 Rwy'n gyr�, rwy'n gweithio'n gweithio'r cymrydau, a'r gweithio'r gweithio ar y cwrdd yn yr oedd yn ffyrwyr, ac mae'r gweithio'n gweithio'r cymrydau. Rwy'n gweithio'r gweithio'n gweithio'r Cymrydiaeth Cysriadol Cymru. Mae cymryd y rhodd yn cael ei gwybodaeth i ddod i ddod o'r gweithio, ac mae'n gweithio'r cymrydiau gyda ddod ymlaen, am yr ymddangos cymrydau i ddod. But only members who are present in the chamber today will be able to move and second motions or to vote and members present virtually will be able to speak in the debate. So if members who are attending virtually would indicate or wish to speak by using the chat in the teams meeting please and then I'll bring them into the debate as quickly as I can and those present yn tyfn y ddweud beth rydych chi'n chyfnodd y byddai gleisio chi gweithio'r ddweud? Johnathan. Rhaid i'n rhewn yn dda, rhaid i'n rheidio'r ddweud ar gyfer mylineg. Rhaid i gael am i'n dda. Rhyw harness можноbengirol. Edrych arno, ddweud yn y cyfnodd, ddweud yn y cyfnodd, ddweud yn y cyfnodd, ddweud yn y cyfnodd, ddweud yn ond, ddweud yn ddweud yn y cyfnodd, yn cael ei slygu'r yng Nghymru Yn Gwyllgor fel Edryddiaeth yn y lichwyr, ac yn cael ei chyfnodaeth y Llywodraeth, yn cael eillacydd fel Edryddiaeth, yn cael ei chyfnodaeth y Llywodraeth, yn cael ei chyfnodaeth mewn Llywodraeth, yn cael ei llygod y Llywodraeth. Ond os yna, rydym yn cael ei hoffi yng Nghymru Cymru, ac ar draws i ni am oes beth neid diddiodd diolch yn y dweud. Mae'r ddim yn cael ei hoffi yng nghymru gyda'r cyfnod i'r cyfrwyr combineid. Place 10. 2. Apologies for absence. Jonathan, what apologies for absence? Do we have please. So we've received apologies for absence from diameter John Williams, the lead cabinet member for finance and Gwenville Chamberlain, the chair of the Scrutiny and Overview committee. Do we have councillor Judith Riffer? Vice-chair of Scrutiny and Overview presently. Thank you. Rhaith i ho. Item 3, declarations of interest. Do any Members have interest to declare in relation to any item of business on this agenda? If any interest subsequently becomes apparent, just raise them at that point please. So moving on to the minutes of the previous meeting, Members are asked to approve the minutes of the meeting held on the 7th of February 2022, and I move the approval of those minutes as a correct record. yw eu gallethaf i gydened i ddweud o'r ddin o'r pwysig? Nid oed yn cwrt hynny'n gwneud? Felly, dwi'n meddwl i'r cyfrif o'r ddin o'r ddin o'r ddin o'r rin o'r ddin o'r pwysig, digwydd nhw'n credu'n cael ei sŵs, ac efallai nhw'n credu'n cael ei sŵs i'r ddynnig. Mae'n cyfan yw i'ch gweithio'r ffordd o'r ffordd yn poblygu'r rhai och chi. Mae'n bwysigon gweithio'r ffordd. Mae'n bwysigon gweithio'r bwysigon gweithio'n bwysigon gweithio'r bwysigon gweithio'r bwysigon. So wych yn ei ffordd am y cyfan o'r bwysigon gweithio'r bwysigon. Yn ymgyrch ar dr Douglas De Lacey, oedd yn ymraeth i'n ddod o'i gweithio? Mae'n gweithio am y cwestiynau, ac mae'r cyfliesgrant efo datblygu'r cyflymion. Mae'n gweithio, ac rydyn ni'n ddod Ile Gwff yn gwybod i'r cwestiynau. Rydyn ni, mae'n gweithio. Mae'r cyflymion i'r cyflymion, rydyn ni'n gweithio'r cyflymion. I'm going to give you what hopefully will be a fairly full response to your question, but feel free to follow up with a supplementary as you are well aware, is your right to do so afterwards. Having spent 24 minutes on the phone to a certain ferry company on Friday before giving up and hanging up, and then a further 33 minutes on Saturday before finally reaching a customer service person, I really understand very much the frustration of the long wait on the call centre, which I think is the focus of your question. However, the experience I had last week was not just about the wait time, it was exacerbated by several other things. The terrible music, the repetitive instruction could go to the website to solve my problem when the reason I was calling was that the website told me that I had to call to solve my problem, the lack of any information on where I was in the queue, and any other information which was provided about how long I was going to be able to have to wait. So, it is very difficult to capture the experience of frustration in a KPI. What we have reported as you have highlighted your question is the basic average call wait time, and I'm sure you've noticed that progress is being made in that in the sense that in December 2021 that was down just to 32 seconds. And I agree with you, it is a very crude measure because it doesn't give you any indication as to what the potential range of outcomes are, but I assure you we've been thinking about the problem since you've left the council. The new telephony system does give us the ability to monitor wait times with additional granularity to annual analyse the situation and understand the nature of the problem. For example, we've looked at the simple relationship between the number of calls received per day and average wait times. And unsurprisingly, this indicates that the call centre can cope with calls in the range of 600 to 700 calls per day very effectively. But then