Agenda and minutes

To receive declarations of interest from Members on items contained within this agenda.

There were no declarations of interest stated.

To consider the Minutes of the previous meeting(s)

Resolved:                 That the minutes of the meeting held on 24 January, 2024 be agreed as a correct record.

The Mayor made one announcement:

The Mayor’s Civic Mass would be held on Sunday 25 February, 2024 at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, commencing at 11am.

For the next two items, Simon McEneny and Anthony Harold left the room

The Leader introduced a report regarding the appointment of Simon McEneny as the Interim Head of Paid Service.

Resolved:     That, in accordance with s4 of the Local Government & Housing Act 1989, Council confirm the appointment of Simon McEneny (Deputy Chief Executive) as the Council’s Interim Head of Paid Service (Chief Executive) with effect from 1st April 2024 on an acting up basis for a period of 3 months or until the substantive appointment is in post, whichever is first.

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The Leader introduced a report regarding the appointment of Anthony Harold as the Interim Returning Officer and Electoral Registration Officer.

Resolved:     That, in accordance with the Representation of the People Act 1983, approve the temporary appointment of Anthony Harold (Monitoring Officer) to the posts of Returning Officer and Electoral Registration Officer as an interim arrangement, with effect from 1st April 2024 pending permanent recruitment to the Chief Executive Officer role.

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The Leader introduced a report providing an update on the progress made by Capital&Centric on York Place, The Midway car park and the Ryecroft projects which had been agreed by Cabinet on 6 February, 2024.

The Leader made reference to the Members briefing that had taken place where questions were answered.  The new car park was currently under construction and York Place was being taken to the next stage.  Also, there were plans for the Midway to be repurposed as apartments.  Working with partners made the scheme more affordable and would move forward in stages.

Councillor Sweeney stated that the spending on the developments was £2.649m to take it to the planning permission stage.  Of that amount, £2,185,678 was Future High Street Fund and £326,338 was from Aspire.  The actual Council money was £136,984.

Members felt that this was good progress for the town centre and looked forward to seeing the next steps. Bringing people in to live in the town was welcomed.

Councillor Brockie, referring to Appendix C – item 7, asked for clarification of the arrangements for maintaining the green spaces around the development.

The Leader stated that there was a Planning process with obligations which would determine future maintenance.

Councillor Richards asked about the Midway car park, stating that previously, Members had been informed that the car park was in a poor state of repair and needed to be demolished. However, the suggestion now was that it was fit to live in so why was this now the case?

The Leader stated that £2m had been spent on the car park dealing with concrete issues and Capital&Centric’s ideas for the site could be groundbreaking.  There was information available including previous Cabinet reports on the Midway.

Councillor Fox-Hewitt had previously asked for the Feasibility Studies and Consultation reports to be shared with Members and asked if this had been done.  The Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that they had been shared with Councillor Fox-Hewitt.

Councillor Dave Jones stated that there had been some concerns over appropriate scrutiny of the report and had considered a call-in.  However, the all-members teams briefing had answered many of those concerns.  Councillor Jones stated that he would like to see more of those briefings taking place.

Councillor John Williams felt that members should have been given the opportunity to meet Capital&Centric or attend a site vist to one of their developments.

The Leader stated that a document had been attached to the Cabinet agenda and at the members briefing which outlined Capital& Centric’s history and current projects.

Resolved:     (i)         That the progress made to date by Capital&Centric on the

York Place, Midway Car Park and The Ryecroft projects in Newcastle Town Centre, be noted;

(ii)          That, expenditure of up to £2,649,000 to develop the three schemes to the end of RIBA Stage 3, and the submission of the requisite planning applications, be approved.

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The Leader introduced the report and moved the recommendations which set out the recommendations of Cabinet for Revenue and Capital Budgets for 2024/25. 

The Medium Term Financial Strategy 2024/25 to 2028/29, Capital Strategy for 2024/34, the Treasury Management Strategy for 2024/25, Investment Strategy 2024/25 and the Commercial Strategy for 2024/25 were also recommended for approval.

