Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Chauhan.

There were no items of urgent business received.

There were no declarations of interest received.

There were no public questions received.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Cabinet Meeting held on 10th February 2020 be approved as a correct record.

The Cabinet gave consideration to a report of the Director of Economy which provided information relating to a Council-owned joint venture and its landholding in and around Crossbank Street, Primrose Bank.

Members were informed that, in 1995, the Council had set up the Meridian Development Company with private sector partners Interurban Limited. In setting up the joint venture, the Council had acquired an interest in the Meridian Business Centre and used the company to develop Saddleworth Business Centre, which was completed in 1998 using European Regional Development Funding. The joint venture was established in such a way that the agreement of all shareholders was required in order to facilitate any changes to the company structure.

A second company had been set up in 2001, to facilitate the development of second phase of the Albert Mill site. The second company was needed as one of the shareholders in the original company had died and his descendants did not want to participate in developing Phase 2 of the site. The shareholding in the new company was split between the Council and the two private shareholders. The two private sector partners were now keen to retire and sell their shares.

The Council had procured a valuation of the Company assets and, due to their increasing years and the need to remove themselves from the Company and ‘retire’, the private sector shareholders had suggested that they would be prepared to consider a sale at the values identified in the independent valuation report.

Options/Alternatives considered:

Option 1 - Do Nothing

Option 2 - Offer the opportunity for sale on the open market

Option 3 - Proceed to acquire the assets held by the company based on the recently secured valuation.

RESOLVED – That the Cabinet would consider the commercially sensitive information contained at Item 13 of the agenda before making a decision. 

The Cabinet was informed that further information had been received which required consideration.

RESOLVED - That this Item be deferred to a later meeting.

The Cabinet gave consideration to a report of the Director of Economy which sought approval of the purchase of 19 x five-bedroom homes currently being built at Primrose Bank.

The Cabinet noted that ‘Creating a Better Place’ incorporated significant programmes of work that had been progressed over the past eighteen months in order to set out a comprehensive vision and strategic framework for the borough. These included the:

·         Updated vision for Oldham Town Centre;

·         Housing Strategy 2019; and

·         Updated Medium Term Property Strategy.

Creating a Better Place focused on building more homes for Oldham residents, creating new jobs through town centre regeneration, and ensuring Oldham was a great place to visit with lots of family-friendly and accessible places to go.

The proposed acquisition was in accordance with the strategic framework to Create a Better Place approved by Cabinet in January 2020 and was in accordance with the Housing Strategy adopted in 2019.

The Cabinet was informed that there was a severe shortage of four and five-bedroomed properties for rent in the Borough and that these properties would ensure that 19 families were re-housed into decent and affordable homes.

The Cabinet also noted that these properties would be very energy-efficient and would be powered by renewable energy in a unique project which enabled Oldham to lead on the delivering the green agenda.

Options/Alternatives considered:

Option 1 - complete the purchase using S106 Contributions.

Option 2 - complete purchase not using S106 Contributions.

Option 3 - Do not complete the purchase.

RESOLVED – That the Cabinet would consider the commercially sensitive information contained at Item 15 of the agenda before making a decision.   

Consideration was given to a report of the Strategic Director of Communities and Reform which sought approval for the Council’s re-contracting of Occupational Health and associated services from 1 April 2020, as part of a Greater Manchester (GM) Human Resources collaboration.

The Cabinet was informed that the Council currently used Occupational Health, Physiotherapy and Employee Assistance (including Counselling) services in order to support employees, meet statutory obligations and help reduce sickness absence.

These services were presently delivered, through contract, by Health Management Limited. The Occupational Health element was delivered directly via the supplier, Physiotherapy and the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) were subcontracted. The contract was a collaborative one entered into by Bolton, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, TfGM, Trafford and Wigan Councils and the current arrangement terminated on the 31st March

2020.

In 2019 the collaborative group reviewed the current contract arrangements and, having considered the ever-challenging Occupational Health market and the requirement to provide these proactive services to the workforce, it was agreed to retender as a group. Bury and Salford Councils had joined the collaborative group for the procurement of the Employee Assistance Programme element of the contract. Following advice from the GM Procurement Hub, it was agreed that the group would use the existing Crown Commercial Services Occupational Health Services Framework.

