Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

An apology for absence was submitted by Councillor Goodeve.

The Leader of the Council asked her colleagues to make a few announcements on her behalf.

The Executive Member for Communities said that the Holocaust Memorial Day event would be taking place on Thursday 26 January 2023 at 6.30pm and said that this would be the first in-person event for three years. He said that two Deputy Lieutenants would be attending to speak about the experience of their families and two Ukrainian students would be attending to speak about their experiences of temporarily living in Hertford and how they had been affected by the war.

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability announced that East Herts District Council’s vehicle fleet had gone green. He said that the diesel vans had been replaced with Nissan Leaf e-cars which would help reduce the council’s carbon footprint. He said the council had acquired five e-vehicles for use by council staff who needed to travel for their role.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2022.

Councillor Haysey proposed, and Councillor Williamson seconded a motion that the Minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2022 be approved as a correct record and be signed by the Leader. On being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that the Minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2022 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Leader.

To receive any Member(s) declaration(s) of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Executive Member for Financial Sustainability presented the Draft Strategic Asset Management Plan. He said that this was a refresh of the Asset Management Plan for the period 2023-2028 and was designed to ensure that all the council’s assets were performing at an optimum. The plan evaluated how each asset contributed or otherwise to the council’s corporate priorities and a decision made on its retention, investment, or disposal.

Councillor Haysey said the plan was well put together and thanked the team for putting it together. She said it was a good base to look at the council’s assets.

Councillor Pope referred to page 5, paragraph 2.8 and the public sector decarbonisation scheme grant. He asked how much money had been received from this grant and what had been spent so far.

The Head of Strategic Finance and Property said that the council had not yet applied to the second round of funding as it was dependent on the future location of the council’s offices.

Councillor Pope asked at what point would the council decide to make a bid. He said the report mentioned that the boiler at Wallfields would need to be renewed and asked if this had been allowed for the in Medium Term Financial Plan.

Councillor Williamson said that a decision needed to be made first on whether the council’s offices remain at Wallfields and if the decision was to remain in the current offices, the council would apply for grants to replace the boiler.

Councillor Buckmaster clarified that the council had not applied for previous phases of the scheme and would be looking to apply to thethird phase of funding this year.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services said that this was correct and the council would be applying for funding in future rounds and did not mean that the council had bid in every round of funding.

Councillor Pope referred to page 15 which related to investment property. He asked if this was a forecast or actual figure.

Councillor Williamson confirmed it was a forecast figure.

Councillor Pope referred to page 24 and said that the valuations of the council’s assets were subject to external audit each year which had been delayed this year. He asked if the Executive Member was still happy with that paragraph.

The Head of Strategic Finance and Property said that the council was very close to agreeing the accounts with EY for the 2020/21 financial year. He said they had not questioned the asset valuations.

Councillor McAndrew referred to page 25 and the Buntingford Depot Centre. He said this was up for renewal in 2026 and it may be that another appropriate site be considered.

Councillor Williamson proposed, and Councillor McAndrew seconded a motion supporting the recommendations in the report. On being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – That the Draft Strategic Asset Management Plan 2023-2028 be endorsed for scrutiny by the Audit and Governance Committee.

The Executive Member for Financial Sustainability presented the Annual Treasury Management Review report which the council was required to review annually in line with CIPFA guidance. He said the report was considered by the Audit and Governance Committee in November 2022.

Councillor Williamson proposed, and Councillor Boylan seconded a motion supporting the recommendations in the report. On being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – To recommend to Council the approval of the Annual Treasury Management Review 2021/22 and the outturn Prudential Indicators.

The Leader of the Council presented the East Herts UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Rural Prosperity Fund report. She said that the fund was from the government as a replacement for various EU funding following Brexit. The report explained that East Herts would be using three overall investment priorities and had been allocated £1.773m, £215,186 of which had to be spent by March 2023.

The Leader of the Council said that the initial round of activities would be based around the council’s Cultural Strategy and Climate Strategy. She said that the report also covered the Rural Prosperity Fund which provided £472,841 to improve rural infrastructure in towns with populations of less than 30,000. The report recommended that half of this fund was to be spent on town centre improvement and the other half allocated to businesses.

The Leader of the Council thanked the Head of Communications, Strategy and Policy and his team for pulling together the report in a short space of time.

Councillor Buckmaster said he was pleased to see the level of funding available to the council to use. He said the face-to-face community engagement event was useful and important and the level of funding would make a big difference to communities across the district.

Councillor Kaye said it was encouraging to see that East Herts got one of the highest allocations in the country. He said the East Herts Pride event would be able to use the funding to expand into other towns across the district.

Councillor Haysey proposed, and Councillor Buckmaster seconded a motion supporting the recommendations in the report. On being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – That (A) to meet the objectives in Appendix B, the following amounts from the East Herts UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and the Rural Prosperity Fund (RPF) be recommended to Council:

-             up to £290,000 allocated from the UKSPF for delivery of the Cultural Strategy

-             up to £566,000 allocated from the UKSPF for delivery of the Climate Change Strategy

-             up to £630,000 allocated from the UKSPF and up to £236,421 from the RPF for delivery of town and village centre improvements

-             up to £287,000 allocated from the UKSPF and up to £236,421 from the RPF for delivery of business support activity

(B)       it is recommended to Council that the award of UKSPF and RPF funded grants and/ or contracts to deliver:

-             Cultural Strategy objectives be delegated to the Head of Housing and Health acting in consultation with the Executive Member for Communities

-             Climate Change Strategy objectives be delegated to the Head of Housing and Health acting in consultation with the Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability

-             Town and village centre objectives be delegated to the Head of Communications, Strategy and Policy acting in consultation with the Executive Member for Planning and Growth

-             Business support objectives be delegated to the Head of Communications, Strategy and Policy acting in consultation with the Executive Member for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 294.

To consider such other business as, in the opinion of the Chairman of the meeting, is of sufficient urgency to warrant consideration and is not likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information.

There was no urgent business.