Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and declarations of interest.

Apologies were received from Councillors Barker (Conservative Group Leader) and Pavitt (Uttlesford Independents’ Leader).

Councillor Moran substituted for Councillor Barker.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 20 February 2024.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 20 February 2024 were approved as a correct record.

To receive questions or statements from non-executive members on matters included on the agenda.

There were no questions from non-executive members.

To consider any reports from Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor Gregory said there was nothing to report as the Scrutiny Committee had not met since the previous Cabinet meeting held on 20 February. However, he said the Operational Resilience Task and Finish Group had already met twice and he had faith progress would be made.

To receive for information any delegated decisions taken by Cabinet Members and Cabinet Committees since the previous Cabinet meeting.

·        Voluntary Organisation Support Grants Allocation: Voluntary Support Grant Committee on Thursday, 29th February, 2024, 10.30 am  

The Voluntary Support Grants Committee decision made on 29 February 2024 was noted for information.

In response to a question, Councillor Lees said this would be the final year that grants were awarded on an annual basis. Moving forward, funding would be allocated on a three year cycle, in order to provide voluntary organisations in receipt of the grant a degree of financial certainty.

To consider the report regarding the Revocation of the Saffron Walden Air Quality Management Area.

RESOLVED to agree the Order to revoke the Air Quality Management Area for Nitrogen Dioxide at Saffron Waden as provided within Appendix A.

The Chair moved Item 9 forward in proceedings.

Councillor Reeve presented the report regarding the Revocation of the Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) in Saffron Walden. He said the area had been monitored since 2012 in line with National Air Quality Objectives and readings were now below the 40µgm3 Air Quality Objective for Nitrogen Dioxide, and this had been the case since 2017. As per the Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) Policy Guidance, the Council was now looking to revoke the AQMA as compliance with the relevant objective had been achieved for over five consecutive years. He proposed approval of the recommendation.

Councillor Evans seconded the proposal.

The Environmental Health Manager (Protection) said work would continue to monitor and improve air quality in the area and a Local Air Quality Strategy would be developed over the next twelve months.

Councillor Reeve said lessons would be learnt from this AQMA and applied where relevant across the district.    

RESOLVED to agree the Order to revoke the Air Quality Management Area for Nitrogen Dioxide at Saffron Waden as provided within Appendix A.

To receive the update report regarding Assets of Community Value.

Councillor Sutton presented the report regarding Assets of Community Value, which set out decisions relating to the designation of assets of community value made under delegated powers. She asked Cabinet to note the report.

Members discussed the Assets of Community Value and there was agreement that the process was important to local communities across the district.

Councillor Evans welcomed the report and said the delegated process worked well. He said the reason the Saffron Hotel had not been designated was because hotels were not applicable for assets of community value.

The report was noted.

To consider the report regarding the removal of an Article 4 in Hatfield Heath.

RESOLVED that the Article 4 Direction be removed from the land defined as Friars Lane (off Chelmsford Road), Hatfield Heath.

The Chair moved both Items 10 and 11 forward in proceedings.

Councillor Evans presented the report regarding the removal of an Article 4 direction in Friars Lane, Hatfield Heath, which had been in place since 2012. He said the Council was legally bound to review Article 4 Directions within the district on a regular basis and the owners of the land in question had approached the Council and requested that the Article 4 be reviewed. Following the review, it was recommended that the Article 4 was no longer required. He proposed the removal of the Article 4 Direction.

The proposal was seconded by Councillor Reeve.

RESOLVED that the Article 4 Direction be removed from the land defined as Friars Lane (off Chelmsford Road), Hatfield Heath.

To consider the report regarding an Article 4 in High Roding.

RESOLVED that an Article 4 Direction be defined for Land at Attridges Farm, High Roding.

Councillor Evans presented the report regarding the making of an Article 4 Direction for land at Attridges Farm, High Roding. He said that since 2021 the land had been the subject of online advertising and individual plots had been presented for unconditional sale. The land had little, if any planning potential, and the sales of individual strips and plots has resulted in the introduction of some fences and enclosures, which was detrimental to the surrounding countryside. It was therefore considered prudent to make an Article 4 Direction restricting some of the permitted development activity. He proposed the recommendation set put in the report.

In response to a member question, the Development Manager said that there were potentially other sites in the district with a similar issue, but this was a large site and was affecting the character of the surrounding countryside. He asked that members bring any similar sites to his attention.

Councillor Sutton seconded the proposal.   

RESOLVED that an Article 4 Direction be defined for Land at Attridges Farm, High Roding.

The Leader presented the report regarding Corporate Core Indicators for Quarter 3 2023/24. She thanked officers for producing the report, which outlined performance for quarter 3 of 2023/24 and included a comparison to the Council’s “near statistical neighbours” (NSS). She explained that the authorities selected as NSS were similar to Uttlesford, in regard to factors such as population size, demographics and rural character. This helped interpret results and analyse how statistical differences between other authorities had arisen during the benchmarking process. She asked members to note the report for information.

In response to a question regarding the Damp and Mould indicator (CCI 19), Councillor Coote said the target had originally been to resolve the issue of mould within seven days but this had been changed to fourteen days. A return visit would then be carried out three weeks later to ensure the mould had not returned.

In response to a question regarding long term-sickness of staff (CCI 02), the Chief Executive said there was a danger of using percentages for very numbers and that the 39% cited with anxiety or stress issues was in relation to only two or three people. He said that staff were being supported in order to return to work.

In response to a question regarding SNNs, the Director of Business Performance and People said that it was important to compare the Council with similar authorities in order to extract real value from the process. For instance, there was very little point in comparing Uttlesford bin collections with those of an urban authority, as the problems faced by a smaller, more densely populated area would be very different from the issues faced in a large and rural district.

The report was noted.

To receive the Quarter 3 Financial Forecast 2023/24.

RESOLVED to:

i.                 Note the contents of this report, in particular the General Fund, Housing Revenue Account and capital programme forecast outturn positions, and updated prudential indicators.

ii.                Approve the General Fund revenue virements set out at paragraph 19.

Councillor Hargreaves presented the Quarter 3 Financial Forecast 2023/24 report and highlighted the latest forecast financial performance of the General Fund, Housing Revenue Account, and capital programme, together with a summary of the Council’s treasury management position and updated prudential indicators. It was based upon actual income and expenditure from April to December 2023, together with forecasts for the remainder of the financial year. He proposed to note the report and to approve the General Fund virements as set out in paragraph 19.

Councillor Coote seconded the proposal.

Members discussed the report and raised issues relating to the signing off of accounts and the local authority demand faced by auditors across the country. There was also praise for the Director of Finance and his team for their outstanding work.

The Director of Finance said he had pushed for accurate financial forecasts, including underspends, in order to feed the correct information into the budget setting process. He said the relative accuracy of quarters 2 and 3 demonstrated that the process was working.

RESOLVED to:

i.                 Note the contents of this report, in particular the General Fund, Housing Revenue Account and capital programme forecast outturn positions, and updated prudential indicators.

ii.                Approve the General Fund revenue virements set out at paragraph 19.

To consider the report regarding Quarter 3 Treasury Management.

Councillor Hargreaves presented the report regarding Quarter 3 Treasury Management 2023/24, which stated that during the quarter, all treasury management activity has been undertaken in line with the approved Treasury Management Strategy 2023/24, with the exception of two minor breaches of the counterparty investment limit in respect of overnight balances with Barclays Bank.

The report was noted.

The meeting was closed at 8.35pm.