Agenda and decisions

Up to one hour is allowed for this item.

Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum.

Petitions, statements and questions must relate to items on the agenda and will

be taken at the start of the item to which they relate.

Please note that the following deadlines apply to this meeting:

a. Public questions:

·         Written public questions must be received by 5pm on Tuesday 25^th August 2020 at latest;

·         A maximum of 2 questions per member of the public is permitted;

·         At the meeting, a maximum of 2 supplementary questions may be asked;

·         A supplementary question must arise directly out of the original question or reply;

·         Questions should be addressed to the Mayor or relevant Cabinet Member;

·         Replies to questions will be given verbally at the meeting. If a reply cannot be given at the meeting (including due to lack of time) or if written confirmation of the verbal reply is requested by the questioner, a written reply will be provided within 10 working days of the meeting.

b. Public petitions and statements: Petitions and written statements must be received by 12 noon on Friday 28^th August 2020 at the latest. One written statement per member of the public is permitted. A maximum of one minute shall be allowed to present each petition and statement.

c. Members of the public who wish to present their public forum in person during

the video conference must register their interest by giving at least two clear

working days’ notice prior to the meeting by 4pm on Thursday 27^th August 2020.

Public forum correspondence and items must be e-mailed to:

democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk

Further information can be found within the public information sheet attached to this agenda.

To note any declarations of interest from the Mayor and Councillors.  They are asked to indicate the relevant agenda item, the nature of the interest and in particular whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Any declarations of interest made at the meeting which is not on the register of interests should be notified to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion.

(subject to a maximum of three items)

To note any announcements from the Chair

Cabinet:

1. Agreed that a non-charging solution is the preferred outcome, if supported by the evidence and reaching compliance in the shortest possible time.
2. Noted the new Direction dated 20 August 2020 (Appendix A) which includes a requirement for Council to implement a medium Charging Clean Air Zone Class C with small Charging Clean Air Zone Class D and additional measures, subject to provision of further evidence, to be submitted to the Secretary of State to bring forward compliance to 2023.
3. Authorised the Chief Executive Officer, in consultation with the Cabinet member for Finance, Governance and Performance and Director of Finance & S151 officer to seek further funding should it be required, from JAQU (Joint Air Quality Unit; DEFRA and DfT officers) once the current modelling work and a final direction of travel is agreed. Note the revised timeline within the Direction for delivery of a Full Business Case submission before 26 February 2021.
4. Approved public consultation for a minimum of 6 weeks commencing in October on new options including a scheme for a small area CAZ D and for a medium area CAZ C/small CAZ D which could be implemented if evidence demonstrates that these are required to achieve compliance with legal Limits of NO2 in the shortest possible time.
5. Authorised the Chief Executive (Clean Air Zone Senior Responsible Officer), in consultation with the Mayor, to proceed with and make operational decisions regarding development of the Full Business case to be considered by Cabinet by the 26th February 2021.

Cabinet:

1. Approved the proposed consultation and co-construction to develop youth services for the forthcoming five years.
2. Endorsed the development of a detailed business case for Youth Zones in the city.
3. Endorsed the development of the ‘communities’ element of the Belonging Strategy, including co-construction and co-providers;
4. Authorised the Executive Director: People in consultation with the Cabinet Member Children and Young People to take all steps required to extend the Targeted Youth Services contract for up to 2 years to June 2023 should this be required to align new services and delivery models, up to the maximum budget envelope outlined in the Cabinet report of 27/07/17

Cabinet:

1. Delegated to the Exec Director for People, the authority to utilise the available funds of £15.6m identified in the Appendix A1 to begin phased commissioning/procurement of all contracts for services and works to deliver this programme of works, recognising that individual contracts may exceed the key decision threshold.
2. Agreed to work with the DfE and investigate funding options for the £13.1m remainder of the project cost.

That Cabinet

1. Authorise the Executive Director for Growth and Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member Housing to take all steps necessary to procure a multi-disciplinary team (utilising the Homes England framework and portal or other OJEU compliant framework) to secure Outline Planning Consent on up to five council owned sites (New Fosseway, Hengrove, Knowle West Health Park – Filwood, Freshways – Lawrence Weston, Blake Centre, Cameron Centre, Lockleaze) for housing led developments.
2. Authorise Executive Director for Growth and Regeneration in consultation with the Council’s Section 151 Officer to take all steps necessary to make external funding applications, accept external funding awards, and invest external funding received to support the delivery of new homes, infrastructure, and regeneration on the six sites identified.

