Cabinet - Thursday 4 September 2025, 6:00pm - Cotswold District Council Webcasting

Cabinet
Thursday, 4th September 2025 at 6:00pm 

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  1. Councillor Mike Evemy
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  1. Councillor Andrea Pellegram
  2. Councillor Mike Evemy
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  1. 03. To approve the minutes 10 July 2025
    Status: In progress
  2. 03. To approve the minutes 10 July 2025
    Status: Ended
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  1. Councillor Paul Hodgkinson
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  1. Councillor Mike Evemy
  2. Councillor Gina Blomefield
  3. Councillor Mike Evemy
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  1. Councillor Juliet Layton
  2. Councillor Mike Evemy
  3. Councillor Claire Bloomer
  4. Councillor Mike Evemy
  5. Councillor Patrick Coleman
  6. Councillor Mike Evemy
  7. David Stanley, Deputy CEO
  8. Councillor Patrick Coleman
  9. Councillor Mike Evemy
  10. Councillor Paul Hodgkinson
  11. Councillor Juliet Layton
  12. Officer
  13. Councillor Mike Evemy
  14. Councillor Juliet Layton
  15. Councillor Mike Evemy
  16. 09. Homelessness strategy 2025 - 2030 - APPROVE recommendation 1
    Status: In progress
  17. Councillor Patrick Coleman
  18. Councillor Mike Evemy
  19. 09. Homelessness strategy 2025 - 2030 - APPROVE recommendation 1
    Status: Ended
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  1. Councillor Claire Bloomer
  2. Officer
  3. Councillor Mike Evemy
  4. Councillor Juliet Layton
  5. Officer
  6. Councillor Mike Evemy
  7. 10. Civil Penalties and HMO Amenity Standards - APPROVE recommendations 1-3
    Status: In progress
  8. Councillor Mike Evemy
  9. 10. Civil Penalties and HMO Amenity Standards - APPROVE recommendations 1-3
    Status: Ended
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  1. Officer
  2. Councillor Mike Evemy
  3. Councillor Claire Bloomer
  4. Councillor Mike Evemy
  5. Councillor Andrea Pellegram
  6. Councillor Mike Evemy
  7. Councillor Mike McKeown
  8. Councillor Mike Evemy
  9. Councillor Juliet Layton
  10. Councillor Mike Evemy
  11. Councillor Patrick Coleman
  12. Councillor Mike Evemy
  13. 10. Civil Penalties and HMO Amenity Standards - APPROVE recommendations 1-3
    Status: In progress
  14. Councillor Andrea Pellegram
  15. Councillor Mike Evemy
  16. 11. Corporate Plan 2025 - 2028- APPROVE recommendations 1-3
    Status: Ended
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  1. Officer
  2. Councillor Mike Evemy
  3. Councillor Claire Bloomer
  4. Councillor Mike Evemy
  5. Councillor Paul Hodgkinson
  6. Councillor Mike Evemy
  7. Councillor Juliet Layton
  8. Councillor Mike Evemy
  9. Councillor Andrea Pellegram
  10. Councillor Mike Evemy
  11. Councillor Mike McKeown
  12. Councillor Mike Evemy
  13. Councillor Tristan Wilkinson
  14. Councillor Mike Evemy
  15. Councillor Gina Blomefield
  16. Councillor Mike Evemy
  17. Councillor Andrea Pellegram
  18. Councillor Mike Evemy
  19. Councillor Mike McKeown
  20. Councillor Mike Evemy
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  1. Councillor Mike Evemy
  2. Councillor Tristan Wilkinson
  3. Councillor Mike Evemy
  4. Councillor Claire Bloomer
  5. Councillor Mike Evemy
  6. Angela Claridge
  7. Councillor Mike Evemy
  8. Councillor Andrea Pellegram
  9. Councillor Patrick Coleman
  10. Councillor Mike Evemy
  11. Angela Claridge
  12. Councillor Mike Evemy
  13. 13. People and Culture Strategy - APPROVE recommendations 2 - 3
    Status: In progress
  14. 13. People and Culture Strategy - APPROVE recommendations 2 - 3
    Status: Ended
  15. Councillor Mike Evemy
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  1. Councillor Patrick Coleman
  2. Councillor Mike Evemy
  3. Councillor Gina Blomefield
  4. Councillor Mike Evemy
  5. Councillor Paul Hodgkinson
  6. David Stanley, Deputy CEO
  7. Councillor Mike Evemy
  8. Councillor Patrick Coleman
  9. Councillor Mike Evemy
  10. Councillor Paul Hodgkinson
  11. Councillor Mike Evemy
  12. Councillor Tristan Wilkinson
  13. Councillor Mike Evemy
  14. 14. Finanical perf. report Q1 2025 - 2026 - APPROVE recommendations 2-4
    Status: In progress
  15. Councillor Mike Evemy
  16. 14. Finanical perf. report Q1 2025 - 2026 - APPROVE recommendations 2-4
    Status: Ended
  17. Webcast Finished

Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:00:22
Good evening, everybody, and welcome to this meeting of Cotswolds District Council's cabinet.

1 Apologies

The first item on the agenda is apologies for absence.
I see we have a full House of Cabinet members, so no apologies.
Second item is declarations of interest.

2 Declarations of Interest

Does any member have an interest that they wish to declare on an item coming before us this evening?
Councillor PellegrIN.
Thank you, Chair.
Councillor Andrea Pellegram - 0:00:53
Yes, I do have a conflict of interest for item number 10.
I am a landlord and therefore I do have an interest in this.
So I thank you very much for introducing the item for us and the officer here, Phil Measures,
will actually take any questions.
I will leave the room.
Thank you Andrea.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:01:12
Any other member or any officer present have any interests they wish to declare?
If they, when we get to the item, realise then just obviously indicate and make the

3 Minutes

Move on to item 3 which is minutes of the meeting on the 10th of July pages 7 to 24.
A bit comprehensive 18 pages worth there.
So does anybody have any corrections to the minutes?
We're all happy with those.
Very good set of minutes.
Thank you very much to the DEM services team.
so would somebody like to move the minutes please see council Hodgson has
indicated moving the minutes seconder please
Councillor Layton has indicated second so can we go to the vote on the minutes
please
.

4 Leader's Announcements

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.

5 Public Questions

6 Member Questions

7 Schedule of Decisions taken by the Leader of the Council and/or Individual Cabinet Members

8 Issue(s) Arising from Overview and Scrutiny and/or Audit and Governance

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Councillor Paul Hodgkinson - 0:05:02
Yeah, no, thanks to the Overy and Scranton Committee for raising this.
I mean, certainly, you know, as cabinet member for Culture, it has always been my wish that
what we hold at the Resource Centre in North Leach, which by the way, if you haven't visited,
it is an amazing place to go, should be accessible, as widely accessible as possible.
So this recommendation does fit with that.
So what we'd like to do is just explore with the museum, Carinha Museum, also Freedom Leisure,

9 Preventing Homelessness Strategy 2025-2030

who obviously run the museum and are overseeing the artefacts on our behalf.

8 Issue(s) Arising from Overview and Scrutiny and/or Audit and Governance

We want to just explore with them what opportunities there are for public access.
So, if you leave that with me and the team, we will do that and we will start exploring
that.
In fact, we're actually meeting with the Caronia Museum next week so we can start the ball
rolling then.
Thank you very much.
Paul, is there any other member?
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:05:59
Councillor Bloomfield is here as the chair of the ONS committee.
Have you got anything you want to say on that?
No, you don't have to if you don't and then I'll bring any other members in if you want
to say anything.
Well, it was actually a very, when it was suggested, I have to say it was Councillor
Councillor Gina Blomefield - 0:06:16
Harris who brought up the suggestion, it was warmly greeted by OLS committee. I think the
actual understanding was that we would actually use the premises here. It was all about trying
to get more people to see them, it's to give a send off to the Cotswold District Council.
So there was an idea about having some of the ancient artefacts, Roman going forward,
all the other wonderful things the Corinne Museum has, obviously not all of them, but
a representation. But also of the Cotswold District Council itself, I understand there
are quite a lot of archived materials from when it started and details of this, and we
just thought it was a rather interesting to put them out and have them together before
they perhaps get, I don't know, archived forever and not really seen again. So that was the
thinking behind it, I know it could be complicated.
There are all sorts of issues to do with insurance and safety
and all sorts of other things.
But one was hopeful that something in the time, which
is a fair few years, something could be organised to do that.
And I just think it would give a boost to the Corinnean Museum.
I know it's very popular already.
And the old prison up at North Beach
where we've got the agricultural implements and artefacts.
That was the thinking and it was unanimously passed.
Thank you.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:07:40
Thank you, Gina.
I mean, you'll see in the cabinet response,
we are looking particularly about the issue
around the artefacts.
Our initial response, I think, implicitly is that we don't feel
that this building necessarily is suitable for display
of such materials based on officer advice but clearly Paul will be working
with the officers to see how we can make more of the collection and then we may
have other discussions about the as the council comes to an end what we might
want to do I think that that might be a separate matter that we can we can give
some thought to once we're clear around the the time frames from the of that in
terms of the future of the council so anyone else got anything to say other
that so do we formally need to vote on the recommendations looking over at
Dem Services? No, it's just our response is up the response that Paul's given on
behalf of the cabinet. That's great, thank you very much. So now we move to agenda

