The Cabinet Update
Welcome to the Cabinet Update - this is where you can find out about all the key decisions made by Stockton Borough Council's Cabinet.
Here you can find out on a month to month basis details of decisions taken
by the Council's Cabinet that the public may find of particular interest.
These also include relevant contact information to find out more about the
particular subject; and offer suggestions of where more help and advice can
be obtained from. The Blog provides details about the members of the
Cabinet; and how you can contact them, and also contains a Forward Plan of issues it proposes to
consider in the next four months, with details of how we intend to carry
out consultation on each occasion. Members of the public are invited to
submit their views on any of the matters referred and can, if they wish,
attend the meeting themselves when the matter is to be considered and speak
on the item with the agreement of the Chairman (Leader).
How it works
Cabinet is the executive decision making body of the Council. It has
responsibility for implementing the agreed policies of the Council by
making decisions within that framework. These policies and decisions can
affect, and ultimately benefit, all areas of the Borough. The cabinet can
also seek to recommend changes that it wishes the full Council to make to
its existing policy framework or its budget/financial arrangements (Medium
Term Financial Plan).
It is made up of nine councillors; each with responsibility for different
services of the Council's operation; and referred to as Portfolios. Details
of the Cabinet membership and individual Portfolios are available at cabinet portfolios
Cabinet meet every four weeks, usually in the Lecture Hall at Stockton Central Library. Details of the dates of future meetings and copies of agendas, reports and minutes, are available at meetings
Members of the public are welcome to attend the meetings, except on rare occasions when items being discussed involve confidential or exempt information - for instance when considering the financial or business affairs of a third party; or matters concerning employees.
Members of the public attending the meeting may speak provided they have obtained the permission of the Leader, who chairs the meeting. Further information on the public protocol of meetings of the Cabinet is available at Protocols for Questions and attendance at Council meetings
Below are dated entries about some of the most important decisions taken by Cabinet at its latest meetings. More in-depth information is available at - cabinet decisions
You may also want to look at the Forward Plan and Officer Executive Decisions. If you would like to receive email when your chosen topic is mentioned in a decision record, you should look at Topic Alerting Registration, which you can also access from the same page.
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Ambitious Housing Regeneration Proposals Agreed by Cabinet
STOCKTON Council's Cabinet tonight (14 January) agreed ambitious housing
regeneration proposals to transform two Stockton neighbourhoods.
At Parkfield, it agreed to start community consultation on proposals to
extend the boundary for the existing Parkfield Mill Lane housing
regeneration scheme.
It is proposed to extend the boundary in Phase 2 to Dovecot Street in order
to provide enough scale of change to deliver the transformation and
improvement needed for the area.
The 152 households in the area included in the proposed extension will
receive a hand delivered letter with details of all the proposals and will
be invited to one-to-one sessions with staff from Stockton Council to talk
through any queries or concerns they may have.
This is the latest development in the £60 million regeneration masterplan
for Parkfield Mill Lane. When the Council's Cabinet first approved the
demolition boundary in 2005, many residents just outside the boundary
voiced disappointment they were not in it.
The consultation which will now take place will gauge support for the new
proposals.
The Council's ambitious 15 to 20 year plans for the Parkfield Mill Lane
area aim to transform it into a thriving residential neighbourhood and, to
date, have demolished more than 200 properties and built 90 new homes
there.
At Swainby Road, residents were consulted on demolition proposals in
October 2009 and there was overwhelming support.
During the consultation, 119 people responded with 99 per cent in favour of
the regeneration plans. At the heart of the scheme is an opportunity for
residents affected to be initially rehoused and then given priority to
return by moving into new homes once they are built.
Now, Stockton Council and Tristar Homes will be working with the community
to progress this multi million pound scheme.
The area is also soon to benefit from multi million investment in a new
academy for secondary school children, state-of-the-art youth facilities
for young people at MySpace and an additional 330 new high-quality homes on
the former Hills Joinery site.
