Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Council Chamber

Contact: Mark Hooper 

Items
No. Item

1.

Present

Minutes:

J J R Powell (Chairman)

 

PRESENT:

 

Ball C. J.

Baker, D. F.

Barnett, S. A.

Binney N. D.

Birch R. J.

Brown B. J.

Checkland J.

Cox, R. E.

Eadie, I.M.

Eagland, J. M.

Ennis D. M. O.

Ennis L. J.

Evans, C. D.

Grange, J. K.

 

Greatorex, C.

Gwilt B. J.

Ho W.

Humphreys, K. P.

Lax, A. C.

Leytham, D. J.

Little, A. M.

Little, E. A.

Marshall, T.

Matthews, T. R.

Norman S. G.

Parton-Hughes J. A.

Powell, J. J. R.

Pullen, D.R.

Ray, P. W. W.

Robertson D. C.

Salter, D. F.

Silvester-Hall J.

Smith, A. F.

Spruce, C. J.

Strachan, R. W.

Tapper S. J.

Warburton H. A.

Warfield, M. A.

Westwood B.

White, A. G.

Yeates, A.

Yeates, B. W.

 

 

2.

Apologies For Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Anketell, Banevicius, Cross, M Wilcox and S Wilcox.

3.

Declarations Of Interest

Minutes:

Councillor Checkland declared an interest in Friary Grange Leisure Centre as Chairman of the Governors of The Friary School

Cllr Eagland declared an interest in Friary Grange Leisure Centre as a Member of Staffordshire County Council

Councillor Greatorex declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in Friary Grange Leisure Centre as a Member of Staffordshire County Council

Councillor Pullen declared an interest in Friary Grange Leisure Centre as his wife is a Member of Staffordshire County Council

Councillor Norman declared an interest in Friary Grange Leisure Centre as his wife is a Member of Staffordshire County Council

Councillor A Little declared an interest in Friary Grange Leisure Centre as a Member of Staffordshire County Council

Councillor E Little declared an interest in Friary Grange Leisure Centre as her husband is a Member of Staffordshire County Council.

 

4.

To Approve as a Correct Record The Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 75 KB

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 21 May were approved as a correct record subject to the final line of Minute 16 (i) being amended to read ‘it wasseconded by Councillor Cox’

5.

Motion Without Notice

Minutes:

It was moved by Councillor Pullen, seconded by Councillor Eadie and

 

RESOLVED: that in view of the public interest the order of the Agenda be changed to consider Item 20 (Friary Grange Leisure Centre) at the beginning of the meeting.

 

The Council’s Monitoring Officer advised that due to the public interest and the fact that confidential matters in connection with Friary Grange Leisure Centre had now been discussed with the relevant third parties, the report on Friary Grange Leisure Centre, the Report of the Leader on confidential Cabinet decisions from the meeting held on 9 July 2019 (item 18) and the confidential Minutes of the Leisure, Parks and Waste Management (Overview & Scrutiny) Committee (item 19) would be received in public.  

6.

Friary Grange Leisure Centre pdf icon PDF 136 KB

To approve the Cabinet recommendations made at the meeting on 9 July 2019 (report to follow)

 

This report is to be considered in private since it contains exemptinformation (as defined by Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972) relating to the financial and business affairs of the authority and other organisations, and information relating to consultations/negotiations in connection with employment matters.

 

Minutes:

It was moved by Councillor Strachan and seconded by Councillor Eadie:

 

‘That in recognition of the public response to the closure announcement no further decision be made in relation to the Friary Grange Leisure Centre until the petition has been debated by Cabinet in public.’

 

Councillor Norman referred to the joint press statement issued by the District Council and County Council on 12 July, which he said made clear that the original plan was to close the Leisure Centre.  He said there had not been enough scrutiny and questions needed to be asked about the options. Councillor Norman said the issue should be considered in the light of responses from the public and users, and the impact on Burntwood Leisure Centre needed to be investigated.

 

Councillor Grange noted that the Petition in connection with the Leisure Centre had already reached over 4,100 signatures and the quickly arranged public meeting had been attended by over 150 people.

 

She said the closure announcement had been slipped out on a Friday afternoon and referring to subsequent press coverage and social media activity Councillor Grange said Members should not underestimate the strength of public feeling.

 

Councillor Grange noted that the Staffordshire Health and Community Service had identified four areas of need in the District and two of these, the wards of Chadsmead and Curborough, were in the direct catchment area of the Leisure Centre.

 

Additionally the Council’s Local Plan Review Sustainability Appraisalidentified Chadsmead together with Chasetown in Burntwood as being in the 20% most deprived wards nationally. The same document reported that life expectancy was lower in these areas and Chadsmead had a high proportion of children compared to other wards in the District.

