There were no apologies received.

There were no declarations of interests received.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2018 be confirmed as a correct record.

None received.

To consider questions from and provide answer 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 Procedure Rules.

None received.

To consider questions from and provide answer 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.

None received.

22.1          The Chair informed the Committee that Report BOS/18/10 were to be presented to Full Council the following day and that he would be presenting a report on the scrutiny conducted at this Committee at that meeting.

22.2          The Assistant Director – Assets and Investments, introduced report BOS/18/10 and explained the reason for setting up a Strategic Property and Land Investment Fund.  She said the Fund would not replace the normal acquisition process but enable the Council to purchase land or property quickly when required. She drew Members’ attention to the process set out in Appendix A.

22.3          Members asked for clarification on how much it would cost the Council to fund the borrowing for this fund. Officers responded that when the borrowing was required the most favourable interest rate would be sought.  Currently the interest rate indicator was at 1.85% for short term borrowing.

22.4          Some Members felt the paper was vague and questioned the following bullet points:

1.3    That the process only required two Cabinet Members’ agreement.  This did not safeguard against Cabinet Members’ role being amalgamated. 

4.7    That the criteria use for the purchases was only a guide and not a requirement.

2.2        Was there any evidence that the Council need this Fund.

22.5            The Assistant Director – Asset and Investment responded that currently it could take between two to eight months to get a report through Cabinet and Council, not at least because the decision would have to be on the Forthcoming Decisions List for 28 clear days.  Although officers would always prefer to use this established process for property and land acquisitions, there were situations, such as Auctions, which required a swifter process. Auctions could be completed in as little as two weeks.

22.6            Members asked if there had been a situation in which the Council had been unable to require land or property because of the lengthy acquisition process and had thus lost an opportunity. The Executive Director responded that the Council had not as far as he knew previously been purchasing strategic strips of land or property.

22.7            Members ask which councils had been used for benchmarking in bullet point 4.5, and officers would provide the answer to this outside of the committee.

22.8            Further questions were raised for bullet point 6 and the table illustrating the borrowing of £1.5 million and if there were any specifically commercial restrictions associated with this.  Also, interest would have to be paid back on the loan with money from the Transformation Fund without receiving an income. 

22.9            In response to the above question and further questions about the risk involved, the Assistant Director responded that part of the consultation paper was to include the S151 officer to evaluate if the borrowing of the Funds were prudent or not and would be a key consideration prior to a acquisition.  Risk assessment and a risk statement would be included in the consultation report, as financial risk were specific to individual acquisitions.  The Consultation paper were to be submitted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

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:

1.               Staff Turnover and Welfare

Information Bulletin - Staff Turnover and Welfare

Members debated the Information Bulletin. Officers said recruiting for the Planning Department was ongoing, but that recruiting was a national issue.

Members thanked the officers for successful recruiting to the historic planning department.

It was RESOLVED: -

That the Information Bulletin be noted.

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

It was RESOLVED: -

That the Forthcoming Decisions List be noted.

To agree the Work Plan

It was RESOLVED: -

That the Babergh Workplan be noted.

For information

It was RESOLVED: -

That the Mid Suffolk Workplan be noted.

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 the item.

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

By a unanimous vote.

It was RESOLVED: -

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

The Committee was also satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

Members requested that the date and place of the meeting be added to the minutes.

It was RESOLVED: -

That the confidential minute from the meeting held on the 18 June 2018 be conformed as a correct record with follow amendments be added to the heading of the minute:

BABERGH OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE 18 JUNE 2018