Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Freeman & McMullen.

There were no declarations of interest declared at the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 June 2025 were confirmed as a true record with one amendment requested by Councillor Murray-Smith.

On page 7 of the agenda pack, first paragraph, the minute to read as follows:-

"the contractor had advised the Council that they were going into liquidation, the Council then exercises its right to terminate the agreement prior to the contractor going into liquidation". The words "as the employer" being deleted.

There were no matters arising from the above minutes which were not covered elsewhere on the agenda.

The Chair reported that there was still an outstanding matter; that a report be brought back to the committee detailing the original GY Beach Hut Contract and an update on the progress of sales of Beach Huts in GY & Gorleston.

The Committee received and considered the report from the Information Governance Lead & Data Protection Officer.

The Information Governance Lead & Data Protection Officer informed the Committee that the wrong performance report had been appended to the agenda and that the correct document had been circulated earlier in the day.

The Information Governance Lead & Data Protection Officer gave an update on performance for the first quarter of 2024/25 (April – June) where progress is assessed against Targets which are set at the start of the financial year.

The report also provided an update on the position of key projects that are linked to the corporate priorities from ‘The Plan 2020-2025’. A summary of progress for the suite of key projects and individual highlight reports for each of these key projects are presented in Appendix 1 of the report.

The performance measures, at Appendix 2, gave a comprehensive overview of how the authority, as a whole, was performing and cover most Council functions.

A review of all projects was conducted at the end of the 2023/24 financial year and a new list of key projects was established and included in the Council’s 2024/25 Annual Action Plan, this was approved by Cabinet on 8th April 2024.

The project highlight reports provided a summary of the project, milestones and achievements, alongside open issues, mitigation and a financial summary.

Each report had a current status, which can be green, amber or red. Out of the ten projects, nine have a current green status defined as no problems or minor issues and one has an amber status, defined as having problems which have been identified but with a contingency plan in place.

Performance measures covered the full range of services delivered by the Council. The details in this summary report provided quantitative information about the performance of these services and provide useful trend data. A traffic light status easily identified if improvement was required.

There are some areas across the Council where performance is below the target level set (RAG rating) or where no target has been set, performance was moving in the wrong directions (Direction of Travel). These measures were highlighted in the appropriate service committee section of the report.

In total there are 40 targeted and 37 monitored measures reported in the first quarter performance report. Information was not available for 3 of the targeted measures due to the migration of the Housing Service to a new integrated housing assets and management computer system. The monitored measures were reported for contextual information, this data was important information for the Council, as the actions of the Council might make improvements, however, there was not sufficient control over the outcome to set a target.

Councillor Newcombe asked for the data in regard to the number of stage 1 and stage 2 letters that had been issued to residents as a result of contaminated items in their bins. The Information Governance Lead & Data Protection Officer reported that he did not have this data to hand but would respond to Councillor Newcombe with the data via email.

Councillor Grant reported that he had spoken to the owner of Autohire who had informed him that, as a landowner, he had not received any correspondence from the Council in respect of acquiring the land  under CPO. The Information Governance Lead & Data Protection Officer reported that he would forward a response after the meeting to clarify the situation.

RESOLVED:- 

That Scrutiny Committee note:-

(i)  That all measures will be monitored during the next quarter; and

(ii)  All key projects will continue to be monitored over the next quarter with the aim of maintaining a green status and, where possible, attaining a green status for those key projects which are currently amber.

The Committee received and considered the report from the Financial Services Manager.

The Executive Director - Resources reported the salient points of the month 3 budget monitoring position for financial year 2025/26 for both the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) including the respective capital programmes and financing, which included explanations for significant variances to the budgets currently forecast for the full year.

The Executive Director - Resources reported that in regard to transfers to and from earmarked reserves, the total variance of £355k reflected the change in the forecast net movement of transfers to and from earmarked reserves. The £355k largely reflected the planned use of earmarked reserves for overspends forecast within net cost of services (included in the £467k variance) that were in line with the intended use of the earmarked reserves. 

The Executive Director - Resources reported that the budget report, as approved in February 2025, recommended a re-allocation of £721k million from earmarked reserves to mitigate the forecast deficit for 2025/26 at that time. Currently, the forecasted use of earmarked reserves for the year was now £1,348k. Following the forecast transfer ,the balance on the general reserve was forecast to be £5.83 million (after the forecast deficit of £462k) and £8.97 million within earmarked reserves on the 31 March 2026.

The Executive Director - Resources reported that the Housing Revenue Accounts forecast for the full financial year at month 3 reflected a deficit of £241k, against a budget surplus of £110k, resulting in an adverse variance of £352k.

Councillor Grant asked if the reduction in council house right to buy sales would affect the affordable housing programme, and if so, was there mitigation in place. The Executive Director - Resources reported that the Council would look to borrow where applicable if there was a shortfall and at the present time there were no plans to scale back the AH programme.

The Chair asked whether the Council would still pursue best value if Council voted to approve the 3 unitary council model on 25 September 2025. The Executive Director reported that the Council would receive its government settlement before Christmas and although funding would be shifted from shire/district councils, further work would be required on our forecasts until 2027/2028.

Councillor Newcombe referred to page 63 of the agenda report, the Garden Tea Rooms, and highlighted the loss year on year of £120k and what mitigation would be put in place to try and reduce this. The Executive Director reported that no variance had been flagged year to date with the net budgeted figure of £27k.

