Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors S. Baxter, A. Dale and R. Lambert.

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 C. Hotham declared an Other Disclosable Interest in respect of Minute Item 63/25 - Quarter 1 2025/26 Finance and Performance Monitoring – in his capacity as a Trustee for the Artrix. Councillor Hotham remained in the room for consideration of this report and took part in the vote thereon.

There were no other Declarations of Interest.

The minutes of the Council meeting held on 8^th October 2025 were submitted for the consideration of Members.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Council meeting held on 8^th October 2025 be approved as a true and accurate record.

There has been one Urgent Decision taken since the last Council meeting in respect of the Appointment of an Acting Section 151 Officer.

A copy of the Urgent Decision has been included in this agenda pack.

The Chairman advised that there had been one Urgent decision taken since the last meeting of the Council in respect of the Appointment of the Section 151 Officer.

The Leader presented the Local Government Reorganisation: Transforming Worcestershire Local government that works for people, powered by place and built for the future - The North and South Local Government Reorganisation Proposal for Worcestershire report for Members’ consideration.

It was noted that the purpose of the report was to provide the Council with a proposal to be submitted to Government by 28^th November 2025 for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) in Worcestershire, following 3^rd September 2025 Full Council meeting where Members supported a North and South Unitary Council model be developed based at the time on what was termed Option B. This option comprised of either entirely separate Councils or a shared service model. 

Working with KPMG, who were subsequently commissioned, and Mutual Ventures who had developed the options appraisal for a two Unitary model. Bromsgrove District Council, Redditch Borough Council, Malvern Hills District Council, Worcester City Council and Wychavon District Council had worked together to produce a proposal that best met the Government’s six criteria for LGR based on a North and South Worcestershire footprint as directed by Members.  The North being Bromsgrove and Wyre Forest Districts and Redditch Borough Councils and the South being Malvern Hills District, Worcester City and Wychavon District Councils.

The North and South two Unitary Council LGR proposal for Worcestershire was entitled “Transforming Worcestershire: Local government that works for people, powered by place and built for the future.”  It was noted that this was the only Worcestershire LGR proposal informed by the views of local people from across the whole of Worcestershire following the “Shape Worcestershire” survey that was supported by all six District councils in the County.  This ensured that Criteria Four (see below) of the Government’s specific requirements for LGR was met.

·       Criteria Four - Proposals should show how Councils in the area had sought to work together in coming to a view that met local needs and was informed by local views.

It was noted that not only had local people’s views been taken into account in this proposal, in addition all Members across the five commissioning Councils had been given an opportunity to further shape the two Unitary proposal for Worcestershire.  This approach recognised the democratic mandate of Councillors as representatives of their community and the very people who received Council services. Further to this, key stakeholders such as partners in the health sector, police, fire, business and voluntary and community sector, including town and parish councils had been asked for their views as well.  The output of all this work was a proposal for Worcestershire that was a product of true collaboration.

The vision for a thriving Worcestershire North and South was included within the report along with a number of key challenges and a pledge that should this proposal be accepted by Government and be delivered then: -

1. Public services would shift from crisis to prevention

2. Communities would feel more connected and empowered

3. Local services would respond faster to everyday issues

4. Vulnerable adults  ...  view the full minutes text for item 62\25

To consider the outstanding recommendations from the meetings of the Cabinet held on 10^th September 2025.

The outstanding recommendations from the Cabinet meeting held on 10^th September 2025 were due to the deferment of the following reports at the Council meeting held on 8^th October 2025:

·       Quarter 1 2025/26 Finance and Performance Monitoring Report

·       Expansion of Commercial Waste Collection Service

In addition, any recommendations arising in respect of the Business Rates Retention (BRR) Pool 2026-2027 report, which is due to be considered at the Cabinet meeting on 19th November 2025, will be published in a supplementary pack for this Extraordinary meeting of the Council and tabled at the meeting. 

Any further recommendations arising from the Cabinet meeting due to take place on 19th November 2025 will be considered at the next Ordinary meeting of the Council on 3^rd December 2025.

Quarter 1 2025/26 Finance and Performance Monitoring

The Quarter 1 Finance and Performance Report was previously brought to the Council meeting on 8^th October 2025.

