Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Anthony Lovell, Emma Marshall and Nyear Nazir.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and / or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Leader explained that three agenda packs, including two supplementary packs, had been published for consideration at the meeting.  Due to the length of the Housing Policies report, only the covering report had been included in the main agenda pack.  The full report had been published in a supplementary pack together with a copy of the presentation prepared for the item and a small number of paper copies of this pack had been printed in order to minimise the amount of paper generated for the meeting, in line with the Council’s commitments in the Carbon Reduction Plan.

The Executive Committee was advised that at a meeting held on 16^th March 2023, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had pre-scrutinised Minute Items No.s 140 and 142 – the Air Quality Enhanced Monitoring Options Report and the Housing Policies report.  At the end of lengthy debates in respect of both items, the Committee had endorsed the recommendations in the reports.  On behalf of the Executive Committee, the Leader thanked the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for their hard work reviewing these reports.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on Monday 27^th February 2023 be approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chair.

This report will be pre-scrutinised at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee scheduled to take place on 16^th March 2023.  Any recommendations on this subject arising from that meeting will be published in a supplementary pack for the Executive Committee’s consideration.

The Technical Services Manager, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), presented the Air Quality Enhanced Monitoring Options report for the Executive Committee’s consideration.

The report outlined WRS’s air quality monitoring regime, which focused on monitoring pollutants that could impact on air quality.  WRS had submitted a bid to the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) for grant funding to support enhanced air quality monitoring.  This bid had been successful, although DEFRA required recipients of this grant funding to agree to 10 per cent match funding in order for the grant to be provided.

The grant funding would enable WRS to monitor additional particulates in the air that were not usually monitored in the Borough.  It was proposed that this funding should be used to support monitoring over a two-year period in two particular areas in the Borough. 

Members were asked to note that there were no particular areas of concern in terms of air quality in Redditch, when compared to other parts of the country.  However, Officers would be analysing the potential impact of solid fuel burning in urban areas as well as pollutants relating to agricultural work in rural parts of the Borough.  There was the possibility that, depending on the outcomes of the monitoring and the data uncovered, behaviour change might be needed.

RECOMMENDED that

following the successful outcome of the air quality grant bid to Defra, match funding totalling £2,300 be funded from Corporate Earmarked Reserves over the life of the project.

The Litigation Solicitor presented a report on the subject of the Off Street Parking Order for Council car parks.

Members were advised that the Council did not have an Off Street Parking Order in place and it had been felt that one was needed.  There were specific legislative requirements in relation to the process for introducing Off Street Parking Orders and the Council needed to comply with these rules.  The Executive Committee had previously considered the subject of Off Street Parking Orders in 2009 but this had never been implemented.  The proposed Off Street Parking Order had been updated since the version considered in 2009, to include reference to matters such as electric charging points for vehicles.  The order would enable the Council to issue Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) and to undertake enforcement action in the car parks covered by the order.

The full list of Council car parks had not been included within the list of car parks that would be subject to the order.  Instead, a decision had been taken to focus on providing enforcement powers at car parks where this was considered to be desirable.  Additional car parks could be added later by updating the schedule.

Following the presentation of the report, Members welcomed the proposed Off Street Parking Order and commented that this would support the ongoing redevelopment of Redditch Town Hall. 

Questions were raised about whether enforcement action would be undertaken in cases where vehicles parked in electric charging bays when not charging their vehicles.  Officers clarified that if vehicles were parked in electric charging bays but were not being charged, enforcement action could be undertaken, as these bays were intended solely for charging purposes.  Similarly, enforcement action would be taken in cases where vehicles were parked in residential parking bays where the vehicles had not been registered for the use of residents.

During consideration of the item, the Leader reminded Members that a parking permit form had recently been circulated for the considered of all elected Members to enable them to register their vehicle’s details on the Council’s new parking system.  Members were urged to return a completed copy of this form to Democratic Services as soon as possible.

