Agenda and minutes

Venue: Woodside Room - George Meehan House, 294 High Road, N22 8JZ. View directions

Contact: Philip Slawther, Principal Committee Co-ordinator 

Items
No. Item

116.

FILMING AT MEETINGS

Please note that this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method. Although we ask members of the public recording, filming or reporting on the meeting not to include the public seating areas, members of the public attending the meeting should be aware that we cannot guarantee that they will not be filmed or recorded by others attending the meeting. Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on. 

 

By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

 

The chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

Minutes:

The Chair referred Members present to agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda in respect of filming at this meeting, and Members noted the information contained therein’.

117.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Ogiehor and Cllr Amin.

118.

Items of Urgent Business

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business (late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with as noted below).   

Minutes:

None

119.

Declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

 

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

 

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

 

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct

Minutes:

None

120.

Deputations/Petitions/Presentations/Questions

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 29 of the Council’s Constitution.

Minutes:

None.

121.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 320 KB

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting on 11th November.

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

That the minutes of the previous meeting on 11th November were agreed as a correct record.

 

122.

Trees Update pdf icon PDF 498 KB

Minutes:

The Panel received a presentation which provided an update around Queen’s Wood, Parkland Walk, street trees, funding for new trees and staffing resources within the Trees team. The presentation was introduced by Simon Farrow, Highways, Parking, Parks & Open Spaces Manager as set out in the agenda pack at pages 9-18. Alex Fraser, Principal Tree & Nature Conservation Manager, was also present for this agenda item. Cllr Hakata, Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and the Climate Emergency and Deputy Leader of the Council, was also present for this agenda item. The following arose during the discussion of the presentation:

a.    The Panel sought clarification around the number of trees removed in a year. The Panel noted that the presentation stated that 191 trees had been removed in the previous year, whilst the budget papers for agenda Item 9, suggested that it was 300. In response officers advised that 191 was an average, but that that the service had been removing more trees, particularly due to a backlog associated with Covid. Officers clarified that 191 related to removal of street trees whilst the 300 figure included trees in parks and open spaces.

b.    A Panel Member  welcomed the fact that the Trees team was up to full strength but raised concerns around a failure to respond to a specific enquiry for five months. Officers offered their apologies for the failure to respond and advised that the service had been operating at 40% capacity for some time.

c.    The Panel noted that in relation to Parkland Walk, one of the key lessons learnt was around contractors cutting down trees that were beyond the scope of the works and assurances were sought that rigorous monitoring of contractors was taking place. In response, officers advised that the team had undergone a fundamental restructure and that contract monitoring was much more robust. Officers advised that they did not think that previous mistakes in this regard would be replicated.

d.    In relation to a question around capital funding, officers advised that the existing capital provision from LBH was £70k for tree planting, but that there was further provision for up to £30k in the budget for match funding.

e.    In relation to concerns about Queens Wood, officers advised that the decision to remove the trees was done to mitigate the Council’s financial risk from an insurance claim and that it was felt that it was within the Council’s interests to mitigate this exposure otherwise they would have potentially been liable for hundreds of thousands of pounds. In relation to a follow up, officers advised that in a similar situation in the future, they would still be minded to remove four out of the five trees, due to the potential cost exposure and the legal advice that they had received.

f.     In relation to a question around trees being felled as part of the bridge replacement works at Stanhope Gardens, officers advised that the new bridge had to be higher than the old one, and that the construction works  ...  view the full minutes text for item 122.

123.

Cabinet Member Questions with the Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and the Climate Emergency and Deputy Leader of the Council

Verbal Update.

Minutes:

The Panel undertook a Q&A session with the Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and the Climate Emergency and Deputy Leader of the Council on his portfolio. The following arose during the discussion of this agenda item:

