Decisions

RESOLVED

That  the Horsham District Council Discretionary Grants Fund Scheme attached at appendix A of the report be approved.

Reasons for Recommendations

The Cabinet needs to approve a Discretionary Grants Fund Scheme to enable distribution of money given by the Government to support small businesses in Horsham District affected by the COVID-19 lock down, and not helped under any other scheme.

Resolved

That:

i)             The current grounds maintenance contract be extended for a period of 13 months, to end on 31 January 2022.

Reasons for Recommendations

The current arboriculture contract is due to end on 31 March 2022 and there is no option for extension. There is therefore an opportunity to combine the grounds maintenance contract with the arboriculture contract, through one tender process, in order to achieve the council’s sustainability ambitions and gain efficiencies.

For operational reasons it is less risky to start a new grounds maintenance contract in February 2022 rather than April 2022. Therefore although there will be one procurement process and one resulting contract, the grounds maintenance element will start under the new contract in February 2022, whilst the arboriculture element will start under the same new contract in April 2022. Both elements will finish and will be reviewed again in the future on the same date.

RESOLVED

That:

1)    An increase in the fee for the determination of High Hedge complaints to £645 be approved and;

2)    The fee be increased each year in line with CPI inflation.

Reasons for Recommendations

1)    To cover the costs of administration and determination of High Hedge complaints as intended under the legislation; 

2)    To ensure that the charge for High Hedge complaints keeps up with inflation.

RESOLVED

i)             That, given the estimated savings and the flexible procurement strategy, it was recommended that the Council continue its arrangement with LASER and participate in the framework contract for the 4 year period from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2024.

Reasons for Recommendations

1.            LASER benchmarks its purchasing performance each year and shares this information with its customers. This benchmarking exercise indicates that LASER has been able to deliver prices to customers at 4.6% below the market average over the last 4 years.

2.            Government policy recommends that to spread market risk, and avoid buying during periods of peak market pricing, “all public sector organisations adopt aggregated, flexible and risk-managed energy procurement” as provided under the LASER framework.

3.            LASER offers full flexibility to secure energy In line with the Council’s policy to reduce its carbon footprint