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Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Meeting Rooms G.01 and G.02, Ground Floor, City Hall, 115 Charles Street, Leicester, LE1 1FZ

Contact: Francis Connolly, Scrutiny Manager, tel: 0116 454 6353, email:  Francis.Connolly@leicester.gov.uk  Angie Smith, tel: 0116 454 6354, email:  angie.smith@leicester.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

31.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Joel, Joshi and Pantling.

32.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members will be asked to declare any pecuniary or other interests they may have in the business to be discussed.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members were asked to disclose any pecuniary or other interests they may have in the business on the agenda.

 

Councillor Westley declared an interest in Item 9, Housing Scrutiny Crisis report, in that family members were council tenants.

 

Councillor Thalukdar declared an interest in the agenda items to be discussed that family members were council tenants.

 

Councillor Halford declared an interest in the agenda items to be discussed that family members were council tenants.

 

Councillor Porter declared an interest in Item 4, Leicester Local Plan (2020 – 2036) that he had submitted objections on behalf of local residents, and also submitted his own objections during consultation on the plan.

 

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, the interests were not considered so significant that they were likely to prejudice the Councillors’ judgement of the public interest. The Members were not, therefore, required to withdraw from the meeting.

33.

CHAIR'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair invited the City Mayor to give a statement regarding recent incidents of unrest in Leicester East.

 

The City Mayor noted that he was deeply concerned about the recent events. He stated that these were particularly shocking in a city such as Leicester in that it was unique and proud of its diversity and proud of how communities lived together. He suggested that the incidents had been orchestrated by a comparatively small group of people, but nonetheless it was intensely distressing for people in the city, particularly in the locality affected.

 

The City Mayor said he intended to make a statement at the Special Council meeting on 29th September, and would ensure Members were briefed on the situation at the end of the coming week. He believed that the events needed and required the authority to examine further what lay behind them, and intended to review the events, and to most crucially, examine what were the motivations of those that took part, what lessons could be learnt, and to then seek to develop recommendations to be taken on board by public authorities, the council and community groups. Terms of Reference would be developed for the review group, which would be shared with Members before adoption.  He also sought to ensure that Members would be briefed throughout the process.

 

In response to a question, the City Mayor responded that he hoped that he would be in a position to share the Terms of Reference shortly and would include opposition Members in relevant discussions, following which a discussion would be had in terms of who would lead the review. The City Mayor anticipated that a report would come out at or around start of the new year.

 

The Chair thanked the City Mayor for the update.

34.

LEICESTER LOCAL PLAN (2020 - 2036) - PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON SUBMISSION PLAN (REGULATION 19) pdf icon PDF 288 KB

The Director of Planning, Development and Transportation submits a report which outlines the main strategies and proposals of the submission for the City of Leicester Local Plan for public consultation in November 2022.

 

A presentation will also be made at the meeting covering the report and related details.

 

Members will be invited to consider the report and make any recommendations for Full Council.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director of Planning, Development and Transportation submitted a report which outlined the main strategies and proposals of the submission for the City of Leicester Local Plan for public consultation in November 2022.

 

Members were invited to consider the report and make any recommendations for Full Council.

 

The Chair stated that this was a key opportunity to examine the Local Plan proposals ahead of a Full Council decision. Members were asked to examine the proposals and to offer comments and recommendations in respect of the final stages in adopting a new local plan. It was noted that scrutiny commissions had already looked at the plan and had provided comment on it during discussions.

 

The City Mayor introduced the plan. He stated it was important that the City had a Local Plan, which was a requirement, and needed to enable the Council to plot the future as a city, and particularly to have a framework for land use decisions, for employment, new developments that provided employment, and housing. It was noted there was an expectation from Government that the authority provide housing in and around Leicester, but he was keen to do it in a way that protected the vital open space, the green space and ecology within the city, which was a difficult balance. He added that in seeking to find the space for housing there was a very strong incentive, with those constraints in mind, and because it made good environmental sense in other respects for people to not to need to travel for work, leisure or other activity. He believed officers had sought to get the balance right, and they had put a tremendous amount of work and professional expertise into the plan. He also said he was very grateful for the fact they had worked very well with the district councils around Leicester, and that those districts had themselves engaged with Leicester City Council to try to get the balance to take an appropriate amount of development within their areas.

 

The City Mayor was mindful that a significant volume of papers lay behind the draft plan, and that it was appropriate to ensure that they were examined.  He suggested to bring further detail of the strategies and polices that lay behind the local plan to the Overview Select Committee at its next ordinary meeting. 