9 Preventing Homelessness Strategy 2025-2030

item 9, preventing homelessness strategy, page 25 to 54. This is going to be
introduced by a cabinet member for housing and planning, Juliet Layton.
Juliet.
Thank you.
Yes.
Councillor Juliet Layton - 0:08:59
This strategy is our response to the growing need for a robust plan to prevent homelessness
in our community.
The report in your papers, along with Annex A, the strategy, and Annex B, the action plan,
outlines how we intend to shift from reactive measures to proactive, preventative approaches.
Set out by four key aims and priorities in the strategy, which is on those aims are on
pages 8 and 9.
Homelessness is not just about rough sleeping.
It's about many people living in precarious situations.
For example, those sofa surfing, facing eviction,
fleeing domestic abuse, or struggling
to afford a house in the housing market,
where the average home now costs around 440 ,000 pounds,
and a two -bed rental is at least around 1 ,000 pounds a month.
Obviously, these are variable depending on date, time, etc.
Since 2020, homelessness in the Cotswolds has risen by 30%.
However, we have made progress maintaining low levels of rough sleeping, delivering 458
affordable homes and preventing homelessness for over 200 households last year.
But the pressures are growing.
Rising costs, insecure tenancies and limited housing options are pushing more people to
the brink.
Currently, in England, there are around 164 ,000 children living in temporary accommodation
and over 350 ,000 people are homeless.
It's an eye -wateringly awful figure.
The housing team have prevented around 200 households a year from becoming homeless and
having to move away from their families, friends and schools
to expensive temporary accommodation.
And details of this are on 2 .5 in the report.
We work not only with the council,
the planning, local plan, legal, finance
and community development teams,
but also partnering with health services,
the police, local training bodies
and voluntary organisations.
We also have county -wide supported accommodation
providers and outreach services for rough sleepers.
The Council uses HCLIC, which is Homelessness Case Level Information Collection system,
and it's a government mandated tool to track homelessness cases in real time.
It monitors outcomes under the prevention and relief duties and calculates and justifies
the allocation of homeless prevention grant.
The 25 -26, the Cotswolds received £369 ,227 in HPG funding.
49 % of this is ring -fenced for prevention, relief and staffing activities, not temporary
accommodation.
The strategy fully complies with these conditions.
The Strategy sets goals but also provides an actionable plan found in the Annex which
in particular lays out detailed steps to implement and track progress. Whether it is revising
policies on evictions or reassessing how empty properties are dealt with, it is designed
to be a dynamic document which can evolve. The Strategy was presented to the Overview
and scrutiny committee in May.
And the committee reviewed the document,
but made no formal recommendations indicating
broad support for its direction and content.
The author of the strategy, Caroline Glisold,
is here in the room, and I think it's a really good strategy.
It's really easy to read.
You've got good facts, figures, and we know exactly
what's happening, and the annexes are also equally
simple to look at. The recommendation today is that cabinet resolves to
approve the implementation of preventing homelessness strategy 2025 to 2030. Thank
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:13:09
you. Thank you very much Juliette. Moving the recommendations there. Would someone
like to second? Councillor Bloomer. Yeah this is, well firstly I'd like to
Councillor Claire Bloomer - 0:13:16
start by thanking the officers because I've definitely sent quite a few people
to the team and what a great team they are.
They've really up their game.
There's been a massive, massive improvement.
I'm really grateful to the team for all the work they've done.
And also to Juliet that, you know, the first few weeks
as cabinet member for housing decided to bring forward some
of the charity and voluntary organisations
that CDC work closely with to try and make sure
that we give it a holistic approach and help
in both the housing and the voluntary sector.
So that's fantastic.
This strategy has really got people at the heart of it and I think it's wonderful and
I'm really happy to second it.
Brilliant stuff.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:13:58
Thank you, Claire.
Other members now?
I see Patrick and then Paul.
Councillor Patrick Coleman - 0:14:06
Thank you, Chair.
I apologise for not giving notice of this finance related sort of question.
In paragraph 6 .4, we see a phrase that in different contexts over the decades in many
other areas of policy, imagine our chief finance officer has seen before where an annual specific
grant, ring fence to a specific purpose like the homelessness preventative grant in this
case, gets rolled into the overall settlement funding assessment allocation from next financial
year rather than being separately ring -fenced. Now I imagine that not just the cabinet but
every member of this council would want to at least preserve the cash value, if not the
real value, of the specific grant that we have this year. But will it be possible to
track how much has been quietly taken away from us by this rolling in and how much of
an accurate estimate will we be able to make so that we know what sort of an additional
gap we have to fill to maintain this grant at its same value next year, same
value as this year. Thank you Councillor Coleman. I'm going to go to the Deputy
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:15:21
Chief Executive to reply on that one. Thank you chair. I share the cabinet
David Stanley, Deputy CEO - 0:15:28
members concern around the level of funding that we provided through the
change that's proposed in the fair funding 2 .0 consultation document. So the
does propose to roll in a number of grants to create a single homelessness and rough
sleeping grant. In my experience, every time multiple grants are rolled into a single grant,
it results in less resources coming across as a result. And I think with other changes
outlined in the fair funding reform consultation in terms of how those allocations would flow
authorities. We have got a number of what we've received this year, 369 ,000, and we
should, through the detailed local government finance settlement, understand our
allocation for those particular consolidated grants and we will be
reporting any difference between the two back through the budget setting process.
In terms of preserving the cash value that might require the council to make
decisions on resource allocation of its own to get to that same level because I
would expect the total level to be lower than what we've received this year.
Councillor Patrick Coleman - 0:16:38
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:16:42
Thank you very much, if you could chair. If I can just add on to that before I bring
Paul in on that particular point. I think in principle it's the right thing
to do. Ring fence grants aren't what we would want in local government because
it's the government saying you've got to do this and here's the money to do it.
But in the current circumstances of local government finance as in this case
you know it's helped us yeah councils have come to rely on the fact that you
know the the allocation it made from government is then you know there's no
debate about we have to actually spend that money and we obviously do our best
to make sure that we spend absolutely all of it. I'm sure Caroline and her team
do that. So I think there's one of those things where yes in principle I'm
supportive of the fact that we don't have ring in the government that's
looking to take away ring fencing. I just wish at the same time they were
providing adequate monies to go alongside that rather than using it as
an excuse to reduce funding and as David has observed and whilst he wouldn't make
a political point I'm sure it's not necessarily the flavour of the government
It tends to be how things happen with civil servants and grants that come out to councils.
So I will now move to Paul who wants to come in.
Councillor Paul Hodgkinson - 0:18:03
Yeah, I'm just homing in on that section of the report that talks about the housing needs
of vulnerable groups. So it's good to see groups like domestic abuse victims listed there, etc.
Just wanted to home in on veterans because there's often quite a lot of mention of veterans who are
homeless. But I just wanted to understand really and I don't know whether Julia or the
officer will be able to respond to this but do you have any kind of do you have any sense
of how many veterans are homeless? How many veterans do we know of in the Cotswold district
who are homeless who present as homeless? Is it a major problem? Is it a I mean just
trying to understand the extent of that. Definitely I'm going to go to Caroline for that thank
Councillor Juliet Layton - 0:18:53
I don't have any specific figures to give you today but that's something we can follow
Officer - 0:18:55
up with, not a problem at all.
Excuse me, but it's very, very low.
So we certainly don't have any homeless or rough sleeping with veterans and we have never
had the seven years that I've been working in the district.
So that's something that we can definitely say for sure.
We do get various numbers of people coming through the waiting list because they may
be coming to the end of their service or they're looking to secure accommodation.
So again, there will be sort of low numbers there as well,
but it is very, very low numbers.
So, and homelessness is even lower.
Thank you.
Any other members want to contribute?
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:19:33
I'll just sort of sum up then and I'll let Juliette come in
and sum up.
But yeah, just to say obviously thank you to Caroline and the
team for all the work that you do and that you will continue
to do and in preparing such a comprehensive strategy for us.
Homelessness I think as Juliette outlined, one is too many and the fact
that there are rising levels of homelessness in our
society is something that concerns all of us but
Obviously we as a council are doing everything we can to mitigate people becoming homeless
in the first place and the fewer people that go through that trauma, absolutely the better
and we hope that no one would.
Obviously then our officers do our best to help those people who do end up homeless.
Julia, anything to add before we go to the vote?
Yes, a couple of things.
Councillor Juliet Layton - 0:20:40
Well, firstly, I'd like to say thank you to Tom C,
who was here with me for overview and scrutiny,
and he answered very, very many questions,
and he was very good.
I've only had this portfolio since November,
and I have learned so much.
And the complexities of every application which is different
and the nuances of each and every one,
it's really difficult to deal with
and make sure everybody's happy.
It's very hard and a lot of confidentiality is there.
So there's life conditions and life people out there waiting
to find out about their homes and what's going to happen.
But I'd like to just assure everybody that the team is so
professional and so thorough.
And if this strategy helps along the way and, you know,
simplifies the applications which we've seen happening
online and everything. I'm really really supportive of it and thank you for the
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:21:41
Councillor Patrick Coleman - 0:21:47
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:21:50
team. Thank you Julia. Can we open the vote now please? Thank you. Eight votes in
in favour, nine against. Thank you everybody. We'll then move on to agenda

