Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received on behalf of Councillor Antonia Pulsford.

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.

Councillor David Bush declared an interest in respect of Minute No. 46 with regard to the Council’s response to the Stratford-on-Avon Core Strategy Proposed Modifications.  He left the room during consideration of this issue and did not participate in the discussions or vote on this matter.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 27th July 2015.

(Minutes attached)

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of Council held on 27th July 2015 be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

a)        The Mayor

The Mayor announced that she had attended the Community Festival at the Redditch Bandstand on Saturday 19th September.  The event had been well attended with lots of food and community activities.  The Mayor thanked staff for their hard work organising this event.

b)        The Leader

The Leader delivered a number of announcements:

·                Concerns were raised about the Alexandra Hospital following recent announcements that Worcestershire Acute NHS Hospitals Trust would potentially have a deficit of £48 million by the end of the financial year and news that Redditch patients were being referred to hospitals outside the Borough. 

·                The Leader had attended Morton Stanley Festival in August where there had been a number of new community stands.

·                The Onam celebration hosted by the Redditch Kerala Cultural Association had also been attended by the Leader in August 2015.

·                In September the Leader had attended the Community Festival at the Redditch Bandstand alongside the Mayor.  He thanked staff and Ms Sue Yeng for their hard work organising the event.

·                The Leader had also attended a fund raising event in Abbeydale to help Syrian refugees.

·                Leaders from Councils across Worcestershire had recently met to discuss the refugee crisis.  Agreement had been reached in principle about an appropriate local response, though this would be subject to further clarification about the resources available to support refugees.

To consider questions submitted under Procedure Rule 9.2.

The Leader responded to three questions that had been submitted in accordance with Procedure Rule 9.2 from Mr D. Newman, Councillor Baker-Price and Councillor Brunner as detailed below.

a)        Parking in Mount Pleasant

Mr D Newman asked the following question:

Can the Council update regarding parking in Mount Pleasant? When the TV cameras were on the estate we were promised a resolution in the next couple of weeks. This has never materialised and we are in the same position.

The residents demand a resolution to the issue and I for one would welcome residents’ parking permits.

It is noted adjoining roads to Mount Pleasant, such as Oakly Road, have double sided parking, and the only assumption for Mount Pleasant not having double sided parking for residents is the amount of traffic we take.

I feel the road would benefit from a trial of becoming a one way road, as the bottom of Mount Pleasant is a no entry for cars anyway.

What can the Council do to canvas opinion of residents about the future of the road going forward, or if required, I would canvas the estate for proposals.

The problem cannot go on indefinitely, and this road was not made for the amount of traffic going up and down it. If a resolution is not forthcoming the residents will have to look to take objection to the Council’s lack of support, by blocking the entrances to the estate.

The Leader replied as follows:

Whilst I sympathise with you and your neighbours, regarding the parking situation in your area, Redditch Borough Council, through our partnership with Wychavon District Council, is only responsible for enforcing the lines and signs that are designated under the traffic regulation order (TRO), which must be done fairly and consistently across the Borough.

Responsibility for making changes to the TRO or carrying out works to the highway sit with the County Council’s Highways Department. However, I have asked Councillor Greg Chance, the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder who covers transport issues, to arrange to meet with you and other residents in the area, along with the two County Councillors for the area to gain their support and develop a proposal that can be put to the County Council Highways Team.

b)        Business Booster Grant Scheme

Councillor Baker-Price asked the following question:

Would the leader please state the amount of money the Council has given to businesses through the 'businesses booster grants' scheme this year?

The Leader responded as follows:

The ‘Business Booster’ grants scheme and funding is now administered by the North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration (NWEDR) shared service.  I can confirm that for the 2015/16 financial year to date, £19,409 has been awarded to businesses in Redditch through the ‘Booster’ grant scheme and that six businesses from Redditch have benefitted from support.

A supplementary question was raised by Councillor Baker-Price concerning start-up costs for businesses.  He explained that he had checked the British Chamber of Commerce’s website which indicated that start-up costs for new  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.