as soon as those call times, call rates increase beyond 600 to 700, call wait times increase dramatically as the number of calls being added to the system exceeds what can be actually dealt with. And it's those sort of insights which have been really helpful in trying to address the objective which is to improve the level of service. We've also been introducing new features to address the frustration of the long wait directly. The most significant of these is the call back service which has been operating since November. The call kickback kicks in at five minutes and gives the call of the opportunity to receive a callback from the council. And it stops the long tail of waits that you are very concerned about. And it's quite interesting to note that even in December when that call wait time had been reduced to 32 seconds, there were still 118 callback requests which we received. So even when there's 32 seconds, that's at least 118 people who were waiting more than five minutes who actually get a callback. So with this complexity in our new features, we certainly need to try and improve the KPIs but I'm not sure that the standard deviation itself would really offer much greater insight. Particularly when those would obscure very different experiences on very different days when call rates are very different and they would be expressed over a monthly average. So after a lot of consideration and discussion with Mr. Member, what we will do from April is that we will start to publish as part of our KPIs. The percentage of calls that we receive that wait for more than five minutes to be answered. And we will also publish what percentage of those calls, which last longer than five minutes, request a callback. That will highlight both the number of people who are exposed to the long wait issue and the effectiveness of our callback service in serving those residents. Thank you very much for your question. Thank you. Dr Delacy, would you like to ask a supplementary question? If I may, leader, please, yes. I'm very aware of much more frustration than the call centre provides. My parish council banks with the cooperative bank, which normally leaves you for between 45 and 90 minutes before it answers the phone. So I think we're doing pretty well. The reason why I asked my question was I did look at the statistics that Mr. Member gave me shortly before I left. I was very surprised to discover that there is a very large number of calls which are terminated within five seconds. And that, of course, affects the average very significantly. So I'm delighted to hear that there will be figures about calls of more than five minutes and also the fact that callback is allowed. One other datum that I think could be usefully provided is the actual numbers, or not rather than, as well as the percentages. So we have some idea of just how many of our residents are not actually receiving the care we'd like to give them. And I wonder if that would be a possible addition. Thank you. Councillor Gough, do you want to pick up on that? Yes, I think that's a good idea. As I mentioned, a large part of the experience is simply a function of the number of calls which we receive, which is why the average wait times tend to go up. For example, around the time people receive their council tax bills, because we get a lot of calls. So actually, at the very least, in the remarks section relating the experience of the call wait time and the waits of more than five minutes to the volume of calls would also be a good idea. So we will take that on board as well. So thank you for that suggestion. Thank you very much. And perhaps, Dr Lacey, you might like to come back in six months' time and tell us whether we're being successful. I wish you and Penny good health and be lovely to see you soon. Thank you very much. Thank you. Right, so moving on, issues arising from the Scrutiny and Overview Committee, have we got that? Okay, so we've got a problem getting the vice chair of Scrutiny and Overview in. So when we've got her in, we will pick up that item with her then. So moving on to item seven, which is the quarter three performance report. Sorry, let me just get it up, starting on page 19. So this is a pretty self-explanatory document. And I'm very pleased with the way that these reports are presented these days. It makes the information very, very accessible. I think we continue to perform very well, bearing in mind, we are still in the middle of a pandemic. I think it's quite extraordinary that actually we've managed to keep so very much stuff in the green quite honestly at a time. I think lots of other councils have really caved in. Obviously things like bed and breakfast, we have had a government directive to be housing people in bed and breakfast when they've been affected by homelessness. So obviously the bill for that continues to accelerate. But I think other than that, it's pretty self-explanatory. Is there any questions on any on it, please? Yes, Councillor Brian Milne's. Thank you. I just wanted to make reference to the efforts of the bin service. As you know, we've had significant staff absences