Issue - meetings

The following member will be attending the meeting to present a brief update on the performance of their portfolio and answer questions:

·        Councillor Heydon, Executive member for Transformation and Finance

Council Plan Overview Report (CPOR) covering the second quarter of 2019/20 is attached.

Timothy Wheadon, Chief Executive presented the highlights from the second quarter of the Council Plan Overview Report and it was hoped that the production timetable would be more closely aligned with the Commission meetings in future. There were no red actions and 80% were indicated as green.

The Council’s website had been ranked second nationally as it was designed to work how residents use it. He highlighted two well managed changes during the period.

The High Street car park was closed for refurbishment and process of closure had worked well with no complaints. Waste collection had changed for 7,000 residents. Budget preparation is an all year-round activity.

The Chief Executive advised that there had been a small increase in the number of complaints taken up by the Local Government Ombudsman. He reminded the Commission that this was in the context of millions of transactions every year. Of 25 complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman only five had been investigated and the Council was found to be at fault in only one. He concluded that it was nevertheless important to learn from complaints.

In response to a question relating to the original estimates for the demand for the Cemetery and Crematorium leading to a dip in demand and increased pressure of £100k the Chief Executive advised that the anticipated demand had not arisen. He confirmed that at popular times multiple activities were taking place and plans were in place to bring the costs back in balance.

When asked whether any further mitigation was required within the strategic risk register the Chief Executive advised that they believed all the key risks had been mitigated to the right level and that the risk register was reviewed every quarter.

An update was sought regarding the repairs to the High Street lift and the Commission was advised that the new contractor was waiting for parts.