Agenda and minutes

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interest they may have in any matter which is to be considered at this meeting.  Members are reminded that the provisions of paragraph 12.3 of Article 1, Part B in relation to Council Tax arrears apply to the “Revised Budget 2008/09 and Base Budget 2009/10” report (item 13).

Councillor Liam Smith declared a personal interest as a member of the Governing Body of Dagenham Park School in respect of the Trewern Centre (agenda item 10) in view of the proposed allocation of unused funding from an earlier project at Dagenham Park School to contribute to the proposed works at the Trewern Centre.

Agreed.

Received and noted a report from the Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services which outlines the results of the annual performance assessment of the Council’s Adult Social Care Services by the Commission for Social Care Inspection.

We are pleased with the Inspection results and would like to commend and congratulate all staff in Adult Services for their hard work.

Received a report from the Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services concerning procurement proposals for the restoration and improvement of Barking Park.

Agreed, in order to assist the Council to achieve its Community Priority of “Making Barking and Dagenham Cleaner, Greener and Safer”, to:

(i)  approve the procurement strategy for a works contract for the restoration and improvement of Barking Park; and 

(ii)  delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services in consultation with the Lead Member for Culture and on the advice of the Legal Partners, to award the contract following the agreed procurement process.  

Received a report from the Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services concerning external funding for the enhancement, long term management and maintenance of Dagenham Washlands.

Agreed, in order to assist the Council to achieve its Community Priority of “Making Barking and Dagenham Cleaner, Greener and Safer”, to:

(i)  enter into a 99 year lease with the Land Restoration Trust in respect of the Council’s land holdings known as The Leys and the southern part of Beam Valley  Country Park Local Nature Reserve in order to facilitate the management by the Land Restoration Trust of the entire 53 hectare site on behalf of the current land owners as part of the Thames Gateway Parklands enhancement scheme and

(ii)  authorise the Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services, in consultation with the Legal Partners, to agree the detailed terms of the lease arrangements on the terms outlined in the report.

Received a report from the Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services concerning proposals for the procurement of Design and Consultancy Services for the restoration and improvement of Abbey Green.

Agreed, in order to assist the Council to achieve its Community Priority of “Making Barking and Dagenham Cleaner, Greener and Safer”, to:

  (i)  approve the procurement strategy outlined in this report (design contest) for the procurement of design and consultancy services for the restoration and improvement of Abbey Green; and

  (ii)  delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services in consultation with the Lead Member for Culture and on the advice of the Legal Partners, to award the contract following the agreed procurement process.

Received a report from the Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services concerning the tendering of the Scrattons Farm Eco Park remediation project.

Agreed, in order to assist the Council to achieve its Community Priority of “Making Barking and Dagenham Cleaner, Greener and Safer”, to:

(i)  officers inviting, appraising and evaluating tenders for the remediation of the contaminated land at neutral cost to the Council as described in the report subject to planning consent and resident support; and to note that if the tender process does not produce a cost neutral situation the scheme will not proceed.

(ii)  The acquisition of a long term lease of 2550 sq. metres of land, to the south of Levine Gardens, from its current owners Network Rail, at a nominal rent (peppercorn), as shown on the plan attached to the report. This will be carried out in accordance with the Council’s land acquisitions and disposal rules. The subsequent contract will be for a peppercorn consideration; and

(iii)  delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services in consultation with the Lead Member for Culture and on the advice of the Legal Partners, to award the contract following the agreed procurement process.

Received a report from the Corporate Director of Customer Services outlining the results of the wheelie bin pilots that have taken place in five areas across the borough and proposals to roll-out the system across the Borough.

Agreed, in order to assist the Council to achieve its Community Priorities of “Making Barking and Dagenham Cleaner, Greener and Safer” and “Raising General Pride in the Borough”

  (i)  to the adoption of the system throughout the Borough and

  (ii)  that implementation of the borough-wide scheme is subject to capital and revenue resources being approved as part of the Councils 2009/10 budget process.

Received a report from the Corporate Director of Children’s Services concerning proposals to improve the facilities at the Trewern Centre to comply with the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 2005.

