
4.1
NNDC is responsible for the upkeep of 29 play areas throughout the district
and an inventory of these together with a location map can be found within
appendices 1 and 2 respectively. These areas have been acquired by the
following means;

Transfer from urban and rural district councils in 1974 following local
government reorganisation.

Transfer to NNDC from developers in connection with the provision of public
open space within new residential development upon payment of a commuted
maintenance sum.

New equipment provided in existing play areas funded by developers where
nearby new developments are too small to accommodate play provision (off
site provision).

Provision by NNDC on its own land following receipt of external funding
e.g.’Playbuilder’.
47

Provision by NNDC on land owned by parish councils following receipt of
external funding e.g.’Big Lottery’. NNDC assumes repairs and maintenance
for a fixed term before the facility returns to parish council control.
5.
Existing inspection and maintenance regime
5.1
All play areas are inspected on a quarterly basis, with the work being
outsourced to The Play Inspection Company (PI). An operational inspection
report is then provided for each item of equipment, commenting on its state of
repair and rating any potential risk. The Countryside and Parks Manager then
assesses the report and prioritises any remedial works required following
which an instruction is provided to the Council’s playground contractors
Renosteel to undertake the works. General works are usually completed
within two weeks, although any serious defects are attended to immediately.
5.2
In March 2013 an Annual inspection was undertaken by PI to inform this
review. The annual inspection is more detailed than the operational
inspection and provides information on compliance with standards rather than
simply assessing safety issues.
6.
Overview of the general condition of play areas
6.1
Some play areas reflect a very traditional style dating back several decades
and typically consist of slides, roundabouts, swings and seesaws. Whilst
some new equipment has been provided in recent years (through schemes
such as Playbuilder and Section 106 contributions), much of the original
equipment is at the end of its economic life. In 2012 certain items had to be
removed because they had become unsafe and these are detailed below.
Table 1: Equipment removal
Town
Cromer
Sheringham
Location
Fernsfield
The Meadow
The Warren
Cromer Road
Lawson Way
Item removed
Multiplay unit, springy animal
Large slide, medium slide
Shelter / climber
Large slide
Large slide
6.2
The removal of these items prompted concern in the community and residents
groups formed to campaign and fundraise for replacement equipment, such
as at the Cromer Road site in Sheringham. This prompted the Council to
allocate the additional capital funding for larger scale improvements to
supplement existing budgets.
7.
Consultation
7.1
This project is aimed at replacing the oldest equipment with new within the
constraints of the available capital budget. It was initiated by residents making
representation about the removal of equipment or its condition at The
Meadow (Cromer), Fernsfield (Cromer) and Cromer Road (Sheringham). The
action plan will target these places together with those areas highlighted in
the annual inspection survey results.
7.2
Where residents have expressed a preference regarding the possible types of
replacement equipment then this will be taken into account wherever
possible. It should however be noted that the Council will achieve more
48
competition, and therefore better prices, if we are not too restrictive in terms
of equipment requirements.
7.3
There will be no wider consultation because it would simply serve to raise
expectations where such expectations cannot be satisfied given the
limitations of the available funding.
7.4
Where equipment is to be removed and not replaced then the parish or town
council will be notified giving reasons for the removal.
7.5
The results of the annual inspection report have been used to proritise the
funds available and direct them to those areas with the most need. As this is
a large and detailed report it has not been provided as part of this paper but is
available as a supporting document if required.
8.
Proposals summary
8.1
Following an analysis of the annual inspection report findings the proposal
schedule below has been produced and covers the following options;






8.2
Returning the site to the Parish Council
Returning the site to Norfolk County Council (NCC)
Removing some or all of the current equipment
Removing some or all of the current equipment and providing new
Providing additional new equipment
Taking no action
The proposals for each site have been summarised within the table below.
49
Table 2: Playground site proposals
Town / Village
Baconsthorpe
Location
Church Lane
Bacton
Village playing field
Briston
Ridlands Road
Cromer
Fernsfield
Fulcher Avenue
The Meadow
The Warren
Rectory Road
Sports Centre
The Lawn
Wensum Way
Heather Barrow Court
Country Park
Neil Avenue
Stevens Road
Edgefield
Fakenham
Holt
Little Snoring
Proposal
Return to parish council 10.11.15 in
accordance with lease arrangements
Return to parish council 15.07.14 in
accordance with lease arrangements
Return to parish council 16.10.14 in
accordance with lease arrangements
See equipment schedule – item 1
Site satisfactory, no action
See equipment schedule – item 2
Site satisfactory, no action
Site satisfactory, no action
Site satisfactory, no action
Site satisfactory, no action
Site satisfactory, no action
Site satisfactory, no action
Site satisfactory, no action
Site satisfactory, no action
Return to parish council in 21.07.14 in
accordance with lease arrangements
Remove three small redundant climbing frames
no longer needed following implementation of
adjacent Stevens road scheme.
Site satisfactory, no action
Return to parish council 23.07.14 in in
accordance with lease arrangements
See equipment schedule – item 3
The Croft
Mundesley
Neatishead
Watson Watt Gardens
School Road
North
Walsham
Acorn Road
Sheringham
Stalham
Gigli Close
Hollybush Road
Howlett Close
Sadler’s Wood
Cooper Road
Cromer Road
Foxglove Lane
Lawson Way
Site satisfactory, no action
Site satisfactory, no action
Site satisfactory, no action
Site satisfactory, no action
Site satisfactory, no action
Awaiting scheme from residents
Site satisfactory, no action
Remove and return site to NCC – slide already
removed on safety grounds
NCC has asked that site is cleared of remaining
items (goalposts)
Site satisfactory, no action
Site satisfactory, no action
Site satisfactory, no action
The Lees
Alan Meale Way
Lancaster Close
9.
Recommended Equipment Installation Schedule
9.1
Following the assessment above it is recommended that the following
equipment is installed.
50
Table 3: Recommended equipment
Estimated
cost
Safety
matting
cost
Install
costs
Safety
surface
install
Ranch
5,550
850
1,400
400
8,200
Playdale
Giggleswick
(toddler)
5,835
1,089
1,200
412
8,536
Playdale
Jukebox
(Junior)
16,931
700
1,200
400
19,231
Playdale
Monkeybars
473
300
200
150
1,123
Playdale
Play panels
2,579
HAGS
Multiplay
8,879
Timber
Play
RICO
Railway
Swinging
Horse
Two storey
playhouse
Dwarf Hill
Whirligig
Potential
supplier
Equipment
type
1. Cromer Fernsfield
Kompan
2. Cromer –
The Meadow
3. North
Walsham Acorn Road
4. Sheringham
- Cromer Road
5. 20 sites –
various
locations
Information
signs
N/A
800
3,379
2,310
1,500
700
13,389
700
3,383
500
20,318
0
3,400
4,311
1,230
3,398
4,702
2,094
3,000
0
400
77,576
Sub total
Unallocated
balance
22,424
Total
100,000
Scheme 1: Cromer - Fernsfield
9.2
This proposal is to replace equipment which was removed in May 2013 as it
had become unsafe. It is recommended that it is replaced with equipment of a
similar type and play value.
