Cabinet Member decisions

Decision:

The Cabinet Member for Environment agrees to provide delegated authority to the Director of Highways, Transportation and Waste to award contractual arrangements for a waste compactor replacement programme and associated repair and maintenance servicing agreement.

Background:

Waste compactors are required at Household Waste Recycling Centres to maximise capacity of waste being disposed where the Final Disposal Outlets are not within the locality of the facility. The majority of KCC waste compactors are beyond their life expectancy with some being well over 20 years old. A replacement programme has been developed which has commenced with the most critical and urgent compactors being replaced where failure was imminent. The remainder requires a commissioning exercise alongside a repairs and maintenance schedule to ensure upkeep of the compactors.

Options:

Option 1 – Do nothing and replace compactors with containers – this is not an option as payloads will diminish by 70% culminating in more cost to the Authority.

Option 2 – Repair compactors – this is not an option as extensive repairs have already been undertaken in recent years and the plant is now beyond economical repair with some having critically failed; new HWRC contract is being let on the proviso that compactors will be renewed.

Option 3 – Undertake a commissioning exercise to complete the replacement Programme with a repairs and maintenance service agreement for all compactors – this is the preferred option to ensure that the compactors on KCC sites are operating efficiently with minimal downtime.

Decision:

The Cabinet Member for Environment agrees to provide delegated authority to the Director of Highways, Transportation and Waste to award a new contractual arrangement for the collection and processing of textiles and shoes collected at the Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRCs).

Background:

Kent County Council, as the Waste Disposal Authority provide Household Waste Recycling centres for the disposal of household waste. This includes making provision for the deposit of Textiles and Shoes at Kent’s 18 Household Waste Recycling Sites.

The current contract is in an extension period that expires 31st October 2020 and to ensure that KCC’s statutory obligations are met, and that there is continuity of service a commissioning exercise is required.

Options:

Option 1 – Do nothing – the current contracts will elapse with no arrangement in place and thereby incurring significant contingency disposal costs.

Option 2 – continue with the existing contractor out of contract – this is not necessary as there is sufficient time to conduct a commissioning activity.

Option 3 – undertake a commissioning exercise to secure a provider.

Preferred option:

Option 3 is the preferred option. The authority is seeking to appoint a new provider to secure an income-based contract (5-year term) that will benefit and achieve the best outcomes for the authority and Kent households and fulfil the Statutory duty of KCC operating under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, to dispose of collected municipal waste.

Decision:

The Cabinet Member for Environment agrees to approve KCC entering into an Inter Authority Agreement (IAA) with Dover District Council and Folkestone & Hythe District Council to increase levels of recycling and reduce disposal costs for KCC. To encourage improvement, savings will be equally shared between respective Collection and Disposal Authorities as performance payments.

Background:

These proposed agreements accord with the policy approach agreed by the Cabinet Committee on the 31^st May 2018, that new Waste Partnership Agreements with Collection Authorities should include the reward based on performance.

Partnership agreements and shared savings have proved to be a very successful method to share the benefits and rewards of reducing residual waste, they actively act as an incentive and have driven higher levels of recycling and therefore positive environmental outcomes. They have already been implemented in West Kent at Gravesham, Tonbridge & Malling and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.

Options (other options considered but discarded):

The existing fixed enabling payments will no longer continue as the East Kent Waste Partnership ends in January 2021. These fixed payments have not proved to incentivise collection Authorities to achieve the targeted levels of recyclate. KCC has borne this commercial risk over the last 10 years

How the proposed decision meets the objectives of ‘Increasing Opportunities, Improving   Outcomes: Kent County Council’s Strategic Statement (2015-2020)’:

Improved and available kerbside recycling schemes contributes to the protection and enhancement of the natural environment, supports a good quality of life for residents and allows sustainable waste growth through increased housing and population growth.

Decision:

The Cabinet Member for the Environment agrees to an accelerated net-zero emissions target to be achieved by Kent County Council by 2030. To be delivered by investment in line with the supporting action plan. This target to be applied to its own estate and operations (excluding schools) and those of its traded companies.

Background:

To discharge the request made by County Council in May 2019, following the approved motion to acknowledge a Climate Emergency and support a net-zero emissions target of 2050 for the county. The motion also included that by May 2020, KCC would set an accelerated net-zero target for its own estate and operations and those of its traded companies.

