Agenda for Overview & Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, 27th September, 2018, 6.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Conference Room, Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield, EN1 3XA. View directions

Contact: Stacey Gilmour 

Items
No. Item

734.

WELCOME & APOLOGIES

Minutes:

The Chair, Councillor Levy welcomed all attendees to the meeting. The following substitutes were noted:

 

Councillor Doug Taylor for Councillor Huseyin Akpinar;

Councillor Hass Yusuf for Councillor Tolga Aramaz;

Councillor Charith Gunawardena for Councillor Susan Erbil;

Councillor Joanne Laban for Councillor Edward Smith.

 

Apologies for absence were received from Co-optees Simon Goulden, Alicia Meniru and Tony Murphy.

735.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

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

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

736.

CALL- IN OF REPORT: MERIDIAN WATER STATION- PUBLIC REALM CONSTRUCTION pdf icon PDF 146 KB

To receive and consider a report from the Director of Law and Governance outlining details of a call-in received on the Leader of the Council Decision taken on Meridian Water Station – Public Realm Construction (Report No.77)

 

The decision that has been called- in was a decision made by the Leader of the Council taken on 5 September 2018 and included on the Publication of Decision List No: 17/18-19 (List Ref:1/17/18-19) issued on 7 September 2018.

 

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

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

·         Response to the reasons provided for the Call-in by the Leader of the Council

·         Debate by Overview and Scrutiny Committee and agreement of action to be taken

 

Please also see the Part 2 agenda

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee received a report from the Director of Law and Governance outlining details of a call-in received on the decision taken by the Leader of the Council on Meridian Water Station- Public Realm Construction.

 

NOTED that this report was considered in conjunction with the information in the part 2 agenda.

 

The Chair invited Councillor Smith to outline the reasons for the call-in. It was noted that this discussion was held in public under the part 1 section of the meeting. Further discussion took place under the part 2 section of the meeting.

 

1.    Councillor Smith outlined the reasons for calling in the decision:

 

·         That the decision taken by the Leader of the Council on the 5th September 2018 to approve the works to the public realm adjacent to the new railway station on meridian Way was based on a completely inadequate report (Reports 1 and 2) by officers that did not provide sufficient background information on the procurement process, programme, specification, cost of the works or risks to the Council involved. The inadequacy of the report showed nothing short of contempt for elected members.

·         The procurement process- Concern regarding the lack of background information provided in the report regarding the decision taken to carry out a formal procurement process by going out to remediation contractors via the framework which failed instead of civil engineering contractors capable of carrying out the highway works involved? This created major avoidable delays. No timeline was provided in the report regarding when the procurement process started, finished or when the waiver was applied for.

·         Programme- The Council is now under extreme time pressure to carry out the works by May 2019 when the station is due to open before substantial damages are levied by Network Rail. Delays in appointing a Contractor has meant that the timescales for completing the project have become shorter and shorter. The procurement process should have been undertaken much earlier than it was in order to avoid this situation. Why wasn’t this specific works scheme dealt with separately from the main negotiations with Barratt/PCPD in a timely manner rather than waiting in the hope that the main negotiations would be resolved in the Council’s favour. No assurances are provided in the report that the public realm works by Volker Fitzpatrick can actually be completed by the May 2019 deadline.

·         Report- The lack of essential details regarding the specification of works and the maps included in the reports are also difficult to read. Detailed maps have now been reviewed from which it is now clear that there are significant road works involved in this part of the programme. This was not at all clear from the original maps circulated with the report. Members’ attention should have been drawn to the Scope of Works.

 

2.    The response of the Leader of the Council, Council Caliskan. She highlighted the following:

 

·         The opening of the train station has always been crucial to the success of Meridian Water. A delay in this and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 736.

737.

MINUTES OF MEETINGS HELD ON 22 AUGUST 2018 AND 5 SEPTEMBER 2018 pdf icon PDF 177 KB

To agree the Minutes of the meetings held on the 22 August 2018 and

5 September 2018

Additional documents:

Minutes:

AGREED the minutes of the meetings held on 22 August 2018 and 5 September 2018.

738.

DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS

To note the dates of future meetings as follows:

 

Provisional Call-Ins

 

Thursday 11 October, 2018

Thursday 8 November, 2018

Thursday 6 December, 2018

Thursday 20 December, 2018

Thursday 7 February 2019

Tuesday 12 March 2019

Tuesday 26 March, 2019

Thursday 11 April, 2019

 

Please note, the business meetings of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee will be held on:

 

Thursday 11 October, 2018

Wednesday 7 November, 2018

Tuesday 12 February, 2019

Wednesday 3 April, 2019

 

The Overview & Scrutiny Budget Meeting will be held on:

Tuesday 15 January, 2019

 

 

Minutes:

It was noted that an OSC meeting for Thursday 11 October 2018 would now be held as a Business Meeting. Future meetings are shown as follows:

 

Provisional Call-Ins

Thursday 8 November, 2018

Thursday 6 December, 2018

Thursday 20 December, 2018

Thursday 7 February 2019

Tuesday 12 March 2019

Tuesday 26 March, 2019

Thursday 11 April, 2019

 

Please note, the business meetings of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee will

be held on:

Thursday 11 October, 2018

Wednesday 7 November, 2018

Tuesday 12 February, 2019

Wednesday 3 April, 2019

 

The Overview & Scrutiny Budget Meeting will be held on:

Tuesday 15 January 2019.

 

Councillor Levy thanked everyone for attending the meeting.

739.

EXCLUSION OF PRESS & PUBLIC

To consider, if necessary, passing a resolution under Section 100A(4) of the

Local Government Act 1972 excluding the press and public from the meeting

for the item of business listed in Part 2 of the agenda on the grounds that it

will involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in those

paragraphs of Part 1 Schedule 12A to the Act (as amended by the Local

Government (Access to Information)(Variation) Order 2006), as are listed on

the agenda (Please note there is a Part 2 agenda).

Minutes:

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 3 of the Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act (as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006.

740.

Part 2 Agenda Call-in Re Meridian Water Station - Public Realm Construction

Attached for consideration as part of the Call-in on this item, is the Part 2 report signed by the Leader of the Council on the 5 September 2018.

The report should be read in conjunction with the report attached at Appendix 1 to the Call-In report on the Part 1 agenda.

(This document 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).

Response to the reasons for Call-In.

Please see the Part 1 agenda.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received the information provided on the call-in report: Meridian Water Station – Public Realm Construction which had been included in part 2 section of the agenda

 

NOTED

 

1.    The information was considered in conjunction with the report on the part 1 agenda.

 

2.    Councillor Smith set out the reasons for calling in the decision:

 

·         Concern regarding the specification given that virtually no information about the scope of the works was provided in the report.

·         No assurances were provided in the report that the negotiated works contract proposed by Volker Fitzpatrick is value for money. Clarification regarding costs was therefore sought.

·         With regards to Terms of Risk, further clarification was required regarding any levying of damages and how high these might be.

 

3.    The response of Councillor Caliskan, Leader of the Council. She highlighted the following:

 

·         Clarification had been sought in relation to costs/figures in the report and these had been verified.

·         Although she did accept the concerns regarding risks/delays, this would have been the case whatever the procurement process. She also added that conversations about penalties are speculative.

 

4.    Other issues highlighted by officers in support of the decision included;

 

·         Further information and clarification on the procurement process and programme of works.

·         Enfield are being supported by an external cost consultant, in monitoring and verifying the scope and cost of the works.

·         Further information was provided, and discussions took place regarding the obligation on Enfield Council to provide certain public realm interfaces in order for Network Rail to Commission and bring the station into service.

·         A budget has been identified for the essential works to be carried out to enable the station to open. Following this there will be a further package to deliver lighting, trees and landscaping, all which will add to the regeneration of the area.

·         The appointment taken forward will be a two-part contract which is pretty normal in construction engineering.

·         The performance of Network Rail is being monitored on a daily basis and to date the project is on time and on budget.

·         Councillor Laban felt that a review by Scrutiny was warranted to look at how the process could have been better. She asked that this be included on the O&SC Work Programme.

·         Councillor Caliskan felt that the detailed response given by Officers had already answered how the problems have been addressed and what the process will entail going forward.

 

5.    The summing up by Councillor Smith: any failed procurement is of concern and needs to be investigated. The whole process of procuring this contractor has been far too slow and should not have taken this long to get to this stage. He asked that O&SC agree to a further report coming forward in May 2019 to look at whether the priorities have been achieved.

 

The Leader, Councillor Caliskan felt that it was a misrepresentation to say that the procurement process had failed when there had been a robust and compliant process but no tenders.

 

She also reminded Members that regular  ...  view the full minutes text for item 740.