Agenda and minutes

The Mayor opened the meeting and welcomed all present.

An apology for absence was received on behalf of Councillor Anita Clayton.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

No declarations of interest were made.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meetings of the Council held on 20^th February and 2^nd March 2017.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meetings of the Council held on 20^th February and 2^nd March 2017 be agreed as corrects records and signed by the Mayor.

To consider Announcements under Procedure Rule 10:

a)         Mayor’s Announcements

b)         The Leader’s Announcements

c)         Chief Executive’s Announcements.

(Oral report)

The Mayor

The Mayor advised on the following events which he had attended since the last meeting of the Council:

·       his Civic Dinner – a very enjoyable evening for which he thanked everyone who had attended and which had raised £2,200 for his Charities;

·       an Older Person’s Forum – where had had been made very welcome;

·       an organised Raffle at the Town Hall, where he and staff had raised over £100;

·       a very enjoyable Patsy Cline Experience at the Palace Theatre which had also included Hank Williams and Jim Reeves tributes;      

·       the No Barriers Awards with Councillor Anita Clayton – a very enjoyable event with wonderful people who helped their communities;

·       an Inner Wheel Fellowship Luncheon at the West Mead Hotel, Hopwood, for which he thanked Councillor Wheeler for accompanying him, which he commented had been interesting with a guest speaker who had participated in a Dragon’s Den series;

·       the town’s St Georges Day Parade and Service at St Stephens Church which had been very well attended and well organised.  He was particularly pleased to see the large number of young people who were in attendance and thanked Councillor Chalk for his involvement with his Scout Group;

·       on behalf of the Council, the Mayor also wished Councillor Brookes a happy birthday.

Later in the meeting, att the end of the proceedings, and as the meeting was his last Council before the Annual General Meeting in May, the Mayor took the opportunity to thank Group Leaders and other Members, particularly Councillor Wheeler, Deputy Mayor, for their support during his Term of Office which, whilst the year had had its ups and downs, particularly with the news on the terror attack in London, had been a pleasure and a privilege.

The Leader

The Leader advised that the anticipated Bike Race had been confirmed for the 9^th May with Redditch having the first / launch race.  There would be an all- day event in the Town Centre for the community followed by the elite races taking place around 6pm.  The Council had contributed some funding and was likely to get some advertising at the event, which will hopefully be a great day for the Town, with the races being televised.

The Leader advised he’d had a very enjoyable afternoon at the Staff Awards which had taken place in various office locations rather than at the Palace Theatre this year, at which he had presented awards to staff in Planning, the Caretakers Team and the Palace Theatre Team. 

The Leader reported on the recognition Laney Walsh (UNISON) had received from National Unison for her excellent work with the Council on the time to talk / mental health work, when Officers and Members had also been filmed when they had visited the town, and hopefully shown the Council as positive, trend setting and forward looking.     

The Leader had visited a local business that had relocated into Redditch in and also attended an opening of a new training facility for apprentices in the spring making  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83.

To receive the minutes and consider the recommendations and / or referrals from the following meetings of the Executive Committee:

Meeting of the 20^th February 2017

To receive the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 20^th February 2017.  The recommendations from this meeting were resolved by Council at its meeting on the 20^th February 2017. 

Meeting of the 4^th April 2017

The Executive Committee made recommendations to the Council on the following matters:

Minute 102 –     Redditch Borough Council Response to Local Transport Plan 2017-2030

Minute 103 –     Redditch Borough Council response to Solihull Draft Local Plan

Minute 112 –     Shared Service Business Case for Customer Access and Financial Support Services. 

                        (The recommendation and minute for this matter is open and in the public domain. 

                        NOTE:  the confidential report and appendices attached to this recommendation have only been made available to Members and relevant Officers.  Should Members wish to discuss the report and / or attachments in any detail, a decision will be required to exclude the public and press from the meeting on the grounds that exempt information is likely to be divulged, as defined in paragraph 4 of Schedule 12 (a) of Section 100 1 of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006.

The recommendations made by the Committee are set out at the front of each report and included within the agenda pack. 

The minutes of each meeting are included in Minute Book 5.

