Agenda and minutes

Councillor K Vickers substituted for Councillor H Rowson.

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests and personal or personal and prejudicial interests.

No whip was declared.

Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting of this panel held on 22 February 2022, having been printed and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the Chairman.

There were no public speaking requests.

The Chairman informed the meeting that Councillor Yeadon had, in accordance with the council’s Procedure Rules, submitted an added item on the ‘proceeds of property sold in the financial year 2020 to 2021.  The added item request also sought an explanation of the procedures followed by the council and its considerations prior to selling the property.

The Chairman welcomed Councillor Yeadon to the meeting and invited her to outline the reasons why the added item was submitted.

The Chairman then welcomed Becky McIntrye and Nina Torr to the meeting, the council’s Director: Governance and Communities and Assistant Director: Resources and Performance respectively.

Mrs McIntyre and Mrs Torr guided the Panel through a presentation which provided clarity on the key property financial transactions that occurred during the financial year 2020 to 2021, as well as the processes and procedures that the council followed when selling one of its assets.

Following the presentation, the Chairman invited Councillor Yeadon to respond to the points made by the Director and Assistant Director.

The Chairman then invited other panel members to question the council officers.

Resolved – (a) That Councillor Yeadon, Director: Governance and Communities and the Assistant Director: Resources and Performance be thanked for their attendance and contribution at the meeting, and (b) that the Director: Economy and Environment and Assistant Director: Place be invited to a future meeting to discuss with members the considerations that were made when deciding whether to dispose of an asset and what monitoring was undertaken following the completion of the sale.

The Chairman welcomed Becky McIntyre, the council's Director: Governance and Communities and James O'Shaughnessy, the council's Head of Strategy and Insight to the meeting.  Mrs McIntyre and Mr O’Shaughnessy had been invited to the meeting to discuss with members the steps taken to produce the draft Council Plan for 2022-2025.

Members heard that the Council Plan was the key corporate document which outlined the priorities for the Council and the place of North Lincolnshire over the next three years.  The Council was currently working to a Council Plan covering the period 2018-2021.  It was reviewed in 2020, however, to ensure that strategic activity remained focused on priority areas and potential opportunities, a new Council Plan spanning the period 2022-2025 was proposed.

The draft Plan presented the vision for North Lincolnshire.  It identified future priorities and desired outcomes which were based on evidence collated from assessments of the international, national, regional and local contexts which the Council operated within, residents’ feedback, and key macro and locally based data related to economic, environment, deprivation and health matters.

Much of the evidence base was contained in the recently completed North Lincolnshire Profile 2022

To determine the priorities for the new Plan an assessment had been made of the on-going relevance of the priorities and desired outcomes detailed in its predecessor.

The outcomes were:

Ø  People in North Lincolnshire feel SAFE

Ø  People in North Lincolnshire were WELL

Ø  North Lincolnshire was more PROSPEROUS

Ø  North Lincolnshire was better CONNECTED

With the priorities for North Lincolnshire set out as:

Ø  Keeping people safe and well

Ø  Enabling resilient and flourishing communities

Ø  Enabling economic growth and renewal

Members were informed that it was proposed that a fourth priority be publicly declared, which described how the Council would work to deliver against its intentions:

Ø  Providing value for money for local taxpayers.

Within each priority, a number of areas of focus had been identified.  These were designed to help focus Council activity on matters of particular significance and to take positive action over the lifespan of the new Plan.  Members were comprehensively guided through the areas of focus, before the Chairman facilitated a discussion between the Panel and the Director and Head of Service.

Resolved – (a) That the report be noted; (b) that the draft Council Plan 2022-2025 be presented for approval at the Annual Meeting of the Council on 18th May 2022, with the recommendation that it be adopted as a policy framework document, and (c) that the Director: Governance and Communities and Head of Strategy and Insight be thanked for their attendance, verbal presentation and for answering members’ questions.

There were no urgent items for consideration at the meeting.