In response to the Climate Emergency, the UK government revised the Climate Change Act 2008 in 2019. This introduced into law the UK target of net-zero emissions by 2050. This Act requires local authorities to act to reduce emissions both from their own operations and their geographical area. In addition to setting an organisational target to deliver net-zero emissions, KCC has led on the development of the Kent and Medway Energy and Low Emissions Strategy, which is due to be considered for approval by the Environment & Transport Cabinet Committee on 17 July 2020. The KCC net-zero action plan supporting the target is derived from the high-level action plan included within this new multi-agency and cross-county Strategy.

Options:

·     Seek to achieve net-zero by 2030 – this approach is possible using the balanced scenario approach.

·     Seek to achieve 80% reduction by 2030 and net-zero by 2050 – this aligns closely with the science-based evidence, however this would not be considered as accelerated action as per the motion agreed in May 2019.Tthis would not be aligned with other local authorities in Kent and Medway who have almost all declared a target of net-zero by 2030 or earlier.

·     Seek to achieve net-zero by 2050 – this would not be considered accelerated action as it is the same as the UK target.

Background:

On 10^th June 2020, the Government made a call to Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) for shovel-ready schemes which were able to spend in the next 18 months, as a way to stimulate economic recovery and help mitigate the impact that COVID-19 has had on employment levels.

Consequently, the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP), via the Kent and Medway Economic Partnership (KMEP), wrote to local stakeholders (including KCC) asking for their shovel-ready scheme suggestions. All forthcoming proposals were then submitted to Government, via SELEP, on 18^th June 2020. The accumulated total of these SELEP suggestions equalled £573m.

On 3^rd July 2020, the Government informed the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) that it would receive £85million of ‘Getting Building Fund’ (GBF) to deliver ‘shovel-ready’ schemes. GBF is capital grant funding.

The Government asked SELEP to prioritise its original scheme suggestions for inclusion within the £85m funding envelope. The SELEP Strategic Board met on 16^th July 2020 to make its decision.

The SELEP Strategic Board confirmed seven Kent projects to be included within the £85m ask of Government. Four of these projects are to be delivered by third-party promoters and are covered by Decision 20/00086. Three projects are to be delivered directly by Kent County Council. These KCC schemes are:

Project Title

The approval of Ministers to SELEP’s £85m list is awaited.

If Ministerial approval is granted, the business cases for these KCC projects will be presented to the SELEP Accountability Board in September, October or November 2020 for their approval of the funding award.

Subject to the necessary approvals being granted, SELEP will require Kent County Council to enter into a grant agreement with Essex County Council (which is SELEP’s accountable body) for all schemes awarded GBF by SELEP within KCC’s administrative boundary.

This key decision is therefore required to enable grant agreements to be entered into, so that additional Government funding may be secured for these Kent County Council projects from the Getting Building Fund.

Options (other options considered but discarded)

If Kent County Council were to choose to not enter into a grant agreement for the GBF projects selected by the SELEP Strategic Board, the GBF funding could be either (i) retained by central government or (ii) reallocated to other projects by the SELEP Strategic Board, not necessarily within Kent and Medway.

It is not clear at the time of writing if the project would be in Kent’s geographical area, or from another area of the SELEP.

As Leader of the Council I agree to:

Accept the Getting Building Funding under the SELEP terms and conditions.

Agree that the Getting Building Funding (GBF) will be used to support the already approved KCC projects that the South East Local Enterprise Partnership’s Strategic Board prioritised to receive GBF at its board meeting on 16 July 2020.

Delegate management of the funding and arrangement for the additional GBF money to the Corporate Director for Growth, Environment and Transport, in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member.

