Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: David Hicks 1 - Civic Offices, Shute End, Wokingham RG40 1BN. View directions

Contact: Anne Hunter  Democratic & Electoral Services Lead Specialist

Link: Watch the video of this meeting

Items
No. Item

54.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence

Minutes:

An apology for absence was submitted from Councillor Julian McGhee-Sumner.

55.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 350 KB

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 28 September 2017.

 

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting of the Executive meeting held on 29 September 2017 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

56.

Declaration of Interest

To receive any declarations of interest

Minutes:

Councillor Norman Jorgensen declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 55 Shareholders’ Report by virtue of the fact that his wife was a paid Non-Executive Director of WBC Holdings Ltd.  Councillor Jorgensen remained in the meeting during discussions and voted on the matter.

 

Councillors David Lee and Stuart Munro declared personal interests in Agenda Item 55 Shareholders’ Report by virtue of the fact that they were paid Non-Executive Directors of WBC Holdings Ltd.  Councillors Lee and Munro remained in the meeting during discussions and voted on the matter.

57.

Public Question Time

To answer any public questions

 

A period of 30 minutes will be allowed for members of the public to ask questions submitted under notice.

 

The Council welcomes questions from members of the public about the work of the Executive

 

Subject to meeting certain timescales, questions can relate to general issues concerned with the work of the Council or an item which is on the Agenda for this meeting.  For full details of the procedure for submitting questions please contact the Democratic Services Section on the numbers given below or go to www.wokingham.gov.uk/publicquestions


Minutes:

In accordance with the agreed procedure the Chairman invited members of the public to submit questions to the appropriate Members.

 

 

57.1

Rachel Bishop-Firth asked the Executive Member for Finance the following question:

 

Question

The ongoing Wokingham town regeneration and other developments means that Council borrowing is set to balloon from £28 or £29 million we owe at present to around £271 million by 2019 / 2020. 

 

The Council’s plans include knocking down a relatively new sports centre and moving out of a relatively new, purpose built library into another new-built building.

 

The plans also appear to rely on us being able to find tenants for the new shops which are being built – despite the fact that many of Wokingham’s high street shop spaces are filled with charity shops and cafes. 

 

A debt of £271 million for the Council means a debt of around £4,200 for every household in Wokingham.

 

What are the Council’s plans for paying this debt back, including how long will it take?

Minutes:

Question

The ongoing Wokingham town regeneration and other developments means that Council borrowing is set to balloon from £28 or £29 million we owe at present to around £271 million by 2019 / 2020. 

 

The Council’s plans include knocking down a relatively new sports centre and moving out of a relatively new, purpose built library into another new-built building.

 

The plans also appear to rely on us being able to find tenants for the new shops which are being built – despite the fact that many of Wokingham’s high street shop spaces are filled with charity shops and cafes. 

 

A debt of £271 million for the Council means a debt of around £4,200 for every household in Wokingham.

 

What are the Council’s plans for paying this debt back, including how long will it take?

 

Answer

The decision to replace the existing leisure centre and library I think are financially sound and they provide best value for local residents.  They create a far improved facility co-located and the facilities will be more flexible and can be used by the wider community.  They will also benefit from lower operating costs due to the co-location and the greater sustainability, such as the inclusion of solar panels and improved insulation and sound protection. 

 

You asked about the regeneration.  Residents will not have to pick up the cost of the regeneration.  Wokingham town centre regeneration is being run as a commercial project and it does not rely on tax payer funding at all.  Income from the scheme will be used to offset the costs of delivery and borrowings. So in fact it is a win win and is a very good scheme all round.

 

The town centre development is set to secure an annual commercial rental income in excess of £4m a year once the development is completed.  This will enable the outstanding debt to be repaid and serviced and will also allow an additional income of £3m per year; which will come back to the Council and will be used to fund services and projects across the Borough. 

