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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Cabinet and Committee Room, 52 Derby Street, Ormskirk L39 2DF

Contact: Democratic Services  Email: Member.Services@westlancs.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

64.

APOLOGIES

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Pope and Rigby.

 

(Note 1: The Committee were advised that Councillors Fillis, N Hennessy, and Pope may arrive late due to attendance at a meeting at the County Council)

 

(Note 2:  Councillor Devine took the Chair)

 

65.

MEMBERSHIP OF THE COMMITTEE

To be apprised of any changes to the membership of the Committee in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4.

Minutes:

There were no changes to Membership of the Committee.

66.

URGENT BUSINESS, IF ANY, INTRODUCED BY THE CHAIRMAN

Note:  No other business is permitted unless, by reason of special circumstances, which shall be specified at the meeting, the Chairman is of the opinion that the item(s) should be considered as a matter of urgency.

 

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

67.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST pdf icon PDF 112 KB

If a member requires advice on Declarations of Interest, he/she is advised to contact the Legal and Democratic Services Manager in advance of the meeting.  (For the assistance of members a checklist for use in considering their position on any particular item is included at the end of this agenda sheet.)

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

68.

DECLARATIONS OF PARTY WHIP

In accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Committee Procedure Rule 16, Members must declare the existence of any Party Whip, and the nature of it, when considering any matter in the following categories:

 

-       The review of any decision of the Cabinet or

-       The performance of any Member of the Cabinet

 

N.B. The Secretary of State believes whipping is incompatible with Overview and Scrutiny.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of Party Whip

69.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 98 KB

To receive as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2024.

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2024 be received as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

(Note: Councillor Fillis arrived at the commencement of this item and took the Chair)

70.

PUBLIC SPEAKING pdf icon PDF 73 KB

Residents of West Lancashire on giving notice, may address the meeting to make representations on any item on the agenda except where the public and press are to be excluded during consideration of the item.  The deadline for submissions is 10.00am on Friday 8 March 2024.  A copy of the public speaking protocol and form to be completed is attached.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no items under this heading.

71.

RELEVANT MINUTES OF CABINET pdf icon PDF 99 KB

To consider the Minutes of Cabinet held on 6 February 2024.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the Minutes of Cabinet held on 6 February 2024 as contained on pages 519 to 526 of the Book of Reports.

 

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of Cabinet held on 6 February 2024 be noted.

72.

DRAFT HOMELESSNESS & ROUGH SLEEPERS STRATEGY 2024-29 pdf icon PDF 158 KB

To consider the report of the Corporate Director of Transformation, Housing and Resources.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report of the Corporate Director of Transformation, Housing & Resources as contained on pages 527 to 556 of the Book of Reports, which was to consider and agree the Homelessness & Rough Sleepers Strategy 2024-29 subject to consultation.

 

Comments and questions raised in respect of the following:

·       Areas where there is homelessness (rough sleeping) – there are reports of this happening in the Skelmersdale and Ormskirk areas of the Borough.

·       Excellent report

 

RESOLVED: That the report be considered and noted.

73.

CORPORATE PERFORMANCE REPORTING: 2024/25 pdf icon PDF 410 KB

To consider the report of the Corporate Director of Housing, Transformation and Resources

Minutes:

The Head of Corporate and Customer Services outlined the report of the Corporate Director of Transformation, Housing and Resources as contained on pages 557 to 566 of the Book of Reports, which was to seek approval for the Council Priorities Delivery Plan for 2024/25.

 

Comments and questions were raised in respect of the following:

·       It was suggested that it would be useful to have a column in the tables of Appendix 1, that sets out the annual target indication measure to show if low or high is good.

·       Green Flag Awards can be costly /are their other ways of assessing quality of parks?

 

The Head of Corporate and Customer Services thanked Members for their comments and suggestions and advised that these would be addressed.

 

RESOLVED: That the Committee considered and noted the draft delivery plan for the Council Priorities as attached at Appendix 1.

74.

