Agenda and minutes
PDF 324 KBVenue: Via Microsoft Teams
Contact: Louise McGeoch Tel 01835 825005 email lmcgeoch@scotborders.gov.uk
Link: link to live steam
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Convener's Remarks. Minutes: 1.1 The Convener congratulated those Borderers who competed in the Olympics in Tokyo - · Harry Leask, silver medal as part of the men’s quadruple sculls rowing team, · Sarah Robertson, bronze medal as part of the women’s hockey team, · Lucy Hope (Swimming), · Scott Brash (Individual Show jumping), · Lisa Thomson (Rugby 7s), · Maddie Arlett (Rowing) selected as a reserve within the Great Britain squad, and · Clark Laidlaw, coached New Zealand men’s rugby sevens squad to the gold medal match (won by opponents Fiji).
1.2 He also wished the best of luck in the Paralympics, which started the previous day (Wednesday) to:
· SammiKinghorn (Athletics), · Libby Clegg (Athletics), and · Stephen Clegg (Swimming)
DECISION AGREED that congratulations be passed to those concerned. |
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Consider Minute of Scottish Borders Council held on 17 June 2021 for approval and signing by the Convener. (Copy attached.)
Minutes: The Minute of the Meeting held on 17 June 2021 was considered.
DECISION AGREED that the Minute be approved and signed by the Convener.
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Consider Minutes of the following Committees:-
a) Major Contracts Governance Group 1 June 2021 (b) Audit & Scrutiny 3 June 2021 (c) Innerleithen Common Good Fund 3 June 2021 (d) Sustainable Development 4 June 2021 (e) Jedburgh Common Good Fund 7 June2021 (f) Executive 8 June 2021 (g) Teviot & Liddesdale Area Partnership 8 June 2021 (h) Selkirk Common Good Fund 9 June 2021 (i) Community Planning Strategic Board 10 June 2021 (j) Peebles Common Good Fund 10 June 2021 (k) Berwickshire Area Partnership 10 June 2021 (l) William Hill Trust 15 June 2021 (m) Lauder Common Good Fund 15 June 2021 (n) Kelso Common Good Fund 15 June 2021 (o) Tweeddale Area Partnership 15 June 2021 (p) Hawick Common Good Fund 18 June 2021 (q) Eildon Area Partnership 24 June 2021 (r) Planning & Building Standards 28 June 2021 (s) Audit & Scrutiny 29 June 2021 (t) Berwickshire Area Partnership 1 July 2021 (u) Tweeddale Area Partnership 13 July 2021 (v) Teviot & Liddesdale Area Partnership 22 July 2021 (w) Eildon Area Partnership 22 July 2021 (x) Civic Government Licensing 23 July 2021 (y) Planning & Building Standards 2 August 2021 (z) Tweeddale Area Partnership 4 August 2021
(Please see separate Supplement containing the public Committee Minutes.)
Additional documents:
Minutes: The Minutes of the following Committees had been circulated:-
(a) Major Contracts Governance Group 1 June 2021 (b) Audit & Scrutiny 3 June 2021 (c) Innerleithen Common Good Fund 3 June 2021 (d) Sustainable Development 4 June 2021 (e) Jedburgh Common Good Fund 7 June2021 (f) Executive 8 June 2021 (g) Teviot & Liddesdale Area Partnership 8 June 2021 (h) Selkirk Common Good Fund 9 June 2021 (i) Community Planning Strategic Board 10 June 2021 (j) Peebles Common Good Fund 10 June 2021 k) Berwickshire Area Partnership 10 June 2021 (l) William Hill Trust 15 June 2021 (m) Lauder Common Good Fund 15 June 2021 (n) Kelso Common Good Fund 15 June 2021 (o) Tweeddale Area Partnership 15 June 2021 (p) Hawick Common Good Fund 18 June 2021 (q) Eildon Area Partnership 24 June 2021 (r) Planning & Building Standards 28 June 2021 (s) Audit & Scrutiny 29 June 2021 (t) Berwickshire Area Partnership 1 July 2021 (u) Tweeddale Area Partnership 13 July 2021 (v) Teviot & Liddesdale Area Partnership 22 July 2021 (w) Eildon Area Partnership 22 July 2021 (x) Civic Government Licensing 23 July 2021 (y) Planning & Building Standards 2 August 2021 (z) Tweeddale Area Partnership 4 August 2021
DECISION APPROVED the Minutes listed above.
