Agenda and minutes

To confirm and sign the minutes of 22 May 2023.

The minutes of the meeting of 22 May 2023 were confirmed and signed.

Councillor Meekins drew members’ attention to the civic activities undertaken by himself and the Vice-Chairman in the weeks preceding Full Council but reported that unfortunately he had been unable to attend the Mayor of Thetford’s Civic Reception on 4 June.

Councillor Meekins informed members that he will be holding the Chairman’s Civic Reception on Friday 15 September at Gorefield Community Hall. He will also be hosting a coffee morning in aid of the East Anglian Air Ambulance at a date to be arranged and looks forward to seeing as many members as possible at these events. 

Paul Medd, Chief Executive, made the following announcement: 

“I am delighted to announce that the Council has once again been reaccredited for Customer Service Excellence. CSE is a national standard that recognises public bodies that provide customer focused, high quality services. Fenland is one of the few councils that have consistently achieved this rigorous standard for all its services. Following an assessment in June, the CSE assessor was highly complementary stating that Fenland’s staff continue to put the customer at the heart of everything in line with corporate values and have an ethos of working smarter not harder. He continued, the Council work with an ever-increasing range of partners on numerous projects and initiatives that meet the area’s needs and leave no stone unturned in our efforts to identify and reach out to any group or person needing help. In his report our assessor noted several key strands which related to the Council’s corporate values which drive a focus on the customer and the Council’s framework of core and management competencies which also supports service improvement. The use of staff insight into delivering excellent services is at a high level through people taking ownership and being able to implement ideas. The Council’s transformation agenda is creating new access channels to services and enhancing the Council's digital offer whilst maintaining traditional channels for those residents who need them”.

Paul Medd invited Councillor Steve Tierney, Portfolio Holder for Transformation and Communications, to be presented with the CSE reaccreditation certificate from Councillor Meekins.

Councillor Tierney commented that he was receiving the award on behalf of the staff who deliver the service, they work hard and are deserving of the credit. The assessor had said that he did not think he would find any additional work that could be undertaken this year as he had been so impressed the previous year, yet once again the boundary had been raised.

Councillor Meekins stated that no questions had been received under Procedure Rule 8.6 and asked if there were any questions under Procedure Rule 8.4 from Councillor Booth.

Councillor Booth commented that the Leader had made a commitment at the last meeting to have a discussion on affordable housing and asked when that would be scheduled? Councillor Boden agreed it is a very important and serious issue which is being looked at but it is not yet been possible to bring everything together so that the options available can be published. Therefore, he cannot give a specific date currently, but it will be before the next meeting of Cabinet or at Cabinet itself. He reiterated the importance given to this and the urgent need to deal with the lack of affordable housing. Councillor Booth thanked Councillor Boden and added that it is important to drive this through as a policy for people to be able to live in the communities they have grown up in.

Councillor Booth said in respect of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy, the equalisation appears to show that there will be no changes to it in future years. He asked whether Councillor Boden believes this to be realistic given FDC’s considerable underspend in the past which would have gone into the equalisation reserve and further asked if Councillor Boden could confirm the final underspend for the last financial year? Councillor Boden agreed that the figure for the budget equalisation reserve is both wrong and unrealistic, however, this is deliberate because it is ultimately a balancing figure based at the end of each financial year on whether the Council has an overspend or underspend, comparing income with expenditure and what was agreed four years ago was that in those years where there is an underspend, more money will be transferred into the budget equalisation reserve to be used against future years where there is an overspend, or to help keep Council Tax levels down. However, he had not anticipated four years ago that every year there would be an increase in the reserve because every year there would be more income than expenditure. Councillor Boden stated that there has been systemic underbudgeting in the organisation but stressed this is not a criticism of officers as they can only budget for what they know about and the Council never knows what money Government are going to give in the forthcoming 12 months, which makes it very difficult to budget but officers are prudent as well as consistent, and they say that if there is not the promise of specific money from Government then they will not budget for it. He has asked officers to continue in this way so they are always comparing like for like and, therefore, do not get an unpleasant or unwanted surprise. In respect of Councillor Booth’s question about last year’s underspend, Councillor Boden added that it is still subject to audit, but currently looks like being an excess of income over expenditure of nearly £800,000,  ...  view the full minutes text for item C4/23

To inform Members that a petition has been received with the requisite number of signatures to be considered by Full Council in relation to the relocation of the fountain on Broad Street, March as a part of the March Future High Streets Fund project.

