Decisions

(1)       The Cabinet agreed in principle to accept the Accelerated Construction funding offer by Homes England.

(2)       Delegated authority was given to the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services), in consultation with the Monitoring Officer and Executive Member (Resources), to agree the funding agreement/contract with Homes England.

(3)       The Cabinet agreed to make a direct award via the Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation Framework to appoint Inner Circle Consulting Limited for the provision of consultancy support to the Council’s regeneration programme, in particular to support projects that had received time limited external funding from organisations such as Homes England and the Local Enterprise Partnership.

The Achievements List for quarter 1 2018/19 was noted.

The summary of strategic performance data was noted and proposed actions highlighted approved.

The Cabinet agreed to the draft Terms of Reference for the General Procurement Board.

(1)       The Cabinet agreed to proceed with progressing resident parking schemes and verge protection orders to the formal stage in the Lemsford Road area.

(2)       The Cabinet agreed to proceed with progressing resident parking schemes and verge protection orders to the formal stage in the French Horn Lane area.

(3)       The Cabinet agreed to proceed with progressing resident parking schemes and verge protection orders to the formal stage in the Aldykes area.

(1)       The results of the public consultation on the proposed introduction of a local eligibility test were noted.

(2)       The Cabinet agreed to introduce local eligibility criteria for entry on to the Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Register to take effect from 31 October 2018.

(3)       The Cabinet agreed to recommend to the Council for approval the introduction of a fee of £25 for new applicants to enter onto the register to take effect from 31 October 2018.

(4)       The Cabinet agreed to recommend to the Council for approval the introduction of a fee of £25 for a new association to enter onto the register plus £10 for each individual within the association excluding the lead individual to take effect from 31 October 2018.

(5)       The Cabinet agreed to recommend to the Council for approval the introduction of an annual fee of £15 for individuals to remain on Part 1 of the register to take effect from 31 October 2018.

(6)       The Cabinet agreed to recommend to the Council for approval the introduction of an annual fee of £15 for each association plus £10 for each individual within that association to remain on Part 1 of the register to take effect from 31 October 2018.

Provision of temporary accommodation and budget position

(1)       The increased demands placed on the housing needs team and the actions that were being undertaken to seek to reduce the reliance on bed and breakfast accommodation were noted.

(2)       The potential budget pressure which would continue to be assessed as part of the budget monitoring process was noted.

(3)       The recommendation to direct £120,000 of the flexible homeless support grant funding to Resolve, over a maximum of a three year period, subject to the successful implementation of the Night Shelter project, was approved. 

Approval to submit a business rates pilot application and forming a pooling arrangement for

Delegated authority was given to the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services), in consultation with the Executive Member (Resources), to submit an application for the 2019/20 Business Rates Pilot/Pooling arrangement for Hertfordshire, if after full consideration, there was a financial case for doing so.

Award of Contract

Pension arrangement for the existing car park management contract

Approval to add the car park enforcement and management into the on-street enforcement contract from October 2019

Endorsement of the updated strategy

The review was noted and the principles to be adopted for the 2019/20 budget setting process in particular that the 2019/20 budget setting process should focus to balance the indicative budget gap up to 2020/21 were approved.

Award of Contract

Approval of the Policy

The new Equality Scheme was endorsed and recommended to the Council for approval.