10 Private Sector Housing Civil Penalties Policy and HMO Amenity Standards

item 10. This is the point that Andrea is going to get up and leave us. So
Councillor Pellegram will come and collect you when we get to item 11. Just
give Andrea a few seconds to leave the room. So we're joined here we've got Phil
Measures who's the service leader here as well for this report. So I'm presenting
it on Andrea's behalf. So as she mentioned at the start of the meeting. So the
policies that we use for issuing civil penalties and the standards apply to houses in multiple
occupation and both of those replace existing policies and standards.
On the civil penalty side, the Council needs a policy in place so we've got the option
of serving a civil penalty for a housing offence as an alternative to prosecution.
Officers will still conduct their work in accordance with the corporate enforcement
policy and the informal approach to resolution is usually the starting point.
Fines may range from £500 ,000 to £30 ,000 depending on the seriousness of the offences.
The Renters' Rights Bill, which is going through Parliament at the moment, will see
councils expect councils to use civil penalties and their scope is being
broadened to include harassment and illegal eviction. It's therefore
important to have a robust and up -to -date policy in place. The policy
was developed in front of us nationally by Justice for Tenants and a
methodology is provided for the calculation of fines together with a
step -by -step procedure. This will ensure that good decisions are made that can be
properly defended should they be appealed to a tribunal.
Final decisions on fines will be made by the head of legal services in consultation with
the service business manager.
They will review and update the policy from time to time, although significant changes
to the policy will be referred to the portfolio holder and brought to cabinet.
Moving on to the Houses of Multiple Occupation Amenity Standards.
This applies to the inspection of all houses of multiple occupation not just
those that are licenced. It provides guidance to officers, landlords and
tenants and brings an existing policy up to date with the relevant standards. Both
documents will be published on our website once they are approved. Okay I'm
now going to open it up to to members and then we've got Phil here to answer
any difficult any questions probably any questions at all that members may have
so I saw Councillor Bloober and then Councillor Layton Claire. Thank you chair
Councillor Claire Bloomer - 0:25:01
yeah just obviously being a former lettings manager and just something I
just want to cheque was was there any you know protection for landlords I've seen
very often as a lettings manager you know sadly sometimes you know we do have
but we also have some very good landlords that can actually find themselves having to
pay out thousands of pounds due to damages that have happened to their properties which
I've seen first hand which is devastating.
And my other concern is in the COTS world obviously it's very difficult for people to
purchase properties with the cost of living, you know our prices are quite high.
And we do rely a lot on the private sector for rental and I'm sure the housing team probably
use a lot of these private landlords for rentals.
I just want to know, is there any protection for landlords
or any sort of incentives or programmes
or are we working with them?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Officer - 0:25:57
Well, my team also deals with antisocial behaviour and nuisance
and it's quite foreseeable that for bad tenants
that landlords will be approaching us
to deal with the antisocial behaviour of their tenants as well.
In terms of the enforcement, then, yes, we always start,
as I say in the report, with an informal approach,
and that can often be the finishing point as well.
So they'll always have the opportunity to put right
what is wrong.
So it will be a matter of fact as to whether or not they're
falling below the standards, and they'll always be given
the opportunity to put things right,
usually in a written letter.
So they shouldn't be afraid that we'll always go straight
to either issuing a penalty or prosecution.
I suppose the other protection is that when we do issue civil penalties, it's full of
caveats in terms of looking at aggravating and mitigating factors in setting the penalty.
And as I say, it is a nationally developed policy, so we hope that that means there will
be consistency between district councils as to how they apply it so that landlords who
often have properties across the border in different districts and tenants will move
from district to district perhaps. So hopefully they will see a consistent approach to this
as well. So I think in that sense there are guardrails in place and protections for landlords
and as I say I think some of the changes may mean as well for us that they could be coming
to us to deal with complaints about social behaviour of their tenants which we will try
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:27:41
help them out with. Thank You Phil. Juliet. Yeah thank you. Are you relying on tenants
Councillor Juliet Layton - 0:27:42
to make complaints about the landlord or do we do spot cheques and if we do spot
cheques is that because somebody's left and it's vacant or can they be checked
Officer - 0:28:05
one with tenants in. Situ. Thank you. So often complaints come to us from tenants but they
come to us through other means, connexions and other support organisations like that,
victim support come to us to raise issues about tenants. The proactive work that we
do tends to be around licenceable HMOs because within that process there's an inspection
regime that goes with issuing of a licence. Of course, with ordinary rental properties
that aren't licenceable HMOs, then we don't know about problems until it's brought to
our attention. So in that sense, the approach is reactive, we deal with a complaint when
we become aware of it, and then we inspect according to, again, a national regulatory
standard, the HHSRS system of rating a property that identifies whether hazards in the property
I mean, category one, the most serious types,
or category two, the less serious, but nevertheless
dealing with.
And it's on that basis that we require standards
to be brought up by sort of defining
the standards of a property in that way.
So again, it's a methodology that applies to that approach.
So I think there's a part to your question I forget.
Well, how the whether you did spot cheques.
Oh, sorry, that was it, yes.
But that was the HMO, the licence element, yes.
Yes, so the spot cheques are done really,
we don't do spot cheques as such,
so it's either complaint driven
or it's part of the inspection process for licenceable HMOs.
Thank you. Phil, any other questions or comments
before I move the recommendations?
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:29:50
I think so. So the recommendations are to approve the policy for civil penalties
under the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and the Electrical Safety Standards in
the Private Rented Sector brackets England Regulations 2020. Secondly to
approve the HMO, Houses in Multiple Occupation Amenity Standards
Policy and thirdly to delegate authority for revisions to the civil penalties
policy and the issuing of civil penalties to the business manager,
environmental welfare and revenue service in consultation with the head of
legal services. I so move to have a seconder. Tristan Wilkinson, Councillor
Wilkinson indicated his seconding so I'll then move to the vote on that
please.
Thank you.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:30:50
That's seven votes in favour.
Councillor Pellegram, thank you Phil for coming back into the room.
Councillor Colman, I think you might want to ask your question to Phil.
We've now moved on to the next item.

