Agenda and minutes

            An apology was reported on behalf of Councillor D. Browne.

            The minutes of the meeting of 28th November were taken as read and signed as correct.  It was reported that those minutes had been adopted by the Shadow Council at its meeting on 8th December. 

·        In respect of Item 7a, ‘Update on Airport Public Inquiry and Statement of Case’, Councillor Haire declared an interest in that he was a member of the George Best Belfast City Airport Forum; and

·        In respect of item 4d, ‘Funding Request – Belfast Conflict Resolution Consortium’, Councillor Hargey reported that she had had been employed by that organisation.

            Pursuant to its decision of 24th October, the Chairman, on behalf of the Committee, welcomed Dr. E. Rooney, Chief Executive of the Public Health Agency (PHA), who was in attendance to provide a presentation on the key strategic health issues which would face Belfast over the coming years.

            Dr. Rooney outlined the role of the PHA and the Belfast Strategic Partnership and explained that it sought to work with a range of health and social care professionals, education, local government, community and voluntary organisations, to explore opportunities to improve health and address, in particular, health inequalities. He stressed that the Council played a crucial role as a key partner in setting such an agenda. He indicated that inequalities in health and wellbeing across Belfast were due to many factors, particularly the social and economic environment, educational attainment, employment status and living conditions, which varied greatly. He stressed the need for collaborative working to address such inequalities.

            The Committee noted the contents of Dr. Rooney’s presentation and noted further that the Council would continue to work with the Public Health Agency, the Belfast Strategic Partnership and other bodies in the establishment of a common agenda to address health inequalities across Belfast.

            The Members were reminded that the Shadow Council, at its meeting on 8th December, had referred the following motion, which had been moved by Councillor Kingston and seconded by Councillor Spence, to the Committee for its consideration.

      “Belfast District Council notes the success of the Olympic Games in London in 2012 and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and the positive impact that hosting these games has had on those cities; this Council confirms our support for a bid for Belfast and Northern Ireland to host the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2021, with a view to mounting a future bid to host the Commonwealth Games; and affirms our commitment to working with the Northern Ireland Executive, the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games Association and other interested parties to achieve these goals.”

Councillor Kingston reminded the Committee that the Council’s Development Committee, at its meeting on 16th December, had considered a report which had provided an overview of the major events which the City might wish to bid for over the coming years, one of which was the Commonwealth Youth Games. It was noted that, as a first step in the bidding process, the Council would need to express an interest in hosting the Games and that, if successful, it would be necessary to identify financial resources within future budgets to oversee the hosting of that event.

After discussion, it was agreed that the hosting of future major events – such as the 2021 Commonwealth Youth Games – would be considered as part of an overall international events strategy, the scope of which would be considered in due course. It was noted that the extent of such a strategy would be subject to the level of financial resources which the Council would be able to make available to support it.

            The Members were reminded that the Shadow Council, at its meeting on 8th December, had referred the following motion, which had been moved by Councillor McAllister and seconded by Councillor McDonough-Brown, to the Committee for its consideration.

      “Belfast District Council stresses its commitment to the creation of a shared future; notes that with the new powers of community planning there is an enhanced opportunity to deliver this, in particular through the future Belfast Agenda Plan; agrees that all major Council decisions should be ‘shared future’ proofed in order to assess their impact on sharing by people from different sections of the community and to ensure that there is no unnecessary duplication of services.”

            During discussion, Members suggested that, should the Council agree to adopt the ‘shared future’ principles, it would be necessary that a clear and agreed definition of the concept should be ascertained. As such, the Council should seek to liaise specifically with the Department of Justice and the Department of Education and Learning in this regard, together with other relevant departments at the Northern Ireland Assembly.  In addition, it was noted that the Council would need to determine the potential implications of agreeing to ‘shared future’ proof its decisions, both in terms of staffing and financial resources.

            The Committee noted that a report in this regard would be submitted for its consideration in due course.

