Decisions

The Cabinet Member for Communities & Housing approved the section 106 Agreement for DC070269 is assigned as below:-

Section 106 Formal Sport contribution of £30,398.00 from DC055165, is assigned to improvements at Davenport Play Fields.

Section 106 Childrens Play contribution of £19,025.08 from DC055165 is assigned to play improvements at Heaton Norris Park.

The Council Meeting has:-

(1) Approved the appropriate Council Tax resolutions as set out in Appendix One of the report for a 2.75% increase in the Council-controlled element of the tax, and when taking into account the Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner for Greater Manchester and Mayoral General Precept (including Fire Services) for Greater Manchester precepts, an increase of 4.18%.

The Council therefore approved a Band D Council Tax of £1,916.90.

(2) Noted the calculation of Aggregate Amounts as directed by Section 31A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 set out at Appendix Two.

The Council Meeting has noted the Medium Term Financial Plan forecasts for the Council’s finances for the period 2019/20 to 2022/23.

The Council Meeting has given approval to:-

·         Capital Prudential Indicators:-

o   Capital expenditure forecasts;

o   Capital Financing Requirement projections; and

o   Ratio of financing costs to net revenue stream.

·         The Capital Strategy 2019/20

The Council Meeting has given approval to:-

·         The Minimum Revenue Provision Policy for 2019/20;

·         The Capital Expenditure forecasts and Capital Financing Requirement projections;

·         The Treasury Management Strategy 2019/20;

·         The Treasury and Prudential Indicators and limits 2019/20-2021/22;

·         The Annual Investment Strategy 2019/20.

The Council Meeting has:-

(1) Agreed the Budget for 2019/20 described in the report and set out in Appendix 2 and 3;

(2) Noted the risk assessment of the Budget at Appendix 5 and the report of the Borough Treasurer on the adequacy of proposed financial reserves and robustness of the estimates included at Appendix 5;

(3) Noted and comment upon the financial forecasts for 2019/20 to 2022/23 (Appendix 6), and the key issues to be addressed in formulating a response to the future financial challenges facing the Council;

(4) Approved the 2019/20 to 2021/22 Capital Programme and the funding arrangements as described in the report and set out at Appendix 7; and

(5) Approve the prudential indicators set out in Appendix 8;

Subject to:-

·         The removal of the budget proposal relating to reducing Ward funds, protecting them at their current level creating an additional savings requirement of £0.216m ongoing.

·         For 2019/20 and 2020/21, fund this by using the historic underspend of £0.468m, putting any surplus in to general reserves.

·         For 2021/22 onwards, add to the Council’s savings requirement £0.216m, to be found from outside frontline service delivery. This would be an increase of under 1% of the savings requirement for that year.

To agree the level of rent and service charges for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) in 2019/20 and provision of a recommended HRA budget for 2019/20.

The Council Meeting has approved:-

·         a reduction in the average social rent of 1% for dwelling rents;

·         an increase of 3.8% for rents of shared ownership properties;

·         services charge increases as outlined in Section 3;

·         the Housing Revenue Account Budget for 2019/20 as set out in Appendix 1.

The Council Meeting has adopted the Council Plan 2019/20.

The Cabinet Member of Communities & Housing approved the following:-

The formal sport contribution of £148,388.87 from DC070776 is assigned to upgrading the tennis court in Torkington Park to multi use sports area.

The children’s play provision contribution of £92,872.43 from DC070776 is assigned to Torkington Park and Cherry Tree Play Spaces, as below;

·         Torkington Park - £74,297.94, for new interactive electronic play item.

·         Cherry Tree Drive - £18,574.49, raising it to LEAP standard.

The Cabinet Member of Communities & Housing approved the proposed Traffic Regulation Order for the Wensley Road/ Gatley Road area of Cheadle be made as advertised.

The Deputy Chief Executive has approved the award of a contract for the provision of Information, Advice and Guidance / Citizen Advice Service (Provision of Generalist Social Welfare Advice, Debt, Welfare Benefit and Housing Advice) to Stockport and Pennine West Citizen’s Advice

Stockport Council is committed to providing high quality, welfare advice services. These services will play an important role in maximising people’s independence and help prevent reliance and dependency on more intensive care and support.