11 Corporate Plan 2025-2028 refresh

Okay, so the next item is Agenda Item 11,
the Corporate Plan Refresh.
This is an item which is also subject to pre -scrutiny
by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting
on Monday evening, Monday afternoon, which I attended.
Also here on this item is Joseph Walker, the report author who also attended that
meeting with me. So I think the report clarifies the reason for bringing
this back. Members may recall, probably with the exception of Councillor Pellegram
who wasn't a member at the time, but early at the start of last year we did
to an update of our corporate plan.
I think it was in January of 2024.
But the reason that this is now coming before us to update again
is a rather big circumstantial change which happened towards
the end of last year where the government announced
the potential abolition of district councils
across the country and local government reorganisation.
and essentially what that means is that we are on a, as we know, a potential
timeline round to the to the end of this authority and what it's given us the
opportunity to do and we've had two cabinet discussions about this, certainly
over the summer is to look at what are our corporate
priorities now and what do we want to achieve between now
and the potential conclusion of the authority
and the government's date,
which we are working towards that that might happen,
being the 31st of March, 2028.
So just under three, just over two and a half years' time, this authority may well cease to exist.
So when I took over as leader, this was already in train and Joe had set up meetings for us to discuss this as an informal meeting of the cabinet.
and it was the subject of one of the first discussions I had,
actually the very long first discussion I had with our new chief executive,
when I said that we wanted to update our corporate plan
and we wanted to bring it to Cabinet and Council in September.
And she sort of did a slight double take at the time when I had given her to do that.
I did explain that we had already started working on this
and we were very keen to basically make a plan which was more succinct than the
previous ones. Take out things that we'd already achieved in our administration
and to give ourselves a focus for the last two or three years of this council.
So that's what we've got in front of us this evening. The process for corporate
plan is that we will if we agree this this evening it will then go on to
Council meeting on the 24th of September for formal approval or approval by the
by the full council. So that's the backdrop I mean I think the key in terms
of the content key sort of change is that we put in a new new priority and
that's about preparing for the future so that really is linked to the local
government reorganisation point that I was just talking about and members will
recall that our last meeting that we very clearly talked about updating our
local plan and making that a key priority of the council and essentially
what you will see within this document is that is now weaved through each of
six priorities so we haven't got a seventh priority for update the local
plan because that's a corporate big corporate project that we are working on
and delivering on but what we have done is showed how that is important across
the other priorities that we have as a council so I will stop there I'll just
look over it and Joseph to ask if he's got anything else that he wants to add
Officer - 0:35:53
to what I've said. Thank you Councillor Arvidme. The only thing I would add really is a sort
of technical comment in terms of the preparation process. So the document is currently presented
as Annex A and Annex B with A being the sort of the text introduction and B being the action
plan. When this is finalised it will be one flowing document that together is the Council's
but for the ease of both collation of information and review,
it's been separated into a table and supporting document.
When this is finalised, once the text is signed off,
there will be a designed -up version which will be more attractive and more accessible.
Clearly, until the text is finalised, we were loath to go too far down that route.
But the intention is that this will be well as illustrated with photographs,
and to introduce, you know, a Cotswold flair to it.
I'd add there's also some indicative quotes from members
in there to try and introduce a degree of personality
to the document.
You know, because otherwise it is quite a dry sort of meaty
tome and we were keen to sort of make it accessible
and attractive.
But there is opportunity to review that as we move forward
in the process.
Thank you.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:37:19
Just to that point, so having to have discuss this with Joseph essentially
what I would like to essentially amend the recommendations slightly in terms of
three specifically to say that the quotes in there and I'm aware you know I
did say it was quite a tight timeline that we gave the officers to deliver
this and that probably necessarily didn't preclude individual consultation
with us as cabinet members on the words with our names underneath. So as Joseph
said, what we will do is what him, Joseph working with the communications team
will individually engage with us as cabinet members on that between now and
the publication. So it's really in advance of the publication date for
Council so we may tweak, you will have the opportunity to change and tweak your
quote obviously subject to them all co -hearing but essentially yes so that
we all be the quotes attributed to the individuals will may well change a
little bit but I think what we'll focus on now is the debate on the substantive
what's in the what the plan says about what we're doing that's okay so who
would like to say anything on this any other any members Claire thank you
The only thing I was just going to say is a big thank you to the officers.
I think this is really well put together.
Councillor Claire Bloomer - 0:38:41
There are a few changes I'll be sending you away, Joseph.
Apologies.
But yeah, no, thank you very much.
I think it's a great, great version.
Thank you.
Andrea and then Mike.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:38:50
Councillor Andrea Pellegram - 0:38:53
I just wanted to say that as a new Councillor and a new cabinet
member, how glad I am to actually have this document,
because the old version wasn't very fit for my purposes.
Now I know exactly what I need to be doing
and what I need to be doing with officers,
and I'm very grateful.
Thank you very much.
And what I'm admitted to mention, thanks, Andrea,
was that as part of our last away day,
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:39:18
and after that in May, I did ask each of you
to provide your sort of top three priorities,
and we discussed those, and those were then weaved
into what we've got in front of us here.
Mike.
First, I'd also like to add my thanks, but great job, Joseph and the rest of the team
Councillor Mike McKeown - 0:39:40
for an excellent update to it. And also thanks to my areas, particularly on climate and digital.
I know our climate officer, Olivia, has been doing a fantastic job and resulted in some
great deliveries. We'll hear about, I expect, in the performance section. I'll talk about
it there, but big thanks to that. I just wanted to sort of remind us all that, you know, climate
Climate change doesn't pause for local government reorganisation.
One of the risks identified nationally with LGR is that it doesn't stop.
The urgent need for climate action with the weather we're all experiencing shows that's
getting worse at a rapid rate, so doing more is important.
And as we hand over to a new unitary authority in future, that's why we need to get this
right so we've not only delivered meaningful impact, as we're already doing to the climate
now but we also hand over a clean not a dirty council to our to to the next unit
room we all know more one of my favourite pet subjects is our our biggest carbon
footprint is our waste truck fleet which is up for renewal at about the time of
the renewal so that for the officers and all of us to focus on to make sure we
hand you know something that will cut our running costs make a maintenance
better, our streets quieter and our biggest carbon footprint will be a
critical thing for us to be focused on in that LGR period so we hand over not a
dirty legacy to the new unitry but a clean and low -cost one in future so
looking forward to working with officers and members on that very thing. Thank you.
Thank you Mike. A clean council not a dirty council I'm sure we want to be that.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:41:25
Perhaps we can include that because what I was going to say, I really like preparing
Councillor Juliet Layton - 0:41:35
for the future because I think that's what we've got to do and this is what I've been
probably all fed up with me banging on about that for you know because we've got to have
a local plan that will prepare for the future. So I'm really, I think that's a really good
sentence there and the other one I really like is building a lasting legacy for the
saying Mike about you know climate and everything and clean council and not a
dirty council so actually I really I really like this and and I think yeah we
can do it that's what I feel very positive the money might be different
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:42:16
but I think we we can do it thank you that money is always a challenge but
we've got a very good finance team with Patrick and David who leading on that so
I am sure, obviously, one of the things that in terms of preparation of this report will
have been looking at what is realistic for us to achieve with the finances that we do
have.
But we will talk more about finances when we come to the finance performance report
shortly.
Any other members?
Patrick?
Councillor Patrick Coleman - 0:42:50
Yes, Chair, apologies for not raising this earlier.
but in some ways a minor point.
But tying together, preparing our local plan
with the climate emergency and the issues,
so A -B outlined by Mike McEwen here,
and the huge number of extra houses
that were required to go by the government,
most, one solution will never fit all places.
It seems to me that one of the ways
of combining those two aims is to start on the assumption
that it would be a floor higher,
where we've got two storeys, we've got three,
where we've got one on a new building,
where previously we've allowed single storey buildings to be built, we'll have to have
two storeys.
It's one of the quickest ways of saving energies in a building.
You can take it too far for the Cotswolds once you get to four or five storeys, but
even the Royal Borough of Kingston's got the 28 storeys and quite a few of those storeys
being social housing.
Of course, climate change, if the government treated it seriously, would not result in
demanding lots more houses be built in rural areas because cities are more sustainable
than the countryside.
I have thus displayed the complete mains of my knowledge of climate change.
Thank you.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:43:55
I think Patrick your first comment about is more pertinent to discussions around the local
plan than the corporate plan, which we will have at our next meeting in October.
I am sure you might want to make that point again then.
Any other members who want to say anything about the corporate plan?
No, okay. So the recommendations are to review the
Appended Corporate Plan 25 -28 and agree any modifications. So I think we're
agreeing them subject to we're going to modify the quotes attributed to
ourselves. Subject to any modifications, I haven't heard any others agreed to
recommend for Council so we'll be asking if we're voting to recommend it to
Council to adopt the plan and that meeting will be on the 24th of September
and then delegate authority to the Chief Executive Officer in consultation with
myself to finalise the design once we've approved the text. Okay open the... can I
have a seconder for that please? Patrick seconded that so proposed by me
seconded by cancer Coleman can we move to the vote now please
Councillor Andrea Pellegram - 0:45:14
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:45:18
lovely thank you eight votes in favour none against or abstaining so brilliant
so when I move on to agenda item 12 the corporate priority service performance

