Scottish Borders Council

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Via MS Teams

Contact: Louise McGeoch Tel 01835 825005  email  lmcgeoch@scotborders.gov.uk

Link: link to live stream

Items
No. Item

1.

Convener's Remarks.

Minutes:

No remarks were made.

2.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 124 KB

Consider Minutes of Scottish Borders Council held on 19 and 25 March 2021 for approval and signing by the Convener.  (Copies attached.)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Minutes of the Meetings held on 19 and 25 March 2021 were considered. 

 

DECISION

AGREED that the Minutes be approved and signed by the Convener.

 

3.

Committee Minutes pdf icon PDF 29 KB

Consider Minutes of the following Committees:-

 

(a)     Peebles Common Good Fund                           24 February 2021

(b)     Chambers Institution Trust                                 24 February 2021

(c)     Major Contract Governance                              2 March 2021

(d)     Pension Fund                                                     4 March 2021

(e)     Audit & Scrutiny                                                 8 March 2021

(f)      Hawick Common Good Fund                             16 March 2021

(g)     Galashiels Common Good Fund                       18 March 2021

(h)     Eildon Area Partnership                                     25 March 2021

(i)      Planning & Building Standards                          29 March 2021

(j)      Tweeddale Area Partnership                             30 March 2021

 

(Please see separate Supplement containing the public Committee Minutes.)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Minutes of the following Committees had been circulated:-

 

Peebles Common Good Fund                           24 February 2021

Chambers Institution Trust                                 24 February 2021

Major Contract Governance                              2 March 2021

Pension Fund                                                     4 March 2021

Audit & Scrutiny                                                 8 March 2021

Hawick Common Good Fund                             16 March 2021

Galashiels Common Good Fund                       18 March 2021

Eildon Area Partnership                                     25 March 2021

Planning & Building Standards                          29 March 2021

Tweeddale Area Partnership                             30 March 2021

 

DECISION

APPROVED the Minutes listed above.

 

4.

Build Back a Better Borders Recovery Fund pdf icon PDF 164 KB

Consider report by Service Director Customer and Communities.  (Copy attached.)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There had been circulated copies of a report by the Service Director Customer and Communities outlining proposals for the administration of the Build Back a Better Borders Fund which had been agreed within the Council’s Financial Plan on 19 March 2021.  The report explained that this new Fund had been established in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and, in recovery from it, would provide support for initiatives, projects or events that would “re-boot” or “kick start” activities relating to sport, culture, tackling environment and climate change issues in the year of COP26 (26th Conference of the Parties to the Convention) or volunteering, and therefore strengthening community capacity, resilience and engagement.  The Fund, due to its focus on communities, would be allocated to each of the five localities and would be managed through each Area Partnerships in line with the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) Report recommendations of empowering communities, improving transparency of the grant making process and being part of decision making at a local level.  The focus of the Fund was to support those most in need to recover from the pandemic.  There were a number of recent studies that had highlighted that those in particular SIMD areas had been disproportionally impacted as a result of Covid-19, and the risk of falling into poverty and extreme poverty was therefore considerably higher to those who were already vulnerable.  In line with national and local policies such as Fairer Scotland Duty (including the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act), UN Sustainable Development Goals, Scottish Borders Council’s Anti-Poverty Strategy and Child Poverty Action Plan, it was therefore proposed that the budget allocation was based on an 80%/20% split of population and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), which was detailed in the report.  A draft framework for the Fund was detailed at Appendix 1 to the report.  Applications would be invited from 1 June 2021 to 31 May 2022, would be assessed by officers and presented to each Area Partnership for consensus.  If consensus was not reached, it would be for Elected Members to make the decision, with the Chair having the casting vote.  In order to expedite the Fund efficiently and effectively, there might be a requirement to convene additional Area Partnership meetings if there was a high level of applications.  Members discussed the proposal and while the majority were in support, opinion was divided on the benefits of one-off funding.

 

DECISION

AGREED:-

 

(a)     to approve the proposed funding model as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report; and

 

(b)     the funding allocation to each locality on the basis of 80%/20% population and SIMD as detailed in the report.

 

5.

