Agenda, decisions and minutes

That the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 5 June 2023 be confirmed and signed as an accurate record of the proceedings, and that the outstanding actions be noted.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Stephen Cowan and Councillor Sharon Holder.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter.  The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

The Cabinet received a valid petition requesting the Council to introduce parking restrictions at the Caxton Village Area (W12), containing the six streets, due to recurrent parking problems.

The Deputy Leader invited Mr Michael Rainsford, the petitioner organiser, to address the Cabinet for 5 minutes to present his petition.

Mr Michael Rainsfordstated that he was a member of the elected management committee of the Caxton Village Tenants and Residents Association (CVTRA), which represented over 400 households. This petition had received 272 signatories, which indicated strong support for the petition request.

This petition called for theincrease in parking restrictions to 24 hours a day, seven days a week for permit holders only;no blue badge parking except for permit holders and resident visitor parking permit holders (as is the case in nearby MacFarlane Road); and to increase resource and time period for enforcement patrols to support these greater restrictions.

As a result of this proximity to Shepherd’s Bush Green and Westfield, Caxton Village received high volume vehicles parking on their streets. This often resulted in there being no available parking spaces for permit holders after 10pm in addition to noise disturbance to residents, pollution and littering. This was particularly problematic at weekends.

The request for no blue badge parking except for resident and resident visitor parking permit holders was a result of the unsustainable level of blue badge parking in Caxton Village. Many local residents had counted the high level of blue badges parking in use at any one point in time by blue badge holders. It was the perception of residents, through witnessing the behaviour of many blue badge users, that this was the result of fraudulent use by visitors going to Westfield Shopping Centre. An employee of Westfield had said that free parking for up to four hours was only granted upon the presentation of the blue badge containing the photo of the presenter. Therefore he believed that fraudulent blue badge users were taking advantage from parking in Caxton Village instead of Westfield, as it did not required validation and was not time limited.

Bram Kainth, Strategic Director of Environment, stated that the Council would need to complete a parking stress survey exercise, to get necessary data on parking stress and the split between resident and visitor parking in the affected area. Based on the results they would decide what changes to the parking hours would be appropriate and seek the residents views on a consultation process.

Councillor Andrew Jones asked the reasons they were seeking parking controls after 10pm. Mr Rainsford replied that the main challenge post 10pm was the nigh-time economy, when their streets were peppered with delivery vehicles, idling taxi drivers, people getting take-away food nearby and eating in their cars with their engines on or off and playing loud music. Residents coming home late at night did no feel safe and had nowhere to park.

Councillor Wesley Harcourt asked the average length of time blue badge holders were parking their vehicle  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

1.            To note and approve the proposed procurement strategy for tendering the Councils insurance requirements and allied engineering inspection services, commencement of this formal tender process, intended compliance with the Public Contract Regulations and the need to seek suitable authority on a sovereign basis to award the contract after evaluation. Estimated contract award for all lots, based on 2023/24 premiums is £20M over a period of 5 years.

2.            To note that due to the likely contract value the award to be returned to Cabinet for approval.

Councillor Rowan Ree introduced the report proposing a tender to put in place appropriate insurance cover for the Council and its residents, achieve financial efficiencies in the process of arranging the cover and to carry out appropriate section 20 consultation and liaison with the Council’s leaseholders to ensure they are appropriately insured and recharged.

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY BY THE CABINET MEMBERS:

1.            To note and approve the proposed procurement strategy for tendering the Councils insurance requirements and allied engineering inspection services, commencement of this formal tender process, intended compliance with the Public Contract Regulations and the need to seek suitable authority on a sovereign basis to award the contract after evaluation. Estimated contract award for all lots, based on 2023/24 premiums is £20M over a period of 5 years.

2.            To note that due to the likely contract value the award to be returned to Cabinet for approval.

That Cabinet approves the procurement strategy to run an open procedure to establish a contract for the provision of travel care minibus services for a period of five years from August 2024 with the option to extend for a further two years.

Councillor Alex Sanderson introduced the report seeking approval of the procurement strategy for Travel Care Minibus Services for services from August 2024 for a period of five years, with the option to extend for a further two years.

The procurement strategy aimed to award a contract to a single provider to ensure the continued delivery of this statutory frontline service to residents.

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY BY THE CABINET MEMBERS:

That Cabinet approves the procurement strategy to run an open procedure to establish a contract for the provision of travel care minibus services for a period of five years from August 2024 with the option to extend for a further two years.

The Key Decision List was noted.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 - ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Proposed resolution:

Under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, that the public and press be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following items of business, on the grounds that they contain the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the said Act, and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption currently outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.       

There was no discussion of exempt elements.

In the absence of the Leader the Deputy Leader, Councillor Ben Coleman chaired the meeting.