            The Members were reminded that the Shadow Council, at its meeting on 8th December, had referred the following motion, which had been moved by Councillor McNamee and seconded by Councillor Keenan, to the Committee for its consideration.

      “This Council, cognisant of its responsibility as an equal opportunities employer and civic leader, seeks to establish a BME (Black Minority Ethnic) steering group to encourage and promote ethnic representation within the Council's workforce and seeks to address the issue of under?representation of people from the BME community in political life, supplementing and strengthening the work already undertaken as part of the Workforce Race Action Plan 2012-2015.”

Councillor McNamee outlined the principle aspects of the motion and suggested that, as an initial step, it could be referred to the Council’s Good Relations Partnership for comment. A Member pointed out that a review was ongoing on the future extent and remit of the Council’s Good Relations Strategy and, in addition, it was suggested that the establishment of a steering group could be considered also within the context of the review of the Council’s future governance structures and working groups.

            The Committee agreed that the motion be forwarded to the Good Relations Partnership for comment and would be considered further within the context of the Council’s Good Relations Strategy and future governance arrangements.

            The Committee noted the contents of a future work plan, which related to the key decisions which would be required to be taken between January and the end of March, 2015, a copy of which was available on the Council’s Mod.gov portal. It addition, it was noted that a one-year Corporate Plan, which would oversee the work of the new Council during its initial year, would be submitted for the Committee’s consideration in February, 2015.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1  Background Information

1.1   In-line with the local government reform process and the creation of 11 new councils, the Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA) are seeking to reconstitute itself from 1 April 2015, and has issued a consultation document on this basis. Responses are sought by 31st December. Members will appreciate that this is a significant consultation document as it seeks to redefine the future role of a local government association within NI and its relationship with constituent councils.

2    Key Issues

2.1The consultation document outlines proposals in relation to:

a)     The strategic themes which will underpin the future activities of NILGA;

b)     Proposals in relation to the types of products and services to be provided by NILGA  to member councils;

c)     Proposals in relation to a revised constitution for NILGA which will come in affect from April 15;

d)     Proposals for new financial arrangements (including subscription fees)

e)     The detailed proposals covering each of the aforementioned are set out below for Members consideration.  A number of specific questions are posed by NILGA as part of the consultation.

Strategic Themes

·        NILGA is proposing to retain the following three corporate themes, previously agreed by 26 Councils:

·        Building and Sustaining a Strong Local Government Sector in Northern Ireland

·        Supporting the Delivery of Strong and effective Local Government

·        Bringing investment and innovation into Councils, so they can deliver high quality services at an affordable cost.

      Future Products and Services

      Set out below is a summary of the products and services which NILGA propose to provide to member councils.

·        Policy Support – provide relevant policy information, support and guidance to councils; formulating local government responses on key policy issues and engages with central government (i.e. Ministers, government departments and the NI Assembly).  Establishment of member led working groups on specific policy issues (i.e. Reform and Modernisation; Planning; Waste, Health and Environment; EU Policy and Practice; Agriculture and Rural Development).

·        Elected Member development and peer mentoring – supporting the development and implementation of a regional capacity building programme for elected Members which will take account of their continually evolving role. Peer mentoring will be a key element of this support.

·        Investing in Local Government – enhancing the sector and sharing good practice – provision of advice and support in relation to investment and improvement including the establishment of some form of partnership arrangement with involvement of members and local government Chief Officers.

·        Workforce, Employment and People Development – NILGA to continue to provide the regional governance, oversight and coordination of future regional negotiating arrangements e.g. the Northern Ireland Joint Council for Local Government Services (NIJC) and the Joint Negotiating Committee for Chief Executives (JNC) or any replacements which may be brought forward.

·        Providing Effective and Innovative Communications and Engagement – Provision of regional European programme support and services to elected Members sitting on committees of EU Structural Funds programmes and who have been appointed seats on EU Programme and institutional bodies.