 

Whilst there will always be a risk when it comes to securing tenants, which is one of your points, the Council has a proven track record of finding tenants for their buildings and we have already secured 65% of the total income for Elms Field and are in active discussions with businesses interested in coming to the town centre.  As Peach Place does not open until December 2018 it is in its early stages and you cannot expect to have tenants lining up at this stage.  But we have had conversations with both national and local business and independent retailers who are interested in coming here which gives us confidence in the scheme.

 

Your last point was about the debt.  Our treasury management strategy for 2017/18 forecasts external borrowing to increase from £150.1m at the end of 2016/17 to £271.2m by 2019/2; which I think is the figure you mentioned. This is to fund our capital  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.1

57.2

Keith Malvern asked the Executive Member for Highways and Transport the following question:

 

Question

In response to the Wokingham Paper's successful campaign for free parking the Executive Member reported that the number of parking tickets this August was 18 percent higher than the same month last year.

 

If that is the figure for Wokingham Town can you tell me the equivalent figure for Woodley?

Minutes:

Question

In response to the Wokingham Paper's successful campaign for free parking the Executive Member reported that the number of parking tickets this August was 18% higher than the same month last year.

 

If that is the figure for Wokingham Town can you tell me the equivalent figure for Woodley?

 

Answer

The equivalent figure for Woodley from August 2016 to August 2017 was a 6% increase in car parking usage.

 

Supplementary Question

Is this in usage or in financial returns; you might like to address that in that case?

 

We understand that Woodley is a trial, I think we would all agree that Woodley is a trial, and what the idea was was to assess which of the two schemes would produce the most revenue for the Council; therefore the most successful.  We have a big need for regeneration and the income in the short term at least.  So are you able to say now which of the two alternative schemes is producing the higher return and hence whether naturally, as I always like to put my money on, the one that is producing the most money.  So who is going to change?

 

Supplementary Answer

I did use the word usage in my answer so we are talking about the number of tickets.  As you probably know the trial is being run over 12 months and the decision on whether it is satisfactory in Woodley to allow them to carry on with their tariff scheme, which is different from the rest of the Borough, will be assessed at the end of January so that we are able to look at 12 months data not just one month’s.

57.3

Peter Must asked the Executive Member for Highways and Transport the following question:

Minutes:

Question

In respect of the welcome proposal to allow a period of free parking in Wokingham town centre car parks in the months of November, December and January, could the Executive go one small step further and permit free parking for the whole of Sunday in the car parks identified, on the grounds that this would further encourage visitors to use the town centre, and at relatively little extra cost, since there would be free parking from 3 pm on that day in any case?

 

Answer

The £3.8million joint Borough and Town Council Town Centre Improvement Project is part of a long-term vision to safeguard the future of the town through investment and regeneration and to bring in income for the Borough as a whole. While shops can see the benefits that are coming and are excited about the future, their concerns are about the short term impacts of the current works.

 

The Council has taken a number of steps to help shops and other businesses during the difficult construction period including the introduction of ‘Free after Three’ parking; which I will be talking about later. The Council considers that this is a fair and reasonable investment to support shops and other businesses during this difficult construction period. It must be noted than any concession on parking charges in one part of the Borough must be paid for by the Borough as a whole. A stakeholder workshop was held last night in Wokingham Town Hall to generate further initiatives and these will be considered by the Council. At present, there are no plans to further extend the free parking times.

 

Supplement Question

Since it is approaching Christmas might you alternatively, or as well, be considering, as has sometimes been the case in the past, giving people free parking on Saturdays; really to encourage people to come at very busy shopping periods?

 

Supplementary Answer provided by the Leader of Council

Since we had the meeting last night we have been discussing that and there has been a precedent before providing free parking on Saturdays in this particular town and we will be looking at that again because it is something that has been done in this town certainly over Saturday periods leading up to Christmas and we will have a look at that again.

58.

Member Question Time

To answer any member questions

 

A period of 20 minutes will be allowed for Members to ask questions submitted under Notice

 

Any questions not dealt with within the allotted time will be dealt with in a written reply


Minutes:

In accordance with the agreed procedure the Chairman invited Members to submit questions to the appropriate Members

58.1

Gary Cowan asked the Executive Member for Business and Economic Development and Regeneration the following question:

 

Question

Bracknell has opened its superb new shopping area at a cost of £240 million which the Leader of Bracknell Forest Council stated not one penny of council tax money has been spent on the project.

