(i) Councillor R B Howe, Executive Councillor for Commercial Activities.
(ii) Councillor J A Gray, Executive Councillor for Resources.
(Presentations - 10 minutes; Questions to the presenting Executive Councillors – 10 minutes; Questions to other Members of the Cabinet – 10 minutes.)
Minutes:
Councillor R B Howe, Executive Councillor for Commercial Activities
The Chairman invited Councillor R B Howe, Executive Councillor for Commercial Activities to address the Council on the principal services within his portfolio responsibilities namely One Leisure, CCTV and the Document Centre. Councillor Howe began by advising the Council that it was his intention to introduce the principles associated with a commercial enterprise into the organisation but still continue to deliver services, to meet needs and benefit stakeholders.
In terms of the One Leisure service, the Council was reminded that there were five leisure centres and one outdoor centre. These had attracted 140,000 members of which 36,000 were regular users. It was the view of the Executive Councillor that these centres were essential in promoting healthy activities to young people and encouraging residents to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Councillor Howe indicated how passionately he believed in these aspirations and how important it was that these centres be protected for young and old to use despite the difficulty in managing and maintaining them efficiently and effectively in the current economic climate. Despite a healthy annual income, Councillor Howe explained that the Centres still operated with a budget deficit and that he was determined to vary the economic model so that the District Council would not have to continue to subsidise the centres in the future. He compared the District Council’s operation and profit to that of LA Fitness and indicated how he envisaged the role of Centre Manager would change going forward.
Although a controversial area in the past, Councillor Howe reminded the Council that the authority continued to support the CCTV service which was available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It was used extensively by the police and was highly valued in town centres. A project to share the service with Cambridge City Council had involved the installation of 160 additional cameras into the Control Room at Eastfield House and whilst early days, work was continuing to ensure the shared service succeeded such that it could be extended to other Councils. He also envisaged that the service might be offered to schools, building sites, commercial premises etc as a way of covering its steep operating costs.
Lastly, Councillor Howe described his plans for the Document Centre. It was his intention to expand the service by making it available to other councils. This would improve the recovery of costs and operating expenses currently met by this authority.
Questions to Councillor Howe were then invited. Councillor S M Van De Kerkhove raised a question about cross border visitors (from Bedfordshire principally) to One Leisure, St Neots and the possibility of making an extra charge for use of facilities by non Huntingdonshire residents. In reply, Councillor Howe indicated that a data base was available which could report how many users of One Leisure, St Neots came to the Centre from Bedfordshire and that he was able to provide this information to the questioner after the meeting. In response to a question from Councillor P D Reeve, Councillor Howe indicated that One Leisure at Ramsey would continue to operate as a separate centre. In terms of staffing and in response to a question from Councillor T F Hayward, Councillor Howe accepted that there had been a number of changes in staffing which may have impacted on morale but that he was hopeful that the new Head of Service would bring a new spirit to the service which ultimately would result in happy and contented staff. Referring to the smaller centres and in response to a question from Councillor M F Shellens, Councillor Howe made it clear that provided these centres were able to demonstrate that they continued to work efficiently for the benefit of their local community they would not be required to compete with the larger centres.
Attention was drawn by Councillor M F Shellens to the Council’s decision to employ agency staff to cover the loss of lifeguards at Huntingdon Leisure Centre. Councillor Howe explained that lifeguards had received an increase in pay during the recent pay review but fitness and other instructors had had pay reduced. This had resulted in a reduction in resources which had led to the cancellation of some classes at Sawtry. It was his expectation that, in future, leisure centre staff would be multi skilled and sufficiently flexible to respond to shortfalls in staff and classes in other centres.
Councillor Howe confirmed in response to questions from Councillor Mrs L Duffy that should the extension of the CCTV service to other users generate commercial benefits, he would, after consultation, consider whether these savings might advantage the town councils. Councillor Howe added that he would give as early notice as possible of CCTV costs to the town councils for budget purposes. On another subject, Councillor Mrs Duffy asked why only 25% of One Leisure members appeared to be using the facilities regularly and Councillor Howe accepted that this was an issue that required further investigation through comparisons with LA Fitness and other authority centres. Councillor Mrs Duffy suggested that it may be a question of improved marketing and transport to centres and asked whether the prospect of a community bus had been considered to take users to the Ramsey Centre which was located some distance out of town. Councillor Howe confirmed that marketing of the One Leisure brand would become the responsibility of the Centre Manager who would be encouraged to use resources to best generate interest locally.
Returning to the question of instructors at One Leisure, Sawtry, Councillor Howe acknowledged the importance of swimming for children and suggested that swimming lessons would resume when the Centre had a full complement of staff.