Scheme 2: Cromer – The Meadow
9.3
Total
This proposal is to replace equipment removed in August 2012, although the
replacement equipment is different to the type removed. A local group has
established itself and put forward the recommendations for the replacement
equipment. The local group has suggested alternative equipment to that
which was removed.
51
Scheme 3: North Walsham - Acorn Road
9.4
A local group has requested equipment for younger children to be installed at
this site, aimed at under 8’s (the current equipment is intended for children
aged between 8 – 12). Some of these scheme details are still to be finalised
as the current proposals from residents include fencing which under the terms
of the Open Spaces Act governing the site is not permitted.
Scheme 4: Sheringham - Cromer Road
9.5
As with a number of the schemes above a group of local residents have
established a fundraising group called the Sheringham Playpark Revamp
Appeal. According to a recent local press release the group is more than twothirds of the way towards its £10,000 target and once this is reached the
group will be applying for various grants.
9.6
At the time of writing the group have not finalised their full scheme and
discussions are still in progress. However they have considered equipment for
a ‘first phase’ and the cost of this is identified within Table 3 above. There is
currently an unallocated balance available of £22,424, some of which could be
allocated to the remainder of this scheme.
10.
Procurement options
10.1
The Council has been offered a 25% discount on a piece of equipment that
was demonstrated at the recent Norfolk Show. This equipment is very similar
to that removed recently from Fernsfield and it is therefore recommended that
a procurement exemption is completed to cover the purchase of this
equipment which has an estimated cost of approximately £8,200.
10.2
With the exception of the Fernsfield scheme above it is recommended that
the remainder of the equipment is purchased through the new ESPO
playground equipment (outdoor) framework contract (ESPO framework 115)
which is due to be available imminently. As this involves the use of a
framework contract that the Council has not actually established itself this will
also be covered by the procurement exemption.
11.
Installation
11.1
The Fernsfield equipment is available now and could be purchased and
installed once this report has been agreed and the procurement exemption
has been completed.
11.2
The procurement for the remainder of the equipment will be undertaken
during November/December 2013 with installations to be completed by March
2014.
12.
Conclusion
12.1
The needs assessment has now been completed and a schedule of
improvement works has been identified. Table 3 highlights the proposed
schemes, the cost of which is estimated to be around £78k, which leaves an
unallocated balance of £22k. Once approved it is anticipated that all works will
be completed by the end of the current financial year.
52
13.
Implications and risks
13.1
If the identified improvement works are not undertaken then there is a risk of
further deterioration of equipment and subsequent injury. There is also a
reputational risk for the Council. However as there is a capital budget
allocated to these improvements the risks are considered to be minimal.
14.
Financial Implications and Risks
14.1
As part of the 2013/14 budget setting process a capital bid of £100,000 was
requested in order to address those playgrounds and equipment which are in
the poorest condition.
14.2
Table 3 above details those schemes to which funding has been allocated.
The estimated cost of these works is around £78k, which leave an
unallocated balance of c£22k.
15.
Sustainability
15.1
There are no sustainability implications as a result of this report.
16.
Equality and diversity
16.1
There are no Section equality and diversity implications as a result of this
report.
17.
Section 17 Crime and Disorder considerations
17.1
There are no Section 17 Crime and Disorder implications as a result of this
report.
53
Appendix 1 – Children’s play areas managed by NNDC
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
Town
Baconsthorpe
Bacton
Briston
Cromer
Cromer
Cromer
Cromer
Edgefield
Fakenham
Fakenham
Fakenham
Fakenham
Holt
Holt
Little Snoring
Mundesley
Neatishead
North Walsham
North Walsham
North Walsham
North Walsham
Sheringham
Sheringham
Sheringham
Sheringham
Sheringham
Stalham
Stalham
Postcode
NR25 6LJ
NR12 0LN
NR24 2LG
NR27 9QL
NR27 9SQ
NR27 9XY
NR27 9LY
NR24 2RJ
NR21 9HL
NR21 8NX
NR21 8DT
NR21 8NZ
NR25 6SW
NR25 6TG
NR21 0GZ
NR11 8XY
NR12 8XN
NR28 0UA
NR28 9XZ
NR28OWF
NR28 0BF
NR26 8YB
NR26 8AB
NR26 8XW
NR26 8BZ
NR26 8PQ
NR12 9BJ
NR12 9BJ
Playground
Church Lane
Village Playing Field
Ridlands Road Skatepark
Fernsfield
Nelson Heights
The Meadow
The Warren
Rectory Road
Sports Centre
Heather Barrow Court
The Lawns
Wensum Way
Country Park
Neil Avenue
Stevens Road/The Croft
Watson Watt Gdns
School Road
Acorn Road
Sadler's Wood
Gigli Close
Howlett Close
Cooper Road
Cromer Road
Foxglove Lane
Lawson Way
The Lees
Camping Field Lane
Lancaster Close
54
notes
return to PC 10.11.15
return to PC 15.07.14
return to PC 16.10.14
return to PC 21.07.14
return to PC 23.07.14
return to NCC end 2013
Appendix 2 – Children’s play areas by location
55
Agenda Item No____12_________
North Norfolk FLAG Programme – Proposed improvement of facilities at the Sheringham
West Gangway for the Sheringham Fishermens’ Association
Summary:
This report proposes that the District Council supports a project
developed by the Sheringham Fishermans’ Association under the
North Norfolk FLAG programme, to improve facilities for fishermen at
the Sheringham West Gangway, by providing matchfunding towards
the project.
Conclusions:
The report proposes that the Council provides matchfunding of up to
£40,000 towards the cost of the Sheringham West Gangway
improvements proposed under the North Norfolk FLAG programme.
Recommendations:
Cabinet is recommended to:1. Indicate its support for the Sheringham West Gangway project as
developed by the Sheringham Fishermens’ Association through
providing a matchfunding contribution of up to £40,000.
2. Authorise the release of £40,000 matchfunding contribution from
the capital receipt previously received from the disposal of the
Lockerbie Flats in Sheringham.
Cabinet member(s):
Ward(s) affected: Sheringham North
Cllrs John Lee, Angie Fitch-Tillett
and Rhodri Oliver
Contact Officer, telephone
number, and e-mail:
Steve Blatch, Corporate Director
Steve.blatch@north-norfolk.gov.uk
Tel:- 01263 516232
56
1.0
Introduction
1.1
Fishermen have worked from the Sheringham West Beach and Gangway for as long
as written records exist. The current West Gangway was originally constructed by
the Sheringham Urban District Council and was ceded to North Norfolk District
Council as part of local government reorganisation in 1974. The West Gangway
comprises the concrete ramp enclosed by seawalls (which were renewed as part of
the major Sheringham Coast Defence Programme in the mid-1990s) and the timber
ramp on the beach, which is sometimes covered by shingle, depending on the
“height” of the beach and state of the tide.
