Agenda and minutes

Members will disclose any pecuniary and any other significant interests they may have in relation to the matters to be considered at this meeting.

None.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 15 June 2016.

The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 15 June 2016 were confirmed as a correct record.

To receive and respond to any questions from members of the public.

Public questions can be delivered in writing to Democratic Services or sent by email to: publicquestions@wyre.gov.uk. Public questions for this meeting must be received by noon on Thursday 1 September 2016. Questioners should provide their name and address and indicate to which Cabinet member the question is to be directed.

The total period of time allocated for public questions will not normally exceed 30 minutes.

None

Report of the Chairman of the Libraries Task Group and the Service Director Performance and Innovation.

The Chairman of the Libraries Task Group and Service Director Performance and Innovation submitted a report seeking the Cabinet’s formal endorsement of the Libraries Task Group’s response to Lancashire County Council (LCC)’s property strategy consultation, with specific reference to the proposed closure of three libraries in Wyre.

Cllr Matthew Vincent said that following Wyre’s response, LCC had already decided to make no changes to the proposals originally set out in the consultation. He informed Cabinet that the task group had effectively been prevented from seeking the views of the public as it would have wished, due to the short timescale that LCC had given for a response to the proposals and that the group had also been unhappy that libraries staff had been issued with instructions to refrain from any discussion about the closures.

The Resources Portfolio Holder asked whether the entire task group had been unanimously in support of the response and Cllr Matthew Vincent informed him that the Labour members of the task group had voted against it.

The Health and Community Engagement Portfolio Holder thanked the members of the task group for their work and censured LCC’s decision to leave the proposals largely unaltered despite all the responses it had received to the consultation. Cabinet echoed Cllr V. Taylor’s thanks to the task group

Decision taken

Cabinet formally endorsed the response which had been submitted to Lancashire County Council by the task group in time for the consultation deadline on 14 August 2016.

Report of the Leader of the Council and the Service Director Performance and Innovation.

The Leader of the Council and Service Director Performance and Innovation submitted a report asking Cabinet to consider the Annual Review letter from the Local Government Ombudsman for 2015/16, which was attached as an appendix to the report.

The Leader praised the staff of Wyre stating that it was a great tribute to them that only 12 complaints had been made and that none had been upheld, whilst by way of comparison, Lancashire County Council in the same period had received over 150 complaints of which 33 had been upheld. The Health and Community Engagement Portfolio Holder stated that this endorsed how hard and diligently Wyre’s staff worked and suggested that other authorities might learn from them.

Decision taken

Cabinet noted the comments made by the Ombudsman in the Annual Review Letter.

Report of the Resources Portfolio Holder and the Head of Finance.

The Resources Portfolio Holder and Head of Finance submitted a report asking Cabinet to consider the summary of the Spending Officers’ (April to end June 2016) review of the 2016/17 Capital Budget and its impact on the Capital Programme thereafter.

Decision taken

Cabinet agreed that the Capital Programme and its funding be updated to reflect the changes indicated in the report and that the impact on the Revenue Budget be reflected in the Medium Term Financial Plan and future revisions of the Revenue Estimates.

Report of the Resources Portfolio Holder and the Head of Finance.

The Resources Portfolio Holder and Head of Finance submitted a report asking Cabinet to consider the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan for the financial years 2016/17 to 2019/20.

Decision taken

Cabinet

• approved the Medium Term Financial Plan and the consequential action required in order to address the issues resulting from the 3 year Financial Forecast;

• noted the revised expenditure projections incorporating the slippage from 2015/16, and the resulting impact on the level of the Council’s Reserves and Balances at 31st March 2016

• agreed the top-up and use of all Reserves and Balances as indicated in Appendix 4 to the Medium Term Financial Plan.

Report of the Planning and Economic Development Portfolio Holder and the Chief Executive.

Planning and Economic Development Portfolio Holder and Chief Executive submitted a report requesting that Cabinet consider a scheme of delegation for Neighbourhood Planning.

Decision taken

Cabinet approved the delegations in relation to the various stages of the preparation of a Neighbourhood Development Plan and a Neighbourhood Development Order, set out in Appendix A of the report and agreed that Part 7.02 of the Council’s Constitution (Scheme of Delegation) be updated accordingly.