Issue - meetings

That the progress achieved during Q4 of 2024/25 be noted and the contents of report CAB3505 be endorsed.

Councillor Cutler introduced the report and referred to its discussion at Scrutiny Committee on 5 June 2025 where a number of points were raised and responded to at the meeting.  He also reported on the committee’s resolution that a number of other points be considered by himself as Cabinet Member and relevant officers.

At the invitation of the Leader, Councillors Lee and Bolton addressed Cabinet as summarised briefly below.

Councillor Lee

Councillor Lee repeated concerns raised at Scrutiny Committee about an alleged hedge cutting incidence during bird nesting season.  He also reiterated concerns raised at the previous cabinet meeting regarding suggestions for improvements to KPIs not being included.  Finally, he queried whether adequate resources would be available for the LGR process.

Councillor Bolton

Councillor Bolton repeated concerns expressed at Scrutiny Committee that only two cabinet members and one council officer were in attendance to respond to members’ questions which he considered was inadequate.    He asked a number of detailed questions regarding the potential impact of delays to switching to a low carbon fleet and the impact of LGR together with progress towards the TC25 targets.

Councillor Cutler responded to the comments made including highlighting that a number of them did not relate to the contents of the report and some had been addressed at the previous cabinet meeting.  He also disputed comments made regarding attendance at Scrutiny Committee and emphasised that any questions that could not be answered could be forwarded to the next Cabinet meeting to be addressed.

Cabinet agreed to the following for the reasons set out in the report and outlined above.

RESOLVED:

That the progress achieved during Q4 of 2024/25 be noted and the contents of the report be endorsed.

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Scrutiny Committee raises with the Deputy Leader or relevant Cabinet member any issues arising from the information in this report, ref CAB3505, which is being presented to Cabinet on the 18 June 2025 and considers whether there are any items of significance to resolve or to be drawn to the attention of Cabinet.

Councillor Neil Cutler, Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance introduced the report ref CAB3505 - Q4 Finance and Performance Monitoring report for the year to March 2025. The introduction included the following points.

1. The report followed the established format of six sections covering the themes of the Council Plan, showing both project delivery and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
2. Since the previous quarter’s report, a new section on the highlights of the Tier 1 River Park Cricket Pavilion project had been added.
3. The report had also been updated to include a quarterly highlight report for the Housing Compliance Tier 1 project.

Councillor Wallace provided an introduction regarding the KPI Task & Finish group that had met following a previous committee resolution. Notes of this meeting (available here) had been presented at a recent cabinet meeting which had agreed on several actions as a result. The minutes of the cabinet meeting were available here. Councillor Wallace advised of the following points.

1. A meeting was held on 14 April to review the proposed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the 2025/26 year.
2. Two minor changes to the KPIs were accepted, and it was agreed that officers would investigate two new potential KPIs: one measuring greening and biodiversity, and another on planning enforcement.
3. The basis for the annual KPI targets would be included with the first quarterly performance report to provide clarity on how goals were set.
4. It was proposed that the Scrutiny Committee would consider using future meetings for periodic in-depth reviews of key service areas or council policy priorities.
5. It was proposed that updating the forward plan for the committee be postponed until the in-depth reviews could be discussed with officers.

The committee initially discussed the meeting of the Task and Finish group and subsequent issues, and then moved to the Q4 Report. The committee was asked to raise with the Deputy Leader or relevant Cabinet member any issues arising from the information in this report,  which was being presented to Cabinet on the 18 June 2025 and to consider whether there are any items of significance to resolve or to be drawn to the attention of Cabinet. In summary, the following matters were raised.

1. A request was made to include historical RAG statuses to show whether issues are new or long-standing, for example the Carbon Neutrality status (p. 19).
2. It was suggested that simple graphical indicators, like arrows, be used to show performance trends since the last report.
3. The committee agreed to discuss the performance reporting framework and in-depth reviews offline, with the outcome to inform the next Committee Chairs' meeting
4. Further information on the two completed nutrient mitigation pilot plants was requested.
5. Whether there was an inconsistency between the green RAG status for the retrofit programme (p.23) and the red status for related housing items (p.25).
6. Further information was sought regarding the delay in the EV strategy.
7. Clarification was sought over the slow reduction of corporate building gas usage and its impact on targets.
8. Reasons for the retrofit programme’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7