Councillor Booth presented the petition on behalf of the people that had signed it regarding the proposal to move the fountain in March, with the petition reading

“As part of the March regeneration project Fenland District Council have approved the moving of The Fountain. The intended location is in front of Malletts, without any consultation with the proprietors or their near neighbours. It is unacceptable to place The Fountain in front of a retail unit with a shop window for display and this petition is to ask for your support with the appeal to have it at another location.”

Councillor Booth stated that the petition has been signed by thousands of people, 3087, and when it was first sent to the Council it was approximately 3,200 and it could have been a lot more with further time as people were still signing it in their hundreds per week. He made the point that there is a substantial number of people who have signed the petition from the area including March, the surrounding villages and even people outside the District and these are the very people that use the facilities of March and keep March going at the moment and these are the people that members should want to keep using the facilities in March, with those members also needing the town to grow.

Councillor Booth stated that the people that signed the petition believe the proposed move of the fountain outside of Malletts Jewellers is unacceptable. He further added that it is important to note this in the context of the High Street regeneration project because that is about growing what there is in March and keeping it a vibrant place.

Councillor Booth referred to the report mentioning the consultation that took place, however, it is known from feedback received and from comments in the Council Chamber that the consultation process was not robust, 102 consultation comments compared to over 3,000 petition signatories, which shows the disparity between what people’s thoughts are and the strength of feeling against what is being proposed.  He stated that a number of councillors have also received correspondence about this issue which suggest an alternate or better location, which would be moving it to the open space near the riverbank and bridge, with the District Council having recently brought the old Barclays site and is yet to determine what is going to happen here so there is a possibility that moving it there might be a better location but that is yet to be determined and an open mind needs to be kept about it but there are possibilities that is within the remit of the District Council that can help shape something that is going to improve the situation and the environment of March High Street.

Councillor Booth stated that as a councillor it is the duty and for the majority the motivation to improve the District for its residents and to make sure the Council delivers the best it can for the people  ...  view the full minutes text for item C5/23

Members asked questions of Portfolio Holders in accordance with Procedure Rules 8.1 and 8.2 as follows:

·       Councillor Mockett referred to the Cabinet meeting earlier in Agenda Item 6 where it was reported that the £1.85 million liability this Council had with the Department of Transport towards the cost of the A14 improvements was eliminated during March this year and cost the revenue budget just £600, asking Councillor Boden to explain how this has occurred? Councillor Boden responded that the finances of the Council are fastidiously looked after by officers and members of the Cabinet, with him being the Portfolio Holder for Finance so it is always being looked at carefully to ensure the Council gets best value for money and sometimes that involves how money is managed itself.  He stated that members will be aware that going back to Councillor Clark’s time as Leader the Council was strong-armed and persuaded by the authorities that it needed to make a contribution towards the building of the new A14 of £800,000, being given 25 years to pay that contribution off working out at £32,000 per year. Councillor Boden added that in March 2019 he worked very hard to obtain monies from Cambridgeshire Horizons and also received an additional £1.05 million from Cambridgeshire Horizons which represented a portion of their liability towards the A14 improvements so the Council ended up with a liability of £1.85 million in the Council’s balance sheet at the end of 2021-22 to make payment over to the Department of Transport and that £1.05 million was also able to be paid over 25 years representing £42,000 per year. He made the point that the £42,000 was fully funded as the money was received to meet the liability, however, the £800,000 that had been agreed was entirely unfunded and once the Department of Transport woke up and started asking the Council for the money it was known that each year for 25 years £32,000 would need to be paid out of the budget but the Department of Transport did not start asking the Council for money and year after year went by without any request and being an optimistic person he thought that the Council were not going to be asked for this money at all. Councillor Boden stated that he was wrong and earlier this year the Department of Transport asked for the money or wanted the Council to start making payments before the end of the financial year of 31 March 2023 and then the Treasury came up with an idea that if they allowed the Council to commute its payment to make a one-off payment to meet the liability over the next 25 years at 20 basis points below what the Public Works Loan Board lent money out at they would make a nice return and from the Treasury point of view that made a great deal of sense. He made the point that instead of the liability being £1.85 million once that was commuted at a  ...  view the full minutes text for item C6/23

