Agenda and draft minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting from Cabinet held on 4 February 2026 were agreed.

Guidance is available online to Councillors and co-opted members on making declarations of interest

Min 168. Sidmouth and East Beach Coastal Defence Scheme - Contract above £100k.

Councillor Ian Barlow, Affects Non-registerable Interest, Is a member of Sidmouth TC who are part funders to the scheme.

Min 168. Sidmouth and East Beach Coastal Defence Scheme - Contract above £100k.

Councillor John Loudoun, Affects Non-registerable Interest, Is a member of Sidmouth TC who are part funders to the scheme.

Information on public speaking is available online

Cllr Geoff Jung read out a statement on his role as a ward member when presented with planning applications in his ward. His ward included the village of Lympstone which was directly connected to the Exmouth sewage infrastructure. Following the recent planning meeting where he had asked for a Grampian condition on an application for development in Lympstone, an email was received from SWW confirming that they had no concerns about capacity for these connections. Cllr Jung said his dilemma was that the Planning team had asked him not to insist on the Grampian condition because of the SWW assessment, but this went against the evidence he had that there had been 912 spills at Lympstone Combined Sewer Overflows pouring into the Exe Estuary. He was concerned for all councillors facing this dilemma.

Information on matters of urgency is available online

There is one late report at agenda item 14 Local Government Reorganisation - Consultation Response.

There was one late item dealt with in this way recorded at Minute 172.

To agree any items to be dealt with after the public (including the Press) have been excluded. There is one item which officers recommend should be dealt with in this way.

There was one item dealt with in this way recorded at Minute 174.

Members noted the minutes of the Overview Committee held on 22 January 2026.

Members noted the minutes of the Strata Joint Executive Committee held on 28 January 2026.

Members noted the minutes of the Recycling and Waste Partnership Board held on 28 January 2026.

Delegated authority was sought to award the Sidmouth and East Beach Coastal Defence Scheme Two Stage Contract involving the detailed design, modelling, consenting & statutory consultation within Stage One, with the option to progress to Stage Two, Construction Phase thereafter.

The Portfolio Holder Environment – Operations wished to thank Tony Burch and Chris Lockyear; advisory members of Sidmouth and East Beach BMP Project Advisory Group, for giving their experienced technical knowledge. The Director of Place thanked Tom Buxton-Smith and his Engineering team as well as South West Flood and Coastal members and wider stakeholders for their ongoing support.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

Grant delegated authority to the Director of Place in consultation with the Portfolio Holder Environment Operations and Portfolio Holder Finance to award the contract to the preferred supplier.

REASON:

To enable the award of contract to the preferred supplier following completion of the tender exercise. The delegation would allow the contract to be entered without a further Cabinet paper, to ensure programme targets were met.

The Mutual Exchange Policy was presented which has been reviewed and updated to incorporate any relevant changes in practice, outlining EDDC’s approach to managing mutual exchange requests.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

Approve the updated Mutal Exchange Policy.

REASON:

The Mutual Exchange Policy had been reviewed and updated to incorporate relevant changes.

The Temporary Accommodation Procurement and Allocation Policy had been reviewed and updated to incorporate any relevant changes in practice, outlining EDDC’s approach towards meeting its responsibilities to provide temporary accommodation to eligible homeless applicants.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

Approve the updated Temporary Accommodation Procurement and Allocation Policy.

REASON:

The Temporary Accommodation Procurement and Allocation Policy had been reviewed and updated to incorporate relevant changes.

A summary of the Council’s overall financial position for 2025/26 at the end of month ten (31 January 2026) was presented.

Current monitoring indicated that:

·       The General Fund Balance was currently projected to be materially in line

with budget, therefore, no action was recommended for members consideration.

·       The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget strategy followed the Sustainability plan which required the restoration of the HRA Balance to £3.1m in £250k annual increments. This was set to be achieved, with any surplus used as an additional contribution to capital to reduce borrowing and the resultant interest burden.

·       Capital in both the General Fund and Housing workstreams were significantly below budget expectations resulting in slippage into 2026/27.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

Note the variances identified as part of the Revenue and Capital Monitoring process up to Month 10.

REASON:

The report updated Members on the overall financial position of the Authority at set periods and included recommendations where corrective action was required for the remainder of the financial year.

Delegated authority was sought to enable a response to the current consultation on the options for local government reorganisation in Devon to be submitted by the deadline of the 26^th March 2026. The response was being developed in conjunction with the other District Councils and would be consistent with the Council’s support for the 4-5-1 plus option.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

Delegated authority to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Council, Corporate and External Engagement to develop the Council’s response to the current consultation in relation to local government reorganisation and to submit this by the requisite deadline.

REASON:

To enable the Council to respond to the current consultation on the options for local government reorganisation.

The Vice-Chair to move the following:

that under Section 100(A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public (including the press) be excluded from the meeting as exempt information, of the description set out in the agenda is likely to be disclosed and on balance the public interest is in discussing these items in private session (Part B).

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

that under Section 100(A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public (including the press) be excluded from the meeting as exempt information, of the description set out in the agenda is likely to be disclosed and on balance the public interest is in discussing these items in private session (Part B).

RESOLVED: that the amended recommendations as set out in the report were agreed.