Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Doug Taylor (Leader of the Council), Councillor Dino Lemonides (Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency) and Councillor Dinah Barry (Associate Cabinet Member). 

In the absence of Councillor Taylor, Councillor Achilleas Georgiou (Deputy Leader) chaired the meeting.

Members of the Cabinet are invited to identify any disclosable pecuniary, other pecuniary or non pecuniary interests relevant to items of the agenda.

NOTED, that there were no declarations of interest in respect of any items on the agenda.

The Chair will consider the admission of any reports (listed on the agenda but circulated late) which have not been circulated in accordance with the requirements of the Council’s Constitution and the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information and Meetings) (England) Regulations 2012.

Note: The above requirements state that agendas and reports should be circulated at least 5 clear working days in advance of meetings.

NOTED, that the reports listed on the agenda had been circulated in accordance with the requirements of the Council’s Constitution and the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information and Meetings) (England) Regulations 2012. These requirements state that agendas and reports should be circulated at least 5 clear days in advance of meetings.

To note, that no requests for deputations have been received for presentation to this Cabinet meeting.

NOTED, that no requests for deputations had been received for presentation to this Cabinet meeting.

To agree that the following report be referred to full Council:

1.               Report No.49 – Scrutiny Annual Work Programme 2017/18

AGREED, that the following report be referred to full Council:

1.               Report No.49 – Scrutiny Annual Work Programme 2017/18

6.1     SCRUTINY ANNUAL WORK PROGRAMME 2017/18

A report from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee is attached. (Non -key)

(Report No.49)

(8.20 – 8.25 pm)

6.2     HOUSING REPAIRS SCRUTINY WORKSTREAM

A report from the Housing Repairs Scrutiny Workstream is attached. (Non – key)

(Report No.50)

(8.25 – 8.30 pm)

6.3     CALL-IN: MERIDIAN WATER STATION UPDATE AND BUDGET (DECISION TAKEN BY CABINET ON 26 JULY 2017, PUBLICATION OF DECISION LIST NO.16/17-18 ISSUED ON 28 JULY 2017)

          To note, for information, that at its meeting on 14 August 2017, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered a call-in of the above Cabinet decision and, agreed to confirm the original Cabinet decision.

6.1     Scrutiny Annual Work Programme 2017/18

Councillor Achilleas Georgiou (Deputy Leader) invited Councillor Derek Levy (Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee) to present the report setting out the scrutiny annual work programme and work streams for 2017/18 (No.49).

NOTED

1.               That the number of Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings this year had been increased from 4 to 9 to enable more issues to be considered in greater depth.  More would be added to the schedule if necessary. 

2.               This year more joint meetings would be organised to focus on particular issues.  A joint meeting had been held earlier in the summer on the issue of knife crime and another was planned for health.

3.               The view of Councillor Levy that, because of the additional demands on scrutiny and the pressure on current officers to carry out more administrative tasks, an extra scrutiny officer was needed to add to the scrutiny research capacity of the Governance and Scrutiny Team.   Councillor Anderson supported the view that an adequate research resource was important to ensure good outputs. 

4.               The changes to work stream memberships. 

5.               The view of Councillor Levy that scrutiny chairs should take greater responsibility for ensuring that other members were involved, for carrying out research’ and for ensuring that the work streams moved forward. 

6.               More pre-decision scrutiny was planned.  A session had already been held on the new Housing Allocations Policy.  As well as some one day scrutiny events where one issue could be investigated in depth, over a whole day. 

Alternative Options Considered: NOTED, that no other options had been considered as the Overview and Scrutiny Committee was required, under the Council’s Constitution, to present an annual scrutiny work programme to Council for adoption.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL to approve the proposed work programme and work streams for 2017/18 subject to the comments made at Cabinet, as set out above.

