The Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen
Carr, attended the meeting to update the Committee on his work and
answer questions. He began his presentation by dealing with budget
issues, commending the work being done by Portfolio Holders and the
Health and Wellbeing Board to integrate health and social care
budgets – he felt that there would be further efficiencies
found in these budgets. The public consultation meetings were
revealing similar themes and very little agreement about what were
low priority areas of spending, but good progress was being made.
The Council did now have the opportunity to raise additional income
by investing in business and development such as with the
Westmoreland Road scheme. Good progress was also being made in
Orpington with the new cinema, in Beckenham with the town centre
improvements, with the case for the DLR being extended to Bromley
being put to the GLA and the prospect of a £500m investment
in Crystal Palace Park. He highlighted
the key role of PDS Committee Chairmen in responding to baseline
reviews and commissioning work, ensuring that good quality services
were maintained whether this might involve outsourcing or a range
of social enterprises or management buy-outs, or working with other
authorities and partners. He concluded by thanking Charles
Obazuaye, Director of HR, and his staff for delivering the change
to local pay.
The Leader took comments and questions from
Members as follows –
- A Member asked whether, with regard
to shared services, if a partner authority changed political
control this would mean that the shared service would be affected.
The Leader responded that Bromley already had successful shared
contracts with Labour-controlled neighbours, and much depended on
the terms of the service level agreements, which could be different
for each partner.
- Asked about the Council’s
strategic approach to reviewing what services might have to stop
altogether the Leader explained that the approach was to examine
all services, establish what was statutory, consider what level of
service was required and maintain robust gate-keeping. This would
be accompanied by consultation but the worst-case scenario was to
have a list of options that would deliver a balanced budget.
- A Member commented that the Council
often seemed to be poor at delivery, listing a number of examples,
and suggested that this was down to the quality of staff. The
Leader stated that he too was frustrated by the delays to the works
in the High Street and to improvements at West Wickham pools, but
he suggested that contractors were possibly at fault in the High
Street and that he would chase Mytime Active about investment at
West Wickham.
- Cllr Nicholas Bennett asked about a
decision to list a pub in Penge as a community asset – the
Leader promised to provide details of the decision.
- A Member asked what costs the
Council might be liable for if it lost the appeals against the new
local terms being made by eleven employees. The Leader responded
that he did not expect the Council to lose.
- Two Members commented on a business
in Beckenham which might be re-locating outside the borough, and
urged the Leader to be pro-active in working with local businesses.
The Leader asked for details of this particular case, and stated
that he was determined to create business opportunities in the
borough. In relation to this, one Member suggested that money from
the Wellcome site in Park Langley ring-fenced for the provision of
industrial space or a business park should be used to regenerate
the area – the Leader stated that he would look at this.
- A Member commented that he had
recently had a number of shopkeepers in Bromley town centre
complaining to him, and he urged the Leader to be proactive in
addressing their issues. The Leader stated that communication was
very important, and that he was aware that ward Councillors had
been very active in trying to resolve these issues.
- A Member asked whether there had
been a consistent approach to baseline reviews across all
departments. The Leader commented that
he thought that current work was indeed much more consistent than
in the past.
- A Member asked whether staff were
being encouraged to suggest efficiencies. The Leader responded that frontline staff often
knew best what would work and that as staff numbers reduced or
people were employed by contractors there was a need to be a decent
employer and to treat staff with respect.
- A Member asked whether the recent
decision by Development Control Committee to grant permission for a
scheme at 1 Westmoreland Road affected the business case for the
development by Cathedral of the former multi-storey car park site
on the other side of the road. The Leader accepted that there might
be issues of timing, but he felt that the development would be more
likely to increase the value of the Cathedral site – officers
confirmed that Cathedral had been carefully consulted and were
supportive of the other development.
The Committee Chairman thanked the
Leader for updating the Committee and answering its questions.