Decisions

Authority to enter into contracts and authority to spend to undertake all works as part of the delivery of the advanced works on Bishopgate, Neville Street and Dark Neville Street, part of the Leeds Station Sustainable Travel Gateway project.  Authority to spend to undertake additional design development works. 

Authority to enter into contracts with Network Rail to support the works.

Authority to inject £3,955,312 into the capital programme.

The Chief Officer, Highways & Transportation:

a) Approved the drawdown of a further £565,000 from the original project budget of £32.5M to cover the additional development costs that will be incurred during the detailed design phase, noting the amendment to the original approval of £5,089,504 to £5,094,000 and the subsequent changes to the Funding Agreement;

b) Gave authority to spend £2,893,312 and enter into a short form NEC contract with Balfour Beatty (via the Scape Framework) to deliver the works to Neville Street, Dark Neville Street and Bishopgate highways drainage works in advance of the main project works commencing on site in August 2022;

c) Gave authority to inject £3,462,808 the total cost of the above works into the capital programme. All costs are being funded by WYCA’s TCF programme subject to completion of a variation to the existing Funding Agreement between WYCA and LCC and approval is sought to vary the agreement to this effect. £3,241,107 was requested as part of the change request form for the advance works. Surplus monies remain from the previous funding request for the utility’s diversion works and will be allocated to the advance works;

d) Gave authority to enter into a Basic Asset Protection Agreement with Network Rail for the works to Neville Street and Dark Neville Street. Note that the design for the highway’s works have been previously approved at the Highways Board on the 16th September 2021;

e) Gave authority to vary the Professional Services Contract with Balfour Beatty to undertake the design works associated with the Mill Goit deck replacement. Note that Network Rail will fund these works in their entirety; and

f) Gave authority to enter into a funding agreement with Network Rail for the Mill Goit deck replacement design costs including LCC costs associated with administering the contract with Balfour Beatty.

Approval of schemes to deliver traffic signal upgrades across the road network including asset renewal, control strategy upgrades, telecommunications infrastructure upgrades and optimisation of existing asset.

The Chief Officer (Highways and Transportation):

a)  Reviewed and approved the prioritised list of proposed schemes set out in Appendix A for delivery as part of the 2022/23 Urban Traffic Management & Control (UTMC) Capital Programme;

B)  Gave authority to incur expenditure of an expected £2,425,000 (inclusive of all works costs, fees and legal costs) which will be funded by way of £2,075,000 from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), £250,000 from the Department for Transport Traffic Signals Maintenance Fund and £100,000 from a S106 developer contribution: and

C)  Approved the injection of £2,075,000 from the CRSTS, £250,000 from the Department for Transport Traffic Signal Maintenance Fund and £100,000 for the A63/Ninelands Lane junction from a S106 developer contribution into the UTMC Capital Programme 2022/23.

The Chief Officer for Highways & Transportation is requested to approve the annual programme of Casualty Reduction schemes and to authorise the detailed development, consultation, preparation & delivery of these scheme subject to the satisfactory completion of any necessary orders & statutory processes.

The Chief Officer Highways & Transportation:

i)  Noted the contents and recommendations of this report including the continued application of the innovative approach to road casualties looking beyond the traditional ‘sites’ and ‘lengths’ processes;

ii)  Noted the work undertaken over the 2021/22 financial year with respect to the previously approved casualty reduction programme;

iii)  Reviewed and approved the prioritised list of targeted KSI casualty reduction programme and give authority to commence the detailed design, consultation and implementation of the schemes described in Appendix A to this report;

iv)  Gave authority to incur expenditure of £650,000 to deliver 5 schemes identified in this year’s KSI reduction programme as detailed in Appendix A and the feasibility, initial design and costings of further schemes for the 2022/23 KSI works programme;

v)  Gave authority to request the City Solicitor to draft and advertise any Traffic Regulation Orders (Movement Order, Waiting Restriction Order or Experimental Order) as required to address/ resolve the problems identified for each scheme as detailed in Appendix A, and if no valid objections are received, to make, seal and implement the Orders as advertised;

