Agenda, decisions and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 19 February 2018 and the Special meeting on the 22 February 2018 .

The Minutes of the meeting held on 19 February 2018 and the Special meeting held on 22 February 2018 were approved as true and correct records and signed by the Leader.

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any personal, disclosable pecuniary or other registrable interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

There were no declarations of interest received.

Members of the Executive to answer questions submitted by members of the public in accordance with the Executive Procedure Rules contained in the Council’s Constitution.

A full transcription of the public and Member question and answer sessions are available from the following link: Transcription of Q&As.

“Why can’t we recycle plastic food tubs, flora tubs etc? In West Berks we can only recycle plastic bottles which is a fraction of household plastics?”

A question standing in the name of Mr Simon Bowes on the subject of plastic recycling was answered by the Portfolio Holder for Culture and Environment.

“Will the Leader accept some responsibility lies with his Party for allowing Nick Goodes to take some £20,000 of local taxpayers’ money during his three years of so-called representation of Thatcham West residents, which belatedly has led to his disqualification.”

A question standing in the name of Mr Tony Vickers on the subject of former Councillor Nick Goodes’ meeting attendance was answered by the Leader of the Council.

“Could the Council consider letting rough sleepers use the staff showers on the ground floor of the Market Street Offices at a time when they are not needed by the staff?”

A question standing in the name of Mrs Martha Vickers on the subject of the staff showers at the Council’s Market Street Offices being made available to rough sleepers was answered by the Portfolio Holder for Planning, Housing and Leisure.

There were no petitions presented to the Executive.

(CSP: All)

Purpose:  To report quarter three outturns, for the Key Accountable Measures which monitor performance against the 2017/18 Council Performance Framework.

Resolved that the report be noted.

This decision is not subject to call in as

·      Report is to note only

therefore it will be implemented immediately.

The Executive considered a report (Agenda Item 6) which provided Quarter Three (Q3) outturns for the Key Accountable Measures which monitored performance against the 2017/18 Council Performance Framework. The report also sought to provide assurance that the objectives set out in the Council Strategy and other areas of significant activity were being managed effectively; to consider, by exception, those measures that were predicted to be ‘amber’ or ‘red’ and consider information on any remedial actions taken/the impact; and to consider changes recommended to measures/targets.

Councillor Marcus Franks noted that the Council’s overall performance for supporting communities to help themselves was now green whereas in the previous quarter it had shown as amber and green. He praised the work of the Building Communities Together Team for their work on community conversations and devolution in supporting the Council to achieve their target.

Councillor Lee Dillon noted that although there was a target to hold ten community conversations, the community conversations were expected to achieve outcomes and he would like to see those outcomes reflected in the report. He also requested that should the Executive agree the change in target for the Superfast Broadband programme that the original target be maintained as a footnote in order to allow transparency. Finally, Councillor Dillon asked whether now the Council had funded some of the road at the Stirling Cables site in Newbury, there would be more affordable housing on the site once completed.

Councillor Franks advised that the actions and outcomes associated with community conversations could be found in section 2.2.6 of the report and a full report would be presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board in May 2018. Councillor Boeck added that he had been involved in community conversations in a personal capacity and it had been productive, although outcomes would take some time to materialise. Councillor James Fredrickson noted the outcomes of the Hungerford community conversations to support survivors of domestic abuse.

Nick Carter advised that there would be no more affordable housing on the Stirling Cables site and the Council, the Local Enterprise Partnership and some section 106 funding had been provided for the access road in order to make the whole site viable as decontamination of the site was a challenge.

Councillor Boeck noted that Superfast Broadband was a good news story for West Berkshire’s residents and the Council was working with Gigaclear on a robust action plan to ensure the rest of the programme remained on track.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Reason for the decision:

·         To report quarter three outturns, for the Key Accountable Measures which monitor performance against the 2017/18 Council Performance Framework.

·         To provide assurance that the objectives set out in the Council Strategy and other areas of significant activity are being managed effectively.

·         To present, by exception, those measures that are predicted to be ‘amber’ (behind schedule) or ‘red’ (not achievable) and provide information on any remedial action taken and the impact of that action.

·         To recommend changes to measures / targets, as requested  ...  view the full minutes text for item 94.

Members of the Executive to answer questions submitted by Councillors in accordance with the Executive Procedure Rules contained in the Council’s Constitution. (There were no questions submitted by Members.)

There were no Member questions submitted.