Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Gurjit Kaur Bains; Cllr Dakota Dibben appeared as her substitute.

The minutes of the meeting of the Overview Scrutiny Committee held on 13 January 2022 were signed by the Chair.

Cllr John Burden declared an interest in Item 8. Call in - Cabinet Item 12. Cascades Leisure Centre Part A Report and Item 11. Call in - Cabinet Item 16. Cascades Leisure Centre Part B Report in that he is the Council’s representative on the Board of the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation.

Cllr Jordan Meade declared an interest in Item 8. Call in - Cabinet Item 12. Cascades Leisure Centre Part A Report and Item 11. Call in - Cabinet Item 16. Cascades Leisure Centre Part B Report in that he is the KCC representative on the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation’s Planning Committee.

Cllr Diane Morton declared an interest in Item 8. Call in - Cabinet Item 12. Cascades Leisure Centre Part A Report and Item 11. Call in - Cabinet Item 16. Cascades Leisure Centre Part B Report in that she works for the NHS.

Cllr Peter Scollard declared an interest in Item 8. Call in - Cabinet Item 12. Cascades Leisure Centre Part A Report and Item 11. Call in - Cabinet Item 16. Cascades Leisure Centre Part B Report in that he is the Council’s representative on Gravesham Community Leisure Limited (GCLL). Cllr Scollard advised that he would leave the Council Chamber when these items were being considered.

The Assistant Director (Corporate Services) presented the Overview Scrutiny Committee with the draft revenue and capital estimates for General Fund services in 2022-23 together with the recommended level of council tax to be levied for 2022-23.

The report was presented in seven sections and the Assistant Director (Corporate Services) provided Members with a summary of each section: -

·       Section One – Policy Context;

·       Section Two – Government Funding;

·       Section Three – Medium Term Financial Strategy and Planning for the Council and its community;

·       Section Four - General Fund Revenue Budget;

·       Section Five – Council Tax;

·       Section Six - Robustness of Estimates and Adequacy of Reserves; and

·       Section Seven - Capital Programme.

The Assistant Director (Corporate Services) highlighted the following:

·       On 16 December 2021 the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022-23 was announced by The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). The Final Finance Settlement was announced on 8 February 2022, this was reviewed and there were no substantial changes.

·       As like last year, the provisional settlement was for one year only, with the future funding of local government remaining uncertain in the coming years. Local government funding reforms that were planned for introduction from April 2021 (including the Fair Funding Review and reforms to the current Business Rates Retention System) had been put on hold. These reforms were likely to take place during 2022.

·       The provisional settlement also confirmed that government would be eliminating

negative RSG amounts in 2022-23. For Gravesham, this was budgeted at £243,710

that the council was expecting to lose by way of a reduction to its business rates

retention baseline funding level.

·       Lower Tier and Services Grants total £337,380

·       The council has secured indicative New Homes Bonus funding for 2022-23 of £573,150. Allocations continue to be as un-ring-fenced grant, thus enabling the council to maintain its policy of taking NHB Funding directly into Working Balances

·       As a result of the provisional settlement, the Council will experience an increase in its core spending power of 7.3% for 2022-23 and will have the seventh lowest level of assumed spending power per dwelling in Kent at £267. This is based on an assumption by Central Government that the Council will increase council tax by the maximum amount.

·       The Council, this year, had prepared a five-year Medium Term Financial Strategy spanning 2022-23 to 2026-27 in response to an absence of further information on the future of funding for local government from Central Government and the need for the Council to consider initiatives to reduce the emerging budget gap of £3m in 2026-27 that the Council will now face on its General Fund Services.

·       The COVID-19 Pandemic continues to impact on the financial position of the council,

particularly on income streams. The Budget Monitoring Report showing the projected

financial position at the end of Quarter Three (period to 31 December 2021) indicates a projected underspend for the year of £598,670 against the original budget indicating a contribution of £98,270 would be made to working balances, albeit income and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

The Assistant Director (Corporate Services) presented the Overview Scrutiny Committee with the draft revenue and capital estimates for Housing Revenue Account Services in 2022-23 together with the determination of the level of rents and service charges for 2022-23.

The report was presented in four sections and the Assistant Director (Corporate Services) provided Members with a summary of each section: -

·       Section One – HRA Revenue Account Budget;

·       Section Two – Housing Capital Programme;

·       Section Three – Robustness of Estimates and Adequacy of Reserves; and

·       Section Four – HRA Business Planning.

The Assistant Director (Corporate Services) highlighted the following:

·       The Original Estimate for 2022-23 represents a balanced budget position, achieved through drawing £324,020 from the HRA General Reserve as expenditure in the year is anticipated to exceed the income generated in the year

·       The current government policy permits annual rent increases for both social and affordable rent properties up to CPI+1% from April 2020 for a period of at least 5 years. The Rent Standard issued by the Regulator of Social Housing in respect of 2022-23 confirmed that rents could increase by CPI+1% from 1 April 2022 (where CPI is measured at September 2021). Dwelling Rents for 2022-23 will increase by 4.1%. The authority’s average weekly social rent will increase to £94.22 in 2022-23, compared to £90.26 in 2021-22. The average affordable rent will increase to £170.43 (the average rent increase will not be exactly equal to 4.1% due to re-letting of void properties and additions of properties during the year).

·       Service charges were also levied on Council dwellings to cover a range of services including caretaking services and maintenance of communal areas and communal assets, such as lifts and gardens. Service charges were generally eligible to be met by Housing Benefit, with the exception of charges to individual homes such as heating or lighting within a dwelling. The average weekly service charge for 2022-23 will be £3.88 (currently £3.72). The capped service charge had been increased by 4.1% (based on CPI at September 2021 +1).

