Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed Councillor Cunningham who has recently been appointed to the Board.

To consider any appeals in accordance with Procedure Rule 25* of the Access to Information Procedure Rules (in the event of an Appeal the press and public will be excluded).

(* In accordance with Procedure Rule 25, notice of an appeal must be received in writing by the Head of Governance Services at least 24 hours before the meeting).

There were no appeals against refusal of inspection of documents.

1  To highlight reports or appendices which officers have identified as containing exempt information, and where officers consider that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons outlined in the report.

2  To consider whether or not to accept the officers recommendation in respect of the above information.

3  If so, to formally pass the following resolution:-

RESOLVED – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following parts of the agenda designated as containing exempt information on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information, as follows:

  No exempt items have been identified.

There were no exempt items.

To identify items which have been admitted to the agenda by the Chair for consideration.

(The special circumstances shall be specified in the minutes.)

There were no late items.

To disclose or draw attention to any disclosable pecuniary interests for the purposes of Section 31 of the Localism Act 2011 and paragraphs 13-16 of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest were made.

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutes.

There were no apologies.

To confirm as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 9^th September 2019.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Board meeting held on 9^th September 2019, be approved as a correct record.

To receive a report from the Head of Democratic Services presenting the draft terms of reference relating to the Scrutiny Board’s Inquiry into the reduction of energy consumption in Council buildings.

The report of the Head of Democratic Services presented the draft terms of reference relating to the Scrutiny Board’s Inquiry into reduction of energy consumption in Council buildings. Members were requested to consider and formally agree the terms of reference as set out at Appendix 1.

In attendance for this item were:

Councillor James Lewis – Executive Member for Resources

Neil Evans – Director of Resources and Housing

Polly Cook – Chief Officer for Sustainable Energy and Air Quality

Mark Mills – Head of Asset Management

Lisa Thornton – Executive Manager, Strategic Asset Management

Members recognised the timeliness of this piece of work and its link to the Change the Workplace (CTW) programme and the Asset Management Strategy.  

RESOLVED – To agree the draft terms of reference relating to the Scrutiny Board’s Inquiry into the reduction of energy consumption in Council buildings.

To receive a report from the Head of Democratic Services outlining the arrangements that have been made in relation to the first session of the Scrutiny Board’s Inquiry into the reduction of energy consumption in Council buildings.

The report of the Head of Democratic Services outlined the arrangements which had been made in relation to the first session of the Scrutiny Board’s Inquiry into the reduction of energy consumption in Council Buildings.

In attendance for this item were:

·  Councillor James Lewis – Executive Member for Resources

·  Neil Evans – Director of Resources and Housing

·  Polly Cook – Chief Officer for Sustainable Energy and Air Quality

·  Mark Mills – Head of Asset Management

·  Lisa Thornton – Executive Manager, Strategic Asset Management

Members were presented with information in relation to key areas currently reflected within the terms of reference for session one of the inquiry.

The presentation included the following information:

·  The Council has 900 operational properties which include; offices, libraries, Town Halls, the Civic Hall, museums, and community hubs;

·  The Council also has 37 schools still under its control;

·  Energy Audits are taking place at a variety of buildings;

·  Work is underway to extend District Heating to some of the larger civic buildings including the Town Hall and the Civic Hall;

·  Where upgrades are taking place to offices energy efficient boilers are being installed;

·  Work is taking place in the 37 schools still owned by the Council including providing information to Head Teachers on energy efficiency and savings, also changing lights to LED;

·  Use of SALIX Funding which is a national fund. Members were advised how this funding works;

·  The Asset Management Strategy 2020-25 will set out the vision of Council to have sustainable, affordable, well maintained estates that can deliver high quality services;

·  The focus of the Council is to reduce the size of its estate and to better utilise the buildings that it keeps operational;

·  The Asset Review will be a robust evidence based exercise which will consider the entire operational estate including heritage assets.

The Boards discussions included the following points:

·  The need to ensure stringent rules about the selling off of assets including heritage assets;

·  SALIX funding;

·  Issues in relation to homeworking including transference of carbon footprint and how this data can be captured;

·  Lease properties;

·  Staff travel arrangements for those who work as visitors, social workers or surveyors;

·  Carbon footprint of Council’s fleet vehicles;

·  Use of Community Hubs for staff involved in locality working;

·  Staff engagement including hints and tips for staff to use at home as well as in the work environment;

·  Street lighting;

·  Use of different products to produce energy, including dog waste;

·  Quick solutions such as planting trees and building of green walls,similar to the wall on the recycling plant;

·  Informationon energy efficiency for private owners of older buildings;

·  District Heating for Council owned tower blocks.

Members requested more information in relation to SALIX Funding for the second session.

Members noted that the second session would be a workshop to be held on Monday 4^th November 2019 at 10:30am.

RESOLVED – Members noted the content of the information presented. 

To consider the Scrutiny Board’s work schedule for the 2019/20 municipal year.

The Principal Scrutiny Adviser introduced the report which requested Members to consider the work schedule for the Board for the municipal year 2019/20.

Appendix 1 of the submitted report set out the Boards work schedule.

RESOLVED – To note the content of the report and agree the work schedule set out at Appendix 1.

Monday, 18^th November 2019 at 10.30 am (Pre-meeting for all Board Members at 10.00 am)

The next meeting of the Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Board will be on 18^th November 2019 at 10:30am, with a pre meeting for all Members at 10:00am.