Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from County Councillor Bill Winlow.

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

There were no interests declared.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2015 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

County Councillor Alyson Barnes, Deputy Chair of the Executive Scrutiny Committee, reported that the recommendations set out in the reposts for consideration by cabinet had been confirmed without modification or amendment at the meeting of the Executive Scrutiny Committee held on 7 July 2015, except for the following:

Item 7 – Appointments to Outside Bodies: The Executive Scrutiny Committee felt that appointments must be beneficial to both the organisation and the Council, and that an appointment should only be made to an outside body if the organisation is aligned or linked to the Council's policies and strategies, and recommended Cabinet ask the political group secretaries to consult those councillors appointed to outside bodies to determine the relevance and usefulness of the council continuing to make such appointments. Democratic Services would be able to assist in this.  

Item 10 - Business Growth Package for Lancashire 2015-18.  The Executive Scrutiny Committee would welcome updates on the outcome of the proposed procurement process set out at recommendation (iii) to the report, and on the continued work of the Boost initiative.

The Cabinet received the annual reports from the Council's Champions for Armed Forces Veterans, Digital Inclusion, Disabled People, Older People, Parishes and Young People, together with a summary of activity and expenditure, for the period 1 April 2014 - 31 March 2015.

County Councillors Darren Clifford (Armed Forces), Terry Aldridge (Older People) and Cynthia Dereli (Parishes) attended to present their reports.

Resolved: - That the annual reports of the County Council's six Champions for 2014/15 as set out at Appendices 'A' - 'F' of the report, now presented, be noted and the Champions be thanked for their work during the year

Damon Lawrenson, Interim Director of Financial Resources, attended to present the Money Matters report summarising of the County Council's financial position at the end of 2014/15.

The Deputy Leader of the Council highlighted the underspend achieved in the last year, and stated that detailed analysis was underway of the overall budget, which would be presented to a special meeting of the Cabinet to be held on Wednesday 12 August. This would include more detail on the current level of reserves and how these would be managed during the difficult years ahead.

In response to an enquiry, it was agreed that details of the surpluses achieved in the previous four years through treasury management activity would be provided outside of the meeting.

Resolved: That

  i.  the transfer of the 2014/15 underspend to reserves be approved.

  ii.  the underspend within Care & Urgent Needs be transferred to the earmarked reserve be approved

  iii.  the Capital Programme for 2015/16 and onwards be increased by £27.826m to reflect the slippage from 2014/15, as these costs now fall in 2015/16 be approved

The Leader of the Council presented a report setting out proposals for the appointment of County Council representatives to various outside bodies for 2015/16. The report also set out details of bodies where County Council representation was no longer required and which could be deleted from the list.

In presenting the list, the Leader moved that CC Ron Shewan be the County Council's nominated representative in place of CC Lorraine Beavers on the Council for Voluntary Service – Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde, and that CC Pritchard as Lead Member for Waste Management would be the County Council's nominated representative on the Lancashire Waste Partnership in place of CC Marcus Johnstone.

Cabinet supported the view of the Executive Scrutiny Committee that appointments must be beneficial to both the organisation and the Council, and that an appointment should only be made to an outside body if the organisation is aligned or linked to the Council's policies and strategies. 

Resolved: - That:

  i.  the representation and appointments listed in Appendix 'A' to the report, now presented, for outside bodies for 2014/15, be approved and Group Secretaries be authorised to fill any remaining vacancies or make any changes and to notify the Chief Executives of the appointments, subject to the following amendments:

a.  That CC Ron Shewan CC be the County Council's nominated representative on the Council for Voluntary Service – Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde

b.  that CC Pritchard be the County Council's nominated representative on the Lancashire Waste Partnership

  ii.  In light of information received, the deletion of the bodies listed in Appendix 'B' to the report, now presented, be approved.

  iii.  political groups consult with those councillors appointed to outside bodies to determine the relevance and usefulness of the council continuing to appoint to those bodies on the list. Democratic Services would be able to assist in this.  

Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, Director of Public Health, presented an update on the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) report submitted to Cabinet in November 2014 with recommendations to address the potential health impacts of the two proposed shale gas exploration sites in Lancashire.

Resolved: That

  i.  the progress made on the HIA recommendations be noted

  ii.  no further site specific HIA work be conducted until it is known whether there will be an appeal against the decisions of the Development Control Committee on the two proposed shale gas exploration site sin Lancashire.

Hazel Walton, Transport Planning Manager presented the Fylde Coast Highways and Transport masterplan, as part of the overall programme to put in place highways and transport masterplans to cover the county. In presenting the report, particular attention was drawn to the intention to undertake a full North Fylde Connectivity Study, and that until this was complete, the current protected "Blue Route" M55 to Norcross link.

Resolved: That the publication of the joint Fylde Coast Highways and Transport Masterplabn and the delivery of the strategies that will allow the masterplan to be taken forward be approved.

Resolved: That the report, now presented, on Key Decisions taken by the Leader of the County Council, the Deputy leader of the County Council and Cabinet members respectively, be noted.

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading.

Business Growth Package for Lancashire 2015-2018

This item was taken as an item of urgent business owing to the ending of the current support measures in September 2015 and the requirement to have arrangements in place to replace them.

Martin Kelly, Director of Economic Development, presented a report setting out proposals or a new 3 year Business Growth Package for Lancashire to begin delivery in October 2015. The package would sustain and enhance the existing Boost programme, which had proved to be an effective and successful programme which was expected to exceed its target of creating 1100 jobs in Lancashire.

Resolved: That

  i.  The performance of Boost be noted

  ii.  a match-funding commitment of up to £1.9M in support of Boost and Access 2 Finance provision in Lancashire be approved, subject to securing the ERDF, private sector and LEP Growth Deal funding contributions set out in the report; and

  iii.  the Head of Procurement be authorised to proceed with the procurement exercise to identify and select contractors to progress and deliver Boost's Hub Service; new start-up support and mentoring programmes; required marketing support; and customer relationship management system.

The next meeting of the Cabinet will be held on Thursday 10 September  2015 at  2.00 pm at County Hall, Preston.

As noted earlier in the meeting under the "Money Matters" report, an additional meeting of the Cabinet would take place on Wednesday 12 August at 2pm at County Hall, Preston. It was confirmed that this would be preceded by a meeting of the ESC at 10am on the same day.