Brighton & Hove City Council
Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee
4.00pm14 March 2024
Council Chamber, Hove Twon Hall
MINUTES
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Present: Councillors Sankey (Chair), Taylor (Deputy Chair), Cattell, Davis (Substitute), Guilmant (Substitute), McNair, Nann (Substitute), Pumm, Robins and Williams.
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PART ONE
108 Procedural Business
a) Declarations of substitutes
108.1 Councillor Nann substituted for Councillor Muten. Councillor Davis substituted for Councillor Shanks. Councillor Guilmant substituted for Councillor Rowkins.
b) Declarations of interests
108.2 Councillor Taylor stated that they a Governor of Longhill High School.
c) Exclusion of the press and public
108.3 In accordance with Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (“the Act”), the Committee considered whether the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any item of business on the grounds that it is likely in view of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during it, there would be disclosure to them of confidential information as defined in Section 100A (3) of the Act.
108.4 RESOLVED: That the public are excluded from the meeting from items listed on Part 2 of the agenda.
109 Minutes
109.1 RESOLVED: The minutes of the previous meeting held on 8 Febuary 2024 were agreed.
110 Chair's Communications
110.1 The Chair addressed the committee and stated the following:
Good afternoon and welcome everyone to our March Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Committee. Since we last met, we have received the Tory Government’s Spring Statement. It contained nothing by way of new vision or ideas to get our economy out of a Tory-created quagmire. Instead, the best bit was the Tories finally accepting Labour’s plan to close the non-dom loophole. This was in our 2015 manifesto. Imagine all the funds we could have raised and invested in our precious public services, had the Tories swallowed their pride a little earlier.
Our country isn’t demanding tax cuts. People want better public services and yes more money back in their pocket to survive a Tory Cost of Living Crisis, but that can only happen with a plan for growth, more and better jobs and high-quality public services that protect our quality of life. There’s no point having 2p off your national insurance if when you call that life-saving ambulance for your elderly loved one, it doesn’t arrive.
I’m pleased to say that following concerted lobbying by Brighton & Hove City Council and by the Labour-led LGA, the Government agreed to extend the Household Support Fund for a further 6 months, securing just over £2million for emergency food and fuel support, and free school meals in the school holidays. That this was a last-minute U-turn beggars’ belief. The Tories are out of touch, but surely even they are aware that people in this country are now being tipped into destitution on a daily basis and need emergency support.
I commented in my chair’s comms at our last Strategy meeting about the Government’s attempt to use their financial events to attack equality, diversity and inclusion schemes run by us and other local authorities. It happened again last week.
But after the events of the last few days, I must revisit this theme. It is self-evidently ludicrous to suggest that the billions missing from our communities through local government finance is due to EDI. But this Government is now no longer, just attacking EDI in principle.
Something even darker has moved centre stage of our politics under this Government. Former Tory Prime Minister Liz Truss cosied up to Steve Bannon while he heaped praise on Tommy Robinson. Rishi Sunak failed to confront the Islamophobic comments of his former party chair, Lee Anderson. And earlier this week, it was revealed that the biggest donor to the Conservative Party is reported to have called for Diane Abbott, our first Black woman MP to be shot and to have said that looking at her makes him hate all Black women. Conservative ministers then fanned out across our TV screens to tell us this was not racism nor misogyny and that they would continue accepting this man’s donations.
The utter moral failure to accept that violent anti-black racist misogyny should have no place whatsoever in our politics. Let alone bankrolling the Party of Government. What an utter disgrace. I want to acknowledge that Black and mixed heritage women across Brighton and Hove have been triggered, hurt and angered by these shocking and violent comments. As have so many.
My Administration utterly rejects the moral abyss our government now represents and the ugly place it is seeking to take our society. We certainly won’t take lessons on equality, diversity and inclusion from a Party sponsored by race-hate. Instead, we are expanding our EDI work. This year we launch the third diverse talent programme, focussing on staff seeking to progress to senior grades. And on Monday I was pleased to address our Leadership Network on a new programme to implement the other positive action section of the Equality Act, meaning we actively and positively recruit those from under-represented groups in tiebreaker situations.
Moulsecoomb Hub & Housing Project
I am really excited that today we will be making a decision on whether to procure the new Moulsecoomb hub and housing project. The scheme which will provide over 200 affordable homes, alongside a new community Hub incorporating a Youth Centre, GP surgery, library, pharmacy, and café. High quality public realm will also be provided, including a skate park, and a 7-aside 3G football pitch. It is one of the most ambitious and largest projects of its kind undertaken by Brighton and Hove City Council. It has received planning permission and today we will be voting on whether to go out to the market for a competitive procurement through a design and build route. This will make an important contribution to our work to accelerate the provision of new council and affordable housing in the city.