That Cabinet

1. Authorise the acceptance of the allocated funding of £2.64m from the Pothole Action Fund;
2. Authorise the Executive Director Growth and Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member Transport and Energy, the Green New Deal to take all steps required to spend £2.64m on repairs to carriageways, footways programs including drainage repairs to combat the causes to the creation of the potholes including the procurement of all contracts (goods, services or works) which may include individual contracts above the key decision threshold.

Cabinet

1. Approved the Highways England Designated Funds Capital Investment/Grant application in the sum of £3,155,856 for the EV Centre of Excellence;
2. Authorised the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Cabinet Members for Waste, Commercialisation and Regulatory Services and Transport, Energy and New Green Deal, to accept the funding and take all steps required to enter into any agreements and contracts to spend the grant to implement the EV Centre of Excellence which may include individual spend above the key decision threshold;
3. Noted the proposal to redirect unspent Early Measures Funds Revenue Grant in the sum of £142,500.

Cabinet

1.       Approved new funding applications to the West of England Combined Authority.

2.       Authorised the Executive Director Growth and Regeneration to take all steps required to accept any funding award to be incorporated into the council’s capital programme, to deliver the rebuilding and expansion of Perry Court Primary School and facilitate the redevelopment of Hengrove Park.

3.       Authorised the Executive Director Growth and Regeneration, to approve the allocation of up to an additional £5m of Strategic CIL funding (in addition to re-confirming the £5m allocation already approved by Cabinet in May 2019) to deliver the rebuilding and expansion of Perry Court Primary School, and facilitate the redevelopment of Hengrove Park, if the new WECA funding bid is unable to proceed or is unsuccessful.

4.       Authorised the Executive Director Growth and Regeneration to take all steps required to accept any funding award to be incorporated into the council’s capital programme, to deliver 3 new highways junctions and related sustainable travel improvements and facilitate the redevelopment of Hengrove Park .

5.       Authorised the Executive Director Growth and Regeneration to allocate up to £4.8m of Strategic Community Infrastructure Levy (Strategic CIL) funding to deliver 3 new highways junctions and related sustainable travel improvements, and facilitate the redevelopment of Hengrove Park, if the new WECA funding bid is unable to proceed or is unsuccessful.

Cabinet:

1. Noted the work of the project team and changes to the Future Parks Programme;
2. Noted the agreed extension for Future Parks Programme funding agreement to October 2021 as set out in the report;
3. Approved a “stress test” being undertaken at Eastville Park working with local stakeholders and interested parties prior to launching the pilot Expressions of Interests, to allow us to test our systems and processes;
4. Approved in principle a series of pilot Expressions of Interest for the Future Parks Programme in September/October 2020 and authorises the Senior Director Citizen Service to agree and implement a detailed plan in consultation with the Executive member for Communities, Equalities and Public Health;
5. Approved the submission of an application for and acceptance of additional funding if successful, and a further extension to the project until March 2022, as outlined in the report;
6. Approved the carrying out of a pilot parks and green space sponsorship model and authorise the Senior Director Citizen Service in consultation with the Executive member for Executive member for Communities, Equalities and Public Health to take all steps required to agree and implement the pilot.
7. Noted the development and implementation of a parks volunteering strategy.

Cabinet:

1)      Approved the extension of the current grant funding arrangement with Voscur by a further 12 months from 31st March 2021 to 31st March 2022 at a cost of £316,608;

2)      Noted the delay in the approved new grant arrangements which will now be in place from April 2022;

3)      Authorised the Chief Executive in consultation with the Cabinet Member - Communities (Public Health, Public Transport, Libraries, Parks, Events and Equalities) to take all steps required to enter into a grant agreement with the successful applicants.

Cabinet:

1. Authorised the Chief Finance Officer (S.151 Officer), in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance and Performance to agree the terms of the previously approved prudential funding, to the SPV, via onward lending loan agreement, up to a maximum of £12.7m;
2. Noted the updates provided in this Cabinet report in relation to a single SPV, change in funding ratios (with no change to total capital cost or BCC loan value) and proposed onward grant agreement from the Council to the SPV (£10.2m);
3. Approved the early draw down of up to £0.24m (funded from already approved PL19 funds) for early heat network work on Bedminster and Temple (to include match funding against the HNDU grant and a bore hole survey);
4. Authorised the Executive Director for Growth and Regeneration, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Energy, the Cabinet Member for Finance, and the Chief Finance Officer, to apply for and accept HNDU government grant funding of up to £0.35m from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy to facilitate the development of the Bedminster and Temple heat networks.