Following a debate, a named vote was taken in respect of the proposed budget:

In Favour (Y) –  23

Against (N) – 5

Abstain – 8

Resolved:    That recommendations (a) to (o), as set out in Appendix ‘1’ of the agenda report be approved.

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The Leader introduced a report seeking Council’s approval of the Pay Policy Statement for 2024/25. 

This was an annual requirement of the Localism Act, 2011 setting out the remuneration of chief officers and the lowest paid employees and the changes in roles and titles of senior officers. 

Resolved:    That the Pay Policy Statement, as attached at Appendix A to the report, be approved with a view to it being published on the Council’s website by 31 March, 2024 .

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The Portfolio Holder for Finance, Town Centres and Growth introduced a report seeking approval for the continuing disregard of War Pensions and War Widow(er)’s Pension in calculating Housing Benefit entitlement and Council Tax Reduction.

Resolved:     That the disregard of War Pensions and War Widow(er)’s pensions, be approved:-

(a)        in full as income above the statutory £10.00 per week disregard in   the calculation of Housing Benefit entitlement and

(b)        in full as income in relation to the means tested assessment of Council Tax Reduction Scheme discount.

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Two questions were received:

1)        Question from Councillor Gorton to the Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Environment:

“Leaving out a waste bin on the pavement days after a collection has been made is a practice which the Borough Council would want to discourage. Bins left out in this way block pavements with the result that passers by are often obliged to walk in the road. I understand that as a last resort local authorities can issue a fixed penalty if a bin is persistently left on a pavement. The issuing of a fixed penalty must be a last resort which is only applied when persuasion has failed. Can the Portfolio Holder outline the action or actions the Borough Council proposes to take to encourage householders to be good neighbours and not leave their bins out on pavements days after a collection has taken place? “

The Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Environment stated that there had been a long standing issue in some areas of the Borough where wheelie bins were left out in the street between collections, thus causing an obstruction.  The Councils Mobile Multi Function Team and the Recycling and Waste Team were now working to raise awareness with households and had put together a three stage process of education, warning and ultimately, a fixed penalty notice.

Education would be in the form of written literature and possibly a verbal or first written warning. The street or repeat offender households could be leafleted.  This would explain the range of waste collection and recycling services and also to place their bins on the street at certain times for collection, removing them afterwards.

Stage two would be a warning, which would be a repeat of the education process but also a Notice of Intent of any repeat offence.

Stage three would be a Fixed Penalty Notice of £60.  The MMF Team worked on these when it was founded in 2023, reviewing issues such as dog fouling, fly tipping and residents duty of care regarding their waste management.  The Fixed Penalty fees and charges would be decided by Cabinet, then reviewed, debated and amended where necessary and endorsed by the Licensing and Public Protection Committee. 

At present, education seemed to be working, with no Fixed Penalty Fees having been issued.

Councillor Gorton asked a supplementary question:

“Could the Portfolio Holder give assurance that resources would be available to underpin the action that had been outlined?”

The Portfolio Holder confirmed that resources would be provided.

2)        Question from Councillor Brockie to the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Town Centres and Growth:

“Capital & Centric’s business model based on ‘Driving value through ownership’ has clearly been successful for them, and will hopefully be successful for Newcastle. It is accepted that the projects and their costs and benefits will be put through consultation and scrutiny. With ‘ownership’ comes responsibility - and at the moment we still own these sites. Selling them, and others, off to relieve ourselves of debt may or may not be appropriate in future-proofing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

To receive from Members any petitions which they wish to present to the Council.

No petitions were received.

To consider any communications which pursuant to Section B4, Rule 9 of the constitution are, in the opinion of the Mayor, of an urgent nature and to pass thereon such resolutions as may be  deemed necessary.

Members were informed that Martin Hamilton, the Chief Executive Officer was leaving the Authority. 

The Leader, Councillor Dave Jones, Councillor John Williams and Councillor Stephen Sweeney paid tribute to Martin who then responded with thanks.

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To resolve that the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following report(s) as it is likely that there will be disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs contained within Part 1 of Schedule 12A (as amended) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no confidential items.