Provision of secretariat support to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2e

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1.0  Relevant Background Information

1.1This report provides an update for Members on the validation of the new Belfast City Council rate base as part the rate setting process for 2015/16.

2.0Key Issues

2.1Figure 1 below outlines the key factors in the rate setting process for 2015/16.

2.2The two main income streams which require validation before the district rate for 2015/16, are highlighted in Figure 1.

·        The level of funding which will be provided by the Executive at the point of transfer of functions to the Council from the relevant Government Departments.

·        The level of income which it is estimated will be generated from the rate base of the new Belfast City Council area as compared to the 2014/15 rate base.

2.3Departmental officials have indicated that the decision of the NI Executive on the financial settlement for Councils in relation to transferring functions is unlikely to be made until around the third week in January 2015. At this stage it is estimated that there will be a shortfall in what is needed to efficiently run the new and what will be transferred.  If this is the case, Members will not be in a position to agree the departmental cash limits and the district rate in January and a special meeting of the Shadow Strategic Policy and Resources Committee will be required in February 2015 ahead of the statutory deadline of the 15 February 2015 by which the district rate must be struck.

      New Rate Base

2.5As part of the rate setting process the Land and Property Service (LPS) provide an Estimated Penny Product (EPP) to the Council which forecasts the amount of money that would be collected if the rate poundage was set at 1 penny.

2.6This is used by the Council, as part of its financial planning to calculate the likely impact of the district rate on the level of income which will be generated through the rate base.

2.7The final EPP is arrived at after review and engagement with the Council finance officers who challenge and validate the assumptions used by the LPS in arriving at the EPP.

2.8The EPP for 2015/16 includes the expected income arising from the new Council boundary area and given the complexity and importance of this assessment the Council has used the Institute of Revenue Rating and Valuation (IRRV) to provide additional validation of the EPP which will be used to set the district rate.

      Estimated Penny Product (EPP)

2.9The EPP for the new rate base for 2015/16 is £5,616,420. The impact of the EPP in terms of the income generated through the rate base is shown in Table 1 below.

         Table 1

         Estimated Income from Belfast City Council Rate Base

         (Based on a Zero District Rate Increase)

         2014/15 BCC Rate Base                 £129,716,358

         2015/16 BCC Rate Base                 £141,957,663

         Increase in Rates Income              £12,241,305

2.10  The additional income from the rate base of £12,241,305 is due to the rates  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3a

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1.0  Background Information

1.1At the meeting of the Shadow Strategic Policy and Resources on the 28 November 2014, Members received an update on the Non Domestic Property Revaluation referred to as ‘Reval 2015 NI’.

1.2At this meeting, the Committee was advised that the Council had been provided with revaluation data for all of the non domestic properties (approximately 17,200) in the new Belfast City Council area and that finance officers were analysing the data and that a further report would be presented to the December meeting of the Committee.

2.0Key Issues

      Draft Schedule of New Values

2.1The draft schedule of new values was published by LPS on the 17 November 2014. The following analysis is based on this draft schedule of new Net Annual Valuations (NAVs) and its comparison to existing NAVs.

2.2Rate bills based on the published Valuation List will be issued in April 2015. However ratepayers will be able to calculate their new rates bill in February 2015, when the District rate is struck by the Council and the Regional rate is struck by the Executive.

2.3Preliminary Outcomes of the Draft Schedule

      In November it was highlighted that the preliminary outcomes of the revaluation by type were.

·        The total of Belfast NAV’s increased by 4.6% as a result of the revaluation.

·        The total NAVs for Belfast Offices have reduced by 4%.

·        The total NAVs of Belfast Retail have reduced by 13%.

·        The total NAVs of Belfast Warehouses and Stores have reduced by 5%.

·        The total NAVs of Belfast Industrials have reduced by 10%.

·        The total NAVs for Supermarkets has increased by 24%.

·        The Power transmission and distribution NAV (which is calculated at NI level) has increased by 40%.

