Agenda, decisions and minutes

The agenda and reports associated with this minute can be found here.

Please note that if any changes are made to this minute at the point of approval, these will be outlined in the subsequent minute and this document will not be retrospectively altered.

The Convener proposed that the Committee consider items 13.1 (Dyce Community Library), 13.2 (Disposal of Rosehill House) and 14.1 (Condition and Suitability 3 Year Programme - Exempt Appendices) with the press and public excluded from the meeting.

The Committee resolved:-

in terms of Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, to exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the above items so as to avoid disclosure of information of the classes described in the following paragraphs of Schedule 7(A) to the Act:- article 22 (paragraph 10), article 23 (paragraph 9) and article 24 (paragraph 8).

Members were requested to intimate any declarations of interest in respect of the items on today’s agenda, thereafter the following were intimated:-

(1)      Councillor Cooke declared an interest in item 12.1 (Condition & Suitability 3 Year Programme) by virtue of him being an Aberdeen City Council appointed Director of Sport Aberdeen. He considered that the nature of his interest did not require him to leave the meeting, therefore he remained in the meeting throughout; and

(2)      Councillor Grant declared an interest in item 9.3 (Place Based Investment Programme) by virtue of him being an employee of Aberdeen Inspired. He considered that the nature of his interest required him to leave the meeting and he therefore took no part in the consideration of this item.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 25 August 2021, for approval.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the minute as a correct record, subject to amending article 1 (Notification of Urgent Business) to read at (1) “that an Urgent Notice of Motion had been submitted and in terms of Standing Order 12.9, he would be accepting it onto the agenda, details of which would be circulated prior to it being moved.”

The Committee had before it the Committee Business Planner prepared by the Chief Officer – Governance.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to remove item 8 (Car Parking Framework) and item 14 (Procurement Workplan and Business Cases – Capital) from the planner for the reasons outlined therein;

(ii)       to note the reason for the reporting delay in relation to item 15 (UK Prosperity Fund) and item 17 (Freeport/Greenport Update); and

(iii)      to otherwise note the content of the Committee Planner.

The Committee had before it a Notice of Motion by Councillor Boulton in the following terms:-

(1)      Note that every year at schools in the UK, around 270 children die from sudden cardiac arrest, but with correct defibrillation the survival rate can be as high as 75%;

(2)      Note that there are a total of 60 schools across Aberdeen City, the current number of defibrillators are:-

Defibrillator fitted within school premises

Primary Schools – 4

Secondary Schools – 3

Access to a defibrillator in another building on same site

Primary Schools – 2

Secondary Schools – 0; and

(3)      Instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to prepare a business case to provide a defibrillator at every primary and secondary school in Aberdeen to include capital purchase, installation, whole life costs, training requirements and to explore potential funding opportunities that the Council could access and refer this to the 2022/23 budget meeting on 7 March 2022.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the motion, subject to amending (3) above to read as follows:-

“instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to prepare a business case to provide a defibrillator at every primary and secondary school and Council owned sheltered and very sheltered housing complex in Aberdeen to include capital purchase, installation, whole life costs, training requirements and to explore potential funding opportunities that the Council could access and refer this to the 2022/23 budget meeting on 7 March 2022.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which provided the financial position of the Council as at Quarter 2 (30 September 2021) and the full year forecast position for the financial year 2021/22, including:-

·            General Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and capital accounts; and associated Balance Sheet; and

·            Common Good revenue account and Balance Sheet.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the positive cash position that has been achieved for the General Fund and HRA to the end of Quarter 2 as detailed in Appendix 1;

(b)      note the Common Good financial performance to the end of Quarter 2 as detailed in Appendix 3;

(c)      note that the General Fund full year forecast position, as detailed in Appendix 2, has improved compared to the forecast at Quarter 1 and it is still expected to show a balanced position overall for 2021/22 through the mitigations contained within the report;