1.2
In 1995 the Sheringham Fishermen’s Association was formed to promote the
interests of fishermen operating from the town. The Association currently has 15 feepaying members who work their boats from The West Gangway, meeting the costs of
the upkeep and maintenance of the facilities, including meeting the cost of the power
supply serving the Gangway and public liability insurance for their activities.
1.3
In 2011, North Norfolk District Council was successful in leading a bid to DEFRA in
securing designation for the North Norfolk Coast under the European Fisheries Fund
(EFF) programme to support investment in the local fishing sector and the
Sheringham Fishermen’s Association has proposed the improvement of facilities at
the West Gangway, Sheringham for support under the EFF programme.
2.0
The project proposal
2.1
Members of the Sheringham Fishermen’s Association have proposed the
improvement of the Sheringham West Gangway under the EFF programme. The
West Gangway is the only safe beach access at Sheringham where boats can be
securely stored, launched and recovered at all states of the tide and is important not
only to the fishermen, but also as part of the town’s tourism offer providing character
and colour to the seafront, as tourists pause on the bridge over the West Gangway to
watch the landing of the catch.
2.2
Over time members of the Sheringham Fishermen’s Association have invested in
facilities at the West Gangway to support their activities – including the provision of
the winch, winch wires, blocks and tackle, ringles and fairleads and meet the ongoing
revenue costs associated with the facilities – including the power supply serving the
West Gangway and public liability insurance in respect of their activities.
2.3
Members of the Association have recently expressed concern over the condition of
the concrete ramped area which is showing signs of deterioration due to water from
underground springs breaking through the concrete. The whole fabric of the concrete
ramp therefore needs renewing if the West Gangway is to continue its role as the
principal landing point for local fishermen in the town.
2.4
The Sheringham Fishermen’s Association has therefore developed a project proposal
to significantly upgrade the facilities at the West Gangway so as to ensure its future
as a landing facility for the local catch and source of interest and attraction on
Sheringham Promenade for visitors to the town. The proposed works include:





Breaking out and removing damaged concrete ramp
Provision of new drainage
Provision of new reinforced concrete ramp
Upgrade of all electricity services and provision of new security lighting
Supply new winch and winch-house facility
Provision of small cold-storage facility
57
2.5
Estimates have been prepared for the above works and have been calculated to be
up to £125,000. The Sheringham Fishermen’s Association has therefore prepared
an outline application to the North Norfolk FLAG, which oversees the local EFF
programme, seeking endorsement for the project proposal and has approached the
District Council with an enquiry as to whether the Council can provide a matchfunding
contribution towards the cost of the works.
2.6
The District Council recognises that the project proposal supports objectives in the
Council’s Corporate Plan as they relate to Jobs and the Economy, Coast and
Countryside, Localism and Delivering the Vision and therefore believes the project is
worthy of support as a sector-led initiative which seeks to secure sources of external
funding for the benefit of the local area.
2.7
Consideration has therefore been given to the Council’s ability to provide
matchfunding support for the project and it is proposed that the authority could
provide matchfunding in kind through the oversight of the project for the Fishermen’s
Association through the letting of the works contract through the Coastal
Management Team and by providing financial support up to £40,000 financed from
the capital receipt previously received from the disposal of the Lockerbie Flats in
Sheringham.
3.0
Financial Implications and Risks
3.1
The Sheringham West Gangway project has been developed by the Sheringham
Fishermen’s Association, which has also developed the outline application submitted
to the North Norfolk FLAG for support. In this respect the risks to the District Council
are considered to be limited and those that exist will be mitigated through the Council
entering into an agreement with the Fishermen’s Association which clearly states the
contribution the Council will make to delivery of the project.
3.2
The Lockerbie flats capital receipt is held within the capital receipts reserve and can
only be used to finance capital expenditure. The impact to the revenue account of
interest foregone i.e. from a reduced balance available for investment would be less
than £1,000.
4.0
Sustainability
4.1
The project proposal seeks to secure the continued use of the Sheringham West
Gangway as the principal beach landing point for local fishermen, thereby supporting
the continuation and sustainability of this traditional industry in Sheringham.
5.0
Equality and Diversity
5.1
This report does not raise any equality and diversity issues.
6.0
Section 17 Crime and Disorder considerations
6.1
There are no known Crime and Disorder issues relating to the Sheringham West
Gangway, but the project proposes the provision of new security lighting of the
Gangway so as to provide a safe working environment for fishermen working early in
the morning or late at night and as a security measure.
58
Agenda Item No_____13_______
Business Transformation Programme
Summary:
This report outlines proposed strategies for IT and
Customer Services, which together with associated
management support, will provide a comprehensive
Programme to improve and upgrade the Council‟s IT
infrastructure and the way in which we deal with
customers.
Key to this will be laying a foundation by reviewing and
improving the IT infrastructure, from which we can then
build improvements across the Council. This will include
enabling many more customer transactions to be
completed via electronic means and facilitating much
more flexible working arrangements, including more
efficient, mobile working solutions across our services.
The suggested improvements are shown with the
required investment and indicative savings arising
directly from them. However, there is a wide range of
further savings, which are likely to arise from the
suggested improvement Programme and others, which
will be enabled by it. Going forward, the Programme will
consist of a number of projects, each of which will be
subject to an individual business plan and procurement
process, to be placed before Cabinet in due course.
Together, these will form the following five work
streams:
Telephony
Document management
IT Infrastructure
Website and Channel shift
Customer management
In addition, there will be an overarching project around
business process review and management change, in
order to support the more defined work streams and to
ensure that every opportunity is taken to drive efficiency
in our service delivery through better use of IT.
Options considered:
The report shows a wide range of potential technologies
which, it is proposed, will be implemented at different
times and to different levels, depending on more
detailed business cases. These will be brought forward
as
the
Business
Transformation
Programme
progresses.
To do nothing is simply not an option. Our customers
expect to be able to deal transact business with us
efficiently and via electronic means and we need to
ensure future financial stability. The existing
59
infrastructure will not allow us to achieve either the
quality levels or efficiencies we will require in the future.
Conclusions:
Our current IT infrastructure is sound and secure but
does not offer the foundation or the ability to enable us
to move forward effectively with the required programme
of change.
Our existing Customer Service arrangements, whilst not
yet giving rise to large numbers of customer complaints,
do not easily facilitate web-based transactions across
services and our telephony system is now considered
out of date and inflexible.
The Programme will allow us to invest in technology,
which will enable future changes, in turn providing
significant savings along with improved customer
service and better service delivery.
Recommendations:
That Cabinet approves the Business Transformation
Programme, which will be based on the reports
attached.
That Cabinet recommend to Full Council funds of
£153,000 are allocated from the Invest to Save
Reserve to allow appointment of a Business
Transformation Manger and IT support staff as soon
as possible, in order to support the Programme.
That for each major project forming part of the
Programme, a further report will be made to
Cabinet, in order that approval can be given for the
funding of such projects.
That progress on the Programme will be governed
by the Business Transformation Board, which will
report regularly to Cabinet.