 

Referring to publications by Public Health England Councillor Grange spoke of the impact of deprivation on health, and the impact of health inequality on life expectancy.

 

Councillor Grange noted that Councils around the country had sought to address health inequalities in different ways, including the ‘Refresh’ programme introduced in Blackburn and Darwen which aimed to make leisure services as affordable as possible and resulted in a 50% increase in physical activity.

 

Councillor Grange said the County Council and District Council should be ashamed if they could not make a clear link between identified needs and the provision of public access leisure centres.

 

She advised that it was important for the Council to see the bigger picture, rather than focus purely on the financial aspects of the decision; noting that there would be further opportunities to talk about the impact on anti-social behaviour, educational achievement, mental health, the obesity crisis, disability access, cardiac rehabilitation and the environmental impact of travelling to Burntwood Leisure Centre and other oversubscribed alternatives.

 

Indicating her support for the Motion, Councillor Grange said the decision to leave the City without a public access leisure centre for any period of time, was short-sighted and needed to be overturned following sensible debate and scrutiny.

 

Councillor Ray noted that he had voted against the recommendation of the Leisure, Parks  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Chairman's Announcements

Minutes:

1. Chaplain

 

The Chairman said he was pleased to announce that the Reverend Bateman would be the Council’s Chaplain for his term of office.

 

2. Civic Service

 

The Chairman advised that the Civic Service would take place in the Cathedral on 29 September 2019 and invited all Members to attend.

8.

Report of the Leader of the Council on Cabinet Decisions from the Meetings held on 13 June and 9 July 2019 and Cabinet Member Decisions pdf icon PDF 55 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report of the Leader of the Council was received.

 

 

9.

Minutes of the meeting of the Leisure, Parks and Waste Management (Overview & Scrutiny) Committee pdf icon PDF 50 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Matthews submitted the Minutes of the Leisure, Parks and Waste Management (Overview and Scrutiny) Committee held on 12 June 2019.

 

10.

Minutes of the meeting of the Economic Growth, Environment and Development (Overview & Scrutiny) Committee pdf icon PDF 63 KB

Minutes:

Councillor Cox submitted the Minutes of the Economic Growth, Environment and Development (Overview & Scrutiny) Committee held on 20 June 2019 and answered questions about issues discussed by the Committee.

 

In response to a question from Councillor Ball, Councillor Cox confirmed he would be putting the possible establishment of a ‘S106 and Affordable Housing Task Group’ on the work programme.

 

 

11.

Minutes of the meeting of the Strategic (Overview & Scrutiny) Committee pdf icon PDF 61 KB

Minutes:

Councillor A Little submitted the Minutes of the Strategic (Overview and Scrutiny) Committee held on 24 June 2019.

 

12.

Minutes of the Community, Housing and Health (Overview & Scrutiny) Committee pdf icon PDF 68 KB

Minutes:

Councillor Gwilt submitted the Minutes of the Community, Housing and Health (Overview and Scrutiny) Committee held on 26 June 2019 and answered Members questions about issues considered by the Committee.

 

7 - Engagement Plans for George Byran Centre

 

Councillor Ball called for the NHS to write to people who had used the Centre in the past to seek permission to use their data. He said this needed to be recorded in the Minutes and followed up. Councillor Cox highlighted the role of families and carers and said he was concerned that GDPR was sometimes used as an excuse.

 

Councillor Evans said it was essential that the NHS came back to tell the Overview and Scrutiny about its plans.

 

 

8 – Jigsaw Funding Agreement

 

Councillor Robertson said the Jigsaw project had been positive and the Council should look to see what else could be done to help organisations that benefited local communities.

 

(COUNCILLORS BALL, NORMAN AND ROBERTSON DECLARED PERSONAL INTERESTS IN FUSION CREDIT UNION)

 

9 – Update on the Health and Wellbeing Strategy Delivery Plan 2018 – 2020

 

The importance of engaging with GPs was emphasised.

 

(COUNCILLOR WHITE DECLARED AN INTEREST IN THIS ITEM AS CO-CHAIRMAN OF THE STAFFORDSHIRE HEALTH AND WELLBEING BOARD)

                                                                                             

10 – Delivery of Disabled Facilities Grants

 

Councillor Norman said people were being told by social workers that there was no money available and were being blocked from accessing the system.

 

Councillor Evans said there had been high hopes for improved performance and the problems needed to be resolved since vulnerable people wanted to remain in their own houses.

 

Councillor A Yeats advised that he was working on the issues raised and asked Members to inform him of any problems they were aware of.

 

Councillor Pullen noted that there had been an improvement since Millbrook took over the contract and he was grateful that Councillor Yeats was working to ensure further improvements.

