(public pack)agenda document for council, 19/01/2017 10:00

AGENDAMEETING VENUE:

Anglia Room, The Conference Suite, Elizabeth House,

Dereham

Our Ref: JB

Contact: Julie BrittonDirect Dial: 01362 656343e-mail: [email protected]

Date: Tuesday, 10 January 2017

Dear Sir/Madam,

Members of the Council are hereby summoned to a Meeting of the District Council which will be held at 10.00 am on Thursday, 19th January, 2017 in the Anglia Room, The Conference Suite, Elizabeth House, Dereham

Yours faithfully

Anna GravesChief Executive

The Democratic Services Officer to call the roll of Members

Members are asked to note that a Safeguarding presentation will take place immediately after the meeting – all Members are invited to attend

Members of the Council requiring further information, or with specific questions, are asked to raise these with the appropriate officer at least two working days before the meeting. If the information requested is available, this will be provided, and reported to Council.

Public Document Pack

Council19 January 2017

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SAFEGUARDING BRIEFINGAll Members are asked to attend a briefing on Safeguarding issues that will take place immediately following this Full Council meeting.

The briefing session is being presented by Breckland Training Services.

1. MINUTES 6 - 11

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 8 December 2016.

2. APOLOGIES To receive apologies for absence.

3. DECLARATION OF INTERESTS The duties to register, disclose and not to participate for the entire consideration of the matter, in respect of any matter in which a Member has a disclosable pecuniary interest are set out in Chapter 7 of the Localism Act 2011. Members are also required to withdraw from the meeting room as stated in the Standing Orders of this Council.

4. CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS 12 - 13

5. LEADER'S ANNOUNCEMENTS To receive a verbal update from Councillor Nunn, Leader of the Council.

6. QUESTIONS ON NOTICE UNDER STANDING ORDER NO 6

7. QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE UNDER STANDING ORDER NO 7

8. CABINET MINUTES 14 - 18

Unconfirmed minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 3 January 2017.

9. OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMISSION

a) 24 November 2016 19 - 24

Confirmed Minutes of the Overview & Scrutiny Commission meeting held on 24 November 2016.

b) 5 January 2017 25 - 27

Unconfirmed Minutes of the Overview & Scrutiny Commission meeting held on 5 January 2017.

10. PLANNING COMMITTEE 28 - 40

Confirmed Minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 12 December 2016.


11. GOVERNANCE & AUDIT COMMITTEE 41 - 48

Unconfirmed Minutes of the Governance & Audit Committee meeting held on 9 December 2016.

Members are asked to note that the recommendation at Minute No.66/16 will be considered under Agenda item 12.

12. GOVERNANCE AND AUDIT COMMITTEE - TERMS OF REFERENCE REVIEW

49 - 56

Report of the Executive Director, Commercialisation (Statutory S151 Officer).

13. BRECKLAND STREET NAMING & NUMBERING POLICY 57 - 95

Report of the Executive Director, Place.

14. SNETTERTON ELECTRICITY POWER UPGRADE PROJECT 96 - 104

Report of the Executive Director, Commercialisation (S151 Officer).

15. HR POLICY HANDBOOK 105 - 144

Report of the Executive Manager, People & Public Protection.

16. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT REMUNERATION PANEL ON MEMBERS SCHEME OF ALLOWANCES 2017-2018

145 - 156

Report of the Executive Manager, Governance.

17. APPOINTMENT OF NEW S151 AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMERCIALISATION

157 - 159

Report of the Executive Director, Strategy & Governance.

18. NOMINATIONS FOR COMMITTEE AND OTHER SEATS To receive nominations for any changes to Committee and other seats from political groups.

19. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION The Constitution went through a full review during 2015/16 and a revised Constitution was approved by the Council on 21 January 2016. As Members are aware, there have been a number of amendments made since that date including, amongst other things, changes to the Terms of Reference of some Committees. The Constitution contains a number of general delegations to Officers. In addition, over time, individual delegations are granted to Officers by the Cabinet, the Council and its Committees. These delegations remain in effect but it would be helpful, should we ever need to evidence the position, to have a Council resolution confirming this. Council is therefore asked to approve the following: “That the Council confirms that all delegations granted by individual decision-

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making bodies and individuals such as the Cabinet, individual Executive Members or Officers, the Council and all Committees and Sub-Committees remain and will continue to remain in full force and effect unless and until specifically withdrawn notwithstanding any past or future changes to the Constitution including any changes to the Terms of Reference of decision-making bodies and individuals”

20. ANY OTHER ITEMS WHICH THE CHAIRMAN DECIDES ARE URGENT - NOTE: No other business is permitted unless by reason of special

circumstances, which shall be specified in the minutes, the Chairman is of the opinion that the items(s) should be considered as a matter of urgency.

21. EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC To consider passing the following resolution:

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act”.

PART B – ITEMS FROM WHICH THE PRESS AND THE PUBLIC ARE EXCLUDED

22. FINANCIAL SERVICES - SERVICE REVIEW 160 - 167

Report of Anna Graves, Head of Paid Services.

For InformationCHAIRMAN AND EXECUTIVE MEMBERS' SURGERY

At the end of the Council meeting, Chairmen of Committees and Executive Members will be available to members who wish to put forward specific questions, for example on ward issues.

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BRECKLAND COUNCIL

At a Meeting of the

COUNCIL

Held on Thursday, 8 December 2016 at 10.00 am in theAnglia Room, The Conference Suite, Elizabeth House, Dereham

PRESENTMr T J AshbyMr S.G. BambridgeMrs E J BishopMr W.P. Borrett (Chairman)Mr R. F. W. BrameCouncillor M. Chapman-AllenMr S H Chapman-AllenMr J.P. CowenMr D M CrawfordMr P. R. W. DarbyMr P. M. M. DimoglouMr R.W. DuffieldMr P.J. DuiganMr K.S. GilbertCouncillor E. GouldMr P.J. HewettMrs J. HollisMr T. J. JermyMr A.P. Joel

Mr K. MartinMrs S.M. MatthewsMrs K. Millbank (Vice-Chairman)Mrs L.H. MonumentMr T F C MonumentMr M J NairnMr J.W. NunnMr D R R OliverMr R. R. RichmondMr W. R. J. RichmondMr M. S. RobinsonMr J.D. RogersMr F.J. SharpeMr W.H.C. SmithMr A.C. StasiakMr M. A. WassellMrs A M WebbMr N.C. WilkinMr P S Wilkinson

In AttendanceAnna Graves - Chief ExecutiveMaxine O'Mahony - Executive Director of Strategy &

GovernanceRobert Leigh - Executive Manager People & InformationJulie Britton - Democratic Services Officer

Action By

140/16 MINUTES (AGENDA ITEM 1)

The Minutes of the meeting held on 27 October 2016 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

141/16 APOLOGIES (AGENDA ITEM 2)

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Askew, Bowes, C Carter, T Carter, Clarke, Claussen, Jolly, Newton, Sherwood, Taylor and Turner.

142/16 DECLARATION OF INTERESTS (AGENDA ITEM 3)

None.

143/16 CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS (AGENDA ITEM 4)

The Chairman’s engagement list had been attached to the agenda but he had also been busy at the Dereham Sorting Office looking at the work being carried out by Royal Mail at their busiest time of the year. He had been very impressed and

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Agenda Item 1

Council8 December 2016

2

conveyed his best wishes for a very Merry Christmas. He also reminded Members of his Civic Service on 12 January 2017 which was being held at St Nicholas Church in Dereham at 6pm and asked Members to respond if they had not already done so. Invitations for his Reception on 16 March 2017 would be sent out in due course.

It was noted that the Safeguarding presentation which followed the Council meeting had been cancelled.

144/16 LEADER'S ANNOUNCEMENTS (AGENDA ITEM 5)

The Leader of the Council gave a brief update on the following subjects:

A short film was shown from the start of the Riverside development in Thetford to completion. The Leader was confident that this development would bring regeneration to the town as it had been well received and had gone from strength to strength; it had also been endorsed by colleagues who had been against it at the beginning. He was pleased to announce that the Grand Central Restaurant would be open for business in the New Year and felt it to be appropriate to have a café culture alongside the river.

A petition was coming forward from Thetford Town Council; the subject matter being the former Cottage Hospital site at Earl Street in Thetford. The Thetford Labour Party had asked for it to be debated at the next Full Council meeting in January 2017. The Leader was aware of this site but was also aware that this authority could not do everything for every town and village in Breckland; however, he mentioned a piece of work that South Holland District Council was undertaking called unsightly sites and felt that this authority should do everything it could through the Town and Parish Councils to bring forward this type of work. He pointed out the many difficulties that the Council faced when it came to privately owned buildings including the legal ramifications but the Council had a duty of care to its constituents and therefore he had tasked the Overview & Scrutiny Commission (O&SC) to take these matters forward for debate.

Devolution had disappeared for now but there was still a potential piece of work going on and it was agreed that the Chief Executive and the Leader would engage in this conversation and work with the coalition to discuss Norfolk’s future moving forward. Members would be notified if any funding was required by way of a report to Full Council.

Funding had been secured from Norfolk County Council for the duelling of the A11 corridor.

A full Corporate Peer Review would be taking place from Monday, 12 December 2016; some Members had already been invited to meet the Peer Team at 6pm on Wednesday, 14 December. The Leader felt that Peer Reviews only worked if Members engage.

Councillor Brame queried the submission of the petition as he believed that it had not come from Thetford Town Council and felt that this matter should have been debated at a Full Council meeting and asked that the public be informed that Breckland Council would do its best for any site in Thetford. The Leader agreed and had been dismayed that a petition had been submitted instead of having a discussion. He pointed out that any Member should be able to approach him and have a debate and as the Leader he

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would do everything he could as the Council had a duty of care. He reminded Members of the graffiti issues that had been resolved; this would have been a great opportunity to work collaboratively for the community and felt upset that some Members had played politics with a matter such as this.

On the subject of Riverside, Councillor Jermy praised the Council for the successful opening event and felt that the key test would be the extent of regeneration to support the wider town centre. The Leader advised that there was a Market Town Initiative going on at the moment. Regeneration had to be about sustainable projects going forward and not about funding projects in the short term. Councillor Joel asked that the subject of unsightly sites be brought to the O&SC sooner rather than later. Councillor Gould, the Chairman of O&SC thought this would be an interesting topic but was cross with Councillor Jermy as Breckland Council had invested a great deal of money in the town and was at a loss as to what the Town Council actually did. The Leader said that he would be happy for him and the Chief Executive to attend a Town Council meeting if invited to have an unpolitical dialogue of what the Council could assist with but it was up to the Town Councils to come forward with ideas. Councillor Jermy clarified that the aim of the petition was to get the best outcome for the building.

Councillor Dimoglou reminded Members that the Riverside development had been delivered on time and within budget and asked if it would be appropriate to send a letter of thanks to Breckland Bridge and The Land Group. The Leader agreed and also conveyed his thanks to the Breckland Team, everyone had done an excellent job and all should be congratulated.

145/16 QUESTIONS ON NOTICE UNDER STANDING ORDER NO 6 (AGENDA ITEM 6)

Councillor Jermy had been given the response to his question which had been in relation to the petition, the Cottage Hospital site.

146/16 QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE UNDER STANDING ORDER NO 7 (AGENDA ITEM 7)

The Chairman reminded Members that questions without notice on any matter can be asked but must be specific to the Leader’s or Portfolio Holder’s area of responsibility.

Councillor Jermy thanked the Leader and the Chairman for the opportunity of tabling his question at the meeting. The reason he had taken this approach was due to it being nearly 10 years since the NHS had moved out of the Cottage Hospital and in 2012 Breckland Council had enforced a clean-up of the site and had written to the owners accordingly; what he wanted to know was whether an Enforcement Officer had visited the site or not. In response, the Leader advised that he had been made aware that Environmental Health had contacted the owners to tidy the site on three occasions. Councillor Jermy knew that the Council had substantial powers to bring empty/derelict buildings back into use and asked the Leader if Breckland could do something else before going down the litigation route. The Leader explained that Breckland could do something with the private individual about this site but all were hugely expensive and suggested working together with the community to have that conversation to address that site going forward.

On another subject, Councillor Joel conveyed his thanks to Better Broadband for installing six new green fibre-optic boxes in his Ward and asked if this could be extended to the villages surrounding Attleborough. The Leader reminded Members

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that this would be rolled out to all communities in Breckland. In response to a further question about when the £950k that the Council committed to the Better Broadband project would be released, the Leader explained that this money was not actually needed at the moment as the more people signing up to Broadband the more money BT could recycle back into the project but when it was needed it would be released. Councillor Sharpe was pleased that the money had not been drawn down as yet but asked about the £950k match-funding pot and whether it had been used in Breckland for Breckland projects. Members were assured that it would be used in the correct areas. Councillor Darby asked if broadband installation should be included in Breckland’s Planning Policies and gave an example of a developer that had approached BT to install a fibre-optic cabinet in a recently built housing site in Swaffham. Councillor Wassell confirmed that this had and could be done and had tried to have the conversation with Capita to ensure that these matters could be dealt with as part of every application on new development as broadband should be included as a major utility. He asked if Members could get some assurance that further conversation be had with Capita as a matter of course as this was affectively, in his opinion, a major utility. In response, the Deputy Leader explained that no condition could be placed on a planning application but all developers were encouraged to do this on new developments of over 30 dwellings.

147/16 CABINET MINUTES (AGENDA ITEM 8)

1. Breckland Bridge Strategic Site Review – Planning Activity (Minute No. 120/16)

Councillor Cowen, the Executive Member for Growth & Commercialisation had recently been informed that Breckland Council now had a five year land supply and therefore felt it to be inappropriate to approve this recommendation at this stage but to take the report back to Cabinet for further review.

Members were asked if they were content with this proposal, and it was

RESOLVED that:

the Breckland Bridge Strategic Site Review recommendation to initiate submission of planning applications at two sites as described not be approved;

the £120,000 of funding which was subject to Breckland Bridge undertaking pre-planning community consultation resulting in a positive outcome not be released; and

the delegation to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the relevant Ward Councillor to release the funding on satisfaction of the positive outcome of the community consultation not be provided.

RECOMMEND that the report be returned to a future Cabinet meeting for further review.<1>

2. ICT Strategy (Minute No. 123/16)

It was noted that this matter would be discussed under Agenda item 18 at the exclusion of the press and the public.

<1> Ralph Burton, Rebecca Duncan, Teresa Smith

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3. Adoption

RESOLVED that the unconfirmed Minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 22 November 2016 be adopted.

148/16 OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMISSION (AGENDA ITEM 9)

RESOLVED that the unconfirmed Minutes of the Overview & Scrutiny Commission meeting held on 13 October 2016 be adopted; subject to a correction under Minute No. 80/16 to read ‘YAB’ not ‘YAP’.

149/16 PLANNING COMMITTEE (AGENDA ITEM 10)

149 .a Confirmed Minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 17 October 2016

RESOLVED that the confirmed Minutes of the Planning Committee held on 17 October 2016 be adopted.

149 .b Unconfirmed Minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 14 November 2016

RESOLVED that the unconfirmed Minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 14 November 2016 be adopted.

150/16 COMMITTEE OF THE LICENSING AUTHORITY (AGENDA ITEM 11)

RESOLVED that the unconfirmed Minutes of the Committee of the Licensing Authority meeting held on 12 October 2016 be adopted.

151/16 LICENSING COMMITTEE (AGENDA ITEM 12)

RESOLVED that the unconfirmed Minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 12 October 2016 be adopted.

152/16 MEMBER DEVELOPMENT PANEL (AGENDA ITEM 13)

1. Councillor Development Financial Plan 2017/18 – 2021/22 (Minute No. 50/16)

The Leader had been surprised to note the paragraph where it mentioned the large cost of the Leadership training in Warwick as it was actually free and for a 5 day course was excellent value.

2. Adoption

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Member Development Panel meeting held on 10 November 2016 be adopted.

Councillor Bishop commended the Officers for being awarded Charter Plus and felt that all had worked very hard to achieve such status.

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153/16 NOMINATIONS FOR COMMITTEE AND OTHER SEATS (AGENDA ITEM 14)

RESOLVED that:

1. Councillor Nairn be appointed as a Member of the Overview & Scrutiny Commission.

2. Councillor Bishop be appointed as a substitute Member of the Governance & Audit Committee.

154/16 AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION (AGENDA ITEM 15)

None.

155/16 ANY OTHER ITEMS WHICH THE CHAIRMAN DECIDES ARE URGENT (AGENDA ITEM 16)

The Chief Executive encouraged Members to wear Christmas jumpers/earrings on 19 December 2016 a £1 donation would be collected towards the Chairman’s charity SSAFA (Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families).

156/16 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC (AGENDA ITEM 17)

RESOLVED that under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

157/16 ICT STRATEGY (AGENDA ITEM 18)

Councillor Webb, the Executive Member for People & Information presented the report and provided Members with a detailed overview of the proposal.

A question was asked about staffing issues, the Executive Manager, Information advised that new posts would be created but not over and above existing staff.

Councillor Cowen and Councillor Bambridge wholeheartedly supported the recommendation.

The Officers involved were thanked for all their hard work.

RESOLVED that the recommendations (3) and (4) as listed in the report be approved.

The meeting closed at 11.05 am

CHAIRMAN

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Engagement List - Chairman

8th December 2016 – 18th January 2017

Date Event Host

8th December, 2016 Festive Delivery Office Visit Royal Mail Group

8th December, 2016 Mayor’s At Home Reception Mayor & Mayoress of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, Councillor David and Mrs. Linda Whitby

12th December, 2016 CO & Officers of 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards drinks reception

CO & Officers of 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards

12th January, 2017 Breckland Council Civic Service Breckland Council Chairman

Councillor Bill Borrett12

Agenda Item

4

Engagement List - Vice-Chairman

8th December 2016 – 18th January 2017

Date Event Host

12th January, 2017

Breckland Council Civic Service Breckland Council Chairman

Councillor Bill Borrett

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BRECKLAND COUNCIL

At a Meeting of the

CABINET

Held on Tuesday, 3 January 2017 at 9.30 am inNorfolk & Dereham Rooms, The Conference Suite, Elizabeth House, Dereham

PRESENTMr J.W. Nunn (Chairman)Mr S H Chapman-Allen (Vice-Chairman)Mr S.G. Bambridge

Mr P. M. M. DimoglouMr M. S. RobinsonMrs A M Webb

Also PresentMr W.P. BorrettMr P.D. ClaussenMr D M Crawford

Mrs J. HollisMr J Newton

In AttendanceAnna Graves - Chief ExecutiveSuzanne Jones - Interim Executive Director Commercialisation and

s151 OfficerRob Walker - Executive Director PlaceTeresa Smith - Democratic Services Team Leader

Action By

1/17 MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 November 2016 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

2/17 APOLOGIES

Apologies were received from Councillors Cowen and Turner.

3/17 URGENT BUSINESS

None.

4/17 DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

None.

5/17 NON-MEMBERS WISHING TO ADDRESS THE MEETING

Councillors Borrett, Claussen, Crawford, Hollis, Newton and Wilkin.

6/17 CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Leader announced that Councillor Lynda Turner had resigned from the Cabinet with effect from 31 December 2016 and thanked her for her contributions to the Cabinet.

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Agenda Item 8

Cabinet3 January 2017

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7/17 BRECKLAND COMMUNITY FUNDING APPLICATIONS

The Executive Director Place presented the report to Members.

Councillor Bambridge asked if the project could be extended into the villages within the District. This would be considered at a future date, depending on funding available.

Councillor Webb asked why Swaffham was not included. It was explained that the numbers had been based on a pilot study, take-up had not been sufficient with Swaffham.

Councillor Dimoglou felt that whilst it was a good scheme the cost per head appeared excessive. The Executive Director Place said that if the intervention was not available the cost on alternative health providers would far outweigh the cost of the project and therefore save the wider public purse.

Councillor Borrett welcomed the report, adding that it fitted in well with the County Council programme and the national strategic health programme. He was also glad to see that it supported the Breckland corporate objectives.

Options1) To fully fund the funding application set out in the report2) To part fund the funding application set out in the report3) Do nothing

ReasonsThe grant application meets the criteria of the scheme.

RESOLVED that Cabinet approves £20,000 (or 6.5% of the total project costs for the entire three year project, whichever is the lower amount) to Creative Arts East for the ‘Our Day Out’ project.

8/17 MATCH FUNDING APPLICATIONS

The Executive Director Place presented the report outlining the three applications for match funding.

Councillor Robinson supported the work of the Benjamin foundation, but queried their financial business and suggested a financial plan should have been included within their application. The Executive Director of Place said that whilst he could not comment on the financial business of the charity, the application did meet the criteria on the ability to receive match funding.

The Chairman noted the comments and suggested that the match funding criteria be reviewed.

Councillor Crawford supported the project and added that the charity also provided support to the older community within Thetford.

Options1) To fully fund the applications set out in the report2) To part fund the applications set out in the report3) Do nothing

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ReasonsThe grant applications meet the criteria of the scheme.

RESOLVED that Cabinet approves the following grant awards:

£8,086 (or 30% of the project costs, whichever is the lower amount) to the Benjamin Foundation to contribute to the costs of re-roofing the Meet Up Community Centre on the Redcastle Furze Estate and insulating the Sports Hall ceiling.

£14,000 (or 18.7% of the project costs, whichever is the lower amount) to Swaffham Town Council to contribute towards a new multi-use games area on the Recreation Ground.

£7,920 (or 30% of the project costs, whichever is the lower amount) to Beeston Playing Field to provide a range of new play equipment.

9/17 PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW REPORT – QUARTER 2 2016/17

The Deputy Leader and Executive Member Strategy, Governance and Transformation presented the report, highlighting the key success of the voice recognition system that had been implemented in December 2016. The feedback received had shown that the system had been a real success.

Councillor Claussen applauded the new system and said it would improve customer service.

The content of the report was noted.

10/17 MARKET TOWN INITIATIVE - GRANT CONFIRMATION

The Executive Director Place said the five market towns had been approached with proportional funding asking for projects, which met criteria, they would like to spend the outstanding residual funding.

Councillor Borrett fully supported the initiative.

Councillor Chapman-Allen mentioned it had previously been in the press about the Clock Tower in Thetford, and hoped Thetford Town Council would use some of the money to have it working.

The Chief Executive clarified that this was residual funding being used in the District’s market towns. A further piece of work had started on supporting the market town initiative across a number of aspects and more information would be presented at a later date.

Options1) To approve the Town Action Plans to enable the spend of the

allocated money of £23,0172) To not approve the recommendations and ask for further review of

particular initiatives.3) Do nothing

Reasons

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We have a clear commitment in our Corporate Plan to helping our market towns to thrive in order that they in turn provide the required support to surrounding villages and hinterlands. We recognise that Brecklands market towns need to be vibrant and busy, offering an interesting and enjoyable experience for visitors. Out of town and online shopping have drawn many people away from our town centres.

RESOLVED that:1) That Cabinet approve the indicative Town Action Plans in appendix A

to enable the spend of the allocated money of £23,017 from the Resource4Growth funds approved by Cabinet in February 2016.

2) That Cabinet agree to delegate authority to the Executive Manager (Growth and Prosperity) in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Place to agree amendments to the Action Plans if requested by the relevant Market Town.

11/17 BRECKLAND BRIDGE STRATEGIC SITE REVIEW - PLANNING ACTIVITY

This report had been referred back from Council on 8 December 2016 for further consideration as the Council now had a 5-year land supply.

It was RESOLVED that the recommendations are not approved and the report be pulled.

12/17 NEXT MEETING

The arrangements for the next meeting held on 7 February 2017 at 9.30am in the Norfolk Room, Elizabeth House, Dereham were noted.

13/17 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

RESOLVED that under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

14/17 ONE PUBLIC ESTATE

The Interim Executive Director Commercialisation provided Members with an overview of the Government’s One Public Estate programme.

Options See report

ReasonsSee report.

RESOLVED that Cabinet agree to the recommendation as mentioned in the report.

The meeting closed at 10.30 am

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CHAIRMAN

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BRECKLAND COUNCIL

At a Meeting of the

OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMISSION

Held on Thursday, 24 November 2016 at 2.00 pm in theAnglia Room, The Conference Suite, Elizabeth House, Walpole Loke, Dereham

PRESENTCouncillor E. Gould (Chairman)Mrs E J BishopMr R. F. W. BrameMr D M CrawfordMr A.P. JoelMrs S.M. Matthews

Mr T F C MonumentMr R. R. RichmondMr A.C. Stasiak (Vice-Chairman)Councillor C Bowes (Substitute Member)Mr P S Wilkinson (Substitute Member)

Also PresentMr S.G. BambridgeCouncillor M. Chapman-AllenMr P. R. W. DarbyMr P. M. M. DimoglouMrs J. Hollis

Mr K. MartinMr J NewtonMrs L.S. TurnerMrs A M Webb

In AttendanceHelen McAleer - Senior Democratic Services OfficerTeresa Smith - Democratic Services Team LeaderJason Elliott - Spatial Information ManagerGareth Kinton - IT ManagerTim Rogers - Performance & Change ManagerRiana Rudland - Breckland Place ManagerRob Walker - Executive Director Place

Action By85/16 MINUTES (AGENDA ITEM 1)

The Minutes of the meeting held on 13 October 2016 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

86/16 APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTES (AGENDA ITEM 2)

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Jermy and Oliver.

Councillors Bowes and Wilkinson were present as Substitute Members.

87/16 URGENT BUSINESS (AGENDA ITEM 3)

None.


Agenda Item 9: Outside Body Feedback – For transparency, Councillor Crawford declared that he was a Member of the NCC Adult Social Care Committee.

Agenda Item 15: ICT Strategy - For transparency, Councillors Bowes

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Agenda Item 9a

Overview and Scrutiny Commission24 November 2016

2

and Crawford declared that they were Norfolk County Councillors as Breckland Council had a service agreement with NCC for ICT provision.

89/16 NON-MEMBERS WISHING TO ADDRESS THE MEETING (AGENDA ITEM 5)

Councillors Bambridge, M Chapman-Allen, Darby, Dimoglou, Hollis, Martin, Newton, Turner and Webb were in attendance.

90/16 Q2 PERFORMANCE REPORT (AGENDA ITEM 6)

The Performance & Change Manager presented the report which provided a summary of the status of the Council’s key indicators for Quarter 2. One indicator was not reported due to the data being unavailable. The red indicator for short term investment income was due to high interest rates on the Breckland Bridge loan and would be addressed in the future budget.

The Chairman asked who decided which indicators were included. She noted that the overall performance had been assessed as fair, but in his presentation the Performance & Change Manager had described it as good. He explained that over 70% of indicators were green and the amber and red variances were due to budget issues, so performance actually was good. He would check and let Members know why only pre-defined indicators were used.

It was clarified that the indicator was red because the figures were outside the target. The Council was receiving more money than expected, so it was not a negative.

The Chairman was concerned that it was difficult to scrutinise performance when it was presented in a form that was difficult to understand.

The Executive Director Place suggested that a description column could be added to explain what the performance was and how it fitted in with the Corporate Plan.

The Chairman asked the Officers to provide the Commission with a draft before the next performance report was presented.

The report was otherwise noted.

91/16 REVIEW OF STREET NAMING & NUMBERING POLICY (AGENDA ITEM 7)

The Executive Member Growth presented the report and explained that the Policy was reviewed every two years. He explained the key points and said that the aim was to seek better collaboration with Town and Parish Councils by getting them to provide a list of their preferred names for future developments which could then be made available to the Developers at an early stage.

It was confirmed that none of the changes would be retrospective; they would apply to new addresses only.

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Councillor Bowes asked if the changes were due to an EU Directive. She was advised that the advice was national and based on best practice.

Councillor Stasiak asked if there was currently a problem with street names. He did not see any need to change and thought that it was good to use people’s names in recognition of good works they had done in the community.

The Executive Director Place explained that issues had been raised by the emergency services. The small changes proposed would address those issues and the proposal to collaborate with the Town & Parish Councils would also address the tensions that sometimes occurred between them and developers.

Councillor Joel asked who had responsibility for cleaning street signs and why a request for a sign giving the street name and saying ‘leading to’ another street name had been refused.

The Executive Member for Growth did not know why the request had been refused as such signs were provided in some places. He said he would look into the matter. With regard to street sign cleaning he believed that Norfolk County Council Rangers were responsible for that. Members should ask their Parish Clerks to notify them where necessary.

Councillor Crawford thought that the parish input should be strengthened because currently the Council could only refuse a Developer’s suggested street name if it was invalid. He also asked who was responsible for repairing broken signs. He was advised that Serco was responsible for repairing street signs on behalf of the Council

The Chairman reiterated that parishes should provide a list of their preferred names and plan ahead to be pro-active. Only three parishes had done so, so far.

Councillor M Chapman-Allen asked how parishes would be notified early enough to provide input. She did not think they could provide suggested names until they knew which land was being developed.

The Executive Director Place said the aim was to encourage Town & Parish Councils and Developers to reach agreement. Developers had to have the street names early in the development to provide infrastructure. Therefore parishes needed to provide a pre-populated list regardless of where the development might be.

The Breckland Place Manager informed Members that the feedback from the emergency services was that having a number of properties in the same area with similar names caused issues and they had asked the Council to avoid that if possible.

Councillor Darby was aware that a number of new developments were causing confusion by numbering new houses off the development estate on which they were built giving rise to properties being addressed on roads which run at the back of their properties.

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The Spatial Information Manager agreed that it did cause problems and it would be avoided if future if possible. Generally all properties were addressed on the street that they faced.

Councillor R Richmond said the system worked well. One of his parishes had provided a list and they had been involved. However, the problem arose when the Developer would not accept the suggested names. He asked if the parish proposals would be superseded in that situation.

The Executive Director Place confirmed that the Council could not overturn the Developer’s request if a compliant name was put forward otherwise they could challenge it through the Courts.

Councillor Bowes was still concerned about the loss of local identity and the fact that parishes were being discouraged from using local people’s names, as they could provide important historical context.

It was confirmed that it was still acceptable to put a surname forward for use as a street name.

Councillor Stasiak said that being able to use a surname overcame his objection to the Policy. He also thought it was a good idea for parishes to prepare a list.

The Chairman proposed an additional recommendation that all Parishes be consulted and asked to provide a list of preferred names for future developments. Members supported that suggestion.

Councillor Brame thought that the adjoining parishes should be able to put forward suggested names as well for developments close to parish boundaries and for large developments such as the Thetford Sustainable Urban Extension.

The Executive Director Place agreed that in such cases lists from all parishes in the area would be considered. If the parishes provided a list the Council would encourage Developers to use those names.

RESOLVED to RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL that:

(1) The proposed amendments to the existing Street Naming and Numbering Policy be accepted and the new version (July 2016) be adopted; and

(2) All parish councils be contacted and requested to provide a list of proposed names for future developments in their area.

92/16 TASK AND FINISH GROUPS (AGENDA ITEM 8)

Councillor Stasiak (Chairman, Performance T&FG) summarised the work they had undertaken. They had looked at income generation and had talked about some assets to be disposed of. Generally the Council had a well balanced portfolio which would be strengthened by the new Riverside Development in Thetford.

The Corporate Asset Management Strategy would be reviewed shortly.

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Assets were achieving above target income with low arrears. Power issues at Snetterton were being resolved and future focus would be on partnerships for high quality development of the A11 corridor.

He congratulated the Asset Team for their excellent performance. The portfolio was generating a profit which underpinned the Council’s ability to maintain low Council Tax. A future T&FG could look at the Corporate Asset Management Strategy.

Councillor Wilkinson (Chairman, Transformation T&FG) had received a comprehensive report from the Executive Director Place. The early intervention hubs and the co-location with the DWP were working well. Work was on-going to determine future opportunities for Elizabeth House.

He suggested that a future workstream could look at the transformation and digitalisation programme.

The Chairman thought that was something that the whole Commission should look at and it would be added to the work programme.

She thanked everyone that had participated in the Task & Finish Groups. The next one would look at Clinical Commissioning and Health Provision and would commence in January. She asked Members interested in taking part to contact the Scrutiny Officer.

