Agenda and minutes

The Mayor will open the meeting and welcome all present.

The Mayor’s Celebrant, Ms June Saville, will lead the Council in a moment’s reflection.

The Mayor opened the meeting and welcomed all present. The Mayor’s celebrant, June Saville, led the Council in a moment’s reflection.

To receive any apologies for absence on behalf of Council members.

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillor William Norton.

To invite Councillors to declare any interests they may have in items on the agenda.

Councillor Jinny Pearce declared a personal and prejudicial interest in Item 9 (Executive Committee – Redditch Borough Council’s Grants Programme 2012/13 as detailed at Minute 64 below.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 5th September 2011.

(Minutes circulated in Minute Book 4 - 2011/12 – To follow)

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 5th September 2011 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.

To receive a report from the Mayor on civic matters which have arisen since the last meeting or events which may be occurring in the near future.

To give notice of any variation to the items listed in the Forward Plan and/or items accepted as “Urgent Business”.

(No separate report / oral update)

The Mayor’s communications and announcements were considered under the following headings:

a)         Redditch One World Link – Mtwara visit

The Mayor advised the Council that representatives of Redditch One World Link (ROWL) were present to inform Members about their recent visit to Redditch’s twin town of Mtwara in Tanzania. Mrs Pat Witherspoon introduced the presentation before handing on to Mrs Jackie Morgan who narrated a slide and film show about the visit. The Mayor, Deputy Chief Executive and Leader of the Council then accepted gifts on behalf of the Borough Council from the Mtwara municipal authority.

Members thanked the representatives of ROWL for attending and sharing with the Council news of their visit. Several Members spoke warmly of their experiences either in Mtwara or in Africa more generally and expressed their wish that the Council might more actively foster this twinning link in the future.

b)         West Midlands ‘Green Leader’

The Mayor advised that Miss Ceridwen John, the Council’s Climate Change Manager had recently been designated a West Midlands ‘Green Leader’ by Sustainability West Midlands, in part thanks to her role in the Council’s Crematorium energy recovery project. The Council joined the Mayor in congratulating Miss John on the award of this accolade.

c)         Mayor’s Announcements

The Mayor advised that since the previous meeting of the Council she had undertaken a number of engagements in her civic capacity including her own Civic Service at St. Stephen’s Church, the MacMillan Coffee Morning at the Town Hall and the presentation of the Silver Award for the Heart of England in Bloom at Matchborough First School.

d)         Forthcoming events

The Mayor advised that forthcoming events included her own Civic Dinner the following week and the Local Democracy Day events at the Town Hall that coming Thursday.

Urgent Business

The Mayor advised that she had not accepted any items of urgent business.

To receive a report from the Leader on matters considered to be of significance to the Council.

(No separate report / oral update)

The Leader’s announcements were considered under the following headings:

a)         North Worcestershire Lifeline Service

The Leader advised Members that the North Worcestershire Lifeline Service had recently been inspected by the national regulator and had been highly praised for the service it provided. The regulators were delighted to see the pride that the staff took in the service and stated that the service was of the highest standard. Staff were congratulated by Members for their achievements.

b)         Britain in Bloom Awards

The Leader was delighted to advise the Council that Redditch had been presented with a gold award by the judges for the Britain in Bloom  competition. The Leader detailed for Members the comments made by the judges following their visit, the itinerary for which had included such locations as the Arrow Valley Country Park and Southcrest Woods. Again, staff were congratulated for the hard work they undertook on a daily basis to keep the town looking so attractive.

No questions had been submitted to the Mayor, a member of the Executive Committee or the Chair of any committee or sub-committee in accordance with Procedure Rule 9.2 at the time of publication of the agenda.

No questions had been received.

There are no Motions on Notice in accordance with Procedure Rule 11.

No motions had been received.

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

13th September 2011

Matters requiring the Council’s consideration include:

• ICT Policies (Report attached – Appendices under separate cover in Group Rooms and on the Council’s website)

4th October 2011

Matters requiring the Council’s consideration include:

• Voluntary and Community Sector Grants Programme 2012/13;
• IT Systems relating to Mapping and Planning;
• Hewell Road Pool – Disposal; and
• Learndirect.

(Reports and Decisions attached)

(Minutes circulated in Minute Book 4 – 2011/12 – To follow)

Members received the minutes of the meetings of the Executive Committee held on 13th September and 5th October 2011.

RESOLVED that

1)         the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 13th September 2011 be received and all recommendations adopted, subject to:

in respect of Minute 78 (ICT Policies) it being agreed that the policies be reviewed after a perioid of six rather than twelve months; and

2)         the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 5th October 2011 be received and all recommendations adopted, subject to:

in respect of Minute 97 (Hewell Road Pool – Disposal) it being noted that a further report be submitted to the Executive Committee in due course in respect of the play area on this site.

(Prior to consideration of this item, and in accordance with the requirements of Section 81 of the Local Government Act 2000, Councillor Jinny Pearce declared a personal and prejudicial interest in view of her involvement with a VCS group who might be making applications for grant funding and took no part in the discussion or voting on this item.)

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

Audit and Governance Committee -           26th September 2011

Planning Committee -                                   7th September 2011

(Minutes circulated in Minute Book 4 – 2011/12 – To follow)

The Council received the minutes of recent meetings of the Audit and Governance Committee and Planning Committee.

RESOLVED that

1)         the minutes of the meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee held on 26th September 2011 be received and adopted, subject to:

in respect of Minute 15 (Internal Audit  - Interim Monitoring Report 2011/12) it being noted that the Chair of the Committee, Councillor Bill Hartnett, undertook to speak to Officers in respect of the targets set out in the Internal Audit Annual Audit Plan and a planned meeting in that regard; and

2)         the minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on 9th September 2011 be received and adopted.

West Midlands Councils is required to nominate two elected members onto the LGA Inland Flood Risk Management Group and, following the death of a member, a further nomination is required from the West Midlands region.

(Terms of Reference attached)

The Council considered a request from West Midlands Councils for a nomination for a representative to fill a vacancy on the Local Government Association Inland Flood Risk Management Group.

RESOLVED that

Councillor Michael Chalk be the Council’s nominee for the vacant position on the LGA Inland Flood Risk Management Group.

To note any decisions taken in accordance with Standing Order 36 and/or the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules (Constitution), as specified.

(None to date).

There were no Urgent Business decisions under the Council’s urgency procedures for consideration at this meeting.

To consider any additional items exceptionally agreed by the Mayor as Urgent Business in accordance with the powers vested in her 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 and/or on the Leader’s Forward Plan.)

There were no separate items of Urgent Business for consideration at this meeting.