Reasons for
Recommendations:
To set out the management, funding and reporting
arrangements for this programme.
LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW
(Papers relied on the write the report and which do not contain exempt information)
Cabinet Member(s)
Ward(s) affected
Cllr Tom Fitzpatrick
N/A
Cllr Russell Wright
Nick Baker, Corporate Director
60
1.
Introduction and Background
1.1
Information and communication technology is one of the key enablers for the
Council in responding to the challenges facing us over the coming years. It is
therefore critical that our investment in technology continues to be based
upon sound business decisions that result in cost effective solutions being
implemented to support our services.
Our customers continue to demand efficient and effective public services.
However, their expectations in the way those services are delivered is
changing and will continue to do so. Knowledge of our customer needs;
delivering what they want, how and when they want it, is and will be, key to
our success.
In addition, the economic climate means there is an ever-increasing demand
to continually create efficiencies in the way we work and to protect our
services. In turn, this means we have to embrace opportunities presented by
technology.
The Corporate Plan reflects these issues, clearly stating that the Council will
deliver year on year improvements in efficiency through a culture of challenge,
reviewing business processes, investing in new technology and finding
innovative solutions to deliver higher quality services.
This report considers both IT and Customer Services improvement under the
umbrella of “Business Transformation”. It summarises how the Council can
make the best use of the technological investments that have already been
made and how ongoing investment can create further efficiencies, reduced
costs and enable new ways of working which will improve services.
1.2
Cabinet agreed to fund external support to undertake a piece of work to inform
our proposed way forward and Greenfield Consulting were appointed to
complete this, having had similar experience at other councils. This work has
now been completed, with the main reports contained within the Appendices.
During this work, a wide range of internal stakeholders were consulted. A
review of the existing IT infrastructure, systems and staffing, was undertaken
by SocITM, an independent specialist IT consultancy.
The project completed gave three main reporting outputs; on IT, Customer
Services and Telephony respectively and, in general terms, each report
considered the current state of the specific area, a vision for what could
reasonably be achieved within our local government environment and a
suggested “road map” of the key projects that need to be completed in order
to achieve the improvements identified. All three of the areas under
consideration overlap to some extent and the overall programme will reflect
this
In addition, an overall financial position was provided, covering the likely
required investment and direct savings resulting. This is discussed further
under the Financial Implications section of this report.
1.3
The proposed Strategies for IT and Customer Management are attached, and
discussed in the next section. However, two key points should be kept in mind
when considering them.
61
Firstly, that the indicative savings are based on only an estimate of the direct
savings arising from the actual implementation of the suggested technologies.
Other savings will no doubt follow, as long as we subsequently take the
opportunities that the new infrastructure allows.
Secondly, the only release of funds being requested at this stage, is to enable
the appointment of a Programme Manager and the IT support staff necessary
to deliver this Programme. Each project within the programme will be subject
to further analysis, so that a full business case can be made, with expenditure
then being requested on a case by case basis, albeit within the overall
programme being set out in this report.
1.4
The Business Transformation Board has met and approved the following key
outcomes expected to arise from the Programme, which were outlined to
members at the recent Financial Strategy workshop:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Full implementation of electronic document management across all
services
Enhanced web capability for customer transactions
Improved information availability on the Internet and Intranet
Improved telephony and the ability to use VOIP (voice over internet
protocol)
Greater use of mobile technology, more flexible/home working and hot
desking, thus reducing overheads
Rationalisation and improvement of existing IT infrastructure and back
office systems where appropriate
Better use of customer management software leading to improved
customer service
Overall, the Board has the expectation that the Programme will lead to both
higher quality services and reduced staffing and overhead costs.
The outcomes will be delivered via five work streams, which arise from the
two main reports discussed below. In addition, an overall change
management and business process review project will be required as the
programme is rolled out across all service areas.
Each investment will require a separate business case to be brought forward
and this will be combined with regular reporting of progress to Cabinet. Each
project that would then follow from the business case proposal, will obviously
require good project management to ensure delivery. It is clear that we need
to make an initial investment in programme and project management
expertise, in order to create the internal staff capacity for these projects and
their required outcomes to be delivered.
2.
Customer Management Strategy
2.1
As well as the externally commissioned report shown at Appendix 1, it is clear
from the recent staff briefing sessions, that staff generally would welcome
better use of technology to improve efficiency in terms of dealing with
customers. Our customers are using our website more and there is a general
expectation that more business will be done via electronic means
2.2
The Customer Management Strategy covers three main areas:
62
Culture - Defining, delivering and demonstrating a Customer
Management culture consistently across the Council in all our service
teams. This includes the drive for continual improvement, achieving
accreditation to the Customer Excellence Standard and the on-going
training and development of our staff, not just in Customer Services, but
across the organisation.
Channel Shift - Achieving channel shift of customer contact from more
expensive channels, such as face to face, to cheaper contact channels.
We will maximise the provision of simple transactional services that can
be completed by customers online, whilst still keeping mediated channels
for those who need them.
Customer Insight - We will use customer feedback, consultation,
analysis and research to design and change services, removing
unnecessary steps in our processes, thereby increasing customer
satisfaction and improving efficiency of our services.
2.3
In terms of delivering savings, channel shift is critical. SocITM figures indicate
that it costs us 33p each time a customer uses our website to get information,
report a problem or ask for a service. This rises to £1.79 if they phone, email
or write to us, and £6.71 if they visit us. The website also has the benefits of
being available at any time, and there are no queues, so it should be quicker
for customers to use.
Currently we have 95% of transactions completed via a mediated channel
(phone, face to face, letter, etc.). We expect to see a significant further shift
from mediated to non-mediated (website) channels over the next 3 years.
This is the basis for the financial savings which will accrue.
Research shows other councils already achieving anywhere between 20%
and 65% of transactions via self-service, non-mediated channels. It is
therefore assumed very likely, that the anticipated savings will be easily
achieved, as long as we can make the necessary improvements to our
website.
2.4
As well as the website improvements and associated channel shift, the
customer focussed changes cannot be delivered without investment in the
links between back office, service based IT systems and front office,
customer management systems, which need to be improved to allow an
easier and more efficient customer interaction with the services.
Therefore, the IT Strategy allows for improvements to our current IT
infrastructure to facilitate a much improved website, as well as to provide the
linkages required between IT systems across the Council. This is why the
overall programme is being considered together, rather than dealing with the
required changes in isolation.
3.
IT Strategy
3.1
This document, shown at Appendix 2, covers the IT Strategy for the Council
for the period 2014-17. It links IT developments into the Council‟s overall
objectives and details the governance arrangements, which will underpin
further investment in IT. It aims to provide:
63
an update for the members and staff on the current state of the IT
infrastructure;
horizon scanning for future IT opportunities
a framework for IT developments within the Council
The aim of the Strategy is to ensure that the Council is ready and able to meet
the demands arising from organisational change and reduced funding, by
providing the necessary resources to deliver the IT services necessary to
support the Council through a period of continuing change.