Organisational Redesign, Move to Cabinet System & Community Engagement Framework
Today we will also be discussing and voting on our proposed plan to move to a Cabinet system of governance at Brighton and Hove City Council. This paper is brought together with a paper of our organisational redesign and a new community engagement framework. Together these proposals are intended to create a more responsive, collaborative and effective Council. The last Labour Government introduced the leader and cabinet model of local government with the explicit intention of improving both public engagement and delivery against council objectives. As part of the planned move to a Cabinet system we will launch a consultation on the public engagement aspects of the new model, including a range of options from citizen assemblies to Cabinet Question Times. Our arrangements for Full Council will remain the same. A Cabinet system will mean we publish a forward plan of council decisions, it will bring our decision-making together and reduce siloed working.
Our organisational redesign is also designed to improve collaboration internally, reduce duplication and deliver savings for the next financial year. The major change in phase 1 is to reduce the number of directorates from 5 to 4 bringing health and adult social care together with housing to create Housing, Care and Wellbeing and today’s paper addresses the necessary scheme of officer delegations. The next phase will focus on building a stronger corporate centre and empowering colleagues through the organisation to lead in a more strategic and collaborative way.
Social Value in Procurement
Package of documents to update our social value in procurements. This is all about delivering the betterment of the wellbeing of Brighton and Hove and our residents through our contracting, over and above the delivery of the contract. This means greater local employment and more support for charities.
School Capital Investment Programme/Local Transport Plan
Today we also consider our school capital investment programme with an important report about capital investments for the coming year. We also consider our Local Transport Capital Programme which includes important commitments to fix our roads and invest in the infrastructure we need for all who travel around our city.
111 CALL OVER
111.1 The Democratic Services officer invited the committee to state if they wished to discuss the reports listed on the agenda.
· Item 121: ‘Annual Planned Maintenance Budget and Asset Management Fund Allocations 2024-25 for the Council’s Operational Buildings’ was not called for discussion.
· All other reports were called for consideration.
112 Public Involvement
112.1 There was no public engagement.
113 Member Involvement
113.1 There was no Member involvement.
114 Education Capital Resources and Capital Investment Programme 2024-25
114.1 The Executive Director - Families Children & Learning introduced the report to the committee.
114.2 The committee considered the report of the Executive Director, Governance, People & Resources Officer.
114.1 Councillor Taylor asked questions and contributed to the debate.
Vote
114.4 A vote was taken, and by 9 (Councillors Cattell, Guilmant, McNair, Nann, Pumm, Robins, Sankey, Taylor and Williams) to 1 abstention (Councillor Davis) the committee agreed the recommendations.
RESOLVED:
That Children Families & Schools Committee
2.1 That the level of available capital resources totalling £4.200m for investment relating to education buildings financed from capital grant be noted.
2.2 That Committee agree the allocation of funding as shown in Appendices 1 and 2 and recommend this to Strategy Finance & City Regeneration Committee on 14 March 2024 for inclusion within the Council’s Capital Investment Programme 2024/25.
2.3 That Committee agree to recommend to Strategy Finance & City
Regeneration Committee that they grant delegated authority to the Assistant Director of Property & Design to procure the capital maintenance and basic need works and enter into contracts within these budgets, as required, in accordance with Contract Standing Orders in respect of the entire Education Capital Programme.
That Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee
2.1 That the level of available capital resources totalling £4.200m for investment relating to education buildings financed from capital grant be noted.
2.2 That Strategy Finance & City Regeneration Committee agree the allocation of funding as shown in Appendices 1 and 2 for inclusion within the Council’s Capital Investment Programme 2024/25.
2.3 That Strategy Finance & City Regeneration Committee agree to grant
delegated authority to the Assistant Director of Property & Design to procure the capital maintenance and basic need works and enter into contracts within these budgets, as required, in accordance with Contract Standing Orders in respect of the entire Education Capital Programme.
115 Organisation Redesign - Changes to Delegations
115.1 The Chief Executive introduced the report to the committee.
115.2 The committee considered the report of the Chief Executive.
115.1 Councillors Cattell, Davis, Taylor, McNair, Robins, Sankey, Williams and Dr Biswas Sasidharan asked questions and contributed to the debate.
Vote
115.4 A vote was taken, and by 9 (Councillors Cattell, Davis, Guilmant, Nann, Pumm, Robins, Sankey, Taylor and Williams) to 1 abstention (Councillor McNair) the committee agreed the recommendations.