2.4It should be noted that the above changes show the net position of properties within the property category. Within each type there can be major decreases and increases, especially depending on location of the property, which make up the overall percentage movement.

2.5Some of the overall preliminary outcomes of the revaluation by location are highlighted below.

·        Excluding large shops and department stores, the total NAVs for Victoria Square have reduced by 17%.

·        Excluding large shops and department stores, the total NAVs for Castle Court have reduced by 45%.

·        Excluding large shops department stores, the total NAVs for Donegall Place have reduced by 48%.

·        The total NAVs for the Kennedy Centre have increased by 22%.

·        The total NAVs for Boucher Crescent have increased 66%.

2.6An analysis by District Electoral Area will be provided to Members at the meeting and this will then be distributed to all Council Members. The analysis will show:

·        properties which may lose Small Business Rates Relief.

·        properties which may gain Small Business Rates Relief.

·        (The level of relief available is related to the NAV of the property for example the Small Business Rates Relief provides 50% relief for NAV’s under £2,000, 25% relief for NAV’s between £2,000 and £5,000 and 20%  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3b

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1  Relevant Background Information

1.1On 3rd November 2014, the NI Executive announced its draft budget proposals for 2015-16 period. A copy budget proposal is available at http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/draft-budget-2015-2016.pdf a summary of which has been circulated.

      Departmental Budget Proposals

1.2Table 1 below sets out the proposed non-ring fenced departmental budget allocations to each of the Government Departments. It shows that most departments (with the exception of DETI and DHSSPS) will face cuts in their budgets, with DCAL, DEL, DoE and DSD each facing budget cuts of at least 10%.

      Table1 Non Ring Fenced Departmental Resources

2    Key Issues

2.1Clearly the NI Executive’s and many of the individual departmental draft budget proposals will have a potential direct impact on both Belfast and Belfast City Council in terms of both the continuation and new funding made available for e.g.  Capital/physical investment schemes within the City, supporting revenue programmes and initiatives including a number of direct grant schemes administered by the Council (directly or indirectly).  It is also important to recognise the risks of further budgetary cuts which impact directly upon Belfast based recipients; who may in turn seek funding from the Council to subsidise any funding gaps which may emerge.

      Departmental Budget Proposals Consultation

2.2Within the context of the overall NI Executive Draft Budget proposals, each Minister has recently released a breakdown of individual departmental budgets proposals for 2015/16, including information in relation to measures required to enable the department to live within their budget allocation.  Each department is also conducting its own consultation process to run concurrently with the NI Executive’s process – with comments sought by 29th December 2014.

      The Executive is due to consider and agree the budget proposals in January.

2.3Whilst not intending to go into the specific details of each of the departmental budget proposals, specific focus has been given to assessing those departmental budget allocation proposals which may have a potential direct impact upon Belfast/Belfast City Council.  Members should note that all of the Departmental budget proposals identify potential broad areas of where cuts will be applied; however, the lack any detail available means that it is not possible to assess the direct consequences for the Council.  Notwithstanding, set out below is some of the high-level observations and comments on specific departmental budget proposals.

2.4Department for Social Development

      Revenue

      The Council would have major concerns in relation to the significant cuts (i.e. £64.8m or 12.3% reduction on the previous year) in relation to the Departmental revenue budget.

      Such cuts will have a direct and significant effect on a number of funded programmes across the city, most significantly neighbourhood renewal based programmes and initiatives.  The scale and impact is specifically heightened in Belfast if this cut in revenue budget is carried through to the allocation model in 2016 when the responsibility transfers to the Council – the previous DSD departmental transfer of functions budget allocation proposals for Belfast saw a short fall in over £6 million (based  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3c

(Councillor Hargey left the room whilst the item was under consideration.)

The Committee considered the following report:

“1     Background Information.

1.1    This purpose of this paper is for the Committee to consider a request for funding from the Belfast Conflict Resolution Consortium (BCRC).