No motions had been submitted.

To receive the minutes and consider the recommendations and/or referrals from the meeting of the Executive Committee meeting held on 8^th September 2015. 

The minutes are included in Minute Book 3 and the Council is asked to consider recommendations on the following items:

·         Equal Opportunity Policy

·         Street Naming and Numbering – charges

·         Voluntary and Community Sector Grants Programme

·         Stratford on Avon Core Strategy proposed Modifications – response

·         Consolidated Revenue and Capital Outturn and Financial Reserves Statement

Copies of the reports to the Executive on these items are enclosed with this agenda.

Members considered the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 8th September 2015.  The following key points were raised during consideration of this item:

a)        Equal Opportunity Policy

Concerns were raised that the Equal Opportunity Policy was phrased in a manner that suggested that elected Councillors were employed by the Council.  However, Officers clarified that as Councillors had a responsibility to staff and individual Equality duties within the context of various Equalities enactments they needed to be aware of and agree to the contents of the policy; however, Councillors were not regarded as staff or treated as such within Council policies.

b)        Voluntary and Community Sector Grants Programme

The following points were raised whilst considering this item:

·            The proposal that any underspend in the grants at the end of the financial year should be put back into balances; it was suggested that if any finds remained unallocated at the end of the evaluation process, a further opportunity for applications should be made available.  However, the view was also expressed that every effort was made to publicise the availability of grants and the appropriate deadlines and the take-up of funding reflected the demand from within the sector.

·            The three rounds of community grants and the need for clarification concerning the potential for any unspent funds in early rounds to be allocated to Voluntary and Community Sector groups in later rounds.

·            The work of the Grants Panel which operated in an apolitical manner.

·            The positive contributions made by the Voluntary and Community Sector to the community in Redditch.

·            The value of the support provided by Council staff to local Voluntary and Community Sector organisations and the potential impact this could have on the success of a bid.

·            The work of the Voluntary and Community Sector Task Group in 2013/14 and improvements that had subsequently been made to the Council’s grants process.

·            Alterations that had been made to the grant themes for 2016/17 and amendments to the Grants Policy and scoring matrix which were designed to further enhance the process.

c)         Consolidated Revenue and Capital Outturn and Financial Reserves Statement

A number of issues were raised during consideration of this matter:

·            The assessment of the Council’s accounts by the Council’s external auditors; Grant Thornton.

·            The level of funds held by the Council in balances.

·         The level of unplanned savings and whether this enabled accurate budget forecasts to be made.

·            Overall savings of £819,000 secured in 2014/15.

·            Cuts to the local government grant received by the Council of 49 per cent over the previous five year period and the impact this had had on the Council’s finances.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 8th September 2015 be received and all recommendations adopted subject to, in relation to Minute 33 (Voluntary and Community Sector Grants Programme) Community Grant Fund, it being noted that there would be some latitude in the allocation of the grants across the three rounds to maximise the potential for the £16k  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

To formally receive the minutes of the following meetings of the Council’s Regulatory Committees.  Copies of the minutes are included in Minute Book 3:

·         Licensing Committee – 20^th July

·         Planning Committee – 12^th August

There are no recommendations from either meeting for the Council’s consideration.

The Council received the minutes from meetings of the Licensing and Planning Committees.

RESOLVED that

1)        the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 20th July 2015 be received and adopted; and

2)        the minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on 12th August 2015 be received and adopted.

To consider the attached report from the Head of Legal, Equalities and Democratic Services seeking confirmation of the Council’s appointees to the Shareholder meetings of the Place Partnership.

RESOLVED that

1)        Councillor John Fisher, Portfolio Holder for Corporate Management, and Kevin Dicks, Chief Executive, be appointed as shareholders to the Shareholder meetings of the Place Partnership; and

2)        in future appointments to the Shareholder meetings be by office; the Chief Executive and the Portfolio Holder for the function which includes corporate property management, both being able to nominate substitutes for when they are unable to attend a meeting.

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 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.)

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