Councillor Grant asked whether the Council had considered his request from last year; that the Council produce a zero based budget. The Executive Director reported that her finance team did not have the resources to undertake a zero based budget and that this had not been costed. She had spoken to colleagues in other authorities who produced a zero based budget and they had undertaken this process over a number of years and it did not deliver significant savings taking into account the time and effort involved by the finance teams.

RESOLVED:-

That Scrutiny Committee note the contents of the report and the revised forecast for the General Fund & Housing Revenue Account for 2025/26, the use of earmarked reserves and the prudential coordinators as set out in Appendix F of the report.

The Committee received a presentation from the Head of Property & Asset Management.

The presentation provided an overview of the current Charges applied to Events held on GYBC land. These slides covered off the following questions:-

(i) What are the policies/rules regarding use of council owned land for corporate events/charitable events/community& neighbourhood events,

(ii) Are there any exemptions of payment; and

(iii) Arrangements for the Summer Firework Displays held at the Golden Mile.

The Head of Service reported that it had been agreed by Cabinet in January 2025 agenda item 24-079 to not apply any increase on event fees between 2024/25 and 2025/26. 

The Head of Service reported that the charges applied for events were clearly stipulated and enforced for the year of 2025/26 as per the agreed fees. In most cases, applications for events would be captured using the online portal 'Apply 4' where each event would be charged an initial application fee. 

The Head of Service gave a breakdown of event fees and charges which were applicable depending on the size, location and type of applicant.

The Head of Service reported that the Summer Fireworks for Great Yarmouth and the Golden Mile were hosted by GYTABIA. They were responsible for the organisation of the firework/ plane display and evening entertainment and they were not charged to host these events for the summer of 2025.

Councillor Jeal highlighted weekend car events held on Anchor Gardens and the land adjacent to Joyland which were staged by GYBID and asked for confirmation that they paid a fee to the Council as they had an events budget. The Executive Director - Resources reported that GYTABIA paid a yearly fee which covered every event which they staged and that she would forward a list of fees and charges to Councillor Jeal after the meeting.

Councillor Jeal asked if the Out There Festival paid a fee to hold their event on St Georges Park and Blackfriars car park. The Executive Director - Place reported that they did not pay a fee to the Council as the Out There Festival was an event recognised by the National Arts Council, and as a local authority, we recognised this and did not charge a fee for the use of our land.

The Chair reported that Blackfriars car park was owned by GYPT and not the Council.

The Executive Director reported that we did not charge a charity a fee to use our land for an event if they allowed residents into the event free of charge.

Councillor Robinson-Payne asked whether a clause was included or whether the Council could recharge for any damage done to the grass by cars and motorbikes at Anchor Gardens and St Georges Park. The Head of Service reported that if evidence of damage was provided to the Council, the event organiser would be charged to put the surface right.

Councillor Robinson-Payne asked if officers inspected an event space after an event to check for damage. The Head of Service reported that no officers were designated to this task but our Rangers regularly patrolled this area and GYS Teams cleaned the seafront on a regular basis and would report any damage as part of their remit.

Councillor Robinson-Payne asked how damage could be reported by the public to the Council. The Executive Director reported that this could be reported on our Love Clean Streets App. Councillor Robinson-Payne reported that Councillors on both sides had regularly reported the state of the grass after an event. The Executive Director reported that as it had been such a dry summer, the earth was baked dry and hard resulting to little or no damage to the grass.

Councillor P Carpenter asked if our fees and charges schedule was benchmarked against other local authorities to ensure it demonstrated best value. The Executive Director reported that the fees and charges are sense checked against other comparable local authorities.

Councillor Murray-Smith asked whether Cabinet had signed off the discount for fees and charges which could be applied by senior management at their discretion. The Executive Director reported that a flexible approach to the fees and charges had been agreed whilst they bedded in.

Councillor Murray-Smith reported that the discretionary payments were acceptable in principle but this must be made clear in the fees & charges document in the public domain to provide clarity and transparency. This should be formally covered in the budgetary process and be clearly documented.

The Chair reported that clarity and examples of discretionary fees and categories of fees should be included within the report narrative.

The Executive Director confirmed that the Council did not charge for the use of its land for the six week summer firework event season due to the wider economic benefit to the town.

Councillor Wainwright reported that the fees and charges was historical and would take effect from 2025/26. Cabinet set the Fees & Charges not Council. The Summer Fireworks were a huge economic benefit to the borough and there was nothing dodgy about the application of discounts by senior management at their discretion.

Councillor Murray-Smith reported that he did not use the term "dodgy, he was protecting the Council from potential criticism by ensuring everything was documented and signed off before being placed in the public domain. The Scrutiny Committee must ensure that things are done correctly.

The Chair suggested that the next Fees & Charges report to include a rider that states that discounts could be awarded and this information to be recorded on a spreadsheet when the charge has deviated from policy and this to be reported to Scrutiny Committee on an annual basis.

RESOLVED:-

That the Committee note the report.

The Committee received and considered the Work Programme 2025-2026.

The Chair reported that he was looking forward to a comprehensive report from Active Norfolk in November which broke the required data, outcomes and metrics as requested by the committee on a ward to ward basis against the 6 target areas which had been identified.This was endorsed by Councillors Grant, Wainwright, Waters-Bunn & Jeal.

The executive Director - Place reported that this remit was covered by herself and the Executive Director - People.

The Chair asked that the original minutes relating to Active Norfolk & Active GY be found and re-circulated to the committee for information prior to the meeting in November.

RESOLVED:-

That the Committee note and agree the Work Programme 2025-2026.