2       Key Issues.

2.1    The Belfast Conflict Resolution Consortium (BCRC) is a city wide cross community partnership working to assist conflict transformation at Belfast interfaces. Previous phases of projects undertaken by BCRC were supported by the Peace III Programme, managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by the Community Relations Council/ Pobal Consortium.

2.2    BCRC currently provides practical support and assistance to 53 grassroots groups and networks across Belfast and is represented on the boards/committees of 34 organisations across the city.

2.3    BCRC is seeking the funding support of £81,441.68 from Belfast City Council to sustain its current staff level of 5 for the period January 2015 to June 2015 which will cover the shortfall in funding for the costs associated with the delivery of BCRC’s work plan for the period as well as lead agency overhead and administration costs.

2.4    The funding request and supporting documentation has been circulated as appendix 1.

3       Resource Implications.

3.1    No provision has been made for this funding in the revenue estimates. If funding is agreed then financing will need to be provided from the 2014/15 year end reallocation.

4       Equality and Good Relations Considerations

4.1    There are no equality and good relations implications associated with the report.

5       Recommendations

6.1    Members are asked to consider the funding request from the Belfast Conflict and Resolution Consortium (BCRC).”

            After discussion, the Committee agreed to accede to the request for funding with a further report to be brought to the Committee as part of the rate setting process.

            The Committee noted the contents of a report which outlined the range of decisions, particularly in relation to the disposal of land adjacent to the former site of the Maysfield Leisure Centre and an update on the Council’s Capital Programme and Investment Programme, which had been taken by the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee at its meeting on 12th December.

            The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 24th October, it had granted approval for the commencement of a recruitment exercise for the post of Head of Audit, Governance and Risk Services and delegated authority to the interviewing panel to appoint a suitable candidate at the end of that process.  It was reported that one application had been received for the position and the selection panel had recommended unanimously the appointment of Mr. Andrew Harrison on the appropriate point of the salary band. 

            Noted.

(Councillor Haire left the room whilst the item was under consideration.)

The Committee considered the following report:

“1     Background Information.

1.1    In March 2012, GBBCA submitted a request to the Department of the Environment (DoENI) to vary the terms of its 1997 Planning Agreement established under Article 40(A) of the Planning (NI) Order 1991 and modified during 2008. Operating restrictions applied under the 2008 agreement mean that the Airport cannot accept more than 48,000 air traffic movements or offer more than 2 million departing ‘seats for sale’ in any 12 month period.  

1.2    The Airport has requested that its ‘seats for sale’ restriction be removed and replaced with a noise control contour and noise control measures. Members considered this application and a Committee response was forwarded to the Department in June 2012.

1.3    Following completion of this public consultation exercise, the Department wrote to the Planning Appeals Commission asking it to hold a Public Local Inquiry into the proposals and the consultation responses to them. In addition, the Department requested further information from the Airport in respect of the impact of the proposed modification on noise, habitats and road transport.

1.4    A revised proposal and supporting information were submitted to the Department in December 2013 and the Airport submitted further supporting information in May 2014. Additional technical information relating to road transport, drainage and land contamination was received by the Department in July 2014.

1.5    It should be noted that the Department is required to consider the Planning Appeals Commission’s report before it decides upon its final response to the Airport’s modification request, but it is not obliged to accept the Commission’s recommendations

2       Key Issues.

2.1    The Planning Appeals Commission has now written to the council to advise formally that a Public Local Inquiry into the proposed modification of the planning agreement between the George Best Belfast City Airport and the Department of the Environment.

2.2    Accordingly, the key dates for the Public Local Inquiry are as follows:

·        Statement of case to be submitted          –          19/02/15

·        Rebuttal statements to be submitted       –          09/04/15

·        Public Inquiry                                             –          May 2015

2.3    Members will recall that the Committee considered in detail the Airport’s proposals and additionally submitted information, to modify its planning agreement at the Committee meeting of 6 March 2014. A consultation response was provided subsequently to the Department affirming council support for the Airport’s aspirations for passenger growth but recognising the need to ensure that effective noise management arrangements are in place to safeguard local communities in line with Industry best practice.

