Agendas, reports and minutes

A meeting of the Highland Council will be held REMOTELY on Thursday, 10 September 2020 at 10.00am.

(Please note the earlier start time for this meeting)

Webcast Notice: This meeting will be filmed and broadcast over the Internet on the Highland Council website and will be archived and available for viewing for 12 months thereafter.

You are invited to attend the meeting and a note of the business to be considered is attached.

Yours faithfully,

Stewart Fraser 
Head of Corporate Governance

BUSINESS

1. Calling of the Roll and Apologies for Absence
Gairm a’ Chlàir agus Leisgeulan

2. Declarations of Interest
Foillseachaidhean Com-pàirt

Members are asked to consider whether they have an interest to declare in relation to any item on the agenda for this meeting. Any Member making a declaration of interest should indicate whether it is a financial or non-financial interest and include some information on the nature of the interest. Advice may be sought from Officers prior to the meeting taking place.

3. Confirmation of Minutes
Daingneachadh a’ Gheàrr-chunntais

There are submitted for confirmation as a correct record the Minutes of Meeting of the Council held on 30 July/3 August 2020 as contained in the Volume which has been circulated separately.

4. Minutes of Meetings of Committees
Geàrr-chunntasan Choinneamhan Chomataidhean

There are submitted for confirmation as correct records, for information as regards delegated business and for approval as appropriate, the Minutes of Meetings of Committees contained in Volume circulated separately as undernoted:-
    
Easter Ross Area Committee - 20 February 2020
Gaelic Committee - 3 August 2020
Education Committee - 6 August 2020
Housing & Property Committee - 13 August 2020
Communities & Place Committee - 19 August 2020
Easter Ross Area Committee - 20 August 2020
Corporate Resources Committee - 20 August 2020

Notice of Amendment – Item 4 – Rec (v) - Post of Depute Chief Executive 

With reference to the Minutes of the Meeting of the Corporate Resources Committee held on 20 August, the following Notice of Amendment has been received in accordance with Standing Order 13 – 

“Following the number of countersigners reaching the required threshold of eight, the decision reached by the Committee will be suspended pending consideration by the Full Council.”   

Signed: Mr P Saggers   Mr R Bremner   Mr A Baxter   Mr A Sinclair   Mr S Mackie    Dr I Cockburn    Mr J Bruce    Mr G MacKenzie   Mr D Macpherson     Mrs G Campbell-Sinclair         

Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Committee - 26 August 2020    
City of Inverness Area Committee - 27 August 2020 (To follow)
Isle of Skye and Raasay Committee - 31 August 2020 (To follow) 

5. Community Planning Board     
Bòrd Dealbhadh Coimhearsnachd

There are circulated for noting Minutes of Meeting of the Community Planning Board held on 28 February 2020 (approved by the Board on 21 August 2020).

6. Climate Change Working Group     
Buidheann-Obrach Atharrachadh na Gnàth-shìde

There are circulated for approval Minutes of Meeting of the Climate Change Working Group held on Tuesday, 11 August 2020. 

7. Brexit Working Group
Buidhean Obrach Brexit

There are circulated for approval Minutes of Meeting of the Brexit Working Group held on Monday, 17 August 2020. 

8. Membership of Committees, etc
Ballarachd Chomataidhean, msaa

Members are asked to agree the following:-

Communities & Place Committee – Mr R Balfour to replace Mr B Lobban 
Brexit Working Group – Mr J Bruce to fill the current vacancy. 

9. Joint HC/NHS Monitoring Committee – Joint Chairs       
Co-Chomataidh Sgrùdaidh Chomhairle na Gàidhealtachd/NHS Co-Chathraichean

The Council is asked to agree that the Chair of the Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Committee should replace the Leader of the Council as the Council Co-chair of the HC/NHS Highland Joint Monitoring Committee.

This change will also require to be agreed by NHS Highland and the Committee Remit updated accordingly. 

10. Joint HC/NHS Adult Protection Committee       
Co-Chomataidh Dìon Inbheach Chomhairle na Gàidhealtachd/NHS

The Council is asked to agree that Ms L Munro should be appointed to the Joint Adult Protection Committee. 

11. Corporate Resources Sub Committee                                                  

There is re-circulated Report No RES/14/20 dated 30 July 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer- Resources and Finance. 

