Decisions

This report seeks the approval of the Corporate Director of Children, Young People and Education under the powers delegated to them via Cabinet in October 2024 to enter into Heads of Terms in relation to sale and leaseback of the property that is 90 Central Parade, New Addington. The Cabinet paper in October 2024 agreed for the Council to sell and leaseback the Social Services building to provide for Housing needs for care experienced young people. 

Heads of Terms (HoTs) have been agreed with the Investor as detailed within Part B of this report and the terms are in line with Cabinet report with further adjustments. At this stage the request for approval requires that the Council enter into the HoTs, which are subject to Contract and due diligence. The HoTs for the Sale and Headlease, Underlease and Nomination Agreement are provided within Part B Appendices of A, B, C respectively.

The team will now progress to detailed legal work and a further report will be brought back for Corporate Director of Children, Young People and Education to enter into the final legal agreements. 

For the reasons set out in the report (Part A & B) and its PART B appendices, the Corporate Director of Children, Young People and Education in consultation with the Executive Mayor, Cabinet Member for Finance, Cabinet Member for Homes, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Corporate Director of Resources, Corporate Director of Housing and Director of Commercial Investment and Capital AGREED: 

1. to enter into the HoTs as detailed within Part B of this report for Sale and Headlease, Underlease and Nomination Agreement.  

The Current leased vehicles are expiring and need to be replaced. Due to workforce growth, budget pressures, health and safety concerns and service demands throughout the borough we are in a position whereby we need to increase our vehicle fleet to enable officers to fully and completely patrol the borough’s parking restrictions. As a result, we are required to source 12 vehicles/cars to enable us to deploy our officers as effectively and efficiently as possible 7 days a week.

This supports the Mayor’s Business Plan via Outcome 1 - Deliver the savings in the Medium-Term Financial Strategy and increase our income, and redesign services to improve efficiency and enhance residents’ experience.

For the reasons set out in the report the Director of Streets and Environment, AGREED:

1.1         the route to market strategy set out in this report which will lead to the   procurement of 12 vehicles on a lease basis for a period of up to 6-years for the Parking Enforcement team via mini competition through The Procurement Partnership (TPPL) framework (TPPLHCCCH03) for an estimated contract value of £260,000 over 6 years.

This decision / report for consideration is to seek approval via the Director Delegated Authority to award the contract for the refurbishment of the 1^st floor of Croydon Central Library to create a digital discovery space and rooms for hire.

There is funding from Arts Council England and Libraries capital fund to complete the project.

The service originally sought to procure the works through the councils FM term contractor OCS, but their quotations offered did not provide value for money.

Procurement Board then approved for the opportunity to go to market to a select group of five contractors with a view to procuring a local SME better suited to the scale of the works required.

Key risk – Arts Council Libraries Improvement Fund grant for part of the works requires the build to be completed by March 2026.

For the reasons set out in this report the Director for Culture & Community Safety (Please note, decision was subsequently delegated and taken by Director of Streets and Environment) is recommended by the Chair of CCB to approve the award the contract for the provision of Central Library 1st Floor Refurbishment Project Libraries Improvement Fund (Arts Council funded) to the supplier (B)  named in part B of the report for the aggregate value of £350, 000.00 (three hundred an fifty thousand pound sterling)  for ten (10) months.

Note that the name of the successful supplier will be released after the award decision.

• In the event that the Council is unable to enter into a contract with Supplier  B; it can enter into a contract with the reserve bidder (Supplier A).

This excludes the FF&E which is being awarded separately. The total estimated value including the  FF&E is £358,518.

On the 16^th October 2024, Cabinet agreed to a consultation regarding proposed changes to the Allocation Scheme.

The Allocation Scheme is the Council’s policy towards the distribution of social housing setting out how an applicant can qualify, the level of priority based on  housing need and how an application can be made.

The proposed changes to the Allocation Scheme were as follows;

• Extending the residency criteria to six years
• Raising the banding priority for Care Experienced Young Adults
• Changing the entry age into Sheltered Accommodation from 55 to pension age or above 60 with health/well-being issues
• Reciprocal arrangements to allow transfer with other Boroughs
• Ability for the Council to create a Lettings Plan-the papers contain a further report setting out the Lettings Plan 2025/6
• Changes in applicants’ circumstances resulting in a change in a ‘priority band’
• Response times to applications lengthened to 30 working days
• Re-instatement of the annual review of the housing register
• Ability for overcrowded residents to bid down to a smaller property
• Offers of accommodation restricted to one.

The Council carried out a comprehensive consultation through an online survey with residents, housing associations and the voluntary and statutory sector and followed this up with a schedule of meetings with key partners. The survey showed broad agreement with all the proposals. 

The Cabinet agreed that if there was agreement with the proposed policies then the matter could be delegated to the Corporate Director for agreement and permission is sought for this decision to be made.

For the reasons set out in the report and appendix, it is recommended that the Corporate Director of Housing AGREED:

2.1.     To any minor amendments that are necessary, and agree, implement and publish the finalised scheme (Appendix 1)

2.2.      Note the following amendments to the scheme:

• The inclusion of statutory guidance with regards to the treatment of Armed   Forces personnel.