3.2
The key points of the Strategy are as follows:
There must be clear business objectives, real savings and tangible
efficiencies to justify future investment and the development and
implementation of the IT Strategy needs to be an integral part of the overall
planning process for the delivery of the Council‟s services and must therefore
integrate with our other strategic plans.
The strategy will require regular reviews and strong governance in order to
ensure that the benefits are realised and that it continues to meet our
developing business requirements.
However, IT is only „part of the solution‟ rather than the solution itself. The
relationship between people, IT and other resources, continues to be at the
heart of efficiency and modernisation, and we need to anticipate the growing
expectations of our customers to ensure we can deliver what they need, when
they need it.
It is vitally important that we derive maximum benefit from our existing
systems and technology and, across the Council there are a number of
improvements we can make, without significant investment. At the same time
we will ensure that future investment is focused on projects that have the
greatest potential for efficiencies and savings, hence the need for individual
business cases as the Programme progresses.
3.3
Efficient and effective use of technology has the proven capacity to deliver
savings along with effective management and procurement of the corporate
IT resources. The IT Strategy is built on some key themes, which will drive
and support the delivery of IT to meet the Council‟s business objectives, as
follows:
Continuing to maintain reliable and secure services
Anytime, anywhere 24/7 ability to transact with key services
Collect information once and manage it effectively.
Easily accessible accurate and timely information for customers and staff
who deal with the public.
Deploying innovative solutions to enable and drive forward our business
strategy
Providing value for money and maximising the use of our existing
resources
Keeping pace with the opportunities for changing and improving our
infrastructure
Simplicity in our approach providing scalable solutions that can be easily
connected
Enabling smarter more flexible working
64
Continue to train and develop our staff with up to date skills and
capabilities
3.4
IT should be viewed as a strategic enabler and driver for delivering Services.
Therefore opportunities for improving efficiency by exploiting IT should be
considered in every service area.
4
Key Work Streams and Supporting Activities
4.1
As has been stated, the two Strategy documents attached (Appendices 1 and
2), give the overall direction for improvement. They are closely interlinked and
will drive the five key work streams, which together make up the majority of
the Business Transformation Programme. There are also supporting activities
in terms of staff resources and more general management of change,
including business process review. All of this work overlaps and is mutually
dependent and it will be important to bring each component forward in an
appropriate order to deliver improvements in the most effective manner.
4.2
The first activity required to enable the Programme to move forward will be
the appointment of a Business Transformation Manager as soon as possible,
along with some additional technical support in the IT Team. The Business
Transformation Manager post will manage the overall Programme under the
direction of senior managers and the Business Transformation Board. Current
capacity within the organisation simply does not exist to take on such a
crucial role.
4.3
Key Work Stream 1 – Telephony
The first Work Stream will be to progress with the required changes in the
Council‟s telephony system, which are needed in any case.
Currently, 42% of all customer contact with the Council is made via the
telephone.
The development of an effective customer service centre that seamlessly
operates with both the back office systems and telephone self-service
requires investment in telephony.
Whilst the current Meridan system could be potentially utilised to a greater
extent, there are many limitations to using the current phone system. These
would limit some of our required business transformation outcomes, such as
more flexible working and hot-desking, and in particular, requirements around
Channel Shift.
There are further limitations around management. Information from the
current phone system, through Datapulse, is difficult to analyse, and it does
not support good capacity management and resource planning or the ability
to accurately track Customer Service key performance indicators around
waiting times and service quality. The CC6 contact centre cannot be
expanded beyond the existing 20 agent licences without unreasonable
expense in a relatively inflexible system.
The procurement of a new telephony system will be the first project covered
by the Business Transformation Programme. The main objectives of the
project are:
Provide the telephony capability for Council staff to work in a flexible
manner and potentially work in a hot desk environment.
65
Deliver integrated information from the telephony system that enables us
to analyse service calls and plan for future capacity issues. In addition, we
also need to be able to track the journey of customer calls from their first
point of contact, through to resolution.
To achieve improved Disaster Recovery capabilities.
Provide the capability to set up mini customer service call routing facilities
across the organisation.
Deliver call recording capability to ensure calls can be audited and used
for training to improve our customer service delivery to customers.
Delivery of more efficient ways of working, such as shorter call length and
the provision of self-service telephony to deliver cost savings.
4.4 Having established the key system requirements, there are then certain key
features of a new phone system, which will need to be detailed as a prelude to
procurement, to form the product specification. These will ensure that we future
proof the application in respect of facilities and future enhancements, as well as
providing better than the current functionality based upon the following features :
Physical phones within the office environment
“Soft Phones” through other mobile devices, to enable remote working
Call Queues
Agent Licences for Customer Services
Comprehensive Management reporting
Speech recognition
Web Chat\Social media
Skills based routing
Headsets
Voice Mail
Ability to host multiple organisations on one system
Call Centre
Easy to use Management Console
Conference facility
User Training
Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)
4.5
It is proposed that the procurement project will commence as soon as
possible, once the business case and funding have been agreed, probably
with a report coming to Cabinet in December. It is anticipated that the
procurement project will take between 9 and 12 months to complete from
commencement.
4.6
Key Work Stream 2 – Electronic Document Management
(IT Strategy 5.2.1 refers)
Strategically, the aim is to maximise the electronic management of key
processes, especially where currently, these are paper based and or
relatively inefficient in terms of staff time.
The Council already has four, service based, Electronic Document
Management Systems (EDMS) which are integrated to varying degrees;
namely:
66
Civica Open Revenues (integrated) in Revenues and Benefits
Northgate M3 in Environmental Health
Acolaid (soon to be integrated to IDOX DMS), in Planning
IKEN, in Legal Services.
The Council has also set up a corporate scanning facility through the post
room, which is not yet operating to its potential capacity, although the
principle has been established for some time, that where possible, incoming
documents will be scanned centrally wherever possible.
In regard to EDMSs, the strategy will cover the following:
We will look to provide a system that allows access to client documents
on the EDMS and bridges the existing document management systems,
for use by NNDC‟s Customer Services team.
We will also consider the possibility of adopting one of the EDMSs as a
corporate system, to enable services that do not have integrated
document management systems to have a document store. This would in
turn, remove the need for paper files and use of unstructured storage on
the shared drive. Further research will be needed in this area.
Wherever possible, we will seek to maximise the use of workflow facilities
contained within any EDMS. Certain documents and work processes will
have specific activities associated with them, and may be automated or
need manual intervention from one or several people. The workflow can
be configured as required for each document, so that it is dealt with every
time in a consistent and controlled manner, and because it can handle
parallel activities, can often significantly reduce processing time.
Even if an operational system has in-built facilities for document
management and workflow, any corporate solution would simply sit on top
of these and provide a capability to view and possibly share documents
and tasks across council services, or partner organisations.
4.7
Key Work Stream 3 – IT Infrastructure
(IT Strategy 5.2 – 5.6 refers)
Historically, the Council has made significant investment in implementing
service based IT systems for many services including Planning,
Environmental Health, and Revenues and Benefits. Whilst these systems are
considered “best of breed” and are now largely embedded, all services need
to review the use of their systems and their associated processes to look for
further areas of improvement.
