Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and notices of appointment of substitute Members (if any).

Apologies were received from Cllrs Mrs S Griggs, E J Berry and F W Letch who was substituted by Cllr J Buczkowski.

Cllr Mrs E J Lloyd attended via ZOOM.

To record any interests on agenda matters.

Members were reminded of the need to make declarations where appropriate.

To receive any questions relating to items on the agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.

Note:   A maximum of 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

Mr Quinn, a local resident stated:

Regarding Agenda Item 6 – Decision of the Cabinet: 3 Rivers Funding

1. The wording of the Cabinet Decision does not make it clear where the funds for the increased loans, of £2.28M, will come from.

Question 1: Will the increased loans be funded by a reallocation within the agreed budget funding of £19.66M for 2022/23 - or an addition to that sum?

2. The level of public interest in 3 Rivers, and this decision, is high. Based on the published report, the public asked Cabinet some very pertinent questions about this funding request.

Question 2: Why have Scrutiny Committee only been provided with a Minute extract which contains the answers given to most of the Public Questions - but does not contain any of the Questions they asked?

3. Public questions were asked about the lack of Audit and Scrutiny input to this loan request and Risk. The only statement regarding risk was given verbally, at Cabinet, by Cllr Moore - who said: “Were Cabinet not to approve these loans, to cease funding the projects prior to completion, there would be a sudden and significant threat to the Council’s investment”.

Given the gravity of that statement, the lack of any mention of risk in the published report suggests that risks are not being properly acknowledged.

Question 3: Will Scrutiny please include, in any recommendation to Cabinet, a request for a proper consideration of risk before any re-appraisal of this funding decision is undertaken?

4. In the Cabinet Minute extract before you, Cllr Moore states that 3 Rivers’ projected spend for 2022/23, including the extra loans, would be considerably less than the total figure budgeted by Council. You should note that Cllr Moore’s figures were only “projected” and were only given verbally - his words are unsupported by any published information.

Cllr Moore also forgot to mention that the Council approved this budget total, on the basis of an agreed Business Plan for 6 development projects – some of which are now not being undertaken - and that this funding request covers more than 10% of that approved total.

Question 4: Will Scrutiny Committee please consider, in their deliberations, whether sufficient, reliable, information has been put forward to justify this significant Cabinet key decision?

Mr Elstone, a local resident stated:

QUESTION 1

Do the majority of this Scrutiny Committee agree with business focused members of the General Public? 

That MDDC are becoming INCREASINGLY and UNACCEPTABLY exposed to a risk of 3 Rivers SUBSTANTIAL BAD DEBT

Especially CONCERNING in these AUSTERE TIMES.

QUESTION 2

Why are MDDC Cabinet so easily prepared to lend a further near three million pounds to 3 Rivers and without an updated business plan in place? 

Especially as it is understood that the revised Business Plan is due for release in October.

Additionally, without the results of the 3 Rivers Internal Audit being made available.

This with internal auditors being engaged on or before May 2022.

QUESTION 3

Can the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

To consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 25^th July 2022

The minutes of the last meeting were not approved and it was RESOLVED that:

The minutes of the meeting held on 25^th July 2022 shall be amended at item 15 to include the exact form of the motion proposed and seconded as required by the Mid Devon constitution 20.2.

(Proposed by Cllr G Barnell and seconded by Cllr L J Cruwys)

It was AGREED that the minutes would be amended and be bought back to the next meeting for approval.

To receive any announcements that the Chairman of Scrutiny Committee may wish to make.

The Chairman asked for Members involvement in an up and coming Participatory Budgeting spotlight review.

To consider any decisions made by the Cabinet at its last meeting that have been called-in.

Call in – 3RDL Funding Request – By Cllr S J Clist - Chairman

At the Cabinet on 6 September 2022, Members considered the funding request that has been received from 3 Rivers Development Ltd.

Following discussion with various Officers, including a detailed conversation with the Monitoring Officer on Thursday 8 September, I am requesting that this item is called into the next Scrutiny meeting. I believe the Cabinet did not take the decision in accordance with the principles set out in Article 15 (Decision Making).

Reason for call in:

Principles of Decision Making –

·         Consideration of alternative options. The report presented to Cabinet did not set out alternative options or the option not to proceed. Cabinet did not therefore consider all options or viable alternatives.

·         The report presented to Cabinet did not fully consider the risks involved. There was no detailed analysis of financial risk or otherwise. The report was not presented to Scrutiny or Audit in advance of the decision.

·         I am therefore asking that Cabinet reconsider the decision, taking into account alternative options and a full risk analysis.

Advice from the Interim Monitoring Officer:

I have received a request for Call-In from Cllr Simon Clist as Chairman of Scrutiny Committee, thus meeting the threshold in rule 19(f) of the Scrutiny Committee etc. Procedure Rules.

