Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting

Media

Items
No. Item

35.

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

Minutes:

35.1                There were no declarations made by Councillors.

 

 

36.

MOS/19/11 TO CONFIRM THE MINUTES FOR THE MEETING HELD ON THE 16 JANUARY 2020 pdf icon PDF 173 KB

Minutes:

It was RESOLVED

 

With the following amendment the Minutes of the meeting held on the 16 January be confirmed as a true record:

 

Paragraph 20.11 replace ‘ Recourses’ with ‘ Resources’

 

37.

BOS/19/9 TO CONFIRM THE MINUTES FOR THE MEETING HELD ON THE 20 JANUARY 2020 pdf icon PDF 162 KB

Minutes:

 

It was RESOLVED

 

That the Minutes of the meeting held on the 20 January be confirmed as a true record.

 

38.

JOS/19/30 TO CONFIRM THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 20 FEBRUARY 2020 pdf icon PDF 170 KB

Minutes:

 

It was RESOLVED

 

That the Minutes of the meeting held on the 20 February be confirmed as a true record.

 

 

39.

TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATION OF PETITIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COUNCIL'S PETITION SCHEME

Minutes:

None received.

 

40.

QUESTIONS BY THE PUBLIC

To consider questions from and provide answers to members of the public on any matter in relation to which the Committee has powers or duties and of which due notice has been given in accordance with the Committee and Sub-Committee Procedures Rules.

Minutes:

None received.

 

 

41.

QUESTIONS BY COUNCILLORS

To consider questions from and provide answers to Councillors on any matter in relation to which the Committee has powers or duties and of which due notice has been given in accordance with the Committee and Sub-Committee Procedure Rules.

Minutes:

None received.

 

 

42.

JOS/19/31 CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND COMPANY ('CIFCO CAPITAL LTD') BUSINESS TRADING AND PERFORMANCE REPORT 2019/20 pdf icon PDF 497 KB

Councillor David Busby - BDC Cabinet Member for Assets & Investments

 

Councillor Peter Gould - MSDC Cabinet Member for Assets & Investments

 

Assistant Director – Assets and Investments

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

42.1         The Chair advised members that the committee would be examining the Business plan only, and not the governance structure of CIFCO, or the terms under which they were set up. Any decisions relating to that, or its terms of reference, any questions relating to these areas would be the responsibility for Full Council.

 

42.2         The Chair then introduced the Board Members present:

 

Chris Haworth – Chair of CIFCO CAPITAL LTD.

 

Henry Cooke - Director of CIFCO CAPITAL LTD

 

Mark Sargeantson – Director of CIFCO CAPITAL LTD

 

Councillor Rick Meyer – Director of CIFCO CAPITAL LTD

 

 

Councillor David Busby - Director of BDC (Suffolk Holdings) Ltd and Cabinet Member for Assets and Investments

 

Councillor Gerard Brewster – Director of MSDC (Suffolk Holdings) Ltd.

 

Councillor Peter Gould – Mid Suffolk Cabinet Member for Assets and Investments 

 

Nigel Golder - Director - Strategic Asset Management JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle)

 

Neville Pritchard - Director - Capital Markets JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle)

 

Emily Atack – Managing Director of CIFCO and Assistant Director for Assts and Investments

 

42.3         The Chair invited Councillor Peter Gould, MSDC Cabinet Member for Assets and Investments, introduce Report JOS/19/31.

 

42.4         Councillor Gould detailed the income and benefits provided to the Councils,including that CIFCO had provided the Councils with approximately £3m of net income since its inception in 2017. Approximately £1.6m was received in the last financial year, equating to approximately 10% of the Councils workforce costs or 13.5% of Council Tax income. This income was essential in enabling the Councils to continue to invest and deliver services within our districts. CIFCO collected over 70% of the March quarter rent and were consequently able to make the full debt repayment to the Councils in March. Whilst difficult times remain ahead with the continued impact of COVID-19, the proposed business plan seeks to continue the investment of the 2nd tranche of funds approved by Council last year, and in doing so to further diversify the portfolio away from High Street retail focusing on the industrial and alternative sectors and to continue to deliver and grow this important revenue stream for the Councils.

 

42.5         The Chair invited the Chair of CIFCO, and the Managing Director to present the presentation for CIFCO.

 

Note: A short adjournment between occurred 10:10am and 10:15am.

 

42.6         The Chair invited Members to ask questions.

 

42.7         Councillor Carter asked in relation paragraph 4.1 what the actual geographical percentage split of asset value was between Eastern region and the rest, noting that Milton Keynes was not in the East.

 

42.8         Councillor Carter asked that CIFCO seemed to have gone into the office sector just as this sector lost favour due to home working.  Similarly, it now seemed that CIFCO was buying high street properties, as this sector went into decline.  Were properties attractively priced because others were divesting. Further as there were the same amount of office space available, but a reduced number of workers due to homeworking, how would CIFCO be investing based on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

43.

INFORMATION BULLETIN

The Information Bulletin is a document that is made available to the public with the published agenda papers.  It can include update information requested by the Committee as well as information that a service considers should be made known to the Committee.

 

This Information Bulletin contains updates on the following subjects:

 

There are no Information Bulletins

 

Minutes:

There were no Information Bulletin

 

44.

FORTHCOMING DECISIONS LIST

To review the Council’s Forthcoming Decisions List and identify any items to be brought before the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

Please note the most up to date version can be found via the Website:

 

https://www.babergh.gov.uk/the-council/forthcoming-decisions-list/

 

Minutes:

44.1          It was agreed by Members to add the Future Delivery Model for Public Realm to the Overview and Scrutiny Committees’ Workplans.

 

45.

JOS/19/32 BABERGH OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY WORK PLAN pdf icon PDF 360 KB

To agree the Work Plan

Minutes:

45.1     Members discussed both Workplans and the upcoming review of the Committee’s work. 

 

45.2     Councillor McLaren provided a summary of a CIPFA Webinar which she thought had been informative and useful when undertaking scrutiny.  She would forward the presentation and questions and answers from the meeting to Members.

 

46.

JOS/19/33 MID SUFFOLK OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY WORK PLAN pdf icon PDF 355 KB

To agree the Work Plan

Minutes:

Please see the previous item.

 

47.

RESOLUTION TO EXCLUDE THE PUBLIC (WHICH TERM INCLUDES THE PRESS)

To consider, whether, pursuant to Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the business specified below on the grounds that if the public were present during this item, it is likely that there would be the disclosure to them of exempt information as indicated against theitem.

The authors of the report propose to be considered in Part 2 of the Agenda are satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

PART 2

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED WITH THE PRESS AND PUBLIC EXCLUDED

 

 

Minutes:

47.1          Members agreed that there were no requirements for a closed session as all questions for the item had been responded to.

 

48.

JOS/10/31 APPENDIX 2 - CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND COMPANY ('CIFCO CAPITAL LTD') BUSINESS TRADING AND PERFORMANCE REPORT 2019/20