Agenda, decisions and minutes

There were none.

(Copy herewith)

The minutes of the meeting held on the 10^th June 2015 were agreed and signed by the Leader.

Mr Thomas Appleyard registered to speak on Item 6B.

There were none.

Report of the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Copy herewith)

That the report be noted.

Councillor Beardsworth commented that the report resulted from cross party working and thanked the Scrutiny Officer for her work. She stated that many topics relating to the Interpersonal Violence had been examined and urged Cabinet to adopt the recommendations within the report.

Councillor Stone stated that she was pleased to see cross party working and commented that there was a need to address issues behind cases of Interpersonal Violence and noted that there was a need for professionals to be more aware of the issue.

Councillor Ashraf commented that she had worked with many groups affected by Interpersonal Violence and commented that the recommendations within the report could empower victims and  cited education as being a positive means of influencing those with Interpersonal Violence issues.

Councillor Lane, as the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny submitted a report and explained that the report contained 17 recommendations, the key to addressing the issue being Education. He further stated that he would be submitted the report to Theresa May MP.

The Leader thanked the Scrutiny Officer and all the Members who had contributed to the work undertaken and thanked them for the excellent report.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

Report of the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Copy herewith)

That the report be noted.

Mr Thomas Appleyard addressed Cabinet and expressed his concern that the Panel had not ventured out of the Town Centre and explained that the issue was not just a Town Centre one. He commented that the report highlighted the problems relating to fly-tipping but there was little reference of the issues facing Council tips. He further suggested that businesses needed to be more responsible and further examination of how, where and when fly-tipping was occurring and more work was needed in tackling the litter problems.

Councillor G Eales commented that there had been recent issue with bin bag collections and the Council needed to deal with this matter immediately. He commented that whilst the Report It App was helpful, there was a need to extent it to an email report to give accurate measures of where the fly-tipping hotspots were. He further stated that it was necessary to keep the whole of Northampton Tidy and not just the Town Centre.

Councillor Ansell, as Chair of the Panel thanked his fellow Members for their work on the Panel. He commented that there were still areas that were an eyesore than needed extra work including some of the alleyways in the Town Centre which needed to be kept on top of and further prosecutions would assist in this.

Councillor Lane, as the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny submitted a report and thanked Councillor Ansell for Chairing the Panel and the Members of the Panel for their contributions. He commented that there were 26 recommendations and one of the key issues to assist keeping Northampton tidy was funding.

The Leader thanked those involved in the Panel work and commented that whilst she understood there were some littering problems, money could not resolve all of these and that further education would be needed to ensure it be decreased in future.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

Report of the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Copy herewith)

That the report be noted.

Councillor Stone addressed Cabinet and commented that she was disheartened by the number of children who were living in ‘child poverty’. She stated that the problems were unacceptable and almost at crisis point and a monitoring system was needed to prevent a crisis from occurring. 

Councillor Gowen commented that she had bene honoured to Chair the Panel and noted that it was becoming apparent that the poor in Northampton was becoming poorer and commented further that some of the information contained within the report may have become outdated due to the changes in welfare. She noted that there need to be further work with outside bodies and multi agencies to address those affected by poverty.

Councillor Lane as the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny submitted a report and thanked the work of the Panel, specifically Councillor Gowen for chairing it. It was noted that the report contained 10 recommendations and looked forward to Cabinet reporting back in the future,

The Leader thanked the Panel Members and stated it was probably one of the toughest issues to scrutinise. She commented that it was not always money, but also about education and financial advices.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

B Report of Chief Executive (Copy herewith)

1.    Cabinet noted the outturn for the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account for the financial year 2014/15 as set out at Appendix 1 and Appendix 6 of the report

2.    Cabinet noted the contributions to General Fund Revenue Earmarked Reserves as shown in Appendix 3 of the report.

3.    Cabinet noted the net movement in Housing Revenue Account Reserves and working balances as set out at Appendix 7 of the report.