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills is asked to:

a)    Allocate £1,390,000 to the project, of which £900,000 is to be funded from the Priority Schools Building Programme Budget and £490,000 from the Children Young People and Education Services Basic Need Capital Budget.

b)    Authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services in consultation with KCC General Counsel and the Director of Education to enter into any necessary contracts/agreements on behalf of the County Council with the Trustees of Platt CoE Primary School to secure the sale of the current school land with the sale proceeds to be paid to the County Council

c)    Authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services in consultation with KCC General Counsel and the Director of Education to enter into any necessary contracts/agreements on behalf of the County Council to secure funding of no less than £3,430,000 from the Department for Education for the project

d)    Authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services in consultation with KCC General Counsel and the Director of Education to enter into any necessary contracts/agreements on behalf of the County Council to facilitate and manage the construction of the new school buildings and associated works

e)    Authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services to ensure that the appropriate level of funding is received from the Department for Education to cover their agreed share (70%) of any unforeseen costs during the building’s construction to ensure that the County Council minimises any unforeseen costs

f)     Authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts

Priority School Building Programme Background;

On 1 May 2014, the Minister of State for Schools announced that the Government would fund a further phase of the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP), with a value of around £2 billion. The new phase, known as PSBP2, was planned to be a five year programme operating between 2015 and 2021 and entailed major rebuilding and refurbishment projects in schools and sixth form colleges in the very worst condition.

PSBP was not intended to replace those wider efforts to support local authorities, dioceses, sixth form colleges, academies and multi-academy trusts in addressing the condition needs of their estates.  Rather it was intended to run alongside these in order to address individual projects that were of such a significant scale that it would be difficult to pay for them through regular formulaic maintenance allocations.

On 9 February 2015, The Secretary of State for Education and the Minister of State for Schools, announced that 277 schools across the Country had been successful in their applications. KCC were successful for 7 of the schools in addition 6 further schools across Kent where Academies bid directly.  Platt Church of England (CE) Voluntary Aided (VA) Primary was one of the 7 successful KCC school applications.

Previously, the first round of PSBP funding had mainly focused on whole school replacement projects, whereas the criteria for PSBP round 2 was amended and was not always centred on replacing all of the school’s accommodation. The emphasis was more upon block replacement and was based on poor condition rather than any other criteria such as suitability or sufficiency. Only in exceptional circumstances was a whole school to be replaced.

To aid the delivery of the PSBP round 2 programme, the Education Funding Agency (EfA) decided to offer LA’s the opportunity to deliver schemes locally, using local procurement arrangements and local supply chains. These schemes were to be funded by the EfA, but there was opportunity for the Local Authority to contribute additional funds for basic need expansion.

Platt CE Primary School:

Platt Church of England Primary School is a small school with a religious character within the Rochester Diocese, it has a school roll of 156 children between 4 and 11 years of age. It received a Good judgement at its last Ofsted inspection in April 2019, which was a Section 8 short inspection.

In round 2 of the PSBP scheme KCC, with support from the Diocese of Rochester, as it involves a VA school, made a successful application for funding to improve Platt CEP school.  The EfA funding allocation of £3,430,000 was limited to covering the rebuilding of 2 main school blocks that were in the poorest condition.  The project was also selected by the EfA for local delivery with KCC to receive the necessary funding for the construction via a Project Delivery Grant.

Subsequently, agreement was reached with the Diocese and the EfA that third party funding would be used to rebuild the remaining two blocks that had not successfully met PSBP funding criteria.  This would allow the whole school to be relocated and rebuilt on a site adjacent to the existing school building.  It also enables a Basic Need expansion of the school’s PAN from 26 to 30, which would provide 28 additional places across the age range of the school for local children, as a 1FE school it would be financially more sustainable and secure into the longer-term future.

The third-party funding was to be achieved through the capital receipt from the sale of the existing school land; owned by the trustees of the school, as it is a Voluntary Aided school. An allocation of cost was agreed with the DfE based on the areas of the building, to allocate the cost of replacement of the school and the cost of increasing the capacity of the school. This increase in capacity was to be fully funded from the future sale of the existing site. Which has been estimated at between £800,000 and £1.2 million.

The total scheme cost was initially estimated to be £3,640,000; However, at tender stage it became apparent that there would be significant cost pressures on the scheme arising from the planning requirement to provide a pitched roof which added circa £400,000 to the project. 

Value engineering works have been on-going for some time, but cost pressures have been exacerbated by other design and development issues, notably site surveys which confirmed requirements for an additional £190,000 for foundations and retaining walls and £110,000 for drainage.  In addition, ecology costs are now at £140,000 due to the volume of reptiles found and an additional £50,000 has been allocated to address the additional costs related to constructing within the relevant Covid-19 restrictions.  All additional costs have been scrutinised and agreed by the DfE.