Agenda and minutes

Agreed.

Police Community Consultative – Councillor N Connelly

Councillor Jarvis stated that the British National Party agree that the Citizen is an informative magazine and has an important role to play within our community.  He asked would it not be worth considering using recycled paper to print the publication as opposed to the current glossy magazine format?  We believe this would be a positive move to show how the Council would again demonstrate how it is continually striving to do its bit to help the environment and may also end up being more economical in overall costs.

Councillor L Smith responded that the Council takes environmental issues very seriously.  He informed that the paper which the Citizen is printed on is white, totally chlorine free, environmentally friendly gloss paper.  The paperpulp is generated from managed sustainable renewable forests from Europe.  The paper from these forests is bleached using natural chemicals and all waste is then recycled for re-use.

The reason the printers do not use recycled paper is because it uses post consumer waste such as old newspapers, or post production waste such as unused paper which never left the mill.  It also has to be chemically cleaned and re-pulped for inclusion in the manufacture of new paper and uses more limited resources.  This recycling method can still contain new paper fibre.  These grades of paper are less easily available and therefore more expensive.  The Citizen’s printers do not buy any paper from sources that are not accredited or are detrimental to the environment.  The method used produces a saving of around £17,000 each year.

Councillor Mrs Knight referred to a letter from Assistant Chief Executive Nina Clark to Councillor Barnbrook, dated 22 June 2006, replying to his questions as to how many council houses are in the borough, where they are and how many are vacant on average at any given time.  The Assistant Chief Executive stated in a letter that "Members need to say 'no' to constituents" when they ask for such figures to be made public, and refused to divulge this information.

Mrs Knight asked if this Council will condemn, and take urgent steps to correct this corrosive 'culture of secrecy' whereby highly paid officials believe that they know better than the local residents whose taxes pay their salaries, and think that they have the right to deny local voters the right to basic information about the housing stock of this Borough or, for that matter, any other affairs of the Council, given that officers are supposed to be there to serve local residents, not to treat them like mushrooms?

Councillor L Smith responded by saying no, officers do a good job in serving the Council and that he could see no benefit in local residents knowing how many Council owned homes were in the Borough and where they are.  There are some 20,000+ Council owned homes in the Borough.  Certain information such as voids is available by attending meetings of the Community Housing Partnerships (CHPs).  As a Council tenant himself, Councillor Smith  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

Received a report providing an overview of the financial accounts for 2005 / 2006 and seeking approval of the interim Statement of Accounts.

Agreed to approve the unaudited Statement of Accounts for 2005 / 2006, as required by the Audit and Accounting Regulations 2003.

A final version incorporating an Audit Certificate will be reported to the Assembly after the completion of the audit.

The meeting had a full and detailed discussion on the accounts presented to them with questions to the Head of Corporate Finance covering the councils capital spending, the revenue budget outturn, its reserves position particularly around capital receipts, pension fund accounts, the position of the housing revenue account, the composition and governance arrangements around Thames Gateway London Partnership, the value for money on fees paid to external auditors and other subsidiary questions pertaining to the accounts.

Councillor L Smith stated that due to sound financial management the Council was one of few council’s in a debt free position and that as one of the most deprived areas of London the Council works hard to secure as much funding from central Government as possible.  Councillor Smith also stated that because of the debt free position, the Council made payments of £8,238,000 to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister from the Housing Revenue Account.  Only two other councils in London made similar payments and these are some of the richest London Boroughs.  Labour Group Councillors and the two Members of Parliament will continue to lobby Government for the return of this money which could then be spent on the existing housing stock by way of repairs or purchasing of new properties to add to the Council’s portfolio.