Agenda and minutes

The Mayor welcomed all those present to the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Andrew Fry, Chris Holz, Sid Khan and Alan Mason.

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.

Members were advised that all Councillors had been granted a general dispensation earlier in the year by the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee to take part in the debate and vote on matters relating to the budget and Council Tax.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of Council held on Monday 27^th January 2025 be approved as a true and correct record 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.

The following announcements were made during the meeting:

a)          The Mayor’s Announcements

A written record of some of the key civic engagements that had been attended by the Mayor in January and February 2025 was tabled at the meeting for Members’ consideration (Appendix A).

b)          The Leader’s Announcements

The Leader advised that he had attended and chaired a recent meeting of the Worcestershire Leaders’ Board, which had also been attended by the Chief Executive.  The main subject of discussion at this meeting had been devolution and Local Government Reorganisation.  During this meeting, the Leader had conveyed the view that his preferred option for devolution locally would be to have a North Worcestershire Unitary Authority serving the Borough of Redditch.  However, it was recognised that at this stage Members should remain open to considering two distinct options; one unitary authority for the whole county as one option and two unitary authorities, for the north and south of the county, as an alternative option.  This approach had been supported by five of the seven Leaders who had been in attendance at the meeting. 

A report would be prepared on the subject of devolution for consideration at the extraordinary Council meeting, due to take place on 17^th March 2025.  The Leader expressed the view that the Council needed to assure residents that no option would be adopted without first being subject to a thorough review.  Members were advised that the Leader would undertake to work with the leader of the opposition to consider what would best work for the people of Redditch.

During consideration of this item, the Leader highlighted that this was due to be the last ordinary Council meeting that would be attended by the current Chief Executive and the current Deputy Chief Executive.  As such, the Leader commented that he wished to use the opportunity to place on record his thanks to both officers for their hard work and support.  The leader of the opposition and Councillor Davies were also invited to contribute their comments as part of this process.

In paying tribute to the Deputy Chief Executive, Members commented that he was an officer who worked with sincerity, integrity and, at appropriate times, with humour.  When he had first commenced employment with the Council, there had been a number of challenges which he had worked hard, alongside the Financial Services team, to address.  Members recognised that the Deputy Chief Executive had worked extremely hard, often working late hours and at weekends, to ensure that the Council’s financial situation was managed efficiently, and in accordance with Members’ decisions. 

Members subsequently paid tribute to the Chief Executive and in doing so recognised that she had worked for many years for Redditch Borough Council, having been promoted through a number of positions in her career up to a senior level.  Over the last 15 years, the Chief Executive had served initially as Deputy Chief Executive for Redditch Borough and Bromsgrove District Councils, managing shared services across the two authorities, before stepping  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

Members considered recommendations arising from two meetings of the Executive Committee, held on 4^th February and 24^th February 2025.  As the latter meeting had taken place directly before Council, there were no minutes from that meeting available for consideration at the Council meeting but Members did debate and determine the recommendations.

Pay Policy Statement 2025/26

The Pay Policy Statement 2025/26 was considered by Members.  In discussing the report, Members noted that there was a legal requirement for the Pay Policy Statement, which detailed the pay for all staff employed by the authority, to be published on an annual basis by the end of March each year.

During consideration of this report, questions were raised about the extent to which the Council had access to information about the gender pay gap at the authority.  Members were advised that the Council did have access to this data and this would be addressed in a report that was due to be considered by Members later in the year.

Reference was also made to the pay scales that applied to posts at grades 1 – 11, with Members noting that the top scale point on one grade was often the same as the bottom scale of the grade above.  In this context, Members questioned whether staff promoted up one grade might be expected to take on additional responsibilities in a new role whilst initially not receiving any further pay in recognition for this work.  In responding, Officers advised that an assumption could not be made that an officer would have always reached the top scale of their previous grade before they were promoted.  However, there was flexibility available to managers to move staff onto a higher scale in a new grade in cases where this was felt to be appropriate.

Medium Term Financial Plan 2025/26 to 2027/28 Tranche 2 Report

The Mayor opened this item by explaining that recommendations had been proposed on the subject of the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2025/26 to 2027/28 at both the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 4^th February and at the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 24^th February 2025.  To ensure clarity in the decision-making process on the budget, the Mayor proposed that both sets of recommendations should be considered at the same time at the meeting.  Members were also asked to note that no alternative budgets had been received in advance of the meeting for consideration and therefore would not be considered at the meeting.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance subsequently presented the MTFP 2025/26 to 2027/28 Tranche 2 report for Members’ consideration.  Members were reminded that the budget had been considered in two tranches in a similar manner to 2024/25.  The second tranche had been amended to take into account the Local Government Financial Settlement for the Council, which had been confirmed on 3^rd February 2025.  In advance of the settlement being announced, the local government sector had been advised that core spending power would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70.

The Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee presented the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2024/25.

Members were advised that it had been an informative and, at times, entertaining year in Overview and Scrutiny.  The Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee expressed the view that the key to constructive scrutiny was Member participation and it was suggested that the more Members contributed to the process the more they would feel that they were making a difference to their community.  He concluded by expressing his hopes that Members had found the Overview and Scrutiny process to be useful and he thanked Members for their hard work.

The Vice Chair of the Committee subsequently addressed Council and in doing so highlighted the hard work of the Budget Scrutiny Working Group, the Fly Tipping Task Group, the Performance Scrutiny Working Group and the Post-16 Education Task Group for Council’s consideration.  In considering the report, Members were asked to note that Overview and Scrutiny was conducted in a cross-party, apolitical manner and had the potential to make a difference to local communities by bringing forward recommendations based on evidence gathered by Members.

In responding to the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2024/25, the Leader commented that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, together with the various Working Groups and Task Groups, had undertaken a lot of work during the year.  Members were asked to note that Overview and Scrutiny had an important role to play in holding the Executive Committee to account and whilst this could be difficult, it was valued by the Executive.  It was recognised that Overview and Scrutiny could make a real difference to the communities served by the Council and the recommendations made by Overview and Scrutiny Members were taken seriously when debated at Executive Committee meetings.  The Leader concluded by thanking members of both the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and of the scrutiny Working Groups and Task Groups for their hard work.

To note any decisions taken in accordance with the Council’s Urgency Procedure Rules.

There has been one urgent decision taken since the last Council meeting on the subject of the Worcestershire Promoting Independent Living (PIL) Service.

NOTE:  The complete urgent decision form has  only  been  made  available  to  Members  and  relevant  Officers.  Should Members  wish  to  discuss  this  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 3 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.

(Paragraph 3: Subject  to  the  “public  interest”  test,  information  relating  to the financial  or  business  affairs  of  any  particular  person  (including  the  authority holding that information).)

The Mayor confirmed that one urgent decision had been taken since the previous meeting of Council on the subject of the Promoting Independent Living Service (PIL).  A copy of the urgent decision form had been provided for information and the urgent decision was not subject to debate.

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 was no urgent business for consideration on this occasion.