vi)  Approved with reference to the powers contained in Section 66(4) of the Highways Act 1980, that relevant lengths of footway proposed as cycle tracks (detailed in Appendix A) are removed and that following the removalof the footways, cycle tracks are constructed under the powers contained under the provisions of section 65(1) of the Highways Act 1980 for segregated or shared joint use by pedal cyclists and pedestrians; and

vii)  Agreed to receive such other and further reports as may be required to address any objections received to advertised notices or other matters arising from the detailed scheme proposals.

The Chief Officer for Highways & Transportation is requested to approve the recommendations of the Pedestrian Crossing Review & authorise the detailed development, consultation, preparation & delivery of the individual schemes within subject to the satisfactory completion of any necessary orders & statutory processes.

The Chief Officer (Highways and Transportation):

a)  Noted the contents of this report and the procedures carried out in respect of conducting the annual Pedestrian Crossing Review;

b)  Reviewed and approved the recommendations of the annual Pedestrian Crossing Review as the basis for the 2022/2023 programme for introducing new formal and informal pedestrian crossings and upgrades to existing infrastructure;

c)  Gave authority to commence the detailed design, consultation and implementation of the schemes described in Section 3 of the report and Appendix 2;

d)  Gave authority to postpone the proposed humped zebra crossing scheme on Richardshaw Lane, Pudsey as contained within the 2021/2022 Pedestrian Crossing Review programme and replace this with the proposed humped zebra crossing scheme on Bridge Street, Otley as detailed within paragraph 5 of this report;

e)  Gave authority to incur expenditure of £275,000 inclusive of all works costs, staff fees and legal costs, which will be funded from the Local Transport Plan Transport Policy Capital Programme;

f)  Gave authority to display notices on site under the provisions of Section 23 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 in order to inform the public of the proposed formal pedestrian crossings and respond to any communicationsreceived in this regard as appropriate;

g)  Gave authority to request the City Solicitor to draft and advertise a Notice under the provisions of Section 90C of the Highways Act 1980 for the implementation of traffic calming to complement some of the proposed pedestrian crossings;

h)  Gave authority to request the City Solicitor to draft, advertise and implement, subject to no valid objections being received, a Traffic Regulation Order, Movement Order or Speed Limit Order, where required, to support the proposed pedestrian crossings; and

i)  Agreed to receive such other further reports (if required) to address any objections received to advertised Notices or other matters arising from the detailed scheme proposals.

To accept circa £2M per annum AEB grant funding from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority for academic years 2022-23, through to 2024-25 for adult learning provision in Leeds and authority to spend and procure for subcontracted learning delivery provision.  The AEB grant funding covers the administrative costs, provision delivered by internal delivery teams and subcontracted partner provision.

The Chief Officer Culture and Economy took the decision to

•  Accept the three-year notional AEB funding agreement from WYCA.

•  Accept skills funding agreements from Government over the next three years.

•  Authorise spend of the funding as set out in the report.

•  Authorise procurements up to twice per year through the Employment & Skills Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) to subcontract delivery to key partners supporting adult skills in the city.

A contract will be agreed to supply ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs) for LCC staff to lease. This will offer staff the option to lease an electric or hybrid company car for work and personal use

The Director of Resources gave approval to call-off the ESPO framework contract to award a contract for leasing ULEV (Ultra Low Emission Vehicles) cars to NHS Fleet solutions.

The Deputy Director of Adults and Health:

Approved the expansion of the current staffing structures to support the transformation as set out in the Executive Board report, which would support an increase in staffing numbers for both Social Work and Occupational Therapy roles. In addition to this, noted the need to ensure the management structures are appropriate in line with this proposal, so the proposal will also include an expansion of the team manager numbers.

Approved the variation to the contract (attached) to enable the continued funding of the Peri Team.  The current funding ends on 29/04/22 and is not recurrent.  This report is seeking ongoing funding for a further six months.

