Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Greenwell, Bastiman and Deans

The minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 20 January 2010 were presented.

Two amendments were proposed:

Minute 29v be amended to read

“That payment of any surpluses to Richmondshire District Council would not take place until the deficit as at 31 March 2010 to the existing partners is fully refunded, and the reserves exceed £150,000

Minute 29 vii be amended to read

That a working party be arranged to review the structure from the 31 July 2010 following full details of the changes to Building Control Services nationally

Resolved:            That the minutes of the Board held on 20 January 2010 as amended be approved and signed as a correct record

To receive notice of any urgent business which the Chairman considers should be dealt with at the meeting as a matter of urgency by virtue of Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There was no urgent Business

Members to indicate whether they will be declaring any interests under the Code of Conduct.

Members making a declaration of interest at a meeting of a Committee or Council are required to disclose the existence and nature of that interest.  This requirement is not discharged by merely declaring a personal interest without further explanation.

No declarations of interest were received

Members considered a report which presented the revised budget for the financial year 2010/11.

A revised budget had been considered at the meeting on 20^th January 2010 as a result of the enlargement of the partnership by the inclusion of Richmondshire District Council.  At that meeting, no formal adoption had been made of the revised budget, which was a requirement for both internal and external auditing purposes.

An amendment was moved by Councillor Mackman and seconded by Councillor Cottam.

The amendment was “That the revised budget as set out in Annex A to the report as amended be adopted for a six month period and then revisited”

Upon being put to the vote the amendment was carried

Resolved:            That the revised budget as set out in Annex A to the report as amended be adopted for a six month period and then revisited.

Members considered a report which presented them with details of the financial performance of the Partnership for the months of April 2009 to February 2010 inclusive.

The overall deficit for the Partnership was £1,666 against a profiled original budgeted deficit of £27,240.  The balance on the reserve account was £63,512.  As at 28 February 2010 the partner authorities would have to contribute £73,512, (£18,378 each) in order to maintain a minimum balance on the reserve account of £10,000. 

Resolved:                   That the financial performance of the North Yorkshire                                            Building Control Partnership for the period 1 April 2009 to                                 28 February 2010 be noted.

Members considered a report which sought approval of the adoption of a revised legal agreement.

The legal agreement initially developed in 2001 when Ryedale and Selby building control functions merged had been amended over the years with the inclusion of Hambleton and Scarborough building control sections.  The amendments which took place on an ad-hoc basis did not clearly reflect the operation and financial position of the Partnership.

Annexed to the report was a revised Partnership Agreement which incorporated revisions to the sharing of redundancy, severance and Partner termination costs.

Members  suggested slight amendments to para 9.1, 9.1.3, 15.1 15.4.6 and 16.1, and an amendment to Schedule 1 para 5.  Subject to these amendments it was

Resolved:            That the variation to the Legal Agreement as set out in Appendix A of the report be adopted and issued for signature by each partner Council.

Members considered a report which sought approval for a revision to the Building Regulation Charges for the partnership for the financial year 2010/11.

In December 2009, revised charges as set out in appendix 1 to the report were approved which included an increase in the percentage of deposit charge for domestic extensions from £130 to £200 with a corresponding decrease in the inspection charge. Since the approval, it became apparent that a 50/50 split (plan checking/inspection) was more appropriate.  The report proposed an increase in the plan charge by a further £30 for the domestic extension categories.  The increase would improve cash flow slightly in the short term.

Resolved:            That the scale of charges as set out in Appendix 1 be adopted with effect from 1 April 2010.

Members were informed of a requirement to appoint a new firm of external auditors, as the Partnership had exceeded the £1m income/expenditure threshold for the last 3 years.

Resolved:            That Deloittes be appointed as external auditors to the North Yorkshire Building Control Partnership for the financial year 2009/2010.

Resolved:                 That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of items 8 and 10 on the grounds that they contained information which related to the financial or business affairs of the Partnership, as provided by Paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).  The public interest test has been considered and, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption is considered to outweigh the public interest in disclosing the information.

Members considered a report which sought approval for the Marketing plan annexed to the report  to be approved.

The business plan had identified the need to develop a marketing plan to ensure that a consistent approach was made for the marketing of the service.  The plan had been developed by the partnership to explore new ways of delivering the service through information technology, staffing resources and improved channels of communications with customers.

Members enquired if a trading company could be set up to aid the competitiveness of the partnership.  It was agreed that a report would be bought to a future meeting on the integration  and development of various IT systems to maximise efficiencies and deliver a customer facing service.

Resolved:            That the Marketing Plan as set out in Appendix A be adopted.

Members considered a report which sought approval to adopt the Partnership Business plan for the year 2010/2011.

The original business plan was set out in accordance with Comprehensive Area Assessment requirements.  The plan had been revised to take account of an increase in marketing to counter the downturn in the economic climate, integration of Richmondshire District Council’s building control function, increased focus on the development and integration of IT systems to achieve maximum service efficiency to meet the expected increase in workload as the economic recovery began.

Resolved:            That the Business Plan as set out in Appendix A be adopted.