No disclosures of interest in matters under consideration were received.

There were no appeals submitted by the public to review decisions to restrict documents.

COUNCIL MEETING – 14 OCTOBER 2019 - PETITION RE Museums and Libraries Service

The Council, at its meeting on Tuesday 14 October 2019 received a petition in respect of Museums and Libraries Service and referred the petition to the Executive.

Note: In receiving the above petition the Leader stated that it should be considered as part of the Budget Consultation report at the December meeting, and that the lead petitioner be advised accordingly.

ACTION: Assistant Director Sports and Culture

(Councillor Hinchcliffe)

(Councillor Farley)

The Chief Executive will submit a report (Document “Z”) which provides an update to and builds on the report presented to the Executive on 6th November 2018 and subsequently to the District’s Area Committees regarding the issue of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). It now focuses on the Strategic Response to all forms of exploitation in Children and Adults and how partners from the Working Together to Safeguard Children – the Bradford Partnership and the Bradford Safeguarding Adults Board work to drive improvements across the District and to hold agencies to account for their work in their area. This report also outlines the emergence of other complex safeguarding themes and outlines how partners are effectively collaborating and focussing upon the protection of vulnerable Children and Adults.

Recommended –

(1)       The Executive is invited to endorse the contents of this report.

(2)       The Executive shall receive a further update on the progress of             the response to exploitation in 12 months time.

(3)       That subsequent reports will be provided to Area Committees.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee:  Children’s Services

(Mark Griffin - 01274 434361)

The Chief Executive submitted a report (Document “Z”) which provided an update to and built on the report presented to the Executive on 6th November 2018 and subsequently to the district’s Area Committees regarding the issue of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE).  It now focused on the strategic response to all forms of exploitation in Children and Adults and how partners were working together to safeguard children – the Bradford Partnership and the Bradford Safeguarding Adults Board work to drive improvements across the district and to hold agencies to account for their work in their area. The report also outlined the emergence of other complex safeguarding themes and outlined how partners were effectively collaborating and focussing upon the protection of vulnerable children and adults.

The Chief Executive stressed that this was a significant annual report setting out what the Council and its Partners were doing to protect vulnerable children and adults.  The report was a testimony to the work done to strengthen our safeguarding arrangements and how the strong partnership work was paying dividend.  One of the emerging agendas in line with other cities in the country was the issue of county lines, wheredrug gangs from big cities expand their operations to smaller towns, often using violence to drive out local dealers and exploiting children and vulnerable people to sell drugs.

A number of partner organisations were present at the meeting, including West Yorkshire Police and Barnardos, who gave an overview of the work done by them.

Overall good progress had been made in Bradford to tackle the issue of exploitation, although there had been a downturn in some areas of risk such as the criminal exploitation of children, the work of the Partnership was to build on the achievements and not be complacent in any way.

Significant challenges remained in the area of adults and this was a new emerging piece of work which the Partnership would build on.

The West Yorkshire Police representative stated that the work done in the district was exemplary, with keen interest from other parts of the country on how we were tackling the issue of CSE in the Bradford district. She alluded to the figures set out in the report and commended the excellent partnership work.

In response to a question by the Leader on the work being undertaken in the area of Adults, the Police representative stated that the exploitation routes in the area of adults was similar to Children’s, with vulnerability being the key factor and furthermore County Lines was a particular growing area of activity, with vulnerable adults used in the illicit drugs trade.  In essence the all age approach as well as identifying and tackling risks and ensuring there was a good reporting mechanism were in place to deal with the problem.

Representatives from Barnardos alluded to the engagement work they had done with children around relationships, self esteem, drugs, criminality and CSE, and as result there had been some good outcomes, including some one to one  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

The Director of Finance will submit a report (Document “X”) which provides Members with an overview of the forecast financial position of the Council for 2019-20.

It examines the latest spend against revenue and capital budgets and forecasts the financial position at the year end. It states the Council’s current reserves and forecasts school balances for the year. 

Recommended –

That the Executive

(1)       Note the contents of this report and the actions taken to manage          the forecast overspend.

(2)       Approve the following capital expenditure schemes.

•           £0.04m for the completion of drainage works at Dow Park Water            Activities Centre, to be funded from the general contingency budget.

•           £0.46m to replace the pool tank at Ilkley Lido. This will be funded          by a mixture of general contingency and as an invest to save          scheme with the additional income funding the capital spend.

•           £1.2m of additional funding to complete. This will be funded by a          mixture of Service Prudential borrowing and additional grant.

•           £1.75m for the completion of the Affordable Housing Programme          2015-18. The additional spend will be funded by Service    Prudential borrowing from rental income. 

•           £0.3m to extend the fitness facilities at Shipley Pool. This will be            funded by the additional income generated through increased      membership.