still. Some of these have been because they've put off taking annual leave until now. And obviously COVID is still part and parcel of that equation. But I'd just like to report back from some of the feedback we've had online over recent weeks, which has been very supportive of the bin crews. They know they've been going the extra mile, literally. And they've been working Saturdays to try and make sure that the green bin collections were picked up if they hadn't managed on their regular day. So I'd just like to publicly thank the service for the work that they've done and hope that it's going to be restored to a normal service as soon as possible. Thank you very much. Councillor Neil Goff. Thank you, leader. So there were a number of comments at scrutiny, which were made about the report which we've picked up on in this document, which I just wanted to highlight. So in terms of the format, the introduction basically now signposts the colour coding which has been applied to Appendix B in terms of the delivery of the business plan objectives. Also as requested in scrutiny, all the line charts now have labels. Unfortunately, these are fairly small, which is the reason they weren't provided previously, but hopefully they're helpful in providing some context. In terms of the KPIs in Appendix A, AH 21 now contains a short sentence to reflect the works being done to improve the publicity of properties to ensure that those bidding on properties are well informed. CC 305, which was the issue around the complaints, now contains a commentary on the number of open cases at the end of the period, which was requested I think by Councillor Heather Williams. And that shows the very significant progress that's been made in clearing that backlog. The measure itself will now become more useful now that we're no longer mixing current and past complaints. And then in terms of Appendix B, both B52 and B53, the ratings will remain unchanged, but the items now contain updated comments in the light of the discussion at scrutiny, providing a clearer picture of the consultation that has taken place and the status of the civic hub plans, based on further information provided by officers. So thank you to Mr Memory and to Mr Ledger for updating the report in that way. Thank you, and I believe you're going to second this. My thanks also to Kevin Ledger, who has really taken responsibility for consistently improving the way that we present this data. The narrative now is very self-explanatory, so it has massively improved on what it was. And thank you to Jeff as well for his oversight of this. Okay, so in the absence of anything from scrutiny, is this a problem we're going to be able to resolve? No, no dear. Okay, all right, thank you. So are there any questions from anybody other than Cabinet members on this? No, okay, thank you very much indeed. So the recommendation is set out in paragraph three of the report. To A, note the KPI results and comments at Appendix A and progress against the business plan actions at Appendix B, and B note the reduction in target in relation to land charges search response days as part of a phased return to pre-COVID target levels by the new financial year, as detailed within the comments section at SX025 at Appendix A. So do members agree with the proposal? Great. Anyone want to vote against? Anyone wish to abstain? Thank you, Cabinet therefore agrees that the proposal is by affirmation. So moving on now to item eight, the annual equality scheme update and progress report, and Councillor Tumey Hawkins is going to present this, and I believe Councillor Bill Handley you're going to second it. Thank you very much indeed. So Councillor Hawkins. Thank you, leader. Thank you. The report before you this morning is so update on how the equality scheme that we adopted at the end of 2020 is progressing. And just to remind us as a public authority we must have due regard to the aims of the General Equality Duty within the Equality Act which came to force in 2011. So you remember that this council voted to adopt an equality motion after the George Floyd incidents back in 14th of July 2020. And that also has had an impact on how we're dealing with equality issues. So to meet the equality aims we did set up three objectives which was to understand the level of diversity in the district, come up with actions and processes that will help us level up, which is the phrase that we are using these days, and the outcomes of those in identified disadvantaged groups. To be an employer that appreciates the strength that we can get from a diverse workforce and to widen that opportunity for diverse groups. And thirdly to make sure that protected groups are included and have their voices heard when we discuss issues to do with the future of the district. And actually we did do a lot of that when we did our first conversation and our first proposals in creating the emerging local plan, which is, as you know, close to my heart. I just want to find the race equality task and finish group for all the work that they have done on getting us this far and on whose recommendation I am now the Cabinet