Reasons for recommendations: To comply with the requirements of the Council’s Constitution, as the work programme had to be formally adopted by Council. In addition, scrutiny was essential to good governance, and enabled the voice and concerns of residents and communities to be heard, and provided positive challenge and accountability.

(Non key)

6.2     Housing Repairs Scrutiny Work stream

Councillor Achilleas Georgiou (Deputy Leader) invited Councillor Derek Levy (Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to present the report (No.50) to the Cabinet.

Councillor Levy presented the report on behalf of Councillor Katherine Chibah who had led the review. 

NOTED

1.               That the Housing Repairs Scrutiny work stream was set up following reports to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee detailing concerns with the performance of the Housing Repairs service.

2.               A significant amount of work had been carried out.  It was found that the quality of work carried out by repairs and maintenance contractors was not always as good as it could have been, nor was the quality control exercised by council officers. 

3.               Councillor Oykener, Cabinet Member for Housing and Housing Regeneration, welcomed the report and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

A report from the Executive Director of Finance, Resources and Customer Services is attached. (Key decision – reference number 4544)

(Report No.51)

(8.30 – 8.35 pm)

James Rolfe, the Executive Director of Finance, Resources and Customer Services, introduced his report (No.51) setting out the Council’s revenue budget monitoring position based on information to the end of July 2017.

NOTED

1.               The latest outturn forecast projects an overspend of £5.1m pounds. 

2.               The report detailed the actions being taken by the departments to reduce the overspend and take other mitigating actions. 

3.               Table 2 on page 28 of the report provides supporting information.

4.               The Schools’ budget (dedicated schools grant) set out in Appendix A6 was also predicted to overspend due to the competing pressures of increased pupil numbers, increased costs and reductions in Central Government grants.  Schools are taking actions to mitigate the costs, but it was a challenging situation for them. 

Alternative Options Considered: Not applicable to this report.

DECISION: The Cabinet agreed to note:

1.               The £5.1m overspend revenue outturn projection.

2.               That Cabinet Members would continue to work with Executive Directors to implement action plans to reduce the forecast overspend in 2017/18.

3.               The mitigating actions proposed to date by Executive Directors of overspending departments as set out in Appendix A to the report.

Reasons for recommendations: To ensure that Members were aware of the projected budgetary position, including all major budget pressures and underspends which had contributed to the present monthly position that were likely to affect the final outturn.

(Key decision – reference number 4544)

A report from the Executive Director of Regeneration and Environment is attached. (Key decision – reference number 4321)

(Report No.52)

(8.35 – 8.40 pm)

Councillor Yasemin Brett (Cabinet Member for Community, Arts and Culture) introduced the report of the Executive Director of Regeneration and Environment (No.52) seeking approval of the Local Heritage List.

NOTED

1.               The Cabinet Member’s thanks to officers, Christine White and Samuel Abelman, as well as the Enfield Society, the 50 community volunteers who had helped carry out the review with the support of Urban Vision Enterprises CIC.

2.               Councillor Brett’s praise of the process whereby all had worked together to identify the key assets, a creative exercise that had provided a good learning opportunity.

3.               Extensive consultation with the local community had also taken place and the final list she felt represented the aspirations of the community.

4.               The acknowledgement that this list was only a snapshot, that the whole process was dynamic, a never ending work in progress, which would be formally reviewed every two years to reflect any changing opinions. 

Alternative Options Considered: NOTED, that an alternative option would be not to update the existing Local List. The existing list dates from 1974 and is now out of date in terms of national planning policy and the recasting of the local planning policy through the Local Plan, Historic England (formerly English Heritage) guidance and changes in the physical fabric of the area since the previous review. The 1974 document did not provide up-to-date information to support Development Management decisions, including appeals.

DECISION: The Cabinet agreed to approve the Local Heritage List.