The Council is asked to agree that the Corporate Resources Budget Sub Committee will:-

(i)    oversee budget, monitoring and outturn activities across the Council’s revenue and capital budgets;
(ii)   comprise 11 elected members, drawn from membership of the Corporate Resources Committee and selected on the basis of political balance;
(iii)  be a sub-committee of, and report to, the Corporate Resources Committee;
(iv)   meet monthly, be held in private, and engage with subject matter experts as considered appropriate; and
(v)    submit minutes of the Sub-Committee’s meetings to the Corporate Resources Committee for consideration and approval. 
   
Items 12 and 13 below will be considered at 2.00pm

12.Question Time 
Àm Ceiste                                                                                             

The following Questions have been received by the Head of Corporate Governance – and the responses in each case will follow. 

(i)  Mr A Graham

To the Chair of the Housing & Property Committee

“What is the current balance on the Landbank Fund, the total currently advanced, total current commitments and the available Fund balance at present?”

Mr Graham will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Housing & Property Committee.

(ii)  Mr A Graham

To the Leader of the Council 

"Could you give an update on the current position with rollout of fibre broadband to the Highlands, and what the Council is doing to progress it?"

Mr Graham will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council. 

(iii)  Mr D Rixson

To the Chair of the Tourism Committee

“A recent report to the Tourism Committee showed the degree of enthusiasm for developing local tourist infrastructure projects – often involving the provision of toilets and motor-home facilities. One of the problems which emerged was that of the 13 projects agreed under the first two rounds only 1 had actually completed. What actions do you propose to encourage the extension of the RTIF scheme and speed up delivery in the future?”

Mr Rixson will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Tourism Committee.

(iv)  Mr R Bremner

To the Leader of the Council

“How many employees of Highland Council took their full complement of holidays within the last holiday year?”

Mr Bremner will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council.

(v)  Mr D Louden

To the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee

“Would you confirm that in 2018/19 employees earning £50,000 a year or more numbered 300 and in 2019/20 this increased to 574 employees earning £50,000 a year or more and explain if you think this represents excellence in cost control?” 
(See Annual Accounts Page 33)

Mr Louden will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee.

(vi)  Mr D Louden

To the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee

“Would you confirm that total non-specific Grant support received from the Scottish Govt in 2018/19 was £498,728,000 and total non-specific Grant support received from the Scottish Govt in 2019/20 was £523,525,000 and this represented an increase of just under £25m rather than a much quoted £4m cut?”
(See Annual Accounts Page 113)

Mr Louden will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee. 
   
(vii)  Mrs M Cockburn

To the Leader of the Council

There are many businesses working hard to comply with Government guidelines and we must ensure that they are supported. However, I have had to report some companies for not adhering to these Covid-19 policies.

Does Highland Council have the manpower and support in the relevant team to ensure that the Highlands is a safe and compliant place in the workplace and for visitors now and the immediate future?”

Mrs Cockburn will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council.

(viii)    Ms M Smith

To the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee/Budget Leader

“Have you now arrived at a near final figure of what the Administration’s budget gap is?”

Ms Smith will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee/Budget Leader. 

(ix)  Mr K Gowans

To the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee

“What is the Council’s budget to fund planning enforcement action?”

Mr Gowans will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee. 

(x)  Mr K Gowans

To the Chair of the Environment & Infrastructure Committee 

“Given the significant amounts of housing developments in the east of Inverness, some 4 -5,000 currently being built or planned, what progress has been made in identifying funding and securing land to build new primary and secondary schools as matter of urgency and will you agree to bring a comprehensive report advising of the progress to a meeting of E&I this year?”

Mr Gowans will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Environment & Infrastructure Committee.

(xi)  Mr K Gowans

To the Chair of the Environment & Infrastructure Committee

“Given the significant amounts of housing developments in the east of Inverness, some 4 -5,000 currently being built or planned, what progress has been made in identifying funding and securing land to build an indoor sports facility to service expanding settlements in the east of the Inverness and hinterland and will you agree to bring a comprehensive report advising of the progress to a meeting of E&I this year?”

Mr Gowans will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Environment & Infrastructure Committee. 

(xii) Mr K Gowans

To the Leader of the Council 

“A new nursery was due to be opened adjacent to Milton of Leys Primary School in August 2019. This date was missed and the opening date was put back to August 2020. Understandably, this has been now delayed in some part due COVID-19. 

Given the pressure on school and nursery rolls and the imminent provision of 1140 hours of free nursery care funded by the Scottish Government, this is particularly concerning. Can you provide the other reasons for the delays and provide me and the community with a realistic opening date?”

