Agenda and minutes

That the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 10^th September 2018 be confirmed and signed as an accurate record of the proceedings, and that the outstanding actions be noted.

Apologies for Absence were received from Councillors Ben Coleman and Sue Macmillan.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Leader invited Councillor Colin Aherne, a local ward councillor, to address the Committee.  Councillor Aherne noted that the petition contained more than 500 signatories against the proposed Bloemfontein Road public realm improvements works.   A meeting was held at the White City Residents Association where most of the attendees were against the proposal to remove the slip road in front of the shopping parade and expressed dissatisfaction that they were not properly consulted on the scheme.  The residents and business owners asked for a scheme which retained the slip road.

Officers noted that a new scheme had been designed to include a layby to address the lack of parking concerns.  Councillor Aherne stated that the residents rejected the layby design and preferred the slip road to be retained.

Councillor Harcourt was of the view that a wider consultation including the White City Estate residents should take place on a scheme which addresses residents’ and business owners’ concerns and improves the environment.

Agreed that

Officers should come back with a more acceptable scheme which addresses the concerns of the residents and business owners.

1.               To approve the proposed budget variations to the capital programme totalling £35.2 million (summarised in Table 1 and detailed in Appendix 2 of the report).

2.               To add a further £1.02 million to the Capital Programme regarding the Disabled Facilities Grant allocation with the decision on how it is spent delegated to the Strategic Director of Adult Social Care and Public Service Reform in consultation with the Strategic Director of Finance and Governance and the Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care and Cabinet Member for Finance and Commercial Services.

3.               To approve the write-off of £180,000 of General Fund deferred costs of disposals, in relation to the reduced forecast capital receipts, from the earmarked Corporate Property Reserve. Further details are provided in section 6.3 of the report.

4.               To note the issues regarding General Fund Capital Programme described in sections 5 and 6 of the report.

1.      Strategic Leadership Team Directors to take urgent action to bring any staffing overspends in line with budgets.

2.    To note the forecast General Fund outturn and note that officers are developing further plans to reduce the overspend for discussion with Directors and ratification by the Strategic Leadership Team.

3.    To set aside £13.432 million in earmarked reserves regarding the forecast DSG deficit. Further discussions are required to explore options that reduce the underlying deficit, and recover the overpayment, to reduce the reliance on reserves.

4.    To note the HRA forecast overspend and note that officers are developing further plans to reduce the overspend for discussion with Directors and ratification by the Strategic Leadership Team.

5.    To agree the budget virements detailed in appendix 10 of the report.

1.            That in accordance with the Council’s Contracts Standing Orders (CSO) the Cabinet approves the Business Case & Procurement Strategy for the procurement of office stationery, photocopy paper and office equipment as set out in Appendix 1 attached.

2.            That Cabinet grants a waiver from CSO 8.11, which requires the Business Case and Procurement Strategies to detail the main provisions contained in the draft specification and to identify any significant variations to the Council’s standard terms and conditions. A business case and procurement strategy has been created but as the procurement is being run by LB Havering not all the information is currently available.

3.            That in accordance with CSO 17.3.1 the award decision will be delegated to the Strategic Director of Public Service Reform and Social care in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Commercial Services.

1.    That approval be given for the Council to extend thecontract term between the Council and the Idox Group which commenced on 1^st April 2014 by a further two year period in accordance with the terms of the contract at an estimated total cost of £548,500 for the period from 1^st April 2019 until 31^st March 2021.  The contract is for the provision and support of the Uniform IT system and associated ICT software.

2.    To note that the extended contract will be on the same terms as in the original contract with the addition of mobile 'on site' applications at no additional cost to the Council.

1.            To approve the Business Case and Procurement Strategy for the appointment of design consultants to produce; a conservation management plan, detailed draft proposals, specifications and a 10-year management plan, for a pre-tender estimate of £266,000.

2.            To approve the Business Case and Procurement Strategy for the appointment of cost consultants to produce cost plans and to oversee and review the design process for a pre-tender estimate of £78,000.

3.            That delegated authority be granted to the Director of Highways &, Parks in consultation with the Cabinet Member for the Environment, to award the contracts for appointment of the design consultants and the cost consultant the costs of which will be reimbursed by HS2.

1.    That in accordance with the Council’s Contracts Standing Orders, the Cabinet approves the Business Case & Procurement Strategy for Blue Badge Investigation and Enforcement Services as set out in Appendix 1 attached to the report.

2.    That the Cabinet delegates authority to award the contract to the Director of Highways & Parks in consultation with the Cabinet Member for the Environment.

The Leader appreciated the leadership of the Councillor Harcourt and Mahmood Siddiqui (Director of Transport and Highways) on getting Rapid Electric Vehicle Charging points in the Scrubs Lane Car Park and H&F having the most electric car charging points in London.  The Council will keep on pushing our green policy to ensure greener and cleaner environment for our residents.

1.      That Cabinet:

(a)   approves the award of the contract described in paragraph 2.2 below for a period of eight (8) years commencing on 1 April 2018 with the option for the Council to extend for a further two (2) years, for the supply, installation, operation and maintenance of rapid charge point infrastructure in Scrubs Lane car park; land owned by the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham; and

(b)   grants a waiver of the requirement to have undertaken a Procurement Case & Business Strategy for the award of this contract (as required under CSOs 8.11 and 8.12) due to the nature of the services to be provided. Procurement was undertaken by TfL on behalf of LBHF, details of which are provided in Appendix 2 (contained in the exempt part of the report).

