Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: Room M71, 7th Floor, Town Hall, Mulberry Place, 5 Clove Crescent, London, E14 2BG
Contact: Amanda Thompson, Democratic Services Tel: 020 7364 4651, E-mail: amanda.thompson@towerhamlets.gov.uk
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Stephanie Eaton. |
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST PDF 29 KB To note any declarations of interest made by Members, including those restricting Members from voting on the questions detailed in Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act, 1992. See attached note from the Chief Executive.
Minutes: Councillors Abdul Asad and Waiseul Islam declared personal interests in agenda item 6.1 as they were the relevant ward members.
Councillor A A Sarder declared a personal interest in agenda item 6.1 as he had attended other meetings where the issue was being discussed.
Councillors Alibor Choudhury, Marc Francis, Josh Peck and Lutfur Rahman each declared a personal and prejudicial interest in agenda item 6.1 on the basis that they were Members of the Cabinet when the original decision was taken, and all left the room during the Committee’s decision making and voting on this item.
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UNRESTRICTED MINUTES PDF 45 KB To confirm as a correct record the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 4 November 2008. Minutes: RESOLVED
That the unrestricted minutes of the meeting held on 4 November 2008 be agreed as a correct record.
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MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES Minutes: Mr Lutfur Ali, Assistant Chief Executive, provided an update on the issues raised at the last meeting concerning future women Councillors initiatives.
He reported that there was currently no dedicated recruitment programme for female Councillors, however the current programme did attempt to address the current gender imbalance and following a recent local advertising campaign, eighteen local women had been invited to attend the programme.
Mr Ali also advised that he would provide Councillor Oliur Rahman with an response to his question concerning the current levels of administrative support provided to backbench members as soon as possible.
The Chair, Councillor Abdul Asad, reported that in response to Members’ questions concerning Corporate Complaints, he had been advised of the following:
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REQUESTS TO SUBMIT PETITIONS To be notified at the meeting. Minutes: None
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REQUESTS FOR DEPUTATIONS To be notified at the meeting. Minutes: Suki Binjal, Interim Legal Services Manager, informed Members that representatives from the Madani School Management Committee were present at the meeting and wished to make a deputation in relation to agenda item 6.1 – Call-In – Disposal of Grenfell School Site. They had advised her that they were not aware of the Council’s deputation procedure and therefore had not submitted their request before the deadline.
Ms Binjal stated that in accordance with the Council Procedure Rules at Part 4.1 of the Council’s Constitution (Rule 20.1), the deadline for receipt of deputation requests had passed, however it was open to the Committee to consider whether to suspend the rule to enable the deputation to address the Committee.
Councillor Bill Turner moved, and Councillor Oliur Rahman seconded, that Council Procedure Rule 20.1 be suspended in order to allow the Committee to consider whether or not to hear the deputation. This motion was put to the meeting and was agreed.
Following discussion the committee voted on whether to hear the deputation and agreed that it would do so.
The Chair welcomed the deputation and asked its representative to address the meeting.
Mr Hussain addressed the meeting on behalf of the deputation and advised Members that the school had now successfully raised the necessary funds and was progressing towards Voluntary Aided School status. There were currently 265 students and for the past five years 100% of candidates had obtained GCSE grades A-C. Work was currently underway to set up a supplementary school at weekends and a number of other projects to benefit the local community and young people were in place.
Mr Hussain referred to a recent story in the East London Advertiser that had suggested that the site was being given away for free, however this was not the case as the school would be paying 1.3 million for it. Also only 30% of the pupils were not from Tower Hamlets.
Members of the Cabinet asked a number of questions in relation to fundraising, Voluntary Aided status and the background of the school’s students to which the deputation responded.
The Chair thanked the members of the deputation for their attendance and presentation to the meeting.
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SECTION ONE REPORTS 'CALLED IN' |
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Report Called In - Disposal of Grenfell School Site PDF 61 KB (Time allocated – 30 minutes)
Additional documents: Minutes: Further to their respective declarations of a personal and prejudicial interests, Councillors Alibor Choudhury, Marc Francis, Josh Peck and Lutfur Rahman left the room during the Committee’s decision making and voting on this item.
Mr Lutfur Ali outlined the call-in procedure to the Committee.
Prior to the presentation Ms Helen Jenner, Service Head, Early Years Children and Learning, advised the meeting that there had been a mistake in paragraph 6.2 of the original report to the Cabinet and the wording should have said “The school attracts its pupils from across East London and approximately 30% were not resident in Tower Hamlets’.
Councillor Archer for the Call-In Members thanked Ms Jenner for the clarification and then referred to the reasons in their requisition and highlighted the main issues that they held with the provisionally agreed decision to sell the freehold interest in the former Grenfell School Site to Madani School for the sum of 1.33 million.