(d)      note that the HRA full year forecast position, as detailed in Appendix 2, is on target to achieve the approved budget, making a contribution to HRA reserves for 2021/22;

(e)      note that the forecast for General Fund capital expenditure is that there will lower spend than has been profiled for 2021/22, and for Housing capital expenditure this will be on budget, as described in Appendix 2; and

(f)       note the construction inflation pressures being experienced across the capital programmes and instruct the Chief Officer – Finance to recommend a risk fund/contingency be included in the refreshed capital programmes which will be presented to the Council’s budget meeting on 7 March 2022;

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to approve the recommendations contained within the report;

(ii)       to note the current permission from Scottish Government to use capital receipts for voluntary severance/early retirement revenue costs ends on 31 March 2022;

(iii)      to note that unless extended, alternative revenue funding would have to be found or changes made to the scheme; and

(iv)      to agree to instruct the Chief Executive to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy requesting an extension to the current permission as noted at Section 6 (Financial Risks) engaging COSLA as appropriate and agree that the matter be referred to the budget process for consideration.

With reference to article 4 of the minute of meeting of Council on 10 March 2021, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which (1) outlined the purpose of a Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) to pull together in one place all known factors affecting the financial position and financial sustainability of an organisation over the medium term; and (2) drew out the scenarios that the Council faces; and (3) described the approach to addressing the conclusions.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      approve the Medium Term Financial Strategy for the General Fund 2021;

(b)      note that the 2022/23 Budget will be discussed and set by the Council on 7 March 2022;

(c)      note the initial data presented in relation to the Council’s Financial Resilience Framework and instruct the Chief Officer – Finance to continue to develop the Framework; and

(d)      agree that an update on the Financial Resilience Framework be provided by the Chief Officer – Finance in the annual Budget report to Council, to help support financial decision making.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to approve the recommendations contained within the report; and

(ii)       to note that the Chief Officer – Finance would liaise with the Chief Officer – Data and Insights to investigate when updated population figures for the city would be made available and to circulate a response to the Committee by way of email in due course.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

In accordance with article 2 of this minute, Councillor Grant withdrew from the meeting prior to consideration of the following item of business and was substituted by Councillor Lesley Dunbar.

With reference to article 7 of the minute of the previous meeting of 25 August 2021, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning, which provided an update on the applications received and sought instruction on the allocation of the remaining £545,000 from the Place Based Investment Programme Fund.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      awards up to £44,014 to the Belmont Filmhouse for the Accessibility Programme of Works project;

(b)      awards up to £32,750 to Aberdeen Arts Centre for the Children’s Theatre project;

(c)      awards up to £164,680 to Aberdeen Performing Arts for the Repair, Rebuild, Revitalise project;

(d)      awards up to £40,000 to Aberdeen Inspired for the City Centre Parklets Phase 2 project;

(e)      awards up to £124,471 to Woodside Gateway for the Street Design project;

(f)       awards up to £50,000 to Greyhope Bay for the Greyhope Bay Centre project;

(g)      awards up to £41,460 to Donside Village for the Tillydrone Gateway Feature;

(h)      agrees to commit to an award of up to £400,000 from the anticipated 2022/23 Place Based Investment Fund to the Inchgarth Community Centre Extension project, subject to a successful outcome from the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund 2022/23 with an offer of grant of at least £1,500,000; and

(i)       agree that any remaining funds from 2021/22 be allocated to any other approved project which may require additional resources following consultation with Convener of City Growth and Resources Committee.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to approve the recommendations contained within the report, subject to amending (i) to read “agree that any remaining funds from 2021/22 be allocated to any other approved project which may require additional resources following consultation with Convener of City Growth and Resources Committee and if that were to be the case, a Service Update would be circulated to members of the Committee”; and

