Corporate Policy and Resources Committee
Decisions taken at the meeting held on Monday, 9 September 2024.
Meeting Time:
7.00 pm
Meeting Venue:
Council Chamber, Council Offices, Knowle Green, Staines-upon-Thames TW18 1XB
PRESENT:
|
6. Housing Complaints Performance and Self-Assessment against Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code*
|
|
|
|
Committee resolved to:
1. Receive and respond to the annual report on Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing’s complaint handling performance and learning from complaints, in relation to complaints from residents of Harper House and White House,
2. Approve the self-assessment of Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing’s Complaints Policy against the Complaint Handling Code, for submission to the Housing Ombudsman Service; and
3. Appoint the Community Wellbeing & Housing Committee to fulfil the role of Members Responsible for Complaints.
|
|
7. Solar Canopies Over 'Eclipse' Leisure Centre Car Park* |
|
|
|
Committee resolved to:
1. Authorise a tender process to procure market solutions for the solar canopy carpark project; and
2. Note that the Sustainability Team and Assets Team will report the outcome of the tender process to this Committee with detailed proposals
|
|
8. New Artificial Intelligence Policy*
|
|
|
|
Committee resolved to approve the draft of the new Artificial Intelligence Policy. |
|
9. Bus Shelter Maintenance*
|
|
|
|
Committee resolved to:
1. Agree a direct award contract with Clear Channel to maintain the bus shelters in the Borough. This equates to Clear channel spending £90k p.a. in spelthorne; and
2. Authorise the Group Head corporate Governance to enter a contract for a period of 3 years with a 2 year extension option (3+2) and any ancillary documentation with Clear Channel.
|
|
10. Q1 Capital Monitoring Report
|
|
|
|
Committee resolved to note the Capital Programme forecast overspend of £857k for schemes under way or scheduled to commence in 2024-25 or 2025-26 as at 30 June 2024.
|
|
11. Q1 Revenue Monitoring Report |
|
|
|
Committee resolved to note the forecast overspend of £23,000 for 2024-25 as at 30 June 2024. |
|
12. Corporate Risk Management |
|
|
|
Committee resolved to consider the significant strategic risks and issues highlighted in the report, ensuring continued wider reporting of the Corporate Risk Register and actions across other committees.
|
|
13. Forward Plan |
|
|
|
The Committee resolved to note the contents of the Forward Plan. |
|
15. 5 Swimmers Statue*
|
|
|
|
Committee resolved to authorise the Group Head of Corporate Governance to enter into a long term art loan agreement for the 5 Swimmers Statue with Berkeley Homes (or such other appropriate form of agreement as shall be agreed with Berkeley Homes).
|
|
16. Waterfront Development Agreement*
|
|
|
|
Committee resolved to recommend to Council that it:
1. Approve the Heads of Terms for the Council to enter into an Agreement of Lease with the proposed tenant for the Waterfront Site, Bridge Street, Staines-upon-Thames to facilitate the delivery of a new hotel led regeneration on this prime riverside site,
2. Delegate authority to the Chief Finance Officer in consultation with the Leader to agree any minor variations to the Heads of Terms and the final terms of the Agreement for Lease subject to valuation advice received,
3. Delegate authority to the Group Head of Corporate Governance, in consultation with the Leader, to finalise and enter into the Agreement of Lease and any other associated documentation in connection with the grant of the Lease to the proposed tenant; and
4. Note the Local Government Act S.123 ‘Best Value’ valuation undertaken by Cushman and Wakefield in respect of the proposed terms of this transaction.
|
|
18. Commercial Property Insurance Renewal*
|
|
|
|
Committee resolved to agree the recommendations as outlined in the confidential report:
1. Approve Option 1 in the report being the award of the Commercial Real Estate Insurance Contract for the period of 1 year from 26 September 2024 to the suppliers outlined in the report,
2. Approve the award of the engineering Insurance Policy and the Engineering Inspection Policy to the supplier outlined in the report; and
3. Authorise the Group Head of Assets to enter into any necessary documentation relating to the selected insurance policies. |
NOTES:-
(1) Members are reminded that the “call-in” procedure as set out in Part 4b of the Constitution, shall not apply to the following matters:
(a) Urgent decisions as defined in Paragraph 9. of the Call-in Scrutiny Procedure Rules;
(b) Decisions to award a contract following a lawful procurement process;
(c) Those decisions:
i. reserved to full Council
ii. on regulatory matters
iii. on member conduct issues.
(2) Those matters to which Note (1) applies, if any, are identified with an asterisk [*] in the above Minutes.
(3) Within three working days of the date on which this decision is published, not less than three members from two or more political groups by submission of the standard call-in pro-forma, may ask for that decision to be referred to a meeting of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee for review (call-in). The completed pro-forma must be received by the Proper Officer by 5pm three working days after publication of the decision.
(4) The members exercising the right of call-in must not be members of the Committee which considered the matter.
(5) When calling in a decision for review the members doing so must demonstrate the following exceptional circumstances:
a. Evidence which suggests that the decision maker, did not take the decision in accordance with the principles set out in Article 11 (Decision Making); or
b. Evidence that the decision fails to support one or more of the Council’s Corporate Plan priorities to the detriment of the majority of the Borough’s residents; or
c. Evidence that explicit Council Policy or legal requirements were disregarded.
(6) Once the request for ‘call-in’ has been deemed valid by the Monitoring Officer the matter will be suspended until the call-in procedure has been exhausted.
(7) The Chief Executive, in consultation with the relevant officer, will determine if the interests of the Council or Borough would be prejudiced by a delay in implementing a decision such that the call-in cannot wait until the next ordinary meeting of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee.
(8) Where the call-in cannot wait until the next ordinary meeting, the Monitoring Officer will arrange an extraordinary meeting of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee to review the decision subject to call-in at the earliest possible opportunity.
(9) In exceptional cases, where there is clear evidence that a delay to the implementation of a decision would lead to a specific and significant financial or reputational harm to the Council, a call-in request may be refused by the Chief Executive following consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair of Corporate Policy and Resources Committee.
(10) In reviewing a matter referred to it under the call-in scrutiny procedure rules, the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee shall follow the procedure for dealing with call-in scrutiny at its meetings as set out in Part 4b of the Constitution.
(11) The deadline of three working days for "call in" in relation to the above decisions by the Committee is the close of business on Friday 13 September 2024.