Agenda item

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

 

The following questions were received from members of the public:

 

Graeme Barnell

 

Please can Cabinet provide information about the planned programme for Council House building that informs the calculations in the budget:-

 

Question 1:

What is the annualised forecast for Council House completions/acquisitions over the next four years?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property:

 

23/24 – 60 units

24/25 – 27/28 – 85 new units per annum. Some additional new units will also be provided within specific schemes as a replacement for existing, end of life properties.

 

Question 2:

How many of these homes will be new build, how many modular and how many vis acquisition?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property:

 

This will vary year by year depending on specific schemes but on average from 24/25 onwards:

 

80% (circa 68 units) will be new-build modular

18% (circa 15 units) will be new-build traditional

2% (circa 2 units) will be acquisition via buy-back of former Mid Devon Housing properties

 

Question 3:

How many will be social rented homes and how many just affordable rented?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property:

 

This will vary year by year depending on specific schemes, access to grant funding and local housing need requirements. Nonetheless, on average from 24/25 onwards around 90% of homes will be for social rent, the remainder at affordable rent. Rental mix will be continually assessed as the programme moves forward.

 

Question 4:

What will be the different sizes of these properties in terms of bedroom numbers?

 

 

 

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property:

 

The make up in terms of property sizes will be driven by the site-specific constraints and relevant housing need in the area of each development, but we will be delivering units of all sizes from 1-4 bed.

 

Question 5:

Where will these homes be located? If actual sites or locations have not been identified, then a general indication of probable location would be helpful.

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property:

 

Homes will be located across the district to meet local housing need across the majority of town and parish wards. Currently over 50 potential sites within present Housing Revenue Account (HRA) ownership have been identified. Additional sites not currently within HRA ownership may also be considered. Which sites ultimately come forward is subject to feasible studies, businesses cases/funding and planning permission.

 

Mr Nick Quinn

 

It is properly recorded in the minutes of the previous Cabinet meeting that, in response to my question at that meeting, the Cabinet Member for Communities and Leisure stated that the new 2024 Leisure prices “were published, and open to public scrutiny and comment, three months before their implementation”.

 

In a subsequent Press article, on the introduction of these new Leisure prices, a Council spokesperson is quoted as saying that this statement was incorrect.

 

Question 1:

Will the Cabinet Member for Communities and Leisure please tell me why, in his answer to my question, he gave me false information?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Communities and Leisure:

 

I made a mistake in my reply, which conflated the elected member consultation with the leisure member’s notification.  This was corrected via a statement to the press, and I am happy to provide the same correction today.  For the benefit of the minutes I will read out the final paragraph of my statement now and highlight the correction:

 

All 42 elected members had visibility of the proposals and the opportunity to speak, comment and challenge at the PDG and previous cabinet meeting when discussed, and thorough scrutiny of the proposals was provided.  Additional text: This took place over the three months before implementation.

 

Continuing: The charges were published and open to public scrutiny and comment before implementation (The words ‘3 months’ were deleted.  Answer then continues as minutes).

 

For clarity, Mid Devon Leisure members with affected memberships were notified of the proposed changes on 6th December 2023.

 

Question 2:

Will the Cabinet Member for Communities and Leisure please ensure that his explanation, and correction, are recorded in the minutes of this meeting?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Communities and Leisure:

 

Yes.

 

Question 3:

Has the purchase of St George’s Court by the District Council, referred to in paragraph 7.1.1, and been completed yet?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property Services:

 

No, the sale process is ongoing.

 

Question 4:

If so, on what date was this completed?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property Services:

 

Not applicable.

 

Question 5:

Has the purchase of the Knowle Lane land by the District Council, referred to in paragraph 7.1.3, and been completed yet?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property Services:

 

Yes.

 

Question 6:

If so, on what date was this completed?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property Services:

 

2 February 2024

 

Question 7:

Has the purchase of the Banksia Close property by the District Council, referred to in paragraph 7.1.4, been completed yet?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property Services:

 

No.

 

Question 8:

If so, on what date was this completed?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property Services:

 

Not applicable.

 

Question 9:

Has the sale of the land at Post Hill, by the District Council, been completed yet?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property Services:

 

No.

 

Question 10:

If so, on what date was this completed?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property Services:

 

Not applicable.

 

 

Mr Barry Warren

 

Paragraph 7.1.1. advises that the sale of St. George’s Court should be completed by the end of January. One assumes that this is January 2024?

 

Question 1:

Has the sale been completed and if so what is the agreed purchase price please?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property Services:

 

No, the sale process is ongoing

 

Question 2:

Is the portfolio holder for Planning able to confirm that the site and buildings have been built completely in accordance with the approved planning permissions and that all conditions have been complied with?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Regeneration:

 

We are not aware of contraventions or discrepancies with the approved planning permission.

