Cabinet - Thursday 27 November 2008

Present at the meeting:

• Councillor P R C Smith (Executive Leader) (In the Chair).
• Councillor D T Molyneux (Cabinet Champion for Environment and Regeneration)
• Councillor J B Baldwin (Cabinet Champion for Cultural).
• Councillor J Hilton (Cabinet Champion for Lifestyle)
• Councillor Mrs S Loudon (Cabinet Champion for Children and Young People).
• Councillor C Ready (Cabinet Champion for Improvement)

150 Apologies for absence: Councillor K Anderson (Cabinet Champion for Neighbourhood), Councillor K Cunliffe (Cabinet Champion for Healthier Communities and Older People), Councillor T W Halliwell (Cabinet Champion for Equality and Councillor P Prescott (Cabinet Champion for Organisational Change)

151 Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 13 November 2008 were approved as a correct record.

152 Exclusion of the public - section 100a Local Government Act 1972: Resolved: The public is excluded from the meeting when the Cabinet discusses the following items for the reasons set out below:-

153 Childcare sufficiency strategies: The Cabinet considered a report, which informed Members of the duty on local authorities to produce a three year strategy that secured sufficient child care, as stipulated in section 11 of the Childcare Act 2006.

Members were advised that the Childcare Strategy had been developed as a response to the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment report, which took into account the local authority’s duty to develop a brokerage service. This service would act as a link between the authority’s duty to assess and secure sufficient childcare and its duty to provide information, advice and assistance to parents.

There were no alternative options available for consideration.

Resolved: The Cabinet approves the draft Childcare Strategy.

154 Business case for Wigan and Leigh Housing (WALH) participation in new housing development: The Cabinet considered a report, that informed Members of the business case developed by Wigan and Leigh Housing for the possible development of new affordable housing. The business case had been designed to take advantage of the new opportunities to bid for grants from the Homes and Communities Agency (formally Housing Corporation).

The Deputy Leader suggested that a provision for ensuring the creation of local jobs should be incorporated into the business case as well as any future building programmes within the Borough. Furthermore, Cabinet was advised that the Learning and Skills Council for Construction had funding available to train people to assist them with future job opportunities.

The report set out details of the alternative option to be considered.

Resolved: The Cabinet:-

• accepts the Wigan and Leigh Housing business case;
• agrees, in principle, that a bid is developed and submitted to the Homes and Communities Agency
• agrees that the detail of the bid is brought back to Cabinet in January 2009; and
• agrees that officers proceed with the longer term development of this programme for subsequent bids to be made and to explore linkages with wider Council Regeneration Programmes.

155 Housing Revenue Account budget briefing – subsidy determination 2009/10: The Cabinet considered a report, which informed Members of the implications of the draft Housing Revenue Account (HRA) subsidy determination 2009/10. The report also sought Members views on the preparation of the HRA estimates for 2009/10.

The report set out details of the alternative option to be considered.

Resolved: The Cabinet:-

• agrees that other rental increase options are considered in addition to the option to comply with the Governments rent restructuring guidance; and
• agrees that the Executive Leader writes to the Department for Communities and Local Government and local Members of Parliament expressing the Council’s concern with the guidance received and its implications.

156 Housing response to the economic recession: The Cabinet considered a report, that advised Members of the effects the current economic climate and recession was having on Wigan’s housing situation. The report also detailed what measures were being implemented and developed to help relieve those affected the most.

The report set out details of the alternative option to be considered.

Resolved: The Cabinet:-

• accepts the report; and
• agrees that a further report be brought back to Cabinet in January 2009 which will detail a series of outlined options/proposals.

157 Stage one proposal to permanently increase the size of St Peter’s CE Primary School, Hindley: The Cabinet considered a report, which informed Members of St Peter’s CE Primary School Governing Body’s proposal to increase in its current admission number of 35 to 45 pupils. Members were advised that the proposal was supported by the Liverpool CE Diocese and stage one consultation had been conducted by the Governing Body.

The report set out details of the alternative option to be considered.

Resolved: The Cabinet:-

• supports the Governing Body’s proposal to increase its admission number to 45; and
• requests the Executive Director of Children and Young People’s Services to inform the School’s Governing Body of its response.