12 Service Performance Report 2025-26 Quarter 1

report. This was also reviewed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its
meeting on Monday afternoon which I attended and we've got Gemma at the back
there who attended together with myself. In terms of looking at this I think
I won't spend a lot of time presenting it because I think this is best dealt with in a Q &A
type format but you can certainly see I would reflect that you know the priority
reports some of the things that we've achieved over the last first quarter
between April and June I mean most notably all the work that was done in
the lead -up to the transition of staff back from public air on the 1st of July
that successfully achieved and other work successfully in the parish and town
the parish council summit which I attended and several of you as cabinet
members and other members of the council as well with over a hundred attendees in
in June giving our towns and parish council those and their clocks much more
information about the local government reorganisation agenda
and what the government was seeking for us to do and deliver
as we have just referred to.
So lots of great stuff.
And I mentioned the Phoenix Festival earlier and the
Crowdfund Cold Swirl Initiative that continues to be successful.
There's some information in 2 .3 there around some of the areas
where we're not quite hitting the mark just yet.
And you can see those there.
And then this moving on to service performance.
Some really healthy is nice to see particularly percentage
of non -domestic rates collected being ahead of the quarterly
target. That's been quite a challenge over the last few
years since the COVID pandemic hit that we've seen more challenges with
businesses paying their business rates on time so that's good to see and
noting also their really good strong performance in terms of times in terms
of dealing with planning applications majors minors and others all ahead of
and welcoming particularly I'm sure from Tristan and myself
and now obviously Andrea, the missed bins being below the target.
That's the first time that we can have said that for probably a last well over probably about a year and a half.
So that's really good news.
use. And you can see there's a few areas where we were just under the target.
Gym membership is just three short of the target. And then there's just three areas
which are picked out which particularly the planning appeals one seems to be
quite a lot of discussion about that at the overview and scrutiny committee on
Monday. Relatively my observation on that is it's a small number it's one
quarter and therefore you know we obviously we need to monitor that but
essentially the the committee itself regulates itself it's a quasi judicial
body so you know they I'm sure the committee will be looking at that and
considering that and obviously then whether those decisions where we
lost those appeals were ones where the committee took a different view from the
officers or actually it was the officers recommendations that were overturned at
appeal. And we did talk a little bit about the affordable housing figures and
these go see up and down and it's disappointing that we only had two in
the first quarter. There was quite a bit discussion about the target and that
being based on the local plan and that overall you know the we had to live it
ahead of the target up until so far in terms of the current local plan in terms
of the affordable housing options but clearly obviously these things are
subject to developer variation and we've had a challenge with Down Antony in the
scheme where we're working with Bromford Housing on. So I will stop at that point
and ask Gemma if she's got anything to add before I open it up to colleagues.
Officer - 0:50:25
Chairman. Just a couple of amends if I may and picked up by over scrutiny so on
page 158 your pack there's a section about enhancing connectivity and
biodiversity in the Cotswold water park or the Cotswold Lake should I say and
there's a section there was missing the information about the update for working
with partners to embed the nature recovery plan for Cotswold Lake so
please the report is on track and also officers have been collaborating with
stakeholders including the Lakes Trust on a landscape scale funding bid from
the para 20 pot which is the lower mill estate contribution and that's going to
aim to deliver ecological enhancements and then on page 215 there's a
correction to one of the charts which says percentage where it should actually
say kilogrammes on the legend but other than that that's it thank you thank you
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:51:09
Gemma open up is actually before I open out to Mrs. council Bloomfield is here
Is there anything you wanted to say or you can hold fire and I can go to the members
and come back to you if you'd rather do that.
Yeah.
Or do you want to speak now?
I'll hold fire.
I'll just put those bits of paper away.
I'll get them out again.
Okay.
All right.
So I've seen Councillor Bloomer then Councillor Hodgkins and Claire.
Thank you, Chair.
Yeah.
Councillor Claire Bloomer - 0:51:38
Thank you to the officers as well for putting this together.
Well, I'm really pleased with my section, I must say.
So a lot of things pretty much complete and on target, which is fantastic.
and just great news about the low income family tracker which has just been brilliant and
put in thousands if not millions back into the pockets of our residents here in the Cotswolds
which is great. And also the unsung heroes, how great is that, that unsung heroes here
in the Cotswolds are being recognised by ITV and BBC so really well done, great report,
thank you.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:52:11
Thank you Claire, Paul and then Juliet.
Councillor Paul Hodgkinson - 0:52:15
Thank you for the report. I just obviously wanted to reiterate
what you said Mike in terms of the Leisure
contracts. Obviously we know that Freedom Leisure took over the Leisure
contract running up our Leisure centres to just over two years
ago now, August 23. And you know they
had quite a difficult job at the start in taking over from the previous provider
but what you can see in the figures is the leisure centre visits are substantially up
and gym memberships actually effectively are on target as you said it's just a small handful
missing targets so that is really good I'd like to thank Freedom Leisure for what they're doing on that
there's a lot more activity at Syrinsester Leisure Centre in particular which is helpful because
obviously that is the leisure centre that has the bulk of our members which produces most of
the money effectively, which then helps subsidise the other
leisure centres.
So that is really good.
And given, you know, the backdrop of a very fragile
economy, which is not doing well, let's face it,
actually to have leisure centre visits substantially up
I think is really good.
Thank you, Paul.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:53:24
Juliet, then Andrea.
Councillor Juliet Layton - 0:53:28
Yeah, I'd like to say thank you to all of the planning team,
because I'm really liking the service performances that are above target in
planning. I'm not decrying anything that went before with our
agency's staff and managers but I think having a really good, I feel like we've
got a very stable planning area now with our new people, Jerry LeConte and
Jay Simmons doing local plan. We've got a really good team there and also Helen
with community and place and everything so it's really good to see that we are
determining applications over and above our timescales.
I do worry about appeals, but you've explained that about Dan Anthony.
Thank you. Andrea.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:54:11
Councillor Andrea Pellegram - 0:54:15
Thank you, Chair. Well, I also want to say thank you to the officers on the fly tips.
We're, I think, I believe we're second in the country for collecting fly tipping.
We've had a recent media campaign with lots and lots of coverage, which I think has been
super successful and I've just gotten a whole sort of media strategy for the
next five months so I think we're just going to go from strength to strength.
Great, how we're working across all these different teams to deal with these
problems. The food premise inspections and dealing with the issues is also gone
extremely well. Everybody cares about their waste so let me just say we have a
team in place they're absolutely fantastic and very forensic in their
approach to dealing with with issues and we're already seeing an improvement and
I expected that to continue and everybody I hope to have absolutely no
more correspondence with that neighbours or counsellors about their
ways because everything will be working fine very soon that's what I hope for
thank you. We can always be optimistic I see Councillor Wilkins are putting his
stand up at that point.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:55:27
So I'm probably a holder for waste and the correspondence
regarding that.
So I've got Mike and then I'll come to you, Tristan.
Mike.
Mike O 'Brien Yeah, again, to add my thanks to the officers
for, in my area, the climate change stuff,
Councillor Mike McKeown - 0:55:41
which has been, had some great performance results.
So I guess like you, Claire, I'm delighted with what
we've achieved.
You know, a particular note stands out.
Justine, our retrofit officer, has tirelessly been stomping
around the Cotswolds presenting various town and village calls,
mostly in the evenings on home energy efficiency,
which is helping lots of residents cut their energy
costs, make their homes warmer and cosier,
and cut their carbon footprint.
She's been personally going out, surveying people's houses,
and giving them advice on what they can do.
So real tangible help.
And our climate officer, Olivia, as you see in the report,
who rolled out a whole bunch of EV chargers,
We actually got a quite nice report in local,
no actually one of the national newspapers recently
were quoted in for our rollout, which was good.
And most of all, perhaps on results at least,
is the climate scorecard where again,
thanks to not only Olivia, but many officers
who worked really hard on real action.
And we got, you know, I think we're now in the top 16 %
of councils in the country.
One of the most improved councils in the country as well.
And we're being recognised for it.
So we just in the last week or so we've been asked to present
us as a case study at Climate Emergency UK.
The people actually run the scorecard.
UK 100 have asked us to come to one of their weekend events and
present what we're doing on the local plan as a case study and
mentor other councils on their actions.
So huge improvements and a big thanks, Helen and the rest of
that team for obviously wonderful work they've done
because the results speak for themselves.
Thank you everybody.
Thank you Mike and thank you to you for the determined
leadership you've shown.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:57:28
I mean, I know when we, when you took over the portfolio,
you were determined to change that scorecard and you've done
it, you know, and shown great leadership to the officers and,