It is important that such reviews and subsequent transformation projects are
business led and customer focused, while being informed and fully supported
by IT. In addition, other IT investment needs to be considered for all services
to maximise efficiency gains that may be available.
Additionally, the Council will continue to roll out new ways of working to
provide secure access to essential systems, be it in the office, from members‟
or officers‟ homes, in a partner organisation or in a mobile scenario, for
67
officers in the field. This will require further provision of mobile devices and
additional connection and security considerations.
Other areas of transformation and improvement include further rationalisation
of print solutions, looking to upgrade existing Multi Functional printer/fax/scan
devices. Also the review of the use of the National/Local Land and Property
Gazeteer across all of the Council‟s key systems as the key piece of
information for linking client records and information at a property level
There also needs to be further standardisation of office hardware and
software and its set up and management across all of the Council‟s functions.
Whilst there is currently some work taking place around upgrading PCs, we
need to consider enabling hot desk solutions where any member of staff can
more easily access the system across any PC, etc.
4.8
Key Work Stream 4 – Website and Channel Shift
(IT Strategy 5.13 refers)
Strategically, the aims of this work stream are to improve the functionality of
the website so that it can drive channel shift from expensive contact channels
such as phone and letter, to web based transactions. This is explained further
in the Customer management strategy, where Channel Shift is one of the
main themes. In order to do this, we need to achieve a website that:
• allows ease of use for all NNDC customers
• provides services customers want
• provides a platform for customers to have their say
• supports publication of high-quality content
• has an appropriate technical infrastructure linking the website to
back office systems
• complies with relevant legislation and standards
Much work has been done over the last two years to improve the Council‟s
website and it is clear that the improvements so far have led to more of our
customers using it as their preferred contact channel. However, both the
speed of improvement and the level and complexity of change now need to
increase.
The website will need a major review during the period of the strategy.
Significant improvements in functionality will be needed in order to enable
customers to interact directly with back office systems. This must be
complemented with improvements in navigation, design and ease of access.
In turn, this will facilitate far more transactional business with the council
providing improved levels of service via the NNDC website in all four major
categories of customer contact:
obtain information
provide information
apply for a Service
pay for a Service
Potentially, we could also benefit from moving to a single platform for our
internet and intranet content management. This would allow sharing of
content between internal and external facing internet platforms and reduce
68
duplication in creating and saving content. There is good open source
software available that could help deliver this outcome at relatively low cost.
We also need to review e-forms during the early part of this strategy to speed
up the delivery of our objective to increase the take up of self-service options
by NNDC customers.
Some of our suppliers of back office, service based IT, also provide integrated
web access products and we will evaluate whether they are suitable for
delivering aspects of channel shift for customers e.g. the public access
product from IDOC that integrates with our Development Control system.
We will also be reviewing the use of GIS (mapping tools); in particular how we
can use mapping to improve our business process and customer interaction
and information provision on the web site. This an example of where the IT
infrastructure work stream overlaps with website improvement. This could
involve using maps for visualising more of the information NNDC hold for our
customers; for example seeing planning applications close to where the
customer lives.
In parallel to the improvement work to the website, will be a more promotional
project aimed at encouraging customers to use the website. Signposting the
website from all customer access channels will become the norm and clearly,
this will part of the on-going and continuous improvement programme.
4.9
Key Work Stream 5 – Customer Management
(IT Strategy 5.11 refers)
Additional significant customer service improvements will be delivered
through a customer information system, to support the implementation of the
Customer Management Strategy.
Such a system should enable us to rationalise our workflow for up to 80% of
the general customer interactions through the corporate customer services
team, where we currently have poor tracking of customer calls that cannot be
dealt with at first point of contact. It will also enable many more calls to be
dealt with first time by the Customer Service team.
It will integrate with back office systems wherever possible to save on
duplication of data entry for both front and back office staff and allow us to
share across the organisation, common information about our customers.
The constituent parts of the Customer Information solution will be:
A single, front office interaction screen that will allow us to view the key
information about each of our customers and also enable us to
automatically update that information in all the service based systems
when we are notified of changes. This is likely to be at least partially
driven by web e-forms to further automate the processes involved.
A central client database, in virtual form. This is a table of data that ties
together the many instances of a customer that exists on NNDC‟s various
back office systems, allocating a single unique client record number. This
facilitates and enables linking of cross service customer information, thus
improving the service we can offer our customers, and driving internal
efficiency.
69
Investment in tools and software to enable the customer information
system to integrate with NNDC‟s main back office systems covering at
least 80% of our main transaction types. This will then remove the
duplication of process and storage occurring with duplicate customer
information being stored at least twice for the same transaction.
4.10
Management of Transformational Change
Overall, the Business Transformation Programme, will involve a culture
change across the organisation about how we work and how deal with
customers, information and data
We intend to improve our internal efficiency and therefore enable our staff to
be more productive. Over time, this will enable us to still deliver the same
services, but at better standards and with a smaller organisation.
Appropriate change management is critical in delivering these changes and
the Business Transformation Programme will ensure that every area of the
Council is reviewed and challenged as to how it provides its services. As well
as the challenge element, there may be activities such as the
procurement/commissioning/de-commissioning of services and or support
arrangements or areas where business process change may be required.
It is also recognised that there is a need to improve the collection, use and
sharing of information, especially as it relates to performance management.
There a drive across the public sector for information transparency and
information sharing that we will need to understand better, so that we have
systems and polices in place that enable us to share information for the
benefits of customers, providing better services and helping to reduce costs.
Whilst some areas of data and information management are covered by
existing documents or policies for Data Protection, Freedom of Information,
Data Quality etc. it is suggested that these are brought together under an
Information Management Strategy/Policy.
5.
Conclusion
Our current IT and telephony infrastructure is sound and secure but lacks the
ability to enable us to move forward quickly.
Our existing Customer Service arrangements, whilst not yet giving rise to
large numbers of customer complaints, do not easily facilitate web-based
transactions and our telephony system is now considered out of date and
inflexible.
The proposed Business Transformation Programme will allow us to invest in
technology, which will provide significant savings and enable future changes,
with resulting improved customer service and better service delivery.
6.
Implications and Risks
The programme risks and options for mitigation are covered in detail in the
individual Strategy documents appended. As each individual project comes
70
forward, then a full cost benefit analysis will be carried out along with a more
detailed risk and mitigation analysis. However, the key risks are outlined
below:
Inadequate future funding for IT resulting in out-dated systems.
Mitigated by this Programme and its investment plan
Information security. Mitigated by ensuring that security continues to be at
the heart of IT decision making
Risk that Business-IT alignment may not be strong enough resulting in a
disconnection between business drivers and technology adoption.
Mitigation: ensuring that business processes are reviewed in all services
before we invest in IT that will affect delivery.
The potential for any capital programme to be reduced in the future.
Mitigation: building a compelling business case based on sound evidence.
NNDC staff may not have capacity to support the IT led change.