 

Grant Butterworth (Head of Planning) and Fabian DCosta (Team Leader, Generic Planning) were present to introduce the report. It was noted the Plan had been taken to three scrutiny meetings in recent weeks, and each Commission had been reminded of what had been said at the previous stage of consultation and how officers had addressed those comments. A summary of discussion and consideration from each of the scrutiny commissions had been published and circulated to the Overview Select Committee prior to the meeting. The extracts had reflected extensive questioning on the plan.

 

Members were informed the plan needed to be evidence based, and the intention was to make all documents with evidence available  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

35.

FINANCIAL REPORTS

Additional documents:

36.

REVENUE MONITORING APRIL - JUNE 2022 pdf icon PDF 743 KB

The Deputy Director of Finance submits a report to the Overview Select Committee which is the first in the monitoring cycle for 2022/23, providing early indications of the financial pressures the Council is facing this year.

 

The Committee will be recommended to consider the overall position presented within this report and make any observations it sees fit.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Deputy Director of Finance submitted a report to the Overview Select Committee which was the first in the monitoring cycle for 2022/23 and which provided early indications of the financial pressures the Council was facing for the year.

 

The Committee was recommended to consider the overall position presented within the report and make any observations it saw fit.

 

The Head of Finance presented the report and the following points were noted:

 

·         The report highlighted a forecast of a £12.7million overspend for the year due to three main reasons: income shortfalls due to the on-going impact of the pandemic; inflation and energy costs which were much higher than anticipated including significant contracts such as the contract for waste collection and disposal; and the expected pay award which would; exceed the budget by £7.4million.

·         All councils were facing significant budget pressures, most of which would be ongoing to future financial years.

 

The Chair stated he felt that Finance officers were managing well both the present and future problems. The Head of Finance responded that the report showed current year problems, but inflation and the pay award meant there was now significant additional pressure on future years’ budget forecasts. She added that for the current financial year the pressures would be managed under the Managed Reserves Strategy but that this meant there would be less funding available to support future years.

 

The Chair requested, if possible, for future reports to show how plans were being affected by the additional budget pressures, and to include more progress on how issues were being managed. The Head of Finance reported that these points would be picked up in the draft 2023/24 budget which would be available towards the end of the calendar year.

 

Members were given the opportunity to ask questions and responses were given at the meeting, as follows:

 

·         The Housing Revenue Account had an overspend of £1.4m but was saving money on vacant posts of £1.2million. It was noted that voids did not generate rental income. It was asked that, if there was a shortage of people in the housing department that were able to refurbish properties to get them back out to rent, would it not be better to recruit to the vacant posts to speed up the process of getting the backlog of empty properties let. The Head of Finance would ask the Director of Housing to provide a written response to the Member.

·         It was reported that the Biffa waste management contract costs increased annually with inflation, and the expected impact was built into the budget each year. As inflation had turned out higher than predicted, contract costs now exceeded the current year’s budget. The Deputy Director of Finance added that various councils had different contracts with Biffa. It was noted that Biffa would also have seen their costs increase through inflationary pressures. He added that with regards to the recent increase in share price for Biffa, there had been movement in recent months from parties wanting to take over  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

37.

CAPITAL MONITORING APRIL - JUNE 2022 pdf icon PDF 644 KB

The Deputy Director of Finance submits a report to the Overview Select Committee showing the position of the Capital Programme as at the end of June 2022 (Period 3).

 

The Committee will be recommended to consider the overall position presented within this report and make any observations it sees fit.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Deputy Director of Finance submitted a report to the Overview Select Committee which showed the position of the Capital Programme as at the end of June 2022 (Period 3).

 

The Committee was recommended to consider the overall position presented within the report and make any observations it saw fit.

 

The Head of Finance reported on the following:

 

·         The report was the first Capital Monitoring report for 2022/23 financial year. As previously reported, there was slippage and cost pressures to the current capital programme due to the pandemic, inflation and volatility in the construction industry.

·         The report highlighted three decisions the Executive would be asked to approve on the Capital Programme.

 

Members were given the opportunity to comment and ask questions, and the following responses were given:

 

·         The Jewry Wall Museum improvements delay in completion date was referenced. Officers reported the project was previously showing as red due to the contractor going into administration, which had stopped the whole scheme. The project had since returned to amber and a procurement exercise had been undertaken for a new contractor to continue the works.