At that meeting, Members requested that Officers double checked the figures in respect of the projected deficit and the report be rescheduled for consideration at this meeting.  A revised report had therefore been brought back to this meeting.

Members were asked to note the following points:

• The Full Year Variance of £173,361 on the ‘Totals Line’ remained the same as the report brought to Council previously.

• The Full Year Projected Forecast has been amended from £587,360 to £173,361 on the ‘Totals Line’.

•  The Narrative within the report had been reviewed and improved, with a view to ensuring that full explanations were given for all variances.

• There were two areas within the report where the narrative had been materially adjusted:

Members were reminded that there was also a query at the previous Council meeting in respect of rent revenue relating to Nailers Yard.  For information, GJS Dillon had received several enquiries for office space and two enquiries for the GF food and beverage unit. The service charge schedules had also been prepared for the commercial building. Heads of terms were due to be issued to an incoming tenant that wished to let one and a half floors. The next stage was to instruct Bruton Knowles to undertake the property management role of the commercial building.

Following the presentation of the report, Members queried some areas further. These included the following:

• The costs of Bed and Breakfast (B&B) Accommodation – Members highlighted that there were differing spends included in the report on the costs for B&B accommodation. The Interim Section 151 undertook to provide Members with the correct amount following the meeting.

Members were reassured that the errors contained within the report were one off and that the finer details were being looked at by the Finance Team to ensure that the reports such as these were accurate going forward. Some Members requested that Internal Audit be involved in looking at the areas where errors had been identified within this report previously in order to ensure that this did not happen  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63\25

As highlighted by the Chairman at the Council meeting held on 8^th October 2025 the attached Motion is being considered at this Extraordinary Council meeting due to exceptional circumstances.

A period of up to one hour is allocated to consider this motion on notice.  This may only be extended with the agreement of the Council.

Councillor J. Robinson presented a Motion on Notice for Members’ consideration.  In doing so, he highlighted that he was altering the wording of the Motion that he had submitted, and which had been included in the agenda to read as follows:

“The A38 Bromsgrove Route Enhancement Programme has been an unmitigated disaster for our town.

Hundreds of trees have been felled, and the project will not resolve the issues of traffic in our town.

The Council resolves to ask the Leader of the Council to urgently write to the Leader of Worcestershire County Council placing on record Bromsgrove District Council’s opposition to the project and call for a full review and consultation with the community.”

Councillor Robinson clarified that he had decided to remove reference to placing schemes that had not started on hold as circumstances had changed since the Motion was first submitted for Council’s consideration in July 2025.

The Motion was proposed by Councillor Robinson and seconded by Councillor R. Hunter.

In proposing the Motion, Councillor Robinson commented that in his view the A38 Bromsgrove Route Enhancement Programme (BREP) had not worked well.  Councillor Robinson had attended consultation events with the public and in doing so had heard from local residents about their concerns regarding the scale of the project.  Members were asked to note that many trees had been felled during the works which had been opposed by many residents.  Reference was made to the intention of BREP and it was suggested that these works had been launched to address traffic congestion in Bromsgrove.  However, Councillor Robinson suggested that BREP was unlikely to resolve problems with traffic congestion in the town.

In seconding the Motion, Councillor Hunter commented that there was a need to learn lessons from the BREP works and to ensure that the current situation was not repeated once a new unitary authority was serving Bromsgrove.  Councillor Hunter expressed concerns about the impact that BREP had had on residents’ lives and the delays to traffic caused by the works.  The suggestion was also made that an opportunity had been missed to undertake a modal shift to more sustainable forms of transport in the town.

Members subsequently discussed the Motion and in doing so expressed concerns about the impact of the works on traffic congestion in the town.  It was noted that the Leader had previously been asked at a Council meeting to write to Worcestershire County Council regarding this matter and that she had done so.  The suggestion was made that in this context, as the issues causing concern had persisted, Members needed to continue to raise this matter with the County Council.

Clarification was provided regarding the background to the BREP works.  Members were asked to note that the Department for Transport (DfT) had provided enhancement funding.  In addition, the Midlands Engine was driving forward the project.  Concerns had been raised with the DfT that the works were unlikely to resolve challenges relating to traffic congestion.

During discussion of this item, consideration  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64\25

There was no Urgent Business on this occasion.