The overarching rules of call-in must still be observed, namely:

1.         Call-in by Scrutiny should only be used in exceptional circumstances.  These are where members of Scrutiny Committee have evidence which suggests that the Cabinet did not take the decision in accordance with the principles set out in Article 15 (Decision-making) (rule 19 preamble);

2.         Members who wish to call-in a decision are required to seek guidance from the Monitoring Officer on the veracity of their stated grounds for the call-in and demonstrate that they have been mindful of the advice they have received when deciding whether or not to proceed (rule 19 (f)); and

3.         When the relevant Cabinet minutes are put before the Scrutiny Committee, together with the advice from the Monitoring Officer on the grounds for the call-in, the councillors who called in the decision shall have the right to attend and speak (rule 19 (h)).

The principles of decision of decision-making – Article 15

Article 15.2 provides that all decisions of the Council will be made in accordance with the following principles:

(a)       Proportionality (i.e. the action must be proportionate to the desired outcome);

(b)       Due consultation and the taking of professional advice from officers;

(c)        Respect for human rights;

(d)       A presumption in favour of openness;

(e)       Clarity of aims and desired outcomes;

(f)        Consideration of any alternative options; and

(g)       The giving of reasons for the decision and the proper recording of those reasons

Call-In – 3 Rivers Developments Limited – Funding Request:

The above rules and principles apply. In this instance, from the reasons advanced, I can see that the first and primary reason put forward is that alternative options should have been considered (Article 15.2  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

The Committee had before it, and NOTED, a *report from the Corporate Manager for People, Governance and Waste providing the 6 month Establishment update.

The Officer outlined the contents of the report and stated the increased lost days due to sickness, turnover and the increased vacancies.

Consideration was given to:

·         The amount of vacancies nationally and the shortage of key workers

·         A pay offer was being negotiated

·         Staff engagement and development

·         Skills analysis

·         Whether the recruitment process could be improved

·         The apprenticeship scheme was a credit to the council

·         There were regular meetings with South West Councils to share best practice

Note:  *report previously circulated and attached to the minutes

To receive an initial report from officers explaining the processes for debt collection, the amounts of debt involved and the numbers of debtors in long term or serious debt.

The Committee had before it, and NOTED, a *Collection of Debt report from the Corporate Manager for Revenues, Benefits, Corporate Recovery, Planning (DM) and Corporate Fraud.

The Principal Officer for Revenues and Benefits outlined the contents of the report and stated that the collection of debt was governed by statue.

She explained that the Council was in the upper quartile of neighbouring districts and that every effort was made to contact customers before any enforcement action was taken.

Consideration was given to:

·         Vulnerable customers were referred to welfare officers

·         There was a balance in supporting customers and collecting the Council’s debt.

It was agreed the Cllr G Barnell would liaise with officers to investigate the service and explore options that he would bring an update report back to Committee for consideration.

Note: *report previously circulated and attached to the minutes

To receive an initial report from officer explaining the uses, spending on and the processes for procurement. This includes the range of uses to which consultants are put including:-

• Masterplans and Neighbourhood Plans

• Technical work within the emerging Local Plan

• Viability Assessments

• Appeals

• Expert opinion especially for Planning Committee and Development Control decisions

• Staffing vacancy cover

The Committee had before it, and NOTED, a *report from the Director of Place regarding Planning Consultants.

The Officer explained that the report had been prepared at the request of the Committee and that generally the Council employed consultants to carry out the best possible work.

He explained that there was an absolute shortage of skilled staff and that although the Council had joint working with Building Control, this hadn’t alleviated the staff shortage issue.

He further explained that the Council would continue to grow talent through apprenticeship schemes and upskilling local residents.

Note: *report previously circulated and attached to the minutes

An update on Planning Enforcement Working Group Recommendations.

The Committee had before it and NOTED, the *Planning Enforcement Officer Review of Recommendations report.

The Director of Place introduced the report and stated that it was a positive situation and that the team were working well. He agreed to bring a further update to Committee in 3 months time.

Note: *report previously circulated and attached to the minutes

Committee to discuss the service being provided by the Legal Department as requested by Councillor A Wilce.

The Chairman advised the Committee that he had deferred the item and that if Members wished to have an item added to the agenda that he expected a written report to be provided which outlined the matters to be discussed and a background of the item.

To review the existing Work Plan and consider items for the committee’s future consideration, taking account of:

(a)       Any items within the Forward Plan for discussion at the next meeting;

(b)       The update from the Policy Research Officer on existing projects and forthcoming matters;

(c)        Suggestions of other work for the committee in 2022/23.

The Committee had before it, and NOTED the *Forward Plan and the *Scrutiny Work Plan.

The Scrutiny Officer gave the following updates:

·         Bio-energy industry: The Chairman has requested that the Policy/Research Officer explore the option to visit an anaerobic digester plant. Further details will be sent by email.

·         Spotlight Review on Participatory Budgeting: an all member email has been sent out to ask for other members to join the review group.

Note: *Forward Plan and Work Plan previously circulated and attached to the minutes