Agreed, in order to assist the Council to achieve its Community Priorities of “ Better Education and Learning For All” and “Promoting Equal Opportunities and Celebrating Diversity”, to:

(i)  The proposals for the creation of additional accommodation and other works to meet DDA requirements at the Trewern Centre as detailed in the report;

(ii)  that the following sums be vired to support the proposals in the report, providing a total capital sum of £443,000:

a.  underspend of Big Lottery funding on Dagenham Park Sports Hall and the Trewern Climbing Wall Schemes of £300,000

b.  £143,000 from the DDA budget

(iii)  the procurement proposal as set out in the report, using a specialist provider to support the design process;

(iv)  authorise the Corporate Director of Children’s Services to conduct a design contest to  procure the works to the Trewern Centre and that such procurement be made in consultation with and on the advice of Corporate Procurement and the Legal Partners and in compliance with EU and national procurement regulations and in accordance with the Council’s Standing Orders and Contract Rules and

(v)  delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Children’s Services, on the advice of Legal Partners, to award the contract to the successful candidate after the tender process is complete.

Received a report from the Corporate Director of Children’s Services detailing steps taken over the Summer and Autumn of 2008 in response to the demand for School places in the primary phase and regularising financial arrangements to ensure that projects are contained within existing resources.

Agreed in order to assist the Council to achieve its Community Priority of “Better Education and Learning For All”, to:

i)  The actions taken by the Corporate Director of Children’s Services in making available additional school places as set out in the report; and

ii)  The capital budget provisions as detailed in the report and that the appropriate amendment is made to the Capital Programme for allocating grant income from DCSF against the following capital schemes:

  Gascoigne Primary  £229,000 

  Ripple Infant & Junior  £170,000

  Beam Primary  £197,000

  Cambell Infants  £50,000

  Marsh Green Primary  £85,000

  Five Elms Primary  £65,000

  Thames View Infants  £75,000

  Richard Alibon Primary  £5,000

  Rush Green Infant  £65,000

  Total  £941,000

Received a report from the Corporate Director of Resources providing an update on the Council’s revenue and capital position for the period April to November of the 2008/09 financial year.

The position for revenue expenditure indicates that current budget pressures exist across four departments amounting to £2.9million which are offset by projected underspends in one other department. Overall this reflects a £700k reduction from the position reported in October. 

Agreed, in order to assist the Council to achieve all of its Community Priorities and as a matter of good financial practice, to:

(i)  note the current position of the Council’s revenue and capital budget as at 30 November 2008;

(ii)  note the position and projected out-turn for the Housing Revenue account; and

(iii)  note that where pressures and targets exist, Directors are required to identify and implement the necessary action plans to alleviate these budget pressures to ensure that the necessary balanced budget for the Council is achieved by year end.

Received a report from the Corporate Director of Resources setting out the Council’s revised revenue budget for 2008/09 and a base budget position for 2009/10.

Agreed in order to assist the Council to achieve all of its Community Priorities and as a matter of good financial practice to

  (i)  note the current revised budget for 2008/09 ;

  (ii)  the base budget for 2009/10 ; and

  (iii)  note the position on the current projected outturn for 2008/09.

Agreed to exclude the public and press for the remainder of the meeting by reason of the nature of the business to be discussed which included information exempt from publication by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

Concerns a contractual matter (paragraph 3)

Received a report from the Corporate Director of Customer Services concerning proposals for tendering the provision of Fleet Vehicles, Plant Hire and Associated Services.

Agreed, in order to assist the Council to achieve all of its Community Priorities,

  (i)  That based on the outcome of the fleet procurement process and market testing, the maintenance of the council vehicle fleet and associated plant is outsourced to a third party organisation, using the council facilities at Frizlands Depot and transferring 10 affected staff to the service provider under TUPE arrangements.

  (ii)  That the Council engage in contract discussion with the three short-listed third party organisations to establish the optimum provider based on the evaluation criteria.

  (iii)  That the final decision regarding appointment of the preferred supplier is delegated to the Corporate Director of Customer Service and the Corporate Director of Resources.

Concerns a labour relations matter (paragraph 4)

Received a report from the Corporate Director of Resources concerning proposals to revise the Essential Car User Allowance scheme that applies to Council staff

Agreed in order to assist the Council to achieve all of its Community Priorities, to:

(i)  The new criteria for the entitlement of Essential Car User Allowance and the rates as outlined in the report;

(ii)  The new rate for Casual Car Users as outlined in section 5 of the report;

(iii)  The additions to the Council Travel Allowance scheme as outlined in section 6 of the report; and

(iv)  that the new arrangements be introduced from 1 May 2009 with the relevant protections as outlined in section 7 of the report.