Decisions

Approved payments totalling £80,209 as detailed at section 5.3.

1. Approved the City of Wolverhampton Council Calendar of Meetings for 2020-2021.

2. Agreed that Annual Council take place on Wednesday 19 May 2021.

3. Noted that all post holders remain in post until the new Municipal Year starts other than where varied in line with the constitution. 

1.    Approved the recommended action to implement waiting and stopping restrictions to parts of Mountford Lane in response to comments received during public consultation and implement as shown on plan T4/4177 appended to this report.

2.    Approved the recommended action to implement waiting restrictions to parts of The Droveway in response to comments received during the public consultation and implement as shown on plan T4/4171 appended to this report.

3.    Approved the recommended action to implement waiting restrictions to parts of School Road, Tanfield Close, Woodland Avenue and Long Lake Avenue in response to comments received during public consultation and implement as shown on plan T4/4237 appended to this report.

4.    Approved the recommended action to implement waiting and stopping restrictions to parts of Rakegate Close in response to comments received during public consultation and implement as shown on plan T4/4205 appended to this report.

5.    Approved the recommended action to implement waiting restrictions to parts of Park Road East and Park Road West in response to comments received during public consultation and implement as shown on plan T3/1114 appended to this report.

6.    Approved the recommended action to implement waiting restrictions to parts Church Hill Road and Clifton Road in response to comments received during public consultation and implement as shown on plan T4/4036 appended to this report.

7.    Approved the recommended action to implement waiting restrictions in parts of Whistler Grove and Carlyle Road in response to comments received during public consultation and implement as shown on plan T4/4079A appended to this report.

8.    Approved the recommended action to implement waiting restrictions in parts of Sunbeam Street in response to comments received during public consultation and implement as shown on plan T4/4283 appended to this report.

9.    Approved the recommended action to implement waiting restrictions in parts of Hazelwood Drive in response to comments received during public consultation and implement as shown on plan T4/4291A appended to this report.

10. Authorised the Director of Governance to implement the relevant traffic regulation orders and revoke existing traffic regulation orders where specified.

1.   That the appointment of Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal as Chair of Our Council Scrutiny Panel for the remainder of the municipal year 2019/2020 be approved.

2.   That the appointment of Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal as a member of the Scrutiny Board for the remainder of the municipal year 2019/2020 be approved.

Report to seek approval of the business case for an event concept.

1.      Approved the business case detailed within the report.

2.      Approved required contracts between City of Wolverhampton Council and Toura Toura Festivals Ltd for the supply of artists in relation to the business case detailed. 

To present a summary of open and exempt individual executive decisions approved by the appropriate Cabinet Members following consultation with the relevant employees.

That the summary of open and exempt individual executive decisions approved by the appropriate Cabinet Members following consultation with the relevant employees.

That in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business as they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

To approve two amendments to the All Age Travel Assistance Policy.

1.      That a change section 8.8 of the All Age Travel Assistance Policy as detailed in section 3 of the report, to include exceptional circumstances and ensure there is not a ‘blanket approach’ towards charging for post 16 transport be approved.

2.      That an amendment to the definition of 'low income families' in the All Age Travel Assistance Policy glossary as detailed in section 3 of the report, to ensure clarity that an individual or family is considered to be from a low income family if they are in receipt of free school meals as opposed to a list of ‘qualifying benefits’ be approved.

To grant a renewal of the Public Space protection Order for a further three years.

1.      That the renewal of the Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) drinking restrictions be approved.

2.      That the recommendations for a city-wide PSPO, subject to the mandatory six-week legal challenge period allowed, which includes the same proposals as the previous order. To extend prohibitions on public drinking within Park and St Peter’s wards (to include the city centre) be approved.

To recommend for the Civic Centre to be partly occupied by the Black Country and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group for their new headquarters on commercial terms, creating a revenue income stream for the Council.

To approve a funding agreement for a successful funding bid for a feasibility study into a District Heating Scheme.

To approve the Revenue Budget Monitoring Quarter One 2020-2021 report.

1.      That the use of £732,000 from the Regeneration Reserveto fund various regeneration schemes as detailed at paragraph 5.4 of the report be approved.

2.      That the use of £200,000 from the Our Technology Reserve to fund continued development of Agresso system as detailed at paragraph 5.5 of the report be approved.