you know, well done in the work that you've done that's led us
to the point, all the great things you were just
talking about.
That's great.
Tristan.
Thank you.
Councillor Tristan Wilkinson - 0:57:49
I'd like to congratulate Andrea on doing something that neither Mike or I have done.
I'm just sitting here feeling...
It's all down to me, of course.
My already fragile ego has taken a bit of a hit.
On the service tracking, I would like us to consider how we might track progress around enforcement, planning enforcement.
I think that's something that kind of people care about a lot when it's got of I think that's if we can have a number
So that we can kind of be a bit more transparent around
What the backlog is and how we're working through that. I think that'd be really helpful
it's coming up more and more and I think with some of the
Challenges we're going to face with the local plan or
Lack of enforcement around some of the planning that might come forward
I think that could be quite helpful to show that we're taking it seriously and that it's something that is a priority to us
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:58:49
Thank You Tristan, I'm sure I saw Helen sort of writing that down and I made that you know, we agreed last
Meeting to have a briefing for members on that. So that's coming up soon
I think so. Yeah that that shared understanding between officers and members about what's achievable what's being done
And as you say, and I think this was, I'm going to come to Gina now in a minute, one
of the things that was talked about at her committee in terms of what metrics can we
have to monitor how well we're doing on things.
Because if we don't measure it, it's very hard to judge.
And it becomes very subjective, which unfortunately I think is sort of the place we're in now.
So absolutely, I totally agree with you.
I'm going to go to Gina now, if she wants to add anything into the discussion from her
committee's meeting on Monday.
Yes, thanks Mike.
Councillor Gina Blomefield - 0:59:40
Yes, I mean, you've touched on a lot of the things that we went through and we did go
through and we're now waiting for some answers on some things.
So there weren't things we were going to make as recommendations.
Enforcement as has been pointed out, was one of the things.
It was going to be on the agenda for November to look at enforcement and see how that could
be better managed.
and so that's certainly coming up.
I'm not doing this in particularly good order,
but retrofit that came to Chipping Camden,
Justine Mallinson was terrific, and our feeling was it would be
wonderful if she had, working here,
extended beyond the end of September.
I know it's all about funding and things,
but she is a terrific officer.
It would be sad that she was no longer with us.
I think she's really just getting her, you know,
feet on the table, you know, she is brilliant and I know she's got some more to do, but
end of September is coming up soon.
Also we appreciated the improvement with Yubico and relationships and getting things sorted
out, so that was also appreciated over you and scrutiny.
One of the issues that we are struggling with, or we are, but brought on the water is, it's
It's got more outlets which are doing take away foods,
and take away foods in large containers.
And there is a lot of issues about how we can manage this
better, the cost of doing it, the anyway.
So we're very conscious that it's got a,
they have a real problem with the waste from particularly the,
you know, you buy your thing, you take it away,
and then you think where have I got to put it in.
And the bins get full very, very quickly.
Claire mentioned Lyft, and of course in our papers it was only LIFT.
I happen to know that it was a low income family tracker, as Claire will do too, because
they came, somebody else, nothing to do with CDC, invited them to come and talk to us in
Chippinghampton, and it was over a whole range of things.
But it's obviously a very valuable resource and something which should be supported, and
I don't think everybody knows about as much as they might.
And what was the other thing?
There was this sort of thing of keeping an eye on,
I know it is coming forward now,
the Morton -Nimash Working Group.
It would be nice to get this off the ground.
It was originally proposed at an overview
and scrutiny meeting that this working group was formed,
But it is, it hasn't actually had a chance
to really get going yet.
So we're keeping an eye on that.
No, I'll just go back to July.
There was, oh, that's right, not charging points.
I'm going to, Yubico was the narrow vehicle, whether, you know,
one is enough or when it's broken there are these real problems.
The other thing, we also wanted, thinking of Mike McCarran and solar power and things,
to actually find out if possible through looking, I don't know, maybe it takes too much time,
but to look at planning applications which include putting solar panels, because the
actual numbers in the report aren't that huge, but clearly there are many more in the district.
And it would be encouraging to think that more people were looking to instal them and
to have a better idea of really how many are around.
So that was another matter.
Anybody else ask questions?
I'm very happy to do so, but otherwise, that's
all on the service report.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:03:22
Thank you, Gina.
Just a couple of points from me, and then other members
may respond, and then we'll finish up the debate.
Then let's have a long debate.
I think in terms of the, it wouldn't
be appropriate for us to talk about individual officers
in this meeting.
But the senior officers are here.
We're about to talk about vacancy management
in the next item.
But I think, obviously, clearly the work
is very much recognised of that particular officer
and might refer to her as well.
As you may or may not know, other members may not know,
other than Juliet and myself,
we will be holding the first meeting
of the Moreton & Marsh Working Group next Monday.
Juliet and I will be meeting with the ward members,
Councillor Angus Jenkinson and Councillor Daryl Corr,
together with Director of Communities and Place,
Helen Martin, as per the terms of reference agreed
by council.
And then it's my intent that we have a second meeting
of the wider group later in September or in early October
as we move towards the publication of the local plan documents that we will be
considering at our next meeting. I did see Andrea, I want to maybe briefly
respond to the points that Gina has made but happy to take them offline
Councillor Andrea Pellegram - 1:04:51
otherwise. I'll be brief, happy to have a separate conversation with you if you'd
like. Borton on the water, I've received quite a lot of correspondence
correspondence about that, overflowing bins and all sorts of problems. Our waste
team are looking at it very carefully and we're thinking actually that it
might be appropriate to look at the whole the whole tourism issue more
widely not just about waste and summer's over now so we've got a few months so
we're going to be working on that we hope. As far as the broken -down vehicles
as you've seen scattered throughout the all the reports we are looking at all of
vehicles. So the head of waste is actually, I just saw today, a detailed
presentation that she's working on where she's actually gotten every single
vehicle listed and its end date and how it's being used by different services. So
it's being looked at again very forensically and hopefully the cabinet
will be having initial discussions on the 16th of September starting to talk
about what we do about vehicles. So there have been a lot of breakdowns but we are
looking very carefully at the best way to replace those vehicles until we get
into the new structure. But I'm happy to have a conversation offline because it's
complicated. Thank you Andrea and yeah just to pick up that latter point a more
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:06:14
broader discussion absolutely we're very aware of the waste vehicle and the
challenge that Mike referred to it in your what you just said a little while
to go about the big decisions about the biggest contributor to our
climate, negative climate impact is the diesel in our vehicles that are
driving around the district five days a week, you know, 52 weeks of the
year and how we move away from that and it's a very very complicated
picture that we are working and obviously Andrea and Mike are very closely involved
in that but we are as a cabinet going to be working on looking at that altogether because
ultimately it will end up with a big decision for this authority. It will come to the full
council if we are suggesting as we know in the capital programme we have £5 million
pounds in the capital programme to replace most of our vehicles and that's an
awful lot of money and particularly in the current context and as we know that
when we get on talk about the finances in a minute that we would have to almost
certainly would have to borrow some of that because we wouldn't have the
capital receipts to be able to pay for all of that so very big decision there
that you know as Andrea said that we're in discussion our officers are
working hard on that and it can't give a timeline as to when that's going to sort
of come through the cycle. Yeah we've got a lot of thinking to do, a lot
of work to be done but what I think we're committed to doing as
administration is looking at really making a really robust decision which
reflects the position we're in, LGR, the climate, the service requirements,
bearing in mind that you know this service will then end up being merged
with other council services.
All of that is all in the mix.
So it's going to be one of the toughest
and most difficult decisions that we're going
to probably be taking in the next year or so, I would suggest.
So thank you, Gina, as well, for your committee
and the raising of the points you've raised this evening.
Anything else, Mike?
I'll let you come back and then we'll just note.
Yeah, just to address one of the points that Gina brought up,
which is a good one, actually,
Councillor Mike McKeown - 1:08:37
was on the solar installations, that's certainly something we can look at.
You wouldn't be able to get full data because solar's generally permitted development, there
is no planning, but we have a lot of listed building, conservation area buildings where
we would know.
With my kind of digital hat on, that's actually probably quite an interesting use case for
AI, just to peruse through our stuff.
I've done it in work, what was traditionally very hard to gather that data, you just do
data dump asking a question and a few minutes later you get answers like that
and trends so that might fit with both climate and digital and we'll continue
to promote and get more people to hopefully fit solar and other good
things to their to their lovely homes here in the Cotswolds. Always finding new
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:09:22
uses for AI. Great. Okay so the resolution is just to note the overall progress on
the Council's priorities and service performance for the first quarter of 2025 -26.
So no need to vote on that.