champion for race equality. I can say that we as a council have gone quite a way in embedding equality and diversity in our usual council activities. We also are an equality opportunities employer. We have an apprentice scheme and we are offering hybrid working for our staff. And some of the other ways that we have embedded equality and diversity includes creating a calendar of notable dates which we mark. Mark with events which are lined up by the team. We also carry out equality impact assessments when we are developing policies. Can I just mention perhaps a couple of these when it comes to reviewing access to housing and homelessness support? As you might remember in recent, in view of recent events, we are doing a lot to help refugees who come to the UK who are homeless and have helped to house eight Afghan families. And also one of the things we are doing is identifying the fact that in the race equality motion that we adopted, the black and minority ethnic access to housing and homelessness had not been good but we are doing something about that. We obtained initial data which was given to the task and finish group back in 2021. And we are hoping to have a review of the numbers this year at some point just to see how well we are working on that particular strategy. So there's a lot more in the report as you will see. But I just want to say thank you to Kevin and the entire qualities team for their hard work in getting us this far. And actually those who have attended some of the events that we've had like Black History Month, the LGBT Plus History Month, the Gypsies and Travellers and the Disabilities History Month will know just how hard the team have been working to make sure that we are up there and doing the best that we can. I will therefore like to propose a recommendation as it is in paragraph three. Thank you. Thank you very much, Councillor Hawkins. That was really helpful. Councillor Handley, do you want to speak on this? I don't think I want to add very much more from what Councillor Hawkins has said except to say I endorse it and thank the officers for a clear and well presented report. It's very good. Any questions from Members of Cabinet? Anybody else like to ask any questions? Thank you very much indeed. So the recommendations set out in paragraph three of the report. A, approve adoption of the revised Equality Scheme at Appendix A and B, review the equality scheme action plan progress report at Appendix B, detailing progress against actions set in the 2020-21 iteration of the equality scheme. So do Members agree with the proposal? Anyone wish to vote against? Anyone wish to abstain? Cabinet therefore agrees the proposals by affirmation and moving on to item nine which is parental leave policy. I am going to present this. So thank you. This was as cross-party support. We all agree it was a really important thing to do in order to ensure that we have a membership of councillors representing all age groups. That being a parent doesn't preclude you from being a councillor because in fact it's really important that we have councillors who represent people with young children and with families and our job is to make it as easy as we possibly can for people. So I'm very grateful for this report which again Jonathan Corbett has led on this from HR. So thank you very much Jonathan and I think Geoff Memory again has had oversight of it. So we've obviously kept you very busy Geoff recently since most of these reports seem to be attributed to you. So the recommendations are that we adopt this policy and this has to go to council because it's a permanent change to the six month rule which is in our constitution. So it's not something that Cabinet can just approve. It has to go on to council and in fact I think it's going to council tomorrow. So that's about the speediest turnaround we get. Council Hawkins I think you're seconding this. Do you want to add anything? Yes I'm seconding just to say very quickly that from an equality impact assessment viewpoint I'm glad that we are actually doing this because it just means that we are opening the door to more families or parents to be involved in the work of the council. Thank you. Thank you very much indeed. So I've got any questions from Cabinet members? No I'm going to invite Councillor Claire Daunton who I also need to thank. She's taken a very important lead role in delivering this and in liaising with members. So Councillor Daunton can you come off mute please Claire? Yep sorry. Can I pop on it? It's seems it's being very touchy today. Is that clear now? That's good, that's good. Yes thank you. I want to echo your thanks to Jonathan Corbett for his sterling work on this document and for the trouble that he's taken to consult LGA documentation and the documentation of other councils and to recommend it for adoption I think it's really good that we're able to do this. Thank you. Thank you very much indeed. I think Jonathan was very supported by Democratic Services so thanks to them also. Okay so if there are, oh sorry Councillor Anna Bradman. Thank you leader. I just wanted to endorse this report and