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Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal Regional Growth Framework Update Consider report by Service Director Customer & Communities. (Copy attached.) Additional documents: Minutes: This item was withdrawn from the agenda.
DECISION NOTED.
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Expression of Interest for Borderlands City of Culture 2025 Consider report by Service Director Customer & Communities. (Copy attached.) Minutes: 5.1 There had been circulated copies of a report by the Service Director Customer & Communities seeking endorsement of a City of Culture 2025 Expression of Interest (EOI) to the UK Government for the Borderlands area. To comply with bid timescales, an EOI had been submitted by South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) on behalf of the Borderlands’ five partner Local Authorities. Council’s endorsement of the EOI was sought and the outcome should be known by early September. If successful considerable work would be required by officials to take a bid to the next stage by January 2022. A Council member governance structure was proposed to oversee and support the work if required from a Scottish Borders’ perspective. The report explained that the UK City of Culture was a UK Government programme which was administered as a competition by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media, and Sports (DCMS). The competition had been run every four years and the current one was for the UK City of Culture 2025. For the first time, the competition was open to areas and places joining together to apply for the title to be awarded to their local area. There were three stages to the competition, with the first one being the submission of an expression of interest with a decision made on a ‘long list’ of six in early September. At the end of June 2021, SOSE identified the opportunity to submit a South of Scotland expression of interest for the City of Culture 2025 with the deadline for applications being 19 July 2021. Following deliberations it was considered the most effective approach was to submit a bid for the Borderlands area. This led to an expression of interest being submitted by SOSE on behalf of the five Local Authority areas of Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders, Carlisle City, Cumbria, and Northumberland which make up the Borderlands Partnership.
5.2 The bid was aligned to the theme of a ‘Just Transition to Net Zero’. By using the Borderlands region’s heritage, culture and creativity, the bid would aim to create opportunities for future development and hopefully bring investment into the region. The UK Government was providing £40,000 to each bid that made the ‘long list’ of six applicants for the next stage of the competition. It was considered that more resources would likely be required in addition to this award to develop an exciting and innovative plan of cultural activities for the year that would be a key feature in the longer application required for the next stage. The Service Director advised that Councillor Aitchison should have been included as a Member of the Group to oversee the bid. Members welcomed the application and highlighted the impact a successful bid would bring to the Scottish Borders.
DECISION AGREED:-
(a) to endorse the Expression of Interest for the Borderlands to be UK City of Culture 2025, as described in the report, that was submitted to the UK Government by SOSE on behalf of the five local authority areas ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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Place Making Next Steps Consider report by Service Director Customer & Communities. (Copy attached.) Additional documents:
Minutes: 6.1 With reference to paragraph 14 of the Minute of 17 June 2021, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Service Director Customer & Communities providing an update on progress in implementing the recommendations of the Place Making report considered by Council in February 2021. It proposed a framework, based on initial engagement with Area Partnerships and partner organisations, for transforming joint working with Communities across the Borders. The report explained that the experience of joint working with Partners and Community Resilience Teams during the pandemic showed how small but significant interventions could come together to improve people’s lives. The proposals aimed to build upon that experience, and the lessons learned, to transform the working relationship between the Council and the communities it served. The proposals also built on the Place Principle agreed between CoSLA and the Scottish Government, in particular:
“A more joined-up, collaborative and participative approach to services, land and buildings, across all sectors within a place, enables better outcomes for everyone and increased opportunities for people and communities to shape their own lives.”
