Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any announcements from the chair. 

The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, outlined the procedure to be followed and advised on emergency evacuation arrangements.

To record apologies for absence. 

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Pieter-Paul Barker.

Councillors David Rouane and Anne-Marie Simpson attended the meeting remotely.

To adopt and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 30 January, 6 March and 19 March 2025.

RESOLVED: to approve the minutes of the meetings held on 30 January, 6 March and 19 March 2025 as a correct record and agree that the Chairman sign them as such.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests, other registrable interests and non-registrable interests or any conflicts of interest in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting. 

Councillor Robin Bennett declared an interest in the Cornerstone Development Action Plan, Update and confirmed that he had not predetermined his position and would listen to the debate in full before reaching a decision and casting his vote on the item.

To receive notification of any matters which the chair determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent. 

There was no urgent business.

To receive any questions or statements from members of the public that have registered to speak. 

The deadline for registering to speak is 5pm Wednesday 9 April 2025.

There was no public participation.

To consider the attached paper, being the recommendations and updates from other committees to Cabinet. 

Cabinet received a recommendation from the Scrutiny Committee meeting, held on 24 March 2025. The committee’s recommendation was considered under the relevant item on the agenda.

To consider the report from the Head of Finance.

The Leader of the Council introduced the report covering the forecast revenue and capital expenditure for March 2025. Budgets containing multi-year grants had been moved to reserves along with any forecast underspends giving a working budget of £24.505 million. Further carry forwards may be identified at year end.

The report highlighted that employee costs were overspent by £440,000 due to the use of agency staff to support work on high priority projects and internal audits. While there had also been an overspend in relation to Cornerstone, income had increased when compared to the previous year.

The budget for the capital programme, as of end of December 2024, was £30.220 million, of which £19.314 million had been spent.

A Cabinet member asked whether investment income was from the current year or a previous year and was informed that income received in year was based on investments that matured in that year.

Cabinet expressed their thanks to the finance team for their work.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet note the contents of the report.

To consider the report from the Head of Housing and Environment.

The Cabinet member for housing and community hub presented the report which set out the proposed action plan for 2025/26 and summarised what had been achieved in 2024/25.

During debate it was acknowledged that the Local Government Restructue (LGR) was causing uncertainty in many sectors and it was prudent to have an action plan with clear strategies for the year ahead. Cabinet discussed the hard work that officers had done with Registered Providers (RP) and on making use of empty homes.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

1. notes the latest progress against the Housing Delivery Strategy Action Plan 2024/25
2. reviews and adopts the proposed Action Plan for 2025/26

To consider the report from the Head of Communities along with comments from Scrutiny Committee.

The Cabinet member for communities introduced the report which gave a one-year update on the progress so far. The team had focussed on the growth elements of the programme setting the stage for more transformative changes to take place in phase two. Robust governance structures had been put in place. A Core Community Group had been set up to ensure that Cornerstone meets the needs of the community. A number of operational reviews were either underway or completed, including a review of the food and beverage offer. 23 out of the agreed 24 actions have begun, with six of those already completed.

A report on phase two would be presented in June and would address the recommendations raised by the Scrutiny Committee in March which requested that the Cabinet Member consider including a more detailed analysis around segments of the business to support the future strategy.

A Cabinet member queried whether Cornerstone was receiving sponsorship from Barclays Bank and was advised that this was not the case, however Barclays did pay a fee to have a banking hub within Cornerstone.

Cabinet extended their thanks to the team for their hard work and stated that beyond the financial value of Cornerstone, it also provided services to the community and this social value was equally important.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet notes progress made in implementing the Cornerstone Development Action Plan to optimise operation of the in-house delivery model before any consideration is given to alternative operating models.

To consider whether to exclude members of the press and public from the meeting for the following items of business under Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended on the grounds that:

(i)     It is likely that there will be disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A, and

(ii)    the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED: to exclude members of the press and public from the meeting for the following item of business under Part 1 of Schedule 12A Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 and as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 on the grounds that:

i.      it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1,2 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and

ii.     the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

To consider the report from the Head of Development and Corporate Landlord.

Cabinet received the Future Development of Leisure Management Contract report from Cabinet member for communities

Cabinet discussed the report and agreed to the officers’ recommendations.