This committee meets on Tuesday 14 June 2011 at 10am at The City Chambers. Here is the agenda
The agenda is not as long as some committee meetings but it contains some weighty matters:-
The City Development Department produces its service plan for 2011-12. Part of the department’s budget is something called Third Party payments. The report explains that there are four main contracts which the department is responsible for. One of these is Parking Enforcement for which the council pays around £5million. It also spends an estimated £1m on bus service support.
The largest portion of its budget is expended on employees, as is the case with most businesses. In the case of this department it estimates it will spend around 38% of its budget on salaries in the year 2011-12.
All council departments were asked to produce their own cost-saving methods earlier in the year for the overall council budget in February.
Another item worth perusing is Item 14, the governance of major projects. There is a table at the end of the report with a red amber or green status. The Assembly Rooms are of course missing from this year’s Fringe Festival and have been given green status. This is what the report says:-“At the meeting on 16 December 2010, the City of Edinburgh Council gave approval to appoint a Contractor to the project and this appointment has now been made. Work on Phase 1 – Preparatory Works commenced on 17 January 2011 and is scheduled to be completed in April 2011. Work on Phase 2 – the Refurbishment Works will commence in April. The full refurbishment project is due to be completed in June 2012.”
Another major plan is the work required on the Water of Leith to prevent floods. This is also given green status in the report and the comments are as follows:-“Contractor appointed to carry out construction work. The tender cost is £11.5m, site start March 2011. The approximate duration of work is 18 Months. The work mainly comprises building of flood defence walls along the Water of Leith between Bonnington and Stockbridge.”
Finally the Edinburgh Tram project is also given a mention. It has red and amber status. The comments are as follows:-“Mediation on the dispute with the main contractor commenced in March 2011 and agreements in principle are now in place on the preferred way forward. This was reported to a special meeting of the Council on 16 May 2011. The key risk areas for the project remain scope, cost and programme certainty. A further report will follow in summer 2011.”
We hope to bring you a report after the meeting of the committee.
