Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Members.

Apologies were received from Cllr G Farquhar and Cllr V Slade.

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications. 

Cllr L Allison substituted for Cllr G Farquhar and Cllr M Brooke substituted for Cllr V Slade.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

Cllr J Edwards advised for the purpose of transparency, in relation to agenda item Scrutiny of Transformation and Finance Related Cabinet Reports - Organisational Design - Acceleration of Transformation Savings for 2021/22 Budget, that a family member worked for BCP Council but that she would remain open minded in considering all that would be discussed.

In relation to agenda item 7, Scrutiny of Officer Decision - Durley Road Car Park Development, the following interests were declared:

Cllr M Brooke declared a local interest as he was a Bournemouth Development Company Board member, however he advised that he may choose to either speak or vote on this item and sought guidance on this issue. Democratic Services advised that this was a local interest and therefore the Councillor should consider the bias and predetermination tests when deciding whether to participate in this item.

Cllr L Dedman, Cllr M Howell and Cllr L Allison were all Cabinet members at the time that the Cabinet decision was taken to delegate authority to the Chief Executive to take the officer decision on this matter. Therefore following advice from the Monitoring Officer and in accordance with the requirements outlined in the BCP Council Constitution they each advised that they would not be taking part in this item.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meetings held at 2.00pm and 6.00pm on 2 November and the meeting held on 16 November.

The minutes of the meetings held on 2 November and 16 November were agreed as a correct record.

To note and comment on the attached action sheet which tracks decisions, actions and recommendations from previous meetings.

The Board’s latest action sheet was noted.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution, which is available to view at the following link:

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeID=151&Info=1&bcr=1

The deadline for the submission of a public question is 4 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a public statement is midday the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

There were no public, statements, question or petitions submitted for this meeting.

To scrutinise the decision to approve the final terms and the grant of a lease of the Durley Road Car Park site to Durley Road Development LLP. The published officer decision is attached to this agenda.  This decision was taken by the Council’s Corporate Property Officer on 13 November 2020 under delegated powers to comply with the decision made by Cabinet on 24 June 2020.

Note:  this decision is not subject to call-in and is listed for post decision scrutiny following a request from a member of the Overview and Scrutiny Board. 

The Chairman introduced the item and explained the reasons why the report had come to the meeting. A copy of the report had been cirucalted to each member of the Board and can be found at Appendix ‘A’ to these minutes in the minutes book. It was an opportunity for the Board to consider the decision taken and the reasoning and requirements behind the decision but it was explained that there was no opportunity to ‘call-in’ the decision. The Chairman advised that he had invited Mr Carr, Chief Executive of Fortitudo and a local property developer to attend the meeting to provide some insight on his view of the Council’s decision regarding the lease for the site and explain further as regarding his offer for the site at a higher amount than the Value for Bournemouth Development Company (BDC).

The Chief Executive, as the Corporate Property Officer responsible for the Officer decision being scrutinised explained the background and the reasoning for the decision.

Mr Carr outlined his involvement in the site and the offer which he had made. Fortitudo had offered £1.5m, which was slightly less than the companies own options appraisal for the site. He raised further issues concerning the Council’s arrangements with BDC and suggested an audit of the sites developed should be undertaken. There was concern raised that the Council was not complying with section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972 regarding disposing of land at Best Value and also concerns with

Councils controls on planning and whether there was a break clause within the agreement. The Board was advised that the options agreement as referred to in the decision record had not been seen by many, the red book valuation was based on unknown assumptions and the disposal value was less than a quarter of the offer made by fortitude.

The Board was reminded that it was only the decision on the Durley Road Car Park site that was to be considered for Scrutiny and not the wider issues concerning BDC or previous developments.

The Chief Executive advised that deliverability for any site needed to be a foremost consideration, which was a contributing factor behind the initial BDC options arrangement. The Council was commissioning a review of the BDC partnership arrangements with partners and this would be an opportunity for the O&S Board to look at the arrangements overall. The Chairman requested whether the options agreement could be made available to Board members. The Monitoring Officer advised that it would be commercially confidential but should be available on the Council’s contract register, although it may need to be redacted.

Members raised a number of points in the discussion which followed including:

·     The difference between the red book value and the price which was being offered. It was noted that the difference in these values would be due to potential claims for losses from commercial partners and would be related to a commercial negotiation with partners at Morgan Sindall.

·     What the penalties would be if  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103.

To consider and amend the Board’s Forward Plan as appropriate and to consider the published Cabinet Forward Plan.

The Chairman outlined a number of proposals for the forthcoming meetings for approval by the Board which included budget scrutiny proposals, Portfolio Holder sessions and an outline of items proposed for the meetings in January and February. The Chairman explained that in accordance with the suggestions made in the Board’s development session the proposals aimed to help the Board get ahead of and influence policy formation and decisions.

Following discussions with Board members it was:

RESOLVED that:

1. That the budget would be considered in one of the scheduled February meetings and that the Chairman of the Health and Adult Social Care and Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committees be invited to contribute.

2.    Portfolio Holder updates be agreed as outlined in the Forward Plan. It was noted that this was a trial and would be reviewed to see if it was providing opportunities for O&S Board to develop and ass value 

3.    The items outlined on the Forward Plan for the scheduled meetings in January and February be agreed. There were no further requests from Board members for additional Cabinet reports to be brought forward for scrutiny.

The Chairman suggested to the Board that as there was work coming forward on the BCP Local Plan this may be a good area for the Board to become involved in development and proposed that the Board establish a working group to start work on this issue, he suggested a membership spread across the geographical area of the Council and that the group would commence work in January. A Board member commented that this was a major piece of work and important to the way we were moving forward as a Council.