RESOLVED that

1)          the Executive note the Council’s ability to manage and control its off-street parking environment in the form of implementing this Order;

2)          authority be delegated to the Head of Environmental and Housing Property Services and the Head of Legal, Democratic and Property Services to take all necessary steps to finalise the draft Order, schedules and car park plans and then publish, consult upon, make and implement an Off Street Parking Order in terms similar to the draft “Redditch Borough Council (Off Street Parking Places) Order 2023” (“the Order”); and

3)          authority be delegated to the Head of Environmental and Housing Property Services and Head of Legal, Democratic and Property Services to issue any passes or season tickets in accordance with the Order.

In order to reduce the amount of paperwork printed for this meeting, in line with the Council’s commitments in the Carbon Reduction Plan, the Executive Committee have agreed that only the covering report for this item will be printed in the main agenda for this meeting.  A small number of paper copies of the full report, including the appendices, will be printed and the entire report can be accessed online.

This report will be pre-scrutinised at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee scheduled to take place on 16^th March 2023.  Any recommendations on this subject arising from that meeting will be published in a supplementary pack for the Executive Committee’s consideration.

The Head of Community and Housing Services introduced the Housing Policies report for Members’ consideration.  Members were advised that changes were proposed to various housing policies in the report to ensure that the Council remained compliant with best practice.  There were varying amounts of discretion available to the Council in relation to the content of these housing policies, although there were also a lot of specific legislative requirements that applied to the delivery of Housing Services which the Council needed to comply with.

During consideration of this item, Officers from the Housing Department delivered a presentation that provided further information about the updates to the various housing policies for Members’ consideration.  In addition, information was provided on the subject of the updated Tenancy Management Policy and Tenancy Management Agreement and Members were advised that, whilst the latter document did not need to be presented, Officers had wanted to consult with Members on the content.  The proposed changes to both of these documents would subsequently be subject to consultation in a two-stage process with local tenants and each tenant would be provided with a paper copy of the policy as part of this process.

Once the report had been presented, Members discussed the following points in detail:

·             The significant amount of work that had been undertaken by Officers in preparing the report.  Members thanked Officers for their hard work in respect of this matter.

·             The value of the Council’s housing stock in providing social housing to some of the most vulnerable residents in society. 

·             The increasing demand for social housing in a cost of living crisis.

·             The need for the Council to provide support to tenants whilst also protecting and preserving the Council’s housing stock.

·             The benefits to both tenants and the Council of clarifying the respective rights and obligations of both Council tenants and the Council as landlord.

·             The need for the Council to ensure compliance with safety standards for Council properties.

·             The arrangements by which Officers could access Council houses where needed, such as to undertake gas maintenance inspections.

·             The need to protect Council houses from malicious damage that could be caused by  tenants.  Members noted that the tenants who caused such damage were in the minority.

·             The potential for tenants to be incentivised, where appropriate, to downsize, thereby providing larger properties for the use of families.

·             The extent to which tenants would be required to acknowledge receipt of their copy of the Tenancy Management Policy.  Officers clarified that copies of the policy would be posted to tenants and tenants would not be required to acknowledge receipt.  A similar approach had been taken at other local authorities and this approach was considered to be reasonable.

·             The action that would be taken to ensure that responses received to the consultation in respect of the Tenancy Management Agreement and Tenancy Management Policy were not submitted by the same person from the same IP address multiple times.  Officers explained that an email address had been created for consultation purposes and Officers could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 142.

The Head of Finance and Customer Services presented the Financial and Performance Monitoring Report for the third quarter of 2023/24.

The projected budget position for the Council, based on figures from Quarter 3 of the financial year, would be £750,000.  This represented a £381,000 increase on the £369,000 overspend that had been reported for the end of Quarter 2 and was largely caused by the allocation of a £1,925 pay award to staff, which had been paid in December 2022.  In addition to this, there had been increased fuel and fleet maintenance costs during the period.