  1. The Panel sought assurances around what was being done to engage with young people around wildlife, trees and open spaces. In response, the Cabinet Member advised that the redesign of the Parks staffing structure included an engagement officer and a key part of that role was around outreach work. This outreach work would include engagement with schools and young people. The Cabinet Member set out that a high priority for the Parks service was to engage with groups that were not already well engaged with.  Officers added that there was also a full time volunteering officer that had been added to the service and that as part of the parks and Gren Spaces Strategy, engagement would be a key output for the service. One element of the strategy was having an annual celebration of community involvement event and that this would include a specific focus on celebrating involvement in the east of the borough.
  2. The Panel commented that in comparison to other boroughs, it was felt that Haringey’s Electric Vehicle charging points were too slow and too expensive to use. The Panel enquired what could be done to improve this. In response, the Cabinet Member advised that the current charging arrangements were predominantly located in parking spaces, these arrangements allowed the Council to significantly increase capacity and the Council was in the process of adding another 80 new chargers in the coming weeks. The Cabinet Member acknowledged that the existing chargers were not the fastest on the market. The Council was also looking at introducing a pilot scheme for faster lamp post chargers and it was anticipated that, the two combined, would give the borough a good mix of EV charging infrastructure.
  3. In light of the Leader’s recent comments suggesting that the NLWA should pause the procurement exercise for a new waste incinerator at the site in Edmonton, the Panel sought clarification from the Cabinet Member whether that would impact his vote on the issue at the upcoming NLWA meeting. The Cabinet Member recognised that the Leader had a responsibility to speak up on behalf of concerned residents, but he advised that, as a Board Member of the NLWA, he was required by statute to vote in the interests of the NLWA and that he could not be moved to vote in any particular way.
  4. The Panel suggested that a campaign should be launched around restoring civic pride with the aim of tackling fly-tipping. The Panel also suggested that more should be done to educate residents about what materials could and could not be recycled. The Panel further set out that they would like to see the return of the reuse and recycle centre at Ashley Road. The Panel suggested that these were areas that the Cabinet Member could work jointly with Cllr  ...  view the full minutes text for item 123.

124.

Scrutiny of the 2022/23 Draft Budget / 5 Year Medium Term Financial Strategy (2022/23-2026/27) pdf icon PDF 385 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel considered and commented on the Council’s 2022/23 Draft Budget / 5-year Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2022/23 – 2026/27 proposals relating to the Place priority of the Borough Plan. The papers were introduced by John O’Keefe – Head of Finance (Capital, Place & Regen), as set out in the agenda pack at pages 19-94 of the agenda pack. Along with a cover report the budget papers included the following appendices:

  • Appendix A – Key lines of enquiry for budget setting
  • Appendix B – 2022/23 Draft Budget & 2021/26 Medium Term Financial Strategy Report (presented to Cabinet 8th December 2020)
  • Appendix C – 2022/23 New Revenue Budget Proposals
  • Appendix D - 2022/23 New Capital Budget Proposals
  • Appendix E Proposed 2022/23-2026/27 Capital Programme
  • Appendix F Previously agreed MTFS savings. 

 

The Panel were advised that there were no new savings proposals put forward in the budget for 2022/23 and that the budget included around £11.8m of growth proposals. There was, therefore, an opportunity for the Council to have some time and space to assess its existing savings programme. There was also a refresh of the Borough Plan underway.

 

The following arose as part of the discussion of the Draft Budget & 2021/26 Medium Term Financial Strategy:

a.    The Panel sought assurances around the impact of pre-agreed savings that had not been met, particularly given the impact of Covid, on the overall budget picture. In response, officers advised that the papers included a savings tracker, which was RAG rated. The Panel were advised that the extent to which these savings had not been achieved had already been factored into the 2022/23 budget. The savings would be rolled over to the base budget for future years.

  1. The Chair sought clarification around whether there were any new growth proposals for community safety contained within the budget. Officers responded that there were no specific growth proposals in this area. The Chair commented that there were a number of staffing pressures in this area and sought clarification from the Cabinet Member whether discussion to this effect had been undertaken. In response, the Cabinet Member for Community Safety, advised that he was new in post and that no discussions had taken place to date. However, the Cabinet Member advised that he would be looking to pick this up as part of his upcoming one-to-one discussions with officers.
  2. The Panel sought reassurances about a strategy for dealing with waste dumped by private landowners, such as at Somerset Gardens. In response, officers advised that this was something that had been raised in previous budgets, particularly in relation to Housing Associations. Officers advised that they were looking at how to tackle this issue but commented that previous experience had shown that it could be challenging to hold landowners to account.
  3. The Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and the Climate Emergency advised the Panel that he was seeking to improve green spaces in the Borough, and he welcomed the additional investment in the parks team, which he suggested was a three  ...  view the full minutes text for item 124.

125.

Work Programme Update pdf icon PDF 497 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

That the work programme was noted and any changes therein were put to the parent Overview & Scrutiny Committee.  

126.

New items of urgent business

To consider any items admitted at item 3 above.

 

Minutes:

N/A

127.

Dates of Future Meetings

3rd March 22

Minutes:

3rd March 22