Agenda and minutes

The Mayor will open the meeting and welcome all present.

The Mayor opened the meeting and welcomed all present.

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

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Simon Chalk, Malcolm Hall, Nigel Hicks, Roger Hill and Diane Thomas.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive any exceptional announcements of the Mayor. (Regular communications and announcements will be considered at the next ordinary meeting of the Council on 7th February 2011).

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)

As this was not an ordinary meeting of the Council there were not the customary Mayor’s Announcements.

However, it was reported that the sad news had been received of the death of the former Mayor of the Borough and long standing Councillor, Kieth Boyd-Carpenter.  Members stood and observed a minute’s silence as a mark of respect.

It was noted that formal tributes would be paid to Mr Boyd-Carpenter at the next ordinary meeting of the Council.

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

(No separate report / oral update)

The Leader had no announcements to make.

To adjourn the meeting to permit a meeting of the Executive Committee to be held to consider a number of matters, including the Draft Core Strategy.

RESOLVED that

the meeting of the Council be adjourned to permit a meeting of the Executive Committee to be held to consider the following items:

·        Draft Core Strategy

·        Local Development Scheme – Update

·        Worcestershire Waste Core Strategy and Worcestershire Local Transport Plan No 3 – Responses

·        Job Evaluation and Terms and Conditions

·         

(At this point – 7.06pm – the meeting adjourned and reconvened at 8.51pm.)

On the resumption of the meeting, to receive and consider recommendations from the Executive Committee and to pass the appropriate resolutions.

(Executive Committee reports refer)

The Council considered the recommendations of the meeting of the Executive Committee held during the adjournment referred to above.

RESOLVED that

the recommendations of the Executive Committee be approved, as detailed below:

Draft Core Strategy

1)         the Revised Preferred Draft Core Strategy (Appendix A to the report) be approved for the purposes of public consultation;

2)         the Sustainability Appraisal (Appendix B) for the Preferred Draft Core Strategy be approved for the purposes of public consultation;

3)         a consultation period be held from 21st January 2011 for six weeks; and

4)         authority be delegated to the Acting Development Plans Manager, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning, the Leader of the Council and the Leader of the Opposition, to make any minor amendments to the Revised Preferred Draft Core Strategy and Sustainability Appraisal prior to the consultation period commencing on 21st January 2011.

Local Development Scheme – Update

5)         work on the Site Allocations and Policies Development Plan Document be abandoned temporarily.

Worcestershire Waste Core Strategy and Worcestershire Local Plan No 3 – Responses

6)                 the response prepared to the Worcestershire Waste Core Strategy, as detailed in the Appendix to the report, be endorsed; and

7)                 the response to the Worcestershire Local Transport Plan No. 3, as detailed in the Appendix to the report, be endorsed, subject to an amendment in respect of Paragraph 4.2 (iii) of the report regarding the potential opening of bus lanes to other traffic. 

Job Evaluation and Terms and Conditions

8)         authority for negotiation and agreement of changes to Terms and Conditions be delegated to the Executive Director Leisure, Environmental & Community Services and Executive Director of Finance and Resources.

(This report had been accepted as a matter of Urgent Business – not having met the publication deadline – and was considered at the meeting as such, with the approval of the Chair, in accordance with the Council’s constitutional rules and powers vested in the Chair by virtue of Section 100 (B) (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972 to agree to matters of urgency being discussed by reason of special circumstances.

In this case the special circumstances were that the report needed to be considered at the current meeting to allow implementation of the Job Evaluation Scheme to progress and to delegate powers to Officers to undertake negotiations aimed at amending a number of Terms and Condition.)

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