CABINET
MINUTES of a meeting held on 16th
April, 2008.
Present: Councillor Ms. M.E. Alexander
(Chairman); Councillor N. Moore (Vice-Chairman); Councillors R.F.
Curtis, Mrs. V.M. Hartrey, G. John, Mrs. M. Randall, Mrs.
M.R. Wilkinson and C.J. Williams.
C3476
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE -
These were received from Councillors S.C. Egan
and N.J. Gibbs.
C3477
WELCOME -
On behalf of the entire Cabinet the Chairman
welcomed Councillor Mrs. Randall who was attending her first
meeting for some time.
C3478
MINUTES -
RESOLVED - T H A T the minutes of the meeting
held on 2nd April, 2008 be approved as a correct
record.
C3479
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST -
Councillor C.J. Williams declared an interest
in Agenda Item No. 6 in that a close family member worked in
OneVale and vacated the room during the consideration thereof.
C3480
VOLUNTARY SECTOR COMPACT (REF - MINUTE NO. 860) -
As had been previous practice, a review of the
Compact had been conducted by a Joint Working Group with the
voluntary sector to develop an agreement for further consideration
by the Voluntary Sector Joint Liaison Committee. Once
agreement had been reached on a revised Compact, a further report
would be brought to that Committee seeking approval for an Action
Plan for 2008/09. The Committee had, subject to the views of
the other partner agencies, referred the revised Compact to Cabinet
for consideration.
RESOLVED - T H A T, since the Compact would be
reported back to the Voluntary Sector Joint Liaison Committee
following the outcome of the consultation with other partner
agencies and thence Cabinet for endorsement, the current position
be noted.
Reason for decision
To have regard to the process.
C3481
WARD MEMBER CONSULTATION TASK AND FINISH GROUP (REF) -
The focus of the above review by the Scrutiny
Committee (Corporate Resources) had been to assess current
procedures for the purpose of developing improved consultation
arrangements between officers and elected Members on service issues
which arose within individual electoral wards and neighbouring
wards (near to ward boundaries). The Task and Finish Group
had made the following recommendations to the Scrutiny
Committee:
“(i) That the Scrutiny
Committee (Corporate Resources) consider the terms of the draft
protocol as appended to the report;
(ii) That the Scrutiny
Committee (Corporate Resources) having considered and approved the
terms of the draft protocol for the consultation of Ward Members on
draft reports for consideration by the Cabinet, Council and other
Committees (with the exception of the Planning and Licensing
Committees), recommends to the Cabinet that the draft protocol be
adopted.”
The Scrutiny Committee had subsequently
endorsed the same, adding that a review of the protocol should be
undertaken within twelve months of its implementation, and referred
the same to Cabinet for consideration and adoption with immediate
effect. Cabinet fully accepted that ward members should be
consulted and kept up to date on current and future
developments/matters affecting their wards. Particular reference
was made to the disruption to localities by road works, much of
which was not attributable to the Council, and to ways in which
communities could be better informed as to the reason and nature of
the works being undertaken and the body responsible for those
works.
RESOLVED -
(1) T H A T the draft
protocol as developed by the Task and Finish Group as endorsed by
the Scrutiny Committee be accepted and a report submitted to
Cabinet on its implementation in 12 months.
(2) T H A T consideration be
given by the Director of Environmental and Economic Regeneration to
developing a protocol to publicise the type, duration and body
responsible for works within communities likely to cause local
disruption/inconvenience.
Reasons for decisions
(1) To improve ward member consultation.
(2) To improve communication with the local
community.
C3482
ONEVALE BUSINESS CASE UPDATE (CX) (SCRUTINY COMMITTEE -
CORPORATE RESOURCES) -
Consideration was given to the details of the
progress to date since the last report to Cabinet in January 2008
as summarised below:
·
The single number had been implemented as of 17th March,
2008;
·
Adult Services Contact and Information Centre integrated into
Contact OneVale;
·
Vale Community Alarm Service (VCAS) to be integrated into C1V by
the end of April 2008;
·
Implemented Oracle Financials system as of 1st April,
2008;
·
Implementation of the Oracle i-Procurement system as of
1st July, 2008;
·
Corporate Electronic Document and Records Management system now
procured;
·
Commenced tender process for external support in implementing
Oracle Payroll and i-Expenses during 2008/09.
