Venue: Woodside Room - George Meehan House, 294 High Road, N22 8JZ. View directions
Contact: Philip Slawther, Principal Committee Co-ordinator
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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’. |
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Apologies for Absence Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Ogiehor and Cllr Amin. |
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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 |
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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 |
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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. |
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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.
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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. |
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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:
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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:
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.
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Work Programme Update Minutes: RESOLVED
That the work programme was noted and any changes therein were put to the parent Overview & Scrutiny Committee. |
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New items of urgent business To consider any items admitted at item 3 above.
Minutes: N/A |
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Dates of Future Meetings 3rd March 22 Minutes: 3rd March 22 |