Reasons for recommendations: National Planning Policy Guidance (paragraph 041) identified that “Local Lists incorporated into Local Plans can be a positive way for the local planning authority to identify non-designated heritage assets against consistent criteria so as to improve the predictability of the potential for sustainable development”. Policy 6.5.2 of Enfield’s Development Management Document set out a requirement that development should conserve and enhance historic assets, therefore the up-to-date list would support decision making.

(Key decision – reference number 4321)

A report from the Executive Director of Health, Housing and Adult Social Care is attached. (Key decision – reference number 4488)

(Report No.53)

(8.40 – 8.45 pm)

Councillor Alev Cazimoglu (Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care) introduced the report of the Executive Director of Health, Housing and Adult Social Care (No.53) seeking to renew the Section 75 (pooled funding) Agreement for 2017/18.

NOTED

1.               That the report outlined the proposed contributions for 2017/18 and sought approval of these to allow the revised Section 75 Agreement to be finalised to ensure appropriate governance arrangements were in place.

2.               This was an agreement between the Council and the Enfield Clinical Commissioning Group pooling budgets to help ensure joined up health and social care services. 

3.               This year the agreement has been streamlined and improvements made to help ensure better provision of services for local residents.  Twelve contracts had been merged into one.

4.               The terms and conditions remain as previously agreed.  Paperwork and bureaucracy will be reduced.

5.               The agreement was for one year at a time, but there would be an option to extend. 

Alternative Options Considered: NOTED that, including the Better Care Fund, there were currently twelve separate pooled funds under the Section 75 agreement. Continuation of maintaining these schedules separately had been considered and consensus reached that having a single pooled fund, a single and common governance process with all terms and conditions to continue as previously agreed was the most efficient and appropriate option. NHS England guidance required the pooling of the Better Care Fund to be via a Section 75 Agreement.

DECISION: The Cabinet

1.               Agreed to approve the proposed contributions to the Section 75 Agreement for 2017/18.

2.               Agreed to approve the creation of a single pooled Better Care Fund to include all pooled funds previously contained under separate S75 schedules with those terms and conditions to continue as previously agreed.

3.               Agreed to delegate formal sign off of the Section 75 Agreement on Enfield Council’s behalf by the Executive Director of Health, Housing and Adult Social Care following formal approval from the Enfield Clinical Commissioning Group for a period of one year with the option to extend the contract period by a further period of up to one year at a time.

4.               Noted that the final Better Care Fund (BCF) guidance had been issued by the Department of Health in early July 2017 which had prevented a submission of the BCF spending plan to the Health and Wellbeing Board on the 12 July 2017. The BCF spending plan and the report had now been sent to the Health and Wellbeing Board members for consideration.

5.               Noted that the Enfield Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Body would be considering the same authorisation to enter into the agreement on 20 September 2017.

Reasons for recommendations: NOTED, the following reasons as set out in section 5 of the report:

·       The pooled funds within the existing Section 75 Agreement required amendment to reflect contract value uplifts and staff pay awards.

·       Creating a single pooled fund rather than 12 separate pooled funds did not change the terms and conditions attached to the spending plan for each  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

A report from the Executive Director of Regeneration and Environment is attached. (Key decision – reference number 4558)

(Report No.54)

(8.45 – 8.50 pm)

Councillor Daniel Anderson (Cabinet Member for Environment) introduced the report of the Executive Director of Regeneration and Environment (No.54) seeking authority to amend the scope of the Cabinet decision made on 19 October 2016 through Report No.102 (KD 4234) to extend Edmonton Cemetery.

NOTED

1.               The proposed revised approach to the Edmonton Cemetery Extension as detailed in the report.

2.               Councillor Anderson’s explanation that this was a change to the original proposals which would enable the greater expansion of Edmonton Cemetery and the replacement of the poorly used tennis courts on the A10 with new courts in a better location at Firs Farm.  It would also bring in an extra £500,000 for investment in tennis across the borough.  The change followed a suggestion from the Friends of Firs Farm and was a good example of the Council listening to residents and responding to local wishes. 