Can you give me a rough idea on how much the total spend will be on the town centre regeneration and can you assure me that like Bracknell none of the funding to deliver the project will come from the Council tax payer?

Minutes:

Question

Bracknell has opened its superb new shopping area at a cost of £240 million which the Leader of Bracknell Forest Council stated “not one penny of council tax money has been spent on the project”.

Can you give me a rough idea on how much the total spend will be on the town centre regeneration and can you assure me that like Bracknell none of the funding to deliver the project will come from the Council tax payer?

 

Answer

When we embarked on the regeneration project, you may recall Gary, that there were some corner stones that we set out and just to remind you what they are.

 

To ‘Deliver the Local Plan Infrastructure’ required for over 4,000 new homes delivered in and around Wokingham town centre, and to help ‘Create an Aspirational town centre’ that would deliver the quality of offer that residents desire and that will help us differentiate ourselves from our larger neighbours. A third objective was also agreed that the Regeneration must ‘Support the wider Borough and all residents’.

 

So the objective was broken down into several key requirements:

 

  • That this must be commercially viable and delivered without cost to the residents (be they residents of the town or the wider Borough); as Councillor Whittle has just explained in more detail
  • That it must secure income for the Council to reinvest in local services and projects both in the town and across the Borough
  • That it generate jobs to help strengthen the local economy
  • That it reinforces Wokingham’s vision as ‘a great place to live and an even better place to do business’

 

Obviously we could extend all of these things forever but I can assure you that all of this is without any cost to the local tax payer. 

 

We will refer to the Regeneration as ‘investment in the community, for the community’ as it sums up what we have been able to achieve with the regeneration, and hope, it is a model we could apply elsewhere in the future.

 

But what does this mean?

 

It means that the value assessment that makes the project financially viable is what we are using to ensure that the project can be delivered without, and I repeat again without, cost to the local tax payer. Remember, this isn’t money being thrown into a black hole, but the money is being invested in physical assets, in bricks and mortar that have a financial value either by selling them to generate capital or retaining them to raise an annual rental income.

 

There are lots of numbers banding around about this project but I would just like to summarise that the total cost of delivering the regeneration proposals for Wokingham Borough Council sits at £115m. That includes the cost of delivering everything from the new shops, the cinema, to the play area, park improvements, roads and a brand new leisure centre. But this total cost also includes the ‘cost’ of borrowing the money to fund the development as this money  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.1

58.2

Rachelle Shepherd-DuBey asked the Executive Member for Environment the following question:

 

Question

What made you think that asking to move the Winnersh Allotments to a new site in June was a good idea when it's right in the middle of the growing season and when the new allotments are not even built yet?

 

Minutes:

Question

What made you think that asking to move the Winnersh Allotments to a new site in June was a good idea when it's right in the middle of the growing season and when the new allotments are not even built yet?

Answer

Maybe I can answer firstly by asking you a question; what made you think that these allotments will close in June?

 

The current timescale for the delivery of the replacement allotments envisages that the new allotments should be available for use by early Summer 2018.  However the existing allotment holders at the Winnersh Allotments will not be required to leave their existing allotments until at least Autumn 2018. The Council has planned for this overlap in order to minimise the disruption to the current allotment holders.

 

Supplementary Question

Since you do not have permission from Network Rail to build the bridge yet when will you actually need the allotments then for the works?

 

Supplementary Answer provided by the Executive Member for Strategic Highways and Planning

All that I can tell you is the completion date for all of the projects; the five new bypasses, the three bridges to the east and that bridge is 2021.  That is the latest completion for all of those.  I cannot give you an answer on that specific one but I am sure that I can get it for you.

