Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Fear, Cllr Bates, Cllr Olszewski and Cllr Mancey.

There were no declarations of interest.

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

That the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 25th February be approved with the following amendments:

1.    That it be included in the minutes that the amendment put forward in relation to the Planning Scheme of Delegation was queried by the administration and ruled admissible by the Mayor.

2.    That more detailed information regarding the response to Cllr Loades’ question and his supplementary question be recorded as follows:

Question from Cllr Loades:

1.         Can the Portfolio holder inform Council of what action he is currently taking to resolve the current lack of a 5 year housing supply and when we can see a speedy resolution to this unacceptable situation?

Response from the Portfolio Holder:

A new annual five year housing land supply statement, reflecting the position as at 1^st April 2015 will be presented to Planning Committee in May and it is expected that Cabinet will then be invited in June to consider whether in the light of the supply position it wishes to prepare an interim planning statement.

The timescale reflects:

·        the release of the 2012 household projections; and

·        the annual monitoring update can only  take place at the end of the monitoring year.

This timescale will not permit us to take into consideration the planned SHLAA update.

Cllr Loades stated that it was disappointing that the Council had to wait until May and asked what action had been taken over the last 28 months to review and update this?

The Portfolio Holder stated that a full written response would be provided.

The Mayor announced that her Spring Ball held at Keele University had been a huge success and had raised £1645 for her charity fund.

The Mayor announced that there were some sitting Councillors who would not be seeking re-election in May and invited Members to say a few words in recognition of their services to the Council and the people of the Borough.

The Members were:

Cllr Sophie Olszewski

Cllr John Taylor

Cllr David Becket

A report was submitted requesting Members to review the Council’s Scheme of Members Allowances.

A motion was submitted and seconded that the report be withdrawn and not put at this meeting on the basis that Council had not agreed to carry out the review.

A vote was taken as follows:

48 voted in favour of the amendment

0 voted against

5 abstained

Resolved: That the report be withdrawn from the agenda.

A report was submitted by the Monitoring Officer to ensure that the Constitution was up to date and fully complies with statute.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That Council notes the update to Appendix 9, Rule 3 of the Procedure Rules for committees and Sub-Committees of Council;

(b)  That Council notes the implications of (a) in relation to the resolution made at the Council meeting held on 25^th February 2015 regarding the report on the Scheme of Delegation in Relation to the Planning Committee

A report was submitted to amend the Council’s Procedure Rules to make changes to the procedure for disciplining and dismissing senior officers in accordance with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (‘the Regulations’), which come into force on 11th May 2015.

RESOLVED:

That Council approve the modifications to Council Procedure Rules (Appendix 7 of the Constitution, Annex 3) in relation to the appointment and dismissal of senior officers. 

A statement was submitted by the Leader of the Council regarding work undertaken by the current administration since the last meeting of Full Council.

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

Reports were received from the Chairs of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

Resolved:       That the reports be received.

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

a)         Audit and Risk Committee

b)         Planning Committee

c)         Licensing Committee

d)         Public Protection Committee

e)         Standards

Reports were received from the Chairs of the Regulatory Committees.

Resolved:       That the reports be received.

In response to the question submitted by Cllr Becket, the Portfolio Holder stated that tourism was mainly a County Council function but accepted that more could be done by the Borough Council as the Town expanded and new attractions were brought in.

Cllr Becket agreed that the Borough did not need to carry out the in depth work but that areas such as better links on the website could be used.

The Portfolio Holder agreed and stated that better links would be used and information relating to the Town Centre Partnership would be included.

Cllr Sweeney raised a query regarding the rules of purdah and the publication of the Leader's Statement. The Chief Executive stated that the rules relating to Purdah would be attached to the minutes.

Regarding the question submitted by Cllr Loades, the Portfolio Holder confirmed that concurrent funding had not been discontinued and that a cross party working group was in the process of being set up.

Cllr Loades then requested confirmation that the parish and town councils would get the normal payments.

The Portfolio Holder stated that it was important to ensure that the money was being spent correctly before any further payments were made and that she would meet with Cllr Loades to discuss this.

A notice of motion other than those listed under Council Procedure Rule 10 must reach the Chief Executive ten clear days before the relevant Meeting of the Council.

A motion was submitted as follows:

That this council proposes that 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

Proposed by Councillor Sweeney

Seconded by Councillor Loades

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Resources proposed that under section 12.5 of the Council Procedure Rules, the motion be referred to the Economic and Development Scrutiny Committee.

This was seconded by The Leader.

Resolved:

That as per Council Procedure Rule 12.5, the motion shall stand referred without discussion to the Economic Development and Enterprise Scrutiny Committee.