Mitigation: Additional staff resource in the IT Team to support the project.
Good Project management across the Programme.
Scale and Complexity of Projects may lead to failure to deliver; to
accurately scope; and or effectively manage change budgets. Mitigated
by the appointment of a Programme Manager and implementation of
sound project management.
May have inadequate support from staff and customers to adopt new
ways of working. Mitigated by good staff and customer engagement in the
change programme.
In terms of Governance, the Programme will be overseen by the Business
Transformation Board and its progress reported to Cabinet on a 6 monthly
basis.
7.
Financial Implications and Risks
7.1
Appendix 3 to the report provides details of the estimated capital and revenue
investment that will be required to deliver the business transformation project
over the period 2014/15 to 2019/20. The costs are shown over the individual
key work streams for both capital and revenue. Where applicable, revenue
costs have been assumed over a five year period. The overall financial
position sees a total estimated (of capital and revenue) investment over the
period of £1,411,750.
7.2
The overarching business case for the total project is included at Appendix 4.
This shows the projected profiling of the costs between financial years along
with an estimate of the cashable savings which the programme is currently
forecast to deliver. The total estimated annual savings is expected to be
£374,900 and after taking into account a phased delivery of the savings from
2015/16 onwards, the total anticipated savings over the period of the
business case is in the region of £1,539,324.
7.3
It should be recognised that the figures for costs and savings are based on
the overarching business case and as individual business cases are
71
produced these will provide more robust expenditure budgets and savings
delivery plans.
7.4
The business case includes commentary on the assumptions that have been
made in relation to the savings from the project. Savings are expected to be
achieved through channel shift, accommodation, telephony and printers and
productivity.
7.5
At a time when the authority is progressing a number of work streams to
deliver efficiencies and savings as part of the overall financial strategy, it is
important to ensure that anticipated savings are not duplicated. Therefore
savings from the business transformation projects will be monitored and also
as the individual business cases are produced this will enable the savings
programme to be identified at a more detailed level.
7.6
In addition, the programme will almost certainly enable other efficiencies and
savings to be realised across a number of services but for the purposes of
this initial report, these have been discounted, again, these will be detailed as
the business case for each report is made during the programme.
7.7
As mentioned above, the total estimated annual savings is expected to be in
the region of £374,900 and will be available to reduce the current forecast
funding gap which is currently (based on the reported financial projections to
Cabinet in September) estimated to be just over £1million by 2016/17.
7.8
Funding for the project will need to be allocated and approved as the
business cases are presented for approval. For revenue costs there is
funding within the Restructuring/Invest to Save reserve. For the capital items,
funding will need to be allocated from either reserved capital receipts or as
the need arises from borrowing.
7.9
The impact of using capital receipts will reduce the balance available for
investment for which interest is earned. Currently, the average return on
investments is in the region of 1.6% and therefore for the capital element
equates to £11,300 per annum.
8.
Sustainability - none
9.
Equality and Diversity - none
10.
Section 17 Crime and Disorder considerations - none
72
Appendix 3
BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION INVESTMENT PROGRAMME
Key Work
Year of
stream
Theme of Modernising
Sub Heading (if applicable) Commencem
(included in and Transforming IT
ent (est)
Rpt)
1
2
Telecoms and Unified
Communications
(Telephony)
Architecture and Network
(5.2.4)
Telecoms and Unified
Communications (enabling
flexible and mobile
working)
Electronic Document
Management System
Workflow and EDMS
(EDMS) and Electronic
Workflow
Implementation of Hardware consultancy (one-off)
10,000
2014/15
VoIP Phone Equipment
90,000
2014/15
Customer Contact Centre
30,000
2014/15
VoIP and Customer Contact centre implementation
including consultancy
30,000
2014/15
Licences for EDMS
100,000
2015/16
Licences for Viewer
20,000
2015/16
Back Scanning 2 staff 1 year to back scan live
business files into EDM system
60,000
2015/16
Software
40,000
2015/16
Consultancy for management information
implementation
10,000
2014/15
IT Infrastructure
New Print Solution, multi
functional devices
4
Web Services and Web
Applications (intranet Web Services
and Internet)
2014/15
Hardware(Multi-Functional Device)
40,000
2015/16
Mobility Software
80,000
2014/15
E-forms Software
10,000
2014/15
Personalised web portal
2014/15
2014/15
Management of
Transformation
Customer Information Customer Solution
Revenue Item Description
Revenue
Cost £ (Years
Notes
14/15 to 19/20)
Software Maintenance
20,000
Software and Hardware for new phone system
Software Maintenance
100,000
Licences for EDMS and Workflow for NNDC staff with no access to this software
based on discussions with suppliers
Software Maintenance
16,000
Maintenance costs for MI Software (annual costs from 2015/16)
Contract Staff for 1 year*
33,000
Temporary Increase to revenue budget 1 year for network management for
projects
Same as current printers
0
No increase in maintenance as assumed to be covered by existing revenue budget.
54,000
System integration with Mobile devices and back office systems - Planning and
Environmental Health and Revenue and Benefits. (Annual costs from 2015/16.)
Software Maintenance
33,750
New software for developing integrated webforms
15,000
IT Applications Development
Staff (1.0)
165,000
Permanent Increase to revenue budget for staff with website integration skills
New Content Management
30,000
Software Maintenance
22,500
Software of internet and intranet
Web Site Development Consultancy
15,000
One off consultancy to help with website changes
2014/15
Training
5,000
Training for staff in new web software
2014/15
Integration Software
30,000
2015/16
Line of Business API's (application programming
interface), software integration with main line of
business systems - software from Line of Business
Suppliers
Consultancy for system integration software
2014/15
Software
40,000
2015/16
Customer Solution implementation including
consultancy
10,000
2015/16
5
Capital
Cost £
2014/15
Management Information
3
Capital Item Description
Software Maintenance
112,500
Tool to allow integration with 3rd systems (particularly for use with webforms)
Software Maintenance
30,000
Annual maintenance
30,000
10,000
Programme Manager
2014/15
Business Transformation
Manager*
100,000
Programme Manager for two years
Business Process Review
2014/15
Business Process Review*
20,000
One off consultancy to train staff and carry out process improvement based on
experience from other sites.
Business Change
Sub Total Capital
705,000
*Note - An element of these costs are likely to commence in 2013/14.
