BOROUGH OF POOLE

RESOURCES OVERVIEW GROUP

7 SEPTEMBER 2006

The Meeting commenced at 7:00pm and concluded at 9:05pm.

Present:

Councillor Gregory (Chairman)

Councillor Belcham (Vice-Chairman)

Councillors Adams (substituting for Councillor Pethen), Clements, Mrs Deas, Eades, Mason, Newell, Sorton and Wilson.

Also attending at the invitation of the Chairman: Councillor Trent.

Members of the public present: 0

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Pethen and Mrs Stribley (with the above substitution).

2. MINUTES

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 6 July 2006 were submitted for approval.

M.3, p.1 – Minutes – the Chairman questioned whether Property Services had been contacted regarding the alleged funding that had been set aside for the Electronic Access Control System in last year’s budget that had not yet been utilised. Lee Baron, Principal Democratic Support Officer, confirmed that this check had been made and the alleged funding was not in the Revenue Budget and no capital bid had been submitted.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting held on 6 July 2006 be approved and signed as a correct record by the Chairman.

3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

M.7 – Implementation of the Telecommunications System – Councillor Clements declared a personal interest as a relative of his works for the former supplier (Siemens).

4. CUSTOMER SERVICES PROGRESS REPORT

John Springett, Customer Services Unit Head, commenced by stating that it had been an amazing experience for him during his time as the Customer Services Unit Head. He stated that the Team that had been built up was extremely supportive and he had welcomed the challenging experience. He then introduced Members to Chris Owens who would be taking over the role of Customer Services Unit Head on 2 October 2006. He stated that Chris Owens was extremely passionate about his new role and concluded by stating that he was sure Chris Owens would continue to develop the good work that had already taken place.

Chris Owens introduced himself to Members, stating that he was looking forward to taking up the role of Customer Services Unit Head on 2 October 2006. He stated that from what he had seen, there was a tremendous ‘culture’ within the Council and he was keen through his work to make sure that as a Council, we provided the ‘right thing for our customers’. He informed Members that one of the first pieces of work that he intended to carry out was seeking customer feedback data on their experiences with the ‘Customer Services Centre’.

A Member referred to a previous Performance Indicator which had required telephone calls to the Council to be answered within five rings. He questioned whether this was still applicable.

Chris Owens stated that he would be keen to establish commonality between the various Service Units regarding such Performance Indicators in answering calls and he added that it was his view that all direct dial numbers that were printed in the Council’s ‘A-Z’ should be properly manned during office hours.

John Springett, Customer Services Unit Head, stated that it would be extremely useful for his Unit to have any information on areas of poor performance regarding telephone answering so that these individual cases could be ‘tracked’.

A Member made reference to a particular case he had experienced whereby he had been put through to the Customer Services Centre regarding an issue he had with his Council work and he had found that the staff member within the Centre had no real knowledge of the subject matter regarding his enquiry.

John Springett, Customer Services Unit Head, stated that he would welcome the specific details regarding this case so that his team could investigate this matter further in order to ascertain whether there was a need for more information to be provided to the Customer Services Centre staff in order to “fill the gaps”.

In response to a Member question regarding “communications”, Chris Owens stated that it was his clear intention to make sure that the money held within his Unit’s budget worked smarter. He added that he would be keen to listen to the Poole Opinion Panel and would also be looking at the Council’s Communications Strategy in order to bring a new focus to this. He also stated that he would be keen to look at internal communications in order to give these a stronger focus and discipline.

A Member raised a concern regarding the difficulty in contacting Duty Officers directly regarding Planning enquiries.

John Springett, Customer Services Unit Head, stated that this was an area that his Unit would need to deal directly with Peter Watson, Head of Planning Design and Control Services, on and he added that this Unit would form part of the Customer Services Centre in April 2007 and therefore such issues would need to be addressed prior to this.

In conclusion, the Chairman thanked John Springett, Customer Services Unit Head, for the work he and his team had undertaken in bringing Customer Services “on line” and also welcomed the arrival of Chris Owens.

RECOMMENDED that the Update Report be noted.

For - Unanimous

5. HOUSING SITES - MOTION

The following Motion was referred to this Group by full Council on 11 April 2006:-

Housing Sites

“Since last December there has been a list in circulation marked confidential of 30 plus sites both publicly and privately owned to which the Council is providing financial support either directly or as an agent. This list last surfaced on “gold paper” at the Cabinet meeting of 7th March.

Whilst we accept that the financial details for the time being should remain confidential, we request that in the interest of transparency and openness the list of sites be made public through an appropriate mechanism.”

Councillors Trent, Meachin, Eades, Miss Wilson and Clements.

Simon Hendey, Head of Housing and Community Services, presented a report which responded to the Motion and directed Members to information made publicly available about the Affordable Housing Programme in Poole.

The Housing Corporation announced the opening of the National Affordable Housing Programme bidding round in September 2005. Bids were invited from qualifying organisations which, for the first time, included developers as well as Housing Associations. The bidding round closed on 23 October 2005.

Officers reported to the Community Support Overview on 22 November 2005 on the detail of the programme of bids that Housing and Community Services intended to support.