The Council’s budget position would continue to be reviewed; however, this in-year budget forecast reflected the best information available at the time. Members were advised that it was important to note that there were a number of key factors that might impact upon the financial position which were not yet reflected fully within the forecast, including: 

·             The cost of living crisis and the impact that this might have upon demand for Council services, including the impact of homelessness and bed and breakfast temporary accommodation costs. 

·             Inflationary increases – general inflation had been running at 10 per cent and would impact upon transport costs, utilities and contracts in particular. 

·             Ensuring all invoicing was up to date – especially as the Council moved closer to the end of the financial year at the end of March 2023.

A capital programme of £4.1 million had been approved in the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for 2022/23 in March 2022. This had been fully reviewed as part of the MTFP using actual data as at the end of December 2022.  Many of the schemes in the capital programme were already in partial delivery in the 2022/23 financial year.  The capital programme included the sums not spent in 2022/23 (and 2021/22 by default if schemes originated earlier than 2022/23, as sums had been carried forward from the previous year’s final MTFP) to be carried forward into 2023/24.

The budget included Town’s Fund grant funding schemes, such as the Digital Manufacturing and Innovation Centre, improvements to the Town Centre Public Realm and the business case for the Library site, subject to approval of the latter scheme. There was also £294,000 in UK Shared Prosperity Funding (UKSPF).  Expenditure at Quarter 3 of the 2022/23 financial year was at £1.88 million against the overall 2022/23 capital budget totalling £5.4 million.

A review of the Council’s reserves position had been undertaken as part of the MTFP process.  At Quarter 2, the General Fund had been impacted by the significant 2022/23 overspend position, which was £1.424 million. This was what was reflected in the MTFP.  However, Quarter 3 monitoring set out a significant improvement of this position to a £750,000 overspend and therefore improved the General Fund position to a forecast £2.506 million at 31^st March 2026.

The Executive Committee was being asked to approve implementation of the Council Tax Support Fund Policy for 2023/24.  The Council was keen to support all  ...  view the full minutes text for item 143.

To receive and consider any outstanding minutes or referrals from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Executive Panels etc. since the last meeting of the Executive Committee, other than as detailed in the items above.

The Leader advised that there were no referrals from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee or any of the Executive Advisory Panels on this occasion.

Members are invited to provide verbal updates, if any, in respect of the following bodies:

a)    Climate Change Cross-Party Working Group – Chair, Councillor Anthony Lovell;

b)    Constitutional Review Working Panel – Chair, Councillor Matthew Dormer;

c)    Corporate Parenting Board – Council Representative, Councillor Nyear Nazir;

d)    Member Support Steering Group – Chair, Councillor Matthew Dormer; and

e)    Planning Advisory Panel – Chair, Councillor Matthew Dormer.

The following verbal updates were provided in respect of the Executive Advisory Panels and other bodies:

a)          Climate Change Cross Party Working Group – Chair, Councillor Anthony Lovell

In the absence of Councillor Lovell, Members noted that there was no update in respect of the Climate Change Cross Party Working Group.

b)          Constitutional Review Working Party – Chair, Councillor Matthew Dormer

Councillor Dormer advised that the following meeting of the Constitutional Review Working Party was scheduled to take place in the 2023/24 municipal year.

c)          Corporate Parenting Board – Council Representative, Councillor Nyear Nazir

Members were informed that there was no update on the latest work of the Corporate Parenting Board.

d)          Member Support Steering Group – Chair, Councillor Matthew Dormer

The Executive Committee was advised that there was due to be a meeting of the Member Support Steering Group on 22^nd March 2023.

e)          Planning Advisory Panel – Chair, Councillor Matthew Dormer

Councillor Dormer confirmed that there were no meetings of the Planning Advisory Panel scheduled to take place.

Members considered the content of the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 2^nd February 2023.

During consideration of these minutes, Members queried the reference to the Council’s accounts having not yet been submitted and the timeframes in which it was anticipated that this would be resolved.  Officers confirmed that this was referring to the Council’s 2021/22 accounts and not to the 2020/21 accounts, which had already been submitted to the external auditors.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 2^nd February 2023 be noted.