(ii)       that in future reports, the Chief Officer – City Growth include a short explanation outlining why applications were successful.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Customer Services which provided details on the values of Council Tax, Non-Domestic Rates, Housing Benefit Overpayments, Penalty Charge Notices, Bus Lanes Enforcement Charge Notices and Council House Rent debts made unrecoverable during 2020/21 as required in terms of the Council’s Financial Regulations.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the Financial Regulations number, value and reasons for debts written off for Council Tax, Non-Domestic Rates, Housing Benefit Overpayments, Penalty Charge Notices, Bus Lanes Enforcement Charge Notices and Council house rent during 2020/21.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to approve the recommendation contained within the report; and

(ii)       to instruct the Chief Officer – Customer Experience to circulate details to all members of the Committee in relation to the process of writing off untraceable debts for Parking Charge Notices and Bus Lane Enforcement fines.

With reference to article 4 of the minute of meeting of Council on 10 March 2021, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which (1) summarised the status of the developer obligations fund at 30th September 2021; (2) provided an overall summary of the extant developer obligations which the Council had entered into with developers; and (3) provided an update on the receipt and spend of developer obligations during the first nine months of the 2021 calendar year.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the contents of this report;

(b)      note that future reports on developer obligations will be prepared annually as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year in accordance with the emerging requirements of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019; and

(c)      instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning, to monitor risks associated with the Developer Obligations process and to highlight these to the Chief Officer - Finance so that an assessment of financial risk can be carried out and included in the Councils financial performance and budget reports.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning, which sought approval of the Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) for the period 2022/23 – 2026/27 which was due to be submitted to the Scottish Government by 29 October 2021.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee approve the SHIP and its submission to the Scottish Government.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note the Council and its RSL Partners have delivered 1,703 Affordable homes for social rent between 2017 and 2021;

(ii)       to note the Council is progressing the delivery of a number of contracts both Council and Developer Led which will deliver 2,000 council houses;

(iii)      to note that the phased delivery of completed units (across the new housing programme) is now evident and that this steady delivery of completed units will continue in coming years;

(iv)      to note that between 2017 and 2021 the Council is close to fulfilling its commitment from its August 2017 meeting, adopting the Administration’s policy document, to start to build 2,000 council houses and 1,500 Affordable homes for social rent;

(v)      to approve the SHIP and its submission to the Scottish Government confirming (i) to (iv) above; and

(vi)      that the Director of Resources arrange to circulate to members of the Committee, details in relation to the current development position of the new council houses.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which provided an update on the status of the current Bus Lane Enforcement programme and sought approval for the programme to be refreshed with a new application process that better meets current Council priorities.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the progress on the projects funded from the Bus Lane Enforcement programme up to 2021/22, as detailed in Appendix 1;

(b)      note that Council priorities have evolved since the Bus Lane Enforcement programme was last open to funding bids in 2018/19;

(c)      instruct the Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning to refresh the BLE programme for the 2022/23 financial year and beyond in terms of the Council’s current priorities, as noted in 3.4 and 3.6 (of the report), and report this to a future meeting of this Committee;

(d)      agree that the current programme of legacy projects, as detailed in Appendix 2, should be completed before any new projects are progressed;

(e)      agree to continue to fund the transport officer post as described in paragraph 3.8 (of the report) to ensure continued management and compliance;

(f)       agree to the use of the application form, as detailed in Appendix 3, for all new Bus Lane Enforcement projects; and

(g)      note the Governance process for Bus Lane Enforcement projects, as detailed in Appendix 4.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

With reference to article 6 of the minute of meeting of 11 May 2021, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer, which (1) provided details in relation to the refreshed Fleet Asset Management Plan (Appendix A); and (2) identified age and replacement plans for all vehicles and plant to provide assurance on effective identification of assets to populate the Phase 2 Fleet Replacement Programme for 2021/22 (Appendix B) and future Fleet Replacement requests.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the refreshed Fleet Asset Management Plan and supports use of the Plan to identify future replacement requests;