·       The Housing capital programme for 2022-23 totals £24,058,970. The HRA capital

programme for 2022-23 will primarily focus on works to maintain the council’s housing stock and delivering the New Build and Acquisitions Programme.

The Director (Corporate Services) and the Assistant Director (Corporate Services) fielded questions from the Committee and highlighted the following:

·       Rent setting is directed by guidance from the regulator (CPI+1%) that was put to Cabinet on the basis of accountability. The Council wanted to make the HRA sustainable for the wider tenant body.

·       The increase in rent from the the proposed CPI+1% increase as well as projections on properties has generated £1.6million which will be used to fund HRA services.

·       The deep cleaning of alleyways mentioned in the report refers to Council owned alleyways.

·       Service Charges will increase by CPI+1%

·       Some Housing costs can be recovered through Housing Benefit; further information on this matter will be provided to the Committee outside of the meeting.

·       The Director (Corporate Services) agreed to provide the Committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

Cllr Baljit Hayre, Chair of the Scrutiny Review of Street Cleanliness, littering, and Fly-tipping throughout the Borough provided the following update:

·       The Sub-Group met virtually on 3 February 2022.

·       An action plan was agreed with an aim to complete the review by July 2022.

·       The next meeting will be held in the Council Chamber on 3 March 2022

The Committee noted the progress of the Scrutiny Review of Street Cleanliness, littering, and Fly-tipping throughout the Borough.

Item ‘Called in’ from the Cabinet meeting of 31 January 2022

The Chair of the Overview Scrutiny Committee has called in the following item for the meeting on Thursday 10 February 2022:

Item 12. Cascades Leisure Centre Part A Report

Reason:

·       To explore how the Council will engage with the community. 

·       To explore how the proposal will help address health

inequalities. 

·       To ensure that the taxpayer will achieve value for money.

·       To give further consideration to the funding proposals.

Cabinet Member:      The relevant Cabinet Member for this matter is invited to attend.

Officer:                       The relevant officers for this matter are invited to attend.

Please find the Cabinet reports for this item attached to this agenda.

The Director (Communities) informed Members thatthe Council had commissioned Knight, Kavanagh, & Page (KKP) to undertake a feasibility study of the Council owned leisure centres, currently located at Cascades Leisure Centre and Cygnet Leisure Centre. The key focus of the study was to refresh the Council’s Indoor Leisure Strategy and to redefine its needs and options for investment in its facility portfolio.

The study needed to take account of a changed landscape from the original strategy which had been completed in 2016. These changes included the developments of the Lower Thames Crossing, potential developments undertaken in Ebbsfleet Development Corporation and the proposed Garden City, as well as the potential impact of Covid-19 on the leisure industry.

The study was completed over two phases: -

·       Phase One – a refresh of the 2016 Indoor Strategy and based on the refreshed strategy findings; and

·       Phase Two - a feasibility study to investigate whether/how to replace one or both facilities, in a process which incorporated evaluation of capital and revenue costs, as well as a management options appraisal to assist the Council in deciding on the optimal way forward.

The feasibility study recommended replacing the existing Cascades Leisure Centre at its existing site to address the Borough’s current facility needs assuming that the proposals at Ebbsfleet Garden City for a landmark leisure facility was also delivered as a potential replacement for Cygnet Leisure Centre. As the proposals for a hub leisure facility at Ebbsfleet Garden City were unknown at this stage, the Council had agreed to concentrate on the redevelopment options of Cascades Leisure Centre.

In terms of where the new facility should be located, alternative sites for development in the Borough were extremely limited, with the existing urban area being particularly constrained and focus on available sites being placed on delivering the Borough’s housing requirements. Cascades Leisure Centre’s existing car park had emerged as the highest ranked site from the appraisal as it benefits from being owned by the Council and had the potential to create good visibility and site frontage of the new leisure centre.

An initial capital cost estimate of circa £33.8m had been identified. This was inclusive of an allowance of £3.5 million for external works to the site which would include external landscaping, car parking including coach drop off area and creation of an Active Environmental area. The sum did include a 10% contingency amount but did not take into account general inflationary pressures nationally, particularly within the construction industry.

KKP had produced an indicative revenue business plan for the new leisure centre which was based on a range of key assumptions (both income and expenditure). The plan drew upon KKP’s understanding of the local area through past and current work and a range of live operational examples of where and how other modern leisure centres effectively generate income from their key activity areas. The indicative also assumed that performance of the centre would have returned to pre-COVID levels when it becomes operational.

The revenue business plan had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

Resolved that pursuant to Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 that the public be excluded from any item included in Part B of the agenda because it is likely in view of the nature of business to be transacted that if members of the public mare present during this item, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

Item ‘Called in’ from the Cabinet meeting of 31 January 2022

The Chair of the Overview Scrutiny Committee has called in the following item for the meeting on Thursday 10 February 2022:

Item 16. Cascades Leisure Centre Part B Report

Reason:

·       To explore how the Council will engage with the community. 

·       To explore how the proposal will help address health

inequalities. 

·       To ensure that the taxpayer will achieve value for money.

·       To give further consideration to the funding proposals.

Cabinet Member:      The relevant Cabinet Member for this matter is invited to attend.

Officer:                       The relevant officers for this matter are invited to attend.

Please find the Cabinet reports for this item attached to this agenda.

The Overview Scrutiny Committee considered, and discussed in detail, the Part B information pertaining to the Cascades Leisure Centre report.

Resolved that the Committee noted the Cascades Leisure Centre Part B Report</AI4>

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Note: Cllr Peter Scollard left the room when this item was being considered

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