93/16 OUTSIDE BODY FEEDBACK (AGENDA ITEM 10)

Feedback from Councillor Bambridge about the Annual Conference of the Internal Drainage Board had been circulated by e-mail.

Councillor Wilkinson had also sent round his report on Norfolk Health Scrutiny. A report was being prepared on the ambulance service for the NHS.

The Youth Advisory Board had received funding of £8,500 for a mental health project and early indications were that further funding would be forthcoming from NCC.

The Executive Director Place said there was a lot of national coverage about sustainable transformation plans and how communities would meet future needs. A document from NCC would be going out for consultation soon and a report would be presented to Council to receive comments before a response was made to that consultation.

94/16 SCRUTINY CALL-INS (AGENDA ITEM 11)

Councillor Wilkinson asked if there had been any follow-up about the Flagship empty homes turn-around times.

The Chairman said it was important to advise tenants to speak to the appropriate people and to get the housing team to help.

The Executive Member Growth said that Housing was in his new portfolio. He would be spending time with that team in January and would be happy to give a brief report to the Commission in February or

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March if required.

95/16 COUNCILLOR CALL FOR ACTION (AGENDA ITEM 12)

None.

96/16 WORK PROGRAMME (AGENDA ITEM 13)

The Chairman advised that the next scheduled meeting on 5 January had been cancelled. At the following meeting the Disabled Facilities Grant would be reviewed.

97/16 NEXT MEETING (AGENDA ITEM 14)

The arrangements for the next meeting on 16 February 2017 were noted.

98/16 EXCLUSION OF PRESS & PUBLIC (AGENDA ITEM 15)

RESOLVED that under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

99/16 ICT STRATEGY (AGENDA ITEM 15)

Councillor Bowes declared an interest in this item as a Norfolk County Councillor (as the ICT service agreement was with NCC).

The Executive Member People & Information presented the report which had been requested at the last meeting. There was an urgent need to build a new platform as the current infrastructure was reaching the end of its life. Modern IT was needed and the budget was already available. The opportunities and finances were explained.

The report had already been presented to Cabinet.

RESOLVED to RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL that recommendations 3 and 4 of the report be approved.

The meeting closed at 3.35 pm

CHAIRMAN

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BRECKLAND COUNCIL

At a Meeting of the

OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMISSION

Held on Thursday, 5 January 2017 at 2.00 pm in theAnglia Room, The Conference Suite, Elizabeth House, Dereham

PRESENTCouncillor E. Gould (Chairman)Mr D M CrawfordMr T. J. JermyMr A.P. JoelMrs S.M. MatthewsMr T F C Monument

Mr M J NairnMr D R R OliverMr R. R. RichmondMr A.C. Stasiak (Vice-Chairman)Mr P S Wilkinson (Substitute Member)

Also PresentMr S H Chapman-AllenMr J Newton

Mr P. M. M. DimoglouMrs J. Hollis

In AttendanceTeresa Smith - Democratic Services Team LeaderAlison Chubbock - Chief Accountant (Deputy Section 151

Officer) (BDC)

Action By1/17 MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 November 2016 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

2/17 APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTES

Apologies for absence had been received by Councillor Brame. Councillor Wilkinson was present as substitute.

3/17 URGENT BUSINESS

None.

4/17 DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

None.

5/17 NON-MEMBERS WISHING TO ADDRESS THE MEETING

Councillors S Chapman-Allen, Hollis and Newton were in attendance.

6/17 DRAFT BUDGET, MEDIUM TERM PLAN & CAPITAL STRATEGY

The Chief Accountant presented to Members the draft budget highlighting key points.

A number of key assumptions had been made with the Transformation and Revenue part of the Budget:

Reduce the reliance on the Revenue Support Grant by

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Agenda Item 9b

Overview and Scrutiny Commission5 January 2017

2

2019/2020. New Homes Bonus

o assumed that 0.4% growth will not be rewardedo assumed it would be paid for 5 years, then

reduced in 2017-18 to 4 yearso Growth was at 597 homes per year, based on the

Local Plano A reliance of the new homes bonus of £1.8m in

20-21o Council tax rises of at least 2% each year.

NNDRo Growth is Snetterton Biomass (£193k) in 2017,

and the Necton Substation (circa £400k) in 2018 Contribution to the Growth and Investment Funds are

maintained as the current budget. Assume that the rural services delivery grant will

continue.

The Moving Forward programme was a four-year programme, and was on track to achieve the £389k saving for the current year and had already achieved £898k by 2019-20. There had been some projects which had been delayed but this would not impact the delivery of the overall programme over the four years.

The current budget position was shown along with a number of opportunities presented to Members on future savings options. The 2017-18 budget gap was higher than other years due to the timing of some Moving Forward projects, but the gap reduced by 2018-19.

Councillor Jermy asked for a breakdown of the Moving Forward Programme projects to show where the issues were.

Councillor Nairn asked if the Necton Sub-station would allow for 100% retention of business rates. It was confirmed this would be the case as it was for renewable energy.

The Chief Accountant went on to clarify to Members the reserves and highlighted the key risks and opportunities for the Council.

Councillor Oliver asked where the reserves were held. It was explained that the capital was held over fixed term investments and instant access accounts. The Executive Member Finance added that it was important to look into this again to ensure it was to the right benefit for the Council.

Councillor Richmond asked if the Council had received all monies outstanding from the Iceland bank situation. The Chief Accountant confirmed that a small amount was still outstanding and this had been factored into the budget.

The draft programme for capital expenditure was explained and informed that the Executive Members would be considering the capital programme going forward.

Councillor Jermy had noticed that under affordable housing there was expected £292k in Section 106 monies, and asked if this was on track

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Overview and Scrutiny Commission5 January 2017

3

to be distributed. The Chief Accountant confirmed this and added that the Affordable Housing spend corresponded with the Housing Strategy and would ensure that the value would be spent at the right time and in the right way.

The Chairman thanked the Chief Accountant for the report.

It was discussed that a Budget Task and Finish Group would be set up immediately to allow for Members to discuss the opportunities and input into the budget consultation. Councillor Stasiak would Chair the group.

7/17 OUTSIDE BODY FEEDBACK (STANDING ITEM)

Councillor Wilkinson informed Members that Norfolk County Council were continuing the funding of the Youth Advisory Boards across Norfolk.

8/17 SCRUTINY CALL-INS (STANDING ITEM)

None.

9/17 COUNCILLOR CALL FOR ACTION (STANDING ITEM)

None.

10/17 WORK PROGRAMME

Councillor Joel asked that the Section 215 topic be deferred from the February meeting to a future date.

11/17 NEXT MEETING

The arrangements for the next meeting on 16 February 2017 were noted.


CHAIRMAN

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BRECKLAND COUNCIL

At a Meeting of the

PLANNING COMMITTEE

Held on Monday, 12 December 2016 at 9.30 am inAnglia Room, The Conference Suite, Elizabeth House, Dereham

PRESENTMr N.C. Wilkin (Chairman)Mr F.J. Sharpe (Vice-Chairman)Mr R. F. W. BrameCouncillor M. Chapman-AllenMr H. E. J. ClarkeMr P.D. Claussen

Mr P.J. DuiganMr A.P. JoelMr K. MartinMr J. NewtonMr P. S. WilkinsonMr P. R. W. Darby (Substitute Member)

Also PresentMr S.G. BambridgeMr P.J. Hewett

Mr R. R. RichmondMr W.H.C. SmithMrs A. M. Webb

In AttendanceSteven Bell Legal Advisor (Solicitor)Mike Brennan Operations & Contract ManagerCathy Rix Technical Assistant*Simon Wood Interim Business Manager*Sarah Robertson Senior Planning Policy Officer*Matthew Ellis Principal Planning Officer*Julie Britton Democratic Services Officer

* Capita for Breckland Council

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The Minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2016 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

151/16 APOLOGIES & SUBSTITUTES (AGENDA ITEM 2)

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Bowes; Councillor Darby was in attendance as her substitute.

152/16 DECLARATION OF INTEREST AND OF REPRESENTATIONS RECEIVED (AGENDA ITEM 3)

Agenda item 10 – Schedule of Applications

Schedule Item 2 (South Lopham) - Councillor Marion Chapman-Allen declared that she would not take part in the discussion and would abstain from voting as the applicants had consulted her about their application on a number of occasions.

Schedule Item 5 (North Elmham) – Councillor Martin had received direct representation.

Schedule item 7 (Dereham) – Councillor Duigan had received direct representation and also declared an interest by virtue of him being a Member of Dereham Town Council. Councillor Claussen declared an interest as he shopped at the premises.

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Agenda Item 10

Planning Committee12 December 2016

153/16 CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS (AGENDA ITEM 4)

The Chairman mentioned a competition for building design excellence that the Planning Committee used to do and felt it was time to rebirth these awards and congratulate various bodies for their good work.

The Chairman, together with the Operations & Contracts Manager, Mike Brennan and Nick Moys, the former Senior Principal Planning Officer, had travelled round the District visiting various buildings and sites and had settled on two categories. The first category was awarded to Parson & Whitley Ltd for the best individual dwelling design; a private single story dwelling built in the back garden of Lime Tree House in Swaffham and built to passivhaus standards. The Chairman had been overwhelmed by the design and the cost effectiveness of the build.

The second category was awarded to Reese Prior Architects in Thetford in association with Haverbury Housing for a conversion of what was previously an old train workshop. The Chairman had been very pleased to see an old building retained and not demolished.

Councillor Bambridge, Executive Member for Growth was in attendance to present the awards to Chris Parsons of Parson & Whitley Ltd and Kate Wilde of Haverbury Housing and congratulated them both.

154/16 REQUESTS TO DEFER APPLICATIONS INCLUDED IN THIS AGENDA (AGENDA ITEM 5)

Item 9(a) (pages 53-55) for Warren’s Lane, Attleborough had been deferred in respect of the changes to the 5 year land supply.


None.

156/16 LOCAL PLAN UPDATE (STANDING ITEM) (AGENDA ITEM 7)

The Senior Planning Policy Officer advised that a Local Plan Working Group meeting had been arranged on Wednesday, 14 December at 2pm in Watton.

Work was continuing to progress on a number of key pieces of evidence based work including:

Infrastructure Delivery Plan Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment Plan Wide Viability Assessment

Speaking as a Twin Hatter, Councillor Clarke wanted to know more about what was happening with the Dereham Transport Study and asked what the Planning Policy Team was planning to do with the Study and if there was any update on the roundabout. Members were informed that discussions were still on-going. The Interim Business Manager, Capita assured Members that active discussions were taking place with Norfolk County Council to try and mitigate the impact of the number of major planning applications in Dereham. A report would be brought to the Planning Committee in due course. Councillor Clarke assumed that Dereham Town Council would be kept well informed of any progress.

Councillor Claussen pointed out the original Transport Study had been carried out before all these major applications were submitted and would have a significant

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impact on surrounding villages and therefore should be bolted on to the discussion. He also pointed out that he had not seen any mention of the Local Service Centres on the agenda for the forthcoming meeting on Wednesday and asked whether these would be discussed. In response to the latter, the Senior Planning Policy Officer advised that there were recommendations in the report requesting further work on Local Service Centre status. Councillor Claussen urged the Planning Policy Team to work with Yaxham Parish Council as they had done a great deal of work on this matter.

157/16 2016 MID-YEAR STATEMENT OF FIVE YEAR HOUSING LAND SUPPLY (AGENDA ITEM 8)

Members were reminded that the 2016 Five Year Housing Land Supply Statement was last discussed at the Planning Committee meeting in July and that this was the six month update as agreed at that meeting.

The Five Year Housing Land Supply was a comparison of the anticipated supply of new dwellings, against the number of new dwellings that were required to be built in Breckland (known as the housing requirement). The housing figure was a starting point for the five year land supply and the emerging Objectively Assessed Need (OAN) target from the Strategic Market Assessment (SHMA) was considered to present a more robust up-to-date position and the figure for this was 597 dwellings per year between 2012 and 2036.The Five Year Land Supply Statement presented two calculations using both the Local Plan figure and the OAN figure. The Breckland calculation incorporated a 20% buffer and made allowance for undelivered units. Two separate calculations using two different approaches to making up the shortfall in undelivered units had been used and were known as the ‘Sedgefield’ approach, recommended by the Planning Practice Guidance (PPG), where the shortfall was made up in the next five years, and the Liverpool approach, where undelivered units were made up over the remainder of the Plan period. It was recommended that Breckland Council took the latter.

Breckland Council could demonstrate a 5.6 year land supply using this approach which was really good news for the District. Housing Policies were now up to date and some sites may need to be released early.

The Vice-Chairman, Councillor Sharpe asked who determined this independently from the Council. The Senior Planning Policy Officer explained that this work had been undertaken by various Officers in Capita and would be adopted but would most likely go to Appeal so the evidence to back this up was very important. Councillor Sharpe mentioned the number of applications under Appeal. The Interim Business Manager, Capita, agreed that there were a number of Appeals all of which had been determined prior to the Council having a five year land supply.

Councillor Clarke felt that it was helpful to have a land supply that was up to date but asked about the change in balance to the housing provision in relation to the allocations from Thetford and Attleborough to other towns. Members were informed that the Planning Policy Team was reasonably confident in having the hybrid Attleborough application being submitted as well as the early part of the Thetford application which would assist with the trajectory. The need for a ‘top-up’ would continue. Councillor Darby felt that the outlook for the build out projections was incredibly optimistic. Councillor Joel felt that now the Council had this five year land supply what would happen if an application was submitted outside the Settlement Boundary. The Interim Business Manager, Capita stated that policies could now be given full weight but there would still be occasions when applications had to be considered on a case by case basis and there may be a breach of policy depending on where the application was located and the scale of the development; there would

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still be many issues to consider and would be a balancing exercise. The Operations & Contract Manager pointed out that there would be a re-focus on the Council’s Housing Policies whilst taking into account any harm to the Countryside Policies. Councillor Wilkinson did not think that the Council should rely too heavily on the five year plan as this was reliant on big sites coming forward. In response, Members were informed that this was just a starting point of all decision making and most of the larger applications had been written prior to the five year land supply. The Interim Business Manager, Capita advised that the backlog of applications would have to be spread out accordingly and drew attention to paragraph 12 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which stated that the Development Plan was the starting point for decision making and that would be the basis on what Planning Officers would be advising Members going forward.

Councillor Darby was still unsure how the outstanding larger applications were going to be dealt with and asked if there would be any written guidance made available. The Operations & Contracts Manager explained that Planning Officers would need to get together with the Council’s strategic housing partners to look at the way forward. Councillor Claussen felt that a grown up conversation was needed and felt that a further meeting should be had to discuss these matters. The Interim Business Manager, Capita advised that Members would continue to be advised. It was noted that all planning applications had a limited time period to come forward and could have an effect on the figures if they expired– there were many issues outside of the authority’s control. Councillor Clarke drew attention to paragraph 2.9 and 2.11 of the Five Year Housing Land Supply Statement which mentioned the additional buffer and asked for clarification as to what this could do to the figures. The Senior Planning Policy Officer advised that this had been incorporated into the figure and did include the buffer.

RESOLVED that the report and attached appendix (as at 30.09.16) be noted and the 5.6 year housing land supply be adopted in decision making.

158/16 DEFERRED APPLICATIONS (AGENDA ITEM 9)

a. ATTLEBOROUGH: Warrens Lane: Change of use from agricultural to burial site and outline for 8 dwellings:Applicant: Righetti:Reference: 3PL/2016/0486/H

This application had been deferred in respect of the recent five year housing land supply. A stronger case would be brought forward to the Committee in due course.

b. NORTH ELMHAM: 1 Mews Court, Larwood Close: Erection of two storey side extension: Applicant: Mr A Ferrari & Ms Williamson: Reference: 3PL/2016/1282/HOU

It was noted that this application was for land to the North of Eastgate Street, North Elmham, the applicant being The Garrod Partnership, Reference: 3PL/2016/0848/F and not 1 Mews Court, Shipdham for Mr A Ferrari and Ms Williamson, Reference: 3PL/2016/1282/HOU. The supplementary agenda that had been published soon after the main agenda had highlighted this error.

See Minute No. 159/16(e) below.

159/16 SCHEDULE OF PLANNING APPLICATIONS (AGENDA ITEM 10)

a. Item 1 – Carbrooke: Littleton Stud Farm, Caudle Springs: Erection of bungalow and removal of buildings: Applicant: Miss Julia Frere: Reference: 3PL/2015/1107/F

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Matt Ellis, the Senior Planning Officer (Capita), presented the application. The proposed single storey dwelling would be for the applicant and her severely disabled daughter and would enable them to remain in the locality where they have lived for many years. The site location, photographs and the key issues were highlighted.

Mr Cutting, the applicant’s agent explained that both mother and daughter had to vacate their run down house and having lived on the site the Policies, in his opinion, were irrelevant. Councillor Rogers, the Ward Member, who was not in attendance, was in full support of the application. The Chairman read aloud the letter from the Ward Member. Councillor Clarke said that he judged each application on its merits and was minded to support the application. Councillor Claussen agreed as the sustainability issues should not be taken into account.

Approved, contrary to the recommendation on the grounds that the character and appearance of the rural area and the sustainability issues would not be harmed and the proposal would result in the tidying up of a rather unattractive site.

b. Item 2 – South Lopham: Willow Brae, The Street: Demolition of existing property and erection of 2 dwellings and garages: Applicant: Impala Developments Ltd: Reference: 3PL/2016/0500/F

Councillor Marion Chapman-Allen took no part in the discussion or voted on this application (see Minute No. 152/16 above).

Simon Wood, the Interim Business Manager (Capita) presented the application which had originally been for three dwellings but had since been reduced to two. Site plans, photographs, the design and the key issues were highlighted.

Mr Barbuk, the applicant’s agent informed the Committee that he had worked extensively with Officers to modify the scheme. He pointed out that the existing dwelling was in a poor state of repair and was badly situated and the proposal would significantly address the road safety and visual amenity issues.

Councillor Brame could not see anywhere in the conditions in relation to roofing. Members were informed that all materials would have to be approved. Councillor Claussen mentioned the access and it was noted that the Highway Authority had raised no objections to the proposal as the increase of just one dwelling was considered to be acceptable, subject to conditions.

Approved, as recommended.

c. Item 3 – Lynford: Lynford Hall Park, Lynford Road: Construction of 68 holiday lodges together with reception building and associated parking: Applicant: Lynford Hall Hotel Ltd: Reference: 3PL/2016/0631/F

The Senior Planning Officer (Capita) presented the application. The location plan, photographs and the site layout plan were highlighted. It was noted that the trees on the site would not be removed and the proposal was considered to be acceptable.

Erica Whettingsteel, the applicant’s agent was in attendance and pointed out

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that this application had been significantly reduced as the original proposal had been for 107 lodges. She explained the events that took place at the Hall and the capacity it held and also explained how expensive it was to run and the extensive remedial works that were required. The proposal would just be for holiday use and would be used as an overspill for guests from weddings and functions wishing to stay overnight as the Hall itself only had 38 bedrooms. The Chairman mentioned the old caravan site and asked if there had been any intention to use this land for the proposal. The Committee was informed that the lodges would be better located on the proposed site as it was in a low lying area in woodland and therefore would have less impact. Councillor Marion Chapman-Allen asked about the foul water drainage condition. It was noted that this issue had already been resolved and the applicant had had a giant treatment plant installed for private use.


d. Item 4: Yaxham: Quince Farm, Spring Lane: Erection of 2 dwellings on a plot measuring approximately 0.16 acres: Applicant: Mr & Mrs Green-Armytage: Reference: 3PL/2016/0749/O

The Senior Planning Officer (Capita) presented the application. The application site was located immediately adjacent to the Settlement Boundary and was considered to be sustainable.

Mr Parker, the applicant’s agent was in attendance. He put forward his own opinions in relation to the Council’s five year housing land supply and the risks involved; however, Members were asked to disregard these comments and concentrate on the application.

Councillor Claussen did not have any problems with the application itself but did have problems with the inaccurate information in terms of facilities and services in Yaxham.


e. Item 5: North Elmham: Land to the North of Eastgate Street: Creation of new vehicular access and the erection of 11 dwellings: Applicant: The Garrod Partnership Ltd: Reference: 3PL/2016/0848/F

The Interim Business Manager (Capita) presented the application that had been considered at the previous meeting where it had been refused contrary to the recommendation as Members had expressed a preference for more of a linear development.

Photographs, site plans and the housing types were shown and the key issues were highlighted.

Councillor Bambridge, Ward Representative, was in attendance and reminded the Committee that the grounds that the previous application had been refused on had been overcome, and the Parish Council did support the proposal but wanted to withdraw from the management of the open space in the middle of the site and instead be left in perpetuity. The Chairman had also received a letter from Councillor Borrett, also a Ward Member for North Elmham who supported the application.

Mr Price, an objector to the application asked for clarification of the Parish

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Council’s position and it was confirmed that they did not want to manage the open space. Mr Price, who lived adjacent to the site, urged the Committee to refuse the application as the site sat within North Elmham’s Conservation Area and would affect the setting of the Grade 2 Listed Building. He pointed out that this was not the preferred site and that this was the only piece of open space on Eastgate Street. He asked that the open space, if Members were mindful to approve the application, be handed over to the Parish Council to avoid further development. He felt that the development would compromise the street scene of its linear development and hoped that Members would uphold their previous decision.

Mr Barwell, a supporter of the proposal, felt that the application would benefit the village as a Local Service Centre and explained the revisions that had been made. He pointed out that there was an acute shortage of affordable dwellings in North Elmham.and asked Members to endorse the Officer’s recommendation.

In response to concerns, Members were informed that in terms of the Settlement Boundary this application was contrary to Policy and the Committee could not insist that the Parish Council managed the open space and if considered for any future development would be subject to a further planning application.

Councillor Chapman-Allen asked why this proposal was being rec-considered if it was the same application. The Operations & Contract Manager reminded Members of the confusion during the presentation at the previous meeting where it could not be confirmed that the plans before the Committee had been consulted on. The Chairman stated that he had asked for the application to come back to Committee as there had been an element of confusion and wanted assurance that the plans had been seen by the Parish Council. In response to a question, it would be the land owner’s responsibility to manage the open space.


f. Item 6: East Tuddenham: Green Farm, Mattishall Road: Residential development of 7 dwellings (not 8 as listed in the report) with associated access: Applicant: Mr Neil Alston: Reference: 3PL/2016/0905/O

The Interim Business Manager (Capita) presented the application and pointed out that the proposal was for 7 dwellings and not 8 as reported in the agenda. The site was located outside of the Settlement Boundary but was in area of open countryside and was classed as a greenfield site. The key issues were highlighted including the lack of affordable housing due to the floor area. It was noted that due to the gross internal floor area of the proposed development there was a requirement, taking into account vacant building credit, for one affordable unit within the development. The proposal did not provide onsite affordable housing but the applicant had offered to provide three units on land at Primrose Way.

Mr Clark, the applicant’s agent was in attendance and informed the Committee that the basis of this application was to try and match the existing form of the village. There were currently semi derelict buildings on the site, and Brayfields shown on the map, was a dwelling immediately adjacent the site. Mr Clark pointed out that the applicant would be happy to provide the affordable housing at Primrose Way.

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Councillor Claussen could not believe that Officers had turned down the offer of three affordable dwellings; it did not make any sense and he reminded the Committee that the Parish had fought long and hard to get Primrose Way supported. Members were informed that this was the position from the Housing Officer and the concern was in relation to deliverability.

Members were reminded that this was technically a green-field site and the deliverability of the affordable dwellings was not clear. Councillor Marion Chapman-Allen agreed and felt that a judgement could not be made on this application without knowing if the affordable housing could be delivered. The Interim Business Manager (Capita) said that there was no guarantee; however, the application could be subject to a legal agreement but he would not recommend it. The Committee was reminded that this was an outline application and the means of access formed part of the application.

Councillor Joel asked if a further application could be submitted parallel to this one for less floor area to overcome the need for an affordable dwelling. It was noted that a full application would be required.

Approved, contrary to the recommendation on the grounds that the development satisfied the requirements in the National Planning Policy Framework.

g. Item 7: Dereham: CC Wells of Norfolk, Greens Road: Change of use from storage wholesale of fresh fruit and vegetables to a mixed use for storage and wholesale and retail sale: Applicant: Mr Darren Pegrum, C C Wells of Norfolk: Reference: 3PL/2016/0956/CU

The Interim Business Manager (Capita) presented the retrospective application. He advised that if Members were minded to refuse the application then enforcement action may be required.

The site location and photographs of the premises were shown and the assessment notes were highlighted. It was noted that the premises was not open all day to the public.

Councillor Webb, a Ward Member was in attendance in support of the application. She said that the sale of fresh fruit and vegetables promoted healthy living and helped the local economy. It was much easier for the customers to purchase their fruit and vegetables from the unit as parking was not a problem and the staff helped carry the produce to their cars. As long as health and safety issues were adhered to she urged the Committee to approve the retrospective application.

Councillor Robert Richmond also supported the application and had never received any complaints. He pointed out that the tenants did not wish to move to the town centre and read out a letter of support from a customer who lived on the outskirts of Dereham and felt that Breckland Council should be seen to support local businesses.

Mr Needham, Clerk of Dereham Town Council said that the Town Council was against the retail sale in this location and felt that if this was allowed it could set a precedent for other retail businesses to relocate outside the town centre. He pointed out that Breckland Council had a number of Policies that should be adhered to and felt that if this application was approved it would be to the benefit of this business but to the detriment to the town.

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Karen Whitehair, was in attendance on behalf of the applicant and said that the applicants were no longer trading in the Market Place on a Friday and although sales from the unit had increased in popularity selling just for retail use would not be viable. She mentioned that the letters of support received had been overwhelming and pointed out that the majority of units in the vicinity allowed public sale.

The Operations & Contract Manager advised that if Members were mindful to approve the application restrictions could be put in place.

Elisabeth Small highlighted the many reasons why she supported the application. The produce was of excellent quality, there was a great deal of choice, quantity and availability of unusual items. Customers could choose the amount they wanted thus reducing food waste and packaging and allowed the public the opportunity to eat healthily at less cost. The footfall at the unit was high but people did not stay very long and the business was supported by farmers and other local businesses alike. She mentioned the parking problems and the congestion in the town centre.

Mr Michael Ward also supported the application and found it amazing that the Council had allowed another supermarket to be built outside of the town centre. This was a local business and if it was moved to the town the rates would increase which would have a knock on effect on the price of the produce.

Mr Whitehair objected to the application on a number of grounds – the business should be used for wholesale only, the cul-de-sac was used by heavy goods vehicles and Greens Road was an industrial estate not a retail estate. He also highlighted the health and safety issues, the public liability and the damage to future investment and felt that the only decision should be one of refusal as this, in his opinion, was a ground breaking case and others would be watching.

The Interim Business Manager clarified a number of points. The health and safety issues, whilst they had been noted, did not hold any weight in planning terms. The point of the Policies the Council had were to protect the town centre and the other trading areas on the Greens Road Estate were restricted.

Councillor Sharpe fully understood why this application had been brought to the attention of the Planning Committee but asked if there was any difference between the Certificate of Lawfulness that had been refused on 1 July 2016 and this application. Members were informed very limited evidence had been provided as to whether the retail sales had been taking place at such a scale and consistency throughout the said 10 year period. Councillor Sharpe stated that there was evidence that other businesses had been selling retail on the Estate. The Interim Business Manager (Capita) stated there was not any material evidence as no complaints had been received.

Councillor Marion Chapman-Allen asked if there were any other greengrocers in the town and also asked if there was a sequential test of trading. Members were informed that 10% of the area could be used for retail but in terms of a sequential test, the onus was on the applicant to provide evidence that there was a need for this use and that this need could not be met in the town centre. He pointed out that this evidence had not come forward. Councillor Chapman-Allen knew that over 50% of the units

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on this particular estate formed part of retail sales so she would be supporting the application.

Councillor Clarke was quite clear what the National and Local Policies were but the issue before the Committee was whether to refuse or not. He had not used this particular facility and he knew that many other businesses on this estate provided trade to the public. He asked if there was a deliberate demarcation in the building between retail and trade and personally suggested to Members not to agree to a blanket refusal but approve the application with conditions personal to the applicant.

Councillor Brame asked if there were many empty shops in Dereham. Members were informed that there were quite a few and this was the reason that town centres need to be protected.

Councillor Claussen struggled to understand how to deal with this application as the Company supported local businesses too and felt that the only businesses that could afford to be in the town centres were charity shops. The Interim Business Manager (Capita) said that the same support could be provided from a town centre location. The wholesale trade from the unit could be limited and was acceptable but a significant proportion of this unit had been given over to the public.

Councillor Darby pointed out that if the business was to move it would kill off the market traders as he knew they were struggling. He was disappointed; however that the applicants had not provided the evidence required but suggested that the application be deferred to allow for this evidence to come forward. Members were informed that this would still not overcome the Policy objections.

Councillor Joel thought that this was a ‘Catch 22’ situation; Dereham like most market towns did not have a green grocer in the town centre as they could not compete against supermarket prices and supported the application.

The persons in attendance on behalf of the applicant were asked why they had not been able to provide the relevant evidence. It was noted that receipts were not often given as most were cash sales the only people who received receipts were those who paid by card and the wholesale customers had accounts.

The Operations & Contracts Manager summarised the issues and stated that it was a requirement of Members to make a decision in accordance with Policy; subject to any significant, demonstrable material considerations.

Following further discussion, it was proposed and seconded that the application be:

Deferred, to enable the applicant, in consultation with the Officers, to address the issue that there were not any suitable premises in the town centre for this type of business in accordance with Policy DC06.

h. Item 8: Gooderstone: Land to the South of the Street: Erection of 2 no. two storey dwellings (re-submission): Applicant: Mr Chris Palmer: Reference: 3PL/2016/1127/O

This application was a re-submission of a previously refused application,

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3PL/2016/0389/O. This proposal was still considered to be unacceptable for reasons relating to its unsustainable location, outside of the Settlement Boundary and the harmful impact on the character and appearance of the local area.

Mr Stephenson, the applicant’s agent asked Members to recall an outline application for a dwelling at no. 12 The Street, Gooderstone which had been recommended for approval by the Planning Officer and was approved accordingly. With this in mind, he felt that this application should be accepted and made Members aware of a number of dwellings that would be surrounding the proposal.

Ann Melhuish, a supporter, had lived in the village for many years and pointed out that the site in question had always been very overgrown but since being purchased, the applicant had tidied the site and used the land for his business. She felt that the applicant and his family should be allowed to live there as they did a great deal for the community.

The Operations & Contract Manager reminded the Committee that the application was the same as the one that had been refused under delegated powers and was currently under Appeal.

Councillor Wilkinson asked about the access. Members were informed that there would be two new access points created. It was noted that no comments had been received from the Ward Member. Councillor Darby wanted to know if the application was under Appeal what would be the situation if it was refused or approved. The Chairman advised that the Appeal would be quashed or withdrawn if approved. Councillor Joel asked for the comments to be highlighted in relation to the Special Protection Area (SPA). The Senior Planning Officer (Capita) explained that the development would not have an adverse impact on the SPA.

Refused, as recommended.

i. Item 9: Great Ellingham: Greenpiece, Attleborough Road: Erection of three self build dwellings with garages: Applicant: Mr Dean Osbon: Reference: 3PL/2016/1169/F

The Interim Business Manager (Capita) presented the application. This application was a re-submission of a previously refused application and the only alteration was that the submission provided more written details in support of the proposal. A site plan was shown highlighting the fact that it was quite a distance away from the Settlement Boundary and whilst it was acknowledged that the proposed development would provide some benefits in terms of providing a limited contribution towards the five year housing land supply it was considered that these benefits would be outweighed by the harmful impact that the development would have on the character and appearance of the rural area as well as its unsustainable location which was remote from facilities and services.

Mr Osbon, the applicant stated that he had lived in the village for many years and ran his own business on the land in question. The proposed properties, once built, would be for his family to live in including his autistic grandson.