I think it's a very good idea and is going to enable a wider variety of people to take part in council life and I think that's so important but one of the things I just wanted to check is that given that we need to be able to pay the person who is on maternity leave or paternity leave while we might need to also provide infill staff for that role I just wanted to make sure we're making the financial provision necessary for that. Councillor Bradman, well this is specifically about member parental leave so I think that's already, I think your question is already dealt with in the parental leave policy for our staff so we're talking here specifically about member parental leave so my understanding is that members continue to receive their allowance even when they are on parental leave. I'm sure even members on parental leave will still get lots of their residents ringing them up asking them for advice and help so thank you very much. Okay so we are going to move on to the recommendation and the recommendation is to recommend to council the adoption of this policy so are members agree with the proposal? Anyone wish to vote against and anyone wish to abstain? Cabinet therefore agrees the proposals by affirmation and now item 10 which is the 2021-22 Revenue and Capital Budget monitoring quarter three and Councillor Neil Goff is going to recommend this and I will second it. Great, thank you. Thank you Mr Maddox and his team for putting this together. I don't really have much to say on this report and the variance is quite modest as you'll see through the report. I do just want to draw attention to paragraph 17 which is quite interesting which looks at the potential impact of higher field prices associated with the current situation in terms of our budgets, not so much an issue for today, well isn't an issue for today but certainly when you look at 22-23 the potential impact of that could be quite significant. Obviously it's not within the scope of this report which is 21-22 but I thought members would be of interest to it, thank you. Thank you very much, so we are doing some other work looking at the impact of the Ukraine crisis on the organisation operationally but also the impact on our residents and in particular our tenants of course. So do any Cabinet members have any questions? Are there any questions from anyone else? Cabinet's recommended to note the forecast 21-22 revenue position against the approved revenue budget shown in Appendix B projected major variances with the reasons for these variances at Appendix C1 and C2 and the action being taken to address the underlying issues and be note the latest capital programme for 21-22 position and variances as shown at Appendix D. So I'm happy to second that. And do you members agree with proposals? Anyone wish to vote against? Anyone wishing to abstain? Cabinet therefore agrees with the proposals by affirmation. Thank you very much. We now come to item 11 which is small land sales and councillor John Batchelor is going to introduce the report and I think councillor Tumi Hawkins is seconding it. So over to you councillor Batchelor. Thank you leader. Small land sales. This is precisely what it is. It's a tidying up policy to make sure that we actually have something in writing that ensures that there's a fair and equitable way that we deal with tenants who want to purchase smaller elements of land. I should make this clear that this is only about very small patches of land and the extensions of gardens and so on and the land has no commercial value. We have different policies for larger pieces of land where our preference will always be where it's possible to actually build our own social housing. So I commend it to you. The presentation is a paragraph 4. I don't think it's a very... There's no other issues involved here. Thank you. Thank you councillor Hawkins. Thank you leader. I'm pleased to support this policy as someone who has someone in my ward who's looking for something like this. We can get on with it and get it resolved. Thank you. The important thing is that it's a slick operation for something that's fairly simple. Thank you. Any questions? The cabinet's recommended to approve the draft policy on small land transactions, HRA, Attapt and Appendix A to be considered by the Housing Engagement Board and authorised delegated authority to the lead member for housing to approve the final policies subject to minor amendments if any arising from the Housing Engagement Board. So do members agree with the proposal? Thank you. Anyone vote against? Anyone wish to abstain? Cabinet therefore agrees with the proposals by affirmation. And item 12, renewal of home improvement agency service level agreement. That is councillor John Bachelor again, this time seconded by councillor Bill Handley. Thank you so John Bachelor. Home improvement agency is a shared service. The contract is coming up for renewal. It works with the disabled and vulnerable in our communities to improve life for them. So it's a valuable service. We have had some concerns about the performance in recent times. With very long waiting times. This is being addressed now. We are making regular monitoring exercises. But basically it's a good service that we want to continue. Recommendation is at paragraph 4. I commend it to cabinet. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm happy to second. This is a really important service. My understanding is that there had been huge improvements prior to the pandemic in performance. Really, really good improvements. Of course the pandemic set everything back. But not as badly as it might have done. Hopefully they will get back to where they were as quickly as possible because it has a vital service which makes a difference to people's lives. Any questions for anyone? Nope. So cabinet is recommended to approve the renewal of the Cambridge Home Improvement Agency shared service level agreement for a further three years up to the 31st of March 2025 at Appendix A and the continuation of the current funding arrangements with the county council. Members agree with the proposal? Anyone wishing to vote against? Anyone want to abstain? So cabinet therefore agrees with the proposal by affirmation. Gosh, we're getting through the rate of knots here. So maybe things last words. Item 13, the interim position statement on first homes. So councillor Batchelor introducing this and councillor Hawkins seconding it. Councillor Batchelor. Thank you very much, leader. First homes, can I just remind members this is one of the government's latest idea about getting people on the housing ladder. It's a discount market housing scheme which means that the developers provide housing at a discount of between 30% and 50% of the market rates. So it's actually the developer who does all the initial work in getting the clients and so on where we came in and come into it is that it has to be administered in the long term. Members will also recall that we were rather dismayed at this particular policy because there was a requirement by government that 25% of all housing delivered by S106 or in other words affordable housing had to be as first homes. So this clearly would mean that we would have to reduce the amount of rented accommodation that we could provide and the shared ownership arrangements. What this paper does is set out our proposals about what should happen in the event that the 25% of housing is taken for first homes and how we deal with the rented side and the shared ownership. What our proposal is an option too which suggests that we maintain the rental element at the same level as we are delivering now but shared homes would fall back to take account of the 25% of the first homes. So it's a regrettable thing. The good news is that like many things recently the government has actually changed its mind and it has now said that this is no longer a requirement so thank goodness for that. It's no longer a requirement but it's a choice on the part of the developer so we still have to have in place a policy to deal with it should the developers to take this course. So what is before you is the policy at option two. I would particularly say thanks very much to Julie Fletcher who has actually produced a very clear and concise report and I hope we can take this forward. Thank you. Thank you, yes. My thanks to Julie as well. It's been complicated I think to battle the way through this ever-changing minefield of this. Councillor Hawkins, do you want to comment on it? Thank you, leader. I think the points made about the effect on shared homes really was what was of concern to me as well and of course from an equality point of view families who are looking to purchase a home would be affected because of that but at the same time we have young people all first time by them so we are looking for first homes. At the end of the day, now that the change has been made and it's done to the developer we'll see how it goes, we'll have to monitor it of course and see just how this affects us in delivering homes for people who really need it in the way that they need it to be affordable for them. Thank you very much. In reality there's no affordable homes in South Cambridge are they all extremely expensive? Thank you very much indeed. So the cabinet's recommended to approve the greater Cambridge first homes interim position statement and be delegated authority to the lead member for housing to prove any subsequent minor amendments and edited changes that do not materially affect the content of the interim position statement. So do members agree with the proposal? Anyone voting against? Anyone wish to abstain? Cabinet therefore agrees proposals by affirmation and sticking with Councillor John Batchelor we now have fixed term tenancies which actually is a good news item and I'm very happy to second this. So John Batchelor again. Thank you very much leader. So fixed term tenancies were introduced about nine years ago by the government and it is just what it says all the tenancies were given new tenancies were given out on a fixed ten year term. These are coming to an end or they've been come up for renewal next year. This is no longer government policy. Proposal here is that we revert to lifetime secure