Councillor J A Gray, Executive Councillor for Resources
As the Executive Councillor had spoken on several occasions recently on the budget process, Councillor Gray suggested that he would use the opportunity to give an overview on budget matters and the direction of travel. He explained that his portfolio broadly covered management of the Council’s estate and property, financial resources and setting the budget. In terms of the Council’s estate, Councillor Gray reminded Members that he was undertaking a review of the Council’s commercial estate, that this yielded an annual income of £1.9m and that the ‘Facing the Future’ exercise had endorsed the principle of managing the property such that it would continue to provide income to offset the level of Council tax. The outcome of the review of commercial estates was due to be published shortly. All other property falls within the Council’s operational estate and included, for example, Eastfield House, Pathfinder House, car parks, land and buildings etc with an estimated value of approximately £38m.
Regarding the direction of travel, Councillor Gray reminded the Council that it had recently approved a strategy for treasury management. In terms of the budget, work also had commenced on a base budget review. Although the format had yet to be finalised, he described a new process whereby Heads of Service would be required to appear before a ‘star chamber’ to bid for the level of budget they required to fund their services in the forthcoming financial year. Heads of Service would be subject to challenge and the budget would evolve through this process. Councillor Gray confirmed that the Overview & Scrutiny Panel still would have a part to play in this process.
The Executive Councillor indicated that it was his objective to produce a balanced budget without reliance on reserves and government grant. He was aware that the outcome of the general election in May 2015 may have an impact on the level of government funding so considered that it was in the Council’s interest to develop a strategy which reduced any reliance on the government.
In terms of Council tax, Councillor Gray announced that there would be no increase in tax levels in 2015/16 and that he was optimistic that there would be no increase until 2020. Although the budget was being prepared on this basis it depended upon continuation of the Council’s existing approach to customer service and value for money.
In response to a question from Councillor P D Reeve regarding the potential for use of Council buildings for bed and breakfast accommodation, Councillor Gray indicated that whilst he had instructed the Estates Officer to find a suitable property, this had prompted a local RSG to consider purchasing property for this purpose in Huntingdon at no cost to the Council. Councillor Gray pointed out that whilst this approach would not solve all problems, it might prompt partners to consider options. On the same theme, Councillor J P Morris asked whether the Council had any plans to increase the supply of affordable housing to rent and purchase. In his capacity as Executive Councillor for Planning & Housing Strategy, Councillor D B Dew admitted that although this was a huge challenge in the District, the Council would seek to encourage developers and social landlords to provide social housing and particularly shared equity properties in the new local plan period to 2036.
In answer to a question from Councillor R S Farrer, Councillor Gray confirmed that it was not the Council’s intention to build Council houses.
In commending the review of the base budget and having expressed an interest in the ‘star chamber’ approach, Councillor Mrs L Duffy requested that free car parking in Ramsey be retained. Councillor Gray acknowledged that this was an important issue for residents and would form part of the review of the Council’s operational estate.
Councillor M F Shellens observed that the timescale for the introduction of base budget was extremely tight. He also made comments on the excellent level of customer services that continued to be provided, the need to encourage provision of one and two bedroomed units to release larger properties for families and the progress of the ‘Making Assets Count’ project. In reply, Councillor Gray confirmed that ‘MAC’ work was continuing although delivery was difficult outside the District and he would welcome the contribution of both the County and town and parish councils and other partners in taking this initiative forward in a more positive way. He also was confident that the move to base budgeting would be successful.
Councillor R Harrison reported that the Overview & Scrutiny Panel (Economic Well Being) would consider an update on ‘Facing the Future’ at their September meeting and that he was optimistic that when all new Corporate Directors and Heads of Service were in place the options would begin to move forward more positively.
Councillor K J Churchill welcomed the general direction of Councillor Gray’s address and the underlying objective – to make the Council an efficient and effective organisation, providing excellent value for money services for all residents. Councillor Gray thanked all Members for their support.
Questions to Cabinet Members
In response to a question from Councillor P Kadewere in respect of the tragic drowning of a young person in the river at Hartford, the Executive Leader gave an assurance to the family and the community that the District Council would work with the relevant agencies, regardless of where responsibilities lay, to meet the wishes of the bereaved family in terms of the erection of warning signs or other preventative measures on the riverbank at Hartford.
Referring to a recent court case involving Councillor R Harrison and in response to a question from Councillor D A Giles, the Executive Leader was of the opinion that the case had been a civil matter dealt with appropriately by the Court. If the case had involved a breach of the District Council’s code of conduct he would have referred the matter to the Monitoring Officer for investigation. Whilst he was of the view that the allegations had been politically motivated, Councillor Ablewhite reminded the Council that he had made a statement to the local press at the time and did not wish to add to this. Councillor K J Churchill also concurred with the view that the case had been a civil matter and had been dealt with accordingly.
In response to questions from Councillors M G Baker and P D Reeve, the Executive Leader agreed that any restructuring of an organisation would cause uncertainty amongst staff, that it was natural process for employees to change, that in his recent discussions with staff, morale appeared to be improving and that every opportunity would be taken to share the skills and expertise of Council employees.
Lastly, in response to a question from Councillor M F Shellens, the Executive Leader confirmed that Waitrose had decided to withdraw from the unit which they had been expected to take up in the new Huntingdon development but it was understood that a prestigious organisation was to take their place and that this would be confirmed in due course. Current works involved the removal of a gas main which had resulted in significant ground works.