QUARTERLY COUNCIL PERFORMANCE DELIVERY: Q3 2023/24 pdf icon PDF 476 KB

To consider the report of the Corporate Director of Transformation, Housing and Resources.

Minutes:

The Council Performance Lead outlined the report of the Corporate Director of Transformation, Housing and Resources as contained on pages 567 to 580 of the Book of Reports, which presented performance monitoring data for the quarter ended 31 December 2023.

 

Comments and questions were raised in respect of the following:

·        R1 - % Council Tax collected (current year) – Why is Council Tax collection still down post-covid?

This is due to numerous considerations; Members were advised that comparing West Lancs to other Lancashire Councils, we have a positive increase.  It was also noted that requirements of delivering Support Schemes have not been factored in.

·       How much Council Tax is 'written off' each year?

·       It was requested that a copy of the Council Tax - Scheduled Recovery Plan be circulated to Members. 

·       Costs of Bailiff / Court and the VFM of this – Can this information be provided?

The Head of Corporate and Customer Services informed that the information and response to the above comments and questions will be provided to Members following the meeting.

 

The Chairman thanked Officers for their work on this difficult transition from Covid.

 

RESOLVED: That the Council’s performance for its key performance indicators for the quarter ended 31 December 2023 be noted.

 

(Note: Councillor N Hennessy arrived at the commencement of this item)

75.

Financial Inclusion Strategy 2024-2029 pdf icon PDF 219 KB

To consider the report of the Corporate Director of Transformation, Housing and Resources.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Income and Financial Inclusion Manager outlined the report of the Corporate Director of Transformation, Housing & Resources as contained on pages 581 to 602 of the Book of Reports, which was to request approval of the new five-year Financial Inclusion Strategy 2024 -2029.

 

Comments and questions raised in respect of the following:

·       Health and Wellbeing.

·       4.1% of residents in West Lancs are unemployed – can this information be broken down to show number of vacancies and the skills required by employers.

The Income and Financial Inclusion Manager informed Members that he would liaise with DWP, to provide this information following the meeting.

 

RESOLVED: That the report be considered and noted.

 

 

 

76.

GRA Capital Programme Q3 Monitoring Report pdf icon PDF 194 KB

To consider the report of the Head of Finance, Procurement and Commercial Property Services.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Finance Manager outlined the report of the Head of Finance, Procurement and Commercial Services as contained on pages 603 to 622 of the Book of Reports, which was to agree a Revised General Revenue Account (GRA) Capital Programme for 2023/24 and provide an update on progress on capital schemes.

 

A question was raised in respect of the location of changing places facility. The Corporate Director of Transformation, Housing and Resources advised that this would be in Coronation Park, Ormskirk.

 

The Finance Manager responded to a question in respect of the following:

·       What is the Environmental Services - Webaspx Project?

It was explained that this is digital software for routing optimisation of the bin lorries.

 

RESOLVED: That the report be considered and noted.

 

77.

2023/24 GRA REVENUE Q3 MONITORING pdf icon PDF 131 KB

To consider the report of the Head of Finance, Procurement and Commercial Property Services.

Minutes:

The Finance Manager outlined the report of the Head of Finance, Procurement and Commercial Services as contained on pages 623 to 626 of the Book of Reports, which was to provide a summary of the General Revenue Account (GRA) position for the 2023/24 financial year at quarter 3.

 

RESOLVED: That the 2023/24 GRA position be noted.

 

 

78.

HRA REVENUE AND CAPITAL QUARTER THREE (Q3) REVIEW pdf icon PDF 144 KB

To consider the report of the Head of Finance, Procurement and Commercial Property Services.

Minutes:

The Principal Finance Business Partner outlined the report of the Head of Finance, Procurement and Commercial Services as contained on pages 627 to 632 of the Book of Reports, which was to provide a summary of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and Housing capital programme positions for the 2023/24 financial year.

 

RESOLVED: That the 2023/24 HRA and Housing capital programme positions be noted.   

 

The Chairman thanked all for their good work at the conclusion of the meeting.