•           £0.05m to replace and repair the roof on a property that the         Council leases. The works would be funded from the general        contingency line of the Capital Investment Programme. 

•           £1.4m to relocate the Schools Meals Central Production Unit to a          smaller more efficient property. The works to the Council property             will be funded by a mixture of capital receipt, revenue         contributions and corporate funding.

•           £2.1m for the 2019-20 IT capital programme. It will be funded from         revenue resources.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee: Corporate

(Andrew Cross - 01274 436823)

The Director of Finance submitted a report (Document “X”) which provided Members with an overview of the forecast financial position of the Council for 2019-20.

It examined the latest spend against revenue and capital budgets and forecasted the financial position at the year end. It stated the Council’s current reserves and forecasted school balances for the year. 

It was reported that based on a projection at September 30th 2019, the Council was forecasted to underspend the £359.9m net revenue budget (£1.123bn gross budget) by £0.1m. Children’s Services were forecasting to overspend the £97.4m net expenditure budget by £8.5m, due mainly to a £9.0m forecast overspend on Children’s Social Care linked to increasing numbers of Looked After Children (LAC) and Children requiring support.

The Leader welcomed the news regarding the underspend on the overall budget, but acknowledged that pressures remained particularly in the area of Children’s Social Care. The Leader alluded to how cuts in Local Government funding over the years had impacted severely on Council services, and that although the figures showed an underspend, this was not without pain.

She urged that Government needed to understand the challenges facing Local Government, particularly in the area of Children’s Social Care and that investment was needed to ensure the best outcomes for our children, adding that one off monies did not adequately cover the shortfall, however she thanked officers and services for their effort on making the necessary savings and ensuring that the budget was on target.

An Ilkley Ward Councillor was present and stated that he welcomed the investment proposals for Ilkley Lido and he urged that some further discussions should be had regarding development of the Pavilion and how the works could be funded.  The Leader started that these could be explored in further discussions between the Councillor and the portfolio holder.

Resolved –

(1)       That the contents of this report and the actions taken to   manage         the forecast overspend be noted.

(2)       That the  following capital expenditure schemes be approved:

•           £0.04m for the completion of drainage works at Dow Park            Water Activities Centre, to be funded from the general   contingency budget.

•           £0.46m to replace the pool tank at Ilkley Lido. This will be             funded by a mixture of general contingency and as an invest to        save scheme with the additional income funding the capital            spend.

•           £1.2m of additional funding to complete Adults Residential          and Extra Care Schemes . This will be funded by a mixture of       Service Prudential borrowing and additional grant.

•           £1.75m for the completion of the Affordable Housing         Programme 2015-18. The additional spend will be funded by       Service Prudential borrowing from rental income. 

•           £0.3m to extend the fitness facilities at Shipley Pool. This             will be funded by the additional income generated through increased membership.

•           £0.05m to replace and repair the roof on a property that the         Council leases. The works would be funded from the general        contingency line of the Capital Investment Programme. 

•           £1.4m to relocate the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

The Chief Executive will submit a report (Document “Y”) which provides a summary of progress in the first half of the year against the Council’s key performance indicators.

Recommended –

That the progress against performance metrics outlined in the report be noted.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee: Corporate

 (Laura Copley - 01274 437381)

The Chief Executive submitted a report (Document “Y”) which provided a summary of progress in the first half of the year against the Council’s key performance indicators.  A PowerPoint presentation set out the key achievements to date.

The Leader stated that in spite of the challenges, the achievements were good and she acknowledge the collaborative work with Partners, adding that although good progress had been made in terms of education, attainment levels at key stage 4 needed to improve.

The Regeneration, Planning and Transport Portfolio holder thanked the housing team for the success in tackling homelessness, rough sleeping and addressing the issues of empty homes.

The Deputy Leader commended Carlton Bolling College for their recent success on becoming Secondary School of the Year at the prestigious Pearson awards, which was a testimony to the hard work of the school and the local community.  He added that it was one of many good schools in Bradford and that the push to drive up standards would continue with earnest.

Resolved –

That the progress against performance metrics outlined in Document “Y” be noted.

ACTION: No Action

Overview and Scrutiny Committee: Corporate

(Councillor Ferriby)

The Strategic Director Place will submit a report (Document “AA”) which is a progress update on delivery of the adopted Bereavement Strategy relating to crematoria provision covering:-

·         Land acquisition for the first new crematorium including the use of a Compulsory Purchase Order if required.

·         Construction of the crematorium

·         Procurement of cremators

·         Approval of the current funding profile for delivery of the crematoria programme

·         Implementation of the final phases of the contract with external specialists

Recommended –

That the Executive approves the following recommendations -

(1)       To delegate approval of spend to the Strategic Director, Place in           consultation with the S151 officer for the construction of the first   new crematorium within Heaton at a cost of £9.1m subject to land        acquisition and planning permission.

