Asset Management, Culture & Housing Cabinet Member – Minutes – 25 February 2015

136   (36) MAJOR PARTNER MUSEUM FUNDED POSTS – NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE MUSEUM SERVICE – The Director of Places submitted a report seeking approval to establish two new fixed term posts within the Museum Service.

Arts Council England had awarded a grant of £2.5m jointly to North Lincolnshire Museum Service, Hull City Museums and East Riding of Yorkshire Museums.  The grant would fund an under 5s project which was being delivered across the three Museum Services.

Some of this funding would provide for employing two fixed term Learning Officers in North Lincolnshire.  One post would be to backfill the Learning Manager who would be co-ordinating the under 5s project.  The other post was an under 5s Learning Officer to deliver the project in North Lincolnshire.

Funding from the Arts Council England would cover all the costs of the posts.  The partnership board required that the posts were advertised externally.

Resolved – (a) That the establishment of the fixed term (three year) posts of Learning Officer and Learning Officer under 5s be approved, and (b) that the progress of a recruitment process to fill the posts be approved.

137   (37) MUSEUM ACCREDITATION ACCESS POLICY – The Director of Places submitted a report seeking approval for the Museum Service Access Policy.

The Accreditation Scheme set nationally agreed standards for museums.  Being part of the scheme showed the council’s commitment to managing museum collections effectively for the enjoyment and benefit of customers.

The Museum Registration Scheme began in 1988.  Since then it had supported museums to raise standards and identify areas for development.  In 2004, the scheme was renamed ‘Accreditation’.  The scheme was regarded as one of the most innovative and effective developments in the museum sector.  The scheme was administered by Arts Council England.

The North Lincolnshire Museum and Normanby Hall Country Park were both Accredited Museums.  It was a requirement, as part of the scheme, to submit evidence that the council continued to maintain the Accreditation Standard.  The Accreditation Return must be submitted by April 2015.

As part of the return, the council was asked to identify any significant changes that had taken place since the last award.  Copies of revised policy documents were also required.  Therefore formal approval was sought for the following document:

  • The Museum Service Access Policy

The documents set out in detail how the council would provide the widest possible access to the Museums collections and services.

Resolved – That the North Lincolnshire Museum Service Access Policy, be approved.

138   (38) COMMUNITY RIGHT TO BID – NOMINATIONS REGISTER AS AT 30/01/2015 – The Director of Places submitted a report updating the Cabinet Member on the progression of the Community Right to Bid process in North Lincolnshire.

The Community Right to Bid initiative allowed local community groups or parish councils to nominate buildings or land for listing as Assets of Community Value under the Community Right to Bid scheme.

For a local group to successfully nominate an asset it would have to show that:

  • it was based within the local authority area (or a neighbouring authority); and
  • it was a group that was qualified to make the nomination.

Listed assets must either improve, or had recently improved, the community’s social wellbeing or social interest.  They must also be likely of doing so in the future.

The Nominations Register set out the progress made for each nomination from the date it was received through to the listing review, as applicable.  The Nominations Register was appended to the report.

Resolved – That the latest information held within the Nominations Register be noted.

The corresponding reports of the following items (Minutes 139-140 refer) contain exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

139  (39) INVESTMENT IN HOUSING LED REGENERATION – The Director of Places submitted a report setting out the progress on housing schemes funded via the Property Trading Account General Fund managed schemes programme.

An investment strategy for the use of New Homes Bonus funding was approved in February 2012; one of the three priorities was housing led regeneration.

A number of investments were approved in the last financial year; full details of these were set out in Appendix 1 to the report.  Members had decided that the Property Trading Account (PTA) would fund housing schemes (via the General Fund managed schemes mechanism) instead of using New Homes Bonus funding when setting the council’s budget for 2014/15.

Conditions in the local housing market remained tough.  Where additional costs arose to meet the special needs of a particular group schemes may not go ahead without financial assistance.

The council worked with housing associations and others to meet local needs set out in the housing strategy.  The council could provide vital match funding that enabled schemes to go ahead.  Infrastructure could also be provided on council owned sites to make them more attractive to house builders.

Recommendations to provide funding to two housing schemes were set out in Appendix 2 to the report.

Resolved – (a) That the proposal to contribute up to £160,000 from the PTA housing managed schemes general fund budget towards the housing schemes, as set out in Appendix 2 to the report, with the final contribution subject to an in depth financial appraisal, be approved in principle; (b) that the Director of Places, in consultation with the Cabinet Member, be authorised to approve the final contributions to the two housing schemes up to the maximum levels set out in the appendices to the report, and (c) that further reports be submitted to the Cabinet Member as other housing schemes be developed to fulfil the council’s housing strategy.

140   (40) PROPERTY TRANSACTION SCHEDULE – The Director of Places submitted a report for consideration, and where necessary, approval of a schedule containing the terms of all recently negotiated property transactions.

The schedule covered both operational and commercial property.

Resolved – That the schedule appended to the report be approved.

Note: Reports are in Portable Document Format (PDF) and therefore require a suitable reader to view them. A reader can be downloaded free from the Adobe website (full instructions for downloading the reader are provided on the site).

Where there is no report this is because it is exempt, as it contains information which is considered to be of a confidential nature, as detailed in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act.