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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Rooms 5, 6 & 7 - 17th Floor, Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6 QP. View directions

Contact: Mick Steward, Head of Committee and Governance Services  Tel: 7641 3134; Email:  msteward@westminster.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome

Minutes:

1.1     Councillor Philippa Roe welcomed those present.

2.

Declarations of Interest

To receive declarations by Members and Officers of the existence and nature of any personal or prejudicial interests in matters on this agenda.

Minutes:

2.1       There were no Declarations of Interest.

3.

Minutes (25 May 2016) pdf icon PDF 152 KB

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 25 May 2016.

Minutes:

3.1     The Leader, with the consent of the Members present, signed the   Minutes of the meeting held on 25 May 2016 as a true and correct         record of the proceedings.

4.

2015-2016 Annual Accounts (Report of the City Treasurer) pdf icon PDF 451 KB

Minutes:

4.1     Steve Mair, City Treasurer, introduced the report.  He advised that the report set out the outline of the final account.  He also advised that outstanding objections of previous years accounts had now been resolved.

 

4.2     Both the Leader and Councillor Tim Mitchell thanked Mr Mair and his team for all the work in completing the accounts and in particular resolving the issues of the outstanding accounts.

 

          Resolved:  That the report be noted and referred to full Council for information.

5.

Treasury Outturn Report (Report of the City Treasurer) pdf icon PDF 341 KB

Minutes:

5.1     Steve Mair introduced the report.  He advised that the report would be referred to full Council for information.

 

          Resolved:  That the report be noted and referred to full Council for information.

6.

Crime and Disorder CCTV (Report of Executive Director of City Management and Communities) pdf icon PDF 250 KB

Minutes:

6.1     Councillor Nickie Aiken spoke to outline the circumstances which had led to the submission of the proposals in the report.  She explained that discussion had been had over a prolonged period with stakeholders with a view to them sharing the £1m pa revenue cost.  The Council had always recognised that it would need to invest capital.  The CCTV statistics had shown that only 2% of crime was investigated using CCTV and that it was not effective in preventing crime.  Councillor Aiken continued by saying that discussions would continue with the Mayor, MOPAC and others with a view of having a pan London approach.

 

6.2     Stuart Love, Executive Director, City Management and Communities, advised that at present the revenue costs were being funded from underspend.  If a pan London solution was not found decommissioning would commence from September and be carried out over a six month period.

 

6.3     The Leader commented that she was pleased that discussions would continue on the possible pan London approach.

 

6.4     Resolved:

 

(i)              That approval is given not to renew or re-procure the CCTV staffing contract currently operated by G4S following its expiration on 1 September 2016.

 

(ii)             That approval is given for the decommissioning of the existing fixed CCTV camera system and estate from September 2016. That is unless a responsible partnervolunteers before 1 August 2016 to accept transfer of the assets and their continued operation.

 

(iii)            That, should a responsible partner wish to assume responsibility for the assets, approval is given to transfer the assets from 1 September 2016.

 

          Reasons for Decision

 

The current crime and disorder fixed CCTV system is reaching the end of its operational life and contracts for control room staffing and maintenance of the system are due to expire over the next year.

 

The expected annual revenue cost for the continued provision of CCTV cannot be met within existing budget projections. It is therefore not possible to procure contracts and make financial commitments which we cannot meet.

 

The Council can no longer afford to directly subsidise partners which benefit from the existence of a CCTV service, most notably the Metropolitan Police.

 

The effectiveness of CCTV in preventing particular types of crime in public spaces is questionable as suggested by the Campbell Collaboration’s 2008 report Effects of Closed Circuit Television on Crime.

 

The crime and disorder CCTV System is used to support management of the public realm with activity that ultimately assists in the detection and apprehension of offenders and undertaking civil or criminal prosecutions. As a result the crime and disorder CCTV system is primarily used to provide reactive support for the police in securing arrests and prosecutions relating to crimes committed in sight of cameras.

 

Extensive engagement with partners over recent years on the future viability of the CCTV system has not led to any meaningful financial support, leaving the Council with the full financial burden which it can no longer continue to bear.

 

Despite the declining health of the CCTV system, the Council would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Bond Street Public Realm Improvement Scheme (See Report of the City Treasurer and Executive Directors of Growth, Planning and Housing and City Management and Communities) pdf icon PDF 545 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

7.1     The Chief Executive and the City Treasurer both introduced the report and advised that all partners supported the scheme for which funding agreements, subject to formal agreements, were in place.

 

7.2     Resolved:

 

1.          That the appendices be exempt from public disclosure as they contain information relating to the financial and business affairs of the authority in accordance with paragraph 3 of Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended

 

2.          That approval is given to the funding package set out in the Financial Implications at Section 10 and the Council’s commitments within it which are to:

 

(a)       provide a budget of £9.85m for the entire project within the  capital programme, receiving funds from the project partners of   £7.8m as set out in Appendix A and entering into contracts to    deliver the scheme.

 

(b)       to enter into a loan agreement with the GLA for £2m guaranteed       and repaid by the Council.

 

(c)       to provide £0.05m Section 106 funding.

 

3.          That if by December 2016 either the GLA/LEP has failed to provide the loan of £2m or the Treasury has not approved the business rates TIF for the West End Partnership, officers will report back to members on the issues and risk of the Council providing this additional £2m funding from its Capital Programme – or alternatively the consequences of decreasing the scope of scheme delivery or terminating the scheme before start of works, which are due in May 2017.  The same applies if TfL assumed funding is not confirmed.

 

4.          That approval is given to complete the drafting of the legal agreements between the Council and NWEC so that their elements of the funding package can be secured and to agree terms with the GLA for accepting the loan from the Growing Places Fund.  That the agreements are completed before any formal construction contracts are let or works commence.

 

5.          That approval is given to the Bond Street Stage 1 feasibility design shown on the General Arrangement drawing Sheets 1 to 5 (Appendix B).

 

6.          That the Bond Street Project Board involving Westminster City Council, NWEC and TfL  (as set out in the Annex)  is delegated to have overall oversight over the project subject to reserved matters on the delivery and costs being referred back to the City Council for approval, as set out in the legal agreement with NWEC as detailed below.

 

7.          That approval is given to carry out a programme of initial stakeholder consultation on the design of the scheme and the operational principles that have been incorporated into the design with the formal statutory consultation required for the Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO) to follow on from these early consultations, any amendment and a further specific approval through a further report to Members.

 

8.          That spending approval of £2.0m is given, subject to approval of the budget arrangements, to allow design to continue to programme through Design Stages 1 to 3 (at a cost of £1.557m) with a sum of £0.243m to allow for surveys  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Any Other Business which the Chairman considers Urgent

Minutes:

None.