Councillor Archer stated that their concerns were not directed at the school itself, and the main issue was the fact that a Council asset was being sold below market value and public money was being used to subsidise the purchase. Additionally the Council’s current policy was to grant a long lease rather than sell the freehold as this would enable the Council to control the use and ensure that benefits were achieved.
Councillor Archer advised the Committee that he was aware that the school provided a vital role within the community, however it did not need to own the site to continue providing the service. The more appropriate course of action would be to offer the school a long lease with an option to purchase the freehold once it had achieved Voluntary Aided status.
Councillor Archer then responded to questions from the Committee, in particular in relation to the actual wording of the call-in and the suggestion that the school was in breach of the Council’s ‘One Tower Hamlets’ Policy. He advised that the call-in wording had not intended to be critical, and he was grateful for the clarification received regarding the number of pupils. Nevertheless other schools in the Borough did not own their respective freeholds, and Council tax-payers deserved value-for-money.
Councillor Josh Peck, Lead Member for Resources and Performance, then addressed the Committee on behalf of the Cabinet in response to the Call-in and made the following points:
The call-in was based on misinformation. Council policy stated that all disposals had to be at market value, this was complied with as the original agreement was based on the market value at the time. Also when selling at less than market value in exchange for community benefit, the granting of a long lease as opposed to selling a freehold was considered ‘best practice’ but was not Council policy.
The school would have responsibility for any repairs after the sale, however achieving Voluntary-Aided status had not been a condition of the sale.
Committee Members then put detailed questions to Councillor Peck on a ... view the full minutes text for item 7.1 |
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SCRUTINY SPOTLIGHT - LEAD MEMBER The Lead member for Housing and Development, Councillor Marc Francis, will attend to report on his portfolio.
(Time allocated – 30 minutes) Minutes: Councillor Marc Francis, Lead Member for Housing and Development, gave a presentation on the key issues, opportunities and challenges arising from his portfolio.
The Committee noted that the Council’s forthcoming Housing Strategy set out five key objectives:
Councillor Francis reported that no housing problem in Tower Hamlets was as acute as that of household overcrowding, and this was also a key driver of homelessness in the Borough. With so many households waiting such long periods for the transfer they needed it was inevitable that many children became adults while they were still on the waiting list, and some got married and had children of their own. While there was sometimes a desire, particularly among Bangladeshi families, to live in multi-generational households, this often resulted in tensions between older and younger family members. This in turn, sometimes led to them being told to move out and apply as homeless.
The Committee noted that in total more than 11,000 households were registered on the waiting list for a two, three, four or five-bedroom property. While several hundred of these would be homeless households in temporary accommodation, the overwhelming majority of the remainder were currently living in overcrowded conditions.
In response to questions Councillor Francis detailed a number of innovative schemes designed to try to help overcrowded families. These included:
The council was also supporting over £200 million of bids by local RSLs for Social Housing Grant funding for new affordable homes in Tower Hamlets. These homes would obviously still take several years to be built so an urgent package of additional measures was being proposed:
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REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION |
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Strategic Plan and Corporate Revenue Monitoring Report 2008-09 PDF 237 KB (Time allocated – 30 minutes)
Additional documents:
Minutes: Councillor Josh Peck, Lead Member for Resources and Performance, presented the combined service and financial performance report which covered the authority’s progress against the actions in the Strategic Plan, key performance indicators and the overall financial position to the end of September 2008 (Quarter 2).
Councillor Peck advised that despite a projected underspend of £1.977m on the General Fund revenue budget for the current financial year, a number of directorates were reporting overspends and it would be important for Corporate Directors to act to contain these during the coming months.
In response to questions Councillor Peck advised that there would be a need to consider further levels of support for Children’s Social Care, as following the recent case concerning Baby P the number of investigation requests had increased.
With regard to the Facilities Management overspend Councillor Peck advised that expenditure was significantly higher than originally estimated following the implementation of the Corporate Management Plan and the need to continue to honour existing leasing arrangements until the old properties could be sold. Unfortunately these were committed spends.
RESOLVED
That the performance information set out in the report be noted.
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VERBAL UPDATES FROM SCRUTINY LEADS (Time allocated – 5 minutes each) Minutes: Councillor Shiria Khatun (A Safe and Supportive Community) reported that the third review meeting had taken place on the 25 November 2008, and the working group had heard evidence on the consequences of alcohol misuse amongst young people. Both the PCT and the Police were present at the meeting and had given a presentation on the health effects of alcohol misuse and the effects alcohol has on crime. Scrutiny officers were currently trying to arrange for members to go on a SNT visit to see the work being undertaken to discourage alcohol consumption amongst the youth population. The next meeting was in January and the group would be looking at some of the local projects in place to help treat young people with alcohol problem.