(b)      note that a detailed infrastructure plan is being developed by the Corporate Landlord as per Recommendation (b) of Article 6 – Fleet Replacement Programme from the Committee meeting of 11 May 2021, to inform future Fleet Replacement Programme requests to support an increased number of alternative fuel vehicles and plant;

(c)      approve the phase 2 Fleet Replacement Programme for 2021/22 (as detailed in Appendix B) and notes non-carbon fuelling technologies will be prioritised where these options exist; and

(d)      delegate authority to the Chief Officer – Operations & Protective Services, following consultation with the Head of Commercial and Procurement Shared Services and Chief Officer – Finance, to consider and approve procurement business cases for vehicles and plant for the purposes of Procurement Regulation 4.1.1.2; then consult with the Convener, City Growth and Resources and thereafter to procure appropriate works and services, and enter into any contracts necessary for the vehicles without the need for further approval from any other Committee of the Council, within the current Capital budget.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations contained within the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which presented the annual report of the City Growth and Resources Committee to enable Members to provide comment on the data contained within.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the annual report of the City Growth and Resources Committee.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendation.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Customer Service which presented the status of key performance measures relating to City Growth and Resources cluster activities.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the report and the performance information contained within the Appendix of the report.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to approve the recommendation; and

(ii)       to instruct the Chief Officer – Data and Insights to provide a definition of ‘virtual visits’ including how they are counted, and that details be circulated to the members of the Committee by way of an email.

With reference to article 6 of the minute of meeting of 3 February 2021, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning, which provided details on the practicalities and projected costs of identifying locations and street names in Aberdeen with links to the history of enslavement and its products and then erecting appropriate information plaques at each location.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      does not pursue the erection of information plaques relating to enslavement or products of enslavement at this time;

(b)      instruct the Chief Officer – City Growth to continue research and delivery of other public outputs in this field in line with existing programme and revenue budgets; and

(c)      instructs the Chief Officer – City Growth to explore external funding opportunities for wider work exploring the history and legacy of enslavement.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to approve recommendations (a) and (b);

(ii)       to instruct the Chief Officer – City Growth to explore external funding opportunities which would allow for additional capacity in the Museums and Gallery Team or working with an external partner to consolidate existing information and research on the history and legacy of enslavement in Aberdeen and give consideration how to best make findings available to the public; and

(iii)      to refer the matter to the budget setting process.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which sought approval of the statutory Climate Change Report (CCR) covering the period 2020/2021 and indicated that it required to be submitted to the Scottish Government, to ensure compliance with the requirements of Part 4 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      approve the statutory Climate Change Report 2020/21 and instruct the Chief Executive to sign and date the Required Report, prior to the submission deadline of 30 November 2021, (Appendix 1); and

(b)      instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to publish the Climate Change Report on the Council’s website, as per reporting requirements.

The Convener, seconded by Councillor Boulton moved:-

that the Committee:-

(1)    approve the recommendations contained within the report;

(2)    note that the Scottish Government have once again missed their targets for Climate Change;

(3)    note that in May 2020, Aberdeen City Council introduced our Net Zero Vision and Infrastructure Plan and in June 2020 set about introducing a governance model that engaged with the private sector to ensure that the Council meets its targets for Net Zero; and

(4)    agree that Councils right across Scotland are being let down by the SNP/Green Scottish Government who introduce Net Zero legislation then cut Council funding thereby ensuring that the targets they introduced are almost impossible to deliver upon.

Councillor Nicol, seconded by Councillor Cameron moved as an amendment:-

           that the Committee approve the recommendations contained within the report.

On a division, there voted:- for the motion (6) – the Convener, the Vice Convener and Councillors Boulton, Grant, Mackenzie and Yuill; for the amendment (3) – Councillors Cameron, Cooke and Nicoll.

The Committee resolved:-

to adopt the motion.

