Decisions

The Director of Resources reported on the 2020/21 capital programme outturn for this Committee and sought approval for the slippage of some capital scheme budgets from the 2020/21 financial year to the 2021/22 financial year.

Members were reminded that:

·         A revised capital programme budget totalling £1,277,520 for six schemes had been approved by the Special Policy and Finance Committee in February 2021.

·         The Committee had received reports monitoring progress of these schemes.

·         Annex 1 to the report set out the Committee’s capital programme outturn by scheme.

The actual expenditure on the 2020/21 capital programme was £679,007, which was 53.2% of the revised estimate budget and three of the six capital schemes had been completed in-year. Slippage totalling £595,170 had been requested for the remaining three schemes.

Members were informed that the Council’s Disabled Facilities Grants 2021/22 funding allocation from Central Government was confirmed in May 2021. Thus, the Disabled Facilities Grants scheme original estimate budget 2021/22 is now confirmed as £393,010.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Approved the slippage of the following budgets into the 2021/22 capital programme:

•     Disabled Facilities Grants, £567,500.

•     Landlord/Tenant Grants, £15,900.

•     Clitheroe Affordable Housing Scheme, £11,770.

The Director of Economic Development and Planning submitted a report informing members that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) had announced a new affordable housing tenure, known as ‘First Homes’.

The report noted that the First Homes scheme:

·         Will be required on all new housing developments and that the Council had an opportunity to be part of a pilot scheme for delivery in 2021-22.

·         Had a delivery, approval process and eligibility criteria that mirrored that of the Council’s, therefore the Council were well placed to deliver the scheme.

The report also noted that in the first year of any First Homes pilot, developers would be able to bid for grant funding, enabling them to deliver First Home units in addition to other affordable units they were building.

Members were reminded that in the Ribble Valley discounted sale units had been delivered since 1990, when a discount of 15% had been applied and that over the years the discount had increased to 25% and to its current level of 40% in rural areas and 30% in the market towns of Clitheroe, Longridge and Whalley. 

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.    Noted the new tenure First Homes will become part of the standard affordable housing offer on all new build sites and that the affordable housing policy will be amended to reflect this policy change.

2.    Supported opportunities across the Borough to deliver additional First Homes affordable units as part of a pilot scheme.

The Chief Executive submitted a report outlining the working groups under the remit of this committee and recommended that the Strategic Housing, Health and Wellbeing Partnership and the Dog Fouling working groups be re-established for the 2021/22 municipal year.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Approved the continuance of the working groups under the remit of this committee as set out in the report, apart from the Dog Fouling Working Group which will comprise 2 Conservatives and 1 Liberal Democrat.

The Chief Executive Submitted a report informing Committee of the outcome of the consultation on amendment of the Council’s Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy, and to seek Committee’s views on the proposed amendments.

Committee were reminded that:

·         Consideration of the Department for Transport Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards (“Taxi Standards”) took place at the meeting on 20 October 2020. 

·         At the meeting, the Committee considered the current policies and conditions for drivers, vehicles and operators, which for the most part conformed with the Taxi Standards. 

·         Where amendments might be needed to comply with the Taxi Standards, the Committee authorised the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to consult on the possible amendments.

The report noted that:

·         Pursuant to the authorisation, the Council’s Solicitor wrote to all relevant licence holders and interested parties.  A copy of the consultation documents was enclosed with the report as Appendix 1.

·         The Council received one response to the consultation, the response referenced the possible cost of installing CCTV as a licence condition. 

·         The Council is required to consult to establish if there are local circumstances indicating whether the installation of CCTV would have a positive or adverse net effect on the safety of taxi and private hire vehicle users, including children and vulnerable adults, whilst taking into account potential privacy and other issues.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE

1.    Authorise the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to amend the Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy as set out in Appendix 2 of the report and presented to this Committee on 20 October 2020, with the exception of the provisions regarding consultation on the installation of CCTV.

2.    Authorise officers to consult as appropriate and prepare a Data Protection Impact Assessment and thereafter report back to this Committee on the issue of the introduction of a condition requiring the installation of CCTV in Hackney Carriages and Private Hire Vehicles.

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 March 2021 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Director of Economic Development and Planning submitted a report asking committee to consider suggestions for utilising the recently announced Welcome Back Fund.

Following on from the Government’s Reopening High Street Safely Fund in May 2020 where the Council had been awarded £53,771 to enable the high streets to reopen safely, there was now a Welcome Back Fund available, from which the Council had been awarded another £53,771. Combined with the underspend on the first fund this gave the Council a total allocation of £82,084 for helping to boost tourism, improve green spaces and provide more outdoor seating areas, markets and food stall pop-ups.

It was proposed to concentrate spend on the two new strands of activity for which this fund could be used, namely

·         Support to promote a safe public environment for a local area’s visitor economy, and

·         Support local authorities to develop plans for responding to the medium term impact of Covid-19 including trialling new ideas particularly where these relate to the High Street,

and to do this in the three main retail areas of Whalley, Clitheroe and Longridge.