6.2 The proposals set out in the report aimed to make the Place Principle a reality for people in communities and provided a baseline for how we recognised and valued the importance of place in the way decisions were made. It provided a challenge to the assumptions that were made about places without community participation by asking for answers to straightforward questions before decisions were taken about what to do and what to stop doing. Details were provided of progress from the first preparation and planning phase, and gave proposals for the next phase based on engagement with, and feedback from, Area Partnerships and Community Planning Partners. Members discussed the report in detail and emphasised the need to work with all communities and were pleased to note the additional resources including staffing which were being provided to support this work. Some concerns were expressed regarding the initial short list of communities and it was noted that the criteria would continue to be developed. It was appreciated that this work would take place over a number of years but Members encouraged officers to progress this work as soon as possible.
DECISION AGREED:-
(a) to note progress since February Council and the feedback from Area Partnerships summarised at Section 4 and detailed in Appendices 1 to 5 to the report;
(b) to endorse the proposed draft joint principles set out in Section 5 for discussion and refinement with Area Partnerships and Partners;
(c) to endorse the proposed Framework as set out in the report;
(d) to endorse the proposed draft criteria set out in the report for prioritising community-based place making activity and the associated proposed communities identified for discussion and refinement with Area Partnerships and Partners;
(e) to support proposals on how Council resource would be deployed to support this work in a way that supported and complemented partnership and community resources;
(f) how Service Redesign activity, as agreed by Council in June ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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Proposed Amendment to Scheme of Administration - Major Contracts Governance Group Consider report by Chief Executive. (Copy attached.) Minutes: With reference to paragraph 15 of the Minute of 17 December 2021, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Chief Executive proposing changes to the functions referred to the Major Contracts Governance Group. It sought to clarify the arrangements for Elected Member oversight of the CGI contract and proposed the monitoring of the Live Borders agreement sit wholly with the Executive Committee. At its meeting on 17 December 2020, Scottish Borders Council approved a Motion from Councillor Thornton-Nicol requesting officers provide a report to Council with amendments to the Scheme of Administration to specify the remit of the Major Contracts Governance Group in respect of the performance of the Live Borders agreement and the CGI contract. This would give clarity to Elected Members as to their monitoring role on the Group. The current functions delegated to the Major Contracts Governance Group (MCGG), a sub-committee of Council, related mainly to the monitoring of the Council only significant trading organisation SB Contracts. There was also an overview role for the Group with respect to the contract with CGI and the management agreement with Live Borders. The present scheme of administration provided no detail on how this function should be carried out. Officers had looked at a number of options for consideration to provide clarity and further detail for Members when monitoring the Live Borders Agreement and the CGI contract. These options were:
(a) Enhance the functions of the Major Contracts Governance Group to give explicit detail for Members to monitor CGI as well as SB Contracts performance and move Live Borders monitoring to the Executive Committee. (b) Amend the functions of the Major Contracts Governance Group to generalise the monitoring of SB Contracts, Live Borders, and CGI. (c) Reinstate the Trading Operations Sub-Group to monitor SB Contracts, transfer the monitoring of the Live Borders agreement and CGI contract to the Executive Committee and disband the Major Contracts Governance Group. Members welcomed the report and agreed that option (a) was the preferred way forward.
DECISION AGREED to approve changes to the functions referred to the Major Contracts Governance Group as set out in Option (a) above and that the necessary amendments would be made to the Scheme of Administration.
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Additional documents: Minutes: The questions submitted by Councillors Bell and Moffat were answered.
DECISION NOTED the replies as detailed in Appendix I to this Minute.
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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
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Minute Consider private Section of Minute of Scottish Borders Council held on 17 June 2021. (Copy attached.) Minutes: The private section of the Council Minute of 17June 2021 was approved.
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Committee Minutes Consider private Sections of the Minutes of the following Committees:-
(a) Major Contract Governance 1 June 2021 (b) Selkirk Common Good Fund 9 June 2021 (c) Hawick Common Good Fund 18 June 2021 (d) Civic Government Licensing 23 July 2021
(Please see separate Supplement containing private Committee Minutes.) Minutes: |