73
Sub Total Revenue
706,750
Appendix 4
Business Transformation Programme High Level Business Case
Year 0
2014/15
£
Year 1
2015/16
£
Year 2
2016/17
£
Year 3
2017/18
£
Year 4
2018/19
£
Year 5
2019/20
£
Total
COSTS:
Revenue:
Annual Support Charges for IT Software and Hardware
(maintenance)
Additional Staff - Permanent
Interim Staff - Programme Manager and Desktop engineer
0
63,750
81,250
81,250
81,250
81,250
0
86,500
33,000
66,500
33,000
0
33,000
0
33,000
0
33,000
0
Total Revenue Costs
86,500
163,250
114,250
114,250
114,250
114,250
706,750
Capital:
Hardware and Software and Implementation
Training and Consultancy
385,000
70,000
170,000
80,000
Total capital costs
455,000
250,000
0
0
0
0
705,000
Total Costs
541,500
413,250
114,250
114,250
114,250
114,250
1,411,750
0
0
0
0
70,785
13,200
39,725
20,229
143,715
26,800
59,100
41,071
214,500
40,000
59,100
61,300
214,500
40,000
59,100
61,300
214,500
40,000
59,100
61,300
858,000
160,000
276,125
245,200
0
143,939
270,686
374,900
374,900
374,900
1,539,324
541,500
269,311
-156,436
-260,650
-260,650
-260,650
-127,575
1.00
0.97
0.94
0.91
0.88
0.85
Net Present Value
541,500
261,232
-147,050
-237,192
-229,372
-221,553
Cumulative NPV
541,500
802,732
655,682
418,490
189,118
-32,434
Cashable Benefits: (1/3 of benefits Year 1)
1) Channel Shift
2) Accomodation Saving
3) Telephony and Printers
4) Productivity Savings
Net Cashable Benefits (Costs less Benefits) [Benefits
shown as -ve/in brackets]
Discount factor
-32,434
Non-Cashable Benefits (Not yet quantified)
0
541,500
269,311
-156,436
-260,650
-260,650
-260,650
1.00
0.97
0.94
0.91
0.88
0.85
Net Present Value
541,500
261,232
-147,050
-237,192
-229,372
-221,553
Cumulative NPV
541,500
802,732
655,682
418,490
189,118
-32,434
Net Benefits (Benefits less Costs)
Discount factor
-32,434
Notes:
1. Savings have been phased over years 2 to 4 to achieve full savings from year 4.
2. No cashable savings assumed in year 1 due to implementation and commencement of the project. Savings assumed to commence from year 2 (2015/16)
of approximately 1/3 of channel shift, accommodation savings and productivity savings, some telephony project savings have been assumed to be achieved
earlier.
3. Channel shift savings assume a reduction of approximately 6.5 FTE across the organisation and productivity savings a total of just under 2 FTE.
4. Final versions of the business case need to take account of other corporate workstreams/projects that are underway to avoid double counting of savings.
5. Where savings are from employee costs the model assumes natural turnover of staff so no one-off costs of redundancy/pension strain have been built in.
6. This investment will enable additional savings to be made in the future that we have not yet considered in this strategy and this phase of business
transformation e.g. Delivering outcomes from Business Process reviews.
7. We have been careful not to double count benefits already accounted for through other change projects.
8. We are clear that the IT investment is an enabler but to deliver the benefits outlined above we will need to deliver the suite of projects included in the
scope of the Business Transformation Programme, For example the investment in VoIP Telephony will not deliver the scale of benefits required to justify the
investment unless we move to hot desking and new ways of working.
9. As individual business cases are produced the cashable savings will be updated to reflect each of the projects.
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Agenda Item No____14________
MANAGING PERFORMANCE QUARTER 2 2013/14
Summary:
The purpose of this report is to give a half year progress
report in delivering the Annual Action Plan 2013 – 14
and achieving targets. It gives an overview, identifies
any issues that may affect delivery of the plan, the
action being taken to address these issues and
proposes any further action needed that requires
Cabinet approval.
Options considered:
Options considering action regarding performance are
presented separately, issue by issue, to the appropriate
Council Committee.
Conclusions:
1. The majority of the 49 activities in the Annual
Action Plan 2013/14 are on track and
performance is being closely monitored. Some
activities have already been completed
successfully (four) and a further 35 are on track
or progressing to plan.
2. Of the 19 performance indicators where a target
has been set or assessment against the
previous year’s performance is taking place 7
are on or above target, 3 close to target, 5 below
target, 3 improving and 1 worse compared to last
year.
3. Both of these positions are an improvement on
Quarter 1.
4. The delivery of the Annual Action Plan is
progressing according to plan but there are
some performance issues in achieving targets.
These are detailed in the document ‘Managing
Performance Quarter 2 2013/14’ attached as
Appendix H.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that Cabinet notes this report,
welcomes the progress being made and endorses
the actions laid out in Appendix H being taken by
management where there are areas of concern.
Reasons for
Recommendations:
To ensure the objectives of the Council are achieved.
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Cabinet Member(s)
Ward(s) affected
Tom FitzPatrick
All
Contact Officer, telephone number and email:
Helen Thomas, 01263 516214, Helen.thomas@north-norfolk.gov.uk
1.
Introduction
The purpose of the ‘Managing Performance Quarter 2 2013/14’ report is to
highlight any performance issues to help the Council identify areas for
discussion and take action to secure improvement in the future where it is
needed.
It is a key part of the Council’s Performance Management Framework.
2.
Changes to Reporting
The new format for the quarterly performance report for Cabinet shows
progress against the Corporate Plan 2012-2015 Themes together with any
other relevant performance achievements and issues. The change in
approach is designed to enable Members, the public, management and staff
to more easily assess progress.
Each Theme has a strategic assessment of progress achieved during the
quarter in delivering the Annual Action Plan 2013/14 and achieving targets.
Performance information for each theme is broken into 3 sections: Strategic Overview including assessment of overall performance within each
theme, key achievements and issues
 Progress in delivering the Annual Action Plan 2013/14
 Performance Indicators – progress reporting
In addition, a performance indicators at a glance section gives an overview of
performance against targets.
3.
Conclusion
The majority of the 49 activities in the Annual Action Plan 2013/14 are on
track and performance is being closely monitored. Some activities have
already been completed successfully (four) and a further 35 are on track or
progressing to plan.
Of the 19 performance indicators where a target has been set or assessment
against the previous year’s performance is taking place 7 are on or above
target, 3 close to target, 5 below target, 3 improving and 1 worse compared to
last year.
Both of these positions are an improvement on Quarter 1.
The delivery of the Annual Action Plan is progressing according to plan but
there are some performance issues in achieving targets. These are detailed
in the document ‘Managing Performance Quarter 2 2013/14’ attached as
Appendix H.
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4.
Implications and Risks
Prompt action to deal with any performance issues identified by this report will
reduce the risk to delivery of the Annual Action Plan 2013/14 and the
achievement of the priorities in the Corporate Plan 2012-15. The
recommendations of this report outline the action being taken to reduce or
remove the risk of not delivering the Corporate Plan.
The Corporate Risk Register which includes the risk associated with nondelivery of the Corporate Plan is reviewed regularly by the Audit Committee
and the Performance and Risk Management Board.
5.
Financial Implications and Risks
Prompt action to deal with any performance issues identified by this report will
reduce the financial risk to the Council.
6.
Sustainability
There are no sustainability implications of this report.
7.
Equality and Diversity
There are no equality and diversity implications of this report.
8.
Section 17 Crime and Disorder considerations
Section 17 Crime and Disorder implications of this report with regard to the
results of the CCTV Working Party were considered in the recent reports to
Overview and Scrutiny and Cabinet.
77