Nicola Osbon, the daughter, said that this would help her onto the property ladder and would enable her to remain in the area and run her business from home. The eldest daughter, Leanne Parker-Osbon said that her son needed

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a high level of care and these dwellings would allow everyone to remain as a family unit.

Councillor Smith, the Ward Representative respected the five year housing land supply as it re-instated certainty in development. He supported the application even though the site itself was outside any defined Settlement Boundary and disagreed with the Parish Council’s objection to the application which was in accordance with its adopted policies. He pointed out that there had been two new developments in Swamp Lane built before the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the site in question was, in his opinion, discreet and would not cause any impact to the area unlike another in the vicinity. No objection had been received from the Highways Authority and the proposal was not as close to the Listed Building as other developments and was closer to the town of Attleborough.

Councillor Brame wanted clarification that this was against policy in accordance with the five year housing land supply. The Interim Business Manager (Capita) advised that applications had to be considered on a case by case basis.


j. Item 10: Shipdham: 1 Mews Court, Larwood Way: Erection of two storey side extension: Applicant: Mr A Ferrari & Ms Williamson: Reference: 3PL/2016/1282/HOU

The Interim Business Manager (Capita) presented the application. The proposed elevations, layout and key issues were highlighted.Mr Cutting, the applicant’s agent stated that the grounds for refusal were unreasonable as many dwellings in the vicinity had built extensions on the boundary lines and the residents of the bungalow bordering the proposal had raised no objections. He highlighted the fact that both Ward Members supported the application and the reason for this extension was that the family who did not wish to move had out grown their current living space.

Councillor Hewett, a Ward Member pointed out that this was, in comparison of what had been before the Committee today, a small local extension of which the local neighbours, Parish Council and Councillors had raised no objections as most of the properties in Mews Court had had various extensions. The evidence, in his opinion, was quite straight forward and should have been approved under delegated powers.

Councillor Claussen asked why a single storey extension had not been considered. The applicant’s agent advised that building on top of the garage would have been very difficult and would have left no parking space. Councillor Hewett pointed out that the neighbours would have objected to the garage extension.

Members were informed that personal circumstances should not be given any weight in planning terms.


160/16 APPLICATIONS DETERMINED BY THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PLACE (AGENDA ITEM 11)

Noted.

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It was further noted that an enforcement update would be brought to the Planning Committee in January 2017.

161/16 SUPPLEMENTARY AGENDA (AGENDA ITEM 12)

The contents of the supplementary agenda were noted.


CHAIRMAN

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1

BRECKLAND COUNCIL

At a Meeting of the

GOVERNANCE & AUDIT COMMITTEE

Held on Friday, 9 December 2016 at 10.00 am inNorfolk Room, Conference Suite, Elizabeth House, Dereham

PRESENTMr W.P. Borrett (Chairman)Mr P S Wilkinson (Vice-Chairman)Mr P.J. Hewett

Mrs L.H. MonumentMr M J Nairn

Also PresentMr T. Ludlow Mr K. Stevens

In AttendanceSuzanne Jones - Interim Executive Director

Commercialisation and s151 OfficerAlison Chubbock - Chief Accountant (Deputy Section 151

Officer) (BDC)Emma Hodds - Internal Audit Consortium Manager

(IACM)Kevin Suter - Executive Director, Ernst & YoungGreg Pearson - Corporate Improvement and

Performance ManagerJulie Britton - Democratic Services Officer


The Minutes of the meeting held on 2 September 2016 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman subject to it being noted that Mr Ludlow had also declared an interest under agenda item 11 (Minute No. 43/16 refers).

56/16 ACTIONS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES (IF ANY) (STANDING ITEM) (AGENDA ITEM 2)

1. Quarterly Risk Report (Minute No. 45/16)

Mr Ludlow asked the Corporate Improvement & Performance Manager if he had managed to review the impact of the publication of the gender pay gap. Members were informed that the guidance had not yet been issued but the Team was looking at the assessment to identify any problem areas and it would be raised if necessary.

2. Training (Standing item ) (Minute No. 52/16)

Councillor Hewett had attended the CIPFA training in November and asked the Internal Audit Consortium Manager to pass on his thanks to the training provider as he had found the session very useful.

57/16 APOLOGIES (AGENDA ITEM 3)

An apology for absence had been received from Councillor Taylor.

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Agenda Item 11

Governance & Audit Committee9 December 2016

2


None.


None.

60/16 NON-MEMBERS WISHING TO ADDRESS THE MEETING (AGENDA ITEM 6)

None.

61/16 TRAINING (STANDING ITEM) (AGENDA ITEM 7)

No training requirements were requested. The presentation slides from the CIPFA training session would be emailed again as some Committee Members had not received them.

62/16 LOCAL GOVERNMENT SECTOR UPDATE (AGENDA ITEM 8)

The Local Government Sector update would be emailed to Members and removed from the Work Programme for the February 2017 meeting.

63/16 ANNUAL AUDIT LETTER (AGENDA ITEM 9)

Mr Suter, Executive Director Ernst & Young presented the Annual Audit letter. The purpose of the letter was to summarise the results of the audit; the format had changed and all jargon had been removed and was now a more streamlined document.

The only item highlighted was the Housing Benefit Subsidy claims which had since been completed on 30 November 2016 and submitted to the Department of Work and Pensions accordingly.

Councillor Hewett thought the Annual Audit letter to be very clear and simple, he liked the executive summary but found the pictures a little distracting. Councillor Monument agreed she also found the pictures distracting but liked the message it was bringing to the Committee.

The Annual Audit letter was otherwise noted.

64/16 TREASURY MANAGEMENT MID YEAR REPORT (AGENDA ITEM 10)

The Chief Accountant and Deputy S151 Officer presented the Mid-Year Treasury report which the Committee was just being asked to note.

Section 1.2 on page 34 of the agenda summarised the key issues and changes to the Treasury report - Appendix 2 (page 38) of the agenda contained the detail and the majority of the information.

The main issue was the Money Market Funds (MMF) which the Council had used for many years but as interest rates had reduced there was a small risk of negative returns through the MMF; therefore, balances were slowly being reduced and although the returns were not so good in other investments the principal was safer.

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Councillor Nairn informed the Committee why the Breckland Bridge loans had been extended. The Executive Director for Commercialisation and S151 Officer assured Members that discussions were taking place and that she was in communication with Anglian Water.

Mr Ludlow had always believed that the Council only invested funds in AAA rated MMFs but according to page 42 of the agenda, it clearly did not. The Chief Accountant and Deputy S151 Officer explained that Handlesbanken was not a Money Market account therefore, a different rating applied.

Councillor Monument could not spot any difference to figures contained in the prudential Indictor table. Members were informed that there was no difference it was just a matter that had to be reported.

Councillor Hewett drew attention to a number of spelling and grammatical errors within the report; however, he did agree with Capita’s comments in section 1.2 of the report. The Chairman asked about the Council’s attitude to this in terms of risk. Members were informed that the difference in percentage rates were not significant and had been notified of the risk hence why new instant access accounts were being explored.

Councillor Hewett drew attention to Appendix 1 of the report and asked if the Council had to pay anything towards this economic update from Capita Asset Services as the content, in his opinion, did not seem current. Members were informed that it cost the Council nothing as it formed part of the Capita contract. She assured the Committee that Capita would never provide the Council with any advice.

The Mid-Year Treasury report was noted.

65/16 TREASURY MANAGEMENT POLICY & STRATEGY (AGENDA ITEM 11)

The Treasury Management Policy & Strategy report would normally be presented to the Governance & Audit Committee meeting in February and due to the timing of this report, the budget information could be subject to change as it progressed to Cabinet and Council in February 2017. The reason for bringing the report forward was explained. The Chairman asked if there would be a need for the Committee to meet prior to February. The Chief Accountant and Deputy S151 Officer assured Members that there would be no requirement.

In response to a question, the meaning of HRA was noted as Housing Revenue Account.

Councillor Hewett felt that the document deserved another look prior to it being presented to Full Council as it was full of formatting, grammatical and spelling errors. The Executive Director for Commercialisation and S151 Officer suggested that if Members were happy with the content Officers would be tasked with tidying up the document then it could be circulated back to the Committee Members.

The Chairman said that he would be satisfied if the revised/corrected document be sent to Councillor Hewett and Councillor Monument then it

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would not need to come back to all Members.

In response to a question, it was noted that the Capital Loans on page 47 of the agenda were in relation to the Breckland Bridge Loans.

RECOMMEND to Full Council that:

1. the Treasury Management Strategy 2017-18 to 2020-21 at Appendix A of the report be approved;

2. the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) statement contained within Appendix A that sets out the Council’s policy on MRP be approved;

3. the Prudential Indicators and limits contained within Appendix A (tables 1-10) be approved;

4. the Investment Strategy 2017-18 (Appendix B of the report) and the detailed criteria included in Appendix B1 be approved; and

5. the Treasury Management Policy at Appendix B2 of the report be approved.

66/16 TERMS OF REFERENCE REVIEW (AGENDA ITEM 12)

The Executive Director for Commercialisation and S151 Officer had amended the Terms of Reference as requested to reflect the recent name change and what was now expected of the Governance and Audit Committee. It was proposed and seconded that the Independent Members should receive all committee papers in future as for the purpose of this Committee they were full Members– it was agreed that this addition would be included in the Terms of Reference. Other additions/amendments under the following headings included:

1. Purpose of the Committee

Paragraph 1.5.2 was felt to be more prescriptive but provided less assurance. It was noted that this wording had been picked up from the Council’s Constitution but would be amended and reported to Full Council accordingly. It was felt that independent assurance was missing and it was proposed that the word ‘ensure’ should be removed and replaced with “provide independent assurance that”. It was further agreed that the second sentence of this part would have ‘but not limited to’ added after the words ‘in relation to’ and would now read:

“The purpose of the Governance and Audit Committee is to monitor governance, risk management and internal control arrangements at the Council, to provide independent assurance that these are effective and efficient. This is achieved through key regular items received by the Committee in relation to, but not limited to, internal and external audit, key finance items, governance reviews and strategic risk management reporting”.

2. Membership of the Committee

Paragraph 1.6.1 – to remove the apostrophe from the word ‘Council’s’.

In response to queries regarding this section of the report the Internal

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Audit Consortium Manager explained that this particular part of the Terms of Reference was recognising the restrictions that Members could/should be applied and was attempting to say who could sit on the Governance and Audit Committee and how many Members could be appointed to the Overview & Scrutiny Commission. It also tried to explain the role of the Chairman and who that should be as it should be about interlinkage between the two Committees.

It was suggested that the amended Terms of Reference should be emailed to Councillors Monument and Hewett prior to it going to Full Council. Members were informed that the Terms of Reference could be reviewed at any time; therefore, it was agreed that the relevant Officer would make the amendments accordingly.

RESOLVED that:

1) the Committee note the proposed purpose and Terms of Reference for the Governance and Audit Committee and that these be put forward to Full Council for approval and adoption subject to the aforementioned amendments; and

2) the Committee note the restrictions to be placed on Members of the Committee and that these be put forward to Full Council for approval and formal adoption subject to the aforementioned amendments.

67/16 PROGRESS REPORT ON INTERNAL AUDIT ACTIVITY (AGENDA ITEM 13)

The Internal Audit Consortium Manager provided Members with a verbal update. A full report would be provided at the February meeting.

Six audits had been completed to date in the financial year and high level summaries of conclusions were provided.

Work in progress for Quarter 3 including cross authority review of accounts payable, Payroll & Human Resources and Licensing & Business Support (joint) would be concluded prior to the Christmas break and all audits for Quarter 4 had been booked in for completion by the end of March.

Councillor Hewett asked why the recommendation in the Content Management audit which had scored a limited assurance was disagreed. The Internal Audit Consortium Manager said that she was content with the response provided by the IT Manager as to the acceptance of the associated risk and that she would provide the detail at the February meeting.

68/16 FOLLOW UP REPORT ON INTERNAL AUDIT RECOMMENDATIONS (AGENDA ITEM 14)

The Internal Audit Consortium Manager provided Members with a brief summary of progress to date in implementing audit recommendations.

All audit recommendations were now on Covalent which all Managers knew how to update and therefore it was becoming a much more fluid

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process and any concerns could now be escalated through to the relevant Board and onto the Executive Management Team (as appropriate) where Officers could be called to account.

The current position as at 7 December 2016 was that 40 recommendations had now been closed and 42 remained outstanding; however, many of these would be implemented in December 2016. Many historic recommendations had been addressed and information in relation to these would be reported in February.

The Executive Director for Commercialisation and S151 Officer explained the escalation process that was now in place whereby Officers could be held to account if no action was taken as well as a mechanism to be called to Committee.

Mr Ludlow stated that there were some items already significantly overdue. Members were informed that some of them had been superseded by strategies; however, the Council was still in a less satisfactory position. The Chairman asked if a policy could be put in place so any outstanding recommendations came to Committee. The Executive Director for Commercialisation and S151 Officer said that she would bring a report to the next meeting.

Mr Stevens felt that these recommendations had been re-visited on numerous occasions and were not being taken seriously. It was agreed that a process would be put in place for Members to agree in February.

69/16 WORK PROGRAMME (AGENDA ITEM 15)

The Chairman had discussed with the Chairman of the Overview & Scrutiny Commission as to the assessment of the return on capital of the commercial activities within this authority as he felt that there was not a natural place for these to sit and be considered. Mr Suter, the Executive Director, Ernst & Young pointed out that these should be looked at through Cabinet (as an Executive function) under the Corporate Plan and the Governance & Audit Committee Members could ask for assurance that this was being done.

The Chairman wanted clarity as to whether these matters were being scrutinised elsewhere; if not, he asked for a report to come back to Committee and be added to the Work programme accordingly.

The Executive Director of Commercialisation & S151 Officer said that she would discuss this further with colleagues and a report would come back to the Governance & Audit Committee detailing the current process in place for reviewing the return on commercial activities to provide assurance for Committee Members.

Referring to the Work Programme, Mr Stevens wanted to know when the two items that had been postponed were coming back to Committee. The Internal Audit Consortium Manager advised that the ICT Service and Infrastructure Report had been approved at the Full Council meeting on 8 December 2016 and that as a priority this included improvements to the Disaster Recovery processes; therefore, this update would be removed from the Work Programme as it was no longer appropriate and if the necessary work was not completed this would be picked up through the

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audit recommendations report..

As for the Contract Management and Monitoring update this was being monitored through the risk management process and would be discussed further under agenda item 18. It was then agreed that this item was no longer required.

It was agreed that the Internal Audit Consortium Manager would email the Governance & Audit Committee’s Self-Assessment Exercise and Action Plan to Members in advance of the February meeting with responses to be provided before the agenda deadline so that it could be dealt with there and then at the meeting.

It was RESOLVED that the following deletions/additions be made to the Work Programme:

9 December 2016

Disaster Recovery update (postponed) - to be removed Contract Management & Monitoring (postponed) - to be removed

24 February 2017

Local Government Sector Update – to be removed Progress Report on Internal Audit Activity – to be added Follow up report on Internal Audit Recommendations – to be

added Officer report on escalating outstanding recommendations – to be

added (possibly incorporated into the above report).

70/16 NEXT MEETING (AGENDA ITEM 16)

The arrangements for the next meeting on Friday, 24 February 2017 at 10.00am in the Norfolk Room were noted.

Lunch would be provided to take account of the Treasury Management training taking place after the meeting.

71/16 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC (AGENDA ITEM 17)

RESOLVED that under Section 100(A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

72/16 STRATEGIC RISK REGISTERS/QUARTERLY UPDATE - RISK MANAGEMENT (AGENDA ITEM 18)

The Corporate Improvement & Performance Manager presented the report and highlighted that a number of major amendments had been made since the last meeting.

It was agreed that in future some risks would be discussed in open session, others, which were considered to be strategic/sensitive issues would continue to be discussed in private.

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The Chairman felt that a score/target column should be included on the risk register in future; other suggestions were also put forward.

The Internal Audit Consortium Manager pointed out that if Members had any serious concerns, Managers could be called into Committee to explain the reason why their target had not been met. It was agreed that Members would notify the report author in advance of the meeting if this was required.

It was agreed that the Corporate Improvement & Performance Manager would continue to develop the Strategic Risk Register to suit the Committee’s requirements.

The contents of the report were otherwise noted.

The meeting closed at 11.40 am CHAIRMAN

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BRECKLAND DISTRICT COUNCIL

Report of: Interim Executive Director Commercialisation and S151 Officer

To: Full Council, 19 January 2017

Author: Emma Hodds, Internal Audit Consortium Manager

Subject: Governance and Audit Committee - Terms of Reference Review

Purpose: To approve the updated Terms of Reference as recommended by the Governance and Audit Committee to incorporate best practice.

Recommendation(s):

1) That Council approves and adopts the proposed purpose and Terms of Reference for the Governance and Audit Committee, subject to any amendments

2) That Council approves and adopts the restrictions to be placed on Members of the Governance and Audit Committee, subject to any amendments.

1.0 BACKGROUND

1.1 At the meeting on the 2 September 2016 the Chairman of the Governance and Audit Committee noted that the Committee had changed its name and asked that the terms of reference be reviewed to reflect the change and what was now expected from the Committee.

1.2 At the meeting on the 9 December the Committee discussed the report of the Executive Director Commercialisation and Section 151 Officer and this report incorporates the comments made at that meeting.

1.3 The report comments on; the frequency of the meetings, purpose of the Committee, membership of the Committee, changes to the terms of reference and proposed revised terms of reference.

1.4 Frequency of meetings

1.4.1 Currently the Committee meets quarterly to discuss items of business, it is proposed that the four meetings remain, however with the early closedown of the accounts in future years and the desire of the Committee to see the draft statement of accounts this may need to be revisited.

1.5 Purpose of the Committee

1.5.1 The current purpose of the Committee is defined with the terms of reference and currently states:

“The purpose of the Governance and Audit Committee is to oversee the work of the internal and external audit functions and provide independent assurance of the effectiveness of governance arrangements, risk management and financial management processes.”

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Agenda Item 12

1.5.2 It is proposed that these are amended as follows to cover the breadth of the role of the Committee and to reflect the best practice requirements;

“The purpose of the Governance and Audit Committee is to monitor governance, risk management and internal control arrangements at the Council, to provide independent assurance that these are effective and efficient. This is achieved through key regular items received by the Committee in relation to, but not limited to; internal and external audit, key finance items, governance reviews and strategic risk management reporting”.

1.5.3 The Governance and Audit Committee plays a key role in overseeing the Council’s governance, risk management and internal controls at a corporate level. Operational matters are scrutinised by the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Commission.

1.6 Membership of the Committee

1.6.1 Current membership is six members, politically balanced, and two lay members, it is not proposed to change this. However there is no restriction on membership to this Committee, and it is recommended to consider introducing this in line with other Councils and best practice guidance. The proposed restrictions will be noted within the proposed terms of reference.

1.6.2 Ultimately members on the Governance and Audit Committee must be independent enough from the Executive function i.e. Cabinet to be able to objectively review the items received for consideration.

1.6.3 The restrictions to the membership of the Governance and Audit Committee are recommended as follows: Cabinet members do not serve on the Governance and Audit Committee; The Chairman of the Governance and Audit Committee does not also serve on the

Scrutiny Committee and; No more than two members can also sit on Scrutiny Committee.

1.6.4 It should also be formally recorded that the lay members of the Governance and Audit Committee are full members, albeit without the ability to vote, of this Committee and are privy to all reports received.

1.7 Changes to the terms of reference

1.7.1 The current terms of reference of the Committee are attached at Appendix A to this report.

1.7.2 Some of the wording has been slightly amended to make the reference more specific but there has been no change to the meaning inferred within these references/

1.7.3 The specific changes are as follows: “To consider and approve the external audit fee.” – this has always caused much

discussion as to whether the Committee can approve this and what would happen if we disagreed the fee. With the upcoming activity to procure the new external audit contracts and the updated standards that need to be followed this has been removed from the terms of reference. The charge for external audit will be set through the national procurement activity.

“To monitor the effective development and operation of risk management in the Council” – it has been made clear in the proposed terms of reference the focus that is required by the Committee in this regard as follows: “To review the strategic risks that the Councils faces and ensure that these are being appropriately managed, monitored and mitigated.”

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The terms of reference have also been displayed slightly differently to make it clear which areas terms refer to; internal audit, external audit, accounts / finance, risk management and governance.

1.8 Proposed (revised) terms of reference

1.8.1 In light of the changes mentioned above the proposed terms of reference are attached at Appendix B to this report.

2.0 OPTIONS

2.1 To review the terms of reference in light of the comments made at the September meeting.

2.2 To do nothing; this was not chosen as an option as the Committee has requested the review.

3.0 REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION(S)

3.1 The terms of reference of the Committee have been reviewed to ensure that best practice is followed and that comments made by Members and Officers can be incorporated into the review.

4.0 EXPECTED BENEFITS

4.1 That the revised terms of reference for the Committee will ensure that best practice continues to be followed by the Committee and that these are more reflective of the work undertaken by the Committee.

5.0 IMPLICATIONS

5.1 Constitution & Legal

5.1.1 Amendments will be needed to the Constitution if the proposed terms of reference are approved by Full Council.

5.2 Corporate Priorities

5.2.1 The Governance and Audit Committee, though the report that it receives, ensures that Officers outcomes and actions help the Council to meet its Corporate Priorities.

5.3 Reputation

5.3.1 By following best practice the Governance and Audit Committee ensures that the reputation of the Council remains high.

5.4.1 Risk Management

5.4.1 Risk Management is a key consideration in of the Committee, through many of the reports it receives.

6.0 ACRONYMS

6.1 CIPFA – The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy

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Background papers:- None

Lead Contact OfficerName and Post: Emma Hodds Internal Audit Consortium ManagerTelephone Number: 01508 533791Email: [email protected]

Key Decision: No

Exempt Decision: No

This report refers to a Mandatory Service

Appendices attached to this report: Appendix A Current Terms of Reference for Governance and Audit CommitteeAppendix B Proposed Terms of Reference for Governance and Audit Committee

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Appendix A - Current Terms of Reference for Governance and Audit Committee

(6 Members and 2 substitutes politically balanced) Plus 2 nonvoting Lay Advisors (appointed by the Committee)

(Quorum 3)

Delegations 16 -19 do not apply to the Lay Advisors

1. To consider and approve the external audit fee.

2. To consider and approve annually the Internal Audit Strategic and Annual Plans and the audit plans of the External Auditor, and to monitor subsequent performance against these plans.

3. To consider Internal and External Audit reports and letters, including the Annual Letters and reports.

4. To comment on the scope and depth of Internal and External Audit work in addressing the authority’s significant risks, and reviewing the authority’s programme and processes for achieving value for money.

5. To commission ad-hoc work from Internal and External Audit.

6. To satisfy itself that the system of internal control has operated effectively throughout the year.

7. To consider and comment upon the effectiveness of the system of internal and external audit.

8. To review the Council’s arrangements to counter fraud and corruption.

9. To consider the extent of the Council’s compliance with its own and other published financial standards and controls.

10. To review and approve the Annual Statement of Accounts.

11. To monitor the effective development and operation of Risk Management in the Council.

12. To make a formal annual report on the Committee’s work and performance during the year to full Council.

13 To hold annual private discussions with the Head of Internal Audit and the External Audit to review working relationships with Auditees,etc.

14. To assess the Committee’s own effectiveness on an annual basis.

15. To implement and monitor the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy and Policies.

(The following do not apply to lay advisors)

16. The promotion and maintenance of high standards of conduct within the Council.

17. To advise the Council on the adoption or revision of its Code of Conduct and its arrangements for dealing with complaints against Members.

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18. To monitor and advise the Council on the operation of its Code of Conduct in the light of best practice or changes in legislation.

19. Functions relating to standards of conduct of members under the adopted arrangements. The Monitoring Officer will constitute a Hearing Panel comprising 3 member of the Audit Committee when necessary to deal with hearings arising from standards issues under the adopted arrangements.

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Appendix B - Proposed Terms of Reference for Governance and Audit Committee

The purpose of the Governance and Audit Committee is to monitor governance, risk management and internal control arrangements at the Council, to provide independent assurance that these are effective and efficient.

This is achieved through key regular items received by the Committee in relation to, but not limited to; internal and external audit, key finance items, governance reviews and strategic risk management reporting.

Internal Audit

To consider and approve annually the Internal Audit plan of work, considering the scope and depth of the work in addressing the Council’s significant risks and issues.

To consider the outcomes of the internal audit plan of work and to monitor management’s progress in implementing agreed audit recommendations.

To consider and approve the Annual Report and Opinion of the Head of Internal Audit, ensuring that the systems of internal control, governance and risk management have been effective and efficient over the course of the year.

To consider the performance of the internal auditors in relation to the adherence to the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards.

External Audit

To consider annually the External Audit plan of work.

To consider External Audit reports and letters.

Accounts / Finance

To consider the extent of the Council’s compliance with its own and other published financial statements and controls.

To review and approve the annual Statement of Accounts and the Annual Governance Statement contained therein.

To approve the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy & Policy and subsequent performance against this.

Risk Management

To review the strategic risks that the Councils faces and ensure that there are being appropriately managed, monitored and mitigated.

Governance

To review the Council’s arrangements for governance, with particular regard to the Local Code of Corporate Governance.

To review the Council’s arrangements to counter fraud and corruption, with particular regard to the policies on: Counter Fraud, Whistleblowing and Money Laundering.

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To hold periodic private discussion with the Head of Internal Audit and the External Auditors to review working relationships and discuss any pertinent issues.

To commission ad-hoc work from internal and external audit.

To report annually to Full Council on the Committee’s work and performance during the financial year.

To assess the Committee’s own effectiveness on an annual basis against best practice.

The following does not apply to the Lay Advisors. NB no changes proposed.

The promotion and maintenance of high standards of conduct within the Council

To advise the Council on the adoption or revision of its Code of Conduct and its arrangements for dealing with complaints against members.

To monitor and advise the Council on the operation of its Code of Conduct in the light of best practice or changes in legislation.

Functions relating to standards of conduct of members under the adopted arrangements. The Monitoring Officer will constitute a hearing Panel comprising three members of the Audit Committee when necessary to deal with hearings arising from standards issues under the adopted arrangement.

Restrictions to membership of the Governance and Audit Committee:

Cabinet members do not serve on the Governance and Audit Committee; The Chairman of the Governance and Audit Committee does not also serve on the Scrutiny

Committee and; No more than two members can also sit on Scrutiny Committee.

The lay members of the Governance and Audit Committee are full members of this Committee and are privy to all reports received.

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Report of: The Executive Director of Place

To: Full Council – 19 January 2017

Author: Riana Rudland, Breckland Place Manager

Subject: Review of Street Naming and Numbering Policy

Purpose: To consider proposed amendments to the Street Naming and Numbering Policy

Recommendation(s):

1) That option 2.2 is approved and the revised Street Naming and Numbering Policy (July 2016) is adopted.

1 BACKGROUND

1.1 There are a number of national and local drivers that make it necessary for the Council to define and implement a Policy for address management:

Breckland Council has a Legal duty under the Data Co-operation Agreement (DCA) to have, maintain, continually improve and actively promote the use of its Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) which must be THE definitive master address list of all land and property within the Authority area.

The Town Improvement Clauses Act 1847 (Sections 64 & 65) and Public Health Act 1925 (Sections 17 to 19 inclusive) place a statutory duty on the Council to supply and maintain correct addressing for every property within the Authority area. This includes re-naming and re-numbering of properties and streets.

The provision of correct address information, via the LLPG, is of critical importance to the Emergency Services and is essential to numerous other organisations, local/central government services and the convenience/safety of the general public.

The LLPG is a key building block for a number of departments within the Authority and is a prerequisite for a number of other Government initiatives.

1.2 Breckland Council has a duty to ensure that all roads in the Breckland District are named and all properties numbered or named. The responsibility for dealing with applications for street naming and numbering, re-naming or re-numbering of properties and streets together with confirmation of street name plates is administered by the Spatial Information team under the Capita Contact for Planning and Building Control Services. The Spatial Information Team ensure that this information is relayed to appropriate organisations and internal sections of the Council.

1.3 To ensure that the service is operated effectively and efficiently it is necessary to set out procedures, performance standards and specifications. The current Street Naming and Numbering Policy is attached in Appendix A. This policy has been reviewed by the Spatial Information Team in line with best practice and some minor amendments have been

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Agenda Item 13

recommended to ensure it aligns with National Guidance and takes in to account feedback from Emergency Services. The proposed revised policy is attached in Appendix B.

1.4 Clearly legible street name plates and property numbers/names are essential for the emergency services and postal services as well as for the convenience and safety of the general public. Therefore the District Council requires street name plates to conform to the Council’s agreed specification and for all property numbers/names to be clearly indicated.

1.5 The key amendments that are recommended are:

Removal of parent shells from the Policy. “Parent Shell” refers to the name associated with a collection of properties or a grouping of land parcels. The Council had numerous Street Naming and Numbering cases since 2007 where “Parent Shells” were allowed under the existing policy and this has subsequently caused the residents unnecessary upset, distress and multiple problems. An example of this is “Eastgate House” on Eastgate Street where there was a property number 5 which was split into 5 flats. Under the existing policy these flats where addressed as Flat 1, 5 Eastgate Street and Flat 2, 5 Eastgate Street etc. This method of addressing put them into a parent shell situation. Subsequently the residents at house number 1 Eastgate Street started having problems with deliveries which were meant for Flat 1, another house started having debt recovery agencies visit when they should have gone to one of the flats and so on. Each of these properties have experienced issues with utility companies sending bills to the wrong address, issuing final utility demands or cutting off services, as well as missed deliveries. In extreme cases, this method of addressing properties has caused issued for health care professionals (community nurses, doctors and midwives) missing appointments as they cannot locate the relevant property. The problem occurs because although the flats are numbered flat 1, 5 Eastgate Street many web sites can only handle a property number and street name thereby making it property 1 on Eastgate Street which is not the flat but the house number 1 Eastgate Street. The same issues arise over the phone, the address for the flats misses off the parent shell (number 5) likely due to the fact that the computer system being used cannot cope with the two numbers in the address and street line.

The SNN service would strongly advise that parish councils do not use people’s names for streets due to the possible legal ramifications of not getting the appropriate living relatives permission and this risk that the residents that live there would have to pay to get their address changed with, for example, banks, deeds, utilities etc and have all the upset/stress that goes with the change of address should the address be subsequently deemed inappropriate.

Removal of “THE” from the naming of a street. This is requested by the Emergency services, as every second counts and allowing “The” easily causes confusion. For example: if you allow “The Walk“ as a street name when someone phones to give the address of the incident they don’t say “17 the THE Walk” they just say “17 the Walk”. Its just our vocabulary and the way we use “The” when we talk however to the emergency services who have to type it into their central address search system, it can lose valuable seconds if they are not sure whether to include “The” or not. It should be remembered that the emergency services are no longer always coming from a local station and are therefore reliant on the information they are given from the control room rather than from local knowledge. Similarly in the case of naming properties, if “The Farmstead” is allowed under current policy as a property name, however when the resident phones the emergency services they don’t say “we are at the THE Farmstead” they say “we are at the Farmstead”. Again this causes unnecessary confusion and delay in finding the address using national search

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systems.

Closer collaboration between Town and Parish Councils and the Developer. The existing process (policy version 1.8) stipulates that the developer could approach the parish and discuss a potential street name, but the developer must also be allowed to approach the Council direct. The developers suggested name would be sent to the parish on a standard proforma but the parish could only object if the name was invalid. However any comments the parish put onto the proforma would be passed back to the developer for consideration but the developer is allowed to keep their original suggestion.

In practice the SNN team would not allow or send out an invalid name suggestion on a proforma to a parish and therefore as the name suggestion is valid the parish could not object. This wastes a lot of time for the parish, developers and the Street naming and numbering team. To streamline the process and make it more efficient and effective the proposed new process would be to stop using the Proforma and instead suggest that developers discuss with the parish first or use a Preferred Street Name List. We would insist all Town and Parish Councils to have a pre-approved list of preferred names which they can share with developers at their earliest opportunity (even at the point they are submitting comments regarding a planning application in their area). If developers know that this list is pre-approved then they will understand that adopting one of the names from the list will speed up the process and prevent the need for them to seek approval of their suggestions against policy. Developers should still be allowed to approach the Council directly if necessary. Once the street name is agreed, the developer, parish and all parties would be informed of the approved street name.

