Agenda and decisions

Minutes of the meeting of the meeting of Cabinet held on Tuesday 12 March 2024, as circulated, to be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the meeting of Cabinet held on Tuesday 12 March 2024, as circulated, be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Unless already entered in the Council’s Register of Members’ interests, members are required where a matter arises at a meeting;

a.       Which directly relates to Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (‘DPI’) as set out in Appendix B, Table 1 of the Code of Conduct, to disclose the interest, not participate in any discussion or vote and not to remain in room. Where members have a DPI or if the matter concerns an executive function and is being considered by a Cabinet Member with a DPI they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with the matter.

b.       Which directly relates to the financial interest or well being of a Other Registrable Interest as set out in Appendix B, Table 2 of the Code of Conduct to disclose the interest and only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak at the meeting but otherwise must not take part in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not remain the room.

c.        Which directly relates to their financial interest or well-being (and is not DPI) or the financial well being of a relative or close associate, to declare the interest and members may only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak. Otherwise, the member must not take part in discussion or vote on the matter and must leave the room.

d.       Which affects the financial well-being of the member, a relative or close associate or a body included under the Other Registrable Interests column in Table 2, to disclose the interest and apply the test set out at paragraph 9 of Appendix B before deciding whether they may remain in the meeting.

e.       Where Members have or a Cabinet Member has an Other Registerable Interest or Non Registerable Interest in a matter being considered in exercise of their executive function, they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with it.

NB Any member needing clarification must contact monitoringofficer@northumberland.gov.uk. Members are referred to the Code of Conduct which contains the matters above in full. Please refer to the guidance on disclosures at the rear of this agenda letter.

Q3 Corporate Plan Performance Report

This report provides a summary of the progress against the Council’s three Corporate Plan priorities using the Council's performance at the end of Quarter 3, 2023/24 (Q3).

RESOLVED that progress against the three Corporate Priorities, as summarised in the report, be noted.

Hirst Masterplan

To introduce the Hirst Masterplan to Cabinet and seek authorisation to move forward in developing its contents further.

RESOLVED that

(a)  Cabinet note the attached Executive Summary of the Hirst Draft Masterplan and outline options for the long-term regeneration of the area;

(b)  Cabinet support the aspiration to work towards the ‘Do Maximum’ option, as set?out in section 6.1 of this report, during the ongoing development process;

(c)  Cabinet approve the establishment of a ‘Hirst Partnership Board’, to be Chaired by the Director of Housing & Planning and to comprise stakeholders, partners, and Senior Officers from Northumberland County Council (NCC);

(d)  Cabinet approve the recruitment to two collaborative Hirst regeneration posts, to be funded equally by key stakeholders NCC Housing, Advance Northumberland, and Bernicia for three years.? The posts will be hosted by the Strategic Housing function within the NCC Housing Service.?NCC element will be funded through Housing Reserves; and

(e)  Cabinet note that communications on the Hirst Masterplan will be integrated into the overall communications strategy for the town as linked to the Ashington Town Board.?

Summary of New Capital Proposals considered by Officer Capital Strategy Group

This report summarises proposed amendments to the Capital Programme considered by the Capital Strategy Group.

RESOLVED that:-

Berwick Culture and Creative Zone

(a)  Cabinet accept capital grant funding of £0.330 million for the Berwick Culture and Creative Zone (CCZ) and approve the amendment to the Capital Programme to include the capital grant funding in 2024-25;

(b)  Cabinet note the reallocation of grant funding from revenue to capital of £0.110 million and approve the amendment to the Capital Programme to include the capital grant funding in 2025-26; and

(c)  Cabinet approve the amendment to the Capital Programme to reprofile £0.100 for the CCZ project from 2024-25 to 2025-26.

Northumberland Playzones

(a)  Cabinet note the 75% grant contribution of £1.396 million from the Football Foundation for the 6 sites within Portfolio 1 and approve the amendment to the capital programme to include the grant funding in 2024-25;

(b)  Cabinet note the Section 106 funding of £0.284 million and approve the amendment to the Capital Programme to include the funding in 2024-25;

(c)  Cabinet note the other external funding of £0.050 million detailed in the report and approve the amendment to the Capital Programme to including the funding in 2024-25;

(d)  Cabinet note the £0.020 million contribution from Cllr Stewart and Cllr Scott and approve the amendment to the Capital Programme to reallocate £0.020 million from the Member’s Local Improvement Schemes budget to the Northumberland Playzones Project in 2024-25; and

(e)  Cabinet approve the proposed spend of £0.111 million which will be funded using the existing Northumberland Playzones project in the Capital Programme, which has a current budget of £0.300 million in 2024-25.

