Skip to main content

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Phoenix Chambers, Phoenix House, Tiverton

Contact: Carole Oliphant  Member Services Officer

Link: audiorecording

Items
No. Item

103.

APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS (0.03.55)

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

Minutes:

There were no apologies or substitute Members.

104.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST UNDER THE CODE OF CONDUCT (0.04.07)

Councillors are reminded of the requirement to declare any interest, including the type of interest, and reason for that interest, either at this stage of the meeting or as soon as they become aware of that interest.

 

Minutes:

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

105.

PUBLIC QUESTION TIME (0.04.19)

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.

Minutes:

Mr Elstone, referring to item 4 on the agenda, asked the following questions:

 

1.    He had raised a complaint on 1st November 2021 and stated he had not received a reply and requested a response

2.    He had raised an allegation of fraud against a MDDC Senior Officer and was advised by the Monitoring Officer that he should contact the police and felt that the decision not to investigate internally required oversight by the Scrutiny Committee.

 

In response the Operations Manager for Legal and Monitoring advised that his standards complaint was being investigated and that he would receive a written response in due course.

 

Members expressed concern that allegations of fraud did not appear to be investigated internally and asked for clarification of the process.

 

The Operations Manager for Performance, Governance and Health & Safety advised that the Council did have an internal escalation process for allegations of fraud and these could be referred to the Devon Audit Partnership if the allegations were substantiated. Allegations of fraud should also be referred to the police.

106.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING (0.16.18) pdf icon PDF 138 KB

Members to consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 13th December 2021.

 

The Committee is reminded that only those members of the Committee present at the previous meeting should vote and, in doing so, should be influenced only by seeking to ensure that the minutes are an accurate record.

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the last meeting were approved as a correct record and SIGNED by the Chairman.

107.

DECISIONS OF THE CABINET (0.17.41)

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

Minutes:

The Committee NOTED that none of the decisions made by the Cabinet on 4th January 2022 had been called in.

108.

CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS (0.19.00)

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

Minutes:

The Chairman made the following announcements:

 

·         The disputed 3 RDL finance figures would be presented at the next meeting

·         He had agreed that an urgent item regarding HIF funding for the Cullompton Relief Road could be brought to the next meeting of Cabinet under the General Exception Clause

·         Responses had been received from other authorities regarding Anaerobic Digesters

·         That Catherine Yandle, Operations Manager for Performance, Governance and Health & Safety would be leaving the authority and he thanked her for her service to the Council.

109.

DIRECTOR OF PLACE (0.22.12)

Committee to receive an overview and presentation from the Director of Place on his service area and responsibilities.

Minutes:

The Director of Place gave an overview of his remit by way of a presentation which highlighted his remit, the purpose of the role, objectives and goals and how those would be achieved.

 

The Officer stated that this role was intentionally not a like-for-like replacement for the former Head of Planning and Regeneration role.

 

In response to questions he explained that engagement was key and that the people who knew a place best where those that loved and worked there. Fundamentally it was engaging early and at a local level and that Members could help with engagement of their communities.

 

He explained that to overcome the biodiversity crisis that the Council would need to try to plan methods to tackle this as part of the planning process.

 

With regard to questions regarding Masterplans he informed the Committee that there were touchpoints during developments which could take years and that Masterplans needed to be adaptable over time. In the first instance a conversation was required on where the Council was now and how it moved forward.

 

Consideration was given to:

 

·         Junction 27 possibilities were being discussed by the Economy PDG who had requested further information on what development was being considered – Members were able to join the discussion through the PDG if required

·         The Council had not been successful with a levelling up grant for the Cullompton Relief Road and this would have an effect on timelines so were not actively looking at land acquisitions at this point in time

110.

WHISTLEBLOWING 6 MONTH UPDATE (0.58.04)

Committee to NOTE that there have been no whistleblowing instances in the previous 6 months.

Minutes:

The Committee NOTED that there had been no Whistleblowing instances in the previous 6 months.

111.

BUDGET UPDATE 2022/2023 (0.59.38) pdf icon PDF 271 KB

To receive a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (S151) reviewing the revised draft budget changes identified and discussing further changes required in order for the Council to move towards a balanced budget for 2022/23. This report was presented to the Cabinet on 4th January 2022.

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Group had before it, and NOTED, the revised draft budget for 2022-2023.

 

The Cabinet Member for Finance explained that, after a lot of consultative discussion with Officers and Members including input from all PDGs, the gap to close at £947k, was still a substantial sum. He explained that this was the Council’s budget and not the just the Cabinets budget and he encouraged Members to contribute to the debate. He explained that the Committee may wish to look at the process around budget setting to see if this could be improved for 2023 onwards.

 

The Deputy Chief Executive (S151) explained that this was the second round of budget discussions and since the initial presentation of the draft budget further savings had been identified along with the Government’s Funding Settlement. He explained that the budget had gone through 1.5 rounds of the PDG’s and Cabinet and that there was a requirement to scrutinise the budget.

 

In response to questions asked he explained that the Audit Committee did not look at the budget as it was not a statutory consultee and that the Cabinet evaluated the risk. He explained that there was significant borrowing for the Housing Infrastructure Projects but this had all been included in the Capital Budget and although the full levels of external funding were not available, the budget as presented, included the latest up to date forecast.

 

The officer confirmed that the increase in Capital Projects was due to the proposed increase in housing stock and that the Authority had not been a housebuilding Council for a number of years but this is what the Members had wanted to see.  He explained that it would be funded by a fixed rate loan which was serviceable.

 

The 3 weekly bin collections, although supported by the Environment PDG, had yet to be ratified by the Cabinet and therefore any savings had not been included in the budget. If the proposal was ratified any savings would be reinvested into the waste service.

 

He confirmed that the budget included the agreed borrowing for 3 Rivers Developments Ltd as set out in their business plan which was presented to Scrutiny and then approved by the Cabinet in November 2021.

 

Members expressed support for the Committee to look into a more inclusive budget setting process which included idea’s from local community groups. A proposal form would be completed and sent to the Scrutiny Officer who would bring back a full proposal at a future meeting of the Committee.

 

Note: *Report previously circulated and attached to the minutes

112.

FORWARD PLAN (1.40.00) pdf icon PDF 285 KB

Members are asked to consider any items within the Forward Plan that they may wish to bring forward for discussion at the next meeting.

Minutes:

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

 

Note: *Plan previously circulated and attached to the minutes

 

113.

SCRUTINY OFFICER UPDATE (1.40.10)

To receive an update from the Scrutiny Officer.

Minutes:

The Chairman advised that this item was deferred until the next meeting.

114.

WORK PLAN (1.41.31) pdf icon PDF 102 KB

Members are asked to note the current Work Plan for the municipal year.

 

Members to have the opportunity to discuss additional items to be investigated by the Scrutiny Committee and added to the Work Plan.

Minutes:

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

 

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