With reference to article 11 of the minute of meeting of 25 August 2021, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which provided an update on the progress of the delivery of the Bus Partnership Fund grant projects.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the progress of the delivery of this grant;

(b)      instruct the Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning and Chief Officer – Capital to continue to work with partners to deliver the projects in accordance with the grant conditions; and

(c)      instruct the Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning to prepare quarterly reports on the progress of the delivery of this grant.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations, subject to amending (c) above, to read “instruct the Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning to prepare reports on the progress of the delivery of this grant and that they be submitted to the Committee for consideration.”

With reference to article 17 of the minute of meeting of 3 February 2021, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which provided information on the outcomes of the Wellington Road Multimodal Corridor Study Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) Part 2 Appraisal.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the outcomes of the Wellington Road STAG Part 2 Appraisal; and

(b)      approve the progression of the recommended hybrid package as detailed in section 3.10 of the report; and

(c)      subject to agreement on recommendation (b), instruct the Chief Officers – Capital and Strategic Place Planning to progress outline design, route option assessment and Outline Business Case as soon as funding and resource is identified, and report the outcomes back to this Committee once completed.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to approve recommendations (a) and (b); and

(ii)       to agree to refer recommendation (c) to the budget setting process.

With reference to article 12 of the minute of meeting of 11 May 2021, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which provided an update on the delivery of the 2020 Socio-Economic Rescue Plan.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the current status of the Socio-Economic Rescue Plan;

(b)      note the ongoing implementation and proposed development of the Aberdeen City Council Business Charter; and

(c)      instruct the Chief Officer - City Growth to present to the February meeting of the committee details in respect of an Aberdeen Community Wealth Building approach to maximising local economic impact and an integrated approach by the Council to supporting businesses and the delivery of investment opportunities.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

Please note that exempt appendices are contained within the Exempt Appendices section of this agenda.

With references to article 29 of the minute of meeting of 28 October 2020, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources, which sought approval of an updated 3-year Condition and Suitability (C&S) Programme.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the projects completed or legally committed to date in 2021/22 as shown in Appendix A;

(b)      note the currently approved projects and approves the amended estimated budgets for each project as shown in Appendix B;

(c)      approve the new Condition & Suitability Programme projects listed in Appendix C for inclusion in the 3-year Condition & Suitability Programme and approves the estimated budget for each project and delegates authority to the Chief Officer - Capital, following consultation with the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services, to consider and approve procurement business cases for each of these projects for the purposes of Procurement Regulation 4.1.1.2; and thereafter to procure appropriate works and services, and enter into any contracts necessary for the projects without the need for further approval from any other Committee of the Council;

(d)      approve the removal of the projects listed in Appendix D; and

(e)      delegate authority to the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord, following consultation with the Capital Board and the Convener and Vice-Convener of this Committee, to amend the C&S Programme should priorities change due to unforeseen circumstances during the year, with such changes to be reported retrospectively to the Committee.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

In accordance with the decision recorded under article 1 of this minute, the following items of business were considered with the press and public excluded.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Customer Services, which sought approval to send out invitations to tender for the relocation of Dyce Library to a new library within Dyce Community Learning Centre.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee approve the Dyce Community Library Procurement Business Case shown in Appendix 1 for the purposes of Procurement Regulation 4.1.1 and delegates authority to the Chief Officer – Capital, following consultation with the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services, to procure appropriate works and services, and enter any contracts necessary for this project without the need for further approval from any other Committee of the Council.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendation.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources, which advised members of the outcome of the recent marketing exercise of the property known as Rosehill House, Ashgrove Road West, Aberdeen.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      approve the recommendation as detailed in paragraph 3.7 of the report; and

(b)      instruct the Chief Officer – Governance to conclude missives for the sale of the property incorporating various qualifications as are necessary to protect the Council’s interest, together with any other matters as are required to complete the sale of the property.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it exempt appendices relating to the Condition and Suitability 3 Year Programme report. Article 21 of this minute refers.

The Committee resolved:-

to note the information provided within the exempt appendices.

-         COUNCILLOR RYAN HOUGHTON, Convener