The Director of Economic Development and Planning suggested that the funding be utilised for the following:

·         Appointing consultants to develop longer term strategic action plans for the three retail areas which will include engagement with stakeholders to understand any emerging issues and to explore options for pilot projects within the retail areas;

·         Design and erect banners, bunting etc to make the retail areas more visually attractive and promote the areas – this would include advertisement material;

·         Purchase temporary gazebos/seating – potentially linked to the pilot projects to be explored by the consultants; and

·         Procure services of a local artist to beautify high streets possibly linked to themes, such as Christmas decoration, within the high street.

The fund was wholly revenue funding and items were limited to £1000 value. It was also expected that the local authority would engage with local businesses and other relevant stakeholders and it was proposed to do this via the Town/Parish Councils.

The fund introduces a delivery partner option. Any delivery partners would be expected to demonstrate compliance with the funding rules, with non-compliance resulting in denial of funds which had already been defrayed, for which the Borough Council as grant recipients would be the accountable body.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.    Agree to the suggested areas of activity as outlined, and

2.    Agree that Ribble Valley Borough Council shall be solely responsible for the defrayal of the funding although there will be engagement with the relevant parish/town councils and stakeholders throughout the lifetime of the funding (the funding runs until the end of March 2022).

The Director of Resources submitted a report outlining the 2020/21 capital outturn for this committee and seeking approval for the slippage of some capital scheme budgets from the 2020/21 financial year to the 2021/22 financial year.

The total approved budget for this committee’s capital programme of two schemes was £101,750 of which £66,750 had already been approved to move into the 2021/22 financial year in February 2021 following a review of progress on all schemes.

To date no expenditure had been made on the two remaining schemes and the remaining budget of £35,000 was therefore requested to be moved into the 2021/22 financial year.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Approve the slippage of the following budgets into the 2021/22 capital programme:

·         Economic Development Initiatives - £15,000

·         Gateway Signs for Whalley, Longridge and Clitheroe - £20,000

The Chief Executive submitted a report informing the Committee of the expiry of the Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) in respect of the Whalley and Painter Ward on 30 April 2022 and seeking Committee’s approval for a review of the CIA.

Members were reminded that:

·         Concerns were raised by Whalley residents on the impact the night-time economy had on the residential amenity, particularly in relation to the licensing objectives of prevention of public nuisance and prevention of crime and disorder.

·         Due to the concerns, a preliminary survey of residents, businesses and other affected parties was conducted over the Spring of 2018, with 194 responses being received. The Council therefore embarked on a formal consultation process to create an evidence base. Only one response was received to the formal consultation and the Police made no representations.

·         Following consideration of the evidence base and the outcome of the consultation, and recommendations by this Committee, Council approved the current CIA on 30 April 2019.

·         Since the CIA has been in place only one location has applied for a new licence and subsequently varied it by extension of hours, and as no representations were received, the CIA was not engaged.  Two further applications had been received where representation had been submitted but, on each occasion, the sub-committee was content with the steps taken to promote the licensing objectives and the applications had been granted subject to conditions.

The report noted that:

·         Although a CIA forms part of the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy, due to the somewhat exceptional nature of a CIA, it is only effective for 3 years. At that time, the Council being the Licensing Authority must review whether a CIA is still required.

·         In the unusual circumstances over the last 15 months, the night-time economy has been very quiet, and very few, if any issues have been reported.  As a consequence, a number of Licensing Authorities at the time of review of their Statement of Licensing Policy, had dispensed with CIAs.

·         In order to continue the CIA, a Licensing Authority needs to have evidence of the impact upon the licensing objectives such as local crime and disorder statistics, including statistics on specific types of crime and crime hotspots.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE

1.    Authorise the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to make enquiries of the responsible authorities to assess whether there is sufficient evidence to support a cumulative impact policy for the Whalley Ward and the area to which any policy would relate.

2.    Authorise officers to consult informally with licensees in the Whalley Ward, the Parish Council and community groups.

3.    Authorise officers to report back to this Committee with recommendations based on the responses received.

The Director of Resources submitted a report asking Members to agree and support the Council’s corporate Human Resource (HR) priorities for the next 12 months.

The three priorities were listed as:

·         Recruitment and Retention,

·         Health and Wellbeing; and

·         Training and Development.

Members were reminded that the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and the Council’s return to normal service delivery is likely to have an impact across all the three priorities.

In addition to the above, members were also recommended to establish a Working Group to work alongside the Chief Executive and the Head of HR to review the Council’s pay structure, address recruitment and retention difficulties and any possible link to the Council’s salary levels.

The Working Group would make recommendations and report back to this Committee

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.      Received the report.

2.      Agreed and confirmed their support that the 3 HR priorities for the Council for the next 12 months would be:

·      Recruitment and Retention,

·      Health and Wellbeing; and

·      Training and Development.

3.      Established a Working Group to work alongside the Chief Executive and the Head of HR, to review the Council’s pay structure and make recommendations to this Committee.  The Working Group would address recruitment and retention difficulties and any link to the Council’s salary levels.

4.      Agreed that the members of the Working Group would be Councillors: S Bibby, D Peat, S Atkinson, M Hindle, D O’Rourke and R Thompson.