Agenda and minutes

[The Chair to welcome everyone to the meeting].

The Chair welcomed the Panel

[The Chair will explain how the meeting will proceed, how questions are to be asked and any matters of meeting etiquette.]

The Chair informed the Panel of meeting procedures

[To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutions].

Apologies received: Councillor Linda Leach due to other Council business

[To receive any declarations of interest].

There were no declarations of interest.

[To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record].

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 March 2023 be confirmed as a correct record.

[To consider a report on Equalities Impact Assessments].

The Head of Equality Diversity and Inclusion stated that the purpose of the report was to give assurance to the Panel that the Council was meeting legal requirements in adhering to the Equality Act 2010 and its public sector duties, specifically in carrying out Equalities Impact Assessments (EIA). It was also to display the Council had robust EIA policies and procedures and an example was to be shown to the Panel. The Head of Equality Diversity and Inclusion gave background to EIAs which were designed to enable and ensure that the Council could assess projects so that they would not discriminate against anyone, where possible. The Head of Equality Diversity and Inclusion brought up the Public Realm Phase 1 and 3 developments, which covered Victoria Street and the Civic Halls redevelopments. She explained to the Panel that EIA policies had been reviewed 18 months previously and that guidance and templates were available via internal Council web systems for colleagues to refer to and use. The Head of Equality Diversity and Inclusion informed the Panel that the Council was looking to adopt an EIA Oversight Board to better improve future EIAs.

The Service Lead – Placemaking explained to the Panel that as part of the broader scheme of the redevelopment of Victoria Street, they sought to improve EDI and had carried out an EIA to achieve this. Some benefits listed included better access for wheelchair users, improved street safety for women via increased footfall and cleaner air, via cycle lanes, leading to lower pollution levels for street users. The Service Lead – Placemaking referred to the presentation slides (A copy of the presentation is attached to the minutes) which showed an 18 month consultation process with the public and stakeholders. She then told the Panel they were moving onto Phase 2, Queens Square and Lichfield Street developments. Consultations had occurred for this, and a mitigation process had been pursued which were designed to eliminate or minimise potential adverse effects on Equality Groups. Further consultation and workshops with relevant groups were planned for September 2023.

The Vice Chair highlighted that the EIA report showed recommendations for the Phase 1 and 3 developments which were set to be completed in November 2021, he said that the report did not show that these were completed and asked if they had documents which showed the successful implementation of recommendations. The Vice Chair also queried assessment content for visually impaired people on the Victoria Street re-development, seeking further information.

The Service Lead – Placemaking replied that the information in the report was specific to the time it was done and that they aimed to work with stakeholder groups in the future to assess the works now they were completed to see how the work had been received and gather feedback. The information would then be matched by an outcomes report.

The Vice Chair replied asking when this report would be done, referring back to Phases 1 and 3 being completed.

The Service Lead – Placemaking answered  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

[To receive a report on Land and Property Disposal Policy].

The Deputy Director of Assets stated that the purpose of the report was to bring to Scrutiny information on how Council owned land and properties were disposed of, which included those capital receipts over £10,000, across the 2022 – 2023 financial year. This was to show they were compliant with the Council’s constitution and the Local Government Act 1972 when disposing of assets. The plan was to deal with properties that were no longer required by the Council for service delivery, the plan would be reviewed in 2024 as the current plan was to end in 2023. Once a site had been recognised as surplus to requirements, an internal service consultation was done, followed by a ward Councillor consultation. If it was decided an item was to be sold off, this would be taken to Cabinet Resources Panel if it was over £250,000. If the item was under the amount it would be taken through an Individual Executive Decision Notice (IEDN) process. Everything was documented and brought to Cabinet so that the team were transparent in how they planned to dispose of an item. 2022 – 2023, 8 properties were sold, generating £500,000 and Housing Revenue Account profit of £278,000. All assets were sold in accordance with the Local Government Act 1972. Further information on the assets were displayed in the appendices (a copy is attached to the signed minutes). Scrutiny was asked to observe and agree on the documentation and useage of the assets. The Deputy Director of Assets also stated that Scrutiny would get to see the planned changes for the 2024 – 2029 policy plan in the future.

A Panel member stated that they felt the £250,000 threshold was too high and that assets under the price should still be looked at to the same level as those over £250,000. The Councillor requested future strategy reports to show what wards the items sold were in. He also stated that he believed it should be shown if the Council initiated a sale or if it was because a private investor made an offer. He also asked if income made from asset sales was to be used specifically on the area from which the asset was sold, or was the money absorbed into the general Council budget. He felt the money made from the sale of an asset should be put back into the area from which it was sold.

The Director of Assets said she would take the threshold comment back to her team to discuss. She said she would reissue appendices to include the ward information, as well as whether the Council decided to sell it as an initiative or if it was in response to a private offer.  She stated that the money from sales was absorbed into the central Council finance system.

The Vice Chair stated that the reports showed the price of the sale of the assets, but not what they were valued at. He felt it would improve transparency and Scrutiny if the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

[To receive the Treasury Management Activity Monitoring Quarter Three 2022-2023 Report].

The Chief Accountant stated that the Treasury Management Activity Monitoring Quarter Three 2022-2023 report had been took to Cabinet in March and that as part of the constitution, it was a requirement for her to bring it to Scrutiny. She summarised the definition of Treasury Management, she explained to the Panel that they had budget indicators with which they worked to. She stated that the final quarter of 2022 – 2023 had an underspend on the Council budget and an overspend on the Housing Revenue Account. A cash limit was set to protect funds, whereby cash was not kept in the Council holdings for long, it was invested into money markets to generate more money via interest. The limit was exceeded during Christmas, due to staff holidays, once the holiday was over, the money was moved into money markets.

There was a brief discussion about the limit being exceeded during the Christmas holidays. There was agreement between Officers and the Chair that the team would look to try avoid this occurring again.

[Date of next meeting 12 October 2023].

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as the 12 October 2023.