3.      That the use of £73,000 from the Adults Safeguarding Reserve to offset additional costs of running the Safeguarding Partnership Board as detailed in paragraph 5.6 of the report be approved.

4.      That the creation of a new reserve and the transfer of £190,000 in year underspend against local elections to cover future elections costs as detailed in paragraph 5.7 of the report be approved.

5.      That the establishment of supplementary expenditure budgets within the 2020-2021 approved budget as detailed in section 6.0 of the report for grant funded expenditure be approved.

6.      That 37 virements totalling £6.2 million, for transfers within directorates, as detailed in Appendix 4 to the report be approved.

7.      That the write-off of two Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) debts totalling £13,115.60 as detailed in Appendix 5 to the report be approved.

8.      That the write-off of one Council Tax debt totalling £5,203.61 as detailed in Appendix 6 to the report be approved.

9.      That the write-off of one Housing Benefit debt totalling £6,910.76 as detailed in Appendix 7 to the report be approved.

10. That it be noted that the overall projected outturn for the General Fund for 2020-2021 is forecast to a break-even outturn position, excluding the impact of Covid-19. 

11. That it be noted that at this stage in the financial year it is difficult to forecast redundancy costs.  However, as forecast in recent years it is anticipated that the cost of redundancies can be met from reserves.

12. That it be noted that a £10.4 million surplus on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) is projected compared with a budgeted surplus of £10.8 million as shown at Table 20 and in detail at Appendix 3 to the report. The projected reduction to the surplus of £443,000 would reduce redemption of debt by £443,000.

13. That it be noted that 41 sundry debt accounts totalling £21,923.34, as detailed in paragraph 9.3 to the report, have been approved for write-off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

14. That it be noted that 320 council tax accounts totalling £112,538.25, as detailed in paragraph 9.5 to the report, have been approved for write-off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

15.That it be noted that 18 Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) debts totalling £63,983.68, as detailed in paragraph 9.6, have been approved for write-off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

16.That it be noted that 9 housing benefit overpayments totalling £5,240.48, as detailed in paragraph 9.9 of the report, have been approved for write-off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

To present the Draft Budget and the Medium Term Financial Strategy for the period of 2021-2022 to 2023-2024.

1.      That the draft budget strategy linked to the Five Year Financial Strategy, including changes to corporate resource assumptions and growth and inflation be approved, for inclusion in the Draft Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy 2021-2022 to 2023-2024, to be reported to Cabinet in October 2020.

2.      That work continues between August and October 2020 to further develop budget reduction and income generation proposals, in order to ensure that a balanced budget can be set for 2021-2022.

3.      That progress on the development of budget reduction and income generation proposals be reported to Cabinet in October 2020 for approval to proceed to the formal consultation stage of the budget process.

4.      That further options are explored between August and October 2020 to address the updated projected budget deficit of £8.7 million for 2021-2022 based on the Council’s Five Year Financial Strategy.

5.      That the establishment of supplementary revenue expenditure budgets totalling £2,775,198 funded by the Covid-19 Emergency Funding Grant for Local Government be approved.  Authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Resources, in consultation with the Director of Finance, to approve all virements required to support additional costs and loss of income relating to Covid-19.

6.      That the establishment of supplementary revenue expenditure budgets totalling £393,536 funded by the Local Authority Emergency Assistance Grant for Food and Essential Supplies be approved and authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Resources, in consultation with the Director of Finance, to approve all virements required to allocate expenditure and grant to individual schemes. 

7.      That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Resources, in consultation with the Director of Finance to establish supplementary revenue budgets funded by grant and approve all virements required to support loss of income relating to Covid-19 once this allocation has been confirmed. As detailed in paragraph 6.5 of the report, the Government have announced a co-payment mechanism for irrecoverable sales, fees and charges income, and at this time of writing this report the full details of the scheme had not been released.

8.      That external grant of £999,000 awarded for the Arthur Street Bridge Project be built into the Transport capital programme and that the borrowing previously set aside in contingency for this project be vired to the corporate contingency.

9.      That the capital budget of £1 million for the Towns Fund Project, funded by the external grant be approved.  That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for City Economy and the Cabinet Member for City Environment, in consultation with the Director of Regeneration and the Director of City Environment, to approve virements to individual projects in order that projects can be implemented in an agile and timely manner.

