Agenda item

The Committee is asked to note the Task Group updates provided and comment as appropriate.

Partnerships

The Task Group had a meeting with the Chairman of Community Safety – Confidence Group, and Tim Mason – Interim Project Manager, at its last meeting on 21 June 2010 where discussion included deliverables and how these were measured.

The Task Group would be inviting representatives from Wiltshire Police to the next meeting to discuss their role in Community Safety Partnership.

Budget & Performance

An extraordinary meeting was arranged for members of the Task Group to discuss the Revenue and Capital budget outturn reports for 2009-2010 where clarification was provided that the budget was in line with the authority’s anticipated spend for the year.

With the anticipated budget cuts arising from the coalition government review, continued discussion would take place between officers and councillors to ensure all spend was carefully managed.

Major Contracts

The next meeting of the Task Group was scheduled to take place in October where a review of the Sodexo contract would take place.

Workplace Transformation

Task Group members commented that a successful site visit was undertaken to Bourne Hill and two other Council owned buildings in the area and that this gave a flavour of the necessity for the Workplace Transformation Programme (WTP).

The next meeting of the Group was scheduled for Tuesday 20 July where the review of Leisure Facilities – replacement, refurbishment and devolvement programme would be discussed.  The Task Group would also attempt to get a handle on the budgetary components of the Programme at its meeting in October.

Members Support

The first meeting of the Group was held on 15 June where a scoping exercise was undertaken to determine the work programme and future witness attendance.

The next meeting was scheduled to take place on 16 June but may need to be rearranged due to attendance levels.  Steve Milton (Head of Community Governance) and John Quinton (Head of Democratic Services) were expected to attend to provide clarity between Community and Democratic Services departments.

S106

Cllr Tony Trotman (Chairman of the S106 Task Group) attended the meeting to present the following update.

The Task Group had met on 10 May, 1 June and 14 June.  As a result of these meetings the Group recognised that there were potential budget implications in relation to unspent S106 monies and noted the budgetary implications the lack of monitoring could have.

A S106 Officer had now been employed whose role would include the formation of an electronic data base to detail all agreements made both pre and post Unitary authority. 

With the ongoing work taking place regarding developer contributions the Group felt it was essential that the Task Group continue its work and the Committee was asked to endorse the recommendations made within the report to continue the Task Group.

Members of the Group were satisfied adequate resources were available at present but would request to review the situation in the Autumn.

Resolved:

1)         To note the content of the S106 Report with the following comments:

·        That there was a need to improve the relationship between Development Control, Legal and Finance to ensure better management and monitoring of S106 agreements.

·        That the appointment of the new Section 106 Officer had made positive strides towards the development of a central electronic database but that the focus to date had been towards agreements post April 2009.

·        That the Group had concerns that recording historic agreements (pre Wiltshire Council) would be more resource intensive and a higher priority because of the 5 year timeline to use funds.

2)         To support the continuation of the S106 Task Group.

3)         That the Cabinet Member should be informed of the Committee’s concerns above.