Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Heesom, Cllr Rout and Cllr Bates.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meetings.

Prior to consideration of the minutes a number of members paid tribute to Cllr Mrs Anne Heames who had sadly passed away recently.

Resolved:     That the minutes of the previous meetings be agreed as a correct record.

Before commencing with the announcements, a minutes silence was held in remembrance of Cllr Mrs Anne Heames.

The Mayor reminded Members that the annual Civic Mass would be held on Sunday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church. 

Tickets were now on sale for a concert by Newcastle Male Voice Choir and Newcastle Ladies Choir that would be held at Newcastle Methodist Church on Saturday 7 March at 7.30pm.  The concert was in aid of the Mayor’s Charity Fund. 

The Mayor also urged Members to purchase tickets for the Spring Ball that was to be held in The Ballroom of Keele Hall on Friday 27 March. 

Please note that in accordance with The Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, a recorded vote will be taken for this agenda item.

A report was submitted setting out the recommendations of Cabinet for the Revenue and Capital Budgets for 2015/16 and the recommendations for setting the 2015/16 Council Tax.

The Portfolio Holder for Resources and Support Services introduced the report and thanked the Executive Director for Finance and Resources and his team for all of the work that had gone into preparing and balancing the budgets.

The following amendment was moved by Cllr Jones and seconded by Cllr Sweeney:

To add at the end of the existing recommendations in Appendix A the words:

That the proposed cut (ref A7 of appendix C. page 31) of £15,000 in the grant to Parish/Town Councils for concurrent functions be removed. That this be funded by reducing the proposed contribution to the Revenue Investment Fund (ref A8 of appendix C page 31) from £50,000 to £35,000.

A vote was taken on the amendment as follows:

29 voted in favour

0 voted against

27 abstained

The amendment was carried.

A second amendment was proposed by Cllr Sweeney and seconded by Cllr Loades:

To add at the end of the existing recommendations in Appendix A the words:

That option 4 of the report of the Concurrent Funding Task and Finish Group be implemented to "Establish a more closely monitored system". In particular:

that a cross-party monitoring group be established. Prior to any grant money being issued in April 2015 individual Towns and Parishes would need to provide this group with proof that the grant for 2014/15 has been used in full and for its intended purpose. Failure to do so could result in an amount equivalent to any shortfall being deducted from the grant for 2015/16.

AND that the cross-party group pursue other matters the group feels is of concern for future arrangements.

A vote was taken with all Cllrs voting in favour of the amendment which was carried.

A third amendment was proposed by Cllr Jones and seconded by Cllr Sweeney:

To add at the end of the existing recommendation in Appendix A the words:

That this Council recommends that the number of cabinet members be cut from seven to six and the savings made be allocated to the Revenue Investment Fund

The Leader clarified that only he could determine the number of Cllrs on Cabinet within the restrictions of the Council’s constitution and it was therefore confirmed that the amendment was a recommendation to the Leader rather that a decision to be made by Council.

A vote was taken in relation to making the recommendation to the Leader and was as follows:

27 voted in favour

29 abstained

An amendment was moved by Cllr Miss Reddish and seconded by Cllr Sweeney as follows:

To add at the end of the existing recommendation in Appendix A the words:

3. That the current expenditure (estimated at £35,000+) on servicing the Local Action Partnerships be reviewed in order to:

a) investigate if it is giving value for money,

and

b) explore alternative ways of operating local community partnerships.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

A report was submitted requesting Council to approve the Treasury Management Strategy for 2015/16, including the Prudential Indicators, Investment Strategy and Minimum Revenue Provision Strategy contained within it.  

Resolved:

(a)       That the Treasury Management Strategy Report for 2015/16 be approved.

(b)       That the Prudential Indicators contained within the report be approved.

(c)        That the Investment Strategy contained within the report be approved.

(d)       That the Minimum Revenue Provision Strategy contained within the report be approved.

A report was submitted requesting Members to consider and approve the Capital Strategy 2015 to 2019.

Two amendments had been submitted as follows:

Amendment 1

To delete recommendation (b)

Amendment 2

To add an additional recommendation:

In the interests of transparency and open government a cross party scrutiny working group be set up to listen to the concerns of local residents before any green space is sold for development.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Resources stated that a Cabinet Panel along the lines of the cross party scrutiny working group recommended in amendment 2 was already in the process of being set up following a resolution of the Cabinet in February 2014.

The mover of the second amendment therefore agreed to withdraw the amendment.

Cllr Sweeney moved the first amendment which was seconded by Cllr Fear.

A vote was taken as follows:

26 in favour

28 against

1 abstention

The amendment fell.