Councillor Bill Turner (Excellent Public Services) reported that the site visit to Early Intervention services in the Borough had taken place earlier that day and the group had visited duty teams based at Mulberry Place, the Eva Armsby Centre and Norman Grove. This had given group members an excellent insight into how early intervention worked at ground level. At the next meeting in January the group would be looking at service mapping and value for money.
Councillor A.A Sardar (Prosperous Communities) reported that at the last meeting on 24 November 2008 the working group had heard evidence on local initiatives to engage parents. This included the work of the extended schools service and Parent Information Point service, and it was clear that a lot of good work was happening in Tower Hamlets. The next review meeting was in January and the group would be visiting a local school to what initiatives schools are adopting to engage parents.
Councillor Waiseul Islam (A Great Place to Live) reported that he was currently looking at the Community Land Trust (CLT) model of development to see if there was a way of making homeownership more accessible for local people.A range of external partners were involved with the review including Tower Hamlets Homes, Tower Hamlets Community Housing, Swan and Poplar HARCA and it was also hoped to engage local developers. The Group would be visiting a CLT model and had arranged for external expertise to determine whether this could work in Tower Hamlets in the current economic climate.
Councillor Ann Jackson (One Tower Hamlets) reported that a number of detailed interviews had been scheduled to take place with a range of residents to try and gain an understanding of life in poverty. These would be taking place in December and January if any other Members were interested could they please let her know.A single parents focus group had already taken place, and a women only focus group where about 20 women attended had given the group some very interesting insights into individual’s experiences of trying to gain employment and the barriers they faced. A further two sessions in February would consider the availability of child care provision in Tower Hamlets, the role of Childrens Centres, ... view the full minutes text for item 10. |
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PRE-DECISION SCRUTINY OF SECTION ONE (UNRESTRICTED) CABINET PAPERS (Time allocated – 15 minutes). Minutes: The Chair moved and it was RESOLVED
That the following pre-decision questions be submitted to Cabinet for consideration:
Agenda Item 7.1 Draft 2009/12 Tower Hamlets Housing Strategy (CAB 069/089)
What indication has the Council had that it can realise the considerable funding required to implement the housing strategy if the Homes and Communities Agency has not yet set out its funding plans and as THH has not received its two star rating?
Agenda Item 7.4 Local Development Framework Annual Monitoring Report 2007-2008 (CAB 072/089)
1) In reference to paragraph 4.4 can the Cabinet provide more details on the proposed work to be commissioned to understand the full implications of the credit crunch on the borough’s development plans? Does the Cabinet consider the slippage mentioned in paragraph 4.4, to be a result of badly designed plans formulated by developers which were consequently refused?
2) Will the Cabinet consider placing more emphasis on social housing for rent and less on affordable housing given the current financial climate and the average income level of our residents which makes many of these affordable housing unaffordable?
3) Can the Cabinet clarify the issues this monitoring report has highlighted which will need to be considered in future planning policies and how Members will be involved in the development of these policies?
4) Does the Cabinet feel we can justify the continued acceptance of high density housing in already densely populated areas in the borough?
5) Given the continued increases in Environmental Health Noise complaints what is the Council doing to address this through the LDF?
Agenda Item8.3 Arrangements for Corporate Match Funding 2009-10 (CAB 076/089)
When Corporate Match Funding is allocated does the Council undertake an analysis that the bids are located in different LAP areas and meet the needs of the various communities?
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ANY OTHER SECTION ONE (UNRESTRICTED) BUSINESS WHICH THE CHAIR CONSIDERS TO BE URGENT Minutes: No urgent business was submitted. |
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EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC In view of the contents of the remaining items on the agenda the Committee is recommended to adopt the following motion:
“That, under the provisions of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting for the consideration of the Section Two business on the grounds that it contains information defined as Exempt in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972.”
EXEMPT/CONFIDENTIAL SECTION (Pink Papers)
The exempt committee papers in the agenda will contain information, which is commercially, legally or personally sensitive and should not be divulged to third parties. If you do not wish to retain these papers after the meeting, please hand them to the Committee Officer present. Minutes: No Section Two business was submitted.
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SECTION TWO REPORTS 'CALLED IN' There were no Section Two reports ‘called in’ from the meeting of Cabinet held on 5 November 2008.
Minutes: There were no Section Two reports ‘called-in’ from the meeting of Cabinet held on 5 November.
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PRE-DECISION SCRUTINY OF SECTION TWO (RESTRICTED) CABINET PAPERS (Time allocated 15 minutes). Minutes: No Section Two pre-decision questions for Cabinet were submitted.
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ANY OTHER SECTION TWO (RESTRICTED) BUSINESS THAT THE CHAIR CONSIDERS URGENT Minutes: No Section Two urgent business was submitted.
The meeting finished at 9.45p.m.
Councillor Abdul Asad, Chair
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