158 Credit Crunch: The Cabinet considered a report and presentation, which informed Members of the effect the current economic climate was having on the Council, its employees and residents within the Borough. Members were advised that following a number of information sharing exercises between statutory and voluntary sector providers, a number of action points had been developed to address both short term and medium to long term problems.

There were no alternative options available for consideration.

The Executive Leader suggested that debt advice should be made available in courts and that the Council could not let the economic climate affect its goal in continuing to achieve efficiency savings.

Members discussed the need to support the work undertaken by Credit Unions. The Executive Leader suggested that the Council entered into discussions with its partner, the Co-operative Bank, to discuss options to support the work of the Credit Unions.

Resolved: The Cabinet authorises officers to investigate in more detail, the suggested ideas put forward by Members, on impacting positively on the lives of residents of the Borough during this time of economic downturn.

159 Sustainable Communities Strategy: The Cabinet considered a report, which outlined the work that had taken place to develop the new long term Sustainable Communities Strategy for the Borough. The strategy would be used as a tool to underpin future partnership working with its core priorities linked into the Local Area Agreement.

There were no alternative options available for consideration.

Resolved: The Cabinet:-

endorses the implementation of the new Sustainable Communities Strategy as a long term core plan for the Borough

agrees that the strategy forms part of the Council’s Policy framework;

endorses the alignment of the Local Area Agreement with the strategy; and

places on record its thanks to Local Strategic Partners for their support in the development of the strategy.

160 Wigan Local Development Framework – 4th annual monitoring report: The Cabinet considered a report, that informed Members of the fourth annual monitoring report on the Council’s Local Development Framework. The report was required to be submitted to the Secretary of State before the end of December 2008.

There were no alternative options available for consideration.

Resolved: The Cabinet:-

• approves the report now submitted; and
• delegates authority to the Executive Director of Environmental Services, in consultation with the Deputy Leader, to approve the uncompleted factual sections of the report.

161 Building Schools for the Future – Expressions of Interest: The Cabinet considered a report, which informed Members of the suggested local priorities for investment, following guidance from the department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), on revising and submitting expressions of interest for projects in Waves 7 to 15 of Building Schools for the Future. Members were advised that the priorities must be consulted on in order to receive final approval and funding from central Government.

There were no alternative options available for consideration.

The Executive Leader moved the following proposal:-

“In approving the Expression of Interest for Building Schools for the Future, Cabinet is mindful of the benefits from this £280 million bid for regenerating communities, improving the quality of local public services and raising the aspirations of the whole Borough”.

Resolved:- The Cabinet:-

• endorses the Executive Leader’s proposal; and
• approves the Expression of Interest for inclusion in Waves 7 to 15 of the Building Schools for the Future programme.

(Councillor J B Baldwin declared a personal and non-prejudicial interest in this item as he is a board member of Wigan Leisure Culture Trust)

162 Waste treatment options: The Cabinet considered a report, which informed Members of the outcome of the option appraisal for the disposal of municipal solid waste when the current arrangements came to an end in 2012.

The report set out details of the alternative option to be considered.

Resolved: The Cabinet:-

• authorises the Executive Director of Environmental Services to pursue dialogue with Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) to enable a detailed evaluation of the consequences to the Council of becoming a full member of the GMWDA;
• authorises the Executive Director of Environmental Service to continue discussions with Waste Recycling Group (WRG) and that officers review any proposals brought forward as a direct comparison to the detailed GMWDA proposal; and
• agrees that a further report recommending a proposed solution is brought back to Cabinet in March 2009

163 Lease of land at Chapel Lane, Wigan to Virgin Trains for a 12 month period: The Cabinet considered a report, which informed Members of a proposal to grant a 12 month lease to Virgin Trains, for the use Chapel Lane car park as a temporary car park for passengers using North Western Train Station, whilst the existing station car park was converted to a multi-storey car park.

The report set out details of the alternative option to be considered.

Resolved: The Cabinet approves the granting of a 12 month lease to Virgin Trains to operate a car park at Chapel Lane for passengers of North Western Station.