2.4    Members are advised that the Council now needs to prepare and submit its statement of case for the first phase of the Public Inquiry. Officers from the Development and Health and Environmental Services Departments under the direction of the Town Solicitor are preparing the statements supported by industry Experts.  Subject to member approval the Council’s case will centre on supporting the abolition of the seats for sale restriction and will

·        highlight how its removal compliments  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6a

The Committee endorsed the contents of a Council response to the Department of the Environment’s consultation exercise in respect of Planning Reform and Transfer to Local Government: Proposals for Subordinate Legislation - The Planning Act (NI) 2011, a full copy of which was published on the Mod.gov website.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1  Relevant Background Information

1.1Members will be aware that the overall strategic aim of the European Social Fund (ESF) is to help reduce economic inactivity and increase workforce skills by promoting access to employment, social inclusion and skills for growth. 

1.2In Northern Ireland, the programme is administered by the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL). Funding is allocated by means of an open call for projects.  Successful projects attract funding of up to 65% of the total project cost and project promoters are expected to find the remaining 35% funding from other sources.  Projects run for three years and current projects are due to complete on 31 March 2015.

1.3A call for projects under the new ESF programme was launched by DEL at the end of November 2014, with a closing date of 9 January 2015.  Successful projects will be operational from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2018.

1.4The requirement to find match funding presents problems for potential project promoters. Given the previous experience of the council in receiving many requests for match funding, the Shadow SP&R Committee at its October meeting agreed that the council should make its own application for funding and commission local providers to undertake the delivery against a set of agreed targets.  The committee also agreed to draw together council funds and resources transferred from the Department for Social Development (DSD) to provide the necessary match funding required for a bid. 

1.5However, since that decision, DSD has confirmed that the regeneration powers and associated resources will not transfer to the council until 1 April 2016.  The £703,000 which is currently used by DSD to match-fund ESF projects in the city and which the council had agreed to allocate towards the bid is therefore no longer available.  The resources now available to the council to support employability activity are around £240,000 per year.  

2    Key Issues

2.1Key challenges

      Members will be aware that, during the recent engagement process with Bernard Marr to look at key outcomes and priorities in a future Belfast Agenda, inclusive economic growth was identified as a key pillar of a future Belfast.  One of the underpinning elements of this was investment in employability and skills – both for those people with no or low skills levels and ongoing investment in our further and higher education institutions in order to continue to attract investment to the city.  In addition, creating jobs was identified as the top priority for residents in the council’s 2014 household survey.

2.2The October report to this Committee identified the scale of the challenge in Belfast: a recent Centre for Cities report ranked Belfast as 64th out of 64 cities in terms of skills levels.  This means that we have a higher proportion of low skilled people than any other UK city.  While job forecasts indicate that only 1 in 7 jobs will require no or low skills in the future, around 40% of our  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6c

            The Committee was advised that the Shadow Council, under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, was required to formulate an Equality Scheme and Disability Action Plan which would oversee the work of the Council until the period ending on 31st March, 2015. Accordingly, the Committee considered the contents of a revised Equality Scheme and Disability Action Plan, which had been drawn up in accordance with a model template that had been issued by the Equality Commission. The Committee was provided with an overview of the responses which had been received at the public consultation stage of that process, together with the Council’s proposed responses to those comments.

            A Member made the point that CAJ and the Equality Coalition were different organisations.

            After discussion, the Committee endorsed the contents of the Equality Scheme and Disability Action Plan, together with the proposed responses to the comments as submitted at the consultation stage, but that they wished to review the definition of Good Relations at the appropriate time.

            It was noted that the Equality Scheme and Disability Action Plan had been published on the Council’s Mod.gov portal for information.