To approve as a correct record the minutes of Cabinet held on 12 July 2017.

The Minutes of Cabinet, held on 12 July 2017, were approved as a correct record.

To receive additional items that the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency, in accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no items of urgent business.

The Leader addressed Portfolio Holders updating them on the Clean it, Cut it and Fill it Scheme, that since April 2017 the Council had continued to invest in these important services. Work completed included:

• The 10 extra street cleansing rounds, collecting nearly 900 tonnes of rubbish;
• 10 new ride on grass mowers enabling 8,900 acres of grass to have been cut and;
• £2million invested in road repairs and improvements such as resurfacing or treating 44km2 of roads and filling over 4,000 potholes.

He further notified Members of the Regular Action Days taking place in Grays Town Centre, with the Police and Council Enforcement Officers tackling street drinking, littering and businesses who do not have trade waste duty of care documents. It was noted since the 7 September 2017:

• 3 Street drinkers had been stopped their alcohol seized and warned not to return within the PSPO zone within 48hours;
• 22 businesses had been visited regarding inspection of their trade waste duty of care documents;
• 9 Waste duty of care notices had been issued as businesses were unable to produce their trade waste duty of care documents at the time of visit and
• 35  fixed penalty notices had been issued to persons who had littered, this was now a total £2,800 of fines.

Councillor Gledhill advised 4 Action Days had been held totalling 44 Fixed Penalty Notices for breaches of the Grays PSPO covering abusive language and failing to comply with alcohol provisions. He continued to explain 3 of the persistent offenders breaching the PSPO were subject to prosecution for persistent breaches.

The Leader mentioned that the Council’s street cleaning teams had been trained to identify evidence in fly-tips they encounter around the borough. He reminded residents if their rubbish was found to be fly-tipped they could be fined and not the company who removed the rubbish on their behalf, if the company were unlicensed.

Lastly Councillor Gledhill advised that Councillor MacPherson would be taking a leave of absence to support her son as he trained for the 2024 Olympics. The Leader outlined the following responsibilities and the Portfolio Holders who would now undertake them.

Leader of the Council – Public Protection

Councillor S.Little – Community Development and Voluntary Sector

Councillor Watkins – Sports and Leisure

Councillor B.Little Community Partnership – Police

Councillor Huelin – Equality and Diversity, Libraries, Registrars, Communications, Legal and Democratic Services and Pay Policy.

Councillor Halden addressed Cabinet Members informing them of the feedback from GCSE results. He explained that the exams were tougher and coursework and module exams were being phased out by the Department of Education. Councillor Halden notified Members that Hassenbrook Academy had a 20% increase in their English exam result.  He praised the school for the result and stated they should be very proud. 

Councillor Hebb announced that the Council had led on an exercise calling for reform and recall for Elected Councillors, who were not playing by the rules or for significant reasons such as standard breaches. He continued to explain that a piece of work on benchmarking cases and opportunities had been undertaken and outlined proposals suggested by Members.  Councillor Hebb advised that Thurrock was one of the first councils to carry out this piece of work and confirmed that Officers had written to the Secretary of State and the DLG to highlight some of the principles, Members discussed at Full Council last year. He commented that it was time for change, however any changes would depend on national government.

There were no petitions submitted.

The Leader of the Council advised that one question had been submitted and would be held at the relevant item.

The Leader of the Council informed Members that no matters had been referred to the Cabinet by an Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor Gledhill invited Councillor Gerrish to read the question that he had submitted.

Given the forecast overspend for the year is already over one million pounds, does the Leader still have confidence in his service budgets?

In response the Leader of the Council advised “Thank you, Councillor Gerrish.  Before I give my answer, let’s remind ourselves of what we inherited when we took administration and indeed the same report at this time in 2015.  That was the last similar report of the previous, Labour Administration.  That 2015 report showed a first quarter pressure of £1.269million comprising of a number of issues such as shortfall from recharges, impact of environment contracts failing, overspends in environment and transformation budgets to name a few.  Indeed, most of us will see some of the similarities to this evening.  That Cabinet assured residents that it would be cleared by the end of the financial year, however by the end of that financial year we inherited from the Labour Administration a forecast net pressures of over £4million in 2016.  Yes, £4million shortfall that we had to address before starting on our own priorities.

Now, at the end of the last financial year, and that was the first of the Conservative Administration, bearing in mind we had the same amount of tax payers’ money to spend as the previous Administration and induced the Clean it, Cut it, Fill it Programme.  We reduced the pressures caused by the number of unaccompanied asylum seeker children, we saved a small fortune in penalties from the Government by using the right to buy receipts to cover the cost of the new council homes your administration commissioned at a cost that was so massive to build they wouldn’t have sold on the open market without making a loss, we introduced a new, proactive environmental enforcement team but most of all we finished the year with minor underspends in both the general and housing revenue accounts.

I would also like to point you in the direction of the external auditor’s assessment that is set out in the Annual Results Report to be considered by the Standards and Audit Committee next week.  Not only does it give a positive value for money conclusion – this is their independent assessment of the Council’s financial position and plans for the future – but in reaching that conclusion they carried out testing on a number of the budget assumptions and savings proposals, and said they were good.

So, I can assure you, Councillor Gerrish that the Cabinet are working closely with our Directors in identifying ways to bridge this gap and are sure that future reports will show the progress being made.  So, based on the last year of the Labour Administration versus the first year of the Conservative Administration, I think any objective minded individual would have as much confidence as I do in delivering a balanced budget, so the short answer: yes.”

Councillor Gerrish was offered a supplementary question in which he asked: “Thank  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Legal Services addressed Members providing an update on the financial position of the capital programme. Councillor Hebb advised there was £69million currently in the capital programme, with current works on hold estimated £3.9 million, he continued there were reasons for a number of reasons for example the expansion of East Tilbury Primary School was not a case of if but when the work to be completed. 

The Portfolio Holder commented that the Aveley Hub would be presented to Cabinet later in the year and highlighted the schemes and allocations which had Council approval, however were dependent on development or third parties, such as the  A13 Widening.

Councillor Halden notified Members the East Tilbury expansion was to assist with the closure of the Primary Pupil Referral Unit (PRU). He continued to advise Cabinet that the School alongside the St Clere’s Trust offered assist by expanding the school and enrolling the Children from the PRU.

The Portfolio Holder for Highways and Transportation commented that the A13 Widening scheme was due to start work in November 2017, with the aim to complete in 2018/19.

Councillor Coxshall commented that it was thanks to investment from the Government that such programmes were being completed. He continued by stating that Grays Town Centre was dirty and dated, it was now a place that residents wanted to work and live in.

The Leader of the Council mentioned the Housing Revenue Account Schemes and highlighted the programme also delivered major works to void properties which was required to bring them up to a rentable standard. He stated it was easier to complete the works necessary on properties when they were void rather than when residents had moved in.

Resolvedthat Cabinet:

1.    Note the General Fund capital programme is projected to have available resources of £3.999m as at 31 March 2018 with this funding carried forward to 2018/19 to fund schemes currently in progress;

2.    In addition, there is a further £116.740m in the approved programme that is under development and/or dependent on third party actions as set out in paragraph 3.6;

3.    Note the Housing Revenue Account capital programme is projected to have no unused resources in 2017/18.