 

 

(COUNCILLOR PULLEN DECLARED AN INTEREST IN THIS ITEM AS A DISABLED FACILITIES GRANT APPLICATION HAD BEEN MADE FOR A MEMBER OF HIS FAMILY)

 

(COUNCILLOR LEYTHAM DECLARED AN INTEREST IN THIS ITEM AS HIS WIFE WAS A RECEIPIENT OF A WARMER HOMES GRANT)

 

(COUNCILLOR WHITE DECLARED AN INTEREST IN THIS ITEM AS STAFFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL CABINET MEMBER FOR HEALTH, CARE AND WELLBEING)

 

13.

The Chairmen indicated below to move that the proceedings of the following Committees (Volume 47 Part 1 Minute Book) Be Received And, Where Necessary, Approved And Adopted. pdf icon PDF 54 KB

Committee

2019

Pages

Chairman

Planning

3 June

 

T. Marshall

Strategic Asset Management Committee

11 June

 

I.M. Eadie

Planning

1 July

 

T. Marshall

Employment

2 July

 

K. P Humphreys

Regulatory & Licensing

4 July

To follow

B. W. Yeates

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

(a)   Planning Committee – 3 June 2019

 

It was proposed by Councillor Marshall “that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Planning Committee held on 3 June 2019 be approved and adopted.”

 

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Planning Committee held on 3 June 2019 be approved and adopted.

 

 

(b)  Strategic Asset Management Committee – 11 June 2019

 

It was proposed by Councillor Eadie “that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Strategic Asset Management Committee held on 11 June 2019 be approved and adopted.”

 

       In response to questions about the property investment strategy Councillor Eadie advised that no investments had been made to date and training had been arranged which would provide an opportunity for further discussion. With regard to housing, he advised that the property company had recently been formed.

 

 

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Strategic Asset Management Committee held on 11 June 2019 be approved and adopted.

 

 

(c)   Planning Committee – 1 July 2019

 

It was proposed by Councillor Marshall “that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Planning Committee held on 1 July 2019 be approved and adopted.”

 

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Planning Committee held on 1July 2019 be approved and adopted.

 

(d)  Employment Committee – 2 July 2019

 

It was proposed by Councillor Humphreys “that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Employment Committee held on 2 July 2019 be approved and adopted.”

 

Councillor Ball emphasised the importance of training and said attendance should be monitored.

 

Councillor Robertson highlighted the importance of the buddy system, noting that peer to peer training was an excellent way of building professional capacity.

 

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Employment Committee held on 2 July 2019 be approved and adopted.

 

 

(e)   Regulatory and Licensing Committee – 4 July 2019

 

It was proposed by Councillor B Yeates “that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Regulatory and Licensing Committee held on 4 July 2019 be approved and adopted” subject to his name being added to the list of those present.

 

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Regulatory and Licensing Committee held on 4 July 2019 be approved and adopted subject to the addition of Cllr B Yeates to the list of those present.

 

 

14.

Money Matters : 2018/19 - Prudential Indicators and Investment Limit pdf icon PDF 302 KB

To approve the recommendations of Cabinet made at the meeting on 13 June 2019:

 

(i) To approve the actual 2018/19 Prudential Indicators contained within the Cabinet report and summarised in the attached report

 

(ii) To increase the Investment Limit, for any group of pooled funds under the same management, from £4m per manager to £9m per manager

Minutes:

It was moved by Councillor Strachan, seconded by Councillor Eadie and

 

RESOLVED: (1) That the actual 2018/19 Prudential Indicators as set out in the Council report be approved.

 

           (2) The Investment Limit, for any group of pooled funds under the same management, be increased from £4m per manager to £9m per manager.

15.

Charitable Collections Licensing Policy pdf icon PDF 110 KB

To approve the new Charitable collections Licensing Policy as agreed by the Regulatory & Licensing Committee on 4 July 2019 (report attached)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the Charitable Collections Licensing Policy 2019.

Councillor Ball asked about the consultation responses and Councillor B Yeates said a copy would be provided.

It was then proposed by Councillor B Yeates, duly seconded and

 

RESOLVED: That the new charitable collections policy be approved for adoption to commence on 17 July 2019.

16.

Local Plan Allocations Adoption pdf icon PDF 260 KB

 To approve the Cabinet recommendations made at the meeting on 9 July 2019

 (report to follow)

 

 

Minutes:

Members were advised that the Council was in receipt of the Inspector’s final report in respect of the Local Plan Allocations. The Council now needed to determine whether it wished to adopt the Local Plan Allocations, which would require the Council to accept the Inspector’s Main Modifications.

