Agenda item

The Leader of the council, Councillor John (OBE) will attend the meeting to discuss the main issues facing the counciland the administrations priorities.

Councillor John (Leader of the Council and Lead Member for Corporate Strategy and Policy Co-ordination) set out the council’s priorities for 2011-12.  She began by referring to the Localism Bill which she felt may be detrimental to local democracy as it encouraged cross borough initiatives which would make decision-making less local.  It could also lead to employing a greater proportion of people who were not local.  Turning to the budget, Councillor John highlighted the exceptional circumstances the council faced which required it to make £100 million savings in four years.  Furthermore, these savings were front loaded with the greater proportion needing to be made in the first two years, meaning that a number of decisions needed to be made quickly.  This had led to a number of local authorities of all political composition expressing disquiet at the haste decisions had needed to be made.  Councillor John referred to the big decisions that had recently been made in respect of libraries and waste and recycling.  This included the objective of significantly increase recycling rates which was not only important for environmental reasons but was made even more necessary because of increasing landfill taxes year on year.  Improves services to residents had also been provided by offering removal of free bulky waste.  In respect of day centres, the changes made were in line with the national move to personalisation and this would continue.

Councillor John advised that £24 million savings were required for the 2011-12 budget and the One Council programme was leading on this with the aim of delivering both savings and increasing efficiency.  She acknowledged the impact made as a result of staff losses and that in many cases this involved local people who were faced with difficult situations.  However, the council remained committed to helping the community.  Amongst the main initiatives to achieve the savings and efficiencies included reviewing procurement and contract arrangements and joint working with six other London boroughs in respect of adult social care.  Other difficult decisions would need to be made and not all savings could be achieved through the One Council programme or through changes to procurement and contracts.  Members noted that school crossing patrols was one of the activities currently under consultation.  Turning to the role of scrutiny, Councillor John commented that it had undertaken an abundance of good work and Members found it rewarding.  She encouraged Members to engage fully with scrutiny activities and stated that the work undertaken by the various overview and scrutiny committees was appreciated.

Councillor John then set out the main areas the council would be focusing on.  Regeneration opportunities would continue to be pursued, such as the development of Wembley including Wembley City, the building of the Civic Centre and the role the council and its partners will play in the 2012 Olympics. A presentation on the Olympics would take place at the Council meeting on 11 July and the Olympic torch route would include Brent and torch bearers were being sought. More needed to be done to protect the environment and in addition to implementing the new waste and recycling strategy, a commitment had been made to reduce CO2 emissions.  Housing faced challenging circumstances with changes to funding of affordable housing.  There may also be changes to Planning which would make it easier for objections to be made to applications which could hinder affordable housing schemes.  Another objective was to ensure residents had all the tools required to gain employment and the role of the College of North West London, as well as the council, was pivotal to this.  Changes to Government policy meant that schools could choose to leave local authorities, however if they took this course of action they would be subject to central Government control.  Councillor John reported that Brent was no longer a trident borough and the level of violent crime had reduced.  The Health and Social Care Bill had been delayed as it was subject to further consultation and debate, however the council would need to look at how it worked with its partners in future to deliver services. A Shadow Health and Well Being Board had been established with a view to the Board becoming an Executive function with the council and its partners in the following year.  However, the council would face a number of challenges as public health transferred to the responsibility of the local authority. 

During discussion, Councillor Gladbaum enquired whether construction of the Civic Centre was on track.  Councillor H B Patel commented that the savings required were inevitable and that there could be grounds for optimism for the opportunities open to the council from the changes resulting from the Localism and Health and Social Care Bills.  Councillor Ashraf, in acknowledging the challenges the council faced, emphasised the importance of Members working well as a scrutiny group and in providing support to ensure the council was working effectively.

The Chair concurred with Councillor Ashraf’s comments and thanked Councillor John for her presentation.

In reply to Councillor Gladbaum’s query, Councillor John confirmed that the Civic Centre was on schedule, helped by the recent good weather, although construction may be hindered over the course of the Olympics and negotiations with the Olympic organisers would be required.  She added that Members would receive regular updates on the civic centre.