Agenda and minutes

That the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 10 July 2017be confirmed and signed as an accurate record of the proceedings, and that the outstanding actions be noted.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Sue Fennimore.

1.    To note the capital out-turn for the year.

2.    To approve proposed technical budget variations to the capital programme as summarised in Table 1 and detailed in Appendix 2.

1.    To note the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account month 2 forecast revenue outturn variances.

2.    To note the action plans amounting to £1.765m, seeking to address the General Fund gross overspend forecast variance of £2.896m. All overspending departments will need to respond with further actions to reduce the net forecast overspend after mitigating actions of £1.131m.

3.    To approve the proposed virements requests in appendix 11.

Councillor Carlebach enquired about the lack of provision for the termination of the Tri-Borough. The Leader stated that a full report on the subject would be presented to Cabinet shortly setting out the financial position.

RESOLVED:

1.    To note the gross General Fund provisional revenue underspend of £0.198m, subject to audit.

2.    To note the HRA provisional underspend of £0.504m and overall increase in the HRA reserves of £1.565m resulting in a HRA balance of £20.086m as at 31st March 2017, subject to audit. HRA earmarked reserves are £25.6m.

3.    To note that general fund earmarked reserves are £82.70m and general balances are £19.0m as at 31st March 2017, subject to audit.

4.    To note the capital outturn of £70.6m.

5.    To note the enhanced monitoring process for 2017/18 particularly in respect of bilateral Member challenge meetings (involving the Departmental Management team and Cabinet member with the Strategic Finance Director and Cabinet member for Finance) with services facing pressures due to demographics and unfunded new burdens from Government.

1.    That approval be given for LBHF to join a public to public arrangement, subject to there being final agreement on detailed arrangements that satisfy LBHF’s objectives and sufficiently meet the requirements referred to in the legal implications section of this report.

2.    That agreement to join the Partnership be delegated to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and the Leader, and that the same delegation is also in place for the final decision to ‘go-live’ with services following transition.

3.    That the financial recommendations as set out in the exempt report are noted.

4.    That quarterly updates on progress moving to the Partnership, including costs, are made to Cabinet.

Councillor Jones stated that the strategy focused on a different approach for growth with new opportunities for people in the borough. It set out the Council’s role as a facilitator for economic growth.

In answer to a question from Councillor Carlebach, the Leader replied that the Council was in current negotiations with BT Open Reach to address the expansion of high speed broadband in the borough.

RESOLVED:

1.    To approve and adopt the draft Industrial Growth for Everyone document attached as Appendix 1.

2.    To delegate authority to the Director for Housing, Growth, and Strategy in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration to complete a designed version of the strategy and publish the document.

3.    To delegate authority to the Director for Housing, Growth, and Strategy in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration to develop an implementation action plan.

1.    That the Lillie Rd & Talgarth Rd Procurement Strategy, as set out on the exempt part of the agenda, be approved

2.    That a five-year contract award with the option to extend for two periods of 12 months each will be made to the Most Economically Advantageous Tender.

3.    That a contract modification in accordance with section 20.3.2 of the Council’s Contract Standing Orders to continue provision by the incumbent provider until contract award and implementation is completed until no later than 30^th September 2018.

Councillor Coleman stated that this paper aimed at improving the service that residents received when discharged from hospital. Five boroughs were collaborating to provide a more consistent service and maximise the efficiency of existing resources by working more closely together.

Councillor Brown asked whether officers could put a figure on how much the improvement in discharge had led to savings for the NHS. Lisa Redfern, Interim Director of Adult Social Services, replied that the discharge arrangements had improved significantly since this new arrangement. She would send Councillor Brown the information that demonstrated the efficiencies and savings for the NHS.

RESOLVED:

To approve the WLA (West London Alliance) Hospital Discharge Joint Working Agreement, WLA Hospital Discharge Data Processing Agreement and the Section 113 that underpins the joint hospital discharge service the boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the City of Westminster, Brent and Ealing.

Councillor Harcourt stated that this was another Council’s policy to improve the green of the borough and the air quality.

In answer to a question from Councillor Hamilton, Councillor Harcourt informed that many street trees had been planted across the borough as a result of several Council’s schemes.

RESOLVED:

1.    That approval be given to make realistic and necessary changes to the concept designs for the Hammersmith Grove South scheme, resulting in a preferred design which can be progressed to public consultation.

2.    That authority be delegated to the Director of Transport and Highways in consultation with the Cabinet member for Environment, Transport and Resident’s Services to approve the implementation of the Hammersmith Grove South Scheme, subject to a favourable outcome of public consultation in Autumn 2017.

3.    That an order be placed with the Council’s Term Contractor (F M Conway PLC) in the sum not to exceed £760,000.

Councillor Hamilton stated that it was too early to evaluate the effectiveness of the 20mph zones in slowing traffic down. He believed that additional calming measures should be delayed until required and focus should be given on identifying high accident areas.

Councillor Phibbs asked whether there was sufficient statistical significance that the traffic calming measures had effectively impacted on the reduction of speed in the area. Mahmood Siddiqi, Director for Transport & Highways, replied that there had been many significant studies proving the effectiveness of these measures. He added that the priority was to identify the roads that would benefit from these measures.

Councillor Jones said that the results of the survey stated on the report was a measure of many factors and had no statistical significance. The effectiveness of the measures in the streets whose speed limit had been reduced was proved by the overall decrease in speed.

RESOLVED:

That approval be given to make the Traffic Management Order no 1283 (20mph speed limit extension) permanent. 

An addendum to the report was circulated and published on the Council’s website prior to the Cabinet meeting. It included a version of the Officer’s report highlighting clarification wording to the first recommendation and certain aspects of the report requiring other clarifications or corrections. The Leader asked Matt Butler, Head of Policy & Spatial Planning, to ensure that the residents present at the meeting received a copy of the addendum. All residents present received a hard copy of the addendum at the meeting.

Matt Butler stated that the Old Oak Interim Neighbourhood Forum had submitted a letter expressing their concerns about the content and officer recommendations in the report and raising 38 points. Officers provided a response in writing to each of the 38 points raised, as part of the addendum.

The Hammersmith Society had also submitted a representation in support of the comments sent from Old Oak Interim Neighbourhood Forum in addition to other points (also included in the addendum).

Councillor Harcourt and Councillor Jones stated that the area applied for was made up of distinct uses and varied character that did not easily translate into a cohesive area for the purposes of a neighbourhood plan. Therefore, by designating a smaller area, the proposed neighbourhood planning forum did not have the required minimum number of forum members and should be refused.

The Leader stated that the Council was very supportive of neighbourhood planning and communities being involved and engaged in the planning process. He would be happy to open a dialogue with residents to find an alternative way.

The Leader proposed to meet up with Henry Peterson, adviser to the Old Oak Interim Neighbourhood Forum and Melanie Whitlock, Vice Chair, The Hammersmith Society, to discuss a way forward and bring a better alternative back to Cabinet.

RESOLVED:

1.        To designate the area identified in green to be referred to as the Old Oak Estate Neighbourhood Area as a Neighbourhood Area and to refuse the designation of areas in red in Figure 2 on the report;

2.        To refuse the proposed neighbourhood forum due to insufficient members for the designated Neighbourhood Area.

The Key Decision List was noted.

That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the remaining items of business on the grounds that they contain information relating to the financial or business affairs of a person (including the authority) as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption currently outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

[The following is a public summary of the exempt information under S.100C (2) of the Local Government Act 1972.  Exempt minutes exist as a separate document.]

That the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 10 July 2017 be confirmed and signed as an accurate record of the proceedings, and that the outstanding actions be noted.