Given the amounts involved in the recommendations, the first decision is a Key Decision and subject to call in. However, the second decision falls within the definition of a Significant Operational Decision and is not subject to call-in.

The Deputy Director of Adults and Health agreed to the following:

That LCC enter into an NHS Act Section 256 agreement to formalise the transfer of the £800,000 funding from Leeds Community Healthcare Trust to Leeds City Council

That LCC make a direct grant award of £800,000 to Leeds Older People’s Forum who will administrate and distribute the fund and manage the bidding process with Leeds third sector organisations

LCC will also be making a contribution of £98k to the Enhance programme.  This is coming from funding received through the Health Partnerships Team from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Local Government to support people who are clinically vulnerable to Covid in March 2021 as discussed at the Winter at Risk Group chaired by Head of Regional Health Partnerships and programme lead for CEV.

Approval to accept and spend the Homeless Prevention Grant

The Director of Communities, Housing and Environment:

a)  Approved acceptance of the allocated Homelessness Prevention Grant.

b)  Approved the approach to budget allocation set out to be applied to the Homelessness Prevention Grant for future years.

c)  Authorised the 2022/23 budget allocation set out in Appendix 1 to this report.

Key Delegated Decision to approve expenditure over £500k in respect of the 2022/23 Planned Maintenance Programme.

In the absence of The Director of Children and Families, the Chief Officer Resources & Strategy agreed to:

a)  Approve the proposed programme of Planned Maintenance works in maintained and Foundation (Trust) schools to be delivered during 2022/23 and funded from the available Schools Condition Allocation grant provided by the DfE.

b)  Authorise expenditure of £4,500,000 of the available Schools Condition Allocation grant on these essential condition works.

c)  Approve the proposed procurement strategy, using the in-house Procurement Team, and the use of the internal provider for some work areas and the Constructionline framework for the remaining programme.

d)  Noted that £500,000 of previous year’s School Condition Allocation with pre-existing Authority to Spend is still available to be utilised towards the 2022/23 Capital Maintenance Programme, based on current outturn projections for previous year’s maintenance schemes.

The Deputy Director of Adults and Health approved the request to commence the process to procure a specialist care and support provider for the Kirklands Autism Service in Leeds.  The contract will be awarded for an initial period of 6 years (with an option to extend for a maximum period of 48 months in any combination). The value of the initial contract period is set at an anticipated total maximum cost of £9 million (£1.5 million per annum).  Should any extension period be utilised then will be subject to a separate decision at the appropriate time.  The anticipated total maximum cost of the service, should all of the available extension provisions be utilised, will be £15 million (£1.5 million per annum). The formal decision to let the contract to a preferred provider will be taken at a later date following a decision by Executive Board to approve capital expenditure on the programme. Please see para. 22.

To note that officers on behalf of Adults and Health Integrated Commissioning and Procurement and Commercial Services (PACS) will complete all the necessary actions to ensure that this contract is in place by November 2022, including a suitable lead-in time.

For One Adoption West Yorkshire to enter into an agreement with and accept grant funding of £19.5m from the Department for Education (DfE).

In the absence of the Director of Children and Families, the Deputy Director, Children & Families Social Work Service approved the proposal for the Council to enter into an agreement and accept £19.5m grant funding from the DfE on behalf of OAWY, such grant funding to be managed by the National Strategic Lead and OAWY on behalf of all RAAs to undertake activity on a national and regional scale in support of the National Adoption Strategy, with the Council acting as the lead local authority.

Approval for One Adoption West Yorkshire (OAWY) to call off the Approved Providers List (APL) for Therapeutic Services 01 April 2022 – 31 March 2027.

In the absence of the Director of Children and Families, the Deputy Director, Children & Families Social Work Service approved the award of call off contracts by One Adoption West Yorkshire (OAWY) from the Approved Providers List (APL) for Therapeutic Services for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2027 at a maximum estimated value of £11,620,000.