Enterprise Mobility for Social Care - Delivering on the Digital Strategy pdf icon PDF 488 KB

Consider report by Executive Director Finance and Regulatory.  (Copy attached.)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

With reference to paragraph 6 of the Minute of 25 February 2021, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Executive Director Finance and Regulatory proposing the implementation of the first phase of the Council’s strategic enterprise mobility platform to digitally connect and empower the Council’s frontline social care staff engaged in delivering ‘Care at Home’ services across the Borders.  The report explained that Scottish Borders Council’s Digital Strategy had been approved by Elected Members on 25 February 2021. The Digital Strategy identified the need to connect mobile front-line workers and provide improved workforce scheduling as a priority.  The project to be delivered with CGI and Total Mobile would, as a first phase, deliver the technical platform for mobilising and empowering the front line workforce across the Council and enable the transformation of the delivery of home care services.  The Council currently delivered more than 1.51 million home care visits per year. These care visits helped people to maximise their confidence and independence, living in their own homes wherever possible.  These visits were provided by a mix of internal Council and External Care Provision.  360 frontline care workers were directly employed by the Council to undertake approximately 589,000 care visits per year, representing 39% of the total.  These staff were supported by 40 agency staff and 19 FTE back office employees. External 3rd party providers delivered approximately 921,000 further visits, currently 61% of the overall total yearly care visits. The strategic business drivers for the project along with the benefits envisaged from the new Total Mobile application were explained.  The project would deliver a mix of cashable and non-cashable benefits.  The digital enablers scoped within the project business case appended to the report, should unlock gross cashable savings of £0.44M - £0.62M per annum with further productivity gains in non-cashable benefits estimated by Total Mobile at up to 10-15%.  The change management approach and the benefits realisation plan were explained in the report.  Mr Robertson gave a presentation outlining the project and showing how it could be extended in the future to cover other Council Services.  Members welcomed the report and Mr Robertson reassured Members that discussions had already begun with 3rd party providers on extending this project to cover all carers to ensure that all clients received the same standard of care.  Councillor A. Anderson (seconded by Councillor Thornton-Nicol) proposed as an amendment to add a further recommendation, requesting a report on the delivery of savings and care benefits be brought back to the Audit & Scrutiny Committee within 9 months, and this was unanimously accepted.

 

DECISION

AGREED to:-

 

(a)     approve the change management plan and the benefits realisation plan detailed in the report provided as part of the Business Case for the implementation of phase 1 of the Council’s strategic Enterprise Mobility Programme to digitally connect and empower the Council’s frontline social care workforce delivering Care at Home services to Border’s residents;

 

(b)     note the Full Business case for the project appended to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Fees and Charges 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 126 KB

Consider report by Executive Director Finance and Regulatory.  (Copy attached.)

Minutes:

With reference to paragraph 5 of the Minute of 19 March 2021, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Executive Director Finance and Regulatory proposing an addition to the previously approved fees and charges schedule as follows.

 

·         Vehicular Access Consent - For a house on a minor public road, such as in most housing estates, Vehicular Access Consent is required to form or alter an access over a public footway or verge. Introduction of a fee for processing the application which applies whether or not the application is successful.

 

A charge of £202 would be made for this service for the 2021/22 financial year.

 

DECISION

AGREED to approve the additional fee of £202 in respect of Vehicular Access Consent.

 

CHAIRMAN

Councillor Parker passed Chairmanship of the meeting to Councillor Weatherston for the following item of business to allow him to speak in support of the proposal.

 

7.

Galashiels Community Campus Update Report pdf icon PDF 141 KB

Consider report by Service Director Assets and Infrastructure.  (Copy attached.)