10.   That the capital budgets of £110,000 for the Ring Road St Peters Crossing, and £193,282 for Active Travel Scheme, funded by external grant be approved and authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for City Environment, in consultation with the Director of City Environment to approve any virements required to individual projects in order that projects can be implemented in an agile and timely manner.  The establishment of supplementary revenue budgets totalling £44,096 funded by external grant to support the Active Travel Scheme. Authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for City Environment, and the Cabinet Member for Resources, in consultation with the Director of City Environment and the Director of Finance to establish revenue and capital budgets should the Council be successful in securing further funding from this grant fund.

11.   That it be noted that, a number of assumptions have been made with regards to the level of resources that would be available to the Council as detailed in section 8 of the report.  It is important to note that there continues to be a considerable amount of uncertainty with regards to future income streams for local authorities over the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review period.  At the point that further information is known it would be incorporated into future reports to Councillors.  Any reduction in the Government’s allocation of funding to the Council would have a significant detrimental impact and further increase the budget deficit forecast over the medium term.

12.   That the impact of Covid-19 has had and would continue to have a significant financial impact on the 2020-2021 budget and Medium Term financial Strategy be noted. 

13.   That it ne noted that, if Government do not provide sufficient grant to fund the full financial implications of Covid-19, the Council would need to identify in year efficiencies, which may impact on service delivery.

14.   That it be noted that the Council would need to re-prioritise resources to fund the Recovery Strategy if further funding is not made available from Central Government.

15.   That it be noted that, due to external factors, budget assumptions remain subject to significant change, which could, therefore, result in alterations to the financial position facing the Council.

16.   That the updated projected deficit assumes the achievement of budget reduction and income generation proposals amounting to £8.8 million over period 2020-2021 to 2023-2024 be noted.

17.   That it be noted that the 2021-2022 budget timetable would, as in previous years, include an updated report presented to Cabinet in October 2020 detailing budget reduction and income generation proposals that would be subject to formal budget consultation during October to December 2020. Further to this, an update on all budget assumptions and the Provisional Local Government Settlement would be presented to Cabinet by January 2021, with the final budget report due to be approved by Full Council in March 2021.

18.   That the overall level of risk associated with the 2020-2021 Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy 2020-2021 to 2023-2024 is assessed as Red. 

To approve the award of contracts for works, goods and services

To provide an update on progress with the Civic Centre Public Realm - phase 1 and phase 3 progress and approvals for project delivery.

1.      That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for City Environment, in consultation with the Director for City Environment, to approve the award of the main works contract for City Centre Public Realm phase 1 (Victoria Street) and phase 3 (North Street) at a total estimated contract value within expected funding limits, upon completion of the evaluation process and subject to grant funding being secured.

2.      That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Members for Resources and City Environment in consultation with the Director of Finance and Director of City Environment to approve the creation of any supplementary budgets for the two phases of the project.

3.      That the progress with the design and delivery of the scheme be noted.

To seek necessary approvals relating to external funding bids.

1.      That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for City Environment and the Cabinet Member for Resources, in consultation with the Director of City Environment and Director of Finance to:

a.      Approve acceptance of the grant funding agreements and the Council entering into such agreements if the Black Country Blue Network 2, Wolverhampton Investment Smart Energy and the Black Country Electric Vehicle and Charging Infrastructure Grant Scheme projects are successful at final bid stage.

b.      Create the necessary supplementary revenue budgets in line with the funding agreements if the projects referred to in recommendation 1 above are successful at final bid stage.

c.      Create the necessary supplementary capital budgets in line with the funding agreements if the projects referred to in recommendation 1 above are successful at final bid stage.

d.      Approve additional capital budget of £2.1 million funded through £1.1 million European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) grant and £976,000 Council capital match for the Black Country Blue Network 2 project. The Council capital budget will be fully funded through Section 106 agreements received.

e.      Approve reimbursement of ERDF grant to delivery partners who are awarded ERDF grant for Black Country Electric Vehicle and Charging Infrastructure Grant Scheme.

f.        Approve the payment of grants to businesses who are awarded ERDF grant for Black Country Electric Vehicle and Charging Infrastructure Grant Scheme.

2.   Approve acceptance of memorandum of understanding and creation of required supplementary budgets to deliver the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Integration Project.

3.      The submission of full bids for key schemes to meet our climate change commitment including environmental improvements through the Black Country Blue Network 2 project, energy efficiency improvements through the Wolverhampton Investment Smart Energy project and supporting the uptake of ultra low emission vehicles through the Black Country Electric Vehicle and Charging Infrastructure Grant Scheme be noted.