Removal the reference to 25 working days to allow for change over of address details, as this is not workable within the Council’s address system and the statutory requirements when combined with wider national updates and use of addresses on the internet. Essentially the date that an address is renamed is ‘live’ at the point the national database is updated. The process of allowing 25 working days for residents to change their details in practice causes issues as the new address will not appear on any system drawing from the national database until it is registered. There is not the ability to have two ‘live’ addresses during the change-over period.

A summary of other proposed minor changes is included in Appendix C.

2. OPTIONS

2.1 Do nothing and continue using the existing Policy. This option is not recommended due to the feedback which has been received from the residents of properties where Parent Shall applies and from Emergency Services in particular.

2.2 Accept the proposed amendments to the existing policy and adopt the new version (July 2016).

2.3 Accept some of the proposed key changes and amend the policy accordingly.


3.1 To ensure the policy is consistent with National Guidelines and to address anomalies within the existing policy. Furthermore it will address issues raised by Emergency Services and provide further clarification to town an parish councils regarding the way they can influence

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and feed in to the decision making process.


4.1 Improve the efficiency and speed of the process.

4.2 Respond to feedback from the Emergency Services and help mitigate the risk of delays in accessing locations in the event of an emergency.

4.3 Provide clarification to Town and parish councils, members of the public and developers.

4.4 To encourage the production of local pre-approved lists which can be used to speed up the process of naming and numbering thus mitigating the potential costs incurred to developers of a delay in the naming of developments for connection of services.

4.5 To remove anomalies within the existing system and ensures consistency of decisions.

5.0 IMPLICATIONS

5.1 Carbon Footprint / Environmental Issues

5.1.1 It is the opinion of the Report Author that there are no implications.


5.2.1 Statutory matters dealt with in the body of the report and in the Policy itself. Policy changes are a matter for Full Council to determine.

5.3 Contracts

5.3.1 The function of street naming and numbering is undertaken by Capita under the Councils Planning and Building Control contract. It is in the opinion of the Report Author that there are no implications.


5.4.1 “Providing the right services, at the right time and in the right way”.

5.5 Crime and Disorder


5.6 Equality and Diversity / Human Rights

5.6.1 It is in the opinion of the Report Author that there are no implications.

5.7 Financial


5.8 Health & Wellbeing


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5.9 Risk Management

5.9.1 Failure to address some of the key proposed amendments – Parent Shell in particular, could result in continued dissatisfaction from residents and emergency services confusion.

5.10 Safeguarding


5.11 Staffing


5.12 Stakeholders / Consultation / Timescales

5.12.1 Amendments to the policy have been recommended as a result of changes in National Guidance and feedback from emergency services. The Policy also seeks to encourage greater collaboration between developers and Town and Parish Councils to agree street names in partnership wherever possible not withstanding the final decision will remain with the developer assuming their request is compliant with policy.

6.0 WARDS/COMMUNITIES AFFECTED

6.1 All Wards.

Background papers:-

Lead Contact OfficerName and Post: Riana Rudland, Breckland Place ManagerTelephone Number: 01362 656300Email: [email protected]

Key Decision: Yes / No

Exempt Decision: Yes / No

This report refers to a function with statutory powers and duties.

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Breckland District Council

Local Land & Property Gazetteer incorporating

Street Naming & Numbering

January 2014

Spatial Information

Version 1.8

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Document Control and History Version Control Issue No. Author Issue Date Reasons for Issue 0.1 J Elliott 19 Apr 2008 First Draft 0.2 J Elliott 07 Aug 2008 Second Draft – Snn Officer 1.0 J Elliott 18 Aug 2008 Final Copy 1.1 J Elliiott 19 Dec 2008 Alterations from OSC Adopted - Full Council Feb 2009 1.2 J Elliott 08 Aug 2013 Aligned with South Holland DC 1.3 P Adams 23-10-2013 Minor changes and agreed

proposals from Snn officer 1.4 P Adams 24-10-2013 Minor changes and alterations 1.5 J Elliott 10-12-2013 Changes to suit GP committee

recommendations 1.6 P Adams 19-12-2013 Changes to suit GP committee

recommendations 1.7 P Adams 08-01-2014 Changes to suit GP committee

recommendations 1.8 J Elliott 08-04-2014 Minor changes to clarify points

Approval of draft and final approval process Issue No. Approval Process Date 1.4 Consultation with Portfolio holder and Assistant

Director of Commissioning 24-10-2013

1.8 Minor changes made to confirm clarification of similar house names within a locality

10-04-2014

1Revision Schedule Issue No. Cycle Job Title Next Due

2Added to Policy Register Yes/No Policy Officer Signature

and Date Authors Signature and Date

1 This section should be completed if policy needs to be revised before next approval process, e.g. LJCC wish to have some words amended 2 Once this section has all been signed this then needs to be pdf and forwarded onto the Policy Officer

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3Removed from Policy Register Yes Policy Officer Signature

and Date Signature and Date

4CONTENTS

Introduction ..................................................................... 4

Scope – Policy Aim......................................................... 4

Legislation or Executive Summary ............................... 4

Policy Consultation and Consideration ........................ 5

Policy Statement ............................................................. 6

Implementation.............................................................. 15

Management Control and Organisation...................... 16

Monitoring...................................................................... 16

Related Policies and Strategies................................... 16

Appendices.................................................................... 16

3 Date of when policy has been removed from Policy Register – a good practice guide will be put in place whereby when a Policy is no longer deemed acceptable or required it will be presented at the original board just for reference. 4 The contents are field updated so that when the document is complete you simply right click on the table above click on Update Field and click on numbers only.

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Introduction

The term “Parish Council”, used throughout this document, refers to either a Parish or a Town Council within the Breckland District boundary. The term “street”, used throughout this document, refers to a street, road, lane, close or any other type roadway used by vehicles and also refers to any path/walkway used by pedestrians/cyclists. The term “town”, used throughout this document, refers to a Town, Village or Locality (defined hamlet). The term “vicinity”, used within this document, refers to a distance of 500 meters for the parish’s of Attleborough, Dereham, Swaffham, Thetford and Watton and a distance of 1000 meters for any other parish.

There are a number of national and local drivers that make it necessary for the Council to define and implement a Policy for address management:




The LLPG is a key building block in the Authority’s’ Customer Service Improvement Programme and is a prerequisite for a number of other Government initiatives.

Scope – Policy Aim

The aim of this policy is to provide a workable framework for Breckland District Council to operate its Local Land & Property Gazetteer incorporating the street naming and numbering function, effectively and efficiently according to set procedures and performance standards, for the benefit of the residents of and visitors to Breckland.

Legislation or Executive Summary

The Council has a duty to ensure that all roads in the Breckland District are named and all properties numbered or named. The responsibility for dealing with applications for street naming and numbering, or re-naming, or renumbering will be administered by the Spatial Information team who will ensure that this information is relayed to appropriate organisations. To ensure that the service is operated effectively and efficiently it is necessary to set out procedures and performance

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standards. The District Council requires street name plates to be clearly legible and to conform to the Council’s agreed specification. Clearly legible street name plates are essential for the emergency and postal services as well as for the convenience and safety of the general public. It should be remembered that street name plates need to be legible by night as well as by day.

5Policy Consultation and Consideration No Consultation has been undertaken however the policy has been updated to take into account the latest national requirements and to align with various procedures as stated in the SNN Policy for South Holland.

5 Consultation – Unison Consideration – Equalities, Carbon Management, Health & Safety Legal and Financial

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6Policy Statement

1. General Statements

1.1. For the purpose of its functions in relation to street naming and numbering, this Council in accordance with section 180 and schedule 14 of the Local Government Act 1972 resolves to adopt the provisions of the following two Acts:

1.1.1. The “Public Health Act 1925 – sections 17 to 19 inclusive” generally deals with street naming & re-naming and the display of street names. Breckland will therefore adopt this act for this purpose.

1.1.2. The “Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847 - sections 64 & 65” generally deals with house numbering/ re-numbering and the display of that property number. Breckland will therefore adopt this act for this purpose.

1.2. Breckland Council has a legally binding duty to provide and continually improve it’s LLPG (the official Council master address list) and it has a statutory duty to provide a Street Naming & Numbering (SNN) service. These two duties ensure that within the Breckland District boundary all streets are named and property/land is named/numbered and this includes re-numbering/re-naming as appropriate.

1.3. The LLPG feeds into a national address system, the National Land & Property Gazetteer (NLPG) which informs the Emergency Services, other national organisations and numerous government services as well as countless internet address systems. It is of prime importance for the Authority and essential to the public to insure that the data held within the LLPG together with the LLPG/SNN services are maintained to the required high standards and continually improved wherever possible.

1.4. The LLPG will be updated, maintained, managed and improved by the Spatial Information (SI) team within Breckland Council, in accordance with the latest version of the rules/guidance documents as issued by the NLPG.

1.5. The LLPG will contain Breckland’s Authority Street Gazetteer (ASG). The LLPG will form the basis for Breckland’s Street Naming & Numbering (SNN) service as it contains all the relevant ASG and address information.

1.6. Breckland Council will ensure that the software/hardware is sufficient to deliver the LLPG & SNN service effectively and to comply with the latest requirements of the service and the NLPG.

1.7. The LLPG will contain all property (commercial & residential) addresses which are located within the Breckland District Boundary and, as required under the DCA, it will be expanded to include all “Objects Without Postal Addresses” (OWPAs) and any necessary Land Parcels. OWAPs would be named woods, statues, play areas, park benches and any other areas/objects/properties that do not have postal addresses but that either the Council or the Emergency Services would need to know about or have an interest in.

1.8. As required under the DCA, the LLPG will also contain Address Change Information (ACI). This includes: house name additions/changes,

6 Please use ‘numbering’ for all bullet point sections.

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demolitions, splits and merges, organisation name changes and all new development as well as historical information. New developments will be recorded throughout their lifecycle, starting with potential sites at Planning Application decision stage, going on to plots at commencement on site, on to official addresses and finally historicising/demolition.

1.9. The LLPG is the source of information for the National address list (known as the NLPG). The NLPG is Central Government’s definitive address list and is used by the Emergency Services, Valuation Office, Electoral Registration, Royal Mail, Public utilities, Land Registry and can now be used by other third party organisations, delivery & satellite navigation companies, insurance services and internet address systems. Therefore the Council will ensure that all Address Change Information, locally gathered within the LLPG, is sent on to the NLPG at intervals as defined under the DCA.

1.10. The procedures will be regularly reviewed in order to provide a fast, pro-active, efficient service that meets NLPG/DCA and public requirements.

1.11. Breckland Council will adopt the LLPG as THE definitive master address list of all land and property within the Authority District boundary.

1.12. The LLPG will be the only source of address creation or modification for all addresses that lie within the Breckland District boundary. No other Council system will be allowed to create or modify any such official address until it has first been validated against the LLPG or validated by a member of the Spatial Information team.

1.13. Breckland Council will actively promote the use of its LLPG and actively seek to connect all appropriate Council systems to the LLPG. Where this is not possible the relevant system should primarily use the LLPG address as given.

1.14. Breckland Council must have a nominated “LLPG Custodian” to manage the LLPG and a nominated “Street Naming & Numbering Officer” (SNN Officer). The manager of the Spatial Information Team will be the LLPG Custodian and he/she will nominate an appropriate officer to be the named SNN Officer.

1.15. The LLPG feeds into a Nationally used system and therefore the LLPG must be maintained in accordance with the requirements as set out in the DCA which incorporates British Standards and Best Practice guidelines. The LLPG and SNN service must comply with the Councils “LLPG_SNN_Procedures” document.

1.16. Breckland Council, where requested by the owner/resident, will make a nominal charge in order to recover administration costs for the “re-naming of an existing property” or “to add a name to an existing property that has already been officially numbered” or “to remove a name and have only a property number” or “add a number to a named property”.

1.17. Breckland Council will make a nominal charge in order to recover additional administration costs where developers make revisions to property layouts/numbers after they have been officially named & numbered.

1.18. Breckland Council is the Legal Street Naming Authority and as such it determines the house name/number, the Street name, the Locality and the Parish. Royal Mail have the legal duty to add the Postal Town and Post Code to our addresses and further more they must not and should not change the address from that which the Council has agreed. The LLPG is the definitive district address list and therefore the Council is best placed to allocate street

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names to avoid possible conflict. It has been nationally agreed between the NLPG and Royal Mail that all address information will now go through the Royal Mail Central Addressing Unit for them to disseminate out to their Local Sorting Offices etc. For these reasons, consultation on suitability of street names with Royal Mail will only occur when required by the Spatial Information Team to resolve a specific issue.

1.19. Breckland Council does not give any compensation to any property owners/businesses affected by any change in their official address.

1.20. The resident/owner or developer can appeal against a decision of the Council by going through the Council’s complaints procedure.

2. Guidance / Procedures

Street Name Choice

2.1. The suffix part of the proposed street name (ie; close, way, road, drive, walk etc) will not form part of the consultation with Developer and/or Parish Council. The suffix will be determined by the Spatial Information Team.

2.2. It is recommended that Parish Councils should adopt the fast track method of street naming by agreeing with the Spatial Information (SI) team an “Approved Street Name List”. These preferred lists allow the SI team to agree in advance a list of acceptable preferred street names that the parish council are happy with. The preferred list will contain no more than 50% of person names. The preferred lists would be updated and added to, as and when necessary by the parish councils in consultation with the SI team and historical links could still be made to specific sites at the point when Breckland Council consult on planning applications. The preferred list would then be given to developers as a method of fast tracking the street name process into just a few days. However it should be noted that the developer has the right not to use this list, as long as the suggested name/s are in accordance with the policy.

2.3. Although permitted, Breckland Council would recommend that when suggesting names for streets, the use of the name of a local prominent person is to be avoided. It is felt that a better and more fitting tribute to the local person would be to have a plaque placed in an appropriate position that can give some details about that person and their good deeds, rather than a street name plate that just gives a name and says nothing more about the person or what they did. If the developer/parish insists on using a local person name then it will be the responsibility of the developer/parish to seek approval from the majority of living relatives and local residents to avoid causing any ill feeling about using the local name and that information will be passed to the Spatial Information team for verification. Furthermore only the first name or surname will be used and not both for the following reasons;

2.3.1. It avoids the possible occurrence of future information coming to light that may then taint that specific road name based on an individual and give rise to costly street rename procedures for both residents and Council alike.

2.3.2. This negates the need for Breckland Council to obtain official written permission from the majority of living relatives based on initial evidence from the developer or parish.

2.4. The inclusion of “s” on the ends of street names will not be allowed unless it forms part of the persons/family official name (ie; Eccles, Kearns, Morris,

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Nicholls etc). Street names that could be construed as either a possessive or plural will not be allowed.

2.5. Any new street name suggestion will be subject to validation checks by the Spatial Information Team. The LLPG feeds into a National system and is therefore governed by rules/guidance on allowable street names. The suggested street name will be invalid and rejected if it; is offensive, has a hidden meaning, could be misconstrued, would give rise to spelling or pronunciation difficulties, contains punctuation. Furthermore the suggested street name must not duplicate or sound/look similar to an existing street within the same postal town or within the vicinity of that street.

2.6. Any new street name must not duplicate or be similar to any name of any property either on the street or within the vicinity of that street.

2.7. Any new street name that could encourage defacing of nameplates will be avoided.

Naming New Streets

2.8. The submission for any new street name will come from the developer and must be in either written or email format. A verbal submission of the street name will not be accepted. If the developer declines to submit a name then the Parish will be asked to submit and the developer cannot then object to the chosen name. Should the Parish also decline to submit, the Spatial Information Team will submit the name that will be considered and approved by the relevant Portfolio holder for the service and neither the developer nor the Parish can object. Submission from either the developer or Parish will need to be submitted by the given date specified by the Spatial team.

2.9. It is advised that as soon as building works commence on site, the developers or owners contact the Spatial Information Team to determine the number of streets required and if the relevant parish has a preferred street name list. The preferred list enables the street name process to be fast-tracked and completed in a matter of days. However this doesn’t preclude the developer from submitting their own alternatives.

2.10. If a preferred list exists then the developer should be made aware of the list to enable them to consider these as their options. If the names selected are from the list, then the application will be approved within a couple of days and confirmed out to all parties. However the developer has the right to submit suggested street names, not on the list, direct to Breckland Council but this will be subject to validation checks and the “Council Proforma” process.

2.11. If the parish does not have a list, then it is suggested that the developer should seek local parish opinion on possible street names for the number of streets as defined by the Spatial Information Team. A minimum of three names per street in preference order is required just in case any names duplicate existing names within the postal town. If agreement is reached on a name with the local parish, the suggested name then needs to be submitted by the developer to Breckland for validation checks. If however the developer and the parish cannot agree a name then the developer has the right to submit their own choice of names, direct to Breckland Council for validation checks and the “Council Proforma” process.

2.12. If the suggested name/s fail to pass the validation checks then the developer and/or Parish will be informed and they will have to restart the process of

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name choice and re-submit new street names to Breckland Council. If the suggested street name/s passes the validity checks then the approved name/s would be confirmed out to all parties.

2.13. Council Proforma Process – Where appropriate Breckland Council will send the consultation proforma to the relevant parish for their official comments. At the same time a copy of the proforma will be sent to the appropriate ward member/s for their information. The Parish has 10 working days in which to return the completed proforma to the Spatial Information team, failure to do so would result in the suggested name being approved by default. The Parish/Town Council can only object to the suggested name if it is invalid (see Street Name Choice above) however any comments on the returned proforma would be noted and passed back to the developer for reconsideration. Should the developer wish to then revert to the Parish suggestion this name would be approved following a confirmation email from the developer. However if the developer wished to proceed with their original suggestion then this original suggestion would be approved.

Property Numbers & Names

2.14. Breckland Council has a duty to maintain and update the official address list for all property and land within its district and this includes the property name where one exists or is agreed. A proposed property name will be invalid and rejected if it; is offensive, has a hidden meaning, could be misconstrued, would give rise to spelling or pronunciation difficulties and it must not duplicate or be similar to an existing property name on a same/similar street name that is within the same postal town and/or must not be within the vicinity of a same/similar property name. If a property name is invalid or rejected Breckland Council will not enter it onto the official address list. If the property does not have a number and the property name is invalid/rejected then a suitable temporary holding name/address will be created and used by Breckland Council until a valid property name is agreed.

2.15. Mandatory numbering will be applied to all new properties and applied to existing properties during any renumbering. On occasion there may be exemptions to this process however these will be at the discretion of the Council.

2.16. Any new name for a property that will no longer be part of the original holding/ownership can be similar to that of the original (ie; barn conversion sold at Heff Farm could not be Heff Barn but Heff Lodge would be allowed)

2.17. Breckland Council will not exclude the number 13 in any new development or in any subsequent re-numbering of an existing street.

2.18. All new streets will be numbered so that odd property numbers are on the left and even numbers on the right, running from the start of the street to the end. The streets should start nearest to the town centre and radiate outwards. Side roads should be numbered in ascending order from the main road. In the case of Cul-de-sacs it might be more appropriate to number the properties sequentially, in a clockwise direction.

2.19. Any property with an existing number shall not be allowed to remove that number from their address unless this is in conflict with a similar address and is causing the occupants problems with postal deliveries or could cause problems for the Emergency Services in locating the property.

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2.20. Any new property name will not repeat the name of any street on which they sit or the name of any street within the vicinity.

2.21. All houses, offices, business establishments and other premises should display their property number or if there is no number they should display their property name, so as to be in a position which is clearly visible from the road. Ideally there should be a good colour contrast between the numerals/letters and the background to make it easy to read from the road, with numerals/letters at least 62mm in size.

2.22. On occasion action may be required to ensure that property numbers and names are correctly displayed. Initially, an informal approach will be attempted to resolve the issue. If however this fails to achieve a satisfactory solution, the authority may undertake necessary work to provide and install property numbers/names and the associated costs would be recovered from the property owners.

Naming & Re-naming Existing Streets

2.23. Due to the upset caused to the property owners the council will only undertake this measure; if the existing name is now offensive/inappropriate, if there is a duplicate/similar name which now causes problems, if it is a historical problem, if there is no present official name for the street or if the Emergency Services request it. In all cases the request must be written either in letter or email form, it must include a reason for the request and must be backed up by some evidence.

2.24. If the initial request came via the Emergency Services and there are properties on the street that pay Council Tax or Non-Domestic Rates then the Council will canvass opinion of all those affected properties of its intention to rename the street giving the reason why. Following consultation a report with recommendation will be submitted to the Service Manager for consultation with the appropriate Portfolio holder and ward member to enable a decision to be made and returned within 5 working days from submission. If the Council reject the proposed change then the process will be stopped and all parties informed. If not, an official notice will be placed in the street giving details of the intention to apply the new street name with provisional date. If there are no properties on the street that pay Council Tax or Non-Domestic Rates then resident consultation and report will not need to be done but only an official notice will be placed in the street giving details of the intention to apply the new street name with provisional date.

2.25. If the initial request did not come via the Emergency Services and there are properties on the street that pay Council Tax or Non-Domestic Rates then the Council will canvass opinion of all those affected properties of its intention to rename the street giving the reason why. Following consultation if enough properties object (see “Objection Table”) to the proposed change then the process will be stopped and all parties informed. If not a report with recommendation will be submitted to the Service Manager for consultation with the appropriate Portfolio holder and ward member to enable a decision to be made and returned within 5 working days from submission. If the decision approves the name/rename, an official notice will be placed in the street giving details of the intention to apply the new street name with provisional date. If there are no properties on the street that pay Council Tax or Non-Domestic Rates then resident consultation and report will not be done but only an official notice will be placed in the street giving details of the intention to apply the new street name with provisional date.

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2.26. From the date that the notice is placed in the street any person aggrieved by this intended notice can appeal to the petty sessional court within twenty-one days. If after the twenty-one days appeal period there has been no appeal then the spatial Information Team will complete the process to have the street name officially changed on the effective date. The effective date will be 25 working days after the provisional date given in the street notice. Breckland Council will re-inform all those properties affected, giving details of the new address and effective dates, as well as installing the new street name plates, on or as near as possible to the effective date.

Re-Numbering & Re-Naming Existing Properties

2.27. Under the Town Improvement Clauses Act 1847 Breckland Council can re-number properties as we deem necessary, however due to the upset caused to the property owners the council will only undertake this measure in the following circumstances providing that the request is written either in letter or email form.

2.27.1. The Emergency Services request it.

2.27.2. The Spatial Information team request it, providing in all cases that it is backed up by some evidence, to rectify an extreme situation of conflicting addresses, a confusing existing numbering scheme or the inclusion of numbers within a street of named properties.

2.27.3. The Parish Council request it, only after the Parish Council has consulted with the affected properties and achieved a majority (see “Objection Table”) of affected properties in favour of the change. Evidence from the Parish Council of the consultation and results will be required and may be validated.

2.28. Prior to making the revised numbering scheme for the street official, a report with recommendation will be submitted to the Service Manager for consultation with the appropriate Portfolio holder and ward member to enable a decision to be returned within 5 working days from submission If the decision is in agreement to renumber then the Spatial Information team will write to all affected properties on the street as well as the Parish/Town Council and other appropriate bodies giving the reason why together with details of the new addresses and effective dates. The effective date will be 25 working days after the provisional date given in the ”Street Letter”. Breckland Council will re-inform all those properties affected, giving details of the new address and effective dates, as well as installing the new street name plates, on or as near as possible to the effective date. The new property numbers should be provided by and installed on or as near as possible to the effective date by the property owners at their expense. If the decision is in objection to the renumber then the process will be stopped and all parties informed.

2.29. A survey by the Council may be carried out after a period of 25 working days to ascertain the level of implementation. Where necessary a communication will be sent to occupiers not complying with the numbering scheme of their legal duty to do so. If however this fails to achieve a satisfactory solution, the authority may undertake necessary work to provide and install property numbers and the associated costs would be recovered from the property owners.

2.30. Any property owner wishing to re-name an existing property or to add a name to an existing property that has already been officially numbered or to

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remove a property name and have only a property number, or to add a property number to a named property, must use the “Change of Property Name” application form.

Street Name Plates

2.31. Following agreement on the street name(s) for new developments the developer/owner will be issued with guidelines for the manufacture and installation of new signs. The cost of the signs will be borne by the developer/owner. The number, position and type of sign(s) to be installed will be agreed with the Spatial Information team prior to any installation. The installation of the signs will take place when the first property in the relevant street/development is occupied. If this is not carried out within 14 days of occupation by the first resident, the Council can take any necessary steps to have this done. If it becomes necessary for the Council to supply and install any signs, the full cost including administrative charges will be recharged to the developer/owner.

2.32. Street name plates should normally be mounted on new posts or walls/buildings if necessary and located at the nearest point to the highway boundary or back edge of the footway. The street nameplate specification is available from the Spatial Information Team.

2.33. In accordance with the Public Health Act 1925 and Department of Transport circular 3/93 the Council has the right to install signs on private properties or business walls etc in the interest of public safety. There is no legal obligation to notify owners but, out of courtesy, the Council will consult with the interested parties where ever possible before fixing any signs to private property.

2.34. Where possible, name plates should be fixed so that they will be illuminated by light from street lamps, especially at important junctions, provided they remain visible to vehicles on the main carriageway and do not block the line of sight for emerging traffic.

2.35. All new road signage within the District leading to a dead-end will have a NO THROUGH ROUTE sign included within the sign to indicate this.

2.36. Breckland Council will repair, maintain and renew existing street nameplates as and when required and will supply/install any nameplates for existing named streets where they are missing.

2.37. Where an existing street name plate is damaged, and the person or persons responsible is known, then the cost of replacing the sign, including any administrative charges, may be recovered from them.

2.38. Where a request is made from a resident or Parish to reposition/reword an existing street name plate that was correctly positioned, Breckland Council may undertake the work, at the discretion of the Spatial Information team. The cost of replacing the sign, including any administrative charges, will be recovered from the requestor.

Objection Table

2.39. The table below shows the minimum number of objections required in order to stop an appropriate street rename or appropriate renumbering process.

Objection Rules - Process will be stopped.

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Number of Properties Number of Objections Required to Stop Process 1 1 property to object 2 1 or more properties to object 3 2 or more properties to object 4 2 or more properties to object 5 and over More than 25% of properties to object

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Implementation

Actions to Implement this Policy

Formally adopt the two Acts, as listed below, in order to undertake the SNN service.

The “Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847 - sections 64 & 65” generally deals with house numbering and will therefore be adopted for this purpose.

The “Public Health Act 1925 – sections 17 to 19 inclusive” generally deals with street naming & re-naming and will therefore be adopted for this purpose.

Undertake and provide the Local Land & Property Gazetteer service and Street Naming & Numbering service together with its maintenance and continual improvement, all in accordance with the requirements as set out in the DCA, which incorporates British Standards and Best Practice guidelines as well as the Council’s latest LLPG & SNN Procedures.

Keep the Procedures, Rules and Best Practice Guidelines under regular review.

Breckland Council will actively promote the use of its LLPG and this will be the only source of address creation or modification for all addresses that lie within the Breckland District boundary.

Breckland Council fully supports this policy document.

Systems and Data to Which this Policy Applies

This policy applies to all systems that are used by the Council that hold address based data regarding land and property that lie within the Breckland District.

The Council is committed to moving to the use of NLPG/LLPG for all address related systems, via a Live link, in line with Government standards. During the transition period, some systems may not directly link or be able to hold their information in NLPG format. Within such systems and until such time that they are able to link, it is advisable that, wherever possible, they hold the UPRN against their data and that this data/UPRN is regularly maintained. The Spatial Information team can assist and advise on how to integrate your system with the LLPG. It is likely that a data matching exercise will need to be undertaken to associate each address with its UPRN and then periodic updates loaded in.

A ‘Service Level Agreement’ will be agreed with the relevant Service Area (or external organisation providing a service for the Council under contract). This Agreement will set out the property information supplied by the Spatial Information Team, the data to be notified by the User to update or correct property information and the arrangements for reconciling differences between the information held by the User’s system and the LLPG.

Where an existing address system uses “out-of-area” (outside our District boundary) addresses, then they should still use the UPRN but will have to seek additional help from the Spatial Information Team who will identify the correct UPRN for those addresses.

General Restrictions

The LLPG contains specific compiled address information and ownership of this data is retained by the Council. The sale or distribution of the data by Users either to

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external organisations or individuals or to other internal departments within the Council is specifically not permitted and subject to conditions set out in the DCA.

Management Control and Organisation The SNN and LLPG service is undertaken by the Spatial Information Team (Capita).

Monitoring

The manager of Spatial Information Team will review this policy on an annual basis and if necessary it will be updated to reflect any new National Rules and Best Practice Guidelines regarding SNN & LLPG. The supplementary “LLPG_SNN_Procedures” document which adheres to the above policy will be reviewed and updated if required on a six monthly basis.

7Related Policies and Strategies None 8Appendices Glossary ASG Authority Street Gazetteer – Local Council list of all streets within its

boundary. In Breckland’s case the ASG is fully incorporated within the LLPG and therefore should be regarded as one & the same.

LLPG Local Land & Property Gazetteer – Local Council list of addresses within its boundary.

LSG Local street Gazetteer – County Council list of all streets within its boundary compiled from all ASG information.

NLPG National Land & Property Gazetteer – Amalgamation of all LLPGs to form a National Address list.

UPRN Unique Property Reference Number – a unique number given to each property or piece of land to which an address will be applied. The address may change but the UPRN remains for all time.

DCA Data Co-operation Agreement – Legally binding agreement that requires the Council to have/update an LLPG and allows the Council to use Ordnance Survey Maps.

NSG National street Gazetteer – Amalgamation of all LSGs to form a National street list.

OWPAs Objects Without Postal Addresses – ie; named woods, statues, play areas, park benches, bus shelters, commons and lay-bys etc.

SNN Street Naming & Numbering – the function/service by which streets & property get an officially recognised address.

7 Please ensure that all Policies and Strategies are current and have been approved do not make reference to any which are not, this will be the author’s responsibility. Include year of approval. 8 Appendices are to be attached at the end and only if relevant.

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Breckland District Council

Local Land & Property Gazetteer incorporating

Street Naming & Numbering

SNN Policy

July 2016

Spatial Information

Version 1.9

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Document Control and History

Version Control

Issue No. Author Issue Date Reasons for Issue 0.1 J Elliott 19 Apr 2008 First Draft

0.2 J Elliott 07 Aug 2008 Second Draft – Snn Officer

1.0 J Elliott 18 Aug 2008 Final Copy

1.1 J Elliiott 19 Dec 2008 Alterations from OSC

Adopted - Full Council Feb 2009

1.2 J Elliott 08 Aug 2013 Aligned with South Holland DC

1.3 P Adams 23-10-2013 Minor changes and agreed proposals from Snn officer

1.4 P Adams 24-10-2013 Minor changes and alterations

1.5 J Elliott 10-12-2013 Changes to suit GP committee recommendations

1.6 P Adams 19-12-2013 Changes to suit GP committee recommendations

1.7 P Adams 08-01-2014 Changes to suit GP committee recommendations

1.8 J Elliott 08-04-2014 Minor changes to clarify points

1.9 J Elliott 29-06 2016 Minor changes to reflect national guidelines and change from Service Manager to Director of Place

Approval of draft and final approval process

Issue No. Approval Process Date

1.4 Consultation with Portfolio holder and Assistant Director of Commissioning

24-10-2013

1.8 Minor changes made to confirm clarification of similar house names within a locality

10-04-2014

1Revision Schedule

Issue No. Cycle Job Title Next Due

2Added to Policy Register

Yes/No Policy Officer Signature and Date

Authors Signature and Date

3Removed from Policy Register

Yes/No Policy Officer Signature and Date

Signature and Date

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CONTENTS

Introduction ..................................................................... 4

Scope – Policy Aim ......................................................... 4

Legislation or Executive Summary ............................... 4

Policy Consultation and Consideration ........................ 5

Policy Statement ............................................................. 6

Implementation .............................................................. 14

Management Control and Organisation ...................... 15

Monitoring ...................................................................... 15

Related Policies and Strategies ................................... 15

Appendices .................................................................... 15

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Introduction

The term “Parish Council”, used throughout this document, refers to either a Parish or a Town Council within the Breckland District boundary. The term “street”, used throughout this document, refers to a street, road, lane, close or any other type of roadway used by vehicles and also refers to any path/walkway used by pedestrians/cyclists. The term “town”, used throughout this document, refers to a town, village or locality (defined hamlet).