A vote was then taken on the original motion as follows:

33 in favour

22 abstentions

Resolved:

a)         That the Capital Strategy be approved.

b)         That in future the Capital Strategy be approved by the Cabinet, without Council approval being required.

c)         That, in respect of recommendation b), Financial Regulation B1 (a) be amended by the deletion of “Capital Strategy” from the list of elements of the policy framework which are to be approved by Full Council and that Procedural Regulation Bf23 be amended by deleting the words in italics below:

Bf23 The Executive Director (Resources and Support Services) shall ensure that a Capital Strategy is produced and revised annually.  He shall submit the Strategy to the Cabinet for consideration and to the Full Council for approval.

A report was submitted in relation to The Localism Act 2011, which required local authorities to prepare and publish a pay policy statement for each financial year.  The statement set out the authority’s policies relating to the remuneration of its chief officers, the remuneration of its lowest paid employees and the relationship between the remuneration of its chief officers and the remuneration of its employees who are not chief officers.

Resolved:

That the Pay Policy Statement attached at Appendix A to this report be approved and published on the council’s website by 31 March 2015.

To update the current Planning Scheme of Delegation to reflect recommendations arising following the recent Planning Peer Review.

The following amendment was moved by Cllr Fear and seconded by Cllr Miss Reddish:

To delete the existing recommendation and replace it with:

The revised Planning Scheme of Delegation set out in the Appendix to this report be referred back to the Planning Committee for further consideration to take account of points raised by the Council at its meeting on 25 February 2015 and that a revised version be brought to the Council at its meeting on 15 April 2015.

Members considered the amendment and voted as follows:

28 in favour

25 against

1 abstention

The amendment was there carried and became the new substantive motion o which a vote was taken as follows:

27 in favour

2 against

24 abstentions

Resolved:

That the revised Planning Scheme of Delegation set out in the Appendix to this report be referred back to the Planning Committee for further consideration to take account of points raised by the Council at its meeting on 25 February 2015 and that a revised version be brought to the Council at its meeting on 15 April 2015.

A report was submitted to improve the efficiency and accessibility of the Constitution and to ensure that it is up to date and fully complies with the law.

Resolved:

a)         That Council adopts the amendments to the Constitution recommended by the Constitution Review Working Group and endorsed by the Finance, Resources and Partnerships Scrutiny Committee as listed below:

I.          That the redrafted Member Code of Conduct be agreed,

II.          That the revised Elected Member/Officer Relations Protocol be adopted,

III.         That having been reviewed by the Finance, Resources & Partnerships Scrutiny Committee the updated version of Appendix 12 (Contract Procedure Rules) of the Constitution be adopted by Full Council,

IV.        That the suggested wording relating to the appointment of Honorary Aldermen be included in the Constitution.

V.        That both sections in the constitution that refer to urgency provisions be replaced with one new urgency clause as suggested in the report.

VI.        That diarised meetings of the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice Chairs Group are no longer required.

b)         That the Constitution Review Working Group continues its review of the Constitution.

A report was submitted by the Leader of the Council on the activities and decisions of Cabinet and items included on the Forward Plan.

Chairs are requested to submit written reports to the Democratic Services Manager at least 2 days before the meeting.

a)         Finance, Resources and Partnerships Scrutiny Committee

b)         Active and Cohesive Communities Scrutiny Committee

c)         Cleaner, Greener and Safer Communities Scrutiny Committee

d)         Economic Development and Enterprise Scrutiny Committee

e)         Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee

Verbal and written reports were received from the Chairs of the Scrutiny Committees.

Chairs are requested to submit written reports to the Democratic Services Manager at least two days before meeting.

a)         Audit and Risk Committee

b)         Planning Committee

c)         Licensing Committee

d)         Public Protection Committee

Verbal and written reports were received from the Chairs of the regulatory committees.

In accordance with Procedure Rule 11, questions must be submitted at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting.  Any questions considered urgent will only be accepted with the agreement of the Mayor prior to the meeting

The Leader confirmed that full written response would be provided to the questions that had been submitted.

No motions had been submitted.

On 3rd February 2015, the Council received a petition from Mr Tim Cooper in relation to Land at the Butts and its inclusion in the Joint Local Plan. Mr Cooper was in attendance at the meeting to present the petition to Members

The petition had been signed by 302 residents and due to the fact that it related to a local issue affecting no more than two electoral wards within the Council area it met the criteria to be considered by Full Council. 

Members thanked Mr Cooper and those who had signed the petition.

Following consideration of the petition and presentation by Mr Cooper, Council considered the following options:

•           To take the action the petition requests

•           To not to take the action requested for reasons put forward in the debate; or

•           to commission further investigation into the matter (for example, by a relevant committee).

Resolved:

As the actions requested by the petition were not within the remit of the Council it was resolved that the matters highlighted be referred back to the Cabinet for additional consideration.

There was no urgent business.