Agenda and minutes

·         This report was the pooled account for both North Devon Council (NDC) and Mid Devon District Council (MDDC) covering April to September 2020

·         Column one showed the sixth month budget approved for both authorities

·         Column two showed the actual position for both authorities

·         Each authority’s apportioned expenses were split 60%/40% to NDC and MDDC respectively

·         Column three detailed the 60%/40% allocations to each authority with NDC showing a £43,000 net deficit and MDDC a £28,000 net deficit after taking into account the income received and also the job retention scheme

·         The combined total income was around £260,000 around £80,000 down on the same period last year.  There was a 20% drop in budgeted income across both authorities

·         The recently announced Government reimbursement income scheme was not reflected in this report.  Councils would be reimbursed 75% of their net income losses and the details of the effect of this would be presented to Committee on the Q3 trading account

·         The trading position of both authorities should hopefully improve by the end of the year following the above adjustment

·         Both authorities were showing a slight surplus on chargeable activities, £7,000 to NDC and £6,000 to MDDC

RESOLVED that the 2020/21 Building Control Partnership Trading Account Q2 report be noted.

·         Column two showed a total forecast expenditure across the partnership of £715,000

·         This was £25,000 higher than last year’s figure of £690,000 and was due in part, to the increase in pay awards.  It was in line with what had been budgeted for

·         The £508,000 forecast income across the partnership was £130,000 less than last year and equated to a 20% drop

·         Each authority had set aside a level of earmarked reserves to mitigate against any impact

·         In relation to the Government’s recently announced income loss reimbursement scheme, after the initial 5% absorption of budgeted income each authority would be reimbursed 75% of its net income losses.  As a result Q3 and Q4 would show slightly better forecast positions due to the reimbursement credits received back and would be reflected in the next report

In response to a question on whether the partnership would receive no reimbursement if their chargeable income element showed as a surplus.  The Head of Resources replied that nothing relating to this had been provided in the guidance from Government.  The split of 75% and 25% chargeable and non-chargeable costs respectively was not shown on returns to the Government. 

RESOLVED that the Building Control Partnership Forecast Trading Account 2020/21 be noted.

·         The trainee Building Control Officer had progressed to his next year’s degree and was on track to obtain a 2:1

·         Morale remained quite high within the team

·         Three staff remained working in the office, two of whom were taking phone calls and distributing work

·         The workload remained sufficient that no staff were being furloughed during the second lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  The situation was being monitored

·         Devonshire homes had decided not to leave the Partnership.  North and Mid Devon Building Control along with Devonshire Homes had won the partnership of the year award at the recent LABC awards

·         Internal working with MDDC Development team had reached protocols with the Planning team for handling DM1 within the Local Plan where 25% of a site with more than 10 dwellings had to provide higher levels of disabled access

·         The Building Safety Bill, detailing the timetable of the transition of powers to the new Building Inspectorate was expected to be published at the end of October/beginning of November 2020 had been delayed.  Full transition was expected by Government by 2023 but further information available

·         Officers currently at levels four and five couldn’t be progressed due to lack of information at present

·         The level six validations only remained valid for four years.  It was unlikely any surveyors would retain level six after this was a portfolio now needed to be provided, and due to the lack of high rise buildings in the area this would cause difficulties

·         Being a predominantly rural area it would be difficult to compete for business outside of our geographical area without the credibility of experience of high rise buildings

·         There was an improvement of 38% in Q2 on the market for new dwellings.  This was due to the phasing of the work

·         The market share had increased to 82% in Q2

·         Response to applications within three week target was at 100%

·         October had been the busiest month seen for the Partnership over the last five years.  Although this was slowing now due to the second lockdown

Councillor Yabsley gave thanks to the team for maintaining their services during a difficult period.

RESOLVED that the Key Performance Indicators report be noted.

·         An audit that was commissioned by MDDC to confirm whether the necessary steps had been taken to meet the new standards as a result of the Hackett enquiry, an assessment of the Building Control quality management system was also given an overview by the audit

·         The key findings were that the department were doing what they should be

RESOLVED that the Findings of Devon Audit Partnership report be noted.

·         This report was seeking the Joint Committees input into the 2021/22 Service plan.  Discussions had been undertaken with Officers from both authorities

·         Customer service was the focus of the plan and the Team’s promptness to respond to customers and meeting the needs of the Building regulator

·         Suggested short term objectives revolved around ensuring customer focus, with high quality record keeping thus ensuring the transparency of decision making process

·         It was proposed that the medium and long term objectives remained unchanged

·         Cost increases were proposed at 2% which were considered realistic considering the difficult conditions ongoing

RESOLVED that the Building Control Service Plan 2021/22 be adopted.

RECOMMENDED that the Building Control fees increase by an average of 2% for the financial year 2021/22.