There are a number of national and local drivers that make it necessary for the Council to define and implement a Policy for address management:




The LLPG is a key building block in the Authority’s Customer Service Improvement Programme and is a prerequisite for a number of other Government initiatives.

Scope – Policy Aim

The aim of this policy is to provide a workable framework for Breckland District Council to operate its Local Land & Property Gazetteer which incorporates the street naming and numbering function according to defined procedures and performance standards, for the benefit of the residents of and visitors to Breckland

Legislation or Executive Summary

The Council has a duty to ensure that all roads in the Breckland District are named and all properties numbered or named. The responsibility for dealing with applications for street naming and numbering, re-naming or re-numbering of properties and streets together with confirmation of street name plates will be administered by the Spatial Information team who will ensure that this information is relayed to appropriate organisations and internal sections of the Council.. To ensure that the service is operated effectively and efficiently it is necessary to set out procedures, performance standards and specifications.

Clearly legible street name plates and property numbers/names are essential for the emergency services and postal services as well as for the convenience and safety of the general public. Therefore the District Council requires street name plates to

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conform to the Council’s agreed specification and for all property numbers/names to be clearly indicated.

Policy Consultation and Consideration No Consultation has been undertaken however the policy has been updated to take into account the latest national requirements and recent street naming & numbering queries/cases which highlighted certain anomalies/discrepancies within the policy.

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Policy Statement

1. General Statements

1.1. For the purpose of its functions in relation to street naming and numbering, this Council in accordance with section 180 and schedule 14 of the Local Government Act 1972 resolves to adopt the provisions of the following two Acts:

1.1.1. The “Public Health Act 1925 – sections 17 to 19 inclusive” generally deals with street naming & re-naming and the display of street names. Breckland Council will therefore adopt this act for this purpose.

1.1.2. The “Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847 - sections 64 & 65” generally deals with house numbering/ re-numbering and the display of that property number. Breckland Council will therefore adopt this act for this purpose.

1.2. Breckland Council has a legally binding duty to provide and continually improve its LLPG (the official Council master address list) and it has a statutory duty to provide a Street Naming & Numbering (SNN) service. These two duties ensure that within the Breckland District boundary all streets are named and property/land is named/numbered and this includes re-numbering/re-naming as appropriate.

1.3. The LLPG feeds into a national address system, the National Land & Property Gazetteer (NLPG) which informs the Emergency Services, other national organisations and numerous government services as well as countless internet address systems. It is of prime importance for the Authority and essential to the public to ensure that the data held within the LLPG together with the LLPG/SNN services are maintained to the required high standards and are continually improved wherever possible.

1.4. The LLPG will be updated, maintained, managed and improved by the Spatial Information team within Breckland Council, in accordance with the latest version of the rules/guidance documents as issued by the NLPG.

1.5. The LLPG will contain Breckland Council’s Authority Street Gazetteer (ASG). The LLPG will form the basis for Breckland Council’s Street Naming & Numbering (SNN) service as it contains all the relevant ASG and address information.

1.6. Breckland Council will ensure that the software/hardware is sufficient to deliver the LLPG & SNN service effectively and to comply with the latest requirements of the service and the NLPG.

1.7. The LLPG will contain all property (commercial & residential) addresses which are located within the Breckland District Boundary and, as required under the DCA. It will be expanded to include all “Objects Without Postal Addresses” (OWPAs) and any necessary Land Parcels. OWAPs would be named woods, statues, play areas, park benches and any other areas/objects/properties that do not have postal addresses but that either the Council or the Emergency Services would need to know about or have an interest in.

1.8. As required under the DCA, the LLPG will also contain Address Change Information (ACI). This includes: house name additions/changes, demolitions, splits and merges, organisation name changes and all new

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development as well as historical information. New developments will be recorded throughout their lifecycle, starting with potential sites at Planning Application decision stage, going on to plots at commencement on site, on to official addresses and finally historicising/demolition.

1.9. The LLPG is the source of information for the National address list (known as the NLPG). The NLPG is Central Government’s definitive address list and is used by the Emergency Services, Valuation Office, Electoral Registration, Royal Mail, Public utilities, Land Registry and can now be used by other third party organisations, delivery & satellite navigation companies, insurance services and internet address systems. Therefore the Council will ensure that all Address Change Information, locally gathered within the LLPG, is sent on to the NLPG at intervals as defined under the DCA.

1.10. The procedures will be regularly reviewed in order to provide a fast, pro-active, efficient service that meets NLPG/DCA and public requirements.

1.11. Breckland Council will adopt the LLPG as THE definitive master address list of all land and property within the Authority District boundary.

1.12. The LLPG will be the only source of address creation or modification for all addresses that lie within the Breckland District boundary. No other Council system will be allowed to create or modify any such official address until it has first been validated against the LLPG or validated by a member of the Spatial Information team.

1.13. Breckland Council will actively promote the use of its LLPG and actively seek to connect all appropriate Council systems to the LLPG. Where this is not possible the relevant system should primarily use the LLPG address as given.

1.14. Breckland Council must have a nominated “LLPG Custodian” to manage the LLPG and a nominated “Street Naming & Numbering Officer” (SNN Officer). Both of these functions will be carried out by the Spatial Information Manager. The DCA agreement also requires Breckland Council to have a nominated senior point of contact called a “DCA Authority Principal Contact” this would be the “Director of Place”.

1.15. The LLPG feeds into a Nationally used system and therefore the LLPG must be maintained in accordance with the requirements as set out in the DCA which incorporates British Standards and Best Practice guidelines. The LLPG and SNN service must comply with this policy and the Council’s “LLPG SNN Procedures” document.

1.16. Breckland Council will make a nominal charge in order to recover appropriate costs for various services carried out by the Spatial Information team. Please see the current Fee Schedule for the appropriate charges.

1.17. Breckland Council is the Legal Street Naming Authority and as such it determines the house name/number, the street name, the locality and the parish. Royal Mail have the legal duty to add the postal town and post code to our addresses and furthermore they must not, and should not, change the address from that which the Council has agreed. The LLPG is the definitive district address list and therefore the Council is best placed to allocate street names to avoid possible conflict. It has been nationally agreed between the NLPG and Royal Mail that all address information will now go through the Royal Mail Central Addressing Unit for them to disseminate out to their Local Sorting Offices etc. For these reasons, consultation on suitability of street

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names with Royal Mail will only occur when required by the Spatial Information Team to resolve a specific issue.

1.18. A “Parent Shell” in this document refers to the name associated with a collection of properties or a grouping of land parcels. Due to the inherent problems around using Parent Shells in addresses, these will only be used in exceptional circumstances where all other alternative options cannot be applied.

1.19. Breckland Council does not give any compensation to any property owners/businesses affected by any change in their official address.

1.20. The resident/owner or developer can appeal against a decision of the Council by going through the Council’s complaints procedure.

2. Guidance / Procedures

Street Name Choice

2.1. The suffix part of the proposed street name (ie; close, way, road, drive, walk etc) will not form part of the consultation with Developer and/or Parish Council. The suffix will be determined by the Spatial Information Team and this may not be the same as that submitted by the developer/Parish Council. Similarly a prefix of Doctor, Lord, Sir, Captain, Admiral etc will not be allowed.

2.2. It is recommended that Parish Councils should adopt the fast track method of street naming by agreeing with the Spatial Information team a “Preferred Street Name List”. These preferred lists allow the Spatial Information team to agree in advance a list of acceptable preferred street names that the parish council are happy with and could include historical links. The preferred list will contain no more than 50% of person names. The preferred lists would be updated and added to, as and when necessary by the parish councils in consultation with the Spatial Information team and the historical links to specific sites could still be made at the point when Breckland Council consult on planning applications. The preferred list would then be given to developers as a method of fast tracking the street name process into just a few days. However this doesn’t preclude the developer from submitting their own alternative street names.

2.3. Breckland Council would recommend that when suggesting names for streets, the use of the name of a local prominent person is to be avoided. It is felt that a better and more fitting tribute to the local person would be to have a plaque placed in an appropriate position that can give some details about that person and their good deeds, rather than a street name plate that just gives a name and says nothing more about the person or what they did. If the developer/parish insists on using a local person name then it will be the responsibility of the developer/parish to seek approval from the majority of living relatives and local residents to avoid causing any ill feeling about using the local name and that information will be passed to the Spatial Information team for verification together with the evidence of how that person has benefitted/contributed to the local village/area. Multiple names for a single street will not be allowed (ie multiple surnames and/or multiple first names). Furthermore only the first name or surname will be used and not both for the following reasons;

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2.3.1. It avoids the possible occurrence of future information coming to light that may then taint that specific road name based on an individual and give rise to costly street re-name procedures for both residents and Council alike.

2.3.2. This negates the need for Breckland Council to obtain official written permission from the majority of living relatives based on initial evidence from the developer or parish.

2.4. The inclusion of “s” on the ends of street names will not be allowed unless it forms part of the persons/family official name (ie; Eccles, Kearns, Morris, Nicholls etc). Street names that could be construed as either a possessive or plural will not be allowed.

2.5 Any new street name suggestion will be subject to validation checks by the Spatial Information Team. The LLPG feeds into a National system and is therefore governed by rules/guidance on allowable street names. The suggested street name will be invalid and rejected if it; is offensive, has a hidden meaning, could be misconstrued, would give rise to spelling or pronunciation difficulties, contains punctuation. Furthermore the suggested street name must not duplicate or sound/look similar to an existing street within the same postal town and not duplicate or sound/look similar to an existing street in any surrounding parish to the new street location.

2.6 Any new street name must not duplicate or be similar to the name of any property on or adjacent to the new street and must not repeat the name of any Parish, Town, village or locality within the Breckland District. Any new street name must not start with a number, either numeric (ie “1”) or textual (ie “one”).

2.7 Any new street name that could encourage defacing of nameplates will be avoided.

2.8 Any new street name must not start with the word “The”. This is a requirement of the Emergency Services.

3. Naming New Streets

3.0 The submission for any new street name will come from the developer and must be in either written or email format. A verbal submission of the street name will not be accepted. If the developer declines to submit a name then the Parish will be asked to submit and the developer cannot then object to the chosen name. Should the Parish also decline to submit, the Spatial Information Team will submit the name to the Director of Place for approval by the relevant Portfolio holder for the service and neither the developer nor the Parish can object.

3.1 It is advised that as soon as building works commence on site, the developers or owners contact the Spatial Information Team to determine the number of streets required.

3.2 If a Preferred Street Name List exists for the appropriate parish then the developer should be made aware of the list to enable them to consider these as street name options. If the street names are selected from the Preferred List, then the application will be approved, after final validation checks, and confirmed out to all parties. However the developer has the right to submit suggested street names, not on the list, direct to Breckland Council but this will be subject to validation checks.

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3.3 For a parish/town that does not have a Preferred Street Name List, the developer is advised to contact the Town or Parish Council Chairman (or Town/Parish Councillor in the Chairman’s absence) to seek opinion on possible street names for the number of streets as defined by the Spatial Information team. A minimum of three names per street, in preference order, is required to allow for any names duplicating existing names within the postal town or surrounding parish. If agreement is reached on the names with the Town or Parish Council, the suggested names should be submitted by the developer to Breckland Council for validation checks. If, however, the developer and the Town/Parish Council cannot reach agreement on the naming of the new street(s), the developer, as owner of the land, has the right to submit their own choice of names, direct to Breckland Council for validation checks. If the name is a valid street name this will be approved by the Street Naming and Numbering team and sent to Royal Mail. The Town/Parish council can only object to the suggested names if they are invalid (see Street Name Choice above).

3.4 If the suggested names fail to pass the validation checks then the developer and/or town/parish will be informed and they will have to re-start the process of name choice and re-submit new street names to Breckland Council. If the suggested street names pass the validity checks then the approved names will be confirmed out to all parties.

Naming & Re-naming Existing Streets

3.5 Due to the upset caused to the property owners the council will only undertake this measure; if the existing name is now offensive/inappropriate, if there is a duplicate/similar name which now causes problems, if there is no present official name for the street or if the Emergency Services request it. In all cases the request must be written, it must include a reason for the request and must be backed up by some evidence.

3.6 If the initial request came via the Emergency Services and there are properties on the street that pay Council Tax or Non-Domestic Rates then the Council will, after initial validation is approved, advise all those affected properties of its intention to re-name the street giving the reason why. Following consultation a report with recommendation will be submitted to the Director of Place for consultation with the appropriate Portfolio holder and ward member to enable a decision to be made and returned within 5 working days from submission. If the Council reject the proposed change then the process will be stopped and all parties informed. If the re-name is agreed by the Council, an official notice will be placed in the street giving details of the intention to apply the new street name with provisional date. If there are no properties on the street that pay Council Tax or Non-Domestic Rates, the resident consultation and report will not be undertaken, however an official notice will be placed in the street giving details of the intention to apply the new street name together with the provisional date.

3.7 If the initial request did not come via the Emergency Services and there are properties on the street that pay Council Tax or Non-Domestic Rates then the Council will, after initial validation is approved, canvass opinion of all those affected properties of its intention to re-name the street giving the reason why. Following consultation if enough properties object (see “Objection Table” below) to the proposed change then the process will be stopped and all parties informed. If not a report with recommendation will be submitted to the Director of Place for consultation with the appropriate

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Portfolio holder and ward member to enable a decision to be made and returned within 5 working days from submission. If the decision approves the name/re-name, an official notice will be placed in the street giving details of the intention to apply the new street name with provisional date. If there are no properties on the street that pay Council Tax or Non-Domestic Rates then resident consultation and report will not be done, however an official notice will be placed in the street giving details of the intention to apply the new street name with provisional date.

3.8 From the date that the notice is placed in the street any person aggrieved by this intended notice can appeal to the petty sessional court within twenty-one days. If after the twenty-one days appeal period there has been no appeal then the Spatial Information team will complete the process to have the street name officially changed on the effective date. The effective date will be on, or as near as possible, to the provisional date given in the street notice. Breckland Council will re-inform all those properties affected, giving details of the new address and effective dates, as well as installing the new street name plates, on or as near as possible to the effective date.

Property Numbers & Names

3.9 Breckland Council has a duty to maintain and update the official address list for all property and land within its district and this includes the property name where one exists or is agreed. A proposed property name will be invalid and rejected if it; is offensive, has a hidden meaning, could be misconstrued, would give rise to spelling or pronunciation difficulties, starts with the word “The” and it must not duplicate or be similar to an existing property name on a same/similar street name that is within the same postal town and must not be within 1500 metres of a same/similar property name in an adjacent postal town. If a property name is invalid or rejected Breckland Council will not enter it onto the official address list. If the property does not have a number and the property name is invalid/rejected then a suitable temporary holding name/address will be created and used by Breckland Council until a valid property name is agreed.

3.10 Mandatory numbering will be applied to all new properties and applied to existing properties during any re-numbering. On occasion there may be exemptions to this process however these will be at the discretion of the Council.

3.11 Breckland Council will not exclude the number 13 in any new development or in any subsequent re-numbering of an existing street.

3.12 All new streets will be numbered so that odd property numbers are on the left and even numbers on the right, running from the start of the street to the end. The streets should start nearest to the town centre and radiate outwards. Side roads should be numbered in ascending order from the main road. In the case of Cul-de-sacs it might be more appropriate to number the properties sequentially, in a clockwise direction. However due to the nature of complicated site layouts there may be occasions where the Spatial Information team number according to site layout. This will be at the discretion of the council.

3.13 Any property with an existing number shall not be allowed to remove that number from their address without official written permission of the Spatial Information team to rectify an extreme situation (ie; conflicts with a similar address and is causing the occupants problems with postal deliveries or could cause problems for the Emergency Services in locating the property).

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3.14 Any new property name must not duplicate or be similar to the name of the street on which they are located or any adjacent street name and must not repeat the name of any Parish, Town, village or locality within the Breckland District. Any new property name must not start with a number, either numeric (ie “1”) or textual (ie “one”).

3.15 All houses, offices, business establishments and other premises should display their property number or if there is no number they should display their property name, so as to be in a position which is clearly visible from the road. Ideally there should be a good colour contrast between the numbers/letters and the background to make it easy to read from the road, with numbers/letters at least 62mm in size.

3.16 On occasion action may be required to ensure that official property numbers and names are correctly displayed. Initially, an informal approach will be attempted to resolve the issue. If however this fails to achieve a satisfactory solution, the authority may undertake necessary work to provide and install official property numbers/names and the associated costs would be recovered from the property owners.

Re-Numbering & Re-Naming Existing Properties

3.17 Under the Town Improvement Clauses Act 1847 Breckland Council can re-number properties as we deem necessary, however due to the upset caused to the property owners the council will only undertake this measure in the following circumstances providing that the request is in writing.

3.17.1 The Emergency Services request it including a reason to back up the request.

3.17.2 The Spatial Information team request it, providing in all cases that it is backed up by some evidence, to rectify an extreme situation of conflicting addresses, a confusing existing numbering scheme, new infill development without a new street or the inclusion of numbers within a street of named properties.

3.17.3 The Parish Council request it, only after the Parish Council has consulted with the affected properties and achieved a majority (see “Objection Table” below) of affected properties in favour of the change. Evidence from the Parish Council of the consultation and results will be required. The Council may then undertake their own survey to verify/confirm the results.

3.18 Prior to making the revised numbering scheme for the street official, a report with recommendation will be submitted to the Director of Place for consultation with the appropriate Portfolio holder and ward member to enable a decision to be returned within 5 working days from submission. If the decision is in agreement to re-number then the Spatial Information team will write to all affected properties on the street as well as the Parish/Town Council and other appropriate bodies giving the reason why re-numbering is taking place, together with details of the new addresses and effective dates. Breckland Council will re-inform all those properties affected, giving details of the new address and effective date. New street name plates will be provided and installed by the Council on, or as near as possible to, the effective date. The new property numbers should be provided by and installed on or as near as possible to the effective date by the property owners at their expense. If the decision is in objection to the re-number then the process will be stopped and all parties informed.

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3.19 A survey by the Council may be carried out after a period of 25 working days after a re-name or re-number to ascertain the level of implementation. Where necessary a communication will be sent to occupiers not complying with the numbering scheme of their legal duty to do so. If however this fails to achieve a satisfactory solution, the authority may undertake necessary work to provide and install property numbers and the associated costs would be recovered from the property owners.

3.20 Any property owner (commercial or residential) wishing to re-name an existing property or to add a name to an existing property that has already been officially numbered or to remove a property name and have only a property number, or to add a property number to a named property, must use the appropriate “Change of Property Name” application form.

Street Name Plates

3.21 Following agreement on the street name(s) for new developments the developer/owner will be issued with guidelines for the manufacture and installation of new signs. The cost of the signs will be borne by the developer/owner. The number, position and type of sign(s) to be installed will be agreed with the Spatial Information team prior to any installation. The installation of the signs will take place when the first property in the relevant street/development is occupied. If this is not carried out within 14 days of occupation by the first resident, the Council can take any necessary steps to have this done. If it becomes necessary for the Council to supply and install any signs, the full cost including administrative charges will be recharged to the developer/owner.

3.22 Street name plate details, including the style of posts, backing boards, the letter style, allowed positions and sizes etc. can be found on the “Specification for Street Name Plates” page of Breckland Council website www.breckland.gov.uk. These details are also available from the Spatial Information team.

3.23 In accordance with the Public Health Act 1925 and Department of Transport circular 3/93 the Council has the right to install signs on private properties or business walls etc in the interest of public safety. There is no legal obligation to notify owners but, out of courtesy, the Council will consult with the interested parties wherever possible before fixing any signs to private property.

3.24 Breckland Council will repair, maintain and re-new existing street nameplates as and when required and will supply/install any nameplates for existing named streets that do not have a name plate.

3.25 Where an existing street name plate is stolen or damaged, and the person or persons responsible is known, then the full cost of replacing the sign, including any administrative charges, may be recovered from the offender.

3.26 Where a request is made from a resident, business, developer or Parish to re-position an existing street name plate that was correctly positioned, re-word a correctly worded name plate or have additional name plates. Breckland Council may undertake the work, at the discretion of the Spatial Information team. The full cost of the new sign/s, including any administrative charges, will be recovered from the requestor.

Objection Table

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3.27 The table below shows the minimum number of objections required in order to stop an appropriate street re-name or appropriate re-numbering process.

Objection Rules - Process will be stopped.

Number of Properties Number of Objections Required to Stop Process

1 1 property to object

2 1 or more properties to object



5 and over More than 25% of properties to object

Implementation

Actions to Implement this Policy

Formally adopt the two Acts, as listed below, in order to undertake the SNN service.

The “Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847 - sections 64 & 65” generally deals with house numbering and will therefore be adopted for this purpose.

The “Public Health Act 1925 – sections 17 to 19 inclusive” generally deals with street naming & re-naming and will therefore be adopted for this purpose.

Undertake and provide the Local Land & Property Gazetteer service and Street Naming & Numbering service together with its maintenance and continual improvement, all in accordance with the requirements as set out in the DCA, which incorporates British Standards and Best Practice guidelines as well as the Council’s latest LLPG & SNN Procedures.

Keep the Procedures, Rules and Best Practice Guidelines under regular review.

Breckland Council will actively promote the use of its LLPG and this will be the only source of address creation or modification for all addresses that lie within the Breckland District boundary.

Breckland Council fully supports this policy document.

Systems and Data to which this Policy applies

This policy applies to all systems that are used by the Council that hold address based data regarding land and property that lie within the Breckland District.

The Council is committed to moving to the use of NLPG/LLPG for all address related systems, via a Live link, in line with Government standards. During the transition period, some systems may not directly link or be able to hold their information in NLPG format. Within such systems and until such time that they are able to link, it is advisable that, wherever possible, they hold the UPRN against their data and that this data/UPRN is regularly maintained. The Spatial Information team can assist and advise on how to integrate your system with the LLPG. It is likely that a data matching exercise will need to be undertaken to associate each address with its UPRN and then periodic updates loaded in.

A ‘Service Level Agreement’ will be agreed with the relevant Service Area (or external organisation providing a service for the Council under contract). This Agreement will set out the property information supplied by the Spatial Information

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Team, the data to be notified by the User to update or correct property information and the arrangements for reconciling differences between the information held by the User’s system and the LLPG.

Where an existing address system uses “out-of-area” (outside our District boundary) addresses, then they should still use the UPRN but will have to seek additional help from the Spatial Information Team who will identify the correct UPRN for those addresses.

General Restrictions

The LLPG contains specific compiled address information and ownership of this data is retained by the Council. The sale or distribution of the data by Users either to external organisations or individuals or to other internal departments within the Council is specifically not permitted and subject to conditions set out in the DCA.

Management Control and Organisation The SNN and LLPG service is undertaken by the Spatial Information Team (Capita).

Monitoring

The manager of Spatial Information Team will review this policy on an annual basis and if necessary it will be updated to reflect any new National Rules and Best Practice Guidelines regarding SNN & LLPG. The supplementary “LLPG_SNN_Procedures” document which adheres to the above policy will be reviewed and updated if required on a six monthly basis.

Related Policies and Strategies None

Appendices Glossary ASG Authority Street Gazetteer – Local Council list of all streets within its

boundary. In Breckland’s case the ASG is fully incorporated within the LLPG and therefore should be regarded as one & the same.

LLPG Local Land & Property Gazetteer – Local Council list of addresses within its boundary.

LSG Local street Gazetteer – County Council list of all streets within its boundary compiled from all ASG information.

NLPG National Land & Property Gazetteer – Amalgamation of all LLPGs to form a National Address list.

UPRN Unique Property Reference Number – a unique number given to each property or piece of land to which an address will be applied. The address

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may change but the UPRN remains for all time.

DCA Data Co-operation Agreement – Legally binding agreement that requires the Council to have/update an LLPG and allows the Council to use Ordnance Survey Maps.

NSG National street Gazetteer – Amalgamation of all LSGs to form a National street list.

OWPAs Objects Without Postal Addresses – ie; named woods, statues, play areas, park benches, bus shelters, commons and lay-bys etc.

SNN Street Naming & Numbering – the function/service by which streets & property get an officially recognised address.

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APPENDIX C.

Outline of Changes to SNN Policy – from version 1.8 to version 1.9

Ref to Notes

Old item New item Description of change

Introduction Introduction Removed reference to “Vicinity”

Executive Summary

Executive Summary

Re-worded to include reference to “street name plates” and “clearly legible property numbers/names”

Policy Consultation

Policy Consultation

Re-worded to include reference to recent SNN cases and anomalies. Removed reference to aligning with South Holland.

0-1.13 0-1.13 same

1.14 1.14 Reference to nominated Custodian & SNN Officer changed. Included reference to Authority Principal Contact (as agreed July 2014)

1.15 1.15 same

1.16 1.16 Wording changed to be more generic and refer to a separate fee schedule.

1.17 - Removed as this is included in 1.16 of new version.

1.18 1.17 same

A1 - 1.18 New paragraph about restricted use of parent shells.

1.19 1.19 same

1.20 1.20 same

2.1 2.1 Extended to include prefix and not necessarily same as submitted.

2.2 2.2 Last sentence simplified.

A2 2.3 2.3 Deleted “Although permitted”. Added multiple names for one street not allowed. Added evidence of contribution to village etc.

2.3.1 2.3.1 same

2.3.2 2.3.2 same

2.4 2.4 same

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2.5 2.5 Reference about “Vicinity” removed and “surrounding Parish” added to last sentence.

2.6 2.6 Reference about “Vicinity” removed and town/parish/locality note added and not start with number added.

2.7 2.7 same

A3 - 2.8 New paragraph about not allowing “THE” for start of street name.

2.8 2.9 Removed last sentence regarding submission by date specified. Updated “Service Manager” to “Breckland Place Manager”.

2.9 2.10 Reference to Preferred Street Name List removed

2.10 2.11 Reference to “Council Proforma” removed

A4 2.11 2.12 Wording and process changed. See notes

2.12 2.13 same

2.13 - Removed item about Council Proforma process

A5 2.14 2.18 Added wording about property name must not start with “The” and “Vicinity” changed to “1500 meters”

2.15 2.19 same

2.16 - Removed item as conflicted with original item 2.14

2.17 2.20 same

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Report of: Interim Executive Director of Commercialisation (S151 Officer)

To: Council 19 January 2017

(Author: Tim Mills, Executive Manager Growth and Prosperity)

Subject: Snetterton Electricity Power Upgrade Project

Purpose: To accept a £2.3m grant from the New Anglia LEP in order to contract a major electricity power upgrade project benefiting the key Snetterton employment area.

Recommendation(s):

1) That the grant £2.3m for upgrade of electricity to Snetterton employment area be accepted.

2) That subject to the satisfactory completion of all necessary legal, and contractual due diligence, any negotiation with the funding body that arises from that process, and being satisfied that the project remains in the best interests of the Council and Breckland District, the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader be given delegated authority to sign the grant contract and proceed with the project.

1.0 BACKGROUND

1.1 Snetterton Heath is identified as a strategic employment site within Breckland Council’s adopted LDF Core Strategy (2009). It is located four miles south-west of the market town of Attleborough and lies both north and south of the A11, with existing, well-constructed access to the dual carriageway in both directions through an all-movement junction. It is a strategic site within the Cambridge-Norwich Tech Corridor as shown on the location map in Appendix A. The aim is that by 2013 the Cambridge-Norwich Tech Corridor will be a destination of choice for global technology. The enhancement of power at this site will significantly increase the currently available serviced employment land in the corridor and enhance inward investment potential for Breckland, Norfolk and the Tech Corridor.

1.2 Existing total electricity power available at the site is approximately 3MVA and this capacity is now close to 100% usage by the existing site occupiers. Although the new Biomass PowerStation will generate significant power, it has been designed to feed one-way to the national grid and currently there is no economically viable scheme to make the one-way power feed into a two-way feed-receive system.

1.3 In January 2016, Breckland Council committed an initial outlay of £38,000 to secure a contractual option (until October 2016) from UK Power Network (“UKPN”) which would provide an additional 6MVA of electricity power to Snetterton Heath. In order deliver this additional power it will be necessary to install two 11KV cables from Attleborough Primary Substation to a new substation at Snetterton Heath. Further local distribution to employment sites north and south of the A11 will be required and we would plan to negotiate with the land owners for them to finance this onward distribution.

1.4 The proposed scheme came about as a result of technical consultancy commissioned by Breckland Council in 2015 and undertaken by SMS Plc. Two options were identified, these being;

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Option 1 (the proposed project) is to install two 11KV cables from Attleborough Primary to a new substation in Snetterton Heath, giving an additional 6MVA of capacity at Snetterton.

Option 2 is to split the cable that is currently under construction from Snetterton Biomass to Diss – and implement various other infrastructural improvements - which would also give an additional 6MVA capacity at Snetterton but with the capability for further longer term increases and more integration into the national grid. This has a current estimated cost of £8.5m and is considered to be economically unviable at the present time.

1.5 After consultation with local land owners, Breckland Council took the decision to secure the contractual option for Option 1. We have written confirmation from UKPN expressing their willingness to extend the option beyond October 2016 now that we have confirmation of funding from the New Anglia LEP. The strategic aim of the project is to enable Snetterton Heath to be positioned as an attractive investable proposition within the Cambridge Norwich Tech Corridor.

1.6 In May 2016, Breckland Council submitted a business case to the New Anglia LEP for £2.3m grant funding to support the Snetterton power upgrade project. This application was approved on 19 October 2016 by the LEP board.

1.7 The grant requirement is to upgrade the electricity supply to the Snetterton. There is also expected to be an obligation to report for five years on the benefits outlined in section 4.0 and the anticipated private sector leverage of £600K from investment in on site power distribution infrastructure. However the achievement of those benefits is not proposed to as an obligation.

2.0 OPTIONS

2.1 Accept the £2.3m grant funding offer from New Anglia LEP and proceed with the Snetterton power upgrade project.

2.2 Decline the £2.3m grant funding offer from New Anglia LEP and allow the UKPN power option to lapse.


3.1 Lack of electricity power at Snetterton has been a long standing issue to the development of industry at this major site. Snetterton has an estimated 68.1 hectares of underdeveloped employment land with a further 20 hectares proposed for allocation through the current Local Plan review. It has been estimated that there is sufficient land to deliver 200,000 sq m of B1, B2 and B8 employment space, providing potential for up 1,750 new jobs (and safeguarding a further 1,450 existing jobs in Breckland - local companies who require to relocate as part of their expansion plans).

3.2 There is growing interest from developers and companies to locate at Snetterton but no single development could afford an outlay of £2.3m to upgrade power to their site.

3.3 The core project would be 100% funded by New Anglia LEP with additional contributions from the local landowners to establish small local substations to serve their respective employment sites.


4.1 3,200 gross (1,750 net) jobs created.

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4.2 68.1 hectares of employment land increased in density with a further 20 hectares delivered over the Local Plan period to 2036.

4.3 218,690 sq m of employment floor space created.

4.4 Net additional GVA of £106m per annum.

4.5 Private Sector Investment £224m.

4.6 15 new businesses created.

4.7 Potential increase in Business Rates receipts of £2.4m per annum.

5.0 IMPLICATIONS


5.1.1 Individual planning applications will detail any carbon footprint and environmental issues.

5.1.2 Additional employment opportunities at Snetterton have the potential to significantly reduce average travel to work distances for workers living in Breckland, many of whom travel to Norwich and Bury St Edmunds for work at present. This becomes particularly relevant as the two major house building schemes in Attleborough and Thetford get underway.