58.3

Imogen Shepherd-Dubey asked the Executive Member for Business and Economic Development and Regeneration the following question:

 

Question

With the regeneration turning Wokingham town centre into a building site, the impact on traffic through the town, the opening of the Lexicon and now the introduction of traffic wardens, local retailers are suffering badly from a reduction in footfall and therefore revenue. This has caused shops to close and some of our larger key retailers have left the town or are in the process of leaving. What is Wokingham Borough Council doing to support our remaining retailers, particularly the smaller independent ones who add character, and keep people coming into to Wokingham?

 

Minutes:

Question

With the regeneration turning Wokingham town centre into a building site, the impact on traffic through the town, the opening of the Lexicon and now the introduction of traffic wardens, local retailers are suffering badly from a reduction in footfall and therefore revenue. This has caused shops to close and some of our larger key retailers have left the town or are in the process of leaving. What is Wokingham Borough Council doing to support our remaining retailers, particularly the smaller independent ones who add character, and keep people coming into Wokingham?

 

Answer

We did discuss this last night actually as you know at the extensive workshop.  I was going to give you a very detailed answer but I think my colleagues would be upset if I was to go through every single thing.  But just a couple of points that I would like to bring out and that is that some of these businesses that have closed are for reasons outside of Wokingham.  Cara is one of them as the business went into administration.  Things like Wetherspoons; there is a lot of interest, they have given a year’s notice to do something else, and a lot of people would like to take their place. 

 

I would like to pick up on a couple of points the traffic warden references are a bit worrying I think because more rigorous enforcement of parking will not only make the Borough safer, and this is particularly around schools, but will also provide a greater turnover of shoppers in short stay spaces, where people were parking illegally all day.

 

As you know we had a meeting last night and we reviewed all the pieces that we put in place.  We have more ideas to consider so I will not go through all the list of things we had already discussed with them.

 

So, we do feel the pain of shops and the businesses and we have taken action to help them. We will continue to do so in ways we have discussed in detail last night and others we also heard last night. The one thing I would like to urge everybody is that all local Members and others do start talking the town up; the town has great shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants and is very much open for business.

 

Supplementary Question

Whilst I appreciate what has happened in recent events and the ‘Free after Three’ is a good start I am also aware what Councillor Cowan said in terms of the two hours floating window but my concern is the scheme that I know you are going to discuss i.e. Agenda Item 58 it only goes up to the end of January.  What is the plan after that?

 

Supplementary Answer

We chose the end of January as we got the January sales so it is just a window in time.  By then a lot of the town centre traffic works would have certainly moved on a pace we hope.  Again we  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.3

59.

Shareholder's Report pdf icon PDF 395 KB

Decision:

That:

 

1)        the budget monitoring position for the month ending 31 August 2017 be noted;

 

2)         the operational update for the period to 31 August 2017 be noted.

Minutes:

(Councillors David Lee, Norman Jorgensen and Stuart Munro declared personal interests in this item)

The Executive considered a report which provided an operational update and the budget monitoring position of the Council Owned Companies for the period ending 31 August 2017.

 

The Executive Member for Finance went through the report and highlighted the following areas:

 

·         The variance against budget shown for Wokingham Housing Ltd in August which was due to unforeseen legal costs.  It was noted that the year to date net loss of £173.5k reflected a £10.4k unfavourable variance compared to the budgeted loss;

·         Wokingham Housing Ltd had seven projects under development and nine sites in their pipeline and these developments would provide future income which was very encouraging;

·         Berry Brook Homes recorded a profit for the month from rental income from Phoenix Avenue and this was pleasing to note as this development was not fully occupied yet;

·         Loddon Homes was arranging for the transfer of residents into the new Fosters Care Home and this would take place in November with full occupancy expected in January;

·         Optalis Group continued to show profit better than budgeted and the new CEO was currently working on a new three-year plan.

