The committee approved the draft Statement of Accounts 2023 - 2024 and the Draft Annual Governance Statement 2023 - 2024. The committee also recommended to full council an amendment to the Council's Constitution regarding the Governance Committee's terms of reference, and recommended to full council an amendment to the Planning Code of Conduct in Part 5 of the Constitution. It also supported a proposal for an employee's flexible retirement.

Draft Statement of Accounts

The committee discussed the Draft Statement of Accounts 2023 - 2024, which reported a budget surplus of £630,000 against the original budget.

Councillor Jones raised a question about a note in the report which stated that the valuation of the Green Lanes Shopping Centre in Barnstaple had decreased. Jon Triggs, the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive, explained that this was because the valuation took into account the income generated by the property, and that at the time of valuation the loss of the Wilko store had impacted the overall value. The unit has since been re-let to Poundland and so the valuation would now increase.

Councillor Jones asked if there had been progress on discussions about potential new tenants for the shopping centre. Mr Triggs confirmed that discussions were ongoing, and that the council was about to go out to tender for works on the new hub in Green Lanes.

Councillor Jones asked about the suggestion in the report that there were 'exciting opportunities' being discussed in relation to the shopping centre. Mr Triggs said that the focus had been on finding a replacement tenant for the Wilko unit, but that discussions were ongoing with Praxis, the asset managers, and potential tenants for the vacant units.

Councillor Whitehead asked for clarification on the reduction in car park income stated in the report. Mr Triggs confirmed that this was not due to a reduction in parking revenue, but due to a reduction in the number of parking fines issued as a result of the Council's enforcement officers, managing the car parks more effectively . He also noted that part of the reduction was due to an accounting error relating to bad debt provisions for the previous financial year.

Councillor Whitehead also asked for clarification about an entry in the report which referred to the Commercialisation Strategy being refreshed . The report stated that, The strategy is currently being refreshed and will be approved by members in the summer , and Councillor Whitehead questioned whether the report was prematurely assuming the refreshed strategy would be approved. Mr Triggs acknowledged that this was an aspirational statement, but that the refreshed strategy did not contain any fundamental changes to the original strategy which was approved by Members at Full Council in November 2020.

Councillor Bushell asked why income from the crematorium had increased. Sarah Higgins, Head of Customer Focus, explained that this was due to the introduction of a lower fee for direct cremations for local residents. She explained that this service was developed to match the demand for 'basic cremations', which was being offered by national companies. These national companies were no longer providing this service in the area.

Draft Annual Governance Statement

The Committee discussed the Draft Annual Governance Statement 2023 - 2024, which provided an overview of the council’s governance arrangements and how they meet the principles of the CIPFA/SoLACE Framework “Delivering Good Governance in Local Government 2016”.

Councillor Jones noted that many of the sources of assurance listed in the statement related to internal audit, and asked if any external sources of assurance had been considered. Adam Tape, the Head of Governance, confirmed that this was the case and that the statement included information from external sources, including peer reviews and reports from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. Mr Tape said that 13 complaints were received in relation to NDC during 2023/24, with 4 relating to Operational Services, 3 to Environmental Health & Housing, 2 to Planning & Planning Enforcement, 2 to Legal Services, 1 to Parking Services and 1 to Communications. Of these, 8 were not investigated, and of the 5 that were investigated 4 were awarded compensation totalling £1,100.

Councillor Jones asked if any significant issues were identified during the review of governance arrangements. Mr Tape said that the assessment at Appendix B of the statement had identified some areas where the council could improve. He said that the assessment highlighted the need for the council to review the Local Government Transparency Code 2015¹ and identify any additional data that needed to be published on its website.

Councillor Jones asked if the statement included all of the complaints that had been upheld by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. Mr Tape said that 3 of the 4 upheld complaints were listed. Councillor Jones asked what the forth complaint was, and Ms Higgins said that the complaint related to a rural noise complaint and was likely not included because of the timing of the complaint. Mr Tape said that it was possible that the complaint was not included because it was raised before the start of the 2023/24 financial year. He said that the complaint related to a noise abatement order, but that it was not upheld.

Review of the Committee’s Terms of Reference

The committee discussed the Review of the Committee’s Terms of Reference, which included a proposal to amend the Constitution to provide for sub-committees of the Governance Committee to be formed to hear code of conduct cases.

Simon Fuller, the Senior Solicitor and Monitoring Officer, explained that the Governance Committee was currently lacking the power to determine complaints regarding the conduct of District and Parish Councillors, and that it would be appropriate for sub-committees of the Governance Committee to be formed to hold hearings relating to code of conduct complaints. He said that it was standard practice at local authorities for a committee with the standards function to establish sub-committees to hear code of conduct cases where they could not be resolved informally.

Mr Fuller referred to Appendix F of the report, which he said was a refreshed version of the arrangements for dealing with standards matters, as required under the Localism Act 2011². He said that these arrangements would help ensure the process was clear to follow, and transparent for both customers and councillors alike.

Review of the Planning Code of Conduct

The committee discussed the Review of the Planning Code of Conduct, which set out proposals to amend the Council’s Planning Code of Conduct, in part 5 of the Constitution.

Mr Fuller confirmed that the review had come about after comments made by Tim Leader, a barrister from St John’s Chambers, who had been engaged by the council to provide training on planning matters. Mr Fuller said that Mr Leader had questioned whether the code of conduct should include so much “best practice guidance”, and that the reviewed document had taken Mr Leader’s comments into account.