5.2.1 The grant contract the broad principles of which are outlined in 1.7 offered by New Anglia LEP will be reviewed and where necessary negotiated to ensure that it is in the best interests of the Council and Breckland Council. It a draft agreement was received on 4 January 2017 and officers are currently reviewing it.

5.2.2 In terms of state aid issues, the intention is to operate the grant under the EU Article 56 Block Exemption – ‘Investment aid for local infrastructure’. This allows for public funding of infrastructure that contributes at a local level to improving the business and consumer environment and modernising and developing the industrial base. The increased electricity power would be available to interested users on an open, transparent and non-discriminatory basis, and at market prices.

The private sector will be expected to pay for local connection to their own sites once the central electricity infrastructure has been established, so there is a clear distinction between public funding that contributes to the public good and specific connections related to individual specific commercial developments.

5.3 Contracts

5.3.1 Breckland will be the accountable body for this grant and responsible for the procurement and delivery of the scheme. Any contract let by Breckland Council as a result of this decision will be done in according with;

(a) all relevant statutory provisions;

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(b) the relevant European procurement rules (the EC Treaty, the general principles of community law and the European Union’s public procurement directives implemented by the UK Regulations);

(c) the Council’s constitution including these Contracts’ Procedure Rules, the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules and scheme of delegation; and

(d) the Council’s strategic objectives and policies including the procurement strategy.

5.3.2 The contractual conditions are not yet finalised. However the Council’s responsibilities are expected to consist of:a) Ensuring delivery of the power supply infrastructure to siteb) Reporting for up to five years on the outputs on site including the estimated private sector leverage of £600K from investment in on site power distribution infrastructure.The Council’s obligation’s are therefore limited to m


5.4.1 This project will contribute to the Council priority ‘Developing the local economy tobe vibrant with continued growth’.

5.7 Financial

5.7.1 The project will be 100% funded from a grant received from the New Anglia LEP.

5.7.2 Cash flow will require to be managed throughout the project, however in principle; monies will be available on request from the New Anglia LEP, when required, to fund each stage of the project.

5.7.3 The current timeline for the project assumes signing of the grant agreement during January and based on this the phasing of the project spend is as follows;

2016/17 £860k2017/18 £1,150k2018/19 £290kTotal £2,300k

5.9 Reputation

5.9.1 The major challenge of an infrastructure project of this nature is delivering on schedule and within budget. There could be reputational damage to the Council if there were significant timescale or budget overruns. This needs to be balanced against the long term negative publicity which the Council has faced for not addressing the power shortages at Snetterton sooner and for not capitalising on the opportunity to use the Snetterton BioMass Generator project as a means to deliver more electricity power to Snetterton.

5.10 Risk Management

5.10.1 This is a major specialist infrastructure project which carries the risk of both timescale and budget overruns. The estimated project costs have been provided by the Council’s specialist consultant SMS Plc. Use of a framework agreement has been explored with Norfolk County Council but no suitable arrangement has been identified and a procurement of a specialist project consultant and a separate construction contract is currently identified as the best option.

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5.10.2 It is extremely difficult to obtain a fixed cost for this type of project due to the probability of unforeseen problems along the route and potential delays in obtaining access to land for cable laying along the route.

5.10.3 Mitigation of the risk of budget overspend will be achieved through undertaking design of the project along with a full survey of the proposed route prior to commitment to the construction contract. This will enable identification of the sufficiency of the budget prior to proceeding with construction. By minimising the potential issues through prior work further reduction of the risk should be achievable in the design of the procurement of the construction contract.

5.10.4 On any large project such as this there are procurement risks. The engagement of specialist consultants coupled with application of the Council’s procurement practices and team will assist in managing these risks. Procurement will also ensure that construction is fit for purpose so that the supply can be adopted.

5.10.5 Effective project management of the contract will be important to control the potential for budget over runs, ensure quality and timing. This will be managed by employment of specialist consultants given the nature of the contract and will be subject to a full project management framework. This will be overseen by the designated project manager from the Council and reported through the Council’s governance framework.

5.10.6 The risks relating to the grant relate primarily to the non delivery of the project. If the risks described above are appropriately managed this risk will be mitigated.

5.10.7 The main risks are described above. A full risk register would be created for the project and reviewed on a regular basis if it proceeds.

5.11 Staffing

5.11.3 The resource required to ensure effective contract management of the project has been identified and is subject to separate processes. The Council will require specialist consultancy services to design the project and to project manage the major contractors which will need to be procured.


5.12.3 The Council has been meeting with the major Snetterton landowners on a regular basis before and since the decision to invest in the power option was taken. We would continue these meetings to discuss and agree local power distribution routes and substation facilities. These are held on a bimonthly basis.

5.12.4 The Council has continued to communicate with the local management of the Snetterton BioMass Generation Plant. We continue to explore future options which might permit this local generator to contribute to power supply at Snetterton at some time in the future.

5.12.5 Norfolk County Council (NCC) are a potential partner for this project due to their experience of major civil works. NCC is also considering undertaking a wider review of electricity power supply along the A11 Corridor. This may be helpful to other Breckland locations including Thetford which has a known electricity supply capacity issue.

5.12.6 UK Power Networks (UKPN) is the regional manager of the national electricity grid and is an important stakeholder in this project. The Council currently holds a Power Connection option with UKPN which is the contractual mechanism securing the means of connecting the proposed Snetterton power upgrade to the primary substation in Attleborough. The

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Council has already met with UKPN to discuss the project and would meet UKPN on a regular basis throughout the project duration.

5.12.7 There are no major planning implications currently identified for the project which would affect local residents. The detailed design process will identify any specific impacts which could arise from the project.

5.12.8 Snetterton Land owners will be consulted on the cable route for the project to ensure that the final design is most cost effective in delivering power to the major employment sites in Snetterton. Additional consultations will take place to ensure that a costed plan for local power distribution is agreed and affordable.

5.12.9 The project is estimated to be deliverable over a three financial year period, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. A detailed project plan would be drawn up as part of the project design phase.


6.1 The provisional electricity cable route will pass through the following wards;

District WardsAll Saints and WaylandAttleborough Burgh and Haverscroft

Parish WardsSnettertonQuidenhamAttleborough

6.2 The current plan is to locate the new Snetterton electricity substations on employment land with the agreement of the major Snetterton landowners. Connection at the Attleborough end of the cable will be to an existing primary Sub-station.

6.3 There should be no major disruption to communities. Wherever possible, cables will be lay along the verges of existing secondary roads.

7.0 ACRONYMS

7.1 New Anglia LEP : New Anglia Local Enterprise PartnershipUKPN : UK Power NetworksNorfolk County Council : NCC

Background papers:- Cabinet Report – Cambridge-Norwich Tech Corridor 11 Oct 16 Cabinet Report– Inward Investment & Growth 17 May 16 Cabinet Report– Open for Business 3 Nov 15

Lead Contact OfficerName and Post: Tim Mills, Executive Manager Growth and ProsperityTelephone Number: 01362 656845Email: [email protected]

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Key Decision: No

Exempt Decision: No

This report refers to a Discretionary Service

Appendices attached to this report: Appendix A Cambridge-Norwich Tech Corridor map and Snetterton site map.

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PROFORMA B

This appraisal is valid for 1 month from issue dateIf there are changes to the original report it may invalidate this document & must be reviewed by Finance.

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BRECKLAND COUNCIL FINANCIAL COMMENTS & APPRAISAL

THIS DOCUMENT PROVIDES THE FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS IN RESPECT OF THE ATTACHED REPORT

FROM: Margaret Bailey (Senior Accountant) REPORT: Snetterton Electricity Power Upgrade OptionREPORT DATE: 19 January 2017

£ Year 1 £ Year 2 £ Year 3 £ Year 42016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20

RevenueIncomeN/A (-) (-) (-) (-)CostsN/A - - - -Total Revenue - - - -

CapitalIncomeLEP Grant funding (860,000) (1,150,000) (290,000) (-)CostsSnetterton Electricity Power Upgrade 860,000 1,150,000 290,000 -Total Capital - - - -Considered By: Full CouncilDate: 19-01-17

Financial Services CommentsThe report requests approval to accept a grant of £2.3m to 100% fund the electricity upgrade in Snetterton. The £2.3m includes a contingency allowance and an allowance for provision of an external technical project management. This external resource will need to be managed internally and resource for this (alongside other projects) is being sought as part of a separate report.

The full terms of the grant funding are still under negotiation, but there is likely to be a requirement for Breckland to cash flow the project, i.e. undertake the spend before claiming the grant funding. Based on the levels of spend proposed in the table, this is manageable within the current medium term plan and the lost interest would be negligible at current rates.

The Moving Forward transformation programme includes targets for economic and housing growth within the region, this project would act as an enabler for the Council to achieve an ongoing return in future years from additional business rates income, council tax and new homes bonus.

If approval is given the £2.3m costs and income will be added to the Council’s capital programme and the project will be monitored through the Covalent system. Any of the £860k budget un-spent in 2016-17 will be carried forward to the 2017-18 capital programme.

When signing the grant contract CEO and Leader should satisfy themselves that there is sufficient certainty and/or mitigations in place in respect of the identified risks, in particular that the scope of the project and grant conditions. This will ensure that overspends are managed and the risk of not being reimbursed is minimised.

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PROFORMA B

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Financial RiskThere is no additional funding within Breckland’s capital programme, so if the project costs were to over-run, Breckland may be required to invest capital into the project.

If the power upgrade is not undertaken, the efficiencies included in the Moving Forward programme could be adversely impacted.

The private sector investment is not guaranteed

The intention is for the substation to be owned by the power company, meaning there should be no ongoing maintenance or business rates costs for the council

Funding for Internal project management is not yet released

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Report of: Phil Adams, Executive Manager People and Public Protection

To: Full Council, 19th January 2017

Author: Paola Sabatini, HR Manager, Breckland District Council.Claire Burton, Senior HR Business Partner, Compass Point Business Services

Subject: HR Policy Handbook

Purpose: This report presents the newly drafted HR Policy Handbook. It compiles the key HR policies required as best practice; its aim is to mitigate risk, particularly in a shared management arrangement and application of policy across two Councils, to reduce review periods and updates following changes to employment legislation.

Recommendation(s): 1) That the HR Policy Handbook be approved to implement across Breckland District Council

with the following delegations and policy amendments:

a) That should any amendment to policy be required as a result of legislative or constitutional change, of which we as an organisation have no jurisdiction, that this be delegated to the Head of Paid Service in order to ensure a prompt response to such changes and mitigate risk of application of said policy in line with employment law.

b) That permission is granted to implement Maternity Support Leave at Breckland District Council, again to provide additional support to new fathers at the time of birth or adoption of their child.Maternity support leave of 5 days with pay shall be granted, at or around the time of birth, to male employees who are the child’s father or partner of an expectant mother, or to any employee nominated as carer to assist in the care of the child and to provide support to the mother

1.0 BACKGROUND

1.1 Presently there are 25 HR policies that exist across the Council, all of which includes a vast amount of information which subsequently forces continual review in line with changes to procedures, as opposed to simply changes to legislation or constitutional obligations.

1.2 Some of the key policies are now out of date due to the aforementioned changes and outcomes of the Council’s Shared Management arrangement and transformation programme. Therefore, each of the policies listed below have been updated in line with statutory and constitutional requirements and have been reviewed by Andrew Brett, Solicitor at NPLaw.

1.3 Each policy outlines these legal principles only and any specific details will fall within procedures. This is to enable longevity of the policies are sustainable for a longer period of time, therefore reducing the review periods and mitigate the risk of non-compliance. Where changes to legislation or constitution arise, the policies will be amended accordingly.

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Agenda Item 15

1.4 The Policy Handbook: The Policy Handbook contains the following policies:

Recruitment and Selection Managing Attendance Special Leave Parental Rights Managing and Supporting Change Bullying and Harassment Equal Opportunities Capability Grievance Disciplinary Training and Development

1.5 The review of these policies has provided the opportunity to amalgamate other supporting policies into those listed above to ensure that all information pertinent to the subject matter is held in one place for ease of access to managers and staff. Amalgamated policies include: Criminal Record Checks Probation Induction Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Parental and Shared Parental Leave Redeployment, Redundancy, Relocation, TUPE and Pay Protection

1.6 In an attempt however, to make some simple alignments across both Councils and reduce risk within the management of the Shared Management arrangement, we request approval on some areas, which are highlighted in the ‘comments’ section below. With a growing amount of shared officer roles coming into play, it is important that we seek some parity with these details.

1.7 Each of the above policies, including those amalgamated have formal procedures which are also under review; with the aim of developing robust, consistent and sustainable procedures to meet the Council’s corporate aims and ensure full compliance at all times.

1.8 When the proposed HR Policy Handbook is adopted, training will be required as part of its implementation. In addition, and particularly for performance management policies such as Managing Attendance, Disciplinary, Grievance and Capability, it is advised that all Senior Managers attend training in these subjects as a mandatory commitment to their role and responsibilities.

1.9 When the proposed HR Policy Handbook is adopted, all staff will be communicated with to raise awareness of its existence; the Staff Forum and Unison representatives have agreed to provide support in communicating this update. The Handbook will be available on the intranet of each Council, with supporting documents such as procedures and guidelines.

2.0 OPTIONS

2.1 Do Nothing

2.2 Approve the HR Policy Handbook for both Breckland District Council


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3.1 To mitigate risk, particularly in a shared management arrangement and application of policy across two Councils.

3.2 To increase response rate to changes in employment legislation and reduce review periods.


4.1 To increase efficiency and turnaround in reviewing policies and therefore reducing response rate and implementation time in responding to any changes in legislation/constitution.

4.2 To mitigate risk in the application of policies.

4.3 To align, where possible, terms of policies across both Councils to provide further parity to staff, in particular shared staff.

4.4 To provide transparent, consistent and fair policies across the Council..

4.5 To actively support culture and change in a positive way

4.6 To improve the ways in which we recruit in line with implementation of iTrent (HR software).

5.0 IMPLICATIONS


5.2.1 Amendments to relevant policies will be made as and where dictated by any change to constitutional or legal requirements.

5.2.2 The Policy Handbook is designed with the intention to reduce the risk of litigation against the Council

5.4 Corporate Priorities5.4.1 The proposals made with the intention of supporting the Councils’ corporate priority of

providing the right services, at the right time, in the right way by ensuring the recruitment of high calibre individuals are in place to help deliver the corporate vision.

5.6 Equality and Diversity / Human Rights

5.6.1 The proposed Policy Handbook is designed in compliance with Equality and Diversity as per the Equality Act 2010.

5.8 Health & Wellbeing

5.8.1 The proposed Policy Handbook is designed to promote health and well-being in the workplace and support all staff in a healthy return to work and sickness management process.

5.10 Risk Management

5.10.1 These proposals are made (in part) with the intention of reducing the risk of litigation against the Council. These proposals are made with the intention of supporting the

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Councils strategic position by enabling effective policy management appropriately within the bounds of the law.

5.11 Safeguarding

5.11.1 This policy has been updated to include further details surrounding Safer Recruitment in associated roles that fall under the exemptions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (exemptions) Order 1975.

5.12 Staffing

5.12.1 These proposals are made in order to ensure the best possible infrastructure is in place recruit, select, retain and performance manage employees across the Council.

5.12.2 These proposals are made to ensure both staff and management are clear on relevant legislation, best practice and risk mitigation.


5.13.1 Consultation has taken place with Unison

5.14 Transformation Programme

5.14.1 These proposals are made to support the Councils’ Organisational Development programme

Background papers:- See The Committee Report Guide for guidance on how to complete this section

Lead Contact OfficerName and Post: Paola Sabatini Telephone Number: 01362 656236 Email: [email protected] Key Decision: No Exempt Decision: No


Appendices attached to this report:Appendix 1 HR Policy Handbook Appendix 2 Changes to HR Policy Handbook

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%5CBCF01Democratic%20ServicesCommitteeCommitteeReport%20Guide2014THE%20COMMITTEE%20REPORT%20GUIDE_JUNE%202014.doc


1

HR POLICY HANDBOOK

November 2016

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PLEASE NOTE:

If this Policy handbook is required in a different font type or size, please request this from the Human Resources (HR) department.

DEFINITIONS:

Policy

A policy is a guiding principle used to set direction in an organisation.

HR Policy

HR policies are designed to set out the expected standards for all employees in representation of the organisations objectives and values.

Procedure

A procedure is a particular way of accomplishing something; a step by step guide to conducting a particular task.

PURPOSE:

This handbook sets out the key policies relating to employment with the Council and employees are expected to familiarise themselves with these. In addition, each department will have their own set of policies and procedures which again, employees are expected to familiarise themselves with. All policies can be requested from the line manager, HR or by accessing the Policies page on the intranet. Any associated procedures, guidelines or statements can be found on the intranet or via the HR team.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Introduction. Legalities and introductory matters 4

Policy 1. Recruitment and Selection 6

Policy 2. Managing Attendance 9

Policy 3. Special Leave 13

Policy 4. Parental Rights 14

Policy 5. Managing and Supporting Change 18

Policy 6. Bullying and Harassment 26

Policy 7. Equal Opportunities 27

Policy 8. Capability 29

Policy 9. Grievance 30

Policy 10. Disciplinary 32

Policy 11. Training and Development 34

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INTRODUCTION – LEGALITIES AND INTRODUCTORY MATTERS INCORPORATION OF TERMS

Terms and conditions which are specific to employment are contained in the Contract of Employment (“the Contract”) which has been issued. This Handbook supplements the letter of appointment and the Contract. Where there is any conflict, the Contract will take precedence.

The Council policies and this handbook are an extension of the Contract and the expectations of the Council and employees.

If employees do not understand any of the information either in the Contract or the Handbook, or if they believe the contents to be incorrect, they should raise this with their line manager, or a member of the HR team.

COMMUNICATIONS

It is the duty of the employee to read all communications, and to comply with their requirements insofar as they relate to the main Terms and Conditions of Employment. Alleged ignorance of any notice will not be accepted as an excuse for non-compliance. Where an individual requires support, this can be provided verbally or via audio recording.

STATUTORY/CONSTITUTIONAL REQUREMENTS

The policies outlined within the Handbook are written in compliance with any legal and constitutional requirements. Where there is any discrepancy between either the constitution or policy to that of legislation, the law will take precedence.

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POLICY 1: RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

People are vital to the success of any organisation. It is crucial that we attract, select and retain the right people for the right jobs to help drive our organisations forward and ensure our continued success and competiveness. Equal Opportunities policy and procedure applies equally to the recruitment process and must be complied with at every stage. This means that prospective candidates should not be discriminated against either directly or indirectly on the grounds of any protected characteristic outlined in the Equality Act 2010. Equally, nor should prospective candidates be placed in a detrimental position from having family members, or friends of existing employees placed in a priority position for interview, selection and, or appointment; candidates are asked to declare any relationship with an existing employee. Where a family member or friend of an existing employee applies, interviews shall take place with a member of the HR team present.

The Council aims at all times to recruit the right candidate for the right role. Recruitment will be based on the applicant’s abilities and individual merit as measured against the job criteria. Qualifications, experience and skills will be assessed at the level that is relevant to the role.

The policy applies equally to permanent, fixed term, agency and casual workers. Where the recruitment of a Chief Officer or Deputy Chief Officer is required, the Councils’ Joint Appointment Panel shall interview any shortlisted qualified Candidates as per the Constitutions’ Delegations to Committees (Non-executive functions).

Job Description and Person Specification

The Job Description will define the nature of the role, key tasks, duties and responsibilities; the pay grade for the post should be determined. The Person Specification will define job specific skills, qualifications and competencies. There should be no unnecessary conditions attached, or the use of words, which would imply unjustifiable bias. Advertising

The advert should provide all relevant information to enable potential applicants to determine whether they meet the required criteria and must include working hours, pay and location. In order to reduce the time to recruit, the Council may advertise all roles externally; internal applications will be accepted. In most cases, external adverts will run for a minimum of two weeks.

Where job roles require a form of criminal records check, the following statement will be present on the advert:

“The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable children and adults and expects its entire staff to share this commitment. All applicants are subject to a satisfactory enhanced check by the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly CRB), and at least 2 independent references for this post.”

Agency staff employed are not excluded from applying for internal vacancies, however recruiting managers should be aware that agency fees may be applicable should the employee be successful in obtaining a permanent position within the organisation.

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Applications

All applicants must complete the organisations application form. CVs will not be accepted.

At risk employees

Employees who have been given formal notification of being ‘at risk’ of redundancy should be advised of all vacancies. Vacancies will be ‘ring-fenced’ to those who are ‘at risk’ of redundancy before other applicants are considered.

Shortlisting

HR will remove any sensitive data from applications prior to sending them to managers for shortlisting. All applications will be shortlisted in line with the following criteria: • Employment experience, knowledge and skills against essential criteria

• Unexplained gaps in employment • Relevant education/qualification in relation to the level they are applying for • Criminal convictions relevant to the requirements of the position in line with recent

developments relating to spent convictions

• Desirable and essential criteria

Appointments

All appointments are subject to: • Proof of eligibility to work in the UK

• Original proof of relevant qualifications

• Returned Medical health disclosure

• Receipt of References

• Receipt of DBS checks and overseas police check where applicable

• Proof of Driving License (where applicable) • Proof of valid Car insurance (where applicable) • Completion of a satisfactory 6 month probationary period. Except in some

circumstances, for example, those with continuous local government service.

Agency Workers Regulations

An agency worker is someone who provides work or services to an organisation, but is contracted via an agency rather than the organisation itself. • Agency workers are entitled to certain employment rights as at day 1 of any work period

such as national minimum wage, information on any vacancies, access to available facilities i.e. staff room, kitchens.

• Agency staff are classed as workers rather than employees. • The Agency workers directive gives equal treatment to those who have been with the

hirer for 12 continuous weeks in a given job. • To establish the rights in the regulations the agency worker needs to be able to identify

a comparator. • The Agency workers regulations give agency workers the entitlement to the same or no

less favourable treatment as comparable employees with respect to basic employment and working conditions, if and when they complete a qualifying period of 12 continuous calendar weeks in a particular job.

• Continuity is only broken in circumstances where a new assignment with the same employer is substantially different or there is a break of six calendar weeks during assignments in the same job.

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Fixed Term Employees Regulations 2002

A fixed term contract is defined as: a) Contracts that last for a specified period of time, or b) Contracts that will end when a specified task has been completed, or c) Contracts that will end when a specified event does or does not happen. ** b) and c) above are known as "task contracts".

Fixed term employees have the following rights:

1. Not to be treated less favourably than comparable permanent employees unless the reason is justified.

2. A right to receive a written statement from their employer setting out the reasons for the less favourable treatment.

3. A right to treat their contract as a permanent contract if it is successively renewed for more than 4 years (unless there is can be objectively justified)

4. A right to qualify for statutory redundancy payment if they have been employed for the necessary period.

5. A right to receive information on permanent vacancies within the organisation. 6. A right for employees on "task contracts" as well as specified period contracts to claim

unfair dismissal at the end of the fixed term contract if it is not renewed and to receive a written statement from the employer with reasons for the dismissal.

7. Employees on fixed term contracts of three months or less now have a right to Statutory Sick Pay and to Payments on Medical Suspension and guarantee payments, (once they have been employed for 1 month).

8. Employees on fixed term contracts of 3 months or less now have a right to receive 1 weeks’ notice after they have served 1 month's continuous service if the employer wishes to bring the contract to an end before it is due to expire. They must also give 1 weeks’ notice to the employer if they wish to terminate the contract themselves before the expiry date.

9. A right to access to the employer's occupational pension schemes. The rights under 1, 3 and 9 can be denied by the employer if they can justify this on objective grounds. More information should be sought from the HR department.

Employment checks

A minimum of two written references (one which must be of the most recent employer) and where appropriate, the completion of a disclosure check, will be required prior to any new starter being issued a start date. For all internal applicants references are sought at the mangers discretion. All relevant work permits and UK border requirement will be required where any appointment to an individual outside the EEA is made. The Immigration Act 2016 is UK Law and introduced criminal penalties for failing to comply with requirements of conducting right to work checks.

More information can be found https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide

References will not be accepted from existing employees or relatives of the candidate.

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Pre-employment Medical check

All successful applicants will be required to complete the pre-employment medical form in order that reasonable adjustments can be where applicable.

Disclosure and Barring Service Checks

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), which replaced the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), carries out criminal record checks for people carrying out specific roles as defined in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 and the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) regulations.

All Council roles are assessed for their eligibility for DBS checks, and where appropriate, DBS checks will be requested as part of our recruitment process following an offer of employment.

Probation

In most case, all new Council employees are subject to a six month probationary period. The purpose of this is to:

• Enable the Council(s) to manage and assess performance, and also assess the future potential of the employee before making a decision whether to confirm the appointment;

• Enable employees to establish their suitability for the post to which they have been appointed;

• Help identify the employees’ training and development needs. • To align with the Councils appraisal scheme

Probation reviews will take place at 3 and 6 month intervals.

Employees with continuous service will be required to have regular 1:1’s with their line manager.

Employees working under their probationary period are required to give one month’s notice to terminate their employment. POLICY 2: MANAGING ATTENDANCE The Council recognises that the body of staff within it is its most valuable asset and is committed to maintaining a safe and healthy working environment to ensure the health and well-being of all its employees. Whilst recognising that employees may be prevented from attending work due to ill health, the Council has a duty to maintain service delivery and minimise disruption and are therefore is committed to developing awareness of employees’ health by managing attendance and sickness absence and believes that this responsibility lies with all staff.

The Council aims to achieve a reduced level of absence by working with both employees and managers to tackle the causes and reasons behind absence, as well as providing effective and timely aid to those returning to work.

Why manage sickness absence?

• To improve the quality of services delivered

• To achieve best employment practice

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• To reduce costs incurred through sickness absence

• To improve productivity

• To improve staff morale

Implications of Sickness Absence

Sickness absence affects the ability of the Council(s) to deliver high quality services, reliability and to achieve best practice. • There is the cost to management time

• There is a cost of sick pay

• The need to cover sickness absence

• The cost of losing skilled staff • The individual often suffers from loss of confidence or anxiety, which increases the

longer they are absent from work

• Increased workload on remaining staff covering for absent staff Research has shown that early intervention and good communication are key ingredients in managing attendance.

Principles

• It is the employee’s responsibility upon commencing employment to discuss with their line manager the process for reporting sickness absence. No excuse will be accepted for failure to follow the procedure outlined by their manager.

• For absences up to 7 days, employees can ‘self-certify’ on the Councils’ Self Certification Form

• For absences exceeding 7 calendar days or more (regardless of bank holidays) a doctor’s fit note is required. Employees should ensure that the doctor has stated the reason for their absence and specified the date upon which they believe they will be fit to return to work. Employees should also ensure that their personal details are completed. Further certificates must be produced in relevant time (before the current fit note expires). The Council(s) must be advised of the reason for any lengthy period of absence.

• The Council complies with Statutory Sick Pay upon receipt of evidence of sickness; occupational sick pay is outlined in the Contract.

• Line managers will conduct a return to work interview with the employee following any period of sickness. The purpose of this discussion is to enquire informally after the employee’s health.

• Employees are entitled to representation at such discussions however as this is an informal, and often spontaneous, return to work discussion employees may not wish to be accompanied.

• A phased return works by assisting the employee to acclimatise themselves back into a work routine and work tasks, whilst also checking that they are in fact fit enough to return. There will be normal pay during a defined reasonable period. During this period the employee would receive their normal pay, as though they had returned to work their normal contractual hours, but pay during any additional phased return period would be based on the actual number of hours worked. To maintain consistency Managers are to liaise with Human Resources on the terms of a phased return.

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• The Equality Act 2010 puts employers under an obligation to make reasonable adjustments in relation to the following:

1. Provisions, criteria or practices, including company policies 2. Physical features, such as the layout of and access to workplaces 3. Provision of auxiliary aids, including providing information in an accessible

format such as Braille, large print or email • Medical redeployment may be necessary where it has been identified that an

employee cannot complete the duties of their substantive post; it is necessary to consider alternative employment opportunities for the employee

• Medical redeployment may involve referral to occupational health for assistance in identifying an appropriate role.

• No payment will be made to employees for absence through illness in the event that they take action to claim compensation from the Council under Employers Liability or Common Law in respect of any accident arising during the course of their employment.

Protected Characteristics

• An employee who is suffering from a pregnancy-related illness will be protected under the Equality Act 2010. All female employees, regardless of length of service or hours worked, have a right not to be dismissed on the grounds of pregnancy, a pregnancy-related reason or a reason relating to birth or maternity leave.

• The manager has the right to query the nature of the sickness in order to record the absence as pregnancy related; this is to ensure that the absence is not included as part of the absence monitoring process and excluded from any triggers for monitoring purposes. This is applicable only when the manager has been notified of the pregnancy.

• The fact that an employee is pregnant may be picked up through the normal sickness absence monitoring process of return to work discussions. Once identified it is important that work activities of new and expectant mothers are subject to specific risk assessments and appropriate information given regarding the Council’s maternity procedure.

• Many transsexual employees may need a number of different medical interventions requiring absence from work; such absences are covered by Section 16 Equality Act 2010 which states that an employer must not treat a person absent because of gender reassignment less favourably than they would treat:

o absence due to sickness or injury

o absence for some other reason if it is not reasonable to do so

• The public sector duty to advance equality requires organisations to have regard to the need to remove or minimise disadvantage and meet the different needs of those with a protected characteristic. This allows and encourages employers to take positive action that removes the significant disadvantage that would inevitably be incurred by staff undergoing gender reassignment.

• Any sickness absence arising from such medical intervention will not be included as part of the absence monitoring process and will be exclude from any triggers.

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• The Equality Act 2010 defines disability as “a person having a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”. In other words, where the impairment is likely to last for at least 12 months, or for the rest of the person’s life.

• A referral to an Independent Occupational Health Adviser is appropriate to establish what measures, support and adjustments to the work environment need to be

considered over the course of the employee’s employment.

• Dealing with employees suffering from terminal illness can be very difficult for all concerned. Under the Equality Act terminal illness is defined as those who are not expected to recover within the next 12 months. Each case will need to be dealt with individually. However a referral to an Independent Occupational Health Adviser for support and advice for the employee concerned and colleagues would be deemed appropriate.

Absence due to accidents caused by third parties

In the event that an employee sustains injury caused by a third party from whom they recover damages in respect of loss of salary, the Council reserves the right to claim a refund of any payment made to the employee through illness under this Scheme during absence due to such injury, and any absence due to such injury and any payments made in such event, shall be regarded as a loan repayable by the employee forthwith on receiving payment for such damages.

Exceptions to absence payments

In cases of sickness or injury which, in the opinion of the Management, is due to wilful misconduct of or negligence, employees will receive no payments. Sickness prior to, or during agreed holiday periods

If an employee is absent and ill following the self-certification period of 7 days prior to an agreed holiday, less if authorised by the line manager, and are unable to take any holiday due to the illness the employee can provide a fit note from their local doctor and subject to them complying fully with all requirements relating to absence due to sickness, they will be considered as away sick and may take those holidays at another time.

Any illness that starts during a holiday period will be counted as holiday until such time as the employee would normally have returned at which point they will be considered as on sick-leave subject to satisfactory notification and certification requirements. Illness over a Public or Bank holiday will not entitle an employee to an alternative day(s) of holiday.

Medical Reports

• The Council may seek employee’s consent to obtain a medical report from their doctor after or during any sickness absence in order to ascertain the nature of any illness and to indicate whether they are fit to return to or to continue to work. Employees are not obliged to consent, but it is advisable, otherwise the Council may draw adverse inferences from any refusal.

• The Council reserves the right to require an employee, at any time, to be medically examined by a Doctor or Occupational Health Advisor appointed by the Council who will be required to give a second opinion on the nature of any illness and to indicate whether the employee is fit to return or continue to work.

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• If the Council receives conflicting medical evidence, or if it appears to be appropriate, the employee may be required to be examined by an independent specialist. If both Doctors certify the employee as being fit to return to work and/or normal duties and the employee does not return, then continued absence from work and/or normal duties will be unauthorised.