The purpose of this report is to consider the overall financial and operational performance of the Council’s treasury management activity for 2022/23.

Councillor Boden presented the report to members and stated that it is notable for a number of things, especially that it shows that the Council’s gross debt as of 31 March 2023 was lower than it was on 1 April 2022 and given all the circumstances which existed that is astonishing and is a reflection of the care which officers have taken in the management of the finances. He made the point that during the course of 2022-23 interest rates increased constantly and when you are in this situation you do not get any points for earning more money as a result, it happens almost naturally, but what is notable is just by how much that the Council managed to increase the amount of money that it received bearing in mind the Council did not know when much of that cash had to be repaid to the Treasury.  Councillor Boden explained that the reason the Council did not know how long it had access to the cash as the amount of cash that was held or cash equivalents changed dramatically during the year, with at the beginning of the year, 1 April 2022, the Council holding approximately £32 million of capital cash and by 31 March 2023 the Council was holding £19 million, a loss of almost £13 million, which was not viewed as disastrous as the reason the Council had as much money as it did was due to Covid and all of the Covid schemes that were funded through local government as Central Government provided local authorities with significantly more money than it ended up paying out and has demanded all monies back which has not been paid out.

Councillor Boden reiterated his thanks to officers for the way in which they have managed to achieve so much more than what would have happened if they had just allowed things to drift, actively managing funds available to the Council but in the knowledge that in increasing the cash because the Council did not know from one week to the next when Central Government would demand millions back of the money which they had overpaid the Council.

Councillor Connor gave his thanks to officers and Councillor Boden for the way the finances had been managed.

Proposed by Councillor Boden, seconded by Councillor Connor and agreed that the Treasury Management Annual Review 2022/23 be noted.

To consider the Cabinet recommendation to update and re-position the current adopted Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).

Councillor Boden presented the report to members and stated that the purpose of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) is to set a high-level overview of the direction of travel, giving a consistent view as to what is perceived to be likely to happen based on certain assumptions. He stated that MTFS have always provided a challenge for local authorities and every single local authority has a MTFS which shows a position where there is going to be a deficit at some stage in the next 5 years and the Council’s challenge and the challenge of officers is to manage to meet that gap, having not just met that gap in the last 10 and more years but exceeded it.

Councillor Boden reminded members that 4 years ago he proposed a change to the MTFS and what he suggested was, to give greater challenge to officers and members to ensure the available resources were managed properly, the assumption about Council Tax would be changed as previously the assumption had been that every year it would be increased by the maximum amount that was legally permissible and it was agreed that it be assumed for the purposes of the MTFS that there would be a 0% increase in each of the following 4 years, which at the time was commented as being totally unrealistic and unachievable but it was achieved and over achieved by £1.8 million, which is now in the budget equalisation reserve. He stated that he is proposing today to tighten that to increase the challenge slightly more so instead of assuming there will be a 0% Council Tax increase for the next 4 years that the total funding from Council Tax will be assumed to remain static each year for the next 4 years, which is not the same thing as it fails to take into account the expected increase in the Council Tax base.

