To agree the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 7 November 2019, as a correct record.

Resolved: That the Minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 7 November 2019 be approved and signed as a correct record.

Any interests not already registered

There were no additional declarations of interest.

There were none.

a)            Net Zero 2030

Cabinet received a reference from Council asking it ‘to develop an action plan to support the delivery of the proposed staged actions in support of Net Zero 2030’.

The Chairman introduced the report and Cabinet indicated its full agreement with the aspirations set out in Appendix A to the report.

Resolved:  That

a)     a Working Group consisting of Councillors Dickins, Dyball, Fleming and McArthur be formed and instructed to consider and bring forward the actions set out in Appendix A of the Net Zero 2030 report;

b)     the Chairman be requested to write to Group Leaders and other Members to invite them to attend the Working Group;

c)     the Working Group report back to Cabinet on progress and for further instructions at the request of the Chairman.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Investment presented the report which set out progress made in preparing the 2020/21 budget and updates Members on key financial information.

The Chief Officer Finance & Trading set out that included in the last report was an assumption that £93,000 of net savings/additional income per annum was included for this budget cycle.  The SCIAs listed in Appendix D to the report showed that savings exceeding this amount were being proposed but that there were also growth items proposed. If all of the proposals were accepted by Cabinet together with the changes to assumptions, further savings / additional income of £99,000 per annum would still be required to produce a balanced 10-year budget.

There were still some uncertainties as the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement was not expected to be announced until January 2020, which could include changes to the current assumptions such as increasing the Council Tax referendum limit.

All of the further growth and suggestions made by the Advisory Committees were discussed in detail. 

Public Sector Equality Duty

Members noted that consideration had been given to impacts under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Resolved:  That

a)      SCIAs 1-10 (20/21) listed in Appendix E be progressed;

b)      SCIAs be presented to Cabinet in January on the following growth and savings suggestions put forward by the Advisory Committees listed in Appendix F:

Growth

i)          Extending the contract for the Urban Design Officer (Development and Conservation);

ii)        Reviewing Enforcement resources to maintain recent improvements to the service (Development and Conservation);

iii)      Establishing a programme of suitable tree planting (Cleaner and Greener).

Savings

i)        Maximising the potential of leisure facilities in Edenbridge (People and Places);

ii)        Reducing paper and print (Improvement and Innovation);

iii)      Electric Car Project (Improvement and Innovation);

iv)      Reviewing Treasury Management Strategy constraints (Finance and Investment);

v)        Reviewing Property Investment Strategy constraints (Finance and Investment);

vi)      Advertising income opportunities including at Sevenoaks Bus Station (Finance and Investment).

c)      Request that officers identify further savings options to be included in the Budget Update report to Cabinet on 9 January 2019.

d)      Actions on growth and savings suggestions made by the Advisory Committees that are not being progressed as SCIAs.

                                i)            SDC facilitate youth work (People and Places) – Kent County Council to be contacted.

                              ii)            Tourism (People and Places) – present a separate report to Cabinet.

                            iii)            Bulky Waste (freighter) collection – improve Parish Council awareness which may increase income (Improvement and Innovation) – market to Parish Councils.

                            iv)            Additional HERO Officer (Housing and Health) – this was not necessarily an item for 2020/21.  However, as funding may not be present in future years, Members were advised that it should remain in budget consideration for the future.

                              v)            Providing our own energy supply – buying in bulk from suppliers (Housing and Health) – include in the Net Zero work.

The Cleaner & Greener Portfolio Holder advised that the Cleaner & Greener Advisory Committee had considered the same report.  The Solicitor answered questions from Members and indicated that the adoption of the scheme was subject to consultation.

Public Sector Equality Duty

Members noted that consideration had been given to impacts under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Resolved: That

a)     the District adopt a scheme to deal with abandoned shopping trolleys, subject to consultation; and

b)     responsibility be delegated to Swanley Town Council for the Swanley Town Council area.

The Finance & Investment Portfolio Holder presented the report which gave details of treasury activity in the first half of the current financial year, recent developments in the financial markets and fulfils the reporting requirements of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Code of Practice on Treasury Management.  The Head of Finance addressed the meeting on this item and indicated that the Finance & Investment Advisory Committee had considered the same report.

Public Sector Equality Duty

Members noted that consideration had been given to impacts under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Resolved: That the Treasury Management Mid-Year Update for 2019/20, be approved.

The Finance & Investments Portfolio Holder presented a report on the Council’s 2019/20 financial results to the end of September 2019, which showed the end of year position currently forecast to be a favourable variance of £103,000; this represented just under 0.7% of our net service expenditure budget totalling £15m.

The Head of Finance indicated that this included £90,000 of interest from loans to Quercus 7 for property investments. If this was excluded there would be a favourable variance forecast of £13,000.  He advised that the Finance and Investment Advisory Committee had considered the same report.

Public Sector Equality Duty

Members noted that consideration had been given to impacts under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Resolved: That the report be noted.

The Head of Housing & Health presented the report which sought approval of the Sevenoaks District Health and Wellbeing Action Plan which set out objectives and actions that would help to reduce health inequalities and improve the health and wellbeing of residents across the District.  She

advised that the Housing & Health Advisory Committee had considered the same report and had suggested amending wording at Objective 5.1.

The Head of Housing and Health took questions from Members and agreed to clarify any unclear issues.  The Chairman of the Housing and Health Advisory Committee indicated that this report had been well received by the Committee.

Public Sector Equality Duty

Members noted that consideration had been given to impacts under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Resolved: That it be recommended to Cabinet that the Action Plan be agreed and adopted, subject to the word ‘existing’ be replaced with ‘quality’ at the first bullet point of Objective 5.1.

IMPLEMENTATION OF DECISIONS

This notice was published on 9 December 2019. The decisions contained in Minutes 38, 39, 41, 42 and 43 take effect immediately.  The decision contained in Minute 40 takes effect on 17 December 2019.