Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors David Bush, Michael Chalk and Debbie Taylor.

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.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 22^nd February, 2016 (attached)

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of Council held on Monday 22nd February 2016 be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.

To consider Announcements under Procedure Rule 10:

a)         Mayor’s Announcements

b)         Leader’s Announcements

c)         Chief Executive’s Announcements.

(Oral report)

a)        The Mayor

i)          Former Councillor Ray Beech

The Mayor announced the recent death of former Councillor Ray Beech and led the Council in paying a tribute to him in a minute’s silence.  It was reported that the Mayor and the Leader had written to Mr Beech’s family on behalf of the family to express their condolences.  The flag at the town had been flown at half-mast as a mark of respect.

ii)         Redditch One World Link (ROWL)

Representatives of ROWL were invited to present a banner which celebrated migration into Redditch since the Nineteenth Century.  ROWL had started to review migration into the Borough in 2014 when this had been the subject of a seminar.  The banner tracked the timeline of migration flows over the previous 100 year period and helped to demonstrate that Redditch was a cosmopolitan, multi-faith town.  To celebrate the diversity of the local population ROWL intended to share their findings with local schools.

iii)       Fundraising for Leukaemia

The Mayor advised that two students from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic First School Academy had raised over £700 for charity by producing and organising a display of artwork.  She congratulated them on their hard work and commended their initiative.

b)        The Leader

Councillor Hartnett explained that he had attended a number of events and undertaken certain work in his capacity as Leader of the Council and highlighted the following:

·                The Leader led tributes to the former Leader of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, Darren Cooper, who had unexpectedly passed away over the Easter period.  Members were advised that the Mayor and Leader had written to his family on behalf of the Council to express their condolences.

·                The flag at the Town Hall had flown at half-mast recently to commemorate the victims of the bombing attacks at Zaventem Airport and a metro station in Brussels, Belgium.

·                Members were advised that plans for the resettlement of Syrian refugees were being considered and there was an intention to appoint a non-governmental organisation to undertake preparatory work and to support the families on their arrival.

·                The Leader had attended a number of meetings of the Worcestershire Leaders’ Board, the West Midlands Leaders’ Board and the West Midlands Combined Authority.

·                Councillor Hartnett had also attended a meeting about The Midlands Engine, a Government investment vehicle involving relevant local partners including Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and local government.  Members were advised that district Councils would not have a representative on this body.

·                Alongside other Members the Leader had participated in various local Clean for the Queen tidying initiatives in areas such as Matchborough and Batchley.

·                The Leader had attended the LGB&T History event at Redditch Palace Theatre at the start of March.

·                In March Councillor Hartnett had attended the No Barriers Awards which had celebrated the exceptional achievements of groups and individuals who supported people with disabilities.  Councillor Anita Clayton was commended for her hard work on this event.

·                Members were advised that the second Redditch Faith Walk would be taking  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92.

No questions have been submitted to date under Procedure Rule 9.2.

Under the Council’s constitution questions are only permitted on an exceptional basis during the formal pre-election period.

There were no Questions on Notice.

No Motions have been submitted under Procedure Rule 11.

Under the Council’s constitution motions are only permitted on an exceptional basis during the formal pre-election period.

There were no Motions on Notice.

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

There are recommendations on the following matters:

 Minute no. 106- Health and Safety Policies

Minute no. 107 – Finance Monitoring – HRA Case Management IT system.

The minutes of the Executive Committee meeting are included in minute book no. 6.  The recommendations and reports relating to these items are included in the agenda.

The Council received the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 8th March 2016.

Members noted that a number of Health and Safety Policies were listed for approval.  There was general consensus that it had been useful to consider the provision of support to members relating to their personal health and safety.  However, it was also noted that health and safety training which had been offered to Members in 2015 had been poorly attended and that it would be useful for Members to attend this in future in order to enhance understanding of relevant policies and practices.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 8th March 2016 be received and all recommendations adopted. 

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

(a)  Audit, Governance and Standards Committee – 28^th January 2016.  The recommendations at minute no. 39 relating to the Treasury Management Strategy and Prudential Indicators were considered and approved by the Council at its meeting on 22^nd February. There are no further recommendations for the Council to consider.

(b)  Planning Committee – 13^th January and 10^th February 2016.  There are no recommendations for the Council to consider.

The minutes for these meetings are contained in minute book no.6.

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

RESOLVED that

1)            the minutes of the meeting of the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee held on 28th January 2016 be received and adopted;

2)            the minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on 13th January 2016 be received and adopted; and

3)            the minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on 10th February 2016 be received and adopted.

To consider the enclosed report proposing amendments to arrangements for polling places in Batchley and Brockhill and Lodge Park wards.

The Redditch Polling Places Amendments report outlined proposed changes to arrangements for the polling places in Batchley and Brockhill and Lodge Park wards. The Council was advised that Oak Hill First School had requested that the Council relocate the polling station in Lodge Park for the EU referendum due to concerns that two elections in the same academic year would cause disruption to their pupils.

Members discussed the proposed changes.  Concerns were raised that in the case of Oak Hills First School the alternative that had been identified as a replacement location for a polling station, the Lodge Park Social Club, was a licensed premises.  Members also expressed reservations about the availability of parking spaces at the social club for the use of voters as these were also used by parents when delivering and collecting their children from the school.  For these reasons Members rejected the proposal to change the polling station for Polling District LPA for the EU referendum.

RESOLVED that

1)        the polling place for the electors in Polling District BYA change from Batchley One Stop Shop to Batchley Community Centre; and

2)        this change take effect for the May 2016 elections.

To consider the attached Annual Report from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for 2015-16.

Councillor Potter, in her capacity as the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, presented the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Annual Report for the period 2015/16.  During the delivery of her presentation she highlighted the following matters:

·                Scrutiny Members had completed a number of reviews in the form of Task Group and Short, Sharp Review exercises.

·                The Provision of Support Networks for the LGBT Community Task Group had been particularly successful.

·                A review of the Council’s Leisure and Cultural services had provided Members with an opportunity to investigate models of service delivery in other parts of the country and the potential to apply similar arrangements in Redditch.  However, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had decided not to refer the group’s proposals on to the Executive.

·                A further review of access for people with disabilities to taxis in Redditch had recently been completed and would be reported for Members’ consideration in April.

·                The Committee had discussed numerous matters during the year and had continued to monitor progress with the implementation of scrutiny recommendations that had been approved.

·                As requested by Members in 2014/15 changes had been made to the way in which budgetary matters were reported to the Committee.  Consequently the budget scrutiny process had improved in 2015/16.

·                The Crime and Disorder Scrutiny Panel had met in September and had received a detailed update on the work of the North Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership in Redditch.

·                The Committee had agreed to participate in the Joint Increasing Physical Activities Task Group, that was being hosted by Worcestershire County Council.  Councillor Prosser was thanked for his work representing the Council on this group.

·                Updates had continued to be provided to the Committee on the work of Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC).  Councillor Wood-Ford was thanked for her work representing the Council on HOSC.

·                Councillor Potter concluded her remarks by thanking the rest of the members of the Committee and the support Officers for the scrutiny process for their help and hard work during the year.

Following delivery of the presentation Members congratulated Councillor Potter on her chairmanship of the Committee.  The Council was advised that the findings of the Provision of Support Networks for the LGBT Community Task Group had been welcomed by members of the LGB&T Support Services Redditch community group.  It was anticipated that the group’s work would continue to make a positive difference to the lives of the community for the foreseeable future.

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.