Mr Gowans will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council.

(xiii)    Mr S Mackie

To the Leader of the Council

“Do you believe that the self-imposed restriction of five Members’ Motions affords for the effective scrutiny of the Council and provide adequate opportunity for all elected Members to shape, debate and decide Council policy?”

Mr Mackie will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council.    

(xiv) Mr A Baxter

To the Leader of the Council

“What is the revised timetable for the Car Parking Review including plans for full implementation?”

Mr Baxter will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council.

(xv)  Mr A Baxter

To the Leader of the Council

“Which recommendations made by the Highland Commission for Local Democracy has the Council implemented in full?”

Mr Baxter will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council.

(xvi)  Mr A Baxter

To the Chair of the Communities & Place Committee

“Why, when reopening recycling centres, has the Council kept them closed at weekends?”

Mr Baxter will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Communities & Place Committee. 

(xvii)  Mr A Baxter

To the Leader of the Council

“When, and how, as Leader of the Council have you been in contact with the Scottish and UK Governments to discuss what opportunities there are to realign the City-Region Deal to address new economic priorities in the Highlands and what has been the outcome?”

Mr Baxter will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council.

(xviii)   Mr A Baxter

To the Leader of the Council

“What was the final total cost to the Council, including all agency fees, for the recent employment of the interim Executive Chief Officer for Education and Learning?”

Mr Baxter will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council.

(xix)  Mr A Baxter

To the Chair of the Housing & Property Committee

“What areas within your Committee remit are you planning to devolve to Area Committees?”

Mr Baxter will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Housing & Property Committee.

(xx)  Mr A Baxter

To the Chair of the Communities & Place Committee

“What areas within your Committee remit are you planning to devolve to Area Committees?”

Mr Baxter will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Communities & Place Committee.

(xxi)  Mr A Baxter

To the Chair of the Economy & Infrastructure Committee

“What areas within your Committee remit are you planning to devolve to Area Committees?”

Mr Baxter will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Economy & Infrastructure Committee.

(xxii)   Mr A Baxter

To the Chair of the Education Committee

“What areas within your Committee remit are you planning to devolve to Area Committees?”

Mr Baxter will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Education Committee.

(xxiii)   Mr A Baxter

To the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee

“When will the process of dis-aggregating Service budgets to Area Committees be complete and will you confirm which budgets will be devolved?”

Mr Baxter will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee.

(xxiv)   Mr D Macpherson

To the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee

“How many staff are currently employed by the Highland Council today, how does this number compare with the number employed at the 2018-19 year end (at 31/03/2019) and the 2017-18 year end (at 31/03/2018) and could I have a breakdown by each Executive Chief Officer department?”

Mr Macpherson will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee. 

(xxv)  Mr A Jarvie

To the Chair of the Communities & Place Committee

“How is a 50% increase in brown bin fees over three years consistent with this Council’s declaration of a climate emergency?”

Mr Jarvie will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Communities & Place Committee. 

(xxvi)   Mr A Jarvie

To the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee 

“How many vehicles has the Council SORN’d to receive a road tax refund and placed on lay-up insurance during Covid?”

Mr Jarvie will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee.

(xxvii)   Mr A Jarvie

To the Leader of the Council

“At Council on 31 October 2019, a motion was passed on the change developer contribution policy yet no policy change appears to have taken place. When will this happen?”

Mr Jarvie will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council. 

(xxviii)   Mr S Mackie

To the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee

“How many ratepayers have received a Council Tax payment holiday during Covid?”

Mr Mackie will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee.

(xxix)   Mr S Mackie

To the Leader of the Council 

“How many hours of Continual Professional Development have the whole Executive Leadership team received or undertaken in the past 12 months?”

Mr Mackie will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council. 

(xxx)  Mrs I MacKenzie

To the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee

“We are we halfway through the financial year, but the Council is not yet fully charging for parking permits and residents have contacted me confused. Why are we losing out on much needed revenue?”

Mrs MacKenzie will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee.

(xxxi)   Mrs I MacKenzie

To the Chair of the Economy & Infrastructure Committee

“Why are we not able to create a Highland Rover ticket to create a much needed income in the Highland Region as previously agreed to explore at the former EDI Committee as, with the Stay vacation boom, this would be both welcomed for value to users and income to the Council?

Mrs MacKenzie will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Economy & Infrastucture Committee.

