Agenda and minutes

The Leader referred to Cabinet’s decision on 8 June 2010 to defer consideration of the new petitions scheme, whilst clarity was sought on the Government's future intentions for the duty for Councils to establish a scheme for handling petitions. He advised that he had received a letter from Eric Pickles MP (Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government), which stated that the Government was still considering the full set of priorities under the Big Society agenda and until then the Council would not receive a definitive answer on the future of the new petitions scheme.

The Leader stated, therefore, that until such clarity was provided in line with decision no. 67/2010, the Council’s existing petitions scheme would continue as normal.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Janice Bamber (Customer First and Corporate Services) and Jarrett (Finance). 

The record of the meeting held on 20 July 2010 was agreed and signed by the Leader as correct.

The Leader reported that with regards to the Future of Strood Environmental Enhancement Scheme, Cabinet decision no. 103/2010 should have referred to the Temple Street car park rather than Commercial Road car park.

There were none.  

This report provided details of a decision made by the Leader, using his urgency powers, to enable the Council to extend the exclusivity agreement with Crest Nicholson until 24 September 2010 for the entirety of Phase 1 of Rochester Riverside.

In addition, the report set out a proposal to delegate authority to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader, to make any further changes to the exclusivity agreement with Crest Nicholson, until 17 December 2010.

Reasons:

The use of the Leader’s urgency powers and the delegation to the Chief Executive means that the opportunity for development activity at Rochester Riverside with the Council’s preferred developer is retained and that momentum is maintained on this flagship regeneration project.

This report presented information on vacancies that officers had requested approval to commence recruitment for, following the process agreed by Cabinet on 7 January 2003 (decision number 9/2003).

Appendix 1 to the report provided details of the posts and included supporting Portfolio Holder comments.

Reasons:

The posts presented to Cabinet support the efficient running of the Council.

This report set out a review of the corporate building, window and public toilet cleaning contract. Two companies had been contracted to provide corporate cleaning services from August 2009 for an initial period of three years. The report set out a detailed analysis of the contractors’ performance to date together with the lessons learned during this period.

It was noted that the Procurement Board had considered this report on 21 July 2010 and additional information, as requested by the Procurement Board, in relation to costs was set out in an exempt appendix.

Reasons:

The continuation of the contract will ensure all contracted sites are maintained at standard of expectation required by both internal and external stakeholders (Council and general public).