 

The Council would then have a complete Local Plan in place consisting of the Local Plan Strategy (2015) and the Local Plan Allocations (2019). The Council’s saved policies from the 1998 Local Plan would be deleted.

 

It was advised that there would be a six week period for legal challenge following the adoption of the Local Plan Allocations.

 

Councillors Marshall and Norman thanks officers for their work. It was proposed by Councillor Eadie, seconded by Councillor Marshall and

 

RESOLVED:       (1) That the content of the Lichfield Local Plan Allocations Inspector’s Report and Schedule of Main Modifications be noted.

 

(2) That the content of the Lichfield Local Plan Allocations Inspector’s Report and Schedule of Main Modifications be noted.

 

(3) That the Local Plan Allocations as submitted and subsequently amended by the main and minor modifications be adopted.

 

(4) That the Council adopt the Local Plan policy map which was submitted alongside the submission version of the Local Plan Allocations and subsequently amended by the main and minor modifications.

 

(5) That the final versions of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) / Sustainability Appraisal (SA) and Habitat Regulations Assessments (HRA) which accompany the final version of the Local Plan Allocations be noted.

 

(6) That the accompanying Local Plan adoption statement and Sustainability Appraisal adoption statement be noted.

 

(7) That the list of polices being deleted from the 1998 Local Plan be noted.

17.

HS2 Draft Planning Memorandum - Decision on Qualifying Authority Status pdf icon PDF 135 KB

To approve the Cabinet recommendations made at the meeting on 9 July 2019 (report to follow)

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a proposal to change the Council’s Constitution to ensure the appropriate delegated authority and procedures were in place to deal with requests for the approval of detailed design and external appearance of buildings and structures along the route of Phase 2a of HS2. 

 

It was proposed by Councillor Lax, seconded by Councillor Marshall and

 

RESOLVED: That approval be given for the Constitution to be amended to include the determination of all planning matters submitted under Schedule 17 (the Planning Conditions Schedule) of the Bill, in line with the current provisions that already exist for Phase 1 of HS2 matters under Schedule 17 of the High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Act 2017 as set out in the Appendix attached to the report.

18.

Appointments to Committees

Minutes:

It was proposed by Councillor Pullen, duly seconded and

 

RESOLVED: That Councillor Eagland be appointed Chairman of Community, Housing and Health (Overview & Scrutiny) Committee.

19.

Questions

To answer any questions under Procedure Rule 11.2

Minutes:

Q1.    Question from Councillor Westwood to the Leader of the Council

 

         What practical plans does the Leader have to honour the commitment that he made in the Lichfield Mercury some weeks ago about seeing the need for extra investment in Burntwood and the District's rural areas?’

 

 

          Response from Leader of the Council

 

‘Parity across the District was discussed in my very first meetings with senior officers and Cabinet - and it is a principle which we are all aligned on.

 

So far, we have accelerated meetings with developers to bring forward undeveloped sites,  increased support for a BID feasibility study should the local Burntwood Business Community have the appetite for one and given a strong steer to ensure that the Local Plan review proactively addresses key challenges faced by Burntwood.

 

Whilst appreciating that these are small steps, I hope that our immediacy in addressing these challenges gives Councillor Westwood some hope that our efforts will continue to ensure parity across our great District.’

 

 

Q2     Question from Councillor Ball to the Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement

‘What percentage of District Council procurement goes to genuinely local businesses and what plans has he to maximise this to help support local businesses and our community, along the lines of Labour controlled Oldham and Preston Councils?’

 

          Response from the Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement

 

‘Previously, we have not analysed procurement spend by location, although the information is being compiled and can be made available following completion of the Statement of Accounts. Once I have it I shall ensure that it is shared with all Members of the Council.

 

On the subject of future procurement, the Council has recently entered into an arrangement with Wolverhampton City Council to provide support and advice to the Council in relation to its procurement activity. In this arrangement the Council will retain responsibility for setting procurement policy including the criteria we use for assessing procurement bids. To date these criteria have centred around quality, capability and value for money. Nevertheless, I would be prepared to consider local economic benefit to be one of these criteria, where it is appropriate to do so. I would expect this to be on a project-by-project basis.

 

The Public Services (Local Value) Act of 2012 places a duty on Local Authorities to consider “how what is proposed to be procured might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the relevant area, and how, in conducting the process of procurement, it might act with a view to securing that improvement”. Councillor Ball is right that this has been extended by Preston Council, along with a number of other Councils across the political spectrum, into the concept of community wealth building.

 

As we develop and improve our approach to procurement with Wolverhampton City Council we will consider best procurement practice, and therefore I will be seeking routes to incorporate community wealth building into this process, subject to compliance with European Union procurement rules.’

 

         

Q3      Question from Councillor Ball for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.