(xxxii)   Mr A Sinclair

To the Chair of the Education Committee

“What assessment has been made as to why the Highland Council cannot attract applicants for senior education posts, in what is one of the most competitive recruitment fields within Local Government?”

Mr Sinclair will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Education Committee. 

(xxxiii)  Mr A Sinclair

To the Leader of the Council

“Can you detail the total spend to date of City-Region Deal Funding within Wick and East Caithness?”

Mr Sinclair will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council.

(xxxiv)  Mr D MacLeod

To the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee

“What Council fund was each of the last financial year’s severance payments taken from?”

Mr MacLeod will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee. 

(xxxv)   Mr A Baxter

To the Leader of the Council 

“What representations have you made to the Chief Executive about Members’ concerns that micromanagement is hindering the operation of the Council and disempowering staff?”

Mr Baxter will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council. 

(xxxvi)   Mr D Macpherson

To the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee 

“How many Janitors' houses does Highland Council currently own throughout its Highland and Islands school communities, and of these janitor houses, can you please give an update on the number that are empty and the length of time that they have been empty for, including how much revenue has not been collected in housing rent and council tax, (listing the element within this 'education & housing estate' that are within the 'Empty Homes Council Tax Penalty' for properties that have remained empty for over one full year and continue to be empty today)?”

Mr Macpherson will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee. 

(xxxvii)  Mr D Macpherson

To the Leader of the Council

“Is it acceptable that Elected Members of Highland Council are being encouraged and instructed to complete F.O.I. (Freedom of Information) requests in order to obtain information that should be made readily available to them by virtue of their position as publicly elected Highland Councillors?”

Mr Macpherson will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council. 

13. Notices of Motion 
Brathan Gluasaid  
                                                                                                   
(i) Council recognises the desire amongst the Highland population to make the post-pandemic future a greener one. 

Council recognises the environmental advantages to remote working where it suits the employee, as well as the potential for local employment to reverse the process of rural depopulation.

Council resolves that, with all new appointments, a review is carried out prior to recruitment, to establish whether the role could be fulfilled just as effectively by remote working. If the conclusion is that the job lends itself (wholly or in part) to remote working, then those opportunities should be extended to all applicants.

Signed: Mr D Rixson, Mr R Gale

(ii)This Council recognises from its own poverty and inequality data that large areas of the Highlands have over 70% and based on data provided by the CAB up to 90% of households in fuel poverty and commits to doing all in its power to resolve the inequity that has arisen due to the regional distribution charges for electricity provision. To that end this Council will write to the Minister of State (Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth) the Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP  in support of the cross-party Early Day Motion EDM #552 that; “calls on the Government to replace the current electricity distribution system with one that replicates that of gas and telecoms and share the cost of energy distribution equally across the UK”.

Signed: Mr R Gale, Mrs T Robertson

(iii) The Highland Council welcomes developments between HC-One and NHSH regarding the transfer of ownership to NHSH and for them to deliver care.

Given the exceptional nature of the situation of the costs involved the Scottish Government have agreed to provide capital funding to NHSH for the purchase of Home Farm. These exceptional costs are also prevailing with the revenue costs and even more so as they will be re-occurring at an estimated £1.2m per annum, which Highland Council has not budgeted for.

The impact of Covid-19 will have an impact on council budgets that are already overstretched and the Council agrees to write to the Scottish Government asking for an assurance that all revenue funding regarding Home Farm would be met by the Scottish Government.

Signed: Mr J Gordon, Mr J Finlayson, Mr C Munro, Mr C MacLeod

(iv) Council agrees to bring an immediate report to the next appropriate Strategic Committee on its readiness for commencement of mass evictions of tenants from private and social housing due to months of build-up  of rent arrears as a result of Covid-19 contributing to loss of earnings and redundancies.

This is an ideal opportunity to purchase off the shelf quality modular pods available from several Scottish distributors almost overnight. Council should work with Registered Social Landlords and other partners to identify suitable land sites on their portfolios to place these pods that in terms of quality are high end. In terms of price, they vary for a 3 bed unit from as little as £40,000 to £110,000 which is still cheaper than a traditional build which averages £120,000 to £160,000 per unit. This is doubly important at a time when some traditional construction companies will inflate their costs considerably due to Covid and pass these onto the tax payer.

These pods could be initially temporary but may be there for a considerable time to help solve our desperate housing crisis.

To this end planning consents should be expedited once the sites are identified.

