Agenda and minutes

Councillor Mrs Laws’ absence was due to the current government limits on social contact because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To confirm and sign the public minutes of the meeting held 1^st July 2021.

The public minutes of the meeting held 1 July 2021 were approved and signed.

To present the Annual Report of the Council for Cabinet to note the achievements made in delivering the Council's corporate priorities in 2021/21.

Members considered the Annual Report 2020/21 report presented by Councillor Tierney.

Cllr Boden thanked officers and Councillor Tierney for their work in making the report clearer to read than last year; it is a positive report.

Cabinet AGREED to approve the Annual Report of the Council 2020/21.

The purpose of this report is to consider the overall financial and operational performance of the Council’s treasury management activity for 2020/21.

Members considered the Treasury Management Annual Report 2020/21 presented by Councillor Boden.

Cabinet AGREED to note, and that Council receive, the Treasury Management Annual Report.

To inform Cabinet of the income and expenditure (known as “Outturn”) for the Council for 2020/21 and reasons for variations.

Members considered the 2020/21 Financial Outturn Report presented by Councillor Boden. 

Cabinet AGREED that:

(i)    The Outturn for the Council’s General Fund services in 2020/21, as detailed at Appendix A and Section 2 of the report, be noted and that Members note the transfer of the underspend to the Budget Equalisation Reserve; and

(ii)   The reasons for the variations from revised estimate be noted.

To consider the updated capital programme and variations in resources since February 2021.

Members considered the Capital Update Report presented by Councillor Boden.

Cabinet AGREED to approve the updated capital programme and funding schedule at Appendix A of the Capital Update report.

This report gives an update on the progress of funding bids submitted including any resulting capital or revenue implications for the Council should the bids be successful.

Members considered the Project Update – Growing Fenland and CCC Capital Community Fund report presented by Councillor Boden.

Councillor Tierney said he was concerned that people viewing this meeting may wonder why Cabinet members do not ask questions when going through the agenda items. He thought it would be useful to point out for the record that this is a good sign as most of these items have already been covered in other meetings. Cabinet is a procedural process; members are engaged but have already read and understood the reports and had any questions answered. Councillor Boden thanked Councillor Tierney for this comment; which was appropriate in his role as Portfolio Holder for Communications and suggested he make this point at every Cabinet meeting for the benefit of the public; he agreed that Cabinet members have already been through these papers at least twice and ironed out any significant problems.

Councillor French updated Cabinet with the news that she attended a County Council meeting last week where they requested at least another £5m to be put into the budget for the community.

Councillor Hoy wanted to make a positive point about the business capital grant scheme. The officer involved was very helpful, did everything we asked, and it was good to see the scheme implemented well.

Councillor Benney pointed out that Chatteris has done exceptionally well in respect of the Growing Fenland project, which received £4m of funding in total. Some questions have been asked on Facebook about whether it is a good thing to move the museum, but this changes the way the council runs. Moving the museum, which taxpayers pay for, will make it self-funding from the income we will receive from renting the office and flats. In turn this will provide a surplus which can be spent for the good of the town. The £1m Chatteris has received from the funding has been spent but not wasted. Any criticism is unjust; a lot of work has gone in and he is very pleased with the outcome.

Cabinet AGREED to:

·         Note the contents of the Project Update report and theprojects which were submitted to the CPCA Board Meeting on 30.06.21 as set out in appendix E of the report.

·         Note that all of the £4m of CPCA funding ringfenced for the four market towns of Fenland has now been allocated to various projects.

CCC Capital Communities Fund:

·           No further action required

Growing Fenland:

·           Cabinet members are asked to approve the capital costs linked to the CPCA funding bids in the table below. These bids were approved at the CPCA Board Meeting held on 30.06.21.

For Cabinet to review the support put in place for Freedom Leisure as a result of the Covid crisis and to agree financial support for the period July – September 2021.

Members considered the Freedom Leisure report presented by Councillor Clark and Councillor Boden.

Councillor Seaton said it is encouraging to see the progress that Freedom Leisure has made since reopening, which is better than anticipated. He commented that leisure centre car parks are usually full of cars and as we are developing a cycling/walking strategy he wondered if there is an opportunity through Freedom Leisure, even for a limited period, to encourage people to cycle or walk to the centres to promote the overall strategy for health and wellbeing within Fenland. Councillor Boden thanked Councillor Seaton for his sensible suggestion and asked that he take this back to officers to feedback to the County Council and Freedom Leisure, with the assistance of Councillor Clark.

Cabinet AGREED that:

3.1       Fenland District Council (“FDC”) provides the Phase V financial relief to       Freedom Leisure set out in these recommendations.

3.2       FDC defers the monthly management fee of £38,000 per month for      July 2021 – September 2021, at a cost to the Council of £114,000,       repayable in accordance with the terms set out at paragraph 3.4 of          these recommendations.

3.3       FDC continues to support Freedom Leisure on an open book basis by           providing financial support from the remaining NLRF grant. The current   estimated cost of operational support for the period is £47,178.

3.4       Repayment of the £114,000 described in paragraph 3.2 of these             recommendations shall become payable through an annual deduction           of 75% of any profit generated in excess of the levels predicted in the       LOBTA (Leisure Operators Base Trading Account). This is a change       from the current 50/50 profit share and will be subject to the          performance of the business over the contract period.

3.5       The Monitoring Officer and s.151 Officer are authorised to put in place          all necessary arrangements to give effect to the agreed         recommendations to include entry into the necessary legal   arrangements and expenditure of the amounts described from existing         budget provisions.

The purpose of this report is to update Cabinet on the revised timetable for the emerging Fenland Local Plan. 

Members considered the Local Development Scheme Report presented by Councillor Boden on behalf of Councillor Laws. 

Cabinet AGREED to approve the attached Local Development Scheme (LDS) (Appendix 1) which sets out the revised timetable for production of the Fenland Local Plan.

For Cabinet to agree the Fenland District Council response to the consultation from the Boundary Commission for England (BCE) on the future composition of parliamentary constituency boundaries.

Members considered FDC’s response to the Boundary Commission’s Parliamentary Constituency Boundary Proposals report presented by Councillor Boden.

Councillor French said it would be down to the North East Cambs Conservative Association (NECCA) as to whether we change the name of the Association. 

Councillor Seaton asked how this affects the title of our MP. Councillor Boden confirmed that our local MP would become the MP for Fenland instead of MP for North East Cambs. He added that our current MP has expressed approval for this change.

Cabinet AGREED to:

1.1         Submit the proposed consultation response on parliamentary constituency boundaries to the Boundary Commission for England (BCE) as set out in section 5 of this report.

1.2         Support the BCE's initial proposals with respect to the boundaries of its proposed "North East Cambridgeshire" and "East Cambridgeshire" parliamentary constituencies.

1.3         Strongly oppose the retention of the name "North East Cambridgeshire" for the BCE's proposed new parliamentary constituency covering the area of Fenland District Council, much preferring that that new parliamentary constituency be named "Fenland."

1.4         The name proposed by the BCE for its "East Cambridgeshire" parliamentary constituency.

1.5         The BCE's initial proposal to create new "Peterborough" and "North West Cambridgeshire" parliamentary constituencies should be replaced with new "Peterborough North" and "Peterborough South & Ramsey" parliamentary constituencies.   

(Councillor Hoy left the meeting for this item and therefore took no part in the discussion or vote). 

For information purposes.

Councillor Boden presented the Cabinet Forward Plan for information.

Confidential minutes of the meeting held 1^st July 2021 to follow.

The confidential minutes of the meeting held 1 July 2021 were unavailable and will be presented for approval at the next meeting of Cabinet.