RESOLVED:
2.1 That Committee notes the proposed officer re-organisation as set out in the report.
2.2 That Committee notes the outcome of the consultation process as set out in the report.
2.3 That Committee delegates responsibility to the Council’s Monitoring Officer and Chief Executive to make the changes to the Scheme of Delegations to Officers considered necessary or incidental to implement the new directorate structure in accordance with the timeline set out in the report.
2.4 That Committee agrees that all the changes described at para 2.3 above and listed at 4.29 to 4.30 shall take effect from 1st April 2024, and for interim arrangements to be put in place as needed, pending the appointment of a Corporate Director (Housing, Care and Wellbeing).
116 Social Value in procurement
116.1 The Social Value & Sustainability Procurement Manager introduced the report to the committee.
116.2 The committee considered the report of the Executive Director, Governance, People & Resources officer.
116.1 Councillors Cattell, Davis, Robins, Williams and Dr Biswas Sasidharan asked questions and contributed to the debate.
Vote
116.4 A vote was taken, and the committee unanimously agreed the recommendations.
RESOLVED:
2.1 That Committee approves the new document suite “the Social Value Toolkit” for use in Council procurement activity going forward.
2.2 That Committee agrees for a Social Value community of practice to be
created to support Council Officers and to ensure the document suite
remains up to date.
2.3 That Committee delegates authority to approve updates of the Social Value Policy and Toolkit to the Head of Procurement in consultation with the Procurement lead members.
2.4 That Committee approves the creation of a Directorate KPI to monitor
delivery of Social Value going forward.
117 Proposals for new Governance Arrangements
117.1 The Assistant Director Legal & Democratic Services introduced the report to the committee.
117.2 The committee considered the report of the Executive Director Governance, People & Resources.
117.3 Councillors Taylor, McNair, Sankey, Robins, Davis, Guilmant and Dr Biswas Sasidharan asked questions and contributed to the debate.
Vote
117.4 A vote was taken, and by 8 (Councillors Nann, Guilmant, Pumm, Robins, Cattell, Williams, Taylor and Sankey) to 2 against (Councillors McNair and Davis) the committee agreed the recommendations.
RESOLVED:
That Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee recommends that full Council:
2.1 Formally resolves to change its governance arrangements by ceasing to operate a committee system and instead operating a leader and cabinet executive system on 16 May 2024, during the annual Council meeting at which it is proposed the new Constitution shall be formally adopted;
2.2 Approves the Notice and Summary of Proposals set out in Appendix 1 and instructs the Executive Director Governance, People & Resources to publish the Notice in accordance with Section 9KC of the Local Government Act 2000;
2.3 Notes the planned consultation and engagement as described at paragraphs 3.13-3.17 of the report and Appendix 3;
2.4 Notes that a new Constitution will be submitted to full Council on 16th May 2024 and, if adopted, will come into force on 16th May 2024.
2.5 That Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee agrees the
meetings timetable for the Municipal Year 2024/25 as set out at Appendix 2 with dates and indicative times subject to full Council agreeing to adopt the new constitution at its annual meeting and subject to Council Procedure Rule 3.2 which sets out that the time and place of the meeting will be determined by the Chief Executive.
2.6 Approves the recommendations of the Strategy, Finance & City
Regeneration Committee as set out under recommendations 2.1-2.4
above.
118 Community Engagement Framework
118.1 The AD Policy Communications & Leadership Officer introduced the report to the committee.
118.2 The committee considered the report of the Executive Director, Strategy, Governance & Resources.
118.1 Councillors Pumm, Sankey and Dr Biswas Sasidharan asked questions and contributed to the debate.
Vote
118.4 A vote was taken, and the committee unanimously agreed the recommendations.
RESOLVED:
2.1 That Committee notes the information in this report and its appendices.
119 Pay Policy Statement 2024/25
119.1 The Director Human Resources & Organisational Development introduced the report to the committee.
119.2 The committee considered the report of the Executive Director - Governance, People & Resources.
119.3 Councillor McNair and Dr Biswas Sasidharan asked questions and contributed to the debate.
Vote
119.4 A vote was taken, and the committee unanimously agreed the recommendations.
RESOLVED:
Strategy Finance & City Regeneration Committee:
2.1 That Committee recommends to full Council the adoption of the pay policy statement for 2024/25 attached at Appendix 1.
Full Council:
2.2 That full Council formally approves the recommendation of Strategy Finance & City Regeneration Committee that it adopts the pay policy statement for 2024/25 attached at Appendix 1.