 

Question 3:

Is the portfolio holder for Housing satisfied that a complete independent structural survey has been carried out and report prepared, showing that the premises are suitable for the intended purpose, and this is contained within the relevant purchase papers?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property:

 

Yes

 

Question 4:

Has the portfolio holder for Housing had a complete survey report prepared, with costings, which details all the necessary alterations and adaptions required to make the properties suitable for the intended HRA use?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property:

 

The Operations Manager for Building Services has surveyed the property and provided a conservative estimate of costings to undertake the required adaptions. This is a routine area of work for Mid Devon Housing with a dedicated team and contractors in place to undertake such works.

 

Question 5:

Will any documents prepared in relation to questions 3 and 4 be made available to the public in the interests of openness, honesty and transparency?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Housing and Property Services:

 

It’s not our intention to make these documents publically available.

 

Question 6:

Is the portfolio holder for Finance satisfied that the agreed purchase price being paid by the council for St Georges Court is a price which reflects the current housing market and the fact that when marketed little or no interest was shown by others in purchasing the property?

 

Response from Cabinet Member for Finance:

 

Yes

 

May I refer members to the minutes of the Cabinet Meeting of the 17th October 2023, minute 53 where on pages 49/50 reference was made to the replacement of a Director and then a U Turn in advice reported to have been received by the Chief Executive from Local Government Association [LGA] and South West Councils [SWC].

 

The table on page 265 shows proposed increases for the Deputy Chief Executive of 20.7%, the Director of Place and Economy of 13.6% and a new Director of Legal, HR and Governance of 33.3% over the salary paid to the previous post of District Solicitor and Monitoring Officer.

 

 

Question 7:

What advice has been sought by the Chief Executive before putting forward such rises?

 

Response from the Leader of the Council:

 

When this administration took control of the council in May last year, it inherited the significant financial mess that had been left by previous administrations. As part of our commitment to financial responsibility, we asked the Chief Executive whether savings could be made in the senior management team since one Director was due to retire. Following external advice, this position was subsequently reported to Cabinet and a decision was made to remove one post and redistribute those responsibilities as appropriate. In response to a question about the level of financial savings, the Chief Executive responded that he couldn’t be specific at that time as the new posts would need to be externally assessed when taking on these new responsibilities, but that these savings would be reported in public as part of the council’s pay statement. As they are today. To answer the question on advice sought; the council’s senior posts are assessed externally by SW Councils in order to ensure that they are independently benchmarked and are appropriate to the functions and responsibilities of the posts. This also forms part of the council’s commitment to robust equality where remuneration for posts is assessed based on the requirements and responsibility of the posts, blind to any bias on age, gender or any other characteristic.

 

Question 8:

Bearing in mind cuts being made to some services and the various increases in fees and charges to the public, how does the Leader of the Council justify recommending such increases for senior officers?

 

Response from the Leader of the Council:

 

This change delivers savings to the public of around £40,000 with no redundancy costs incurred. That is additional money that can be used to fund frontline service provision, or be used to plug the significant deficit as left to us by the previous administration.

 

Mr Paul Elstone

 

Question 1:

How much did this Council pay 3 Rivers to purchase Knowle Lane?

 

Question 2:

Page 103 Appendix 7 of the Report Pack details the S151 Officer role responsibilities.  Responsibilities including but not limited to

 

“Ensuring that the capital strategy is prudent, sustainable affordable and prudent in the long term and provides value for money”.  Also “Ensuring that due diligence has been carried out on all treasury and non-financial investments”.

 

Additionally, the Statutory Monitoring Officers position has related “Good Governance” role responsibilities.

 

There has been massive financial loss incurred by this Council equivalent to circa £100 for every man woman and child in Mid Devon.  A figure likely to rise significantly. This given the 3 Rivers debacle, the Post Hill site investment failure and losses still likely to be realised from and I quote “the pig in the poke” site at Bampton 

 

Therefore, what caused both of these officers to fail so very badly in delivering on their role responsibilities?

 

Question 3:

Given these serious roles and responsibilities failures.

 

How can the grossly excessive  pay increases of circa £24,000  or 33  percent and by circa £18,000  or near  21 percent for these exact same officers  be considered, and in any circumstances, a decision  that would not stand up to any scrutiny in private business ?

 

 

 

Question 4 for the Leader of the Council:

Why did he knowingly allow one of these same Council Officers along with others  to suppress evidence from being presented to the 3 Rivers Working Group including evidence  from former Council Leaders. Evidence that would have called into full question these outrageous pay awards amongst many other things?

 

 

Question 5 for the Leader of the Council:

Why would the former Council Leaders evidence - and I quote “present an unbalanced view” of the 3 Rivers failings?