NORTH DORSET DISTRICT COUNCIL
PUBLIC MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE STRATEGIC DELIVERY COMMITTEE HELD ON
WEDNESDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2014 AT 10.00 AM IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, NORDON,
SALISBURY ROAD, BLANDFORD FORUM
Present:
Councillors Pauline Batstone (Vice-Chairman), Graham Carr-Jones,
Deborah Croney, Joe Hickish, David Milsted, Michael Roake
Also Present:
Councillor Val Pothecary
Officers Present:
Mike Coker, Principal Technical Officer; Joyce Guest, General Manager;
Andy Smith, Finance and Resources Manager;
Mark Williams, Business Improvement and Scrutiny Manager
Apologies:
Councillor Sherry Jespersen, Mike Oliver, Julian Speers
28.
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 8 JANUARY 2014
The Minutes of the meeting of the Strategic Delivery Committee held on 8 January 2014
were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
29.
PROGRESS ON SHARED SERVICES
The Leader, Cllr Croney, gave a verbal update on how shared services discussions with
West Dorset District Council and Weymouth & Portland Borough Council were developing.
Various points were made including:
 New chief executive of West Dorset and Weymouth & Portland due to be appointed
o South-west councils regional facilitator
- 54 applications, short-list of six (none from Dorset)
- 2 strong candidates
o ‘Internal-facing’ selection panel (first)
- Councillors from West Dorset and Weymouth & Portland
o ‘External-facing’ panel (second)
- Lead members and senior representatives from key stakeholders
(Homes and Communities Agency, Local Enterprise Partnership etc)
o North Dorset involved in appointments process
- Leader on ‘external-facing’ selection panel
- Then final decision
 Rolling programme of service reviews and job evaluations for the joint councils
 Next full joint meeting timetabled for early March
o Senior representatives from each council
- Cabinet and Scrutiny members, senior management)
o Clear objectives need to be established for this full meeting
- Meeting of leaders and senior management teams being held, on 3rd
March, in advance of full meeting for this purpose
- Subject to leaders’ meeting, further work required for the full meeting
 Timetable of work
o Work needs to include how NDDC would fit into the proposed expansion
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o

Leaders agreed that, in conjunction with the senior management teams, the
long-term timetable for the proposed expansion programme needed to be
developed with services prioritised for review focusing on potential shared
work areas
- IT, Car Parking and Housing would be good to review
o Need to particularly plan work-stream for next 12 months
o Need to allow time for recommendations / key milestones to be considered
by each council
Local Government Association support
o Shared services project supported by LGA
LGA acting as a facilitator, ‘challenging’ the proposals and offering advice
Resolved – That the shared services progress update was noted.
30.
CORPORATE PLAN 2014-19 AMBITIONS
The Business Improvement and Scrutiny Manager explained that, at the January meeting,
Members had considered the outline framework for the draft Corporate Plan 2014-19. The
corporate priorities were ‘Economic Growth’, ‘Access to Services’ and ‘Quality of Life’.
Members were now being asked to consider whether the current iteration of the draft Plan
reflected the Council’s ambitions, how the priorities over-lapped and to suggest any
improvements. By identifying what was important to delivering the Council’s priorities it
would be possible to focus resources and investment effectively.
Members considered the various sections of the draft Plan as presented in the report.
Summary page
 This built on the existing Plan with comments from the last meeting incorporated
 In particular, the ‘what’s important?’ section to establish a fair working balance
between economic growth and the natural environment which was valued by people
 Members were content with the balance objective and the whole summary page
Ambitions page (linking priorities and work required)
 Action – consider how the colours can be adapted / made clearer for people with
colour sight difficulties e.g. green / red conflict
 Action – although regeneration featured in all three priorities, there was no
reference to transport services which was relevant to all three priorities, agreed that
transport objectives needed to be included
 Economic Growth priority
o ‘Help to stimulate the economy….increase number of new homes built’
- Perception that developers might hold the Council to ransom, i.e. green
light to build new homes without any restrictions
- Action - agreed to change along the lines of ‘Help to stimulate the
economy and meet local housing need’
 Access to Services priority
o ‘Commission services…..deliver what people actually tell us they need’
- Perception that people might have unrealistic, unaffordable expectations
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Action - agreed to change along the lines of adding ‘….within available
resources’ or ‘…..whenever possible or resources permit’
Quality of Life priority
o ‘Ensure….Dorset Waste Partnership….meets the Council’s recycling
targets and delivers savings…..’
- The Council did not have specific targets as they were part of the DWP
- However, the DWP was expected to strive for performance
improvement and efficiencies, i.e. good value for money
- There was some feeling that the focus should be on improving the
service (which was the original driver for the DWP) including reducing
waste sent to landfill and thereby generating savings / lower costs, e.g.
reduced landfill tax
- The Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan set out target cost
reductions required for the Council as a whole to achieve a balanced
budget and all services were expected to contribute towards this, i.e.
including the DWP
- Action - agreed to change along the lines of ‘Ensure that the DWP
provides an efficient service that meets the needs of residents, meets
recycling targets and delivers cost reductions wherever possible’
-

The Business Improvement and Scrutiny Manager explained that the next steps were
further discussions with the Senior Management Team and service managers leading to
the Business Plan (and service plans) being developed as high-level documents in April.
Resolved - That Members broadly supported the proposed ambitions, presentation of
priorities and actions for the Corporate Plan and their comments would be incorporated in
development of the Plan.
31.
EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC AND PRESS
That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be
excluded from the meeting for the business specified in Minute Numbers 32 and 33
because it was likely that, if members of the press and public were present, there would be
a disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule
12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public
interest in disclosing that information. Note - there were no press or public present.
32.
ASSET MANAGEMENT REVIEW
The General Manager updated Members on the current status of the Council’s various
significant assets.
Resolved - That the Asset Management Review and actions were noted.
33.
NORDON ACCOMMODATION REVIEW
The General Manager updated Members on decisions on the future of the Nordon site and
to highlight various matters to be considered when appraising options for better use of
Nordon.
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Resolved (i)
(ii)
(iii)
34.
That the Council allocates officer time to progress the project.
That Cabinet considers a report on the recommended project Governance.
That the Strategic Delivery Committee endorses the decision of the Senior
Management Team to appoint a land/property agent to provide initial advice to the
Council.
COMMITTEE FORWARD PLAN
Members considered the current Forward Plan of work for 2013/14.
The following comments and suggestions were noted:
 Regular shared services updates (as appropriate)
 Economic Priority (‘Capacity to Deliver’ paper scheduled for April)
o Economic Growth Fund proposed for 2014/15 budget
o EGF pot of circa £55k
o EGF for supporting and promoting projects with an economic/regeneration
focus including private sector bids
o Members would agree the funding structure (bid criteria) and sit on the panel
that assessed bids
 Nordon options paper would be useful for the May meeting
 Inviting senior representatives from the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership would
also be good for the May meeting
o To include funding streams and opportunities
Resolved - That the Forward Plan is approved subject to the addition of the following:
 Regular shared services updates (as appropriate)
 14 May 2015 meeting
o Nordon options paper
o Invite senior representatives from the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership
Meeting closed 11.20 am
Chairman
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