RESOLVED: That a working group on the Development of the Local Plan be established with the Chairman as the lead member of the group. The Chairman would seek volunteers for the group and determine the final membership.

It was noted that the Working group on the accommodation strategy was no longer required as events had moved on and would be removed from the Forward Plan. The Economy and Tourism working group had not yet met, there were related items on the Cabinet Forward Plan for January and February, and it was agreed that a decision would be taken on whether to move forward with the group following these meetings.

It was agreed that the Tricuro Business Plan should be referred to the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

It was also proposed that the item on the Carter School Expansion should be removed from the Board’s Forward Plan. There were no objections raised by the Board Members to these proposals.

To consider issues within the Transformation and Finance Portfolio area, including the following report scheduled for Cabinet consideration on 16 December 2020:

•     Organisational Design- Acceleration of Transformation Savings for 2021/22  Budget

The O&S Board is asked to scrutinise the report and make recommendations to Cabinet as appropriate.

Cabinet member invited to attend for this item: Councillor Drew Mellor, Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Transformation and Finance.

The Chairman of the Children’s Services and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committees have also been invited for consideration of this item.

The Cabinet report is attached for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

Organisational Design – Acceleration of Transformation Savings for 2021/22 Budget - The Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Transformation and Finance introduced the report, a copy of which had been circulated and which appears as Appendix ‘N’ to the Cabinet minutes of 16 December in the Minute Book. A number of issues were raised by the Board in the subsequent discussion, including:

·     In relation to Adult Social Care it was noted that most savings were to be found from pooling resources and significantly more investment would be going into this area. The consequences of the savings would be in back office functions and not frontline services.

·     In response to issues raised regarding communications with staff on the changes to be made the Leader of the Council advised that it was important to get people on the journey quickly in order to actually reduce instability. In the past departments had been asked to ‘top slice’ which had led to issues of capacity, but this approach was about ensuring a transformation across the Council. It was acknowledged that there were areas of the Council where there were capacity issues such as Children’s Services and Planning and investments would be made in these areas. A Councillor commented that it was important to ensure that capacity was measured, and the Leader advised that with the enterprise level approach this could be done.

·     A Board Member questioned whether the Leader had been in consultation with the recognised trade unions. The leader advised that he hadn’t as yet but would be happy to engage with them.

·     The Leader advised the Board that there hadn’t been any change in the overall figure from the previous administrations paper. A Board member commented that there was already streamlining in some areas, for example in licensing all three areas were coming under one policy and there were planning policies moving towards this.

·     In response to a question regarding staff engagement the Leader advised that there was a cultural change and this was being done with people and not to people in order to create something exciting, streamlined and efficient.

·     A Councillor asked about expanding apprenticeship schemes to help young people in the area and the Board was advised that they were looking to extend the care leavers scheme and welcomed more opportunities when we can.

·     There were concerns raised, as outlined in paragraphs 14 and 15 of the report, regarding the reduction in headcount occurring in advance of the adaptation of new technology and ways of working and that by doing so, asking people to do more before the systems were in place to be able to do this well. That by reversing the process was a danger of affecting the mental and physical health of employees.  It was noted that people would be brough together to work more efficiently and that more people were not always needed to do more work. Although it was agreed that this was more challenging, but it would ensure working  ...  view the full minutes text for item 105.

To consider issues within the Regeneration, Economy and Strategic Planning Portfolio area, including the following report scheduled for Cabinet consideration on 16 December 2020:

• Wessex Fields Site Development Strategy

The O&S Board is asked to scrutinise the report and make recommendations to Cabinet as appropriate.

Cabinet member invited to attend for this item: Councillor Philip Broadhead, Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Economy and Strategic Planning.

The Cabinet report is attached for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

Wessex Fields Site Development Update - The Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Economy and Strategic Planning introduced the report, a copy of which had been circulated and which appears as Appendix ‘B’ to the Cabinet minutes of 16 December in the Minute Book. A number of issues were raised by the Board in the subsequent discussion, including:

·     What other parties were interested in the site and undertaking development there. It was noted that details were included in the appendices to the report which provided all responses. The responses were to the principles of the MOU which was already in place with the University, one was from the hospital for the whole site, others were from private sector developers to work with the hospital and university as a partner to the local authority. It was felt that it would be better for the Council to work directly with the partners rather than through an intermediary.

·     A Councillor commented that they hoped that the changes made to make the site more sustainable by the previous administration were carried forward in proposed development.

·     It was noted that it was difficult, without a plan for the land, to understand what would be brought forward in the first stage and whether it would be sufficient to accommodate the core business elements which were previously envisioned. The core aim of the university and hospital was to deliver the technical side which wasn’t overly commercial but was very important to the site. The part of land the Council was looking to sell would accommodate this. It was noted that visions were aligned in terms of development and key worker housing. The sustainability part has always been key to the development.

·     A Councillor commented that they supported the report and recommendation and was pleased that the site would be used for medical facilities.

To note the following meeting dates and locations for the 2020/21 municipal year:

·       4 January 2021

·       1 February 2021

·       1 March 2021

·       1 April 2021

To note the following proposed meeting dates and locations for the 2021/22 municipal year (to be agreed by full Council):

·       17 May 2021

·       14 June 2021

·       19 July 2021

·       23 August 2021

·       20 September 2021

·       18 October 2021

·       15 November 2021

·       6 December 2021

·       3 January 2022

·       31 January 2022

·       28 February 2022

·       4 April 2022

All meetings will be held via video conferencing until further notice.

The future meeting dates were noted as outlined in the agenda.

The Board was advised that the meeting date of 3 January 2022 would need to be amended as it fell on a bank holiday.