Agenda Item no _________2________
CABINET
Minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 6 June 2011 at the Council
Offices, Holt Road, Cromer at 10.00 am.
Members present:
Mrs H Eales (Chairman)
Mr T FitzPatrick
Mrs A Fitch-Tillett
Mr T Ivory
Mr K Johnson
Mr J Lee
Mr W Northam
Also attending:
Mrs S Arnold
Mrs L Brettle
Mrs A Claussen Reynolds
Ms V Gay
Mrs P Grove-Jones
Mr P High
Mr G Jones
Mrs B McGoun
Mrs A Moore
Mr P Moore
Miss B Palmer
Mr S Partridge
Mr R Reynolds
Mr E Seward
Mr R Shepherd
Mr B Smith
Mr N Smith
Mr R Smith
Mrs A Sweeney
Mr S Ward
Mr G Williams
Mr D Young
Officers in attendance:
The Chief Executive, the Deputy Chief Executive, the
Strategic Director – Information, the Strategic Director –
Community and the Financial Services Manager, the
Revenues and Benefits Services Manager and the
Community Safety Manager.
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
None.
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MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 21 March 2011 were
approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
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PUBLIC QUESTIONS
None.
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ITEMS OF URGENT BUSINESS
None.
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Cabinet
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
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6 June 2011
Member(s)
Mr K Johnson
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Minute
No.
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Item
Interest
Designated Area Order Cromer
Personal and nonprejudicial as a local
Member
JOINT STAFF CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
RESOLVED that
the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Staff Consultative Committee held on
10 January 2011 be received.
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MEMBERS’ TRAINING, DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT GROUP
RESOLVED that
The minutes of the meetings of the Members’ Training, Development and
Support Group held on 1 and 29 March 2011 be received.
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DEBT RECOVERY 2010-2011
This was an annual report which detailed the Council’s collection performance
and debt management arrangements for 2010/11. The report included a
summary of debts written off in each debt area showing the reasons for writeoffs and values, collection performance for Council Tax and non-domestic
rates, level of arrears, outstanding and the level of provision for bad and
doubtful debts.
Mr W Northam presented the report and said that the Council had again
achieved good collection rates on both council tax and business rates. The
collection for council tax was 98.6%, the third highest in Norfolk and above
the Council’s target figure for 2010/11. The level of current arrears against
the net debit had decreased against last year. Good collection rates were
supported by maximising the number of payers who pay by direct debit. This
year, the authority linked in with a national campaign (Marie Curie Cancer
Appeal) to successfully increase the level of payers by direct debit by 1.943.
The Council currently had 77.74% on direct debit. The business rates
collection for 2010/11 was 99.1%, the second highest in Norfolk. This was an
excellent result especially as a number of larger businesses in North Norfolk
had gone into administration towards towards the end of the financial year
which impacted on business rate collection. There was good news for small
businesses when the Government announced that small business rate relief
had been further extended until October 2012. The Council currently gave
2,587 (just over 44% of our business rated properties) small business rate
relief. Mr Northam then thanked the Revenues and Benefits Services
Manager and her team for achieving such excellent results particularly in this
time of recession.
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6 June 2011
RESOLVED to
a)
b)
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approve the annual report giving details of the Council’s write-offs in
accordance with the Council’s Debt Write-Off Policy and performance
in relation to revenues collection.
approve the revised Corporate Debt Management and Recovery
Policy
ANNUAL TREASURY MANAGEMENT REPORT FOR 2010/11
The report set out the Treasury Management activities actually undertaken
during 2010/11 compared with the Treasury Management Strategy for the
year.
Mr W Northam presented the report and said that the Council’s treasury
management activities were carried out in accordance with the CIPFA
(Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy) Treasury
Management and Prudential Codes of Practice. The treasury strategy and
prudential indicators were set each year on the likely investment activity, and
this report provided detail of the actual results for the year. The investment
return achieved for the year was below the amount anticipated in the revised
budget as a result of bonds with an interest rate of 5.26% maturing in
December 2010. The rates available for replacement bonds were lower than
the rate assumed in the revised budget and were not considered good value
for the length of investment. Overall, an investment return of 2.07% was
achieved for the year on an average investment balance of £26.5 million,
earning £547,000 in investment income for the Council. The Council was
continuing to adopt a cautious approach to its investment activities and to
date all investments had been repaid in full, on time and with all interest due.
The Technical Accountant was thanked for his report.
RECOMMENDED to Full Council that
a)
b)
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the Treasury Management Annual Report for 2010/11 is approved.
the maximum period of investment for non-UK banks is reduced from
2 years to a maximum of 1 year.
2010/2011 OUTTURN REPORT
The report presented the outturn position for 2010/11 for both the general
fund revenue account and capital programme. It included details of where
contributions had been made to earmarked reserves for future spending
commitments.