Councillor Boden acknowledged that it makes it more challenging, it increases the potential deficit but it has been managed in the past and he has a great deal of confidence that it will be managed in the future. He made the point that if there is a need to go back on this because of circumstances then this can happen but he is trying to increase the targets and quoted from Michelangelo “the greater danger for most of us lies in not setting our aim too high and falling short but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark” and he does not want to just achieve the mark but set the aim high.

Members made comments as follows:

·       Councillor Tierney stated that he has expressed previously how much he supports this policy and its direction. He thanked officers who have worked so hard to deliver these priorities but he feels something extraordinary is happening here in Fenland and what is different is in some other councils around the country they nod through endless Council Tax rises on the proviso that there  ...  view the full minutes text for item C8/23

To update Council on the arrangements for appointing an Independent Remuneration Panel and to seek agreement of the proposed process, scope and terms of reference of the subsequent review of the Member Allowances Scheme.

Councillor Boden presented the report to members and advised that this is a legal requirement and all councils every 4 years must conduct an independent review of councillors remuneration, with the last full review being conducted in 2019 and an interim review in 2021. He made the point that members should play no part in the decision on who is going to be appointed to the panel, which is a role for officers.

Members made comments as follows:

·       Councillor Booth stated that as Councillor Boden said this is a legal requirement and he has two questions, the first being about Parish and Town Council allowances as at the previous review it was last minute that it was realised that a review or set guidance for local parish and town council allowances but it is not clear from this report whether the allowance scheme for them will be considered. He feels doing a search on the Council’s website for Members’ Allowances does not result in anything that give anyone, even a member of the public, what the existing allowance scheme is so he feels clarification is needed that this will include the allowance scheme for Parish and Town Councils. Councillor Booth referred to the selection criteria with it having that they must live in Fenland and his understanding is of the previous reviews that this has not been so restrictive and actually appointed people outside the District, who have had good experience so he wonders why it is being restricted in this manner. Councillor Boden responded that he was going to have to try to remember what it says in the Local Government Act 1983 concerning Parish and Town Council allowances, whilst it might be viewed that Parish and Town Councils do not get allowances this is not what the legislation says but if his recollection is correct where it is agreed by a Parish or Town Council that they will make a payment to their Chairman or their Mayor then it is permissible for them also to make a payment to their councillors but so far as that is concerned the Council’s review does not cover those amounts as these are to be set by the individual Parish or Town Councils if they wish to do so but to his knowledge no Parish or Town Council have ever made payments.

·       Councillor Tierney confirmed that it is absolutely allowed for Parish or Town Councils to pay an allowance to the councillors as it did come to Wisbech Town Council a couple of years ago and it was rejected.  He would urge any councillor who sits on a Parish or Town Council to do the same as one of the things that is powerful about parish level councils is the fact that they are all volunteers and the role is undertaken to help the area for no payment and paying an allowance even a small one changes the nature of the contract with the voting public. Councillor Tierney stated in regards to  ...  view the full minutes text for item C9/23

Fenland District Council is entitled to co-opt up to two representatives from Town and Parish Councils within the District to support its programme of work. The Committee currently has two vacancies therefore applications for this position have been sought from Town and Parish Councils.

Councillor Boden presented the report on behalf of the Chairman of the Conduct Committee and advised that the Town and Parish Council representatives have been in the Constitution for a long period of time, being able to co-opt up to 2 representatives. He stated that a communication was sent out to all Parish and Town Councils asking for any volunteers and only two expressions of interest were received and it was deemed by the Chairman of the Conduct Committee that both were more than suitable and it was agreed by the Conduct Committee to recommend to Full Council that the two individuals be appointed.

Councillor Boden stated that the two individuals are Councillor Martin Field from March Town Council and Councillor Jason Ablewhite from Benwick Parish Council.

