There were no apologies for absence.

There were no announcements made.

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are required to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm the Minutes and Decisions made at the meeting of the Cabinet held on

Consideration was given to the record of decisions made following the meeting of Cabinet on 18 October.

RESOLVED

That the record of decisions made at the meeting of the Cabinet held on 18 October 2022 be APPROVED.

To receive items raised by members of scrutiny which have been submitted to the Leader and Chief Executive.

No items were received.

To receive Report No.178/2022 from the Portfolio Holder for Education and Children’s Services.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

1)    AGREED that Rutland County Council would continue to work with Rutland Schools Forum and Rutland Early Years childcare and learning providers to develop services that best support children in an early year’s environment with emerging Special Educational needs.

2)    ENDORSED an engagement programme with the Early Years sector and parents to begin to consider what the future Early Years SEN provision in Rutland would be and what steps would need to be taken to best meet children’s needs to ensure they thrive in their communities.

3)    NOTED that following engagement and planning, there would be a need to consider future Early Years SEN provision in Rutland and any requirement to consult if changes were to be proposed.

Report No.178/2022 was introduced by Councillor David Wilby, Portfolio Holder for Education and Children's Services.

Councillor Wilby outlined the Council’s vision was to support all children and young people with Special Educational Needs and or Disabilities (SEND) to lead healthy, independent, and safe lives. He also mentioned the work with the Rutland Schools’ Forum, that RCC had been in the process of reviewing how children with special educational needs (SEN) could best be supported in an Early Years environment and the proposed next steps were set out in his report.

Members welcomed the report as the review would take into the account the whole of Rutland and would look at some of the Council’s larger settlements outside of Oakham and Uppingham.

Members were pleased to hear that the intention was to increase opportunities for children with SEND or emerging needs to access Early Years education closer to home and in their own communities.

It was proposed by Councillor D Wilby that the recommendations of report No. 178/2022 be agreed, this was seconded and upon being put to the vote the motion was unanimously agreed.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

a)    AGREED that Rutland County Council should continue to work with Rutland Schools Forum and Rutland Early Years childcare and learning providers to develop services that best support children in an early year’s environment with emerging Special Educational needs.

b)    ENDORSED an engagement programme with the Early Years sector and parents to begin to consider what the future Early Years SEN provision in Rutland may be and what steps would need to be taken to best meet children’s needs to ensure they thrive in their communities.

c)    NOTED that following engagement and planning, there would be a need to consider future Early Years SEN provision in Rutland and any requirement to consult if changes were to be proposed.

To receive Report No.177/2022 from the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Governance and Performance, Change and Transformation.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

1)    NOTED the contents of the report.

Report No.177/2022 was introduced by Councillor Karen Payne, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Governance and Performance, Change and Transformation.

This report updated Members with the progress against the Treasury Management Strategy, prudential indicators and highlighted whether any policies require revision.

Councillor Payne updated Members on the £7m which was invested to Thurrock Council. They had been subject to Government intervention due to financial mismanagement, Councillor Payne was pleased to tell Members that £2m had now been repaid and a letter from Thurrock Council was received to confirm that all debts would be repaid as they had received support from PWLB.

It was also highlighted that the Council had outperformed its investment income budget by c£730k due to cash holdings being greater than expected and the increase in base rate allowed the Council to take advantage of higher rates.

The Leader welcomed the update in particular the information on the economics update, it underscored the climate we work in as the situation is constantly changing.

It was proposed by Councillor K Payne that the recommendations of report No. 177/2022 be agreed, this was seconded and upon being put to the vote the motion was unanimously agreed.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

a)    NOTED the contents of the report.

To receive Report No.182/2022 from the Portfolio Holder for Communities, Environment and Climate Change.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

1)    APPROVED the proposed annual charge of £50 per bin for the 2023/24 financial year.

2)    AUTHORISED the Director for Resources, in consultation with the Cabinet Member with Portfolio Holder for Environment and Climate Change, to revise as necessary the terms and conditions associated with the implemented chargeable service for the kerbside collection of green waste.

Report No.182/2022 was introduced by Councillor Marc Oxley, Portfolio Holder for Communities, Environment and Climate Change.

The report requested approval of revised charges for Green Waste collections in 2023/24 and outlined proposals to set the annual charge per bin at £50 per bin for online subscriptions.  An alternative option to retain differential charging to account for the additional support costs if paying by telephone or cheque was also considered.  

On comparison with Rutland’s Experian Mosaic near neighbours, the current level of charge put Rutland at the lower end of the charging scale with similar local authorities providing the service.  The increase in cost was in line with additional inflation costs and no other additional expenditure is anticipated.

Members welcomed the flat rate charge of £50 as stated in the report, it covered the cost of the bins which was beneficial for the Council’s financial position.

The Leader was happy to see that we offer a service that was reasonably priced and offered good value and it was useful to see the comparisons with other authorities.

It was proposed by Councillor M Oxley that the recommendations of report No. 182/2022 be agreed, this was seconded and upon being put to the vote the motion was unanimously agreed.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

a)    APPROVED the proposed annual charge of £50 per bin for the 2023/24 financial year.

b)    AUTHORISED the Director for Resources, in consultation with the Cabinet Member with Portfolio for Environment and Climate Change, to revise as necessary the terms and conditions associated with the implemented chargeable service for the kerbside collection of green waste.

