Agenda and minutes

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting of 9 September 2024.

The minutes of the meeting of 9 September 2024 were confirmed and signed.

Presentation on Fenland District Council’s key achievements and performance 2023/24.

Members had received the presentation from the Leader and Chief Executive prior to the meeting.

Members made comments, asked questions, and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Hay referred to page 15 under finance where it says 2024/25 is predicting a deficit if interventions were not met. She asked what does the deficit look like, what interventions are being talked about and what is the likelihood of them not being met? Councillor Boden responded at this stage things are uncertain and could remain so for the rest of the year, there are a wide range of possible predictions of what that number will be and this year there is a particular item of uncertainty as the new Government holds its first budget in nine days time and at this stage no one knows what is going to be said or what the affect will be for local councils so at this time it is a waiting game but once the detailed papers are received this will indicate how the new strategy for this year and future years will be. He stated that when looking at 2024/25 pressures there continues to be demands on Homelessness and Temporary Accommodation, on the Planning budget particularly in terms of staff recruitment and the Port function and the Council’s function as a Strategic Harbour Authority plus the levies from the Internal Drainage Boards, with action having been taken on all these issues and continues to be taken. Councillor Boden stated that they all have long-term answers rather than short-term answers and whilst in some cases some of the pressures mentioned may be ameliorated to some extent in the current year 2024/25 there is a focus on 2025/26 and 2026/27 before many of these problems, which are fundamentally the structural deficit talked about before, come into fruition to show any significant effect, hence the likelihood of these being met in 2024/25 is very high and one of the reasons the budget equalization reserve was set up, which has been built up over several years to allow a period of transition and to address some of the structural issues. He added that the reserve was built up to £1.6 million of which £200,000 was used this year in respect of the deficit from last year and by the finance team not changing what they are doing to provide the Council with a strong basis upon which to make decisions in the future. Councillor Boden stated that there are sufficient continuing reserves and there are other opportunities even in 2024/25 to ensure that the Council continues to be able to have utilizable reserves separate from the basic general reserve to get over the period when these longer-term interventions come into play and start producing the results expected.

·         Councillor Hay stated there has been an Accommodation Review report recently and at the time this report was written there was no decision from the County Council as a meeting was scheduled for 15 October 2024, has there now been a decision  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC15/23

To provide an update on the work of the Investment Board from April 2023 to March 2024.

Members considered the Commercial Investment Strategy and Investment Board Update report presented by Councillor Boden. 

Members made comments, asked questions, and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Roy stated the purchase of the property in Elm is a huge investment, with the property itself being nearly £800K and there is a lot of remedial work needed to bring it up to standard for temporary accommodation. He asked is there a total cost and when will the Council break even in terms of return on expenditure required? Councillor Boden responded the Council has not purchased a property in Elm, negotiations continue and there has not been an exchange of contracts, and it would be prejudicial of him to say any more at this time.

·         Councillor Barber referred to 70 homes for older people with care needs and asked are they actually 70 homes or is it one home for 70 people? She wondered how this would work with people who have care needs if they are individual homes. Councillor Boden responded this is an Extra Care Scheme of which 3 already exist in the Fenland area, these schemes are for vulnerable residents who have been assessed by Cambridgeshire County Council, who have the legal responsibility as the adults services provider, as needing some form of care package but not needing to go into care so all of the accommodation mentioned comprises of 70 self-contained flats with their own front door, their own personal space, a living room, kitchen, an accessible bathroom and bedroom but they do have communal facilities available including communal emergency services where necessary and there may be a number of two bedroom flats within that proposal but this has not been determined yet.

·         Councillor Sennitt Clough asked, in Councillor Nawaz absence, the CIS says it will be reviewed every 2 years, is that too long with an annual review maybe being more useful so if there is anything going wrong it can be picked up earlier rather than having to wait for 2 years and the committee could go through it on an annual basis. Councillor Boden responded that the review is a thorough review and it states where the Council is, however, the interest rates are constantly being looked at for other opportunities and what changes that are necessary and possible, it is a very fluid environment and is looked at on a daily basis but it is not necessary to make the CIS review yearly rather than every two years as the strategy largely remains the same, the opportunities are very short term at times and ones that have to be reacted to very quickly. Councillor Sennitt Clough stated that it was her understanding that it is looked at daily, as far as the operational aspects of it is concerned, and asked how is the information gathered daily and acted upon in terms of moving towards the strategic review in two years? Councillor Boden answered that he should emphasize that the daily examination is undertaken by officers  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC16/23

To consider progress against the Transformation and Communications priorities from April 2024 to August 2024.

Members considered the progress against the Transformation & Communications priorities.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Roy stated that the report mentions that the Council advertises on Facebook and Twitter but there is no mention of Linkedin. He asked does the Council also use Linkedin for recruitment and, if so, should the Council put that in their report? Councillor Tierney responded that this is an omission as there is a Linkedin account that the Council does use, and business matters are published to Linkedin. He added that when looking at different social media companies rise and fall at the moment Linkedin is on a downward slope and he would welcome members opinions on the use of it going forward. Councillor Roy agreed but stated he feels that the Council should be using every available resource.

·         Councillor Barber stated in relation to the continuation of the shared CCTV services with Peterborough City Council, how is the time divided and how effective is the service to responding specifically to Fenland District Council’s requirements given the financial problems Peterborough City Council are having and are Fenland getting any CCTV coverage at all? Councillor Wallwork responded that the control room is stationed 24/7 with periods of single crewed, double crewed and triple crewed staff, with the triple crewed operators following a prioritised model that ensures threat, risk and harm is managed effectively through incident managements across all areas covered including Fenland, operators then follow a clear patrol plan to ensure regular patrols of key camera areas, including all customers of Service Level Agreements (SLA) commitments such as the town councils in Fenland, this ensures that even when it is single crewed regular patrols of Fenland cameras take place, when double or triple crewed operators are dedicated specifically to Fenland providing comprehensive surveillance during this time. She stated that the control plan is adhered to ensuring the patrol frequency expectations of the SLA commitments are met, since becoming a shared service of Peterborough City Council patrol numbers have increased and instant numbers and positive outcomes have remained consistent, this highlights the shared commitment to providing an effective, reliable service that benefits both Councils, additionally there are now dedicated Police resources to carry out retrospective media reviews for crimes and incidents in Fenland, something that was not available prior to the merger with Peterborough, which further enhances the ability to respond to Fenland District Council’s requirements and provides the overall effectiveness of the service, this structure allows Peterborough City Council to maintain a high level of service to meet Fenland District Council’s requirements and ensures a strong responsive and consistent surveillance presence. Councillor Barber asked how the cameras rotate because it seems to be a problem that people have had that because they rotate in a certain way when things happen they are not actually seen. Councillor Wallwork responded the cameras constantly sweep, the officers that work in the patrol centres have to have set standards, they have to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC17/23

To receive an update on the previous meeting’s Action Plan.

Councillor Sennitt Cough stated there are no current outstanding actions at present.

To consider the Draft Work Programme for Overview & Scrutiny Panel 2024/25.

Councillor Sennitt Clough stated that the members are still working towards the proposed timetable at present with the opportunity to add additional items later in the municipal year if required.