This was based on:

·         All organisations having an outsourced service

·         The majority of service requirements being the same

·         A shared view that services provided by the current provider can be inconsistent in quality

·         Bury’s EAP arrangements expiring at the end of March 2020 and Salford not currently having EAP provision.

Collaboration with other Authorities provided the Council with the following

advantages:

·         A more cost-effective Occupational Health Service delivered through greater economies of scale achieved by the successful supplier, and

·         A forum through which benchmarking, the sharing of practice and contract management continued to be made more effective.

Supplier selection had taken place between the 6th November 2019 and 6th December 2019, with all collaborating bodies agreeing the outcome of the selection process. Selection included assessment of questions asked via the mini-competition process and extensive clarification responses. The outcome identified Optima Health Ltd as the selected provider for Occupational Health and Physiotherapy, and People Asset Management Ltd for the delivery of the Employee Assistance Programme.

Options/Alternatives considered:

Option 1 - Do nothing

Option 2 - run a separate procurement process independently

Option 3 - award the contract to the preferred suppliers as outlined above.

RESOLVED – That the Cabinet would consider the commercially sensitive information contained at Item 16 of the agenda before making a decision.   

Members gave consideration to a report of the Deputy Chief Executive which sought approval to purchase 17 Grounds Maintenance vehicles. A mini

competition had been held via the TPPL framework for the Vehicles.

The Cabinet was informed that the Council’s Grounds Maintenance Service required a fleet of 17 double cab tipper vehicles to ensure efficient and effective working methods across the Borough. After exploring the options available, the service was seeking approval to purchase the new vehicle fleet through the procurement framework.

The Cabinet was informed that the current fleet had already passed its end life of 7 years. After this point the cost of maintaining and repairing vehicles generally exceeded the borrowing costs of a new vehicle fleet. The Service used double cab tippers to enable the teams to get around the Borough as a group, without the need for extra vehicles.

There was a commitment to replace the fleet with compliant vehicles to ensure that the air quality strategy was fully supported. An electric option for this style of vehicle was largely untested, with availability and costs still major factors. Each those vehicles showed a cost of £80,000 as against the procured cost proposed of £27,322 The replacement vehicles would be euro 6 diesel engines and therefore deemed fully compliant.

Options/Alternatives considered:

Option 1 - purchase 17 new Grounds Maintenance vehicles via the TPPL Framework as approved in the Fleet Management Replacement Programme.

Option 2 - not purchase the new vehicles.

RESOLVED – That the Cabinet would consider the commercially sensitive information contained at Item 17 of the agenda before making a decision.   

The Cabinet gave consideration to a report of the Head of Strategy and Performance which provided a review of Council performance to December 2019.

The report provided the Cabinet with an overview of the Council’s performance against priorities outlined within the Corporate Plan, which had been monitored in the period October to December 2019.

Options/Alternatives considered:-

To note the Council performance October to December 2019.

RESOLVED – That the Council Performance Report December 2019 be noted.

That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they contain exempt information under paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and it would not, on balance, be in the public interest to disclose the reports.

RESOLVED - That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they contain exempt information under paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and it would not, on balance, be in the public interest to disclose the reports.

The Cabinet gave consideration to the commercially sensitive information in relation to Item 6 – Meridian Development Company: Land and Property at Meridian Centre and Crossbank Street, Primrose Bank [Werneth].

RESOLVED – That all recommendations as detailed within the commercially sensitive report be approved.

The Cabinet was informed that further information had been received which required consideration.

RESOLVED - That this Item be deferred to a later meeting.

The Cabinet gave consideration to the commercially sensitive information in relation to Item 8 – Primrose Bank Acquisition, Werneth.

RESOLVED – That all recommendations as detailed within the commercially sensitive report be approved.

The Cabinet gave consideration to the commercially sensitive information in relation to Item 9 – Occupational Health and Associated Services Contract.

RESOLVED – That all recommendations as set out within the commercially sensitive report be approved.

The Cabinet gave consideration to the commercially sensitive information in relation to Item 10 – Grounds Maintenance Replacement Vehicle Fleet.

RESOLVED – That all recommendations as set out within the commercially sensitive report be approved.