Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting dated 3 October 2019 be agreed subject to the correction to resolution Minute 6, Business Planning 2020-25 and Budget Management 201/20.

The revised minutes would be circulated to the Committee.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Peter Zinkin for whom Councillor Shimon Ryde was substituting.

Councillor Arjun Mittra declared a non-pecuniary interest in Agenda Item 7 – Business Planning – Medium Term, Financial Strategy 2020-25, Budget Management 2019/20 and Draft Budget for 2020/21, as he is a member of the trade Union, Unison.

Councillor Alison Moore declared a non-pecuniary interest in Agenda Item 7 – Business Planning – Medium Term, Financial Strategy 2020-25, Budget Management 2019/20 and Draft Budget for 2020/21, as she is a member of the trade Union, Unison.

Councillor Barry Rawlings declared a non-pecuniary interest in Agenda Item 7 – Business Planning – Medium Term, Financial Strategy 2020-25, Budget Management 2019/20 and Draft Budget for 2020/21, as he is a member of the trade Union, Unison.

Councillor Ross Houston declared a non-pecuniary interest in Agenda Item 7 – Business Planning – Medium Term, Financial Strategy 2020-25, Budget Management 2019/20 and Draft Budget for 2020/21, as he is a Council appointed member of the Barnet Group Board.

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The Chairman introduced report which set out the priorities for (i) Policy and Resources and each Theme Committee, (ii) Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), savings plans and capital programme. He provided and overview of the timescales/consultation and when the draft budget proposals would be reported back for final approval.

He invited the Chairman of the following Theme Committees to provide brief highlights of their budgets.

Chairman of the Environment Committee – Councillor Dean Cohen:

Councillor Dean Cohen thanked all staff especially gritters and refuse staff for their work, effort and performance over the Christmas period which ensured a smooth running of the service during that time.

He drew the Committees attention to the following key points;

-        The continued investment in the highway network, both footways and carriageways. These proposals were for this coming financial year would be reported to the Environment Committee.

-        Investment and actual implementation of LED lights across the borough had now commenced, starting with East Barnet.

-        Investment had been put into street cleansing in terms of not only manpower but also different projects had been set up concentrating in and around town centres and side roads.

-        The street cleansing pilot had commenced and was a success. The outcome of the pilot would be reported back to Environment Committee.

Oakleigh Road Depot

Regarding the cost of the Oakleigh Road Depot remediation work the Chief Executive confirmed that some costs were being picked up by the contractor but the Council was also in the process of incurring costs. Negotiations had commenced with the contractor with a view recovering those costs.

Food waste Collection

With regards to the re-introduction of the food waste collection Councillor Cohen confirmed that the Environment Committee would be receiving a report on this.  He further clarified that costings had been done and a joint study undertaken in conjunction with the Mayor of London’s office. The full cost and analysis would be reported back to Environment Committee.

Parking income

With regards to the £2.6m extra income from parking he clarified this included a number items such as:

-        PCN rebranding

-        expansion of the CPZ in areas where residents were requesting those expansions

-        removing vehicles in suspended bays

-        business permits being emission based, where previously this had been a flat fee

He reiterated that all CPZ requests were spearhead by residents and the steer had to come from Ward Members.

Smart Cities proposals

The chief executive clarified that the majority of those savings were for 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24 rather than the next year. He explained that these proposals were looking at our highways assets, street lighting assets, etc and how they could be used to generate income.

Regarding the issue raised by some of the Committee around of ‘lack of detail’ with regards to figures, the Chairman clarified these are headline figures effectively testing the proposals in principle and reiterated that proposals were subject to consultation. Fuller details of how much a particular proposal would cost would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Committee considered the report which report which provided a strategic overview of performance for Quarter 2 (Q2) 2019/20 in relation to the corporate priorities in the new Corporate Plan (Barnet 2024). 

With regards to the ‘Getting Barnet Clean’, status Limited on page 101 Councillor Dean Cohen this would be reported to a future meeting of the Environment Committee

With regards to ‘Ensuring we have strong Financial Management’, status Limited on page 197, paragraph 4.1.3 Councillor Alison Moore explained that there have been significant issues and challenges around getting high and medium priority audit recommendations actioned within some services areas. In some instances, this inaction has required both Senior Management and Chief Executive level intervention to get those actions completed. She stressed the importance of having systems and processes that were fit for purpose and supported service and financial performance. She further emphasised the importance of Audit being seen as a crucial part of the improvement and performance cycle rather than a nuisance or tick box function.

With regards to the Network Rail track possession, the Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that the Financial Performance and Contracts Committee have asked for a detailed update on the Thameslink contract. She clarified issues would be picked up in the regular Housing and Growth report, with a further deep dive analysis on some areas of the contract undertaken by Financial Performance and Contracts Committee.