It was noted that the Business Case was
monitored on a quarterly basis. Overall there was a
favourable variance of £5.726m., details pertaining to which were
appended to the report. During the course of subsequent discussion,
consideration was requested as to ways in which the initial contact
message for the public with the Contact Centre could be improved.
It was agreed that the matter would be investigated.
This was a matter for Executive decision.
RESOLVED - T H A T the progress to date with
the OneVale Business Case be noted.
Reason for decision
To note progress.
C3483
TRANSPORT GRANT AWARD 2008/09: ACCEPTANCE (DEER) (SCRUTINY
COMMITTEE - ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT) -
Attention was drawn to the fact that 2008/09
was likely to be the final year of Transport Grant (TG) in its
current form. It was considered more probable that, in future
years, TG would be applied for and awarded through SEWTA to enable
the delivery of the Regional Transport Plan. The schemes
submitted for TG funding had, therefore, been restricted to those
schemes already in receipt of TG funding from 2007/08 together with
new Safe Routes in the Communities Schemes (which were funded from
a separate funding source).
The Council had again been successful in
securing significant TG funding for transportation schemes and for
Safe Routes in the Communities Schemes, with an award of £1.639m.
being made for 2008/09 by WAG as detailed below:
·
The Merrie Harrier Gyratory and Cardiff Road Bus Lane -
£852,000
·
Safe Routes in the Communities - £787,000 for improvement measures
to be undertaken at Barry Comprehensive, Sully Primary, Cadoxton,
Llandough, St. Illtyd’s, St. Brides Major and Barry Island
Schools.
Clarification was given at the meeting as to
the reference in the appendix to the report relating to Barry
Central Station; the scheme was now completed with funding received
in 2007/08, hence there being no need for funding in 2008/09. Since
the offer of TG funding for 2008/09 had to be accepted by
11th April, 2008, the use of the Urgency Procedure had
been implemented.
This was a matter for Executive decision.
RESOLVED -
(1) T H A
T the Transport Grant award of £1.639m. from the WAG for
transportation schemes within the Vale of Glamorgan during 2008/09
be noted.
(2) T H A
T the WAG offer of £1.639m. Transport Grant funding for 2008/09 be
accepted.
(3) T H A
T the use of the Urgent Decision Procedure to accept the WAG offer
of £1.639m. funding for 2008/09 as set out in Article 13 of the
Council’s Constitution be endorsed in view of the need to meet the
WAG deadline of 11th April, 2008.
Reasons for decisions
(1) To
advise Members of the 2008/09 TG award from the WAG.
(2) To
formalise the acceptance of the Director of Environmental and
Economic Regeneration’s TG offer.
(3) To
meet the required deadline set by the WAG.
C3484
CONSULTATION ON THE UPDATE OF THE WALES SPATIAL PLAN (WSP)
(DEER) (SCRUTINY COMMITTEE - ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT)
-
WAG was current consulting on the update of
the WSP, asking for any representations to be received by
24th April, 2008. The Wales Spatial Plan had been
adopted by the National Assembly for Wales in 2004 and was intended
to set an agenda for sustainable development in Wales over the next
twenty years, assisting the WAG to address the key challenges for
Wales in relation to climate change, tackling poverty and ensuring
Wales became a prosperous and inclusive society.
The update of the Plan proposed distinct
approaches for three areas in the South East, including:
·
City / Coast - an area including the two main cities of Cardiff and
Newport as well as smaller district communities (including the Vale
of Glamorgan), offering a high quality of life located in rural
coastal locations;
·
Heads of the Valleys Plus - an area comprising the Upper Valleys of
South East Wales;
·
Connections Corridor - an area of Mid Valleys and rural South East
Wales under pressure for economic and housing development spilling
out of the cities.
The Update Plan focused on delivery
recommending that existing structures drive forward the key
initiatives through collaborative working and building on existing
connections, placing emphasis on drawing all plans together to work
in unity to ensure that all aspirations were consistent and
achievable.
The recognition of Barry was welcomed as being
one of fourteen key settlements within the Plan to have been
identified as having a critical role to play in the success for the
city-region. The Plan would complement the Council’s Local
Development Plan (LDP) Draft Preferred Strategy and SEWTA’s
Regional Transport Plan. It was recognised that in the
Council’s vision for the Vale Barry would play a vital role in
achieving success in all five themes outlined in the WSP Update
although it had to be emphasised that Barry was independent of St.