The committee discussed paragraph 2.2 of the amended code, which stated that, “It is important for councillors to identify a potential interest in a planning decision early on and raise this with the Monitoring Officer as soon as possible". Councillor Jones asked if this meant that councillors had to inform Mr Fuller of any interest that they had in a planning application. He referred to a development that was taking place in his ward, and asked if he would be required to inform Mr Fuller of this development. Mr Fuller said that this was not necessary, and explained that the purpose of the provision was to alert officers to potential conflicts of interest arising from the employment or other interests of the councillor, such as where a councillor or their partner was an architect, and an application had been made which was related to that work. He said that in those situations it was good practice for the councillor to inform the planning manager in order to “alert us where an application is being submitted”.

Annual Review of the Committee’s Effectiveness

The committee discussed the Governance Survey 2023-2024 results which related to the Annual Review of the Committee's Effectiveness.

Councillor Norman noted that the Governance Committee meetings were often very long and said that, By the time you get to the later stages of the agenda, it's really hard to feel the top of your game. She asked if the committee could consider meeting more frequently with shorter agendas. Mr Triggs confirmed that this could be discussed as part of the review of governance arrangements, and he said that the committee had previously had more frequent meetings. He said that the committee had dropped some meetings a few years ago, and that this could be reviewed in light of the number of reports coming forward for consideration.

Councillor Jones said that, “I wouldn't be against having additional meetings, but fitting them in is often a challenge.” He also noted that a lot of work went into reading the reports in advance of the meetings, and that he would not be in favour of having additional meetings if it meant he was unable to read all of the reports in advance.

Councillor Whitehead said that, I find it equally frustrating that there are times, not necessarily just in this committee, where things are hurried forwards and it's not comfortable. She said that Mr Triggs was, “a great advocate for hearing each question” and thanked him for, “putting his head above the parapet to say, 'No, we can't just rush through the meeting. There are irrelevant questions. We need to have them asked.'” She said that she found it, “anxiety inducing” when there was pressure to “speed things up” and asked that there not be any pressure to rush discussions.

Councillor Norman said she would discuss the matter with officers to see what could be done about the length of the meetings.

Exemptions to Contract Procedure Rules

The committee discussed the Minute extract from Strategy and Resources Committee of 8th April 2024, which related to exemptions to the Contract Procedure Rules.

Mr Fuller confirmed that this was a standard update report, and that the contract in question was a three-year extension to an existing contract, with 361 Energy CIC, for £24,000 per year.

Audit Recommendation Tracker

The Committee considered the Audit Recommendation Tracker report, which showed progress against audit recommendations. The report showed that there were no overdue actions, however there were 11 actions for which time extensions were being requested, of which 10 were for dates within the next six months.

Councillor Jones expressed concern about the number of time extensions being requested, saying that “it’s a bit disappointing” to be asked for extensions when the Committee has been given “assurances that, yes, it's a realistic time span”. He noted that, “I'd like it to be noted that this committee would encourage, is that, sorry, I'm looking to the wrong thing up, so, in Cleridge is that as strongly as I can do, I can put my views towards repeated extensions over a number of years, especially in areas where we have been told that previous extensions were of a manageable timeline and therefore additional is needed”. He said that, “it's not a good precedent, in my opinion, to stand by and just not ease through if those are the cases”.

Mr Triggs said that he was “disappointed” that extensions were required, and that he would “rather come here and sit in front of you and say that everything's on track”. However, he said that “things do come up” and that “the teams are trying to be as realistic as they can”. He said that “they are extremely under pressure in some service areas and they are managing some things, all of a sudden become a higher priority”. He gave the example of the housing team, where “all of a sudden there's a sudden increase in temporary accommodation placements” meaning that “judgment around where do we spend our time” is needed.

Mr Triggs said that the positive was that the time extensions being requested were only for the short term, and that most of the recommendations were “significantly way through”. He said that the teams are “getting better at being more realistic”.

Mr Fuller said that, It may be that for repeated request of an extension, it might be seen appropriate by the chair to involve that head of service to come and address this committee to to explain exactly the interest disease. And that may be a deterrent.

Councillor Jones said that he did not consider the explanation about teams being more realistic to be valid. He said that in his previous term of office it was common for teams to provide realistic timescales for completion of actions, and that he was disappointed to be told that this was still an issue.

Councillor Norman said that, “we need realistic” timescales, and Mr Triggs said that officers would continue to challenge heads of service to ensure that the timescales they provide are realistic.

Work Programme

The committee reviewed the work programme, and agreed to add an item on the Community Risk Register to the agenda for the September 2024 meeting.

Corporate Risk Register

The committee noted the Corporate Risk Register. Mr Triggs confirmed that each of the risks on the register had been reviewed and updated by the Corporate Risk Management Group. He also confirmed that a new risk had been added in relation to insurance coverage.

Request for Flexible Retirement

The committee discussed a proposal for a member of staff’s flexible retirement. Mr Triggs said that the employee’s role had a “significant impact upon the council's financial framework” and that the employee was the system administrator for a number of key software systems. He said that the team was working on a resource plan to ensure that the employee’s responsibilities could be covered. He said that flexible retirement would “significantly reduce risk and enable the retention of a very experienced member of staff”.

Corporate Risk Register

The committee discussed the Corporate Risk Register.

Councillor Bushell asked about the risks posed by the roof of the Green Lanes Shopping Centre, given that asbestos³ had been identified in the roof of the building. Mr Triggs said that, alternative roofing options were being considered at Green Lanes Shopping Centre with a view to their renewable energy solutions and their 'green' options.