It was RESOLVED: -

That Cabinet, following consideration of Licensing and Regulatory Committee’s recommendation, adopted the post consultation draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing Policy, attached as Appendix A.

REASON FOR DECISION

Following the publication of the new Statutory Standards for Taxi’s and Private Hire Vehicles, Councils are required to review the recommendations from the Department for Transport (DFT) and consult on any changes to their current policies.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

All options to be considered are contained within the body of the report.

Any Declarations of Interests Declared: None

Any Dispensation Granted: None

It was RESOLVED: -

1.1          That, subject to any further budget variations that arise during the rest of the financial year, the surplus position of £320k, referred to in section 6.6 and Appendix A of the report, be noted;

1.2          The revised 2021/22 Capital Programme referred to in Appendix E and section 6.16 be noted.

REASON FOR DECISION

To ensure that Members are kept informed of the current budgetary position for both General Fund Revenue and Capital.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

At this stage in the year, the financial position is for noting only.

Any Declarations of Interests Declared: None

Any Dispensation Granted: None

It was RESOLVED: -

1.1 That the CIL Expenditure Programme (December 2021) and accompanying technical assessment of the CIL Bid – B21-04 (forming Appendices, A and B) which included decision on this CIL Bid for Cabinet be approved as follows: -

Decision for Cabinet to approve: Brantham - Ringfenced and Local Infrastructure Fund.

1.2 That this CIL Expenditure Programme which included the position in respect of approved CIL Bids from Rounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 (including Cabinet decisions – June and October 2021. (Appendix A Section B) together with details of emerging infrastructure /CIL Bids (Appendix A Section C) be noted and endorsed.

REASON FOR DECISION

Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) monies have been collected since the implementation of CIL on the 11^th April 2016. The CIL Expenditure Framework (originally adopted in April 2018 and reviewed with amendments adopted on the 18^th March 2019 and with further amendments on the 20^th April 2020 and March 2021) requires the production of a CIL Expenditure Programme for each District which contains decisions for Cabinet to make or note on CIL Bids for CIL expenditure. These decisions relating to the expenditure of CIL monies form one of the ways in which necessary infrastructure supporting growth is delivered.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

There is a diverse spectrum of approaches to CIL expenditure across the country from Unitary Authorities who have absorbed CIL into their individual Capital Programmes to others who ringfence all funds to be spent locally. A range of different approaches was identified in Appendix A of the Framework for CIL Expenditure report provided to Cabinet’s on the 5^th and 8^th of February 2018 and discussed in full during the workshops with the Joint Member advisory panel. Members adopted the documents set out in paragraph 1.1 above by Council decision in April 2018 which were subsequently reviewed and adopted on the 19^th March 2019 (Babergh) and 18^th March 2019 (Mid Suffolk) and then reviewed for the second and third time and adopted by both Councils on the 20^th April 2020 and 23^rd March 2021(Babergh) and 25^th March 2021(Mid Suffolk) respectively.

Any Declarations of Interests Declared: None

Any Dispensation Granted: None

It was RESOLVED: -

1.1          That, subject to any further budget variations that arise during the rest of the financial year, the adverse variance of £499k, referred to in section 6.5 of the report, be noted;

1.2          The 2021/22 revised Capital Programme referred to in Appendix A and section 6.13 be noted.

REASON FOR DECISION

To ensure that Members are kept informed of the current budgetary position for both the HRA Revenue and Capital Budgets.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

At this stage in the year, the financial position is for noting only.

Any Declarations of Interests Declared: None

Any Dispensation Granted: None

72.1       The Chair invited the Cabinet Member for Customers, Digital Transformation and Improvement, Councillor McCraw, to introduce the report.

72.2       Councillor McCraw provided a detailed summary of the Quarter 2 Performance and advised that a new framework would be introduced in 2022 – 2023.

72.3       Members commented on the performance in the papers including that the statistics for fly tipping, waste and subscription to the garden waste scheme was good.

72.4       Councillor Arthey was concerned about the wait time and abandonment of telephone calls for Customer Services and the Cabinet Member for Customers, Digital Transformation and Improvement responded that more staff were being taken on and the response time had dropped in October to 1.66 seconds. The current target was a response time of 1.45 seconds. The response time in the papers still included the lockdown periods earlier in the year.

72.5       In a response to Councillor Jan Osborne’s question regarding what preventative measures were being taken by the Council for fly tipping, as the clearing of fly tipping was costly to the Council, the Cabinet Member for Communities, Councillor Dawson advised she would provide a response outside the meeting.

72.6       Councillor Dawson asked that the charge made by Suffolk County Council to clear hard core rubbish was reviewed by the Cabinet Member for Finance.

72.7       Councillor Osborne queried whether the charge for domestic waste collection for those on low income could be reduced.

The Quarter 2 Performance was noted.

It was RESOLVED: -

That Cabinet following consideration of Licensing and Regulatory Committee’s recommendation adopt the post consultation draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing Policy, attached as Appendix A.

REASON FOR DECISION

Following the publication of the new Statutory Standards for Taxi’s and Private Hire Vehicles, Councils are required to review the recommendations from the Department for Transport (DFT) and consult on any changes to their current policies.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

All options to be considered are contained within the body of the report.

Any Declarations of Interests Declared: None

Any Dispensation Granted: None

74.1       The Chair and Cabinet Member for Customers, Digital Transformation and Improvement, Councillor Morley introduced the item and provided a summary of the main points in the Quarter 2 Performance paper.

74.2        The Chair invited questions from other Members attending the meeting.

74.3        Questions included the increased rate of abandoned telephone calls and wait times for Customer Services, and the increase in Stage One complaints and whether there was a particular sector which had received more complaints in the last quarter.

74.4        The Cabinet Member for Customers, Digital Transformation and Improvement responded that the figures had remained high, but that figures for October were lower, that the abandoned call rate was down to 13% and the average wait time was 1 minute and 57 seconds. The increase in Stage One complaints had mainly related to Council house complaints and waste collections.

74.5        In response to further questions from other Members attending the meeting in relation to Stage One complaints for Council Housing, the Assistant Director for Housing explained that they mainly related to waiting times. There had been a decrease in these complaints in the past month and the response rate had also improved. He then detailed the measures taken by the Housing team to continue to improve the service to tenants.

74.6        The Cabinet Member for Customers, Digital Transformation and Improvement continued to respond to questions on issues including that the delivery plans were on Connect and the outcomes framework format would be changing over the next few months.

74.7        The Quarter 2 Performance was noted.

It was RESOLVED: -

1.1          That, subject to any further budget variations that arise during the rest of the financial year, the adverse variance of £747k, referred to in section 6.5 of the report, be noted;

1.2          The 2021/22 revised Capital Programme referred to in Appendix A and section 6.13 be noted.

REASON FOR DECISION

To ensure that Members are kept informed of the current budgetary position for both the HRA Revenue and Capital Budgets.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

At this stage in the year, the financial position is for noting only.

Any Declarations of Interests Declared: None

Any Dispensation Granted: None

It was RESOLVED: -

1.1          That, subject to any further budget variations that arise during the rest of the financial year, the surplus position of £398k, referred to in section 6.6 and Appendix A of the report, be noted;

1.2          The revised 2021/22 Capital Programme referred to in Appendix E and section 6.16 be noted.

REASON FOR DECISION

To ensure that Members are kept informed of the current budgetary position for both General Fund Revenue and Capital.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

At this stage in the year, the financial position is for noting only.

Any Declarations of Interests Declared: None

Any Dispensation Granted: None