tenancies which we've been using previously and we are using currently so it's only fair for all those concerns. I think it's good news. It's simply the right thing to do that people have secure tenancies. So I recommend the proposal to you. Thank you very much. This is another of those good ideas that turned out not to be quite such a good idea because we all know one thing people want is security in their homes and knowing that they're not going to be turfed out at any moment. So I'm very happy. I'm very pleased that we've got this position. So any questions? Nope. So cabinet's recommended to approve the proposal to end the use of fixed term ten... Sorry. Councillor Bradman. Sorry. I'd ask a question after cabinet. I'm moving quite fast. My apologies. That's okay. I just wanted to understand the situation and it's just a matter of explanation really. What happens in the case of a lifetime tenancy at the end if younger members of the family are also resident in the house? I just... Sorry. What I mean is at the end of the lifetime. Does that then transfer to younger members of the family? I just wanted to understand that. Right. Thank you. Perhaps Julie. I think you've been Julie. Thank you. Thank you. Hello everyone. Thank you. I'm afraid it isn't a simple answer. Unfortunately, it will depend on the tenancy type that that person has in terms of whether they had a secure tenancy before, I think it was the 1st of April 2012. It's not a... The succession rule has changed and it's not a statutory requirement that it will go down to a family member if they're not a joint tenant. So each case will be looked at individually as it arises. And it may well be that actually that person doesn't need maybe a three bedroom house and we will look to help to housing somewhere smaller. So we will look at each case sensitively and individually as well. But they don't have the given right to just take on that tenancy in most cases. Before I may say, leader, I'm much reassured by that because actually what I'm thinking about is us protecting the usefulness and the capacity of our council housing. So actually I'm glad to hear it's looked at on an individual basis so that we can make sure that we are providing housing for the people who need it. But we're not tying up the housing stock that we've got with tenants who might no longer need such a big house, say for example. That's really reassuring. Thank you. Councillor Richard Williams. Thank you very much, leader. It's just a question really that follows on from that last point. When we do have these cases and somebody doesn't have automatic succession rights, I presume it is our policy that we try and re-house that's what we need to do in the same area. Because I think it can be very disruptive sometimes if people are, they might understand the need not to have a three bedroom house, but if it involves moving a long way away that's quite a big lifestyle change and impact. I like you, I hope it's a case. Julie, do you want to come in? Thank you. Yes, as I say, we would look at each case individually. It really depends on their circumstances. Obviously, we wouldn't move them out of their support networks, etc. But we'd also take into account things like forward ability. Obviously, if we felt that they could afford to purchase on the open market or privately, then we would have to look at all options. But as I say, it really depends on their situation in terms of the current tendency of the person who's deceased and what succession rights they have. But we would certainly not put somebody out on the streets without helping them to do an alternative accommodation. Do you want to come back to Williams? I might actually take it up with Julie offline if that's okay. That's fine, that's fine. I mean, I have every confidence in the housing team. They are immeasurably caring of people and I've seen numerous examples of that. So, moving on then, the recommendation is to approve the proposal to end the use of fixed-term tenancies for its own housing tenants and replace these with lifetime tenancies for both existing and new tenants. The council's approach to introductory tenancies will remain unchanged. Introductory tenancies are for a period of 12 months but can be extended for further 18 months if the tenancy is not being conducted in a satisfactory manner. So, do members agree with the proposal? Okay, so I'm just checking that. Yep. Did anyone wish to vote against? Anyone wish to abstain? Cabinet therefore agrees the proposal is by affirmation. Now, we're moving on to item 15, which is the Urban Street Housing Review of the Business Plan. Please note, Appendix A of this item is restricted as it's commercially sensitive. It's not anticipated that decisions will need to take place on the Appendix. However, if requested, a move to confidential session will be required. This includes the exempt, scrutiny and overview report at agenda item 18. So, does anybody wish to discuss any of the exempt commercially sensitive parts of this report? Okay, well, we can always move into closed session if anything changes, but we'll stay in public session for