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Agenda item

Questions by Members

To receive questions from Members under Rule 12 of the Constitution

 

Minutes:

The following questions were received from Members under Rule 12 of the Constitution:

1.            Councillor Beaty asked the following question of the Leader:

“I have seen in the press and received briefings from other Leaders of councils in Cumbria information about the ongoing negotiations regarding Local Government reform. It seems the MHCLG Minister is offering a substantial increase in funding to Cumbrian councils if 2 unitaries are formed. This would offset the expected reductions in funding that are expected for Councils who do not embrace reform. The formation of Unitaries would also bring savings to the councils and the simplification of delivery for the north of the County and its residents.

When I was the Leader of this Council I gave regular briefings on discussions on the last devolution discussions, and it seems the current negotiations will have far reaching effects on this Council and its residents. Could the Leader update us on the discussions and tell us what the position of this Leader and the executive is in relation to this?”

The Leader responded as follows:

“The Rt Hon Jake Berry MP, the then Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and Local Growth, visited our region on 3 February. The former minister met the Leaders and Chief Executives of Cumbria’s District Councils, and the County Council, here in Penrith. The purpose of these preliminary discussions was to assess the appetite for devolution in Cumbria, as well as to outline the associated growth deals on offer.

Delivering inclusive and sustainable growth is a key priority for Eden. Our focus throughout these discussions has been on the strategic ‘ask’ from central government, with particular reference to the details of the additional resources and the extra powers, freedoms and flexibilities on offer to support the future prosperity of our rural economy.

Devolution from central government to the regions is not the same thing as local government reorganisation, but the two have been conflated in recent discussions. It is important that any changes to local government, either as part of a devolution deal or as a separate initiative, ensure that communities are well served, customers’ needs are met, value for money is delivered and that subsidiarity of decision making is protected. At the meeting on 3 February the Minister did not express a preference on the number of possible unitary authorities in Cumbria.

The Rt Hon Jake Berry MP is no longer in his role and the government is working on a Devolution White Paper which will be published later in the year. I will continue to ensure that the economic, social and environmental needs of Eden are best promoted through any devolution negotiations and that any local government arrangements which are proposed are fit for purpose into the future.”

Councillor Beaty then asked a supplementary question querying whether it was wise for the Council to invest a substantial amount of money in a new building, which was likely to become redundant, given that four Cumbrian District Councils anticipated merging by May 2021.

The Leader responded that she was surprised to hear that Mr Beaty considered that such a merger was taking place given that she had not been involved in any discussions to that effect.

2.            Councillor Eyles asked the following question of the Leader:

“At a recent residents’ meeting great concern was expressed by residents about the article in the Herald concerning a consultant to Eden Council being paid nearly £40,000 for forty days’ work. This was in addition to a string of other consultants receiving remunerations my residents could not even dream about. I gave an undertaking that I would raise this issue so will the Executive of the Council please give an explanation to my residents?”

The Leader responded as follows:

“Thank you for raising this question on behalf of your residents. I can confirm that the figure that has been quoted is not correct. The initial response to the question incorrectly included VAT so was not a true reflection of the costs borne by the Council. The figure when removing VAT and agency costs brings the actual payment made to the Consultant to around £700 per day which is considerably less than was quoted in the press.

The consultants which have been referred to in the recent press articles are more often described as interim managers. The council operates a policy of not filling posts automatically, as this helps reduce the need for compulsory redundancies if there is a need to implement staffing changes at a later date. The use of temporary staff and interim managers is therefore seen as good practice during a time of change.

All of the expenditure referred to in the press articles was significantly offset by a saving on salaries. It should be remembered that there are other on-costs on top of employee salaries (in the region of 25%) and the Council does not provide paid annual leave or sick leave to consultants. A senior manager at Eden District Council gets 35 days annual leave, 3 days for the Christmas close down and 8 bank holidays per annum.

Had the interim resources not been brought in, the Council would not have had a Statutory Monitoring Officer in place to cover the Monitoring Officer’s maternity leave.

In addition the external resources brought in assisted the Council to make good progress on a number of key priorities.  The priority work which was delivered included:

·         Working with the Executive to develop the Corporate Plan 2019-23;

·         Leading arrangements for the consultation and delivering the Corporate Plan community conference on 1 October 2019;

·         Preparing a strategic plan and new partnership arrangements to deliver the council’s ambitions in relation to zero carbon and biodiversity;

·         Reviewing hotel provision to support the sustainable growth of the local and visitor economy;

·         Reviewing arrangements for the Heart of Cumbria Ltd;

·         Working with Askham Bryan College on the future of Newton Rigg;

·         Taking forward the single site / accommodation project;

·         Leading the arrangements for the LGA Review of Communications (18-20 September 2019);

·         Leading the EDC arrangements to prepare the baseline information, business case and delivery arrangements for the One Eden Transformation programme.”

There was no supplementary question.

3.            Councillor Lynch asked the following question of the Commercial Services Portfolio Holder:

“Thank you for your answer. [a written reponse to a question asked at Council on 9 January 2020]. I didn’t find the sections which you referred to, to be unclear. You say that “Companies House have indicated they are satisfied with the present position.” What form did this indication take and have you been expressly told that no fine will be levied for Heart of Cumbria’s failure to conform to the Act.”

The Commercial Services Portfolio Holder responded that a written response would be provided.

There was no supplementary question.

4.            Councillor Lynch asked the following question of the Leader:

“Now that Heart of Cumbria Ltd is compliant with the Companies Act will the Executive give an undertaking that it also follows other legal requirements for affordable houses”.

The Leader responded as follows:

Yes. The processes for statutory compliance in respect of affordable housing that were established when the company was established remain in place.

As part of their obligations under planning legislation Persimmon are required to provide 151 affordable units. Of these 65 are for discounted sale. The remainder are for affordable rent and Heart of Cumbria has contracted to purchase 81 of these.”

 

Affordable Units

No of Discounted Sale

No of Shared Ownership

No of Affordable Rent

151

65

0

86

Councillor Lynch then asked a supplementary question querying whether all houses owned by Heart of Cumbria were let at a rate which met the National Planning Policy definition of at least 20% below market rent.

The Leader responded that a written response would be provided.