Councillor Steve Nelson, Stockton Council's Cabinet Member for Housing and
Community Safety, said: "Stockton Council has an ambitious housing
regeneration programme throughout the Borough and is committed to ensuring
that all its residents enjoy good quality housing in safe, well designed
neighbourhoods.
"This latest Cabinet decision shows we continue to meet this commitment to
residents despite the current economic climate."
Together, these two schemes could create more than 600 jobs for local
people.
Stockton Council continues to work on the successful, ambitious housing
regeneration plans at Hardwick and Mandale where, to date, more than 1,200
properties have been demolished and more than 1,000 residents successfully
relocated into new high-quality housing. Further information on progress on
any of the above can be obtained from Sharon Thomas, Housing Regeneration
Manager, tel. 01642 527024, e-mail Sharon.Thomas@stockton.gov.uk
Housing Futures (Options for Future Investment)
In September 2009, Cabinet had formally endorsed 'stock transfer' as the
Authority's preferred delivery option to secure future stock and service
investment needs. Since then a number of key work streams had been taken
forward including; the establishment of the new-style Tristar Homes Shadow
Board, identification of 'other' assets that may transfer (for example
associated land and estate shops), consultation with tenants in estates
that were deemed not to be sustainable in the long term, ongoing financial
modelling, the development of the Offer document and critically
negotiations with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) leading to the
submission of a formal Transfer Application.
The Shadow Board had met on a number of occasions to progress the business
of the potential new landlord. It was explained that as part of the
transfer the Council needed to consider if it was appropriate to transfer
associated assets such as estate shops, land and park and cemetery
lodges.
Details were provided on the clarification sought by the Council from the
HCA on timescales for a formal Transfer Application. To ensure that the
Council was in a position to take full advantage of the current 'transfer
window' it was imperative that once the HCA approved the Councils Transfer
Application (and Offer document) that the Council then proceeded
immediately to the formal stages of consultation with tenants. The
timetable for consultation was prescribed by Government and detailed below:
- Offer Document issued to each secure and introductory tenant (Stage 1). This would be followed by a 28 day consultation period, in this period tenants would be invited to provide feedback (via pre-paid reply cards) on the transfer proposal.
- The Council would then take account of tenants' comments and decide whether the transfer proposal needed to be altered and whether to proceed to ballot.
- If the Council decided to go ahead a letter would be sent to all tenants (called a Stage 2 letter).
- A confidential ballot would then be organised by the Council (to be carried out by an independent organisation - the Electoral Reform Society). A 28 day ballot period was considered to be the norm.
Further information on the above can be obtained from Julie Nixon, Head of Housing, tel. 01642 527072, e-mail Julie.Nixon@stockton.gov.uk
Review of the Stockton Renaissance Partnership Board
Cabinet was advised of the results of the review carried of the Stockton
Renaissance Partnership, made up as follows:-

The detailed methodology used for the review, which included consultation
with stakeholders, telephone surveys, self assessment and comparison with
other Renaissance Partnerships, was noted.
Overall the review concluded that it was valued as a vehicle for
partnership working in the borough and compared favourably with the meeting
attendees' experience of other similar Partnership's in the Tees Valley.
This view is supported by the Audit Commission's independent
Comprehensive Area Assessment report published in December which indicated
that LSP priorities and arrangements were strong and flexible enough to
respond to key issues.
Areas were highlighted for improvement regarding Governance, Performance
Reporting, Inclusivity and Communication, and actions and an Improvement
Plan to address these areas were agreed.
Further details of the activities of the Stockton Renaissance Partnership
can be found at http://www.stockton.gov.uk/renaissance/
Further information on the outcome of the above review can be obtained from
Lesley King, Head of Policy, Performance and Partnerships, tel. 01642
527004; e-mail Lesley.King@stockton.gov.uk.
If you wish to comment on any of the decisions made by Cabinet above; or find out more about any of the issues discussed, please send messages and information requests to Democratic Services where staff will be pleased to hear from you. Democratic Services, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, Law & Democracy, Municipal Buildings, Church Road, Stockton-on-Tees TS18 1LD. Tel: 01642 528173 Fax: 01642 528162 Email: DemocraticServices@stockton.gov.uk.