Athan and should be treated as such in terms of funding.
Given the emphasis placed on Barry and St. Athan, it was essential
that similar emphasis was placed on improving surface access to
Barry and the coastal area from the M4 Motorway. The need to
recognise that improvements had to be delivered on surface access
between Barry and Cardiff was also imperative. Whilst it was
recognised that works were currently underway in assessing the need
to improve access to and from Barry, the Airport and the St. Athan
areas, the WSP, in recognising Barry as a key settlement and St.
Athan as a Strategic Opportunity Area, also needed to recognise the
essential requirements to improve and enhance the highway network,
both northwards to the M4 and eastwards to Cardiff. The fact
that the proposed St. Athan Military Training Academy had been
identified as a Strategic Opportunity Area within the Update Plan
was welcomed although it was noted that the second phase of the
Defence Academy might actually not be delivered at St. Athan.
Given that the WSP focused particularly around the implementation
of developments at St. Athan, it was considered critical that the
first phase of the Defence Training Academy and the WAG’s own
Aerospace proposals were properly progressed and acknowledged.
Whilst acknowledging the importance of a
Severn Barrage in contributing to the renewable needs of the UK, it
was considered, however, that the inclusion of the “National
Connectivity” link in the location shown at Lavernock Point largely
formalised the Barrage concept and pre-empted the completion of the
recently announced WAG feasibility study. It was likely that
the matter would be reflected within the emerging LDP in due
course. As regards housing, included within the WSP Update
was the regional housing household needs requirement figure of
106,000 for the period up to 2021. It was noted that the
Council had used that figure as a starting point for the housing
requirement figure within its LDP Draft Preferred Strategy and it
was considered that the WSP Update should contain a paragraph
endorsing the apportionment of that requirement figure by
SEWSPG. It was also considered appropriate that within the
WSP Update a paragraph should be inserted stating that the SEWSPG
appointment process had been undertaken in line with the
aspirations of the current WSP.
This was a matter for Executive decision.
RESOLVED -
(1) T H A
T the contents of the WSP Consultation document be noted.
(2) T H A
T the comments outlined above and contained within paragraphs 11-15
of the report be forwarded to the WAG as the Council’s formal
response to the consultation in advance of the deadline for
comments.
(3) T H A
T the Urgent Decision Procedure under Article 13.09 of the
Constitution be implemented to authorise the Director of
Environmental and Economic Regeneration to issue the response to
the WAG on the WSP Consultation document in advance of the deadline
for comments.
Reasons for decisions
(1) To ensure
that the Vale of Glamorgan has every opportunity to contribute to
the Plan.
(2)&(3) To respond to the
deadline set by WAG.
C3485
CARBON MANAGEMENT PLAN (DEER) (SCRUTINY COMMITTEE - ECONOMY
AND ENVIRONMENT) -
The Draft Carbon Management Plan, having
already received the endorsement of the Corporate Management Team,
was now before Cabinet for approval. This Council along with
all other Welsh Authorities had signed the Welsh Commitment to
Address Climate Change in April 2006, and the Carbon Management
Plan formed the framework and implementation plan to achieve the
necessary carbon emission reductions. The Draft Plan had been
submitted to the Carbon Trust for comments and feedback.
The Carbon Management Plan aimed to reverse
the increasing energy use and increasing carbon emissions by the
Council and save over £6m. over the lifetime of the Plan. The
European Buildings Directive would come into force in the UK later
in the year requiring over fifty of the Council’s public buildings
(including the Civic Offices and certain Libraries and Schools) to
be graded in terms of energy performance. With the lack of
wide-scale investment in improving the energy performance of
Council buildings, the Carbon Management Plan would be vital in
making the necessary improvements and enabling the Council to
perform well. A further risk to the Council would be the
Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) which might require the Council
to join a mandatory carbon trading scheme which, if implemented,
would penalise poor performing Councils. The Plan included a
number of actions where building user behaviour and Council policy
decisions could make significant reductions in energy use and, for
that reason, a corporate approach by all services and a wide-range
of officers had been identified for implementing the actions
embodied within the Plan. Attention was drawn to the fact
that Schools and Leisure Centres were currently responsible for
over 75% of the Council’s carbon emissions; those service areas
would, therefore, need to endorse and implement the Plan if the
Plan were to succeed. It was noted that the capital
expenditure required would be subject to the normal bidding process
where new resources were required.
