This meeting included a wide-ranging discussion of the performance and finances of the Council. In particular, the meeting included end-of-project reports on the North Walsham High Street Heritage Action Zone Programme and a discussion of the Council's provisional revenue, capital and reserves position as of the end of the 2023/24 financial year. The meeting also included an update from the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

The North Walsham High Street Heritage Action Zone Programme

This was a four-year scheme to improve the vitality and attractiveness of North Walsham town centre. It included a programme of public realm improvements to the Market Place, Shambles Terrace and Church Approach. It also included grants for the improvement of historic buildings. This programme has been discussed at many previous meetings of this committee and this report sought to provide a final overview of the project, now that all elements had been completed.

This is a close of project report, following the completion of all the interventions in the HSHAZ programme, as agreed at the meeting of the Committee in October 2023. This report summarises the overall programme of interventions, the final budget position and the degree to which the programme achieved its aims and objectives.

This scheme attracted additional funding through a bid to the Government’s Getting Building Fund, administered by the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership¹ (NALEP).

2023/24 Outturn Report

This report included details about the Council's financial position at the end of the financial year 2023/24. A balanced budget was approved by Full Council in February 2023, but this report shows that, overall, there was a deficit of £0.937m. The report identified overspends in the grounds maintenance, bed and breakfast, enforcement, agency staff and waste contracts budgets, and underspends in the employee costs, transport, professional fees and service income budgets.

A balanced budget was approved by full Council in February 2023. Budget monitoring reporting to Members during the year has shown a worsening deficit position as we advanced through the year.

The Council holds a number of reserves, and this report sought approval to allocate £0.2m of the Treasury Management Reserve to cover an overspend in borrowing costs, and £0.737m of the General Fund reserve to cover the remaining overspend.

East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

This was an update on the performance of the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust. A report was presented by Thomas Barker, the Head of Community Response. It included details of response times in the areas covered by the NR23, NR25, NR26 and NR27 postcodes.

The biggest challenge to achieving an improved C2 response are arrival to handover delays.

The report also sought to recruit new Community First Responders, and described the role of 'co-responders', which are fire service teams that respond to Category 1 calls. Category 1 calls are the most urgent, life-threatening calls that require an immediate response.

Overview & Scrutiny Work Programme

This discussion reviewed the committee’s future work programme, as set out in OS Work Programme 2023-24 July. Some items were rescheduled. This included a site visit for committee members to look at the North Walsham Heritage Zone project.

Peer Review Action Plan Progress Report

This report reviewed the progress made on an action plan that was produced in response to the recommendations of the Local Government Association (LGA)² Corporate Peer Challenge. The LGA Corporate Peer Challenge is a process by which a team of local government officers and members visits a council and makes recommendations about how it can improve.

The Corporate Peer Challenge for North Norfolk District Council took place in September 2023, and the resulting action plan was adopted by Cabinet on 5 February 2024. The Action Plan included the following:

• Developing a new Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS). The MTFS sets out the Council's financial plans for the next three years. The new MTFS will take account of the findings of the Peer Challenge.
• Reviewing service areas falling within the Resources Directorate. The aim of this is to bring greater focus and service team alignment.
• Developing a new People or Workforce Plan. This plan will help with the recruitment, development, and retention of staff.
• Articulating more clearly that the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) should lead on the change and transformation agenda for the authority. This will separate the strategic focus of CLT from the operational focus of the Management Team.

Overall it is believed that good progress has been made in respect of the objectives and actions detailed in the Plan

The progress report included details of progress on each of the actions, as well as details of any obstacles or delays.