Agenda and minutes

Members of the Executive and Corporate Management Team introduced themselves, followed by other Councillors present at the meeting.

Having considered the draftMinutes ofthe formal Executive meetingheldon 23 March 2021,which had been printedand circulated, members of the Executive recommended to the Chief Executive that he confirm them as a correct record.

Resolved –

The Chief Executive considered the views of the Executive provided at the meeting and decided to use his emergency powers to implement the recommendation of the Executive.

County Councillor Michael Harrison declared two disclosable interests, as an employee of one of the organisations listed in Agenda item 5 - Treasury Management Appendix D, and with close family members employed at the Council.  He confirmed he had two separate dispensations from the Standards Committee enabling him to remain in the meeting and vote on Agenda item 5.

Members of the public may ask questions or make statements at this meeting if they have given notice to Melanie Carr of Democratic and Scrutiny Services and supplied the text (contact details below) by midday on Thursday 20 May 2021 three working days before the day of the meeting.  Each speaker should limit themselves to 3 minutes on any item.  Members of the public who have given notice will be invited to speak:-

·            at this point in the meeting if their questions/statements relate to matters which are not otherwise on the Agenda (subject to an overall time limit of 30 minutes);

·            when the relevant Agenda item is being considered if they wish to speak on a matter which is on the Agenda for this meeting.

If you are exercising your right to speak at this meeting, but do not wish to be recorded, please inform the Chairman who will instruct anyone who may be taking a recording to cease while you speak.

There were no public questions or statements.

The Executive are asked to note:

i.   the latest position for the County Council’s 2020/21 Revenue Budget, as summarised in paragraph 2.1.2.;

ii.       the position on the GWB (paragraphs 2.4.1 to 2.4.3);

iii.     the position on the ‘Strategic Capacity – Unallocated’ reserve (paragraphs 2.4.4 to 2.4.5);

iv.     the performance of the Treasury Management operation during 2020/21 and the outturn position on Prudential Indicators;

v.      the position on capital outturn as detailed in Appendices A to E;

The Executive are also asked to recommend to the Chief Executive that under his emergency delegated powers he:

vi.     approve the proposed funding of £75k from the Strategic Capacity Reserve to develop a full business case for potential investment in solar power generation, as detailed in paragraph 3.64;

vii.    recommend to the County Council, the proposed carry forward to 2021/22 of the net capital underspend totalling £13.3m as set out in paragraph 4.14;

viii.   approve the financing of capital expenditure as detailed in paragraph 4.16 and Appendix F;

ix.     approve the proposed acquisition of land on the east side of Beckwith Head Road, Beckwith, Harrogate as detailed in paragraph 4.28

Considered –

A joint report of the Chief Executive and Corporate Director for Strategic Resources bringing together key aspects of the County Council’s performance for quarter four of the 2020/21 year.

County Councillor Carl Les introduced the Quarter 4 performance monitoring and budget report, confirming the in-depth focus for the performance section of the report as being Public Health and the ambition on ‘Innovative and Forward Thinking Council.’

County Councillor David Chance presented the Executive performance report summary, confirming that over the last year the County Council had led on the response to COVID-19 through its Outbreak Management Prevention Plan.  He confirmed the performance report provided strong evidence of the Council’s leadership and continued progress in delivering it’s wide-range of ambitions.  He provided a brief summary of the strengths and challenges in performance across those ambitions and the priorities set out in the Council Plan.

In particular County Councillor David Chance highlighted the following:

·            The vital role of Volunteers in the delivery of services and support (5,809 volunteers)

·            A successful campaign for keeping the Community informed and the most vulnerable supported and protected

·            The new more efficient ways of working identified during 2020-21, and the challenge of maintaining those new ways of working going forward

·            Improvements in technology to better support flexible and collaborative working

·            Reduced staff travel saving money, time and the environment

·            The early completion of the Street Lighting Programme

·            The CQC inspection results that showed the high quality of the care market across the county

·            The Council’s strong leadership role in the fight against Covid

·            The submission of the Council’s proposal for a single strong unitary Council for North Yorkshire

·            The newly revised Council Plan

·            The impact of Covid on the workforce and on sickness absence during 2020/21

·            The challenge of supporting residents and businesses to recover from Covid and the new Growth Plan approved in March 2021

·            the reduced number of repeat referrals in 2020/21 and a reduction in the number of children in care 

·            Post pandemic, the Council’s role in supporting economic recovery for residents and businesses

·            The pressure on frontline teams as a result of increased hospital discharges

·             

·            An increase in housebuilding locally and an increase in the cost of new builds

·            The stability of long and short term residential and nursing placements

·            The increased number of young people with EHCPs, and the increase in time taken to issue an EHCP, which was expected to recover by the end of the Summer term.

·            The number of North Yorkshire primary and secondary schools with a Good or Outstanding Ofsted inspection outcome remains below the that of the Local Authority’s national comparators

Public Health

County Councillor Caroline Dickson introduced the in depth focus on Public Health which detailed the Council’s direct response to COVID-19 and its impact on commissioned services.  She noted the excellent collaborative working with partners that had resulted in the successful delivery of the County’s response to COVID, and confirmed that 97% of those 50+ had received their first vaccination, and 87% of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 582.