Minutes:

With reference to paragraph 11 of the Minute of 17 December 2020, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Service Director Assets and Infrastructure providing an update on the progress with the new Galashiels Community Campus following the informal community consultation.  The report to Council on 17 December 2020 identified that a range of options had been considered for the location of the new Galashiels Community Campus and approved that an informal community based consultation exercise should take place.  Consultation material was prepared and a launch of the informal consultation took place on 18 March 2021.  The consultation was digitally based given the restrictions in place at that time but were supplemented with an unstaffed exhibition located within the town.  The informal consultation closed on 26 April 2021.  However, the website remained open and all of the production material of videos, drawings and display information remained available for the public to view.  The report provided analysis of the responses received and showed that there had been 1400 visits to the website and the comments section had seen 135 (10%) individual comments sent in.  These had been reviewed and assessed in terms of their support or objection to the proposals and it had been ascertained that support was for either options 1 or 3.  There was a small but passionate group in the community who had opposed the Council's preferred option as set out in the community consultation.  This group had been vocal in its opposition to the project.  However, the Council was confident that there was widespread support amongst the school community and the wider silent majority for option 3.  Members spoke in support of the proposal but were disappointed to note that there had been some very negative comments on social media and paid tribute to Dr Gordon for the removal of these.  Members also paid tribute to Mr Curry, Mr Renwick and all other officers who had been involved in this project for their work to date.

 

DECISION

AGREED:-

 

(a)     to note the outcome of the informal consultation and that Option 3 remained as the preferred option for the new Galashiels Community Campus;

 

(b)     that the project would proceed to the statutory procedures in accordance with Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 and the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997;

 

(c)     to implement the formation of a visioning working group with representation from the community to participate in the further design of Scott Park;

 

(d)     to request the preparation of a business case to support and underpin proposals for Sports Facilities; and

 

(e)     to request a follow on report as the project progressed.

 

8.

Motion by Councillor Bell

Consider Motion by Councillor Bell in the following terms:-

 

“This Council, following the departure of the UK from the EU in January this year, welcomes the UK announcement that the Shared Prosperity Fund will be launched in 2022. 

 

Given the timescale, we also welcome the invitation to apply for interim funding through the UK Community Renewal Fund.  This funding will enable community organisations, statutory bodies and non-government organisations to pilot new programmes and approaches to community renewal and hopefully lay the foundations for applications to the Shared Prosperity Fund when it becomes operational.

 

Despite the extremely short deadline, we support our officers in the work they are doing to ensure bids are now submitted and hope their endeavours will ensure Borderers receive their full share of funding over this period.”

 

Minutes:

Councillor Bell, seconded by Councillor H. Anderson, moved the Motion as detailed on the agenda in the following terms:-

 

“This Council, following the departure of the UK from the EU in January this year, welcomes the UK announcement that the Shared Prosperity Fund will be launched in 2022. 

 

Given the timescale, we also welcome the invitation to apply for interim funding through the UK Community Renewal Fund.  This funding will enable community organisations, statutory bodies and non-government organisations to pilot new programmes and approaches to community renewal and hopefully lay the foundations for applications to the Shared Prosperity Fund when it becomes operational.

 

Despite the extremely short deadline, we support our officers in the work they are doing to ensure bids are now submitted and hope their endeavours will ensure Borderers receive their full share of funding over this period.”

 

Councillor Bell and Councillor Anderson spoke in support of the Motion which was unanimously accepted.

 

DECISION

AGREED to approve the Motion as detailed above.

 

9.

Open Questions pdf icon PDF 51 KB

Minutes:

The questions submitted by Councillor Robson were answered. 

 

DECISION

NOTED the replies as detailed in Appendix I to this Minute.

 

MEMBER

Councillor Cochrane left the meeting.

10.

Private Business

Before proceeding with the private business, the following motion should be approved:-

 

“That under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 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 the relevant paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 7A to the aforementioned Act.”

Minutes:

DECISION

AGREED under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the business detailed in  Appendix II to this Minute on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1, 6, 8 and 9 of Part I of Schedule 7A to the Act.

 

SUMMARY OF PRIVATE BUSINESS

 

11.

Committee Minutes

Consider private Sections of the Minutes of the following Committees:-

 

(a)     Peebles Common Good Fund                           24 February 2021

(b)     Major Contract Governance                              2 March 2021

(c)     Pension Fund                                                     4 March 2021

(d)     Hawick Common Good Fund                             16 March 2021

 

(Please see separate Supplement containing private Committee Minutes.)

Minutes:

The private sections of the Committee Minutes as detailed in paragraph3 of this Minute were approved.

 

 

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