Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

RESOLVED:  That there were no reserve Members in attendance at this meeting.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from all Members present.

RESOLVED:  That there were none.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 January 2024 be taken as read and signed as a correct record; and

that the minutes of the Special Meeting held on 23 January 2024 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 January 2024, and the minutes of the special meeting held on 23 January 2024, be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

To receive any public questions received.

Questions will be asked in the order in which they were received.  There will be a time limit of 15 minutes for the asking and answering of public questions.

[The deadline for receipt of public questions is 3.00 pm, 8 February 2024.  Questions should be sent to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk  

No person may submit more than one question].

RESOLVED:  That there were none.

To receive petitions (if any) submitted by members of the public/Councillors.

RESOLVED:  That there were none.

(if any).

RESOLVED:  That there were none.

Report of the Managing Director.

The Chair welcomed the Leader of the Council, the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Human Resources, the Managing Director, and the Interim Director of Finance and Assurance to the meeting.

The Leader requested that the Corporate Plan 2023-26: Review of first year and Flagship Actions 2024/25, and the Final Revenue Budget 2024/25 and final Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) to 2026/27, be presented in tandem.

The Leader informed the Committee that Harrow was in a comparatively strong financial position, compared to the rest of London.  The Council had delivered a number of savings, but had also invested in adults and children's services over the last financial year and the MTFS for the coming three financial years.  The corporate report set out another series of flagship actions.

However, Harrow had low level of reserves, which made the borough  vulnerable to pressures or other shocks.  Nonetheless, it was proposed to replenish those reserves and give the Council some resilience to deal with the pressures that could come through, particularly in children's and adult social care.

On providing better access to Council services to residents, the Council had launched a new pilot for customer service kiosks in one of the libraries.  This would address some of the concerns that residents had about being able to contact the Council.  There was a need to work within budgetary constraints to achieve this.

The Council would move forward with regeneration plans across the borough and submit a planning application for the Bryon Quarter site and the Poets Corner at the Civic Centre site.  These had been on the local plan as part of the Cabinet papers that were published last week, including a new draft local plan.

The current local plan was out of date and had been overtaken by both the London Plan and also national planning frameworks.  This would go out to consultation and be brought back later in the year with a revised plan, taking into account all comments from the consultation.  The next stage would be to go to a public inspection and other stages.  It was hoped the local plan would be agreed and adopted by mid-2026.

On traffic, the Council would seek to install a dedicated cycle lane in Harrow.  The consultation has just closed on that.  There was need to review that consultation and take account of any concerns that had been raised.  It would be the first cycle lane to be introduced in Harrow, other than some that were introduced, and then removed during restrictions around the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Council would be launching a pothole squad with funding from the Government, which was £240,000 a year alongside a contribution from the insurance money that was recently received.

There were plans to purchase up to 25 further homes to increase the Council’s provision to deal with homelessness challenges, which were also experienced across London. 

The Care Quality Commission had announced that they would be coming to inspect the borough’s adult social services in April, and there would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.