Cabinet noted:

1. Risks associated with the forecast outturn and the long-term financial impact on the Council as a result of COVID-19 pandemic;
2. The £13.9m COVID 19 funding gap is indicative and will be amended to reflect the actual level of government funding received and local / national changes required in responding to potential local outbreaks;
3. The risk to the assumed level of sales, fees and charges grant to offset income losses, subject to further work and final technical guidance from MHCLG which could lead to a material deterioration in the sum receivable.
4. 4. The estimated Collection fund deficit of £32.9m impacting in future years Appendix A, Section 3.5.
5. A risk of non COVID-19 related overspend on General fund services, an overall forecast overspend of £6.9m for 20/21 at Period 3, representing 1.7% of the approved budget and that it is expected that the forecast overspend will be managed through management actions / mitigations through the rest of the financial year.
6. Forecasts underspend of £1.0m with regard to the Housing Revenue Account.
7. A forecast in-year deficit of £3.3m and a total £6.2m carried forward deficit in the ring fenced Dedicated Schools Account (DSG);
8. A forecast overspend of £0.5m in Public Health mitigated by drawing down from the Public Health reserve;
9. A forecast overspend of £0.9m in Public Health mitigated by drawing down from the PFI reserve.
10. A forecast £58.1m underspend against the approved Capital Programme, which requires budget re-profiling at the end of P4.

Cabinet approved:

11. The incorporation of £2.640m into the Council’s Capital Programme from Pothole Grant as detailed in Appendix B, Section 2.9.

That Cabinet Approve:

1. The incorporation of £0.608m Local Authority Emergency Assistance Grant for Food and Essential Supplies into the Council’s budget;
2. The incorporation of £0.170m Business Support Grant – New Burdens Funding into the Council’s budget;
3. The cessation of the temporary emergency delegations to the Head of Paid Service and the Director of Finance agreed by Cabinet on 28 April.

Cabinet noted:

1. The reversal of temporary protocols and practices in relation to procurement, supplier payments and debt management as set out in the report;

2. the decisions taken under emergency / urgent payments:

•      Reopening of Leisure facilities in Bristol - £0.500m - Appendix A (i);

•      LA Emergency Assistance Grant for Food and Essential supplies - Appendix A (ii);

•      Small Business Grant Discretionary Fund Cohort 2 - Officer Executive decision for Payment Tranche 1 – 6 – totalling £1.073m;

•      COVID19 Supplier Relief Requests – Appendix A (iii)

•      Provision of emergency hotel Accommodation – Appendix A (iv)

Cabinet

1. Approved the recommendation to cease to use risk Based Verification in the administration of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support from 1st September 2020;
2. Approved the newly recommendation verification standards, not aligned to Risk Based Verification, but meet DWP requirements for Housing Benefit cases and associated Council Tax Reduction cases.

Cabinet:

1. Authorised the Executive Director Growth and Regeneration to enter into a nomination agreement as set out in the report with Caridon for the site now known as Imperial Apartments;
2. Noted the revenue funding required.

Cabinet:

1. Approved BCC acting as the Grant recipient and underwriting the repayment of £500,000 of RIF Funding from WECA on behalf of Watershed Arts Trust Limited for the Phase 1 Watershed Capital Development;
2. Authorised the Executive Director Growth and Regeneration to enter into a grant agreement with WECA;
3. Authorised the Executive Director Growth and Regeneration to enter into a grant agreement to transfer the grant to Watershed Arts Limited on confirmation that the necessary arrangements are in place to deliver the Project.

Cabinet

1. Noted this is a legitimate claim under the terms of the PFI agreement approved by cabinet in 2008;
2. Agreed to provide the required financial assistance and contractual relief in accordance with the Qualifying Change in Law mechanism and the satisfactory outcome of commercial negotiations, subject to assessment and approval of the claimed costs by the Chief Finance Officer;
3. Noted and approves the financial adjustments made from March - June 2020 of approximately £237,643.03.
4. Authorised the Executive Director People in consultation with the Executive Member for Finance and the Chief Finance Officer to negotiate and approve the relevant financial adjustments required in accordance with the PFI contract and the necessary variations (‘Change’) to achieve this.
5. Noted that the situation will be kept under careful review and further reports will be brought to Cabinet if needed.

Cabinet noted:

1. the final Business Plan 2020/21 [Covid-19 Recovery Edition] (Appendix Ai);
2. the Performance Framework 2020/21 (Appendix Aii).

That Cabinet noted the report and progress on embedding Risk Management arrangements within the Council.