Stockport, Rochdale and Trafford recently tendered together for a new provider. The three councils currently have very different services provided by two providers and Stockport and Trafford also have a mixture of in-house provision.

The three STaR authorities came together to procure a joint contract which will deliver a joint and yet bespoke service offer for each council each with a different budget and different in house provision. There is a shared requirement which is funded equally between all authorities for the telephone and on-line web based offer.  Each council specified their individual requirements and budget. Each council will have a separate contract with the provider and will be responsible for paying their own invoice.

 A joint bid by Stockport & Pennine West Citizen’s Advice was received which met the specification, provided service improvements and efficiency savings for all authorities. It is an annual contract which can be renewed for two further annual terms. The resulting contract has provided a saving of £26,750 for Stockport and will lead to service improvements for online and telephone advice without impacting on face-to-face advice services.  As Stockport Citizens’ Advice were successful there will be no disruption in services when the new contract is in place from 1 April 2019.

(Note: the report contains information ‘not for publication’ due to its commercial sensitivity)

The Cabinet Member of Communities & Housing approved the statutory legal advertising of the Traffic Regulation orders detailed in Appendices A and B of the report, subject to no objections being received within twenty one days from the advertisement date the orders can be made.

36 public library authorities from the North West and Yorkshire regions have joined together for the purpose of procuring the supply and servicing of library materials
in the most cost efficient and effective way.

The Deputy Chief Executive has agreed to enter into the following contractual arrangements, at an overall cost to Stockport of £1,056,000 over 4 year period:-

The contract is split into category Lots which were:
Lot 1 - Adult Fiction books
Lot 2 - Adult Non-Fiction books
Lot 3 - Childrens books
Lot 4 - Music CDs
Lot 5 - Reference Standing Orders.

Four bids were received and the successful bidders were:
Lot 1 – Bertram Library Services
Lot 2 – Bertram Library Services
Lot 3 – Peters Bookselling Services
Lot 4 – Askews Library Services
Lot 5 – Bertram Library Services

The library book market is challenging, with very little competition, and low risk. There are limited suppliers who can deliver in all Lots, however there are a number of smaller suppliers who could supply in one or more Lots.

A procurement options appraisal was completed, whereby various procurement options were reviewed and considered. The resulting recommendation was to undertake a further-competition via an existing ESPO Framework (376f_18 Library Stock). This recommendation went out to all Participating Authorities across both consortia with no objections being received. The further competition invitation went out via The Chest portal on in November 2018 to all relevant suppliers listed on the ESPO framework. All invited suppliers expressed their interest in bidding and subsequently bids from all 4 invited parties were received by the closing date.

(Note: the procurement report contains information that is ‘not for publication’ because of its commercial sensitivity)

The Corporate Director for Place Management & Regeneration has agreed to an additional £1.409m being allocated for maintenance and improvement priorities following the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s autumn budget statement.

It was decided to allocate for work from the £1,409m for maintenance and improvement priorities to the following schemes:

Goyt Valley area cycle scheme £125,000
Woodford Roundabout (pedestrian access and lighting) £10,000
Newby Rd – Rutters Lane footpath £25,000
TOTAL £160,000

These schemes were selected as priorities for this type of work.

The Cabinet Member of Communities & Housing approved the legal advertising of the following Traffic Regulation Order asset out in appendix A and subject to no objections being received within 21 days from the advertisement date, the order can be made.

The Cabinet Member of Communities & Housing approved the statutory legal advertising of the Traffic Regulation Orders detailed in paragraph 4.1 of the report and associated works shown on Drawing No. 0307/AD/002 attached to the report, at an approximate cost of £9,900 to be funded from the Road Safety around schools 2018-19 programme budget.

The Cabinet Member of Communities & Housing approved the proposal of a 20mph speed limit on Ladybridge Park Estate which is within 15 metres of a Strategic Route.

The Cabinet Member of Communities & Housing approved the placement of a pedestrian guardrail on Wellington Road North with the associated cost to be divided as follows:

Area Committee Ward Budget       £1,415

Strategic Network Budget               £1,415