2.3.      Note the results of the consultation included in the Housing Allocation Scheme Consultation report (Appendix 2) and summarised in section (6) of Cabinet report.

2.4.      Note the Equalities Impact Assessment attached in Appendix 3

The Council is seeking to commission support for children and young people with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) and Occupational Therapy (OT) Needs in Croydon. This contract provides statutory and acute health provision across schools, health, and social care.

It is intended that a new service will work with schools to improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of services for children, young people, and young adults with therapy needs. This will enable the best possible health, education, and social care outcomes to be achieved within the available resources, developing strong partnerships with local agencies and service providers.  

The decisions required is to agree a re-procurement strategy.

Approve the procurement strategy/route to market for recommissioning of Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) and Occupational Therapy Services (OT), which will result in the award of a 3-year contract with the option to extend for a further 2 years (3+1+1) commencing 1st September 2025, at a maximum annual value of £1,078,160, and a 5-year maximum aggregated value of £5,390,800.  

Note that the annual value reflects the uplift on DSG contribution approved by Schools Forum. 

The report seeks approval to take up a permitted extension of 36 months for the provision of the Adults & Children’s Social Care IT System with Liquid Logic Ltd at a value of £1,190,285.

The 36-month contract extension is for ongoing annual software and maintenance of the existing Adults & Children’s Social Care IT system, to ensure it is still supported and the Council receives the system upgrades required to meet our statutory responsibilities.

The Council is required to fulfil a range of statutory social care functions which meet the needs of children, young people, adults, and their families across the borough. In order to do so, it is necessary to have a well-maintained Social Care IT system.

It is vital to ensure ongoing continuity and stability of the system, with appropriate support and maintenance in place, in order to safeguard out most vulnerable children and adults, and evidence our work with the children, adults and families that we support. It is also paramount to extend this contract to avoid service failure.

To approve the exercise of the permitted extension to the contract with Liquid Logic Ltd for the Adults & Children Social Care IT System for 36 months from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2028 at an extension value of £1,190,285.

This report has been prepared to update and expand Croydon’s Local List of Buildings of Architectural of Historic Significance. The Local List SPD was adopted in 2006 and contains guidance on the criteria and selection for Local Listing, implications in terms of planning policy and advice on works to Locally Listed Buildings. Part B contains the List of Buildings (‘the Local List’), however it has not been updated for over 10 years.

2.1To publish the new “Local List of Buildings – Part B” as an addition to Croydon’s existing Local List of Buildings of Architectural or Historic Significance SPD; and re-name the existing documents

2.2to agree that the buildings and addresses within the new Local List of Buildings (Part B) should become Locally Listed

to note:

2.3This accords with the Historic England Advice Note 7 ““Local Listing; Identifying and Conserving Local Heritage” (2021), the NPPF (Chapter 16; Conserving and Enhancing the Historic Environment), paragraph 185 and Planning Practice Guidance, paragraph 40.

The decision is about accepting the Family Hubs grant for a 1 year extension of the 3 year programme from the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care. 

To accept this grant the Council need to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Department for Education which is the lead central government department for this grant.  

For the reasons set out in the report the Executive Mayor AGREED:

1.1         to accept the funding for the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme from DfE and DHSC for £1,712,000 for the financial year 2025-26.

1.2         to delegate authority to the Corporate Director for Children Young People and Education in consultation with the Lead Member for Children’s Services to apply the funding in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Programme and to enhance the delivery and support to children and families in the borough.

Between July and November 2024 Housing carried out a review of Housing Ground Maintenance with residents consulted on their views. The review recommended that Housing procure an external provider(s) to undertake ground maintenance services.

The report will set out the Housing Ground Maintenance procurement including the route to market and the recommendation to appoint a contractor (or contractors) to carry out these works.

Recommendation:

i)             To agree to appoint the recommended contractor (or contractors) to carry out Ground Maintenance works on Housing land.

For the reason set out in this report the Cabinet Member for Homes AGREED to:

Approve the procurement via mini competition using the YPO Grounds Maintenance Services DPS-881Category 1 – General Grounds Maintenance and/or Core Services for a period of five (5) years from 01/07/25  to 30/06/30 (with break clauses at the end of years 3 and 4). The total aggregated (estimated) contract value is £8,500,000.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People AGREED to:

Approve the strategy identified within the detail of this report to procure a single supplier to be appointed under a contract for a term of 4 years, plus 1 extension period of 1 year (4+1) to deliver minibus services for children/young people with Special Educational Needs/Disabilities for an estimated contract value of £450,000 per year with an estimated total value of £2,250,000. This does not include inflation which will be applied on the agreed contract.

To request the take up of a permitted extension of the Passenger Transport DPS. This report will also seek to change the reporting arrangements to reduce resource requirements and therefore requires a Mayor decision.

The Corporate Director for SCRER AGREED to:

Approve the implementation of the permitted extension period of 4 years to the existing DPS taxi framework subject to remaining within the original approved total contract value of £68 million over its full 8-year term.