4.      That the successful outcome of the ESOL for Integration Fund to deliver a series of community based to support English language practice and social integration in the city be noted.

5.      That the virement of funding from the Corporate Capital Contingency to create a capital budget for Wolverhampton Investment Smart Energy, subject to business case approval be noted.

A report seeking approval to proceed with the transactions listed therein.

Approved the completion of the transactions listed below:

·        Former Wednesfield High School – Deed of Easement

·        Park Village Youth and Media Centre – Deed of Variation

·        St. Peter’s Walk, Heath Town – Transfer of public open space

Lease of part of Jonesfield Crescent garage site to the adjacent medical practice

Approved the lease of a portion of Jonesfield Crescent garage site in East Park Ward, to the adjacent East Park Medical Practice, for use as a car park to support the planned extension of the Medical Practice, subject to agreement of the Council’s Heads of Terms.

Cleaning of refuse Cleaning Vehicles and Skip Wagons.

Approved the award of the contract for the provision of Specialist Vehicle Cleaning to Vardens Contracts Limited of Calendar Farm, The Longshoot, Nuneaton, CV11 6JH for the duration of four years from 1 August 2020 to 31 July 2024 for a total contract value of £317,664.00.

1.    Approved the award of the contract for Winter Maintenance Vehicles to Econ Engineering Limited of Boroughbridge Rd, Ripon HG4 1UE for the duration of four years from 05 October 2020 to 04 October 2024.

1.    Approved the completion of the purchase of the former council properties listed in Appendix 1 at the agreed price of £366,335.

2.    Approved the purchase of the freehold of the property listed in Appendix 1 at the agreed price of £31,000.

3.    Authorised the Chief Legal Officer or other authorised officers to execute legal documentation to put the purchases into effect.

1.    Having considered the Draft SEND Strategy, approved public consultation on the document from 14 July to 21 September 2020.

Approved virements required to support the additional costs relating to Covid-19.

1.     That the absence of Councillors Payal Bedi-Chadha, Paul Birch, Paul Appleby, Jacqueline Coogan, Claire Darke, Jasbinder Dehar, Christopher Haynes, Hazel Malcolm, Beverley Momenabadi, Sandra Samuels OBE, Gurmukh (Mak) Singh, Obaida Ahmed, Susan Roberts, Rashpal Kaur and Udey Singh be approved until 16 January 2021 pursuant to section 85 of the Local Government Act 1972.

1.        That the approach to the distribution of the remaining discretionary business grant as detailed in the report be agreed.

2.        That supplementary expenditure budgets totalling £47,000 be established, funded by new Burdens funding to support the costs of administrating the discretionary business grants scheme.

  Capital Budget Outturn 2019-2020 including Quarter One Capital Monitoring 2020-2021

1.   That the revised medium term General Revenue Account capital programme of £380.8 million, an increase of £2.0 million from the previously approved programme, and the change in associated resources be approved.

2.   That the revised Housing Revenue Account (HRA) capital programme of £462.2 million, a reduction of £20,000 from the previously approved programme, and the change in associated resources be approved.

Treasury Management – Annual Report 2019-2020 and Activity Monitoring Quarter One 2020-2021

1.   That authority be delegated to the Director of Finance to lower the minimum sovereign rating in the Annual Investment Strategy, in the event of the UK’s credit rating being downgraded by the two credit rating agencies, due to the unprecedented impact of Covid-19 on the economy.

2.     That it be noted the Council operated within the approved Prudential and Treasury Management Indicators, and also within the requirements set out in the Council’s approved Treasury Management Policy Statement during 2019-2020.

3.     That it be noted that revenue underspends of £440,000 for the General Revenue Account and £273,000 for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) were generated from treasury management activities in 2019-2020.

4.     That it be noted that revenue underspends of £1.5 million for the General Revenue Account and £434,000 for the HRA were forecast from treasury management activities in 2020-2021.

5.     That it be noted that due to receipt of grants from Central Government in response to Covid-19 the Council temporarily exceeded the limit of £10.0 million to be held in the Council’s bank account. The temporary increase of the limit to £32.7 million was approved by the Director of Finance under the authority delegated by Council and was in place for the period 1 April 2020 to 9 April 2020.