 

The Leader of Council tabled a display board which outlined some of the schemes which were currently in the pipeline and what they would achieve when delivered.  These included six units of two-bedroomed houses at affordable rents at Grovelands which would provide a gross annual income of over £58k; a facility for care leavers at Reading Road providing a gross annual income of over £58k; 34 self-contained living apartments with on-site care provided by Optalis with an annual income of over £212k per annum; two two-bedroomed maisonettes for shared ownership with a sales value of over £200k and rental income of over £5k per annum as well as the official opening of Phoenix Avenue in November and the Elizabeth Road scheme.

 

RESOLVED that:

 

1)        the budget monitoring position for the month ending 31 August 2017 be noted;

 

2)         the operational update for the period to 31 August 2017 be noted.

60.

Revenue Monitoring 2017/18 - September 2017 (Q2) pdf icon PDF 167 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

That:

 

1)        the forecast outturn position of the revenue budget and the level of balances in respect of the General Fund, Housing Revenue Account, Schools’ Block and the Authority’s investment portfolio be noted;

 

2)        the potential General Fund carry forward requests of £95k, as set out in Appendix B to the report, be noted;

 

3)        the supplementary estimate of £300k from General Fund for various key People Services programmes be agreed.

Minutes:

The Executive considered a report setting out the forecast outturn position of the revenue budget and the level of balances in respect of the General Fund, Housing Revenue Account, Schools’ Block and the Council’s investment portfolio.  Information on proposed General Fund carry forward requests and a supplementary estimate of £300k to fund various key People Services programmes were also included in the report.

 

The Executive Member for Finance advised the meeting that the General Fund was forecasting an overspend of £159k against a planned spend of £130m and pressures were being seen in adult social care packages, agency staffing across social care, home to school transport and virtual school services in learning and achievement which provided personal education plans for children in care.  An additional £300k was being requested to fund social care Deprivation of Liberty and multi-agency safeguarding.

 

It was noted that the £159k overspend, the additional £300k requested and the £878k carry forward from the previous financial year could be accommodated as the General Fund had started the year with a balance of £10.063m and was forecasted to stand at £8.699m at the end of the year.

 

Councillor Whittle also advised that the Housing Revenue Account was forecasting a net underspend of £2k for the year and a year end balance of £4.052m with the Schools Block showing an overspend of £385k which related to the high needs block overspending due to new commitments for Oak and Northern house out of Borough recoupment.

 

RESOLVED that:

 

1)        the forecast outturn position of the revenue budget and the level of balances in respect of the General Fund, Housing Revenue Account, Schools’ Block and the Authority’s investment portfolio be noted;

 

2)        the potential General Fund carry forward requests of £95k, as set out in Appendix B to the report, be noted;

 

3)        the supplementary estimate of £300k from General Fund for various key People Services programmes be agreed.

61.

Capital Monitoring 2017/18 - end of September 2017 pdf icon PDF 157 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

That:

 

1)        the Capital Monitoring report for the 2nd quarter of 2017/18, as set out in Appendix A to the report, be noted;

 

2)        the following Supplementary Estimate (to add new budget to the 2017/18 Capital Programme be approved:

 

·         For £150k as part of Gorse Ride Phase 1 project to decant tenants from existing homes to be demolished (budget to be funded by Housing Revenue Account (HRA) reserves);

 

3)        it be approved and noted that the overall value of the 2017/18 Capital Programme budget has increased due to the receipt of ring fenced capital grants and contribution, for:

 

·         Grant for Ryeish Green Sports Hub from Football Foundation of £245k.

Minutes:

The Executive considered a report setting out the Capital Monitoring report to the end of September 2017 which included a proposed supplementary estimate in the sum of £150k to fund part of the Gorse Ride Phase 1 project.

 

The Executive Member for Finance went through the report and advised that the Capital Budget was forecasting an £890k underspend variance against budget for the year which was mainly due to highway infrastructure flood alleviation schemes.  The Capital budget for the year was £124.744m with an expectation that £99.236m would be spent and £24.6m carried forward to next year.

 

Councillor Whittle informed the meeting that a new budget of £150k was being requested to move residents of Gorse Ride South to allow for the regeneration of that area which would provide new high quality mixed tenure homes.  He also advised that the Council had received a ring fenced grant of £245k from the Football Foundation for the Ryeish Green Sports Hub.