now. So, Councillor John Batchelor is going to present this, and I think Councillor Neil Doff is going to second it. Thank you very much, leader. So, what we've got before us is the latest iteration of the Urban Street Business Plan, subject to annual review. So, Urban Street, as we know, was set up several years ago with the object of getting to 500 houses. That is just about to be met in the next few weeks. But Urban Street is not just an investment vehicle. A point I'd like to make at least initially is that Urban Street is actually a close partner for the housing department. For example, they've provided three houses in Campbell, which are houses of multiple occupancy. These have been used by Shire Homes as temporary accommodation, which helps to service our bed and breakfast accommodation requirements. Equally, they have provided four properties of Afghan refugees, and are standing by should the need arise to do the same to support Ukrainian refugees. As well as renting properties on the open market through their own ownership, they also have a significant business in taking Ministry of Defence homes on five-year leases. They improve the properties and rent them out. They currently have three lease arrangements in place with the Defence Infrastructure Organization. That's at Water Beach, Basingbourne and Brampton. All leases have been reviewed and extended for another five years. A number of units increased by six in Water Beach five in Basingbourne and 36 in Brampton bring the total number of lease properties to 190. The current acquisition position today is that the company has acquired 484 properties. There are three more in the pipeline. One is a block with 14 flats, and they have 14 separate titles, so they count as individual properties. So this will make a total of 500 the target which was set back in 2015. Any future expansion in the form of additional housing beyond the 500 properties will be subject to further agreement from the council with an agreement about future loan terms and rates. The company's work will benefit the council by £3.43 million in interest payments this year. The head of housing, Head of Urban Street, Councillor John Williams and myself meet on a regular basis to review strategy and possible future development with the council. Duncan Bersie and his small team has done a brilliant job here. They should really be congratulated on delivering very real benefits for South County District Council and creating a solid business that is valuable and an appreciating asset for the future. A good business will be done to all those concerned. I recommend the business plan to the cabinet. Thank you, leader. Thank you very much indeed. That was a very good summary. Sorry, I lost my place at the moment. Councillor Neil Gough, you are second in this. Do you want to add anything to that, please? That's lovely, thank you. Any questions from cabinet? Any questions from anybody else on Urban Street? Councillor Bradman. Thank you, leader. I just wanted to... Sorry, it was really after this item, but I just wanted to... I have just spoken to Councillor Rippeth to see if she wanted to join me here to take part in the meeting, but she said the internet has been so problematic she's going to give her apologies for the meeting. Yes, she did message me. I think she's very frustrated that the team seems to have let her down at her end rather than ours, so that's a shame. But we've had their reports. Okay, so moving on if there's no more questions. The recommendation set out in paragraph three of the report to approve in their capacity as shareholder of the Urban Street business plan for the period 2021-22 and to 2030-2031. Members agree with the proposal? Thank you. Anyone wish to vote against? Anyone wishing to abstain? Thank you, cabinet. Therefore, agrees with proposals by affirmation and my thanks to officers who've worked very hard on this. Okay, so we're now going to come to item 16 which is the exclusion of the press and public. Point in our agenda where we need to consider whether to exclude the press and public from the meeting. This is because the next items contain information which is commercially sensitive. Members of the public are advised that if cabinet agrees to exclude the press and public, the video stream will end. I therefore propose that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business in accordance with section 100a brackets 4 of the Local Government Act 1972. On the grounds that, if present, there would be a disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph three of paragraph one of schedule 12a of the Act brackets as amended is that seconded. I can't look off, yes, you are doing that. Do members agree with proposal? Anyone wish to vote against? Anyone abstaining? Cabinet therefore agrees with proposal by affirmation. Members of the public who are watching the webcast, this means the video stream will now end. Thank you very much for joining us to view today's cabinet meeting and I note the next meeting cabinet is scheduled to take place on Monday the 13th of June 2022 at 10 o'clock. Right, thanks very much.