Upon being put to the vote the recommendations as set out in the report were declared carried.

RESOLVED – That the Committee;

1.     Scrutinised the Actions, KPIs and Risks related to the new Corporate Plan (Barnet 2024), including the escalated high (15 to 25) level risks in the Corporate Risk Register at Appendix B.

2.     Noted the revenue and capital forecasts for 2019/20.

3.     Noted the progress on savings for 2019/20.

The Chairman introduced the report which provided (i) an update on the delivery of the council’s customer strategy and (ii) an overview of what has been delivered to date, resident engagement and insight and key aims of the next phase of improvements.

The Chairman confirmed that this report would come back to a future meeting of the Committee with an update on the strategy’s progress.

Upon being put to the vote the recommendations as set out in the report were declared carried.

RESOLVED - That the Committee;

1.     Notes the actions being taken by officers to improve customer experience and achievements made to date.

2.     Agrees the continuation of the customer transformation programme into the next phase delivering the improvements highlighted in this report.

3.     Agrees the recommendation for the council to sign up to the Local Digital Declaration, detail can be found in section 1.43

4.     Agrees to the overall approach and direction of travel outlined in this report, then the committee endorse the production of a refreshed strategy for publication in 2020.

The Committee considered the report which set out details of envisaged procurement requirements for 2020/2021 and, where known, for 2021/22.

With regards to the figures shown as ‘TBC’ on page 250 Susan Lowe, Business Partner, Corporate and Commissioning clarified that this referred to financial activity for 2021-22 & 2022-23. This activity would come forward in the next procurement cycle for next year. The reason for its inclusion was to give the market advance notice.

Upon being put to the vote the recommendations as set out in the report were declared carried.

RESOLVED - That approval is given to officers to proceed with procurement activity as presented in the Annual Procurement Forward Plan (APFP) 2020/2021, and where known for 2021/22, subject to service confirmation of continued requirement any additional approvals required under the Contract Procedure Rules and identification of approved budget source.

The Committee considered the report which detailed the outcome of the consultation and the revised Local Heritage List proposed which included previously listed assets together with new additions that had been recommended for inclusion by a selection panel of officers, councillors, heritage experts and local volunteers.

Councillor Ross Houston proposed the following amendment to the recommendations:

[Recommendation 3]

-        That the Committee includes he Grand Arcade and Rex House in the list and keeps the list open for an extended period so that people can nominate any further buildings at risk

Councillor Shimon Ryde suggested that it would be wrong to add these properties to the list as they hadn’t been through the process and assessed as to whether they met the criteria to be added onto the heritage list. He proposed rather than add properties on ad hoc basis that this should instead done on an annual basis. This would enable members of the public who wished to have a building added, to do so over the year and with the survey being done a particular time over that year.

Councillor Houston indicated he would be happy to withdraw his amendment if his request could be accommodated.

Councillor Daniel Thomas, duly seconded by Councillor Barry Rawlings proposed the following;

[Recommendation 3]

-        That the Committee agree for officers to develop a process to update the above list every 12 months.

Councillor Thomas requested that the buildings proposed by Councillor Houston are included in the next listing.

Upon being put to the vote the amended recommendations were declared carried.

RESOLVED – That the Committee;

1.     Considered responses to the consultation on the draft Local Heritage List and to agree the revisions referred to in the Summary of Responses at Appendix 1.

2.     Agreed to adopt the revised Local Heritage List at Appendix 2.

3.     Agreed for officers to develop a process to update the above list every 12 months.

The Committee considered the report which set out the programme for preparing and delivering Barnet’s Local Plan. The Council is required to prepare a three-year project plan, the Local Development Scheme (LDS)

Upon being put to the vote the recommendations as set out in the report were declared carried.

RESOLVED - That Barnet’s Local Development Scheme, as set out in Appendix A to this report, be approved for publication.

The Chairman introduced the report which set out the Council’s preferred policy approach and represented the first formal stage (Reg 18) in replacing the Local Plan Core Strategy and Development Management Policies documents adopted in 2012.

Upon being put to the vote the recommendations as set out in the report were declared carried. The vote was recorded as follows;

RESOLVED – That the Committee

1.     Considered the contents of the Local Plan – Preferred Approach (Reg 18) attached at Appendix A.

2.     Having considered the contents approves the Preferred Approach Local Plan (Reg 18) as the basis for public consultation. Following revisions and updates in response to the public consultation the Local Plan will then return to Committee for approval of the next formal stage (Reg 19).

3.     Delegates authority to the Deputy Chief Executive to make any necessary changes of a minor nature to the Local Plan – Preferred Approach in consultation with the Leader prior to public consultation.

RESOLVED  - That the Committee noted the work programme

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