3.               The revised proposals were welcomed by Councillor Fonyonga, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Public Health and Councillor Yasemin Brett, Cabinet Member for Community Arts and Culture. 

4.               Councillor Brett welcomed them as she felt it would be easier for relatives to visit graves closer to where they lived and for residents to play tennis in a less polluted environment.  As Animal Champion, she asked if it would be possible to set aside a part of the new cemetery for pets.  Nicky Fiedler, Assistant Director Commercial Regeneration and Environment, agreed to take this away to find out whether it would be possible.

5.               Councillor Savva was concerned to make sure that the new courts would be visible to ensure the safety of those playing. 

6.               Councillor Celebi was concerned that there would be fewer tennis courts than at present and wanted to ensure that the new courts would not infringe on the existing football pitches.  She was assured that this would not be so and that the cemetery would be open to all faiths. 

Alternative Options Considered: NOTED, that aside from the alternative options considered in Report No.102 (KD 4234), officers had considered continuing with the original scope approved by Cabinet in October 2016. However, the revised scope of the project was being pursued because it provided the best outcomes for the Cemetery Service, tennis provision within the Borough, and meets the aspirations of the local community.

DECISION: The Cabinet

1.               Agreed to approve plans to move the four tennis courts, that would have been upgraded through the Edmonton Cemetery Expansion Programme, from the land adjacent to Edmonton Cemetery to Firs Farm subject to planning permission.

2.               Agreed that the land on which the four tennis courts currently stands become part of the wider Edmonton Cemetery Expansion Programme, increasing the number of burial plots to 2137 and increasing investment in tennis provision to £500k.

3.               Recognised that approval of the revised scope would result in a delay of up to three months to the completion of the Edmonton Cemetery Expansion Programme.

Reasons for recommendations: The revised scope met all of the objectives agreed in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Attached for information is a provisional list of items scheduled for future Cabinet meetings.

NOTED, the provisional list of items scheduled for future Cabinet meetings.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting of the Cabinet held on 26 July 2017.

AGREED, that the minutes of the previous meeting of the Cabinet held on 26 July 2017 be confirmed and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

To note that there are no written updates to be received.

NOTED, that there were no written updates to be received at this meeting.

To note that the next meeting of the Cabinet is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 18 October 2017.  

NOTED, that the next meeting of the Cabinet was scheduled to take place on Wednesday 18 October 2017 at 8.15pm.

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972 excluding the press and public from the meeting for the items of business listed on part 2 of the agenda on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in those paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act (as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006).

(Members are asked to refer to the part 2 agenda)

RESOLVED, in accordance with Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the item listed on part two of the agenda on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 (information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act (as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006).

To receive, a verbal update on the progress of the Meridian Water project.

(This item will contain exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 (information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person – including the authority holding that information) of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, as amended)

Peter George, Assistant Director Planning, Regeneration and Sustainability, gave members of the Cabinet a verbal update on the Meridian Water Scheme: 

NOTED

• This was the first of a series of regular updates that would be provided at each Cabinet meeting. 

• Negotiations with the Council’s preferred Meridian Water bidder had been taking place for some time and were now at an advanced stage.  The Council was preparing its final position.  Contractual terms were due to be concluded in the next few weeks. 

• Construction on the first sites had begun.  Remediation works at Willoughby Lane were going well and were due to be completed in December 2017, and the process of relocating the old pressure station would get underway during 2018.

• Officers were working closely with Network Rail which was already on site building the third railway track on schedule for completion in March 2019.  The enhanced station had been approved and was due for completion in May 2019. 

• A bid had been submitted to the GLA Good Growth Fund to help set up a new fashion hub which could deliver 300 new jobs.  It was anticipated that manufacturing would include niche items with high mark-ups. Councillor Levy suggested looking at the work of the successful Fashion Enter in Haringey. 

• A bid to Government was also being progressed to obtain funds to cover new roads and the fourth railway track.