 

RESOLVED that:

 

1)        the Capital Monitoring report for the 2nd quarter of 2017/18, as set out in Appendix A to the report, be noted;

 

2)        the following Supplementary Estimate (to add new budget to the 2017/18 Capital Programme) be approved:

 

·         For £150k as part of Gorse Ride Phase 1 project to decant tenants from existing homes to be demolished (budget to be funded by Housing Revenue Account (HRA) reserves);

 

3)        it be approved and noted that the overall value of the 2017/18 Capital Programme budget has increased due to the receipt of ring fenced capital grants and contribution, for:

 

·         Grant for Ryeish Green Sports Hub from Football Foundation of £245k.

62.

Temporary Free Parking from 3pm in Wokingham Town Centre Car Parks pdf icon PDF 85 KB

Decision:

That:

 

1)            the temporary provision of free parking between 15:00 hrs and 08:00 hrs until the end of January 2018 at all Council owned car parks located within Wokingham Town Centre be approved;

 

2)        a supplementary estimate for £49,000 to cover the cost of lost income during this period and signage be approved.

Minutes:

The Executive considered a report relating to a proposal to provide free parking between 3pm and 8am at all Council owned car parks located within Wokingham Town Centre until the end of January 2018.

 

Members were informed by the Executive Member for Highways and Transport that the unavoidable disruption caused by the Wokingham town centre improvements works had led to a decline in footfall and consequently difficult trading conditions for the businesses in the town.  The usage of Council car parks had been monitored to ensure that the town continued to attract visitors.  The figures for August this year compared to last year showed an increase of 18% in the number of tickets sold.  However the September figures had shown a fall of around 10%.

 

Councillor Bowring advised that in order to address this issue it was proposed to have a period each day from 3pm to 8am the following morning when parking in Council owned car parks in Wokingham Town would be free and this would cover November to January 2018; the most important trading period of the year.  There would be a consequent loss of revenue from car parking charges which was estimated to be £48k and it would cost £1k to change the signage in the car parks; which required a supplementary estimate to be approved.

 

The Leader of Council stated it was hoped that this proposal would mitigate some of the issues raised as a result of the Market Place refurbishments and other regeneration works in and around the town.  This solution was proposed in order to help businesses and stop commuters blocking up spaces which, if free parking was provided all day, would surely happen.  Councillor Haitham Taylor advised that the meeting with stakeholders held last night had been really positive and a number of solutions had come forward which the Council would be considering.

 

RESOLVED that:

 

1)            the temporary provision of free parking between 15:00 hrs and 08:00 hrs until the end of January 2018 at all Council owned car parks located within Wokingham Town Centre be approved;

 

2)        a supplementary estimate for £49,000 to cover the cost of lost income during this period and signage be approved.

63.

Wokingham Town Centre Regeneration (WTCR) Lettings pdf icon PDF 174 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

That:

 

1)        the specific tenant letting, as set out in Part 2 of the report, be confirmed;

 

2)        decisions around further individual tenant lettings, aligned with the agreed Letting Strategy and it’s specific criteria as set out in the attached report, be delegated to the Director of Corporate Services in consultation with the Leader and the Executive Member for Business, Economic Development and Regeneration.

Minutes:

The Executive considered a report relating to a specific tenant letting for the Peach Place scheme which was in line with the Council’s lettings strategy.

 

The Executive Member for Business and Economic Development and Regeneration confirmed that in order to streamline the process for approving tenant lettings, and enable the Council to act more speedily, it was proposed that in future the matter would be delegated to the Director of Corporate Services in consultation with the Leader and himself.

 

RESOLVED that:

 

1)        the specific tenant letting, as set out in Part 2 of the report, be confirmed;

 

2)        decisions around further individual tenant lettings, aligned with the agreed Letting Strategy and it’s specific criteria as set out in the attached report, be delegated to the Director of Corporate Services in consultation with the Leader and the Executive Member for Business, Economic Development and Regeneration.