Agenda and minutes

The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 September 2021 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

Councillor Wright declared an interest in the following item as she is a Member of Halton Housing Trust Board.

The Board received the Halton Housing Trust’s (HHT) Annual Report, which provided an update on their activities since the last report to Executive Board in November 2020.

The Chair welcomed Liz Haworth, Group Chief Executive, Neil McGrath, Deputy Group Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer and Clive Deadman, Chair of Halton Housing, who jointly presented the report to the Board – Annual Report to HBC Executive Board, October 2021. 

The report outlined some of the key achievements over the past year, which included the completion of 92 new homes; the clearing of the repairs backlog; investment made in digital services; and the recruitment of 11 apprentices.  It was noted that despite the challenges of the ongoing pandemic, no tenants had been evicted. 

The guests’ responded to Members’ questions on the report and Members congratulated the Trust on its achievements, recognising the challenges they faced generally, as well as in more recent times with the pandemic and the need to support more vulnerable customers.

RESOLVED:  That the Board notes the report. 

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director – People, which requested approval for Halton Borough Council to lead the procurement of services to encourage, enable and assist young people to participate in education and training.

It was reported that local authorities had a duty to make available to all young people aged 13-19 and to those between 20 and 25 with an Education, Health and Care Plan; support that would encourage, enable and assist them to participate in education or training.  Since April 2014 the 14-19 Team within Halton had implemented the Halton Participation Strategy to meet these duties, as required under Section 68 of the Education and Skills Act 2008. 

The report outlined Halton’s previous collaborations with Knowsley, Liverpool and Wirral Authorities, to commission a service to provide information, advice and guidance to young people where Halton took the lead. 

Knowsley and Wirral Local Authorities had once again requested Halton to act as lead for the upcoming procurement process.  In order to make this procurement process as efficient as possible for the authorities involved, approval was sought for Halton to lead the procurement process for a joint service across Halton, Knowsley and Wirral Local Authorities, beginning April 2022.

Details on the procurement process, the expected contract values and benefits of the proposal were provided.

RESOLVED:  That the Board

1)    notes the report; and

2)    approves Halton Borough Council acting as lead in a joint procurement process with Knowsley and Wirral Local Authorities.

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director – Enterprise, Community and Resources, which sought approval for the Council to be included in a national procurement exercise, in order to award contracts for the supply of Liquid Road Fuels to Council sites.

It was reported that the Council currently had a Liquid Road Fuel contract and a contract for the provision of Ad Blue in place, with a total expenditure in the region of £488,000 per annum.  These contracts supplied Council sites with diesel and Ad Blue and were due to expire on 31 March 2022.

The business case in support of the request was presented to Members in the report.  On the subject of climate change, it was noted that the Council was currently developing a Climate Change Action Plan, which would be published in the autumn of 2021.  Part of this Action Plan would include plans to transition the Council’s fleet from petrol and diesel to lower emission vehicles.  As this would take some time to complete, it was important to ensure ongoing service delivery in the meantime, so award of the above contracts was needed.

RESOLVED:  That the Board approves the use of Procurement Standing Order 1.4.1, to allow the Council to use a Framework Agreement procured by a Central Purchasing Body (Crown Commercial Services) in compliance with the Public Contracts Regulation 2015, or order to award contracts for the supply of Liquid Road Fuels to Council sites.

PART II

In this case the Board has a discretion to exclude the press and public and, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, it is RECOMMENDED that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, having been satisfied that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) 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.

The Board considered:

1)    whether members of the press and public should be excluded from the meeting of the Board during consideration of the following items of business in accordance with Sub-Section 4 of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, because it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be considered, exempt information would be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972; and

2)    whether the disclosure of information was in the public interest, whether any relevant exemptions were applicable and whether, when applying the public interest test and exemptions, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed that in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED:  That as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information, members of the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business, in accordance with Sub-Section 4 of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 because it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business, exempt information would be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director – Enterprise, Communities and Resources, which gave an update on progress in respect of the proposed Leisure Centre on Moor Lane. 

Approval was sought in respect of investing in air source heat pump technology, in order to help maximise the benefit of connection to the Council owned solar farm at St Michael’s Golf Course, to help reduce carbon emissions that would be associated with the facility.

RESOLVED:  That

1)    the report is noted; and

2)    approval be given for the installation of air source heat pumps run on electricity, in order to provide heat and hot water and to connect the building to the solar farm at St Michael’s Golf Course, in order to generate maximum benefit in respect of reducing carbon emissions associated with the facility.

MINUTES ISSUED:   19 October 2021

CALL-IN:   26 October 2021 at 5.00 pm

Any matter decided by the Executive Board may be called in no later than 5.00pm on 26 October 2021.