Mr W Northam said that the Outturn report for the financial year 2010/11
showed the position as at 31 March 2011 of the actual expenditure incurred
and income received compared to the revised budget for the year. There is a
lot of detail within the report and accompanying appendices and, due to the
extremely prescriptive nature of Local Government Finance, there was a
requirement to account for certain items termed ‘notional charges’, for
example, charges for capital, and also a different way of reporting pension
costs in accordance with accounting standards, within the figures. The detail
within the report itself highlighted the significant variances and the reasons for
those. Further detail on some of the smaller variances was included within
the appendices to the report. Generally, where a service had delivered an
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6 June 2011
underspend in the year or had received additional income from fees or grant,
the amount was only rolled forward to the new financial year in an earmarked
reserve where there were current commitments. A complete list of reserves,
both general and earmarked, were included within appendix G to the report.
The report also included the outturn and financing of the capital programme
for 2010/11. Unlike revenue budgets, unspent capital budgets at the year end
were automatically rolled forward, and the capital programme for the period
2011/12 to 2012/13 had been updated to reflect such movements. Whilst
recommending approval of the updated capital programme, Mr Northam said
that the Council would be reviewing all schemes over the coming months as
the Council’s Corporate Plan and Financial Strategy were developed for the
next four years.
In response to questions, the reasons for the more significant movements in
income and expenditure were explained. These, along with other issues,
including car parking income and strategic housing, would be looked into in
due course.
RECOMMENDED to Full Council
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
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final accounts position for the general fund revenue account for
2010/11;
transfers to and from reserves as detailed in the report;
transfer of the surplus of £328,111 for the year to the general reserve;
financing of the 2010/11 capital programme as detailed within the
report;
balance on the general reserve of £1,328,018 at 31 March 2011;
updated capital programme for 2011/12 to 2012/13 and the associated
financing of the schemes as outlined within the report and detailed at
Appendix I to the report.
NORTH NORFOLK LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK – SITE
ALLOCATION NW01 – MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT, LAND OFF
NORWICH ROAD, NORTH WALSHAM
The adopted Site Allocations Plan of the North Norfolk Local Development
Framework had allocated a large site off Norwich Road, North Walsham for a
mixed use development to include approximately 400 dwellings, 5 hectares of
employment land, 4 hectares of public open space and provision of car
parking to serve the railway station. The site was one of the largest and most
complex allocated through the Plan involving a number of landowners, a mix
of brownfield and greenfield land uses and established businesses and some
constraints relating to the nearby gas condensate facility. In this respect in
order that a common and shared vision could be developed for the site
allocation, time and resource needed to be committed to the development of
detailed proposals for the allocation which sought to engage with all
landowners and the local community.
Mr K Johnson paid tribute to Ms V Gay for moving this project forward and
hoped that she would continue to be involved. The first workshop on this
project was to take place later that week.
Ms V Gay, a local Member for North Walshem (West), thanked the Strategic
Director (Community) and the Planning Policy and Property Information
Manager, who had also been involved in the project. She hoped it would
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6 June 2011
allow there to be a better welcome at North Walsham station and that careful
consideration would be given landscaping the site and the entrance into it.
Mr E Seward, also a local Member for North Walsham (West), fully supported
the previous comments made on the project. As it affected North Walsham
as a whole, he suggested that the other North Walsham Members should also
be involved in the consultations and briefings. He drew attention to the
blocked up tunnel underneath the railway line and suggested that this could
be used for a car park; the need for improved parking there had been
discussed. He considered that the site was an eyesore on the Norwich side
and this should be taken on board.
Mr P Moore, Member for North Walsham (East) said that all the North
Walsham Members supported the scheme.
RESOLVED to
endorse the Council’s engagement with ATLAS in the development of a
masterplan for the complex site allocation at Norwich Road, North Walsham.
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DESIGNATED AREA ORDER - CROMER
Approval was being sought, under Section 13(2) of the Criminal Justice and
Police Act 2001, to make a Designated Public Place Order to apply to part of
Cromer to reduce the incidence of crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour
associated with alcohol consumption. The full legislative consultation process
had been undertaken and there had not been any objections to the granting
of the Order.
It was noted that the Cabinet Member for this item was Mr T Ivory and not as
stated in the report.
Mr Ivory said that the Order would not stop drinking in Cromer, but would
provide the Police with power to stop people drinking if it was anti-social. A
detailed consultation had taken place and there had been no objections to the
Order. He supported the widening of the Order should the Council need to.
Mr K Johnson, a local Member for Cromer, said that 58 drink-related incidents
in Cromer had been linked to two homeless people who had now gone. As a
consequence, a large part of Cromer was to be included in the Order, even
some areas which had experienced no problems. There had been a
displacement of anti-social behaviour to Suffield Park. He wondered whether
the Order had gone far enough and, in supporting the recommendation,
hoped that it would be kept under review.
Mr G Jones considered that it was not just anti-social behaviour which was a
problem, but also the perception of it.
RECOMMENDED to Full Council to
make an Order under Section 13(2) of the Criminal Justice and Police Act
2001 to cover the area marked on the map appended at Appendix K to the
report.
The meeting closed at 10.32am.
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_________________________
Chairman, 4 July 2011
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6 June 2011