120 Local Transport Plan 2024-25 Capital Programme
120.1 The Executive Director Economy Environment & Culture introduced the report to the committee.
120.2 The committee considered the report of the Executive Director Economy, Environment & Culture.
120.3 Councillors Davis, Taylor, McNair, Nann and Sankey asked questions and contributed to the debate.
Vote
120.4 A vote was taken, and by 9 (Councillors Cattell, Davis, Guilmant, McNair, Nann, Pumm, Robins, Sankey, Taylor and Williams) to 1 abstention (Councillor McNair) the committee agreed the recommendations.
RESOLVED:
2.1 This Committee agrees the 2024/25 Local Transport Plan Capital budget allocation of £4.538m, as set out in Table 1 of this report.
2.2 This Committee notes the council’s wider 2024/2025 Capital Transport
Programme with a value of £23.10m, as set out in section 3.23 – 3.24 and detailed in Appendix 1.
121 Annual Planned Maintenance Budget and Asset Management Fund Allocations 2024-25 for the Council’s Operational Buildings
121.1 The report was not called for discussion; the officer recommendation was therefore taken as having been agreed unanimously.
RESOLVED:
2.1 Approves the annual programme of planned maintenance works for the
Planned Maintenance Budget as detailed in Appendices 1 and 2, at a total estimated cost of £4,004,740.
2.2 Approves the Asset Management Fund allocation for 2024-25 totalling £1,000,000, as detailed in Appendix 3 of this report.
2.3 Agrees to delegate authority to the Executive Director Economy, Environment & Culture and Assistant Director Property & Design to take all necessary steps to procure the Planned Maintenance Budget works and Asset Management Fund improvement works and award contracts within these budgets.
122 Moulsecoomb Hub and Housing Project
122.1 The Executive Director - Economy Environment & Culture introduced the report to the committee.
122.2 The committee considered the report of the Executive Director Housing, Neighbourhoods & Communities and Executive Director Economy, Environment and Culture.
122.3 Councillors Cattell, Taylor and Williams asked questions and contributed to the debate.
Vote
122.4 A vote was taken, and the committee unanimously agreed the recommendations.
RESOLVED:
That Housing and New Homes Committee
Recommends to Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee to:
2.1 Agree to begin a procurement exercise for the redevelopment of this site, including early market engagement.
2.2 Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Environment, Economy & Culture and the Executive Director Housing, Neighbourhoods &
Communities to procure the contractors and then once a budget has been agreed at a subsequent committee meeting, to then enter into relevant contracts.
2.3 Note that the demolition of some of the existing buildings is due to
commence in March 2024.
That Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee:
2.1 Agree to begin a procurement exercise for the redevelopment of this site, including early market engagement.
2.2 Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Environment, Economy & Culture and the Executive Director Housing, Neighbourhoods &
Communities to procure the contractors and then once a budget has been agreed at a subsequent committee meeting, to then enter into relevant contracts.
2.3 Note that the demolition of some of the existing buildings is due to
commence in March 2024.
123 Moulsecoomb Hub and Housing Project (Exempt Category 3)
123.1 The Executive Director - Economy Environment & Culture introduced the report to the committee.
123.2 The committee considered the report of the Executive Director Housing, Neighbourhoods & Communities and Executive Director Economy, Environment and Culture.
123.3 Councillors Cattell, Taylor and Williams asked questions and contributed to the debate.
Vote
123.4 A vote was taken, and the committee unanimously agreed the recommendations.
123.5 The Committee agreed that the items listed in Part Two if the agenda and decisions therein should remain exempt from disclosure to the press and public.
RESOLVED:
That Housing and New Homes Committee
Recommends to Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee to:
2.1 Agree to begin a procurement exercise for the redevelopment of this site, including early market engagement.
2.2 Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Environment, Economy & Culture and the Executive Director Housing, Neighbourhoods &
Communities to procure the contractors and then once a budget has been agreed at a subsequent committee meeting, to then enter into relevant contracts.
2.3 Note that the demolition of some of the existing buildings is due to
commence in March 2024.
That Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee:
2.1 Agree to begin a procurement exercise for the redevelopment of this site, including early market engagement.
2.2 Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Environment, Economy & Culture and the Executive Director Housing, Neighbourhoods &
Communities to procure the contractors and then once a budget has been agreed at a subsequent committee meeting, to then enter into relevant contracts.
2.3 Note that the demolition of some of the existing buildings is due to
commence in March 2024.
124 Items referred for Full Council
124.1 There were none.
The meeting concluded at 6.32pm
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Signed
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Chair |
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