Members considered the minutes of the Executive Committee meetings of the 20th February and 4^th April 2017.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meetings of the Executive Committee held on 20^th February and 4^th April 2017 be received and all recommendations adopted.

To formally receive the minutes of the following meetings of the Council’s Regulatory Committees:

Audit, Governance and Standards Committee – 2^nd February 2017

(The recommendation at Minute 32 – Treasury Management Strategy Statement and Investment Strategy 2017/18 to 2019/20, was considered by Council at its meeting on the 20^th February 2017).

Planning Committee – 18^th January 2017, 15^th February 2017 and 15^th March 2017

The minutes are included in Minute Book 5.  There are no recommendations from these meetings for the Council to consider.

The Council received the minutes of meetings of the Council’s Audit, Governance and Standards Committee and Planning Committee meetings.

In relation to the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee minutes, it was noted that the recommendation at Minute 32 – Treasury Management Strategy Statement and Investment Strategy 2017/18 to 2019/20) had been resolved by Council at its meeting on the 20^th February 2017.

In presenting the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee minutes, Councillor David Thain (Committee Chair), reported that the Council’s Auditors would be providing a qualified letter of accounts to the Council.  He also wished to thank Finance Officer Sam Morgan, who had recently left the Authority, for her work during her twenty plus years of service.

RESOLVED that

1)    the minutes of the meeting of the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee held on 2^nd February 2017 be received and adopted, and

2)    the minutes of the meetings of the Planning Committee held on 18^th January, 15^th February and 15^th March 2017 be received and adopted.

To consider the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Annual Report for the year 2016/2017.

(Report attached)

Councillor Potter, in her capacity as Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, presented the Committee’s Annual Report for the period 2016/17. 

Cllr Potter was very pleased to report on a successful year for the Committee, in particularly highlighting:

·       the setting up of the Budget Scrutiny and Performance Scrutiny Working Groups, which had allowed Members to have a more in-depth look at budgets and performance and a better understanding of the finances and workings of the Council;

·       the setting up of the first joint scrutiny working group with Bromsgrove - the Staff Survey Joint Scrutiny Task Group – to consider the responses to the latest staff survey.  It was noted that a report on findings would be submitted later in the year;

·       a number of presentations and reports had been received during the year, including the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Sustainability and Transformation Plan, Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities and Housing Growth;

·       a Joint Increasing Physical Activity Task Group, hosted by Worcestershire County Council, which had been completed at the start of the year;

·       The Committee’s Mental Health Services for Young People Task Group, a really important piece of scrutiny that had produced a number of recommendations that would hopefully be acted up on by the various agencies;

·       the monitoring of the progress of the Committee’s recommendations through its tracker system;

·       consideration of an invitation for the Crime and Disorder Scrutiny Panel to participate in joint scrutiny with other districts which the Panel had decided against;

·       the establishment and setting up of the newly formed West Midlands Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to which Councillor Jenny Wheeler had been appointed to on behalf of the Council;

·       Councillor Wood-Ford’s regular updates which had kept the Committee informed on the work of the County Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee;

·       the success of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Task Group (LGBT) and which had result in a number of awards for the Council, Task Group and the lead Democratic Services Officer.

In recommending the report to Council, Councillor Potter thanked her fellow Committee Members for their hard work and support during the year as well as the Officers who support the Committee, in particular the Committee’s Lead Officers, Jess Bayley and Amanda Scarce. 

Following the presentation, the Leader thanked Councillor Potter for her report and all Members who had been involved in the various reviews that had been undertaken. Further congratulations were received from Members, with comments that Councillor Potter’s chairmanship had taken the Overview and Scrutiny Committee from strength to strength.  

RESOLVED that

the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2016/2017 be received and noted.

There were no urgent decisions to note.

To consider any additional items exceptionally agreed by the Mayor as Urgent Business in accordance with the powers vested in him by virtue of Section 100(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

(This power should be exercised only in cases where there are genuinely special circumstances which require consideration of an item which has not previously been published on the Order of Business for the meeting.)

There were no separate items of urgent business to consider at this meeting.