Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from Deputy Henry Colthurst, Deputy James Thomson, Deputy Keith Bottomley and Tijs Broeke. Alderman Tim Hailes, who has formally been invited to observe the meetings, also gave apologies.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes of the Sub-Committee meeting held on 5 October 2023.

RESOLVED, that the public minutes and non-public summary from the meeting held on 5 October 2023 be approved as a correct record.

Report of the Chamberlain.

Members received a report of the Chamberlain providing an update on capital funding.

RESOLVED, that Members agree to:

a)    review the schemes summarised in Table 2 and, particularly in the context of the current financial climate, to confirm their continued essential priority for release of funding at this time and accordingly:

b)    release up to £1.104m for the schemes progressing to the next Gateway in Table 2 from the reserves of City Fund (£4.604m), City Cash (0.21m) and City Bridge Foundation (0.08m)

c)     release of £0.076m of City Cash contingency as described within the report.

There were no questions.

There were no items of other business. However, a query was raised as to why item 9 was to be considered in non-public. 

Officers agreed this exclusion should be reconsidered in time for the Policy & Resources Committee (due to meet in coming weeks) and confirmed that, if possible, the minutes of the discussion be made public.

MOTION – That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

Part 2 – Non-Public Agenda

RESOLVED, That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972,

the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds

that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1

of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the Sub-Committee meeting held on 5 October 2023.

RESOLVED, that the non-public minutes from the meeting held on 5 October 2023 be approved as a correct record.

Joint report of the Chamberlain and Executive Director Environment.

Members received a joint report of the Chamberlain and the Executive Director, Environment concerning the Community Infrastructure Levy, the On Street Parking Reserve and the 2024/25 Capital Programme.

RESOLVED – that for projects bids considered under City CIL and OSPR funding, Members:

a)   Review the project bids in line with the eligibility and prioritisation criteria as set out in Appendix 1.

b)   Note the forecast balances for City CIL and OSPR as detailed in paras 2.1 and 2.2 of the report, which incorporates the recommendations of the Priorities Board,

c)   Recommend to Policy and Resources, and for Policy and Resources Committee to approve, the allocation of City CIL and OSPR funding to the three revenue schemes (listed in section 3.1 and detailed in Appendix 2):

                i.         City Gardens Revenue Budget

              ii.         Ground Penetrating Radar Survey (GPRS) for Infrastructure Strategy; and

             iii.         Street Furniture ASB Protection Measures; and

For new capital bids for the financial year 2024/25, Members:

a)   Approve the new capital bids submitted (listed in section 3.2 and detailed in appendix 2), amounts requested and purposes for which these are requested, including two schemes funded by CIL (Bid AB2 – City Cluster Programme) and OSPR monies (Bid AB1 – Car Parks Fire and Safety).

b)   Approve the recommendations of the Priorities Board in relation to three schemes of the fourteen Capital and SRP bids.  These are listed below with further detail found in paragraph 3.26.

                i.         Network Contract - Support and Refresh,

              ii.         Corporate Device Stock Replacement

             iii.         Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) Replacement

c)   To note new bids which require funding from City Bridge Foundation (CBF), will need to be considered as being in the best interests of the charity, noting the separate legal duties of the City Corporation as a Trustee.

d)   Note that the final decision

Report of the City Surveyor.

Members received a report of the City Surveyor concerning the Guildhall Cooling Plant Replacement project.

Report of the City Surveyor.

Members received a report of the City Surveyor concerning decisions taken under the City Surveyor’s delegations.

There were no questions.

There was no other business.