Signed: Mr C Fraser, Ms M Smith, Dr I Cockburn, Mr D Louden

 (v)In order to reflect the geographical, demographic and logistical challenges in our diverse range of communities in Highland it is clear that the one size does not fit all in a planning context. The current guidance states that one of the definitions of a major planning application is when it meets the threshold of 90 houses, (recently changed from 50 houses). Clearly, the impact of any developments is extremely variable across the region, city, towns, villages and settlements. 

In addition, another criterion that has been recently changed is that for the number of objections that triggers an application being referred to the relevant Planning Applications Committee has risen from 5 to 8. Again, this does not take into account the variances in population density across the region. 
Regardless of how many Ward Councillors request referral of a planning application, under the current scheme of delegated powers the decision remains at the discretion of the Area Planning Officer.  

This motion calls for these inconsistencies be resolved in the following ways: 

1. Initially, the planning threshold for major development ton be reduced to 50 houses with immediate effect for all new applications; 
2. Proposals will be brought to the relevant Committee to agree the introduction of a graduated or graded criterion to determine what constitutes a major development, relative to the area or environment. (For example; 5 houses for settlement areas, 10 houses for villages, 20 houses for towns, 50 houses for city locations) 
3. Proposals will be brought to the relevant Committee to agree the number of objections required to refer an application to the relevant Planning Applications Committee be set at 5 for city and towns and 3 for villages and settlements or thereby. 
4. In instances where two or more local Ward Councillor advise the Area Planning Officer that they wish any planning application to be referred to the relevant Planning Application Committee for determination, it will be mandatory to do so. 

These are measured and proportionate adjustments that will enable all Elected Members to better represent the integrity of their communities.  

Signed: Mr K Gowans Mrs G Campbell-Sinclair  Dr I Cockburn   Mr D Macpherson

14. Recovery Action Plan: Progress to 30 June 2020 - Update Report    
Bòrd Ath-shlànachaidh – Aithisg Ùrachaidh 

There is circulated Report No. HC/25/20 dated 27 August 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer, Transformation.

In this regard, there are circulated Minutes of Meetings of the Recovery Board held on 24 August 2020.

The Council is asked to note:- 

(i)   the latest progress of the Council’s Recovery Action Plan to 30 June 2020; 
(ii)  the associated implications and pressures on resources in the delivery of the Recovery programme; and
(iii) the latest update on PPE.

15. Revenue Budget 2020/21 – Update Report  
Buidseat Teachd-a-steach

There is circulated Report No. HC/26/20 dated 19 August 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer, Resources and Finance. 

The Council is asked to:-  

(i)   agree to continue to lobby both UK and Scottish Governments for additional funding as outlined in this report;
(ii)  agree the release of the £3m Crown Estate Investment Funds;
(iii) agree to the release of the £2.293m Roads Investment Funds;
(iv)  agree to hold back spend on the remaining investment funds as detailed in section 10.4 until there is greater certainty on the budget position;
(v)   consider the medium-term financial context and acknowledge the significant financial risks facing the Council;
(vi)  note that budget update reports will continue to be provided to all Council meetings as agreed at the Council meeting on the 25th June; and
(vii) agree to progress the capital projects as outlined in Appendix 2.

16. Boundary Review             
Ath-sgrùdadh Chrìochan

As agreed at the last meeting, there will follow Report No. HC/27/20.

17. Employee Engagement Wellbeing Action Plan 
Plana Gnìomh – Sunnd

There is circulated Report No. HC/28/20 dated 31 August 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer, Resources & Finance.

The Council is asked to note the Employee Engagement Wellbeing Action plan at Appendix 1 to the report.

18. Crown Estate Net Revenue  
Oighreachdan a’ Chrùin

There is circulated Report No. HC/29/20 dated 24 August 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer, Infrastructure & Environment.

The Council is asked to agree:-  

(i)    funding distribution model; 
(ii)    governance structure
a.    options A or B as noted below;
(iii)    details of scheme eligibility
a.    broad eligibility principles
b.    eligible applicants
c.    eligible geography
d.    rates available; and 
(iv)    administration resource requirements.

19. Scheme of Delegation – Coronavirus       
Sgeama Tiomnaidh – Inbhean Malairt

The Council is advised that an update on the Scheme of Delegation in relation to Coronavirus will follow.

20. Deeds Executed
Sgrìobhainnean Lagha a Bhuilicheadh

Members are asked to note that a list of deeds and other documents executed on behalf of the Council since the meeting held on 30 July/3 August 2020 are available in the Members’ Library and on the Council’s Website.