2.      To note that the ward is through the Call-Off Contract under the Rapid Charge Point Concessions Framework let by Transport for London, reference tfl_scp_001290 (the “Framework”).  The successful Concessionaire is Facility Management UK Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Electricity Supply Board (ESB).  This is a revenue generating call-off contract only, LBHF will not incur any expenditure as a result of the award.

The Leader noted that with the £2 billion cut in TfL’s budget, it has been difficult to generate interest within the organisation or Treasury.  However, the Council will continue to put pressure on the Government to support the Hammersmith Flyunder proposal which will connect both sides of Hammersmith.

1.         That authority be delegated to the Director of Highways & Parks in consultation with the Cabinet Member for the Environment to approve the implementation of the Greening, Planting and Cycle Parking Scheme in Autumn 2018, prior to the funding expiring in January 2019.

2.         That an order is placed with the Council’s Term Contractor (FM Conway PLC) for up to £236,000, £196,000 of which will be invoiced to Hammersmith BID who have secured the project funding from the Mayor of London’s Air Quality Fund (MAQF).

Cabinet noted that it was good practice to update these polices regularly.  The Administration had invested £20 million in Housing Safety Plus measures.

1.            That Cabinet notes the following background papers used in preparing this report:

1.1       Asbestos Policy

1.2       Asbestos Management Plan

1.3       Fire Safety Management System

1.4       Gas Safety Policy

2.            That Cabinet signs the Statement of Intention attached to the Fire Safety Management System. (Appendix 1).

Councillor Homan reported that the specification of the lifts within the modernisation programme had been enhanced to include the ability to use the lifts during fires.  This will protect our residents in any fire evacuation.

1.         That in accordance with the Council’s Contracts Standing Orders, Cabinet approves the Business Case & Procurement Strategy for the housing lift modernisation programme 2018/2021 as set out in Appendix 1.

2.         That Cabinet delegates authority to the Strategic Director for Growth and Place, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, to award the individual contracts. 

3.         That Cabinet delegates authority to the Strategic Director for Growth and Place, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, to approve future amendments to the packaging of the different contracts within the Procurement Strategy at Appendix 1 for operational reasons (including omitting and adding sites) where such amendments can be contained within the overall approved budget envelope and available resources.

4.         That Cabinet notes that a previous procurement exercise for lift modernisation via a framework has been abandoned for reasons provided at paragraph 4.1 of the report.

In supporting the proposals, Cabinet agreed that this was a step in the right direction to remove the sigma of living in temporary accommodation and obtaining better accommodation for residents which would allow family members to stay close to their support network.

1.         That approval be granted for £900,000 to be invested from the Temporary Accommodation Earmarked Reserve to secure 300 additional private rented sector properties (Direct Lets) over the next two years.

2.         That approval be granted for the service to pilot a dedicated PRS team for six months. The team will work intensively with different cohorts and trial different support offers so as to build the capacity of the service to encourage more households to accept Direct Let offers.

3.         That approval be granted to change the Housing Allocation Scheme to enable officers to backdate a household’s start date on the register to the date of the original Homelessness Duty acceptance, when households are subsequently accepted as Homeless within three years of having accepted an offer of a Direct Let. This change can be made by Cabinet Member authority.

4.         That Cabinet notes the risk to the General Fund of up to £9.3 million over the next four years which arises solely from reductions in Government grants.

Cabinet welcomed the report and noted that 133 new genuinely affordable homes will be provided at Edith Summerskill, 80% of which will be social rent with the remainder let as sub-market intermediate rent.  In addition, 36 new genuinely affordable homes would be built at Watermeadow Court, 27 of which will be social rent with the remainder let as sub-market intermediate rent, or sold as low-cost home ownership.

The Leader noted that the Council was proud it had been able to obtain additional resources from developers through tough negotiations to fund public sector housing in the current economic climate.

Cabinet thanked the Growth and Place leadership team for their hard work on this scheme.

That Cabinet:

·              Resolves that the areas of land at Watermeadow Court and Edith Summerskill House referred to in this report and shown edged red on the plans at appendix 1 are no longer required for the purpose for which they are currently held (housing purposes).

·              Approves the appropriation of these areas of land to the planning purposes of facilitating redevelopment for residential and other uses pursuant to section 122 of the Local Government Act 1972.

·              Authorises the Strategic Director for Growth to apply to the Secretary of State for consent to the appropriation pursuant to Section 19(2) Housing Act 1985.

·              In the event that the consent of the Secretary of State is given authorises the use of powers to override easements and other rights in respect of the land pursuant to section 203 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

·              Approves to vire £30,000 to create a specific budget for this work from the unused contingency budget for Edith Summerskill House, approved by amended Cabinet Member Decision in Feb 2017, following original Cabinet approval dated 08/02/16 in relation to the Joint Venture vehicle.

·              Approves the movement in the Capital Financing Requirement of up to £3.8 million from the Housing Revenue Account to the General Fund for Edith Summerskill House, and to note that this will result in an additional budget requirement in the General Fund from 2019/20 of £123,000 to fund the associated Minimum Revenue Provision.

That the revised Statement of Gambling Policy, attached at the end of this report as Appendix 1, be recommended for adoption by the Full Council.

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^th September 2018 be confirmed and signed as an accurate record of the proceedings, and that the outstanding actions be noted.

That the recommendations contained in the exempt report be approved.

That the report be noted.