Members made comments as follows:

·       Councillor Booth asked if the vote has to be for both candidates en bloc or can they be voted for individually as looking at one of the candidates and his history he has some reservations about appointing them to the Conduct Committee given the reasons why they resigned from a prominent political role. The Chairman responded that in light of his comments they would vote individually for the two candidates.

·       Councillor Tierney stated that he did wonder if someone would raise this issue but his personal view is that sometimes people make errors of judgements or mistakes in the past and then can move on with their lives, there is a member sitting on the Conduct Committee right now who is subject to a decision against them by the committee for a fairly serious issue but he believes members understand people make mistakes and it does not bar their entire life. He stated that as far as he knows none of the individuals standing has a criminal record or a conduct complaint against them so he does not know the truth of the allegations but if someone has a lot of experience and are a current sitting councillor there should be no reason why they cannot be appointed.

·       Councillor Booth made the point that he does not really know the individual and only what he has seen in the press and he believes there was a complaint put to the Conduct Committee at the Council they were politically elected to but what he does not see in the report is that those issues have been resolved, only what is in the public domain and how is it that they have moved on and at present he has concerns.

·       Councillor Connor endorsed both Councillor Field and Councillor Ablewhite to be co-opted onto the Conduct Committee.

·       Councillor Boden stated that what was noticeable was the expressions of interests of the candidates and this particular candidate that he believes Councillor Booth is referring to, given his experience within the old standards regime, is undoubtedly the best qualified candidate from either Councillors or Town or Parish Councillors on the Conduct Committee if he is selected today and he is confident that he  ...  view the full minutes text for item C10/23

To seek approval of the establishment of 3 new Executive Advisory Committees together with their terms of reference, membership and appointments and the associated changes to Fenland District Council’s Constitution.

Councillor Boden presented the report and reminded members that it was mentioned that these proposals would be brought forward at the last Full Council meeting and he is excited about what the possibilities are both for the Culture, Arts and Heritage Executive Advisory Committee and the Rural and Farming Executive Advisory Committee where there will be an opportunity for many members of the Council to contribute to areas where there is a real need to progress and for a voice to be given to sections of Fenland’s community that currently do not have the voice they should have. He stated that the Project Review Executive Advisory Committee is set up so the Overview and Scrutiny Panel is not overburdened, which has a full calendar of work anyway but where there may be some specific proposals where either Cabinet or another committee would like to ensure that more members are involved in consideration before a decision is made.

Councillor Boden stated that the Culture, Arts and Heritage Executive Advisory Committee and Rural and Farming Executive Advisory Committee will both be set up in the normal way with a Chairman and Vice-Chairman but that will not be the case with the Project Review Executive Advisory Committee where many individuals may be barred depending upon which particular committee is referring a matter to them so at that point a Chairman and Vice-Chairman will be elected for each individual project. He made the point that this will ensure more members are involved in the work of the Council, it will change some of the direction of the work of the Council and give greater prominence to Culture, Arts and Heritage and Rural and Farming and is probably something that is long overdue.

Members made comments as follows:

·       Councillor Miscandlon stated that with these three new committees coming forward it is right that more councillors are being involved in the actual work of the Council. He feels it is imperative, with a lot of new councillors, and a great way of learning how the Council works.

·       Councillor Booth referred to the Project Review Executive Advisory Committee where it says that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman will be one of the members who join the project board but wonders if this is too restrictive as there could be members that sit on this committee that have a particular expertise that are not the Chairman or Vice-Chairman.

·       Councillor Booth announced his appointments as follows:

o   Culture, Arts and Heritage – Councillor Hicks

o   Rural and Farming – Councillors J Clark and Roy

o   Projects – Councillors Booth and J Clark

He stated that it would be himself that sits on Audit and Risk Management Committee.

·       Councillor Boden expressed the opinion that this will be an opportunity not merely for the Council to expand the work that it does but to get more members and newer members involved in the work of the Council, which he feels can only be a good thing. He stated that the reason for  ...  view the full minutes text for item C11/23