13 People and Culture Strategy

We'll now move on to Agenda Item 13, which is the People and Culture Strategy 2025 -28
on page 219.
So I'll introduce this one as the Accountable Member.
So as the first phase of public staff were in -sourced in November 24, it was identified
that we needed a people and culture strategy for Cotswold District Council.
And the purpose of this strategy is to align and develop the workforce alongside the organisation's
priorities and future needs.
We didn't have, prior to this, we don't have right now,
workforce values at Cotswold District.
That was very much with Publica because there was very few staff
in the residual Cotswold District prior to the first
phase of transfer back of staff from Publica.
And what, you know, the workforce values are about
ensuring positive and productive work environments and getting a
framework of behaviours setting out how we expect employees to behave and how we, what
behaviours are not acceptable. So we used a company called Innovation Central who helped
us in defining those values and bringing together this people and culture strategy and a behavioural
framework. There were a number of staff engagement events based around what does a great day
work feel like and the feedback from those events led to a draught strategy and
values which were subsequently tested on the workforce via online consultation
exercise. At the time that the work had commenced we hadn't got LGR, Local
Government Reorganisation. At that point it was rumoured I think back in the
So, and obviously as we've done that work on reorganisation,
it's become clear though that the engagement work that we did
with the staff is even more relevant given that staff are
obviously looking at their future
in a different organisation.
So, some of the original proposed priorities have been
replaced and the need to retain staff,
support staff in their career development and manage the
uncertainty created by the transition to unitary status
and the balance of the demands and the capacity of
the business as usual and preparing for reorganisation.
You know, those are highlighted, heightened
within the document as a consequence of the local
government reorganisation work that's going on.
So it incorporates a rework strategy and a first year
implementation plan.
plan. We have already approved to go up to Council the corporate plan and that introduced
the workforce values which are in here. The values that we have put our communities first,
their priorities are our priorities. We are one team working for our residents and businesses.
We are business focused, we're ensuring efficiency,
effectiveness and good value for money, and we're set up
for success to deliver against the corporate priorities.
So those are the four workforce values for our
staff to follow and live up to.
And the new corporate plan priority we just talked about
preparing for the future applies for the workforce,
just as well as it does in terms of for our services.
And, you know, a key aspect of whether this strategy is successful is the communications
that sit behind it.
So that's why there's also the internal communications and engagement strategy here for us to note.
So you'll see, hopefully, that's a good intro into the work.
And we've got Angela here.
He's been leading on this from the officer's side.
So I will add, before I open it up to colleagues,
is there anything you'd like to add to what I've said?
Maybe I've missed something.
Thank you.
I'm not quite sure.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:14:13
That hopefully got on the audio.
It was quite quick.
So if you didn't see that, Angela said no,
so it was quite comprehensive.
Maybe because you assisted me with my introduction.
So thank you for that.
So I'll open it up to colleagues, I see Tristan first and then Claire.
Thank you chair.
I think
Councillor Tristan Wilkinson - 1:14:37
this is really important because it kind of underpins everything else we want to do, right? If you don't have a team that is
high -performing then all of your other aspirations kind of become so much harder to deliver.
We're about to embark on a period of immense uncertainty. We've got local government reorganisation, we've got financial pressures
We've got what's going on in a wider economy.
These are all things that are quite unsettling for people.
So I think we need to be particularly attentive
to people's needs.
One phrase that I've learned quite recently
through my professional career,
which I don't see it here, which we might want to think about,
is how do we create psychological safety for people?
I think that could be really important
when people are feeling challenged.
But also, I think it's really important
that we continue to encourage people
at all levels of the organisation to challenge us to be better.
And I think that the one thing that potentially contradicts
everything I've just said is we should also continue to have
very high expectations and performance -managed people.
There's a real danger that, you know, when an organisation is
kind of coming to its natural conclusion that people just
kind of ride it out, it's quite hard to motivate people when
there's a limited future.
and I think we're going to have to work really hard
to keep people engaged and focused and motivated.
And I just think that this is probably,
amongst all of the other important things
we're going to do, it's right up there,
because without the good people,
everything else is just going to be almost impossible.
So I think this is really good work.
I think it's really important.
I think we should give this the attention
it absolutely deserves.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:16:23
Thank you, Tristan. Psychological safety. I will try and work out exactly what that is.
You can explain it to me later. Claire.
Councillor Claire Bloomer - 1:16:36
Thank you, Chair. Great report. Just a couple of things that I am going to mention.
Obviously, people know that I am a bit of a menopause champion.
You know, one of the first councils in the Cotswolds to have a menopause policy.
You know, there are one in ten women leaving the workforce because of menopause, you know,
where they don't fit in.
We should be shouting from the rooftops that CDC supports menopause or women.
And that doesn't have to be in a namby -pamby way, that's in a really constructive way.
I've not seen, and maybe there's something hiding in there about that, and I just thought
So it would be really good to sort of showcase that.
And the second thing I wanted to mention, and again,
it's some thanks to actually Nikki sat behind me here,
who actually helped organise two, I think it's two we've done
so far, two of the job fairs that have been really,
really successful.
And I'm thankful to the council for allowing them to use this
chamber where local people were able to engage with employers.
And, you know, I think there was quite a few people who walked
away with jobs at the end of that.
And we were part of that.
I think that's really good because I think you know here we do need to have
local people working here and just the final thing is I have seen a few job
adverts come up for Cotswold District Council and I have been approached by
different people that part of the criteria to work here is that you drive
that really alienates lots of people you know so I just wanted to kind of raise
that and yeah but that's all great so there we go
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:18:13
Thanks. Before I come to Angela to respond to any of those points, particularly the menopause
point, I think my understanding of employment law is that you know if you
put a condition you have to justify where you put that condition. So you know
if it says in a role that it requires a driving licence there has to be a
justification for why that is the case. So I'm sure officers here have heard that
and can go and just follow that point up.
But I'll let Angela come back on that
and all the other points that you've raised, Claire.
Angela Claridge - 1:18:46
Well, thank you to both Councillor Wilkinson
and Councillor Bloom for your comments.
So all very valid.
And you're right, we did that excellent work
only a few months ago on the menopause work.
And Cotswold is very much leading the edge on that.
So we need to promote, as you said, the local job fairs.
They've been really successful.
And again, thanks to Nicky, we can review JD's.
I think that's really, I think the leader made the point.
There's no point putting it in there unless you can justify
why you need it.
And like your comments, Councillor Wilkinson, yeah,
we don't take our foot off the gas in relation to high
performance and expectations, but we need to give the
workforces you outlined the tools to be those individuals.
You know, and, you know, it's important that everybody can be
the best that they can be, match fit, whatever you want to call
in terms of preparing for local government reorganisation because there's some promotion
opportunities out there for people and we want them to take them.
And yes, your comment about psychological safety, it's all very valid.
There's a lot we do here to support our staff, that we've got employee assistance programmes
and what have you, but it's useful to hear your comments because you're all in the workplace
or you have been in the workplace and what you've seen that's great.
I'm all for stealing those ideas and shouting about the best bits.
So thank you.
Thank you, Angela. Andrea.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:20:04
Thank you. This is probably going to be very personal sounding. Well, it is personal to
Councillor Andrea Pellegram - 1:20:12
me. I used to work here. I came in on the back of a restructure. It was about 20 years
ago. This place was an organisation of bitterness. People didn't work together, and it wasn't
nice. There was nothing like this in place. I am absolutely delighted because here we
we are in another restructure.
We've got the public of staff that have just been brought in.
We've got a lot of new staff.
The new staff that I've been talking to have said they're amazed at how nice it is here.
Everybody's so nice.
They can't believe how nice it is, which is great because I didn't feel like it was very
nice when I was here.
We also have a lot of changing public opinions about work culture and how we behave towards
each other.
So I think this is appropriate and timely and necessary because it shows that we actually
value our staff and that our officers are key to success here and to resilience.
And they are absolutely, they're not pieces to be moved around on the board.
They're actually our key resources.
And I'm so happy to see this.
And, you know, this is a sort of, we have to build this in so
that, as you say, when local government reorganisation
happens, they're ready and they're going to be able to move
into their promotions at the new organisation.
So thank you very much for doing this.
And I also like the fact that there's an action plan, because
you don't get those very often, and I think that's a good thing.
Thanks, Andrea. Patrick.
Councillor Patrick Coleman - 1:21:49
Thank you, Chair. Yes, having come along to, I think it was, was it called the picnic,
where our new chief executive was at the top table, it was standing room only. I felt very
virtuous being one of those standing. The serious point was that the amount of
subjects was quite a few and the amount of time was quite long and everybody
appeared to be paying engaged attention. You don't always find that in a largeish
crowded meeting. The food was perfectly adequate afterwards if not better. So I
thought that was a very good sign that here were people I think a lot of them
fresh in from Publica, perhaps plenty of others as well, helping to build one team.
Having spent nearly all my life on a desk job where the less we saw a manager, the more
we could get on with the running of the railway, my experience is irrelevant, I recognise.
What I have two very small points.
One is that the KPIs and objectives with minimums and averages shown are on a page 29 of the
document and it will be interesting to see how we get on with those.
but I don't think it's that important.
Is there any way this could help the senior teams
across the seven authorities in trying
to build out the new council or councils
and save them duplicating loads of this work?
Or perhaps, just possibly, or do all the other six councils
have one of these?
Are we first in the field?
OK, I'm going to ask Andrea to answer.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:23:26
No, not Andrea. Angela to answer the second point if she would.
But the first point is that's for the internal comms strategy.
So that's for us to note that's what they're doing, internal comms.
And I'm sure that the officers to my left will be scrutinising the KPIs on the internal comms
and having that conversation with Matt, the head of comms, in terms of the performance on that.
but to the point around are all the other councils got such a great strategy?
Is this one, do we know the answer to that, Angela?
I don't know the answer.
Angela Claridge - 1:24:04
I would expect that all the councils have got a strategy.
It's something that, I mean, across Gloucestershire,
we've got something as a result of local government reorganisation
called the People and Culture Workstream.
It's coincidental that our strategy is called People and Culture,
but it sums up what it is.
So, you know, I'm very happy to share any or all of this.
And, funny enough, we have a meeting on Monday,
so I can make that point, because there might be,
as I said, I'm very happy to steal ideas
from your own workforce experiences.
We're very happy to take stuff from other councils.
We're very good at sharing.
So, can't say absolutely, Lida, but, you know,
I would envisage that most organisations have got something
similar to this.
And just to pick up, if I can, Councillor Pellegram's comment,
You're right about it's key that people are nice, absolutely,
because we spend so much time here that we work
with our colleagues far more than we spend time
with our families often.
So it's really important and it does keep people,
sometimes we can't compete on salary, but actually the culture
of the organisation and how you interact
with your colleagues is really important.
So thank you.
Thank you, Angela.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:25:19
Anyone else on this before I move to,
So a really good discussion, as I said, introducing it.
Great piece of work, great to have this now, now that we,
you know, have a substantial body of staff working for,
directly for the council.
So I'm going to move the recommendations on page 219.
So that's to approve the People and Culture Strategy,
as detailed in Annex A, to approve the four core workforce
values that I read out earlier, to approve the year one
implementation plan as detailed in Annex B, and to note the
internal problems and engagement strategy as detailed in Annex C.
I look for a seconder for that.
I think Andrea is seconding that, so we'll go to the vote
now, please.
All eight of us voting for that, we need to remember to put the mic back on.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:26:25
So we're now moving to the final item on the agenda.
It's time for the finances.

