Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber Town Hall. View directions

Contact: Democratic Services 

Items
No. Item

17.

Welcome

Minutes:

The Mayor welcomed all present to the meeting.

18.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Anita Clayton and Jennifer Wheeler.

19.

Declarations of Interest

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.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

20.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 314 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members noted that Councillor Akbar had attended the annual Council meeting on 21st May though had arrived late.  This needed to be reflected in the minutes.

 

RESOLVED that

 

subject to the amendment detailed in the preamble above the minutes from the annual Council meeting held on 21st May 2018 be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.

21.

Announcements

To consider Announcements under Procedure Rule 10:

 

a)           Mayor’s Announcements

 

b)           The Leader’s Announcements

 

c)           Chief Executive’s Announcements.

 

 

Minutes:

a)        Mayor’s Announcements

 

The Mayor invited Members to join her at the following civic events:

 

·                The Fly the Flag ceremony on Monday 25th June at 10.00 am.  Participants would be invited to join the Mayor and representatives of the Royal British Legion for tea and biscuits after the ceremony.

·                Armed Forces Day on 30th June.  Participants were invited to arrive at the Town Hall for a salute at 11.45 before proceeding to the war memorial for a service.  Refreshments would be available at St Stephen’s Church from 12.30 onward.

·                Tea Parties.  Following national Volunteering Week the excellent contribution of local volunteers to the community had been highlighted.  The Mayor would be hosting tea parties to celebrate the work of volunteers.  Members were invited to nominate volunteers and community groups to attend these tea parties.  The first such event would host the Redditch Association for the Blind.

·                The Civic Dinner was due to take place on 2nd March 2019.  This would have a military theme and all Members would be welcome to attend.

·                The Mayor was due to hold a bag packing and car washing event and would welcome assistance with this.

·                The Great Redditch Bake Off would be taking place and contributions would be requested.

·                The Mayor was also planning to hold a Christmas quiz.

 

The Mayor advised that she would circulate a list of her engagements to date after the meeting. 

 

During consideration of this item the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Roger Bennett, was invited to provide an update in respect of a recent official visit that had taken place to Redditch’s twin town, Gruchet-Le-Valasse in France.  Councillor Bennett had participated in this visit alongside a group of representatives from Redditch, which had coincided with the 25 year anniversary of the towns’ twinning arrangements.  In honour of this occasion Councillor Bennett had been presented with a picture by the Mayor of Gruchet-Le-Valasse and he requested that this be placed on public display in a Council building.

 

b)        The Leader’s Announcements

 

The Leader advised that he had been very busy since he was elected Leader of the Council in May 2018 and had attended a lot of meetings.  The following meetings that he had attended with external partners were highlighted for Members’ consideration:

 

·                The Worcestershire Leaders’ Board.  The Leader had chaired a meeting of this Board in Redditch, which had provided him with an opportunity to meet with the Leaders of the other Councils in Worcestershire.  Michelle McKay, Chief Executive at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (WAHT), had attended this meeting.  She had provided an update to those present in respect of the trust’s workforce recruitment plan, operational performance, the quality of services, finances, including capital funding, age population profiles and bed availability.  Whilst there had been some improvements to the services provided by the trust Ms McKay had been clear that further changes were needed.  The Leader advised that he would work with the lead Portfolio Holder for health, Councillor Prosser, to meet  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

22.

Questions on Notice (Procedure Rule 9) pdf icon PDF 54 KB

Minutes:

The Leader responded to a question that had been submitted by Councillor Baker in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9.2.

 

Councillor Baker asked the following question of the Leader:

 

“As we are all aware the last administration under Councillor Hartnett championed equality and diversity and did a large number of events and policies that showed this Council to be forward thinking and a leading role model, we even won an award to show this. Could the Leader please advise the Council and our residents that he will continue with the good record this Council holds in regards to its equality and diversity policies and ensure us that he champions these sectors in our community?”

 

The Leader responded as follows.

 

“Thank you for your question.  Let me begin by confirming that I would like to continue to maintain the Council’s good record in relation to equalities and diversity policies and to ensure that these are championed in our communities.