The Carbon Management Plan itself was appended
to the report. It was considered important to emphasise that
the Council should lead by example and demonstrate that through its
activities the Council could contribute specifically to carbon
reduction. The Council had decided to participate in the
Carbon Trust programme for Local Authority Carbon Management Plan
and was one of only two Welsh Local Authorities participating in
the current programme. Additional financial resources of
£1.9m. would be required to implement the 20% carbon emissions over
the lifetime of the Plan and further details relating to the
resource implications were contained within the report.
This was a matter for Executive decision.
RESOLVED - T H A T the Vale of Glamorgan
Strategy and Implementation - Carbon Management Plan (Spring 2008)
be approved and submitted to the Carbon Trust.
Reason for decision
To enable the Council to reduce its carbon
emission by 20% by the financial year 2015/16.
C3486
BARRY WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENT PRINCIPLES: DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION
(DEER) (SCRUTINY - ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT) -
The above document, as appended to the report,
set out the key principles which had to be considered as part of
any future master plan and subsequent planning submission for the
Waterfront. These were:
· A
mix of uses
·
Use of the Water
· A
phased development
·
Integration
· A
sense of place
·
Community Pride
·
Sustainability
·
Design Quality
·
Movement and Accessibility
·
Planning obligations.
In particular, the document made it clear that
the Council expected a highway link to the Island in advance of the
occupation of any development on the West Pond and South Quay
sites, the provision of a range of non-residential uses, including
community based and a range of leisure and commercial facilities to
be delivered in a phased manner. Furthermore, the document
made it clear that the Council required an exemplar development in
terms of design and sustainability. It was proposed that,
subject to consideration by the Planning Committee and the Scrutiny
Committee (Economy and Environment), the development be made
subject to consultation for a period of four weeks following which
the matter would be reported back to Cabinet to consider the
results of the consultation exercise and the requirement, or
otherwise, to amend the document.
A letter from Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners, written on
behalf of the Consortium, was circulated at the meeting together
with an initial response from the Head of Planning and
Transportation. Whilst supporting the broad development principles
proposed in the document as the basis for the production of a joint
development brief and subsequent masterplan, Nathaniel
Lichfield and Partners expressed significant concerns regarding the
proposed Planning Obligation Requirements. The point made by the
Head of Planning and Transportation, that the document was very
much a draft document on which consultation would be undertaken,
was fully accepted. Members stressed the need for Council’s
aspirations for the area – which echoed those of the community - to
be clearly identified at an early stage. The document was
imminently to be considered by the Planning Committee and it was
confirmed that the letter from Nathaniel Lichfield and response
from the Head of Planning and Transportation would be circulated
simultaneously for consideration.
This was a matter for Executive decision.
RESOLVED -
(1) T H A
T, subject to consultation with the Planning Committee and the
Scrutiny Committee (Economy and Environment), the Draft Barry
Waterfront Development principles document be endorsed for the
purposes of consultation.
(2) T H A
T, following the undertaking of consultation, Cabinet receive a
further report detailing the outcome of the consultation process
and consider whether any amendment of the document were necessary
as a consequence.
Reasons for decisions
(1) To
allow the Council to consult on the content of the document.
(2) To
allow Cabinet to consider the responses arising out of the
consultation process in advance of adopting the Barry Waterfront
Development principles document.
C3487
SICKNESS ABSENCE REPORT - APRIL TO DECEMBER 2007 (DLD) (SCRUTINY -
CORPORATE RESOURCES) -
Within the Corporate Plan and the Human
Resources Strategy, the aim was for the Council to review and
implement new systems to improve sickness management and achieve a
reduction in levels of sickness absence. A key target in the
Plan was to reduce sickness absence from an average of 14.71 days
per annum (2004/05) per full time employee (FTE) to 9½ days
by 2009. The total lost days across the Council for April to
December 2007 had been 39,615 which equated to a PI figure of 10.23
days/shifts per FTE. Details of service areas comparing 2007
with 2006 showed a reduction of 0.20 days/shifts per FTE.
Details of supporting information excluding Education (Schools)
were appended to the report. Chief Officers had been trained
on the application of the Council’s Management of Attendance Policy
which came into operation from 1st March, 2005.