Officers then reported to Cabinet on 7 March 2006 with a more detailed report showing the bids which had been accepted by the Housing Corporation and outlined the Council resources which would be required to secure the funding allocations. At that time, Members were advised that these details were subject to confirmation from the Housing Corporation following Ministerial approval of the National Programme.

At that time, it was not appropriate to release the list of sites to the public in view of the fact that the programme was still to be agreed by the Minister and in addition, due to the fact that the information contained within the list posed a likely impact on land values if released at that time.

In response to the section of the Motion which suggested that the Council was providing financial support for sites across the entire programme, Members were advised that the only sites included within this programme which were to receive financial support from the Council were those which were marked as including other public subsidy and an appendix detailing this was provided to Members. In addition, the sites supported by Borough of Poole Capital Finance were all Council owned.

As a result of the fact that the Housing Corporation allocates funding on a bi-annual basis, when putting a programme of bids together, Officers work with Housing Association partners in order to maximise funding drawn into the town in order to enable affordable Housing delivery. This often resulted in Housing Associations making speculative bids at a level of grant which could secure other substitute sites should the bid sites fall through or become impossible to deliver within key milestones.

As a result of this approach, the Borough had secured the opportunity to deliver 287 affordable homes, however, it was unlikely that all of the sites included within the programme upon announcement would be those delivered across the two years.

Following Ministerial consent in April 2006, the Housing Corporation confirmed allocations made by region. This information was available on their website and could be accessed by the public. Members were provided with an appendix which detailed the list for Poole.

In conclusion, Members were advised that Housing and Community Services closely monitored the programme in order to ensure delivery of units by using key milestones in the delivery process. These milestones were also closely monitored by the Housing Corporation. Any delays required explanation and action plans to bring the sites back on track to deliver. If this was not possible, Officers would seek to switch the allocation to alternative sites, if available. Any changes to the programme would be presented to Cabinet for approval.

A signatory to the Motion stated that he had previously been told that the last list would become available during March/April 2006 but this had not happened. He added that some sites still appeared to be being kept as confidential. He made reference to a recent planning committee where he had to challenge the fact that he felt a Portfolio Holder should declare a particular interest. He added that he felt it was important for the content of such lists to be made available so declarations could be made in order to avoid a “lack of transparency”.

Simon Hendey, Head of Housing and Community Services, stated that the reason why the content of the lists may vary was due to the fact that not all schemes would be funded. He reiterated that the point made in his report that once the Housing Corporation had agreed to fund schemes, they then placed an embargo on when this information could be released.

In response to a Member concern regarding sites where funding had been agreed, but there was no permission given for development, Simon Hendey, Head of Housing and Community Services, stated that these were “speculative” and therefore an attempt to “secure money”, he added that, as detailed within his report, if certain sites were not possible to deliver, Officers would seek to switch the allocations to alternative sites. The key, was to “secure” the funding.

A Member stated that, in relation to the speculative list, he felt that the Authority should have many more sites potentially available for funding, adding that without this, he felt there could be missed opportunities. He would also welcome greater Member involvement within this process.

Given the concerns expressed by Members, the Chairman proposed that a Member Working Party be established in order to address the finer detail regarding this issue. It was suggested that this be recommended to the Community Support Overview Group with a note that this Overview Group would like to see five Members serving on this Working Party. This was seconded and on being put to the vote was unanimously carried.

RECOMMENDED that

(i)  the Update Report on the Affordable Housing Programme be noted; and

(ii)  the Community Support Overview Group be requested to consider the establishment of a Member Working Party in order to address the finer issues regarding this issue and that five Elected Members be considered as appropriate for serving on this Group.

For - Unanimous

6. LEGAL AND DEMOCRATIC SERVICES AMALGAMATION UPDATE

Tim Martin, Head of Legal and Democratic Services, presented a report which updated Members on progress to date following the decision to amalgamate Democratic and Member Support Services and Legal Services in late 2004. He added that this was an ongoing process, therefore, this report was a “snapshot” of where the Unit was at the moment.

In 2004, an opportunity arose to combine the previous Democratic and Member Support Service Unit and the Legal Services Service Unit due to the proposed departure of both Service Unit Heads. At that time, a decision was taken by the Council to combine both Service Units and to seek a new Service Unit Head to lead the amalgamation process.

The new Unit was named Legal and Democratic Services and comprised Legal Services, Democratic Services (including Member Support), Election and Registration Services, Civil Registration, Land Charges, and General Office Support, including the Post Room, Couriers, Print and Design and Document Management.

Members were reminded that the two previous Service Unit Heads effectively left their posts at the end of December 2004 and Tim Martin took up position at the beginning of January 2005. Some work had already been done in terms of a new structure for the Unit and a start had been made on the process of integration with some services that had previously been the responsibility of Legal Services (Civil Registration and Land Charges) transferring to the Election and Registration Team. Essentially, whilst Tim Martin had inherited a position where the two previous Service Units were amalgamated into one, this in reality was in name only. This situation was also exacerbated by the fact that the plan to move Legal Services into the Civic Centre from their previous accommodation at Mitre Court had been put on hold due to other Council priorities.

Tim Martin, Head of Legal and Democratic Services, advised Members that he had faced some immediate difficulties in managing the Unit from two bases since it was considered that to take up residence at Mitre Court or in the Civic Centre permanently would send an inappropriate message to the other teams that they were not being adequately managed.