Agenda and minutes

There were none.

Members are asked to declare at this stage any interests that they may have in an item shown on this agenda. If any member of the Committee is unsure whether or not they should declare an interest on a particular matter, they should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer before the meeting. 

Councillor Cantrill declared an interest as a Trustee of Wintercomfort (relating to budget amendment on peer support for single homeless page 12).

There were questions from Mr Tidy and Ms Tillson from Camboaters and Ms Blythe from the Federation of Cambridge Residents’ Associations.

Mr Tidy-Mooring Charges

Referring to (B0008) pg 14 of the agenda: Camboaters very much welcomed this proposal. Camboaters had undertaken an in-depth River Review which showed £70k income from Mooring Fees which was far in excess of the officer time and administration costs (£51k).  It also appeared that the houseboat community were subsiding the electricity for the water pump station at Jesus Green used by the Lido (run by Better Leisure).  Camboaters welcomed the productive dialogue with Cllr Roberston and the officers.

Cllr Robertson stated that he had only received a copy of the draft River Review that morning and it would be given a proper assessment along with the responses to the consultation before he could comment in any detail on the issues raised.

Mr Tidy responded that he urged the Council to sever the link between the services received by the houseboat community and the income the Council received in Mooring Fees.

Ms Blythe re X0001 Market Sq renewal (page 17 of the agenda)

FeCRA supported the proposals for the Market Sq., but was of the view that it should not be piecemeal.  Small local shops were suffering and there needed to be a strategic review of the historic city centre.  Other examples given were the type of street trading allowed on Silver Street and the portacabins placed on Sheeps Green.  Better resourced planning enforcement was supported.

The Leader responded.  On the Market Sq proposal, that would be debated at next Thursday’s Council meeting.  The Ex Cllr for Environmental Services and City Centre had offered to meet Cambridge Past Present and Future and would be looking at their costed plans.  Regarding Silver Street, the Council was obliged to follow requirements of street trading consents (long standing) and traders could challenge the Council.  The Markets and Street Trading Manager would discuss the issues further with FeCRA.  Finally on Sheeps Green, there was a recognition that this was an inappropriate location, that the Council must learn from how this happened and that an application was being made to relocate the structures to a new place.

There would be a strategic proposal from the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development, which would be taken forward in a Cambridge Open Space and Movement Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) for the city centre, once the current Local Plan process had been concluded.

Ms Blythe responded by asking if there was a strategy for auditing places at risk eg, small shop traders.  And, did the enforcement that existed have teeth and pitched at the appropriate senior officer level?

The Leader responded that the SPD would address the point made on protecting places at risk.  On enforcement, it had been an issue taken seriously by the Labour-led administration and he would expect a continued focus on enforcement, urban design and conservation and would be raising the issues made with the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development.

Ms Tillson – re capping Mooring Fees (page 7 of the agenda)

Camboaters supported the proposal to peg fee charges to 2%.  Boaters made a large net contribution and it was unreasonable to make a larger contribution.

Cllr Robertson replied that the current standard increase for all types of fees was 2% but specific proposals for other service charges could be more or less.  Because of the consultation process no figure on fees had been included.  It would be addressed following consideration of the consultation responses and the recently received River Review.

Matter for Decision

An amendment to the Executive’s budget to included bid B3996- Improving representation of the views of local young people.

Decision of Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources

     i.        Approved inclusion of the additional budget item (B3996) for recommendation to Council and to authorise the Section 151 Officer to make the necessary changes to the Budget Setting Report 2017/18 for consideration by the Council on 23 February 2017.

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Head of Finance.  The Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources advised the Scrutiny Committee that this new Bid was being submitted on behalf of the Executive Councillor for Communities and was seen as an important piece of work for young people.

The Committee resolved by 4 votes to 0 to endorse the recommendation.

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendation.

Scrutiny Considerations

The purpose of the discussion was to ask questions of the Lib Dem members on the Scrutiny Committee on its budget amendment.

The Labour members of the Committee asked the following questions.  The answers provided by Lib Dem members immediately follow.

i)             Why do you see a need for the bid on supervision of events on public open spaces B0003 (page 12)? Because of the increase in the number of events and the officer capacity being currently stretched to properly supervise and monitor, particularly when events set up and leave.

ii)            Mooring Charges at 0?  (B0008 page 14) Because 2% is built into the base budget and has been since 2010/11.  A critical component that needs to be locked down is the mooring fee boaters pay.  Don’t believe there should be further uncertainty on this.

iii)          Planning Enforcement, how funded and what proceeds from the Crime Act? (X0002 page 18)  This would be funded by New Homes Bonus and had been missed off the text commentary.  Nobody knew yet on any proceeds from the Crime Act but this bid would be a resource to do the research on the opportunities.

iv)          Sunday Parking Fees in Grand Arcade? (B0006 page 14) – in addition to the commentary on the agenda this would reflect that the shops are barely open at that time on a Sunday.

v)           Switch commercial to residential (C0001 page 21) – There was a number erroneously missing in the commentary text – it should read in the third sentence….approximately 28 properties…