 

I welcome the fact that as a Council we embrace all equalities and diversity issues within everything that we do on a day to day basis which are supplemented by various initiatives.  I am keen to make sure that the Council continues to support events such as LGB&T history month as well as the Community Forum. 

 

The Council has an excellent Policy Team which handles general equalities related enquiries from both staff and residents and I would like to thank them for their hard work.

 

I remain committed to the Council’s Equalities Strategy and to the Community Engagement Strategy and I am happy to report that ‘Inclusion – The Part I Play’ training has been delivered to all staff in respect of the Council’s Dignity at Work and Equalities Policies.” 

 

Councillor Baker then asked a supplementary question which noted that 2018 marked 100 years since some women had gained the right to vote.  With this in mind Councillor Baker questioned why the Leader had not appointed any women to the Executive Committee.

 

The Leader answered by advising that he would provide a more detailed response in writing.

23.

Motions on Notice (Procedure Rule 11)

No motions have been submitted for consideration at this meeting.

 

Minutes:

There were no Motions on Notice for consideration at this meeting.

24.

Executive Committee

There are no recommendations from the Executive Committee due for consideration at this meeting.

 

Minutes:

There were no recommendations from the Executive Committee for consideration at this meeting.

25.

Regulatory Committees pdf icon PDF 202 KB

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

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council considered minutes from meetings of the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee held on 26th April, the Licensing Committee held on 5th March and the Planning Committee held on 14th March and 23rd May 2018 respectively.

 

RESOLVED that

 

1)        the minutes of the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee meeting held on 26th April 2018 be received and adopted;

 

2)        the minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 5th March 2018 be received and adopted; and

 

3)        the minutes of the Planning Committee meetings held on 14th March and 23rd May 2018 be received and adopted.

26.

Membership Change to the Worcestershire Shared Services Joint Committee

To note that Councillor Gareth Prosser has been appointed to the Worcestershire Shared Services Joint Committee in his capacity as relevant lead Portfolio holder, in place of Councillor Tom Baker-Price.

Minutes:

Members noted a change in membership of the Worcestershire Shared Services Joint Committee.  Councillor Gareth Prosser, as the relevant Portfolio Holder, had been appointed to this Committee in place of Councillor Baker-Price.

 

RESOLVED that

 

Councillor Prosser’s appointment to the Worcestershire Shared Services Joint Committee be noted.

27.

Membership Change to Outside Bodies

a)        Worcestershire Health and Wellbeing Board

 

To note that Councillor Chris Rogers of Wyre Forest District Council has been nominated as lead member on the Worcestershire Health and Wellbeing Board on behalf of the North Worcestershire Councils.

 

Also to note that Councillor Gareth Prosser is appointed as substitute Member on this Board, in his capacity as the relevant Portfolio Holder for Health.

 

b)        Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership

 

To note that Councillor David Bush is appointed as substitute member to the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership in his capacity as the relevant Portfolio Holder, in place of Councillor Matthew Dormer.

Minutes:

Members noted amendments to the membership of the Worcestershire Health and Wellbeing Board and the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership.  The Chief Executive advised that the Council worked with Bromsgrove and Wyre Forest District Councils to appoint Members to represent north Worcestershire on these bodies.  Members from Redditch Borough Council had been appointed as substitutes to these groups in 2018/19 in their capacity as the relevant lead Portfolio Holders.

 

RESOLVED that

 

1)        the appointment of Councillor Chris Rogers of Wyre Forest District Council as lead member and Councillor Gareth Prosser as substitute member on the Worcestershire Health and Wellbeing Board be noted; and

 

2)        the appointment of Councillor David Bush as substitute member on the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP), replacing Councillor Matthew Dormer, be noted.

28.

Urgent Business - Record of Decisions

To note any decisions taken in accordance with the Council’s Urgency Procedure Rules (Part 6, Paragraph 5 and/or Part 7, Paragraph 15 of the Constitution), as specified.

 

(None to date).

Minutes:

There were no urgent decisions to note.

29.

Urgent Business - general (if any)

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.)

Minutes:

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