• If employees are absent for a prolonged period of sickness, injury or incapacity, the Council may obtain a medical opinion, discuss matters generally with the employee and consider any alternative suitable employment within the Council in line with the Capability procedure. In the light of these investigations, the Council may decide that there is no prospect of the employee returning to work in the foreseeable future and therefore may dismiss the employee. Employees will be given the period of notice specified in their Contract of Employment.

Monitoring of Absences

In order to safeguard the health of employees and to monitor levels of sickness throughout the Council, all sick leave will be recorded, including medical appointments. If the level of sickness absence starts to cause the Council concern, employees may be asked to attend a medical examination either by their doctor (with employee consent) or a doctor/Occupational Health Advisor appointed by the Council, in order to establish reasons for ill health.

POLICY 3: SPECIAL LEAVE

Additional leave, with or without pay, may be granted in special circumstances, for a limited period of time for example bereavement or other compassionate grounds or for jury service. Payment for such leave will be made at the discretion of the line manager and in consultation with the HR Department. Employees should always let their line manager know if they need to take special leave so that each individual situation can be considered fairly and consistently. As a guide the following can apply;

• Death of immediate family member can be up to a maximum of 7 paid days, which includes the funeral day. Maximum amounts are normally given to executors of the estate to allow them time to organise the funeral and/or estate, additional time may be given where appropriate; this must be discussed with the HR Manager.

Immediate family member includes: Spouse/Partner Father/Mother including in-laws and step parents

Brother/Sister/Step Brother/Sister including in-laws Son/Daughter/Step Son/Daughter including in-laws Grandparents or Grandchildren

In exceptional circumstances, other relatives may be considered but this must be discussed with the HR Manager.

Other special leave

• Serious domestic instances – one day’s paid leave will be given in such cases e.g. house fire, flood or burglary

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• Sporting events – up to 5 days’ paid leave may be granted where an employee is participating in a national or international event as a representative of their country. Additional leave may be taken as annual leave or unpaid leave.

• Jury service – paid leave will be granted to an employee called for Jury Service, unless exemption is secured. An allowance for loss of earnings is payable by the court which the employee must claim. The court will send the employee a loss of earnings certificate and this should be provided to HR who will arrange for the amount of the allowance to be deducted from their pay.

• Acting as witness - (a) In the case of an employee attending as a witness on behalf of the Council,

leave with pay will be granted, on the understanding that witness fees received (excluding travel and subsistence expenses) are paid to the Council.

(b) In the case of an employee called by the Court as a witness leave with pay will be granted provided the employee applies to the court for loss of earnings which must be paid back to the Council. Employees should inform their managers as soon as they are informed that they are required to attend and should provide their manager with a copy of the notification.

(c) In all other cases where the employee is called to attend court as a witness, leave without pay will be granted. Employees can claim from the person citing them, the relevant amount in respect of loss of earnings.

• Reserve Forces – Employees who are a member of the Reserve or Territorial Army should advise their line manager at the earliest opportunity. Up to a maximum of 10 days paid leave will be granted in any one leave year. As the RA/TA pay for training, the Council will make up the difference in any lost pay. Details of training dates should be provided to the line manager.

• Religious Holidays – Any leave required for specific religious holidays may be taken through the usual annual leave or flexitime request.

• Fertility treatment – Up to 5 days’ unpaid leave will be granted in any one year for an employee to undergo fertility treatment.

• Medical appointments – reasonable time off will be granted to attend medical/dental appointments. It is expected that employees will arrange their appointments outside of working hours, however, if this is impossible, employees should ensure that their appointments are at the beginning or end of the day to minimise disruption to their work. There is no statutory right for employees to be paid for this leave, however payment may be made at the discretion of their line manager, who may request evidence of the appointment.

• Any other leave – any leave required not specified in this policy must be discussed with the line manager and HR team.

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POLICY 4: PARENTAL RIGHTS

Eligibility for statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and shared pay

• Employees must have 26 weeks continuous service by the ‘qualifying week’ (i.e. the

end of the 15th

week before the expected week of childbirth (EWC)), or for adoption

or paternity leave, by the end of the week in which the child’s adopter is notified of matching.

• Employees must be, or expected to be, responsible for the upbringing of the child. • Employees must be the child’s biological father or the mother’s husband or partner

(including same-sex partner). • The leave must be taken for the purpose of caring for the child or supporting the

mother. • Have given the correct notice. • Employees must earn more than the lower earnings limit for the payment of National

Insurance contributions. • Employees must notify the HR Department in writing of when they expect their

statutory payments will commence.

Statutory Maternity Pay The amount of Statutory Maternity Pay** payable will be:

• 90% of the employees average weekly earnings for the first 6 weeks of maternity leave;

• The statutory rate of SMP (or 90% of average weekly earnings if lower) for the next 33 weeks.

** If employees do not satisfy the conditions of SMP, they will be issued with a form SMP1, which should be forwarded to the local Social Security Office who will pay Maternity Allowance. SMP rates vary year on year; the HR team can advise employees of the current allowance.

Maternity

• The Council will not unreasonably refuse employees time off in order to attend ante-natal classes or to receive other ante-natal care during their normal working hours. However, it is expected, wherever possible, appointments are arranged outside of normal working hours so as to avoid disruption to the Council.

• All employees are entitled to take up to 52 weeks maternity leave regardless of length of service. Leave is composed of 26 weeks Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML) and 26 weeks Additional Maternity Leave (AML). It can commence at any time but no

earlier than the 11th

week before the Expected Week of Childbirth (EWC). Where an

employee has high sickness due to pregnancy in last four weeks of pregnancy the Council may commence their maternity leave immediately.

• On or before the 15th

week before the EWC employees must notify their line

Manager and the HR team of:

o The fact of the pregnancy

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o The expected week of childbirth, supported by a medical certificate (MATB1)

o Written notice of the date on which they wish to start leave (28 days’ notice must

be provided).

o If an employee wishes to return before the end of their ordinary maternity leave

they must give 8 weeks’ notice of their intention.

Keeping in Touch Days (KIT)’ days are designed to enable employees to stay in touch with significant developments and undertake necessary training. From 1 April 2007 maternity leave regulations state that a woman can attend work up to 10 days’ during her maternity leave, except during the first two weeks following childbirth, without bringing her maternity leave to an end or losing maternity pay.

Occupational Maternity Pay

For details of the Occupational Maternity Pay Scheme, please see the Council’s procedure and guidelines.

Paternity

On joining the Council, employees should declare any periods of Paternity Leave that they have already taken. The Council may ask ex-employer(s) for confirmation.

Employees are entitled to choose to take either one week or two consecutive weeks’ paternity leave, subject to the following conditions:

• The leave, of either one week or two weeks, can start on any day of the week on or following the child’s birth but, must be completed within a period of 56 days beginning with either the child’s birth or the first day of the EWC, whichever is the later.

• Only one period of leave will be available even if more than one child is born as a result of the same pregnancy.

• Employees must give notice of intention to take paternity leave on or before the 15th

week before the EWC (or as soon as is reasonably practicable). Note: If, after providing this notice, the date needs to be amended, further notice of at least 28 days must be provided (or as soon as is reasonably practicable).

• Employees must provide a self-certificate stating the EWC, the date upon which paternity leave is anticipated to begin and whether one or two weeks leave is to be taken.

• As part of the above certificate employees must sign a declaration that the conditions of entitlement to statutory paternity leave and statutory paternity pay are fulfilled.

Adoption

• If an employee adopts a child they have a right to take Statutory Adoption Leave (SAL) and be paid Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP).

• Employees will be entitled to 26 Ordinary Adoption Leave and a further 26 weeks Additional Adoption leave providing they have have been employed for a period of 26 weeks by the “Matching Week”. Within the context of joint adoptions one parent must opt for Adoption Leave and the other is entitled to Statutory Paternity Leave as outlined above.

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• Ordinary Adoption Leave commences either on the date on which the child is placed

with the adopter or a date within 14 days before the expected date of placement.

Additional Adoption Leave starts from the date Ordinary Adoption Leave ends. Employee’s right to return and to their contractual benefits is the same as for Maternity Leave. The HR Department will issue all relevant details relating to leave and pay.

Surrogacy

Surrogacy is when another woman carries and gives birth to a baby for the intended parents. The woman who gives birth to the child will be treated as the mother; however, parental responsibility can be transferred by either an adoption or parental order.

• Parental order must be applied for to become the legal parents of the child - if the intended parents are genetically related to the baby.

• Adoption Order must be applied for where intended parents are not genetically related, and they must use a registered adoption agency throughout the surrogacy process.

• Shared Parental Leave - may be available, subject to meeting the eligibility conditions.

• Antenatal appointments - employees who intend to apply for a parental order have the right to unpaid time off work to accompany the birth mother to 2 antenatal appointments.

• Traditional or straight surrogacy - this method uses the eggs of the surrogate mother and the sperm of the intended father. The baby is biologically related to the intended father and the surrogate mother.

• Gestational or host surrogacy - this method uses the egg of the intended mother and the sperm of the husband or donor sperm. A baby conceived by this method has no biological connection to the surrogate mother.

Surrogates are the legal mother of any child they carry - even if they're not genetically related, until they sign a parental or adoption order following the birth of the child, this transfers their rights to the intended parents. The intended parents can apply for a Parental Order 6 weeks after the child is born, and before the child is 6 months old.

Parental or adoption order • Intended parents must be genetically related to the child to be able to apply for a

parental order.

• Adoption using a registered adoption agency, will be necessary for intended parents to become the legal parents if neither are genetically related.

Adoption leave and pay is available to eligible employees who become the legal parents following an application for adoption or parental order. Intended parents will be entitled to 2 unpaid antenatal appointments to enable them to accompany the birth mother. Adoption leave can start the day of the birth or the day after. Employees must tell their employers at least 15 weeks before the baby is due and that they intend to take adoption leave.

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Shared Parental Leave

• Shared Parental Leave enables eligible mothers, fathers, partners and adopters to choose how to share time off work after their child is born or placed for adoption. This could involve returning to work for part of the time and then resuming leave at a later date. These regulations came into force on 1 December 2014 and apply to eligible parents where a baby is due, or a child is placed for adoption, on or after 5 April 2015.

• Qualifying mothers and adopters continue to be entitled to Maternity and Adoption rights but they may also be able to choose to end this early and exchange it for Shared Parental Leave and Pay. They and their named partner will then need to decide how they want to share this new entitlement.

• Where both parents satisfy these tests they will both be able to share the leave. However, a family can still use Shared Parental Leave even when only one parent actually meets the eligibility criteria. Shared Parental Leave may be taken at any time within the period which begins on the date the child is born/date of the placement and ends 52 weeks after that date. An employee is entitled to submit three separate notices to book leave. Leave must be taken in complete weeks and may be taken either in a continuous period, which an employer cannot refuse, or in a discontinuous period, which the employer can refuse.

Parental Leave

• Parental Leave is unpaid and is for a maximum of 18 weeks for each child up to their

18th

birthday; the leave can be taken by both mothers and fathers. Leave taken with

a previous employer counts towards the maximum entitlement.

• If an employee has a child and has completed one years’ continuous qualifying service by the time they want to take the leave, they are entitled to Parental Leave.

• The objective of Parental Leave is to enable those employees with parental responsibility to take unpaid time off to spend time with and to look after a child or to make arrangements for the child’s welfare.

• Leave must normally be taken in blocks of one week or more, up to a maximum of four weeks in a year for each child. However, parents of disabled children can take leave in blocks or multiples of one day.

• Employees must give 21 days’ written notice of their request for Parental Leave. Applications should be addressed to their line and a copy given to HR.

• If employees wish to take Parental Leave immediately after the birth or adoption of their child, they must give 21 days’ notice before the beginning of the expected week of childbirth. In the case of adoption they must give 21 days’ notice of the expected week of placement, wherever possible.

• Except in the circumstances set out above, any leave requested may be postponed by the Council, for up to three months from the date requested, where it is considered that their absence would unduly disrupt the business. Examples of such situations are: o Seasonal peak requirements

o Where a significant proportion of the workforce applies for Parental Leave at the same time

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o Where the absence of a key employee at a particular time would unduly harm the business.

• If, because of postponement, the period of Parental Leave falls after the child’s 18th

birthday employees will be entitled to take leave after this date. • The Council reserves the right to request original evidence that the employee is the

parent or have parental responsibility for the child. Examples of what might be suitable evidence are:- o Information contained on the child’s birth certificate

o Papers confirming a child’s adoption or the date of placement in adoption cases

o In the case of a disabled child, the award of disability living allowance for the

child. • At the end of, or up to four weeks Parental Leave, employees are guaranteed the

right to return to the same job as before.

• If the leave is for a longer period than 4 weeks, employees are entitled to return to the same job, or if that is not reasonably practical, to a similar job, with similar or better conditions.

POLICY 5: MANAGING AND SUPPORTING CHANGE

The Council recognise that they must adapt and change to support their strategic objectives in delivering services to the public through its Transformation agenda. Such changes may affect the size and composition of the workforce. The Councils are committed to minimising the effect of such on, and supporting all of their employees through, change and transformation processes. As the Councils move ahead with the transformation programme, it is vital to understand the likely outputs of change, namely:

• Changes to systems and processes; • Revised ‘way of working’ i.e. becoming digital, behaviours, performance

• Review of service operations and structures

• Movement of resources within and, or across Councils

• Reduced spend and increase income.

All employees have access to the ‘employee assist’ Counselling service as a method of external support where required.

The impact of change can have a varying effect on employees and the Councils seek to ensure that employees are supported throughout, expectations are clear and communication is priority. Likely outputs of change include:

• Redeployment • Relocation

• TUPE

• Redundancy

• Pay Protection

The Council will ensure that change will be:

• designed with clear objectives

• dealt with in line with legislative and regulatory requirements

• conducted with full and meaningful consultation with the appropriate recognised trade union, individual employees and where appropriate, the staff forum.

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• managed in a timely manner to minimise disruption and provided clarity to all employees

Redeployment

Whilst the Councils are committed to seeking to redeploy staff at risk, it is acknowledged that this will not always be possible. Reasons for redeployment are as follows:

• An individual is ‘at risk’ of redundancy; • A period of funding as ceased; • Following recommendation for medical redeployment; • An outcome of any bullying, harassment or grievance complaint; or • Other reasons, as agreed with their manager and the HR advisor.

Regardless of how the need for redeployment has arisen, any such opportunities should be offered on a fair and equitable basis. Employees should be appointed to such on the basis of whether they are able to carry out the role with reasonable support and training, rather than whether they are demonstrably the best candidate for the position.

Principles

• Where redeployment is offered as a consequence of redundancy, and the employee unreasonably refuses an offer of suitable alternative employment, this may result in entitlement to redundancy compensation ceasing.

• As soon as an employee is identified as being suitable for redeployment, they will be considered for any available position at an equivalent level or below that which they currently hold.

• If the employee could be deemed to meet the requirements of the position, with any reasonable training where necessary, then the position may be offered to them as suitable alternative employment.

• Where there is more than 1 employee deemed to meet the requirements of the role, the employees may be required to interview prior to an offer being made.

• Where redeployment has been offered as a result of a redundancy situation, it may be appropriate to agree a trial period of not less than 4 weeks. In redundancy situations, where the trial period has been unsuccessful, the employee may still be entitled to a redundancy payment, which will be confirmed in writing by HR.

• Employees are entitled to accept suitable alternative employment at a lower salary/ grade point, including reducing their hours of work. In such situations, their salary will reduce at the end of their notice period. Where a redeployed is deployed into a post at a lower grade, any changes to the terms and conditions reflecting that grade/ post will then apply.

• Employees incurring additional daily travelling expenses as a result of redeployment may be eligible to be reimbursed extra travelling costs incurred as a direct result of their redeployment, subject to any HMRC guidance. Entitlement to disturbance allowance will cease following a period of 2 years or should the employee secure another role within the Councils. Entitlement to disturbance allowance shall be subject to review following changes to the employees’ personal circumstances, such as their home address.

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• Where notice has been given, if the individual has not been successfully redeployed by the end of their notice, they will be dismissed under the terms of their notice.

Relocation

To qualify for relocation assistance, the employee must be: • Moving to a new place of work due to accepting an offer of employment; • Taking up a new position in a new geographical area, or; • Moving due to an office relocation.

Relocation assistance is discretionary. It is not a contractual entitlement and the Councils reserve the right to withdraw it at any time.

To be eligible for relocation assistance, the employee must:

• Currently be living more than 30 miles from their new place of work; • Be moving to within 30 miles of their new place of work; • Be moving a minimum of 15 miles nearer; • Not be in receipt (either directly or indirectly i.e. via spouse/partner) any further

assistance from another party. • Be moving to a permanent residence that will be their main residence.

Principles

• Employees who do not meet these criteria but who feel that they may have a reasonable case to receive support, should in the first instance address this with their manager, who will liaise with HR as appropriate. Any requests for relocation assistance must be approved by the relevant Chief Officers or one of their delegated authorisers.

• The maximum amount of relocation assistance provided by the Council(s) will not exceed the HMRC maximum allowance of £8000. This amount may be claimed as a lump sum or reimbursed against smaller elements of expenditure on receipt of valid original receipts.

• All offers of relocation are subject to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) regulations. The employee is responsible for any statutory income tax and national insurance liability incurred as a result of receiving relocation expenses. As the relocation is job related, the first £8,000 is exempt from tax provided that certain conditions are met, including that the new property is the employee's main residence. Relocation costs above £8,000 are a taxable benefit.

• At the time of being offered relocation assistance, the employee will be advised of the date by which their relocation must be completed.

• VAT can be reclaimed on invoices made out and sent direct to the Council, in which case only the net total will be debited against the employee’s allowance. Due to the advantageous nature of these arrangements, employees are encouraged to arrange for the Council to be invoiced where appropriate and prior agreement has been obtained.

• All relocation expenses must be claimed within 12 months of the employee taking up their position.

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• Any offer of relocation assistance are subject to the agreement of the employee that they shall repay some, or all, of the amount given by the organisation in the event that they voluntarily terminate their employment within 2 years of the payment of their final expenses claim. Employees will be required to sign an agreement to this effect. The amount repayable is pro-rated according to the number of completed months serviced between commencement of the repayment period and termination of employment.

• Repayment will not be required where termination of employment is involuntary. In the event that the relocation does not occur, the employee will be required to make repayment in full.

Please see the Council’s guidelines on the amount of relocation allowance available.

TUPE

TUPE refers to a transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) is a transfer of employees and any liability associated with them from an old employer to a new one under a specified legal framework.

TUPE Regulation 13(1) defines affected employees vaguely as:

"…any employees of the transferor or the transferee… who may be affected by the transfer or may be affected by measures taken in connection with it…"

“Transferor” being the organisation who has staff to TUPE to a new organisation or provider, these are the “transferee”. Once the Council has established that there will be a relevant transfer, the next two issues that it needs to address are which employees will transfer to the transferee and who else will be affected by the transfer, because it is required to inform and consult the appropriate representatives of those employees:

• Employees who are "assigned" to the business or service that is transferring will transfer to the transferee under TUPE. They are known as "transferring employees". Sometimes, not all of the employees in a particular team will transfer, just those who are employed in a particular specialism for example.

• There may be employees who are not assigned to the business or service that is transferring but who will be affected by the transfer. For example, they will be part of a smaller team, working in a different way, within a different structure.

Principles

• The employers are required to inform appropriate representatives of employees who may be affected by the transfer about the transfer. In the case of the Councils, these representatives will be the recognised Trade Unions. If the transfer gives rise to any changes in the working arrangements of the employees, there is a separate, but related, duty to consult.

• The transferor is required to provide specified information about transferring employees and their employment to the transferee, to help the transferee prepare for the arrival of new employees, this is often information in relation to individuals’ terms and conditions of employment and sometimes any absence, disciplinary or performance related matters.

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• After the transfer, the Councils need to make a success of their transformed organisation. This will depend to a large extent on how line managers manage their teams, but the Council will provide the following:

o Induction:

The Councils may organise tailored induction and training courses for transferred employees, to help them understand their management style, and what they offer and expect from them, including in terms of performance and behaviour.

o Team meetings:

Regular team meetings, comprising transferred employees and those from the transferee's existing workforce, to build a single team that looks to adopt best practice from both organisations.

o Mentoring:

This will help the new employees to get to know the Councils existing workforces and enable them to ask questions and make suggestions.

• Line managers have an important role to play in supporting these employees after the transfer to maintain business continuity and should be alert to the potential dip in employee morale that can follow a transfer. Practical steps that line managers can take to support remaining employees include:

- Communicating regularly with employees, including listening to their concerns and taking steps to address them; and

- Participating in a team-building event or strategy day, which will encourage employees to air their concerns and to regroup and focus on the future.

• An affected employee can object to their employment being transferred to a new employer under TUPE, and they do not have to give a reason. If an affected employee objects, their employment is treated as coming to an end at the transfer date. This is normally considered to be a resignation, and therefore the employee would not be entitled to any compensation, but simply the notice as per their contract of employment.

Redundancy

Section 139 of the Employment Rights Act (ERA) 1996 defines redundancy as follows: ‘For the purposes of this Act an employee who is dismissed shall be taken to be dismissed by reason of redundancy if the dismissal is attributed wholly or mainly to:

..the fact this his employer has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on the business for the purposes of which the employee was employed by him, or has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on that business in the place where the employee was so employed, or

...the fact that the requirements of that business for employees to carry out work of a particular kind, or for employees to carry out work of a particular kind in the place where he was so employed, have ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish.’

When reviewing possible redundancies, the following will be undertaken:

1. Establishing the business case.

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2. Seek advice and, or specialist support. 3. Inform and Consult. Both collective consultation (with the recognised Trade Union)

and individual consultation* will take place in line with the statutory consultation time frames**.

4. Explore alternatives to redundancy. 5. Compulsory redundancy; selection for redundancy will be undertaken in a fair,

transparent and objective manner and will not discriminate any individual who falls under a protected characteristic of the Equality Act 2010***.

a. Selection criteria will include: cessation of work; skills & experience; performance (evidence based); disciplinary records; timekeeping & attendance; interviews; or other measurable and objective criteria as appropriate as consulted upon and agreed with the recognised Trade Union.

6. Outcome and appeal.

*Legislative requirements at the time of writing this policy provide that where 20 to 99 redundancies are proposed, a minimum of 30 days consultation will take place; where 100 or more redundancies are proposed, a minimum of 45 days consultation will take place. Regardless of the proposed number, the Councils will consult with the appropriate recognised Trade Union(s) at the earliest opportunity.

**Individual consultation will take place with affected staff throughout the process to discuss the reasons for the proposed changes, selection criteria and options. Feedback and alternative suggestions shall also be sought. *** the following would also constitute unfair dismissal on grounds of redundancy: membership or non-membership of a trade union health and safety activities; exercising their statutory rights; whistleblowing, e.g. making disclosures about their employer’s wrongdoing; taking part in lawful industrial action lasting 12 weeks or less; taking action on health and safety grounds; or undertaking jury service.

Where the number of redundancies reach those stated above, the Council are duty-bound to notify the Redundancy Payment Service before a consultation starts; failure to do so, could result in a fine of up to £5,000.

Notice Periods and Redundancy Pay

The notice period may vary according to length of service: Service of between 1 month and 2 years 1 weeks’ notice

Service between 2 and 12 years 1 weeks’ notice for each full year 12 years’ service or more 12 weeks’ notice

The number of weeks upon which the employee’s redundancy compensation shall be calculated as follows:

For each year of service before the age of 22 – 0.5 weeks’ pay; For each year of service aged 22 and over, but before aged 41 – 1 weeks’ pay, For each year of service aged 41 or over – 1.5 weeks’ pay.

Principles

• All redundancy payments are subject to deduction of tax and national insurance Contributions in accordance with Inland Revenue regulations. At the time of writing, these allow for the first £30,000.00 of compensation to be paid on a tax free basis.

• Employees may, however, not be entitled to a redundancy payment if they: o Have found, or have been successfully redeployed, to another post within the

Councils, or another organisation listed as per the Modifications Order*;

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o Have been offered and refused suitable alternative work without good reason; or

o Leave employment before the end of the notice period (by resigning) in order to take up alternative work outside the Councils, without having given proper notice.

*the Modification Order modifies certain provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996 concerning redundancy payments in their application to individuals employed by local authorities or certain other bodies.

• HR should be consulted on specific cases.

• The Councils recognise that being made redundant, particularly on a compulsory basis, is a very difficult situation for staff, and as such will provide all reasonable support, including (but not limited to):

o Reasonable paid time off to look for other work or to undertake training in support of obtaining new employment within the Councils;

o Unpaid time off to undertake training for alternative employment outside of the Councils, or;

o Estimates of their redundancy compensation and, where applicable, their pension benefits;

• Requests for time off should, in the first instance, be directed to the relevant line manager and will not be unreasonably refused.

• Employees have the right to appeal against their selection for redundancy. Such appeals can only be made on the grounds that their selection was unfair, or that the reason for dismissal was not truly redundancy.

Pay Protection

The Council aims to provide Pay Protection as a means by which employees can continue their careers within the authorities whilst minimising the risk of financial detriment. Principles

The following are the principles of pay protection:

• All employees of the Councils, regardless of their length of service, are eligible for pay protection. The employees affected must either:

o Be subject to redeployment following organisational change including but not limited to restructure or pay review;

o Be subject to a change in role as a result of a service review;

o Be subject to a reduction in salary following job evaluation; o Been redeployed as part of an ill health procedure.

• Where hours are changed by the employer;

• In cases where hours are changed as a result of organisational change/ restructuring;

• At the end of a fixed term contract. In this instance staff may be eligible to apply for

other positions. If a new position is secured pay protection will not apply;

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• To temporary arrangements such as: secondments, temporary promotions, acting up arrangements and internal transfers. At the end of the temporary arrangements employees will revert back to their substantive role

• Employees, who qualify for pay protection, will have their former basic salary protected from the commencement date of the new salary.

• Protection of earnings will cease in line with the shortest of the following criteria: - the pay protection period has expired;

- the employee has obtained employment at an equivalent or improved level to their protection;

- the employee has applied for, and been appointed to, a new position;

- the salary level attributed to the new position, reach the value of the protected pay level.

At the end of the protection period, the employee’s basic salary shall be the salary

value of the top of their new grade.

• Salary enhancements/supplements, such as essential car user allowances or on-going responsibility allowances are not included as part of the salary in these circumstances, and their payment may be ceased where appropriate.

* Please refer to the Council’s procedure and guidelines for more information on the periods of pay protection. POLICY 6: BULLYING AND HARASSMENT

The Council has a firm commitment to equality of opportunity and as such our working environment is one in which bullying and harassment are known to be unacceptable and where individuals have the confidence to complain of such action, should it arise, in the knowledge that their concerns will be dealt with appropriately and fairly.

The Council believes that all staff and visitors, should be able to work and visit without fear of humiliation, intimidation, sexual or racial harassment, oppression or any form of bullying. It is the responsibility of the staff and management that the atmosphere of the Council is caring, happy, relaxed and protective.

Bullying

ACAS Code of Practice defines bullying as “Offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, an abuse or misuse of power through means that undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient”. Examples of bullying include:

• Spreading malicious rumours, or insulting someone by word or behaviour; • Copying memos that are critical about someone to others who don’t need to know; • Ridiculing or demeaning someone – picking on them or setting them up to fail; • Exclusion or victimisation; • Unfair treatment; • Overbearing supervision or misuse of power or position; • Unwelcome sexual advances; • Making threats or comments about job security without foundation; • Deliberately undermining a competent worker by overloading and constant criticism;

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• Preventing individuals progressing by intentionally blocking promotion or training opportunities.

Harassment

ACAS Code of Practice define harassment as “unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic which has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment” and in the perception of the recipient of the conduct, it should reasonably be considered as having that purpose or effect.

• Harassment can take a variety of forms ranging from violence and bullying to less obvious action like the ‘cold shoulder’, abuse of power or coercion.

• Harassment can take many forms including sexual harassment, racial harassment, bullying, intimidation, “mobbing”, and victimisation.

• Sexual harassment may take the form of requests for sexual favours, unwelcome contact of a sexual nature, leering, or lewd pin-ups in the workplace.

• Racial harassment can be treatment afforded to an employee because of that person’s racial origins, insults and racist comments based on colour, race or ethnic origin. Bullying can range from extreme forms of violence and intimidation, swearing and shouting and humiliating the victim in front of others to the less obvious, sending someone to Coventry.

• Harassment can also occur if employees use the Internet or email to store or distribute abusive or offensive material.

The Council is opposed to both bullying and harassment in any form and will not tolerate either during the course of employment, at social events (whether organised by the Council or not) or at informal events involving employees or other work-related contacts.

All complaints will be taken seriously by the Council and will be dealt with in line with the Grievance procedure. No employee who makes a complaint in good faith, or participates in an investigation of a complaint, will be victimised for doing so. Complaints that are not made in good faith and involve deliberate misuse of the above procedure will result in disciplinary action being taken against the complainant. POLICY 7: EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

The Council expects all its staff to work in an environment that is free from all forms of discrimination; not only for existing staff, but other workers in the Council and unless otherwise stated, including potential employees and former employees, full-time and part-time employees, as well as agency workers, casual workers, temporary workers and contractors, visitors and councillors.

The Council will not tolerate unlawful discrimination on any of the following grounds:

Sex Race

Marital Status Colour

Disability Ethnic or national origin

Gender Reassignment Sexual Orientation

Age Religious Belief

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Union activities Part-time status

All employees have a responsibility not to discriminate against or harass fellow employees and to report any such behaviour of which they become aware. Any breaches of this Policy will be treated very seriously by the Council. Our selection procedures are reviewed from time to time to ensure that individuals are appropriate for achieving our objectives and for avoiding unlawful discrimination.

Personal Liability and forms of discrimination

The following are forms of discrimination that this policy aims to avoid:- • Direct Discrimination occurs when a person is less favourably treated because of

race, colour, ethnic or national origin, sex, marital status, disability, gender reassignment, age, sexual orientation, religious belief.

• Indirect Discrimination is where a requirement or condition, which cannot be justified, is applied equally to all groups but has a disproportionately adverse effect on one group.

• Victimisation occurs where someone is treated less favourably than others because he/she has raised a complaint under this policy or taken legal action against the Council or because he/she has supported someone else in doing this.

• Harassment is a form of direct discrimination and may involve inappropriate actions, behaviour, comments or physical contact that causes offence or is intimidating or objectionable.

Disability Discrimination

There are special provisions that protect disabled employees and job applicants against discrimination in the workplace. The Council will ensure that employment policies and practices fully comply with these provisions and will consider making appropriate reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled applicants or employees are not substantially disadvantaged.

There are a number of ways in which the Council can ensure equal opportunities in the workplace, including:

• Recruitment and Selection

Recruitment and selection procedures will be free from bias or discrimination. Recruitment procedures will be conducted objectively and decisions regarding an applicant’s suitability for a position will be based upon specific and reasonable job-related criteria.

• Employment Conditions

Terms and conditions of employment, including pay and benefits, will be offered to employees fairly and equally. Terms and conditions of employment for part-time employees will be provided on a pro-rata basis to full-time employees, except when different treatment can be objectively justified.

• Employment Policies and Practices

The HR Manager will periodically monitor and review this policy and will be responsible for ensuring that that all employment-related policies, procedures and

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practices are non-discriminatory.

• Working Environment Employees have the right to be treated with dignity and respect and the Council will make every effort to provide a working environment free of discrimination and harassment in any form. Employees are expected to help prevent discrimination and/or harassment in the workplace.

All complaints will be taken seriously by the Council and no employee who makes a complaint in good faith, or participates in an investigation of a complaint, will be victimised for doing so. Complaints that are not made in good faith and involve deliberate misuse of the above procedure will result in disciplinary action being taken against the complainant.

POLICY 8: CAPABILITY

Employees are expected to deliver their day-to-day work as outline in their job description and annual objectives (where they apply) in a timely and professional manner and fully meet the standards and competencies for the job role level as set out in the Job Description and Person Specification. Poor performance occurs where the quality of work deteriorates below the required standard due to lack of ability, skill or knowledge.