Energy Central Campus Phase 1 – Technical Training Kit: Outline Business Case

In accordance with the Energising Blyth Programme - Local Assurance Framework, the report seeks the approval of the Outline Business Case (OBC) for the Energy Central Campus Phase 1 – Technical Training Kit which is part of development and delivery of the £20.71m Levelling Up Deep Dive (LUDD) funding awarded to Blyth earlier this year. The OBC has been externally appraised with a recommendation to proceed to Full Business Case (FBC).

RESOLVED that:-

(a)  Cabinet approve the Outline Business Case for the Energy Central Campus Phase 1 – Technical Training Kit to enable progression to Full Business Case;

(b)  Authority be delegated, in accordance with the Local Assurance Framework, to the Council’s s151 Officer following consideration of the recommendation of the Energising Blyth Programme Board to approve the Full Business Case;

(c)  Authority be delegated to the Council’s s151 Officer to enter into a Grant Funding Agreement between the Northumberland County Council as the fund Accountable Body and Energy Central Campus Ltd; and

(d)  Authority be delegated to the Executive Director of Place and Regeneration to enter into any contracts relating to the project up to the value of £1.45m, subject to confirmation of associated funding being in place and the appropriate procurement processes being followed.

Housing Regeneration Report – Stock Rationalisation

The report seeks Cabinet approval to:

•         To place on hold lettings for empty homes and any homes that become empty in the addresses listed within this report (Appendix 1A);

•         To give priority status for re-housing to all customers who currently reside in any of the addresses detailed in this report; 

•         To approve the award of Home loss & Disturbance payments for any customers relocating from the properties detailed in this report;

•         To authorise the progression of any Compulsory Purchase Order process for adjacent properties and Buy backs for any leaseholders if required for the redevelopment proposal;

•         To approve the demolition of low demand stock in Blyth detailed in this report.

RESOLVED that:-

(a)  Cabinet approve placing lettings on hold within these low demand blocks;

(b)  Cabinet approve the prioritisation of customers for rehousing; the issuing of Homeloss and disturbance payments as appropriate;

(c)  Cabinet approve the removal of the existing void properties from the Housing Revenue Account rent roll;

(d)  Authority be delegated to the Executive Director for Place and Regeneration to commence negotiations to acquire the two residential leasehold properties and develop a suitable compensation package. Should negotiations not be successful, to compulsorily acquire the properties using compulsory purchase powers as a last resort;

(e)  Cabinet approve Compulsory Purchase Order process for adjacent properties if required; and

(f)    Cabinet approve the demolition of low demand stock in Blyth as detailed in the report.

Outcome of the Tenders for the Coquet Partnership

To update Cabinet on the outcomes of the tender process for the construction of extension to the feeder primary schools in Amble and also the refurbishment of South Avenue site for the relocation of Amble First Schools and the creation of a New Special School Barndale by the Sea. The report also seeks approval to award the contracts.

RESOLVED that:

(a)  Cabinet note the outcomes of the tender process and approve the delegation to award the contract to Robertsons Construction for the refurbishment works on the South Avenue Site and to Portakabin for the extensions required at the feeder first schools, to the Executive Director for Children, Young People and Education; and

(b)  Cabinet note that, in order to complete the works within the implementation timescales approved by Cabinet on 17th November 2022, a Letter of Intent was issued for works up to a capped value of £989,194.87 prior to the final award of contract. This was undertaken to prevent any increase in cost or delays in programme until the award of contract is complete in April 2024.

To consider such other business as, in the opinion of the Chair, should, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

The Committee is invited to consider passing the following resolution:

(a)    That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item on the Agenda as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the 1972 Act, and

(b)    That the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure for the following reasons:-

Agenda Item            Paragraph of Part I of Schedule 12A

12                             Paragraph 3 - Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the Authority holding that information).

AND                         The public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the interest in disclosure because disclosure would prejudice the ability for Northumberland County Council to obtain a competitive price through the re-tendering of the design and build contract.

Outcome of the Tenders for the Coquet Partnership

To consider two confidential appendices in respect of item 9 on this agenda.