Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Mahmut Aksanoglu who was substituted by Cllr Mustafa Cetinkaya, and Cllr Tom O’Halloran was substituting for Cllr Lee Chamberlain as he was leading on the Call-In.

The Chair detailed the procedure of the meeting and outlined how the Overview & Scrutiny Committee would consider the reasons for call in.

The Committee noted that Councillor Lee Chamberlain would present the reasons for the call-in as the Lead Call-in Member.

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

There were no declarations of interest registered in respect of any items on the agenda.

To consider a call-in received on the decision taken by Cabinet on the Disposal of Surplus Council Property Assets & Land (KD5741).

The decision that has been called in was included on the Publication of Decision List No: 20/24-25 issued on 13 September 2024.

It is proposed that consideration of the call-in be structured as follows:

·         Brief outline of reasons for the call-in by representative (s) of the members who have called in the decision.

·         The Cabinet Member/decision maker and officers respond to the reasons provided for the Call-In.

·         Debate by Overview & Scrutiny Committee and agreement on action to be taken.

The Overview & Scrutiny Committee were to consider and review KD5741 – Disposal of Surplus Council Property Assets and Land - taken on 11 September 2024 and included on the Publication of Decision List No. 20/24-25.

The decision had been called in for review by 10 members of the Council, namely Councillors: Lee Chamberlain (Lead), Peter Fallart, Julian Sampson, Andrew Thorp, Edward Smith, Andy Milne, Chris Dey, Stephanos Ioannou, Emma Supple and Adrian Grumi.

The report sets out the Officer response to the reasons for call-in.

Reasons for the Call-In were presented by Councillor Lee Chamberlain, Lead Call-in Member for the decision.

Councillor Chamberlain summarised the reasons for the Call-In of the decision.

Councillor Chamberlain asked that Members refer the decision back to the decision taker for reconsideration.

Councillor Leaver and Officers spoke in response to the reasons for Call-In, and questions posed by Members of the Committee stating that; the Cabinet report clearly sets out in section 1 that the list of assets identified in the appendix are a draft list of “candidates” for sale at this stage and have either been declared surplus to operational requirements by former occupying service departments, are otherwise not considered “fit for purpose” by other service departments, requiring accommodation, underperforming when judged against the principals set out in the core principles of the Council’s Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP 2019-2024) s.1.3 or exceptional circumstances exist. Further due diligence if formal approval in principle for sale is granted will be undertaken on each asset.

Furthermore, Recommendation 1 is clear that the Council will only proceed with a disposal subject to appropriate due diligence investigations and Recommendation 2 states that the Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement will only be called upon to authorise the sale if full due diligence and stakeholder engagement has taken place.

In response to Members’ concerns regarding the rationale behind the approach to identify “candidates” of land and property assets for sale which are potentially underperforming with limited initial due diligence (as opposed to significant due diligence from the outset), Officers explained that this is based on the need to make efficient use of scarce staff resources. Expending considerable sums of money and staff time on full due diligence prior to provisional Member approval runs the risk that significant and costly abortive work takes place on those “candidates for sale” which fail to obtain provisional approval.

In response to Member’s questions regarding the process should there be any confirmed sales, Officers advised that Recommendation 2 also makes it clear that whilst authority is delegated to the Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement, as Portfolio holder, any decision to sell, following further due diligence and stakeholder engagement is also subject to Call-In by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee who will have the opportunity to review any given sale on a case by case basis provided that the consideration exceeds the key decision threshold of £500,000 which applies to the full list of “candidates” under review in the report

Officers further advised that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The original decision documents.

Item 7 also refers.

(This item contains 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).

Cllr Chamberlain summarised the points made during the discussion and reiterated his view that Members should refer the decision back to the decision taker.

The Chair summarised the key points made throughout the discussion and took Members of the committee through the options available to them, namely: refer the decision back to the decision-making person/body for reconsideration; refer the matter to full Council; or confirm the original decision.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered the reasons provided for the Call-In and responses set out in the Officer’s report. Having considered the verbal responses and the information presented by the Deputy Leader, Cllr Tim Leaver (Portfolio Holder for Resources and Procurement) and relevant Officers; the Committee AGREED to confirm the original decision made by the Cabinet Member.

Councillors Adeleke, Anolue, Cetinkaya, Dalkaya and Yuruk all voted in favour of the decision. Councillors Alexandrou, Hockney, O’Halloran and Rye voted to refer the decision back to the decision maker.

To note the dates of future meetings as follows:

OSC Provisional Call-In dates (if required)

Tuesday 22 October 2024

OSC Business Meeting

Wednesday 20 November 2024

Members NOTED the date of the next meeting of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee as Wednesday 20 November 2024.

The Chair thanked everyone for their time and contributions and the meeting ended at 8:30pm.

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 they involve 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.)

AGENDA – PART 2

RESOLVED in accordance with the principles of Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 7 of the Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act (as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006.

Item 3 above refers

A question was raised in relation to information included in the Part Two confidential report and the response from Officers was NOTED

The meeting moved into the public part of the meeting to hear the summary of debate and the vote.

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