4.    Cabinet noted the outturn for the Council’s General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Capital Programmes for 2014/15 and how the expenditure was financed as set out at Appendix 4 and Appendix 8 of the report.

5.    Cabinet approved the carry forward for revenue and capital schemes from 2014/15 into 2015/16.

6.    Cabinet agreed the addition to the General Fund Capital Programme of £6.8m over the next four years for Phase 1 of the Central Museum Redevelopment, funded by the receipt from the sale of the Sekhemka statue as set out at Appendix 5 of the report.

7.    Cabinet noted the outturn for Northampton Partnership Homes for the three month period ending 31/3/2015 as set out at Appendix 9 of the report and approved the setting up of an insurance reserve as detailed in paragraph 3.4.1.

Councillor Hallam as the relevant Cabinet Member submitted a report and elaborated thereon. He explained that there was a surplus budget this year and even though the Council had faced very testing times, they had remained in a positive financial position.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the outturn for the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account for the financial year 2014/15 as set out at Appendix 1 and Appendix 6 of the report be noted

2.    That the contributions to General Fund Revenue Earmarked Reserves as shown in Appendix 3 of the report be noted.

3.    That the net movement in Housing Revenue Account Reserves and working balances as set out at Appendix 7 of the report be noted.

4.    That the outturn for the Council’s General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Capital Programmes for 2014/15 and how the expenditure was financed as set out at Appendix 4 and Appendix 8 of the report be noted.

5.    That the carry forward for revenue and capital schemes from 2014/15 into 2015/16 be approved.

6.    That the addition to the General Fund Capital Programme of £6.8m over the next four years for Phase 1 of the Central Museum Redevelopment, funded by the receipt from the sale of the Sekhemka statue as set out at Appendix 5 of the report be agreed.

7.    That the outturn for Northampton Partnership Homes for the three month period ending 31/3/2015 as set out at Appendix 9 of the report and approved the setting up of an insurance reserve as detailed in paragraph 3.4.1 of the report be noted.

B Report of Chief Executive (Copy herewith)

2.1         Cabinet delegated to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council the authority to take such actions as may be required to ensure that the Council’s position is protected in relation to Northampton Town FC.

2.2         Cabinet agreed the continuation of the Love Saints, Love Northampton promotional partnership to promote Northampton and Northampton Alive in partnership with the Saints as outlined in Appendix A of the report.

2.3         Cabinet delegated to the Director of Regeneration, Enterprise and Planning in consultation with the Leader of the Council the allocation of £70,000 as part funding for the expansion of the conference facilities at Kings Park, and associated agreement of grant terms.

Councillor Beardsworth commented that she was concerned that the Council were behaving as a bank and offering loans to various sporting clubs and asked that concerns regarding the financial loan to the Cobblers be ironed out prior to lending more money.

Councillor Markham, as the relevant Cabinet Members submitted a report and commented that Kings Park Conference and Sports Centre provided sports facilities alongside support and development facilities for all ages, but specifically with young people and the Centre needed to extend it conference facilities to support its activities and the Council would therefore support them in their development.

RESOLVED:

2.1         That the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council be delegated the authority to take such actions as may be required to ensure that the Council’s position is protected in relation to Northampton Town FC.

2.2         That the continuation of the Love Saints, Love Northampton promotional partnership to promote Northampton and Northampton Alive in partnership with the Saints as outlined in Appendix A of the report be agreed.

2.3         That the Director of Regeneration, Enterprise and Planning in consultation with the Leader of the Council be delegated the allocation of £70,000 as part funding for the expansion of the conference facilities at Kings Park, and associated agreement of grant terms.

Report of the Borough Secretary (Copy herewith)

Cabinet reviewed and noted the contents of the performance report.

Councillor Beardsworth addressed Cabinet and stated that she had concerns about the average amount of time it was taking to re-let a local authority property.

Councillor Hallam, as the relevant Cabinet Member submitted a report and elaborated thereon.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the performance report be noted.