Agenda and minutes

Agreed.

Received a report on the proposed Barking Town Centre Movement Strategy, which aims to provide a co-ordinated approach to improving the movement of people, vehicles and other transport in the area.  Discussed a number of issues relating to the movement of pedestrians and vehicles in the Town Centre and noted that individual projects will be subject to detailed consultation.

Agreed, in order to assist the Council in achieving its Community Priorities of “Regenerating the Local Economy” and “Making Barking and Dagenham Cleaner, Greener and Safer”, to adopt the Movement Strategy as the Council’s policy to direct the future development of Barking Town Centre’s transport and movement infrastructure, subject to the proposal regarding the opening up of East Street being considered more fully in the context of the detailed masterplan for London Road / North Street.

Received a report on the Council’s revenue and capital outturn position for the 2004/05 financial year.

Agreed to:

1.  Note the final outturn position of the Council’s revenue budgets for 2004/05 as detailed in Appendix A to the report;

2.  Reaffirm that the Department of Education, Arts and Libraries’ net overspend of £216,000 in 2004/05 be met from the Department’s 2005/06 budget;

3.  Note the increase in the 2004/05 Collection Fund deficit to £1.283m, resulting in an additional cost to the Council of £459,000;

4.  Note the improved position of the working balance for the Housing Revenue Account of £3.2m at the 2004/05 year end;

5.  The carry forward of 2004/05 revenue budget underspends into the relevant 2005/06 Departmental budgets as detailed in Appendix B to the report;

6.  Note the final outturn position of the Council’s Capital Programme for 2004/05 as detailed in Appendix C to the report;

7.  Note the underspend in the 2004/05 Capital Programme of £14.4 million and a list of those schemes where significant underspends occurred including reasons for their slippage, as detailed in Appendix D to the report;

8.  The carry forward of category A, B, D and E schemes (i.e. committed and rolling programmes) totalling £15.349 million from the 2004/05 Capital Programme into 2005/06, as detailed in Appendix E(i) to the report;

9.  The carry forward of category C schemes (i.e. not yet contractually committed) totalling £340,000 from the 2004/05 Capital Programme into 2005/06, as detailed in Appendix F to the report, subject to the necessary approvals via the Capital Programme Management Office (CPMO) process;

10.  Adjustments to appropriate 2005/06 Capital Programme budgets to reflect advanced expenditure in 2004/05 of £1.6 million, as detailed in Appendix G to the report;

11.  Note the approved use of £2.183m from the £5.1m revenue underspend in 2004/05 as follows:

a.  £165,000 set aside in General Reserves to fund the revenue costs of the new Oracle E-Business suite (Executive, 21 December 2004 - Minute 242)

b.  £1.5m set aside from the Social Services underspend to support the 2005/06 budget (Assembly, 2 March 2005 - Minute 88)

c.  £518,000 set aside to fund the ‘Cleaning the Borough’ initiative (Executive, 28 June 2005 - Minute 46)

12.  Provisionally earmark £459,000 from the revenue underspend to fund the increase in the 2004/05 Collection Fund deficit, and that this position be considered and reviewed in February 2006 as part of the budget setting process for 2006/07;

13.  The allocation of £1.65m from the remaining 2004/05 revenue underspend as follows:

Further to Minute 295 (8 February 2005), received a report on proposals to progress the redevelopment of the Axe Street area as part of the regeneration of Barking Town Centre.

Agreed, in order to bring the site forward for redevelopment and assist the Council in achieving its Community Priority of “Regenerating the Local Economy”, to:

1.  The commencement of negotiations with affected tenants and leaseholders on the site regarding the decanting of properties as detailed in the reports; and

2.  Officers undertaking further stakeholder and resident consultation on the preferred option for a Master Plan for the area.

(Part of this item was considered after the resolution to exclude the public and press had been passed.)

Appendices A and B - the Sustainable Energy Strategy and Implementation Plan respectively - will be circulated to all Executive Members and will also be available in the Members’ Rooms, via the Internet and in the public libraries.

Further to Minute 50 (28 June 2005), received a report and presentation on a Sustainable Energy Strategy which will promote energy efficiency and renewable energy in new and existing buildings and developments in the Borough.  The report also contained an Implementation Plan for the policies and actions contained in the Strategy and set out proposals for the creation of an Energy Strategy Steering Group.

Agreed, in order to assist the Council in achieving its Community Priorities of “Making Barking and Dagenham Cleaner, Greener and Safer”, “Improving Health, Housing and Social Care”, “Regenerating the Local Economy” and “Raising General Pride in the Borough”, to:

1.  Adopt the Barking and Dagenham Sustainable Energy Strategy, as set out in Appendix A to the report;

2.  Note the Implementation Plan for the Strategy, as set out in Appendix B to the report;

3.  The establishment of an Energy Strategy Steering Group to oversee the implementation and monitoring of the Strategy; and

4.  Note that any additional funding required to deliver the Strategy will be subject to either the capital bid process or the 2006/07 revenue budget process.

Received and noted the final report of the Budget Process Scrutiny Panel, which will be submitted to the Assembly on 27 July 2005.

Further to Minute 179 (9 November 2004), received a report on the Crossrail Bill, which relates to the proposed east to west London rail scheme, which is currently progressing through Parliament.  Noted the officers’ views in respect of the merits and otherwise of this Council petitioning the Bill at the Committee Stage and issues relating to the potential construction hours of working.

Agreed, in order to assist the Council in achieving its Community Priority of “Regenerating the Local Economy”, that:

1.  The Council should not petition the Crossrail Bill for the reasons set out in the report; and

2.  In the event that negotiations break down over the issue of construction working hours, joint petitioning on this point with other local councils takes place and that a further report be presented to the Executive on the financial implications of this option prior to any formal involvement.

Agreed to exclude the public and press for the remainder of the meeting, as the business was confidential.

(* Items considered as a matter of urgency with the consent of the Chair under the provisions of Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.)