14 Financial Performance Report 2025-26 Quarter 1

So I will hand over to, it's strange for me not to be presenting this, hand over to Councillor
Coleman to introduce this one.
Thank you very much indeed, Chair.
Councillor Patrick Coleman - 1:26:47
Yes, first of all we thank the overview and scrutiny chair for allowing more than an hour
for me to sit in the chair there next to Mr Stanley answering questions on this report.
It's very encouraging to see such an amount of care taken with such an important issue.
But yes, the headlines as I indicated then look pretty good.
Most other councils would like to be where we are, but it's only the first quarter.
And the second quarter will be along quite soon.
And that will have more certainty since it will be half the year.
This is obvious, isn't it?
One of the points that didn't come out at the, I think, at Ovi and Scrutiny was that the pay award was agreed in July.
Not every pay award gets agreed that early.
I think that was very helpful both for staff, removing uncertainty, and indeed for our finances
team.
So, there are four points to the recommendation, reviewing and noting.
Endorsing the approach in paragraph 4 .8.
The – there was a comment from a member of the Open Business Group saying this needed
to be a bit tougher, I think, or maybe that was one of the other parts.
This is a philtre or a sieve that before you fill a vacancy in the current situation, it makes sense for the corporate leadership team to have a look at it.
And we can therefore expect that there will be a slightly longer gap on average between somebody leaving and somebody joining.
and every situation is different and I'm sure that'll be managed efficiently and
it makes sense because although there are other plus points in the report
we've got to go on being cautious because we've been warned about the new
fair funding 2 .0 I think everybody here is aware of that she will see the third
recommendation is to create and transfer any year and surplus to the
Transformation and capacity building in our preserves, that's in 410 and 411.
And then finally, because we've been getting a lot of planning fee income in, which is good,
on the other hand, the increase in our housing target and the rash of new speculative development applications coming in
that statistically we're unlikely to win all those appeals and even if we win the appeal
it costs us money to fight it, so we do need to have a planning appeals earmarked reserve.
I say again, anybody who wonders if we should have a significant number of reserves, it
does help to track where the money's come from and to be clear about why the money should
be spent through that reserve and not some other means. So I'm quite happy with that.
Finally, my thanks are of course to the support and guidance and advice that I received from
the finance team, especially from the Chief. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Patrick. Jean, as your committee was mentioned, is there anything
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:30:01
you would like to add to what Patrick has said in response to this report?
Yes, absolutely, thank you chair.
Councillor Gina Blomefield - 1:30:11
I just wanted to actually also say that it does seem a very good idea, we've got this
vacancy management process as Councillor Coleman alluded to.
It sounds a much more efficient way of managing and going forward and making sure we've got
the right people in the right place.
And where possible, appropriate use agency staff, but where possible have full CDC employees.
Obviously that depends on the role and things, but I do think that was a very good idea.
We also, we did, there's a little bit of a thing, the cemetery, there's a shortfall in
the income and I know that may be because people aren't dying as much.
No, that was not quite, whatever, but we did ask whether this has been replicated elsewhere.
It wasn't entirely sure why we've got this shortfall.
So that was one of the questions we were being looked into.
And the other one was just, and this is me,
I'd like to have those interest rates for funds with
the percentages.
And I know that David Stanley is looking into that and is going
to be putting a full response.
I just find it easier to understand the figures of those.
I mean, I know you could do with the calculator probably.
I'm not sure I could do it that well.
And I know interest rates fluctuate.
We appreciate that.
But to give a, this is the current market now and I think that's what you alluded to.
We're not very sure of where we, oh actually I think it was Councillor Wilkinson, where
everything is going and the government borrowing rates and things like that.
Interest rates are key in managing financial affairs.
That was the main things I've pulled out.
Thank you.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:31:57
Thank you very much Gina.
Any other members have got any questions or observations?
Councillor Paul Hodgkinson - 1:32:08
Just public toilets, since this is in my portfolio.
I know Councillor Stanley, David Stanley is very familiar with this.
I just wanted to ask you, David, in terms of the report, what you are expecting in terms
terms of income from public conveniences is as at the moment in line with what's expected.
Now that we've successfully put in charging for all but one of our public toilets, what
impact will that have on the next quarter do you think in the next part of the year?
David Stanley, Deputy CEO - 1:32:52
Thank you, Councillor Hodgson. In terms of the expectations for the public conveniences
service when the budget was set, there was an anticipation of around about 100 ,000 pounds
worth of income, which members with longer memories might recall in the previous two
financial years we've had an underachievement against that to some degree, around about
40 ,000 pounds per annum. When the overview and scrutiny committee appointed the working
group to look at the performance of the public conveniences, one of the key issues there
to ensure that the level of subsidy that the council is providing to that service was minimised.
Rolling out charging to all the localities that those facilities are in is an important
part of that process. I would expect in quarter two to see the actual amount of income to
increase over quarter one. In terms of the forecast, where we have forecast for the year,
we've anticipated based on projections with the income
now, or charging mechanisms in place to collect income,
to hit that 100 ,000 -pound target.
We'll keep members apprised of that, because clearly,
there's a degree of estimation in that 100 ,000 -pound figure,
and that assumes a change in the way people would behave,
should they be subject to a charge
that they weren't subject to before.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:34:17
Thank you Paul and well done to you and to David and I led from the officer's side on
successfully getting that change made and rolled out.
I know we're still in discussions about North Leach but that's something that I know Tristan
and I as the former portfolio holders have been looking to achieve.
so well done Paul for getting it over the line with the officers because it's
really important as we said you know it's actually it's a non statutory
service we've made a commitment as a cabinet that we wanted to continue to
provide that service but it has to cost the taxpayer less and so you know that
and the the iniquity essentially that we had inherited of places where there was
a charge in places where there was no charge and no real rationale for why that was the
case.
Obviously, we made the decision getting on 18 months ago now that that should come to
an end.
So it's pleasing that in large part that has come to an end and we're in final discussions
about the final set of toilets.
Anyone got anything else that they want to say on this before I say a few words?
So I will just thank Patrick for a really good presentation
of the report.
And so we're in safe hands at the finances with you at the
helm now rather than me, very confident obviously with David,
the two of you working together on it.
I think, yeah, the points around the vacancy management that Gina
points that was discussed a bit at the ONS committee as well and I'm confident
that there shouldn't be delay in the corporate leadership team meets every
week there is a process that our officers know forms to fill in if they
want to fill a vacancy so I'm confident that our senior officers will be dealing
with those in a timely way so where the service requires a vacancy to be filled
and can make a really clear case that why that should be the case confident
though we'll be able to get on and do that but equally well where there are
opportunities where by looking at how the organiser how that area is working
maybe we didn't need to fill it or don't need to fill a full -time post for a
full -time post then I'm sure that's also being considered by our officers as we
look to make these savings because ultimately if we make savings the
earlier you make them the longer you've got them for essentially you've got them
for multiple years and the less pressure there is on our budget going down the
line and at our next meeting we're going to be talking about the draught budget for
26 27 the other points I think that just endorse the points around holding the
the surpluses that we get over and above the budgeted surplus into reserves to
help us do some transformation and change and build capacity it's really
really important and then yeah just the last point which was quite a lot of a
about at ONS about planning I think as well. I think that I was at the back of
the room on this one you know that sense that we will get more appeals
inevitably so we need to budget for them and the way to budget for them is by
putting size some of the excess money that we've got in terms of planning fees
coming in with the speculative more applications than we otherwise were
budgeting for. So I'm very happy to second the recommendations that Patrick
has proposed. Patrick I'll just go to you for a final word because I can't see
Councillor Patrick Coleman - 1:38:25
anyone else indicating. Thank you chair. I think the one final point I'd like to
make, it may seem small but I think it deserves highlighting and that is
the replacement stroke upgrade of our car park pane display machines. We know
We're using machines that originally took coins as well as cards now.
They're card only. That is great. We know about the difficulties with them.
We know that our staff have been to see the big Expo earlier this year.
It does say installation is not expected until the next financial year,
which is disappointing, but I know these things are never quick if there's lots
of councils trying to do it. But if there's one thing I will be keen to
learn is going well, I'll put it like that, it's getting those new car park machines,
bringing us into the 21st century.
Thank you Paul, just want to talk about car park machines briefly.
Yeah, I mean just briefly.
Oh sorry.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:39:18
Councillor Paul Hodgkinson - 1:39:20
Yes, just briefly.
You can agree.
How exciting, yeah.
Just briefly Patrick, we did have a discussion with officers today actually about this and
you know we are seeing off the same hymn sheet, we want to do it as quickly as possible, we
just there are a number of things just to get right around it.
There is a sort of time lag in terms of ordering and then installing, etc.
But we can say for sure that this will happen in the next financial year.
It might be a bit earlier than that.
So we are in September now, aren't we?
So we've only got kind of six months in this financial year.
But officers know that I want this installed, you clearly do.
And they are on the case with it.
So next financial year for sure might be slightly earlier.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:40:09
I'm going to allow the last word to Tristan before we go to the vote.
Sorry, we found ourselves talking about parking.
Councillor Tristan Wilkinson - 1:40:19
I'd really encourage us to, something I saw online recently where a council had,
instead of choosing one app for payment, they just selected all of them.
So actually, really helpful for visitors.
There's no cost to us.
So, you know, you don't have to choose between, you know,
one app and the other.
So why not make payment through all of the apps so that, you
know, if I've got one already installed and I don't happen to
have got the one that we've chosen, I don't have to instal
it and all those sorts of things.
So anyway, something we should think about.
Okay, I'm going to stop the debate.
Although I do know there was a government scheme I thought that
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:41:00
was going to do that, but I think it may well have bitten the dust. But I don't want to
further debate about that. Paul will take that away as the portfolio holder with the
officers. No more. It's 20 to 8. So I think we can now go to the vote, please, Nicky.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:41:23
Thank you.

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