Recommendation: The Executive are asked to recommend to the Chief Executive that under his emergency delegated powers he:

i.     Take forward the Transforming Cities Fund projects in Harrogate, Skipton and Selby for preliminary and detailed design and consultation, subject to the following:

(a)   further design and consultation is undertaken on the Harrogate 1 Lane Station Parade option only;

(b)   further design and consultation is undertaken on James Street based on full pedestrianisation incorporating the ability to retain an unobstructed width such that traffic could be accommodated if necessary;

(c)   a Final Business Case will be presented prior to implementation and a further decision from the Executive will be sought to agree any recommended implementation of the final designs later in 2021;

(d)  decisions on how to progress with the variant options at Selby which do not directly affect the existing highway network are delegated to the Corporate Director, BES working with Selby District Council and Network Rail.

Considered –

A report of the Corporate Director for Business and Environmental Services seeking approval to undertake preliminary and detailed design of the recommended highways options for the Transforming Cities Fund programme following Public Consultation.

County Councillor Gareth Dadd left the meeting at 12:36pm.

It was noted that emails had been received from two members of the public and a response had been issued by the Corporate Director.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie presented the report which detailed the County Council’s progress on leading on a £31.1m programme with its partners at Skipton and Selby District Councils and Harrogate Borough Council, under a funding agreement with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. 

Karl Battersby, Corporate Director for Business & Environmental Services provided an overview of the report focussing on the County Council’s lead role on delivering the programme within a tight timescale, the consultation that had taken place on each of the proposed schemes, and the resulting findings. 

He provided an outline of the two options for Station Parade in Harrogate and the plan for the eastern section of James Street.  He confirmed further detailed design and modelling works were required to understand the impact of those plans on the highway.  He also noted a TRO would be required for James Street.

He went on to outline the other two schemes in Selby and Skipton and confirmed the next steps to progress all three projects, which included some further public consultation later in 2021.  He confirmed there would be a focus on ensuring the schemes had no negative impact on local businesses.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie took the opportunity to reassure the business community in Harrogate who had lobbied strongly regarding the gateway scheme, that the proposal was not  intended to make it more difficult for them and their customers to travel to Harrogate, but rather to attract more visitors to the town centre.

County Councillor Carl Les stressed there would be further opportunities for members of the public to provide feedback on the proposals.

Specifically in regard to the modelling for the Harrogate scheme, County Councillor Michael Harrison noted that it would need to take account of it being the main north south route through the town. Any negative impact on travel times for through traffic would need to be balanced against the positive impacts from the scheme.  County Councillor Paul Haslem suggested case studies from other part pedestrianised town centres should be considered to understand the benefits gained, in order to give some balance to the fears of retailers being expressed.

Karl Battersby, Corporate Director for Business & Environmental Services confirmed the modelling work had been based on regional traffic growth pre-covid, considered to be the worst case scenario.

Having considered the report and the information provided at the meeting, the eight members of the Executive present at the meeting agreed to recommend to the Chief Executive that using his delegated powers, he:

i)     Approve the taking forward of the highway proposals for the Transforming Cities Fund projects in Harrogate,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 583.

Recommendation: The Executive are asked to recommend to the Chief Executive that under his emergency delegated powers he: 

i)     Approve the extension of existing appointments to the Outside Bodies (as outlined in section 3.0 of this report) to the end of the current Council in May 2022.

ii)    Make one appointment and one substitute to the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership Overview and Scrutiny Board.

Considered –

A report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services) seeking approval to extend the existing appointments to the Outside Bodies to the end of the current Council in May 2022, and to appoint one member and a substitute to the York and North Yorkshire Local

Enterprise Partnership Overview and Scrutiny Board.

Having considered the proposals in the report and additional proposals put forward by the Leader at the meeting, members of the Executive agreed to recommend to the Chief Executive that using his delegated powers, he approve:

i.        An amendment to the name of County Councillor Michael Harrison’s Executive Member portfolio post to – Executive Member for Adult Social Care & Health Integration, including Health & Wellbeing Board and Extra Care;

ii.      The extension of existing appointments to the Outside Bodies, to the end of the current Council in May 2022;

iii.      The appointment of County Councillor Caroline Goodrick and County Councillor Helen Swiers (as a Substitute) to the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership Overview and Scrutiny Board;

iv.   Two Executive Members appointments – County Councillor Michael Harrison to Humber Coast & Vale Integrated Care System, and County Councillor Caroline Dickinson to West Yorkshire & Harrogate Integrated Care System;

Resolved:

The Chief Executive considered the report, additional information provided at the meeting and the views of the Executive, and resolved to implement the recommendations of the Executive.

Recommendation:  Thatthe Executive notesthe reportand considersanymatters arisingfrom the workof theArea Constituency Committees,that meritsfurther scrutiny,review orinvestigationat acounty-level.

Considered–  A report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal & Democratic Services) providing an overview of the key issues considered at recent Area Constituency Committee meetings.

As members of the Executive had no questions, they agreed to note the report.  The Leader also expressed his thanks to the local MPs for their continued attendance at the Area Constituency Committee meetings.

Considered –

The Forward Plan for the period 17 May 2021 to 31 May 2022 was presented.

Resolved -   That the Forward Plan be noted.