Issue - meetings

The Business Plan document at Appendix 1 to the report is exempt from publication under the provisions of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), as it contains commercially confidential information and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services presented the five-year rolling Business Plan of Be First for the period 2020-2025, the Council-owned company launched on 1 October 2017 with the key objective of driving forward the delivery of the Council’s regeneration agenda.

The Cabinet Member drew attention to the main aspects within the Business Plan which covered a review of the last 12 months’ activities, the plans for the year ahead and the medium-term perspective.  Key commitments in the Business Plan included:

·  The delivery of 116 new homes in 2020/21 from four development projects and the commencement of seven new development projects to deliver a further 938 homes up to 2024/25, with an average of 73% affordable housing;

·  A masterplan for Thames Road to include mixed-use residential development and enhanced employment offer;

·  Securing planning permission for and commencing construction of the Film Studios at the former Sanofi site, Dagenham East;

·  Developing a vision for Dagenham Dock that focuses on opportunities from the wholesale markets;

·  Delivering improvements to the look and feel of Barking Station;

·  Attracting a major development partner for Barking Town Centre;

·  Completing a number of strategic masterplans and the Borough Local Plan; and

·  Being on target to exceed its contractual commitment of achieving a surplus of £10.3m by 31 March 2021, which would go towards funding other Council services to the local community.

The Cabinet Member stressed, however, that the Be First Business Plan and the other Business Plans on the agenda had been developed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and represented the “business as usual” perspective.  It would be necessary, therefore, for the Council and its commercial entities to continually monitor the situation and review plans accordingly.  The Cabinet Member alluded to the risks associated with project delivery and the cost of borrowing highlighted within the report and added that these could be compounded by the restrictions brought about by COVID-19, although he also referred to potential opportunities that may arise.

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Social Housing gave an update on a number of the major redevelopment and other projects that Be First were involved with.  Cabinet Members also discussed the merits of Be First’s operating model which had a significant focus on providing housing for all, in line with the Council’s objective of “no one left behind”, and welcomed the opportunity to work with all politicians and particularly the new Labour Party leadership to further the Council’s aspirations.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Approve the Be First Business Plan 2020-2025 at Appendix 1 to the report;

(ii)  Authorise the Chief Operating Officer, in consultation with the Investment Panel, to take all necessary action to enable Be First to carry out its proposals under the Business Plan and to agree any minor variations to  the business plan subject to the conditions in these recommendations;

(iii)  Approve Be First or the Council to enter into any procurement related agreement or commitment required to enable the delivery of the Business Plan subject to compliance with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 127

The Business Plan document at Appendix 1 to the report is exempt from publication under the provisions of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), as it contains commercially confidential information and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services introduced the 2020-2023 Business Plan of the Barking and Dagenham School Improvement Partnership (BDSIP), a school-led, not-for-profit company in which the Council was a minority (19%) shareholder.

The Cabinet Member explained that primary focus of the BDSIP was to become local schools’ most trusted partner, working with them to deliver the best possible outcomes for the Borough’s young people.  Since its launch in 2018, BDSIP had focused on updating and improving its offer to schools and new services during the past year had included primary careers, counselling, speech and language therapy and continued professional development.  The commitments for 2020-2023 included the introduction of at least two new services each year, to be developed in response to schools’ emerging needs, and an aspiration for all schools in the Borough to be rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by 2023.  BDSIP had also been successful in securing external funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to support the development of its services and culture change within the business.

As with the earlier Business Plans, the Cabinet Member confirmed that the BDSIP Business Plan would be kept under review, overseen by the Shareholder Panel, in view of the potential impact of COVID-19.

The Cabinet Member for Educational Attainment and School Improvement spoke on the excellent work undertaken via the partnership and, in response to a question, confirmed that all of the Borough’s community schools and 13 Free / Academy schools were members of the SIP.

Cabinet resolved to endorse the BDSIP Business Plan 2020-2023 at Appendix 1 to the report.

The Business Plan document at Appendix 1 to the report is exempt from publication under the provisions of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), as it contains commercially confidential information and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services introduced the 2020-2023 Business Plan of the Barking and Dagenham Trading Partnership (BDTP) and its three trading entities, namely BD Services, BD Together and Londoneast UK Limited (LEUK).

The Cabinet Member referred to BDTP’s main achievements in 2019/20, which included a predicted higher level of dividend return to the Council through securing additional work streams not included in the previous Business Plan, enhancing the skills of the workforce and attracting major educational and other organisations to the LEUK site at Dagenham East. 

The plans for the next three years had a much greater focus than before on external growth, with a commitment to recruit 60 new operatives in BD Services alongside the creation of other new employment opportunities for local people.  BDTP also intended to develop proposals to become more independent from the Council.  The Cabinet Member repeated that the Business Plan would be subject to review due to the COVID-19 pandemic but in its present form it represented a robust benchmark of what BDTP intended to achieve and would allow the Council and BDTP, through the Shareholder Panel, to review arrangements going forward.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Approve the Barking and Dagenham Trading Partnership Business Plan 2020-2023 at Appendix 1 to the report; and

(ii)  Approve Barking and Dagenham Trading Partnership to enter into any procurement related agreement or commitment required to enable the delivery of the Business Plan subject to:

a).  Compliance with relevant procurement regulation

b).  Compliance with relevant procurement law

c).  BDTP’s compliance with its own scheme of delegation

d).  Compliance with state aid rules, and

e).  Any other relevant approvals by the Council which may be relevant or required for the specific project.