Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Cabinet - Monday, 10 March 2014 7.00 pm

Venue: Town Hall Watford

Contact: Pat Thornton  Email: legalanddemocratic@watford.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

58.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence

 

59.

Disclosure of Interest (if any)

Minutes:

There were no disclosures of interest.                   

 

60.

Minutes of previous meeting

To sign the minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2014

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2014 were submitted and signed.

 

61.

Conduct of meeting

The Cabinet may wish to consider whether there are any items on which there is general agreement which could be considered now, to enable discussion to focus on those items where the Cabinet sees a need for further debate.

Minutes:

Councillor Bell spoke on behalf of the Labour Group at this meeting.

 

 

62.

Reviewed and updated Corporate Plan pdf icon PDF 47 KB

  • View the background to item 62.

Report of the Managing Director

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet received a report presenting the Council’s draft Corporate Plan 2014-18. The Plan articulated the Council’s strategic direction in the medium-term and outlined how it would achieve its vision and priorities over the next four years.

 

As the Plan was being recommended to Council on 19th March it was agreed that any discussion could take place at that meeting.

 

RESOLVED

 

that Cabinet

 

  1. notes the current draft of the Corporate Plan 2014 -18 and recommends it to Council
  2. notes the key performance indicators identified to support the monitoring of the Corporate Plan and ensures it contributes to the Council’s aim of continuous development and improvement
  3. notes the current progress update for the work identified in the Corporate Plan 2013 -17.  This will be finalised following the end of the financial year.

 

63.

Charter Place Development - acquisition of land pdf icon PDF 274 KB

Report of the Property Manager

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet received a report seeking approval for the Council to acquire by means of a compulsory purchase order (CPO), land, existing rights and interests together with the creation of new rights where agreement could not be reached in order to implement the Charter Place redevelopment.  In addition, approval was being sought to appropriate the land in the Council’s ownership within the scheme for planning purposes so as to override third party rights.

The report also sought approval for the Managing Director to agree compensation and acquisition payments where this would avoid the need to compulsorily purchase interests.

Cabinet had also been advised by way of an addendum report that, further to the publication of the initial report to Cabinet, informal comments had been received from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) on the form of the proposed compulsory purchase order. One particular comment DCLG had mentioned in its initial views was in relation to the nature of some of the new rights sought

In considering whether to include the areas where these rights applied as part of the land to be compulsory acquired, the Council's advisors had considered whether the works required could be carried out by obtaining a lesser interest in the land by way of a new right over third party land rather than a freehold interest, which would reduce the impact on third parties. The approach adopted had been used in other schemes confirmed by the Secretary of State. The Council's advisors were continuing discussions with the DCLG.

Taking into account the current comments of DCLG, a number of changes had been made to the original Cabinet report. Details of the changes and their impact were outlined in the addendum report.  Relevant plans were on display at the meeting.

 

   The Head of Democracy and Governance introduced the report and outlined the key issues. She also advised Cabinet of a further correction: The Cabinet report (para.4.1) and addendum report (para.2.2) referred to the areas to be acquired and over which new rights were sought. The total areas referred to in the addendum provided by Persona were incorrect and needed updating as follows:

 

Area to be acquired (Pink Land on the map) to be updated from 74,702 sq m to 74,895 sq  m;  the area over which new rights were sought (Blue Land on the map) to be updated from 16, 637 sq m to 16,444 sq m. The total area remained unchanged at 91,399 sq m.  

 

The Managing Director emphasised the importance of this scheme for both the town and Intu. He assured Members that the process being followed in respect of acquiring the land either through CPO or acquiring through agreement was in line with Government guidance.

 

Councillor Sharpe endorsed the Managing Director’s comments and commented on the importance of achieving the right transformational scheme ultimately resulting in a good mix of facilities and infrastructure. He hoped that the Council’s aspirations could finally become a reality. 

 

Councillor Bell referred to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

64.

Moving Shared Services to a Lead Authority Model pdf icon PDF 42 KB

Report of the Director of Finance and the Head of Democracy & Governance

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet received a report on the proposed Lead Authority Model Agreement including Service Specifications

 

Watford and Three Rivers Councils formally established a shared service for undertaking their Finance, Revenues and Benefits, Human Resources and IT services in 2008. The services were overseen by a Joint Committee of the two councils and managed by a Shared Services Management Board made up of the Heads of Service plus the Director of Finance for Three Rivers District Council and Executive Director Resources (initially) then Head of Strategic Finance Watford Borough Council. Both Councils had now appointed a Shared Director of Finance.

 

In January and February 2013 reports went to each respective full council meeting seeking approval to move toward a lead authority model for the continued operation of the shared services.

 

The legal agreement was based on the premise that for each of the shared services there would  be one council who was the lead council whilst the other was the client. The lead council would have complete responsibility for all staff in the service. Anyone currently employed by the client would be TUPE’d over on the start date and the lead council would deliver the service in line with the service specification to the client for a fee.

 

It was proposed that Watford Borough Council would be the lead council for Human Resources and IT: Three Rivers District Council would be the lead council for Finance and Revenues and Benefits.

 

Councillor Watkin introduced the report. He commented that when the Shared Services arrangement was first set up no-one knew how it would work out. It had, however, been appropriate at the time and had helped in creating a framework in which to develop further close working.

 

He drew Members’ attention to the section in the report on the sharing of expertise on procurement and contract management. Watford Borough Council had a Procurement Manager and was working towards setting up a centre of excellence approach to contract management in the light of the number and variety of external relationships it had for service delivery. The proposal was that Watford would be the Lead Authority in any shared arrangement for these services on the basis of a service specification and charge.

 

He also referred specifically to the governance arrangements as outlined in the report including the role of the Executive Board and arrangements for scrutiny. He commented that this was a good basis for future joint work.

 

The Mayor said that the key issue was about responsibility and that this would be much clearer. She added that, with the increasing pressures on budgets, more and more councils would be looking at arrangements such as these; Watford was ahead of the game. The fact that the original shared services arrangement had been re-visited enabling weaker areas to be strengthened demonstrated a healthy and forward looking approach.

 

Councillor Bell commented that his Group had expressed some initial concerns around the continued ability to scrutinise and whether individual councillors would still be able to approach officers regarding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

 

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