To receive Report No.184/2022 from the Portfolio Holder for Planning, Highways and Transport.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

1)    APPROVED the re- procurement of the Highways Term Maintenance Contract (HTMC).

2)    DELEGATED authority to the Director – Places in consultation with the Portfolio for Planning, Highways and Transport to award the contract to the highest scoring bidder following evaluation of tenders.

Report No.184/2022 was introduced by Councillor Rosemary Powell, Portfolio Holder for Planning, Highways and Transport.

The purpose of the report was to obtain approval for the re-procurement of the Highways Term Maintenance Contract (HTMC) and to award the contract following tender evaluation.

It was proposed that the new HTMC would commence on the 1st June 2024 and run for a period of ten (10) years to 31st May 2034 with a further option of two (2) x five (5) year extendable terms if performance was met to a suite of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Councillor Harvey asked a question on the maintenance of cycleways after hedge cutting had taken place as a number of them are not useable in the out of town areas of Rutland. Strategic Director for Places informed Councillor Harvey that street cleansing sat in the Council’s Waste Contract,  who would be responsible for maintaining the pavements and cycle paths. Work was being done for an alignment between the two contracts and timelines for the Waste Contract does not have a knock on impact on the Highways Maintenance Contract so any issues around the cleaning of footpaths and cycle paths could be resolved.

It was proposed by Councillor R Powell that the recommendations of report No. 184/2022 be agreed, this was seconded and upon being put to the vote the motion was unanimously agreed.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

a)    APPROVED the re- procurement of the Highways Term Maintenance Contract (HTMC).

b)    DELEGATED authority to the Director – Places in consultation with the Portfolio for Planning, Highways and Transport to award the contract to the highest scoring bidder following evaluation of tenders.

Cabinet is recommended to determine whether the public and press be excluded from the meeting in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, and in accordance with the Access to Information provisions of Procedure Rule 239, as the following item of business is likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

Paragraph 3: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

It was agreed by Cabinet to remain in public session for the discussion of Report No.183/2022.

To receive Report No.183/2022 from the Leader of the Council.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

1)    APPROVED the Property Asset Strategy and guiding principles for the future management of the Council’s assets.

2)    APPROVED the recommended future approach for primary key assets, and prioritised programme, for the development of business cases.

3)    APPROVED the establishment of a Corporate Asset Programme Project Board and associated project documents including the Project Initiation Document, Terms of Reference and Risk Log.

4)    DELEGATED authority to Strategic Director Places, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Property, to commission further technical advice as necessary within the project budget.

5)    APPROVED budget creating a capital programme of £565k as per appendix D funded from Capital Receipts for major works, Revenue Budget of £31k to fund the repairs required and £120k to support the business case development programme.

6)    NOTED the need to consider future delivery models for the Council’s asset and estate management as the corporate asset programme develops

Report No.183/2022 was introduced by the Leader and Portfolio Holder for Policy, Strategy and Economy.

This report set out information about the Councils property assets and sought approval of the Property Asset Strategy.

The report also recommended that Cabinet approved a budget of £716k to support the next phase of the corporate asset review and the preparation of business cases and essential repair and compliance work needed to assets.

Cabinet approval was also being sought for the Corporate Asset Programme project documents including the Project Initiation Document, Terms of Reference and Risk Log.  The Corporate Asset Programme had been identified as a Corporate Project following the Council’s Corporate Project Management framework.

Members welcomed the report, Councillor Oxley was happy to see the cultural offer to the Councils assets as he felt it was important for the wider community to see what Rutland was all about.

Members agreed that services have to fit the assets and maximise every part of each building and make good use of them.

Members felt this report was a critical input into the Council’s overall transformation to making it leaner and fitter to be able to move forward in an economic way.

It was proposed by the Chair that the public and press be excluded from the meeting in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as the following item of business was likely to lead to disclosure of information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person. This was seconded and upon being put to the vote the motion was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

a)    That the press and public be excluded from the meeting.

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At 11.21am the Chair returned the meeting to a public session

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It was proposed by Councillor L Stephenson that the recommendations of report No. 183/2022 be agreed, this was seconded and upon being put to the vote the motion was unanimously agreed.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

a)   APPROVED the Property Asset Strategy and guiding principles for the future management of the Council’s assets.

b)   APPROVED the recommended future approach for primary key assets, and prioritised programme, for the development of business cases.

c)   APPROVED the establishment of a Corporate Asset Programme Project Board and associated project documents including the Project Initiation Document, Terms of Reference and Risk Log.

d)  DELEGATED authority to Strategic Director Places, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Property, to commission further technical advice as necessary within the project budget.

e)  APPROVED budget creating a capital programme of £565k as per appendix D funded from Capital Receipts for major works, Revenue Budget of £31k to fund the repairs required and £120k to support the business case development programme.

f)  NOTED the need to consider future delivery models for the Council’s asset and estate management as the corporate asset programme developed.

To receive items of urgent business which have previously been notified to the person presiding.

There were no items of urgent business.