·         The Chair recalled at the beginning of the pandemic it had been queried if work could continue in council houses. It was agreed that there were concerns initially with repair workers going into houses which had slowed down works. There were still some residents with concerns about having people in the house, but the workers were catching up on repairs.

 

The Chair noted the recommendations for the Executive, and the recommendation for the Committee to note the overall position in the report.

 

AGREED:

1.    That the Committee note the overall position as outlined in the report.

2.    That the Committee support the recommendations for the Executive.

38.

SCRUTINY ANNUAL REPORT 2022/23 pdf icon PDF 240 KB

The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance submits a report providing a summary of the Scrutiny Annual Report 2021-22.

 

The Committee will be invited to review the report and provide any comments or recommendations before the report is taken for consideration at Full Council.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance submitted a report which provided a summary of the Scrutiny Annual Report for the Municipal Year 2021-22.

 

The Committee was invited to review the report and provide any comments or recommendations before the report was taken for consideration at Full Council.

 

The Chair informed the meeting that Full Council was required to approve the Scrutiny Annual Report each year, and the report set out each of the nine Commissions’ highlights and achievements over the year. He added there was so much work ongoing in scrutiny and that Chair and Vice-Chairs of commissions had done an excellent job over the year.

 

The Chair said he was very pleased to recommend the report to Full Council and looked forward to saying at Council how important scrutiny was. He thanked the City Mayor and the Executive for listening to scrutiny, and thanked all officers that had worked alongside Members on scrutiny.

 

The Chair noted the report.

 

AGREED:

1.    That the report be noted and be forwarded to Full Council for endorsement.

39.

FINAL HOUSING SCRUTINY TASK GROUP REPORT - HOUSING CRISIS pdf icon PDF 2 MB

The Chair of the Housing Scrutiny Task Group will submit and present the Scrutiny Review “Housing Crisis in Leicester” report.

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair of the Housing Scrutiny Task Group submitted the Scrutiny Review “Housing Crisis in Leicester” report.

 

On behalf of Councillor Gee who had chaired the task group, Councillor Westley stated the report followed one of the most important reviews that had been undertaken. He noted that officers in the Housing Division, Planning Team and Members had taken part in the task group meetings and were all thanked for their part. It had been opened up to all non-Executive Members, who had made significant and constructive contributions both during the review and in the framing of recommendations. Points made were:

 

·         The review had started in April 2022, and the economic developments since that time had highlighted and amplified the complex range of issues which made up the full picture of the housing crisis, which affected both public and private housing, as well as those who were homeless.

·         The Government had over time cut the support payments which directly helped people to meet housing costs and to support low-income households. With current inflation levels, it was putting more pressure on those who could least afford it.

·         Members believed a lack of affordable social housing was a major cause of the developing housing crisis. Land to build new homes had been identified as a critical issue in an already highly developed city, but the major drain on social housing for those in greatest need had been the Government’s continuing Right-to-Buy policy.

·         The Task Group had produced a range of recommendations, many of which were aimed at national Government, but also aimed at driving development and strategy at a local level. A framework for devising programmes and objectives had been identified in the recommendations which provided a guide for future work by the Housing Scrutiny Commission.

 

The Committee was asked to endorse the report prior to it being forwarded to the Executive. The Chair of the Housing Task Group also endorsed in particular the idea of further work on the Housing Crisis in Leicester by the Housing Scrutiny Commission to continue to develop the ideas of the task group, and that work should continue to set out programmes and define milestones and objectives for those programmes.

 

The City Mayor stated it was an excellent piece of work, and an example of good scrutiny and added to the good governance of the city by the Council. He added it was timely and he welcomed the reference to the problems caused by Right to Buy. He said he wanted people to be able to own their own homes if they so wished, but Right to Buy had significantly reduced the Council’s housing stock which prevents people who wanted to rent a council property from being able to do so, and that they had to largely rely on the private sector at much higher rents. He added that the pattern of housing in Leicester over recent decades had been the decline in housing that the Council were able to provide for people and denied people needing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

40.

ANY OTHER URGENT BUSINESS

Additional documents:

Minutes:

a)    The Chair informed the Committee that Angie Smith, the Democratic Support Officer, was leaving the authority. He noted she had been with the authority for some time and wished her all the very best in her future role. The City Mayor joined the Chair in extending best wishes to her for the future.

 

There being no other items of urgent business, the meeting closed at 6:57pm.

41.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The next ordinary meeting of the Overview Select Committee is scheduled to take place 3rd November 2022 at 5.30pm at City Hall.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The next meeting was scheduled for 3 November 2022, 5.30pm at City Hall.