(2)       That the Executive is satisfied that the proposed development   schemes to construct the Crematorium is in the public interest    and that any harm caused by the use of compulsory purchase      powers to acquire and interfere with third party land and rights needed for the scheme is outweighed by the public benefits which           the Crematorium development scheme is likely to generate,

(3)       To agree in principle to Compulsory Purchase Orders being  made      pursuant to Section 226(1)(a) of the Town and Country Planning             Act 1990 (as amended by Section 99 of the Planning and           Compulsory Purchase Act 2004), Section 1 of the Localism Act 2011 and the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 and all other relevant             and enabling powers, to secure the compulsory acquisition of the    land shown edged red on the plan appended hereto in order to             facilitate the construction of the proposed Crematoria subject to a        final decision being taken jointly by the Strategic Director : Place            and the Strategic Director: Corporate Resources , in consultation        with appropriate Portfolio Holders as necessary, on whether to             make and submit the Compulsory Purchase Order to the             Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local         Government for confirmation, if satisfied that the Council has             properly taken into account the statutory requirements under    human rights and public sector equality legislation           

(4)       To further delegate to the Strategic Director: Place and Strategic           Director: Corporate Resources, in consultation with as necessary          appropriate Portfolio Holders authority to:-

(i)         make any necessary, minor or technical amendments to the                   Compulsory Purchase Order;

(ii)        modify and settle the draft “Statements of Reasons” to justify the         use of compulsory purchase powers, the Compulsory Purchase           Order Maps and Schedules and all other legal documentation       necessary to support and accompany the Compulsory Purchase         Orders to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and        Local Government for confirmation;

(iii)       promote any modifications to the Compulsory Purchase Order, if          expedient to do so;

(iv)      approve agreements for withdrawal of any objections to the       Compulsory Purchase Order, including where appropriate,     seeking exclusion of land from the Compulsory Purchase Order;

(v)       confirm the Compulsory Purchase Order, if satisfied that it is      appropriate to do so, in the event that the Secretary of State for     Housing, Communities and Local Government  ...  view the full agenda text for item 50.

The Strategic Director Place submitted a report (Document “AA”) which was a progress update on delivery of the adopted Bereavement Strategy relating to crematoria provision covering:-

·         Land acquisition for the first new crematorium including the use of a Compulsory Purchase Order if required.

·         Construction of the crematorium

·         Procurement of cremators

·         Approval of the current funding profile for delivery of the crematoria programme

·         Implementation of the final phases of the contract with external specialists

The Leader in welcoming the progress made in securing crematoria provision, stated that the need for good facilities was paramount and she thanked officers for their diligence and hard work in devising the proposals.

The Healthy People and Places Portfolio holder stated that this had been a long awaited ambition to replace our outdated facilities and that the artist impressions of the proposed crematoria showed how the district would benefit from such an updated modern facility.  It was also highlighted that once the crematoria was constructed, Nab Wood would remain open, so that relatives could continue to pay their respects to their loved ones.

Resolved –

(1)       To delegate approval of spend to the Strategic Director Place in            consultation with the S151 officer for the construction of the first   new crematorium within Heaton at a cost of £9.1m subject to land        acquisition and planning permission.

(2)       That the Executive is satisfied that the proposed development   schemes to construct the Crematorium is in the public interest    and that any harm caused by the use of compulsory purchase      powers to acquire and interfere with third party land and rights needed for the scheme is outweighed by the public benefits which           the Crematorium development scheme is likely to generate,

(3)       That it be agreed in principle to Compulsory Purchase Orders    being  made  pursuant to Section 226(1)(a) of the Town and        Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended by Section 99 of the             Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004), Section 1 of the             Localism Act 2011 and the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 and all         other relevant and enabling powers, to secure the compulsory             acquisition of the land shown edged red on the plan appended             hereto in order to facilitate the construction of the proposed                         Crematoria subject to a final decision being taken jointly by the       Strategic Director Place and the Strategic Director Corporate             Resources , in consultation with appropriate Portfolio Holders as         necessary, on whether to make and submit the Compulsory           Purchase Order to the Secretary of State for Housing,       Communities and Local Government for confirmation, if   satisfied        that the Council has properly taken into account the statutory           requirements under human rights and public sector equality        legislation    

(4)       To further delegate to the Strategic Director  Place and Strategic           Director Corporate Resources, in consultation with as necessary          appropriate Portfolio Holders authority to:-

(i)         make any necessary, minor or technical amendments to the       Compulsory Purchase Order;

(ii)        modify and settle the draft “Statements of Reasons” to justify the         use of compulsory purchase powers, the Compulsory Purchase           Order Maps and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

To receive the minutes of the meeting(s) of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority held on 1 August 2019 (attached).

That the minutes of the meeting(s) of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority held on 1 August 2019 be received

ACTION: No Action