The Council will aim to ensure that: • Employees understand what is expected from them in terms of performance; • That performance is monitored via regular one to one meetings with their line

manager and via the annual performance review management process; • Employees are given appropriate training and support to meet those standards. • Employees are not normally dismissed for performance reasons without receiving

prior warnings. • Performance issues will normally be dealt with informally between employee and

their line manager as part of day-to-day management. Employees are encouraged to have early and open dialogue with their line manager or other senior managers about performance and any anticipated failures in meeting standards.

Informal discussions may cover the following issues:

• Clarification of the required standards; • Identification of areas of concern; • Identification of the likely causes of poor performance; • Any training, coaching or support needed in order to help the employee meet the

required standard; • Any issues not work related that may be having an impact on the employee’s

performance; and

• Setting a time period for improvement and review. • A potential outcome of an informal meeting may include a verbal warning.

Employees have the right to be accompanied to any formal meeting. A companion at a hearing is permitted to:

• Address the hearing to summarise or explain the employee’s case, but not to answer questions on behalf of the employee

• Confer with the employee during the hearing

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• Ask questions (of the employer and employee) at the hearing

• Be permitted reasonable time to confer privately with the employee, either in the hearing room or outside

• The companion cannot answer questions on behalf of the employee.

Line managers shall ensure that the employee has had every opportunity to improve prior to instigating the formal Capability procedure. Line managers shall also work with the HR team to:

• Identify potential learning and development required; • Counselling or other employee assist programmes; • Coaching opportunities

• Provide as much support as is reasonable to allow the employee to improve their performance.

Outcomes of capability

Potential outcomes of Formal Capability include: • First written warning

• Final written warning

• Dismissal, Demotion or Redeployment

Appeal

If an employee feels that a decision about their performance under this procedure is wrong, or unjust, they should appeal in writing, stating their grounds for appeal, to the HR Manager within 5 working days of the date on which they were informed of the decision. Following the Appeal Hearing, the Council may:

• Confirm the original decision; • Revoke the original decision; or • Substitute a different decision and the sanction.

POLICY 9: GRIEVANCE

Grievances are concerns, problems or complaints highlighted by an employee and must be made in writing. It is not practicable for us to fully list all standards and issues that a Grievance may be concerned with, however, please see below for a few examples:

• Terms and conditions of employment • Health and safety • Work relations • New working practices • Working environment • Organisational change • Discrimination

This list is not exhaustive

Principles

• Managers are responsible for ensuring that both informal and formal grievances are dealt with effectively in accordance with the procedures set out in this policy by:

o Taking the grievance seriously

o Investigating the facts and surrounding circumstances, and showing both parties that this has been done thoroughly and sensitively

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o Where practicable, actively look for a solution that will satisfy the complainant without causing disproportionate difficulty for the organisation

o Provide feedback to the complainant about what can, and, or cannot be done to resolve the grievance; and

o Taking any necessary follow-up action.

• Under certain circumstances, including but not limited to serious breaches of Council standards such as harassment, bullying, theft and violence, the Council may decide to suspend either or both parties on full basic pay, while the matter is being investigated. This is not a disciplinary sanction, but a way of ensuring that a full review of the circumstances can take place as effectively as possible.

• Suspension is a value-free administrative process aimed to limit the potential risk of any interference to the investigation. Where two respondents are under investigation, both are likely to be suspended as a matter of fairness and compliance.

• Where an employee, while on suspension, fails to attend any meeting without reasonable notice or justifiable cause on more than 2 occasions, the employee may have their pay withheld until the completion of the investigation.

• The Grievance Policy does not cover matters relating to strategic business or policy decisions taken by the Council

• Mediation assists to clarify the issues involved in the case and explore options for resolution. The process is entirely voluntary and mediated disputes involve no obligation to accept decisions or proposed options. It can be especially beneficial in problems associated with working relationships.

• All employees have a right to a companion at any formal meeting. This companion may be either an employee colleague who is not involved in the incident or a Trade Union official. Companions must be announced to the HR department no less than 24 hours prior to any meeting.

Outcomes of a grievance

• An appropriate manager will hear the full details of a grievance by way of a Grievance Hearing; the employee(s) will have the right to be accompanied.

• There are two likely outcomes of a grievance:

o Not Upheld – if it found that there is no case to answer; or

o Upheld – if it is found that there is a case to answer.

• In some cases, part of a grievance may be upheld while other areas of complaint may not; evidence is vital to ensure that an accurate outcome is made.

• Where a grievance/or part of a grievance is upheld, an investigation will take place at which point the process may move from Grievance to Disciplinary and shall be picked up at the investigation stage. The complainant will be advised of the outcome of their grievance and if upheld, will be assured that an investigation is taking place. However, they will not be advised of the outcome of any investigation.

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Appeal

All employees have a right to appeal against any outcome sanctioned following a grievance hearing. The Appeal Hearing is designed to review the grievance process and identify whether it has been conducted to Policy and Procedure, it is not an opportunity to submit any new evidence or have full details of the case heard again.

POLICY 10: DISCIPLINARY

Disciplinary situations include misconduct and behaviour; it is not practicable for us to fully list all standards and issues that a Disciplinary may be concerned with, however, please see below for a few examples:

Misconduct:

• Misuse of the Council E-Mail, Internet or internal mailing facilities

• Repeated minor breaches

• Persistent absenteeism or lateness

• Poor effort or sub-standard work

• Absence without authorisation

• Insubordination or refusal to carry out reasonable tasks

• Accepting gifts from service users without proper authorisation from Management • Any breach of Council policies and procedures

This list is not exhaustive

Gross Misconduct:

• The supply or possession of illegal drugs, or being under the influence of drink or drugs on the Council premises or during working hours

• Incapacity through drink or drugs

• Misuse, abuse or deliberate damage to the Council property, including intellectual property, or that of other employees

• Breach of confidence, including unauthorised passing of trade information and/or financial operations, disclosure of confidential information

• Making malicious complaints against other employees

• Bullying and, or harassment • Unmanaged, unsafe or unacceptable practices

• Falsification of documents, financial, clinical or otherwise

• Misappropriation of service user or Council property

• Taking bribes in connection with their employment • Theft, fraud or dishonesty (including attempt of theft or fraud) • Any serious or repetitive breach of Council policies and procedures

This list is not exhaustive.

In line with the above non-exhaustive lists, this policy shall also be invoked where there is an allegation of:

• Repeatedly failing to meet Council standards as per the Council’s Code of Conduct Policy;

• Consistent absence following the invocation of the Councils; Managing Attendance Policy and Procedure;

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• Any malicious act deriving from one complaint from a complainant to another individual which is evidenced as being false as per the Council’s Whistleblowing and Grievance Policy and Procedure.

Definition of Conduct

It is expected that every employee should: • be honest; • maintain at all times a high standard of integrity and conduct; • not use their position to further private interests or those of relatives and friends;

• fulfil the duties specified in their contract of employment/job purpose / role profile.

Principles

• Where an issue is addressed informally, a potential outcome may be a verbal warning.

• If it becomes necessary to formally address issues regarding employee’s conduct, attendance or job performance, the matter will firstly be investigated by an appropriate person or a panel of appropriate people. The meeting should be held without unreasonable delay.

• Under certain circumstances, including but not limited to serious breaches of Council’s standards such as harassment, bullying, theft and violence, the Council may decide to suspend employees on full basic pay, while the matter is being investigated. This is not a disciplinary sanction, but a way of ensuring that a full review of the circumstances can take place as effectively as possible.

• Suspension is a value-free administrative process aimed to limit the potential risk of any interference to the investigation. Where two employees are under investigation, both shall be suspended as a matter of fairness.

• Where an employee, while on suspension, fails to attend any meeting without reasonable notice or justifiable cause on more than 2 occasions, the employee may have their pay withheld until the completion of the investigation.

• All employees have a right to a companion at any formal meeting. This companion may be either an employee colleague who is not involved in the incident or a Trade Union official. Companions must be announced to the HR department no less than 24 hours prior to any meeting.

Employees have the right to be accompanied to any formal meeting. A companion at a hearing is permitted to:

• Address the hearing to summarise or explain the employee’s case, but not to answer questions on behalf of the employee

• Confer with the employee during the hearing

• Ask questions (of the employer and employee) at the hearing

• Be permitted reasonable time to confer privately with the employee, either in the hearing room or outside

• The companion cannot answer questions on behalf of the employee.

Outcomes of disciplinary

Potential outcomes of a disciplinary Hearing:

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• No formal sanction; but recommendations for resolution

• First written warning

• Final written warning

• Dismissal with notice

• Summary dismissal (without notice) Appeal

All employees have a right to appeal against any outcome sanctioned following a disciplinary hearing. The Appeal Hearing is designed to review the disciplinary process and identify whether it has been conducted to Policy and Procedure, it is not an opportunity to submit any new evidence or have full details of the case heard again. *please note there is a separate Disciplinary process in respect of the Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer – specific advice can be sought from the HR Team. POLICY 11: TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

The Council is committed to the training, education and development of its members of staff. Training opportunities are available should there be a need for employees or their manager to develop employee’s skills in a particular area, or to learn new skills appropriate to their specific function and role within the Council.

Ideally employees should discuss their training needs in their one to one’s or annual appraisals but they can discuss training opportunities with their manager or contact the HR Department at a convenient time.

Principles

Employer Responsibilities - To ensure that: • There is always an active annual training plan in place covering all mandatory

training

• Funding is set-aside in the financial budget to cover planned training expenditure for the current / impending financial year.

• Employees fully understand their job function and expected performance standards through having accurate job descriptions and an annual appraisal review.

• Each employee has the opportunity to learn and become more experienced in their primary job function.

• Each employee has the opportunity to learn and become experienced in secondary skills.

• Each employee is enabled and actively encouraged to develop their personal potential.

• All employees receive appropriate levels of mandatory training as per governing requirements

• All employees may request non mandatory training as part of their Continuing Professional Development

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Employee responsibilities - To ensure that:

• They are aware of the Mandatory training they are required to complete as per the contract of employment

• They query, where necessary, with their line manager leave from duty to attend training

• They maintain their Mandatory training levels which will be identified to them upon commencement of employment

Employees have the right, under section 63D of the Employment Rights Act 1996, to request that the Council allow them time to undertake training. They do not have the right to be paid for the time spent training when the Council agrees to their request.

For some training the Council provides, a reasonable commitment to stay with the Council will be expected. Partial repayment of fees in the event of early termination of employment for any reason may be expected as follows.

The Council reserves the right to recover the full cost of such training should the employee leave the Council, or discontinue or fail the qualification without good reason. Repayment is based on a sliding scale details, more information can be sought from the HR department.

Induction

All new employees will be required to undertake an Induction programme; new starters will be invited to this.

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Employee Staff Handbook – Changes

The following table lists all of the policies incorporated into the Handbook and shows the changes made

Policy Title Breckland Council

Recruitment & Selection Vacancies have been internally advertised for 5 days before externally advertised. The new policy does not make this as a requirement

Managing Attendance No change – high level only

Special Leave Compassionate Leave; currently up to 5 days paid leave. This policy increases the leave to up to 7 days paid in line with SHDC policy.

Maternity Support Leave (to be added into the handbook if approved); SHDC currently offer 5 days leave with pay at the time of birth to support their partners in addition to the Statutory Paternity Leave.

Why change?To provide further support to the health and well-being of staff.

Maternity/Paternity/Adoption and Shared Leave

Other changes reflect new legislation only. Currently separate policies so this amalgamates.

Managing Change (TUPE/Redeployment/Relocation)

Currently separate policies so this amalgamates.

Increase in Relocation expenses to HMRC Rate of £8000

Other changes are to reflect legislation

Pay protection to remain as 3 years until the end of all service reviews have been completed as to amend ‘in progress’ would result in equality and fairness complaints

Bullying and Harassment No change – high level only

Equal Opportunities No change – high level only

Capability No change – high level only

Grievance No change – high level only

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Disciplinary No change – high level only

Training and Development No change – high level only

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Report of: Mark Stinson, Executive Manager Governance

To: Council 19 January 2017

Author: Teresa Smith, Democratic Services Team Leader

Subject: Report of the Independent Remuneration Panel on Members Scheme of Allowances 2017-2019.

Purpose: The Independent Remuneration Panel recommends to Council the Members Scheme of Allowances for the period of 1 April 2017 – 31 March 2019.

Recommendation(s): 1) That the new scheme is effective from 1 April 2017 until 31 March 2019

2) That the Basic Allowance for District Councillors is increased in line with the locally agreed Breckland staff pay settlement for the next two years (until 31 March 2019).

3) That the Special Responsibility Allowances are increased in line with the locally agreed Breckland staff pay settlement for the next two years (until 31 March 2019).

4) That the Carer’s allowance is increased in line with the ‘Real Living Wage’ to (currently £8.45 per hour) with effect from 1 April 2017

5) That an allowance of £15 per month be introduced, as a contribution to the cost of Members’ making their own Broadband arrangements (and in place of any current arrangements in place).

1.0 BACKGROUND

1.1 Breckland Council appointed an Independent Remuneration Panel to consider and recommend a scheme of allowances that complies with the requirements of the Local Authorities (Members Allowances) (England) regulations 2003 and associated regulations.

1.2 The Panel met on two occasions and also interviewed Councillor William Nunn, Leader of the Council, and invited Councillor Denis Crawford as Leader of the opposition party.

1.3 It should be noted that the panel does not propose any change to: travel and subsistence allowances; the approach to be taken in respect of allowances for town and parish councillors; nor the Council’s ability to withdraw allowances from a member under a full or partial suspension (paragraphs 12.5 to 12.8 of the Panel’s report).

2.0 OPTIONS

2.1 Option 1 – To accept and approve in full the recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel.

2.2 Option 2 – To accept and approve in part the recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel.

2.3 Option 3 – To note the recommendations and not to approve the changes.

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Agenda Item 16


3.1 During their meetings and deliberations, the Independent Remuneration Panel had been mindful of the financial restraints affecting the Council and the public sector as a whole. Despite these, the authority continues to perform very well, and the Remuneration Panel wished to congratulate the Council for maintaining the lowest Council Tax in the country whilst providing good levels of public satisfaction and local service provision in times of austerity.

3.2 Taking into account the comparators and the current economic situation, the Panel are minded to recommend the scheme for a two-year period.


4.1 This report complies with the requirements of the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 and associated regulations.

5.0 IMPLICATIONS


5.1.1 The scheme of Members Allowances makes provision for travel allowances for Members. There are no recommendations being made in this report in respect of these allowances.


5.2.1 The duty to comply with the requirements of the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 and associated regulations. Approval of the Members Scheme of Allowances is a duty reserved to full Council. The Council must have due regard to the recommendations when setting members’ allowances.

5.3 Financial

5.3.1 Should the Council accept some or all of the recommendations of this report there will be an added increase to the budget for Members Allowances. There will also, however, be savings should the Council no longer provide broadband to any of its members directly, but instead give a broadband allowance.


5.4.1 The Independent Remuneration Panel have undertaken some consultation in considering their recommendations. If approved, the changes to remuneration will be effective from 1 April 2017.


6.1 N/A

7.0 ACRONYMS

7.1 N/A

Background papers:- None

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Lead Contact OfficerName and Post: Rory Ringer, Democratic Services ManagerTelephone Number: 01362 656232Email: [email protected]

Key Decision: No

Exempt Decision: No


Appendices attached to this report: Appendix A Report of the Independent Remuneration Panel (December 2016)

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Report of the Independent Remuneration Panel

Appointed to make recommendations on the scheme of

Members’ Allowances at Breckland Council

December 2016

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1. BACKGROUND

1.1 Breckland Council has appointed an Independent Remuneration Panel to consider and recommend

a scheme of allowances that complies with the requirements of the Local Authorities (Members’

Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003.

1.2 The Independent Remuneration Panel is in the final year of its three year term and Membership is as

follows:

Andrew Egerton-Smith (Chairman)

Jeff Prosser

Alistair Skipper

Alex Sommerville

1.3 The Panel is supported by Rory Ringer, Democratic Services Manager, and Teresa Smith,

Democratic Services Team Leader.

1.4 The Panel considered all areas within its remit under the regulations, which ask that

recommendations be made to Council:

On the amount of basic allowance that should be payable to its Elected Members

About the responsibilities or duties which should lead to the payment of a special

responsibility allowance and the amount of such an allowance

About the duties for which a travelling and subsistence allowance can be paid and the

amount of this allowance

As to the amount of any co-optees’ allowance

As to whether the authority’s scheme should include an allowance for the expense of

arranging for dependant and child care, the amount of such allowance and the means by

which it is determined

On whether any allowance should be backdated to the beginning of the financial year in

the event of a scheme being amended

As to whether annual adjustments of allowance levels may be made by reference to an

index and, if so, how long such a measure should run

On allowances for Town and Parish Councils

2. DOCUMENTATION, EVIDENCE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

2.1 The Panel met on two occasions, on 7 November 2016 and 28 November 2016 and took account of

the following documentation:

The Panel’s previous report (December 2015),

Details of the existing scheme of allowances and comments made by the Council when

adopting it,

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Comparative information from other local authorities.

2.2 The Panel interviewed Mr William Nunn – Leader of the Council, and were grateful to him for the

information he provided.

3. CONTEXT OF THE REVIEW

3.1 The current scheme of allowances, which runs from 1st April 2016 to 31st March 2017, was agreed at

Full Council on 21st January 2016. The Independent Remuneration Panel recommended an

increase of (on average), 1.9%, which was accepted by Council.

3.2 The Panel only wishes to hold meetings when necessary because although their costs were modest,

they felt that value for money must be paramount at all times. With this in mind and the current

financial stability of the Council the panel are mindful to make a recommendation for a two year

period, and for the scheme to be linked to the annually agreed Breckland staff settlement.

3.3 The Panel were familiar with the culture of Breckland and had previously made it clear what was

expected in terms of performance in recognition of the levels of allowance recommended. In

reaching its conclusions, the Panel took note of the following key development during the past year:

4. GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND OBSERVATIONS

4.1 The Panel applauded the continued entrepreneurial approach of the Council, especially with the

launch of Riverside at Thetford. The Council has also demonstrated a proactive approach in looking

forward to support housing issues and the local authority role in the future.

4.2 The Panel were very pleased to see that the Council are focussing on generating income rather than

cutting public services. In addition, the Council was in a sound financial position and able to

maintain the lowest District Council Tax in the country.

4.3 The Panel were informed of the changes to the committee structure and supported the Council’s

approach, ensuring the effective and efficient working of the Council as well as ensuring sound

governance.

4.4 Taking into account comparators and the current economic situation, the Panel were minded to

recommend that the Members Allowances (basic and special responsibility allowances) be linked to

the locally agreed Breckland staff pay settlement for the next two years with the panel meeting again

in late 2018.

4.5 The Panel acknowledged that the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council were rewarded in

accordance with their roles and responsibilities.

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5. BASIC ALLOWANCE

5.1 “The basic allowance is intended to recognise the time commitment of all councillors, including such

inevitable calls on their time as meetings with officers and constituents and attendance at political

group meetings. It is also intended to cover incidental costs such as the use of their homes.

(Government Guidance on Consolidated Regulations for Local Authority Allowances).

5.2 The Panel believed that using the basic allowance as a “building block”, was the best way to

continue to construct the scheme.

5.3 The Panel recommend that the Basic Allowance is increased in line with the locally agreed

Breckland staff pay settlement for the next two years (until 31st March 2019).

6. SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITY ALLOWANCES

6.1 The Panel were in agreement to recommend an increase in the special responsibility allowances in

line with the locally agreed Breckland staff pay settlement for the next two years (until 31st March

2019).

6.2 The panel agreed to support the introduction of an additional allowance of £15 per month, for

members to provide their own broadband facilities. This replaces the existing arrangement of the

Council providing the Members Broadband.

6.3 The Panel agreed to recommend an increase in the Carer’s allowance in line with ‘Real living Wage’

which from 1st April 2017 will be £8.45 per hour.

7. CO-OPTED MEMBERS AND SPECIALIST ADVISERS

Background7.1 Regulations now permit provision within schemes of allowances for payments to co-opted members.

Whereas the basic allowance for Elected Members was intended to acknowledge their wider duties,

payments to co-optees are designed to cover the costs of attendances at meetings and

conferences. Government guidance says that an element of the contribution of co-opted Members,

like that of elected councillors, should be considered voluntary.

Governance & Audit Committee

7.2 The Panel propose an increase in line with the locally agreed Breckland staff pay settlement for the

next two years (until 31st March 2019).

Independent Person

7.3 The Panel felt that this should remain at £25 per hour.

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8. CHILDCARE AND CARERS’ ALLOWANCES

8.1 The Panel agreed to recommend an increase in the Carer’s allowance in line with the ‘Real living

Wage’ which from 1st April 2017 will be £8.45 per hour.

8.2 As far as specialist care was concerned, it can vary in scope and nature and it should be left to the

Council to pay an appropriate rate upon application to ensure reasonable costs were reimbursed,

rather than trying to set a standard rate.

8.3 The Panel were anxious to support carer's allowances and would not wish anyone to be deprived of

the opportunity to serve as result of inadequate recompense of care charges.

9. TRAVEL AND SUBSISTENCE

9.1 The Panel considered the list of approved duties, (Appendix B). (i.e. those activities in respect of

which travel and subsistence may be paid) and agreed that no further changes were recommended.

10. TOWN AND PARISH COUNCILS

10.1 Town and Parish Councils may make payments to their members, but where they decide to do

so, they must have regard to the recommendations of the district council’s Independent

Remuneration Panel.

10.2 Any Town and Parish Councils wishing to consider Parish Councillor Allowances, should be

referred to the Panel who will consider the request on their own merits.

10.3 The Panel had not received any requests for consideration.

11. SUMMARY

11.1 During their meetings and deliberations, the Independent Remuneration Panel had been mindful

of the financial restraints affecting the Council and the public sector as a whole. Despite these,

the authority continues to perform very well, and the Remuneration Panel wish to congratulate the

Council for maintaining the lowest Council Tax in the country whilst providing good levels of public

satisfaction and local service provision in these times of austerity.

11.2 As a result of this the Panel are mindful to recommend the scheme for a two year period 1st April

2017 to 31st March 2019.

11.3 The Travel and subsistence rates are to remain unchanged.

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12. RECOMMENDATIONS

Accordingly, the Panel’s recommendations are as follows:

12.1 The new scheme is effective from 1st April 2017 until 31st March 2019.

12.2 The Basic Allowance for District Councillors is increased in line with the locally agreed Breckland

staff pay settlement for the next two years (until 31st March 2019).

12.3 The Special Responsibility Allowances are increased in line with the locally agreed Breckland staff pay settlement for the next two years (until 31st March 2019).

12.4 The Panel agreed to recommend an increase in the Carer’s allowance in line with ‘Real living Wage’ which from 1st April 2017 will be £8.45 per hour.

12.5 Travel and subsistence be payable for those “approved duties” shown at Appendix B to the report.

12.6 Travel and subsistence to be payable at the same rates as those applicable to officers under the

National Conditions of Service, supported by receipts.

12.7 Requests for the payment of allowances for Town and Parish Councils to be referred to the

Independent Remuneration Panel if received.

12.8 The Council to have the right to withdraw allowances from a fully or partially suspended councillor

and to require the re-payment of any allowances paid during the period of suspension, such

provision to be applicable to all allowances except those for dependant carers.

12.9 To introduce an allowance of £15 per month, as a contribution to the cost of Members’ making

their own Broadband arrangements.

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Appendix A

BRECKLAND COUNCIL ALLOWANCES WITH EFFECTFROM 1 APRIL 2017

(subject to increase in line with the annually agreed Breckland staff settlement)

Responsibility Allowance

Basic Allowance(Payable to all 49 members) £5,300 pa

Special Responsibility Allowances

Leader £21,200 pa

Deputy Leader £13,910 pa

Executive Members £11,260 pa

Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Commission £11,260 pa

Chairman of Planning £11,260 pa

Chairman of the Council £5,300 pa

Chairman of Governance & Audit £5,300 pa

Chairman of Licensing Committee £2,650 pa

Chairman of Committee of Licensing Authority £2,650 pa

Chairman of Scrutiny Task and Finish Groups £120 per meeting chaired

Chairman of Licensing Panel £245 per meeting chaired

Chairman of Licensing Hearing Panel £245 per meeting chaired

Chairman of Disciplinary & Appointments Committee £245 per meeting chaired

Chairman of Disciplinary & Appointments Appeals Committee £245 per meeting chaired

Leader of Main Opposition Group (to be shared if more than one Opposition Group at the same time) £2,650 pa

Leader of other Political Groups (with ten or more members) £1,885 pa

Independent person in support of Standards requirements £25 per hour

Specialist Advisers to the Audit Committee £205 per session

Vice Chairman (appointed or otherwise deputising)

Overview & Scrutiny £245 per meeting chaired

Planning £245 per meeting chaired

Audit £120 per meeting chaired

Council £120 per meeting chaired

Scrutiny Task and Finish Groups £60 per meeting chaired

Executive Support Members £1,885 pa

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Carer’s Allowance

Child Care: £8.45 per hour, normally subject to a maximum of £84.50 per authorised duty

Proven or qualified specialist care: To be considered upon application

Broadband Allowance

£15 per month

NOTE:

Only one Special Responsibility Allowance payable per member,Special Responsibility Allowance are payable in addition to the basic allowance.

No Allowance to be paid to any suspended CouncillorThere is an option for members not to claim allowances, in part or in full

Motor Car Allowance Rates - National Joint Council Car Allowances

Miles per Annum 451 – 999cc 1000-1199cc 1200cc +

Per mile, first 8,500 miles

46.9p 52.2p 65.0p

Per mile, after 8,500 miles

13.7p 14.4p 16.4p

Other Allowances Passenger Allowance: An extra 2p per mile for each passenger taken

Subsistence Allowances – Locally Agreed Revised Rates

Breakfast £6.07 If leave home before 7:30am Lunch £8.39 Payable if you are necessarily absent from base between 12 noon and

2:30pmTea* £3.31 Payable only when you are required to work after 6:30pmEvening Meal* £10.38 Payable only when you are required to work after 8:30pm

*Either Tea or Evening Meal can be claimed – NOT Both

Training Subsistence Where subsidised canteen facilities are available, lunch allowance will be restricted to £5.77, and tea allowance to £2.26

Please obtain receipts and attach to claim form -

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APPENDIX B

BRECKLAND COUNCIL’S INDEPENDENT REMUNERATION PANEL:REPORT ON SCHEME OF ALLOWANCES FOR 2017/18

MEMBERS’ TRAVELLING AND SUBSISTENCE ALLOWANCES: APPROVED DUTIES

The approved duties are:

Council Meetings Committee / Cabinet Meetings (for members of Committee) Ward representatives attending Committee as such Official Committee site visits Members attending Committee as proposer of motion referred by Council Members attending Committee at the request of the Chairman Members attending Committee to report back on the proceedings of an outside body Tender opening Local Authority Association meetings Representation on outside bodies (where travel or subsistence is not paid by that body) Executives meetings with officers Party Leaders’ meetings with officers Joint Executive/Group Leader meetings called by the officers Conferences where representing, or with the authorisation of, the Council Overnight allowance for members attending conferences Ombudsman interviews Members attending Committees or working groups where invited or allowed to speak Attendance of Chairman of Cabinet at any authorised meeting. Attendance at Portfolio meetings Attendance of Members at any official meetings called by officers or an Executive Member with

officers Attendance of Overview and Scrutiny Commission Chairman, Executive and Executive Support

Members at Scrutiny Task and Finish Groups Attendance at Overview and Scrutiny Commission by members who have referred items to the

Commission which are on the agenda under consideration Authorised training and development Required attendance at Public inquiries Attendance of Executive Support Members at Executive meetings Attendance of a member at Town or Parish Council meetings within the ward he or she represents in

the capacity of ward representative Mileage incurred by the Chairman or Vice-Chairman on civic duties.

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Report of: Maxine O’Mahony, Executive Director Strategy & Governance

To: Council 19 January 2017 Author: Mark Stinson, Executive Manager Governance

Subject: Appointment of new S151 and Executive Director of Commercialisation

Purpose: To inform Full Council of the appointment of the S151 Officer and Executive Director of Commercialisation

Recommendation(s):

That Christine Marshall is confirmed as the Section 151 Officer and Executive Director of Commercialisation for Breckland District Council and South Holland District Council.

1.0 BACKGROUND

1.1 The Authority has a statutory obligation to designate three statutory officers: Head of PaidService and Monitoring Officer (under sections 4 and 5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 respectively) and Section 151 Officer/Chief Finance Officer (under s151 of the Local Government Act 1972). The latter is required to be a suitably qualified individual. The Section 151 Officer, along with the Head of Paid Service and the Monitoring Officer combine to form the Council’s Statutory Officer functions. These roles are key to ensuring accountability, lawfulness, fairness, probity and general good governance that support the council in achieving its aims. Typical arrangements in local authorities are for the Chief Executive to be Head of Paid Service whilst the other statutory roles are occupied at either Director, or, where there is no suitably qualified Director, the role is undertaken at Assistant Director level.

1.2 A thorough recruitment process was undertaken in collaboration with Gatenby-Sanderson Executive Agency which resulted in four candidates attending the Assessment Days on 6th and 7th October 2016.

1.3 Assessment day one consisted of individual technical interviews held by the Chief Executive, Luke Judd, and the Chief Executive and S151 of Gt Yarmouth Borough Council. The panel shortlisted the final applicants for Assessment Day 2 with the Joint Appointments Panel.

1.4 Assessment Day two consisted of an individual CEO and Director Meet and Greet which included a scenario and behavioural based interview. Followed by a Meet and Greet lunch with members of the Joint Appointments Panel and individual presentations delivered by the two final candidates.

1.5 The Assessment Day ended with a deliberation session among the joint appointments panel and conclusion that Christine Marshall would be appointed as the S151 Officer and Executive Director of Commercialisation.

2.0 OPTIONS

The Councils must appoint a Section 151 Officer to support the Council’s structure to ensure continued financial probity at the most senior level of the organisation


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Agenda Item 17

3.1 The Constitution designates the shared Executive Director as the Chief Finance Officer (Section 151 Officer).

3.2 The Council must act in a timely manner to take all appropriate steps to designate an alternative individual in good time to ensure a smooth handover.

3.3 The role of the Section 151 Officer is an important element in the Council’s structure and processes. The arrangements outlined in this paper will ensure that the functions continue to be discharged appropriately.


4.1 Compliance with a statutory requirement.

5.0 IMPLICATIONS


5.1.1 The appointment of a Section 151 Officer is a statutory requirement under Section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972. Section 113 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 requires that the officer appointed as Section 151 Officer shall be a member of one of the following bodies:

(a) the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales,(b) the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland,(c) the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants,(d) the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy,(e) the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland,(f) the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, and(g) any other body of accountants established in the United Kingdom and for the time

being approved by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this section.

5.1.2 The Council’s constitution does not impose any additional restrictions on the appointment of the Section 151 Officer, requiring an appointee simply to be suitably qualified.

5.2 Risk Management

5.2.1 The appointment of the Shared Executive Director as Section 151 Officer will provide resilience and increased capacity across the finance functions.

Stakeholders / Consultation / Timescales

5.2.1 The recommendations in this report have been subject to consultation with the Leaders of the Councils and portfolio holders.


6.1 None

7.0 ACRONYMS

7.1 CIPFA - Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.

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Background papers:- See The Committee Report Guide for guidance on how to complete this section

Lead Contact OfficerName and Post: Mark Stinson, Executive Manager GovernanceTelephone Number: 07899061277 Email: [email protected]

Key Decision: No Exempt Decision: No


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Document is Restricted

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Agenda Item 22By virtue of paragraph(s) 1, 2, 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A

of the Local Government Act 1972.


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By virtue of paragraph(s) 1, 2, 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12Aof the Local Government Act 1972.


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(public pack)agenda document for council, 19/01/2017 10:00

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