Since April 2007, 17 employees had left the Council through ill
health retirement (12) or ill health dismissal (5). There
were currently 158 long term sickness cases going through case
management within the Policy, it being noted that the Policy itself
was being reviewed as part of the WAO recommendations. The
Wales Audit Office (WAO) report regarding Sickness Absence
Management across the Authority had included an Action Plan
detailing a number of measures, and an updated Action Plan was
appended to the report. The WAO Action Plan contained
specific recommendations about setting both short and long term
absence targets including the development of robust target setting
processes which
·
ensured that all absence targets were subject to robust challenge
by CMT;
·
ensured individual departmental sickness absence targets
contributed to and were consistent with the achievement of the
corporate wide target;
·
set differentiated targets for short term and long term
absence;
·
involved managers in setting sickness absence targets for their
teams and areas of responsibilities.
It was reported that the above measures had
been incorporated into the new “Management of Attendance Policy”
which was currently going through consultations. The CMT had
raised serious concern about the current levels of sickness and was
in the process of setting new sickness targets for next year.
The CMT had agreed the following
[i] To continue to
support positive health measures, the effective use of the
Occupational Health Service and to reaffirm the commitment to the
Corporate Health Standard.
[ii]
To re-emphasise that whilst the Council would continue to be
supportive, fair and reasonable, continuing absence which impacted
on the capacity of the organisation to deliver its statutory
obligations would be dealt with through the agreed procedures,
potentially leading to dismissal of staff.
[iii] To
confirm that management of the corporate risk relating to sickness
absence would rest with the Corporate Management Team.
[iv] To
establish specific arrangements to review sickness management and
the effectiveness and consistency of case management through:
· This sickness report
being referred to all Directorate Management Teams to consider and
to develop local action plans within the agreed procedure.
· Each Directorate to
nominate a Head of Service to take the lead in sickness management
and to be accountable to the Corporate Management Team for
monitoring and reviewing progress.
· The establishment of
targets to reduce sickness absence levels within each service area,
those targets to be included in service plans, reported to Scrutiny
Committee and disaggregated and discussed at team level.
· The -establishment of a
new management of attendance working group with revised objectives
based on the WAO recommendations and involving the relevant Cabinet
Members and Chief Officers.
· A launch of the
Council’s revised Sickness Management policy with explicit
Corporate Management and Elected Member support.
· An exploration of the
possibility of reviewing Occupational Sick Pay for short term
sickness.
In order to ascertain more accurately the most
appropriate steps needed to address in particular the issue of long
term sickness, and given that the number of long term sickness
absentees within a Division could skew the statistics, the Head of
Human Resources was requested as to investigate whether it would be
useful to identify the number of absentees in future reports in
addition to the percentage of time lost.
This was a matter for Executive decision.
RESOLVED -
(1) T H A
T the content of the report be noted.
(2) T H A
T the actions of the Corporate Management Team as outlined above
and contained within paragraph 12 of the report be endorsed.
(3) T H A
T a further report on the implementation of the CMT decision be
submitted when sickness figures were next reported to Cabinet.
(4) T H A
T a further report giving details of long term absences within
services be submitted to Cabinet.
Reasons for decisions
(1)&(4) To
bring matters to Members’ attention in line with corporate aims and
objectives.
(2)&(3) To
ensure Chief Officers and Line Managers take the necessary action
within the Council’s Management of Attendance Policy and to
continue to review sickness absence levels.
C3488
EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC -
RESOLVED - T H A T under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government
Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the
following item of business on the grounds that it involves the
likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 4 of
Schedule 12A (as amended) of the Act, the relevant paragraph of the
Schedule being referred to in brackets after the minute
heading.
C3489
PENARTH CENTRAL RENEWAL AREA: GROUP REPAIR PHASE 6A - APPOINTMENT
OF CONTRACTORS (EXEMPT INFORMATION - PARAGRAPH 14) (DLPPHS)
(SCRUTINY - COMMUNITY WELLBEING AND SAFETY) -
Five tenders had been received in respect of
the above.
This was a matter for Executive decision.
RESOLVED - T H A T, subject to the contractor
providing a satisfactory Health and Safety Plan for the
construction stage and the required Performance Bond, the tender
from Roalco Ltd. in the sum of £399,895.00 be accepted and that the
Council enter into a contract with the said company to undertake
Phase 6A of the Group Repair Programme for the Penarth Central
Renewal Area.
Reason for decision
To enable progress of the Group Repair
Programme and the Penarth Central Renewal Area Strategy
2004-08.