Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs. E. M. Shannon and Mrs. C. J. Spencer.

(Members are reminded that they need to keep their register of interest forms up to date)

No declarations of interest were received.

The minutes of the Extraordinary Meeting of the Council held on 22nd February 2012 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes be approved as a correct record.

There were no announcements.

There were no announcements.

To consider recommendations from the meetings of the Cabinet held on 22nd February and 7th March 2012 on the following items (the full Cabinet reports are enclosed for information at the back of the Council agenda book)

• Financial Monitoring Report – Quarter 3 2011/12
• CCTV Monitoring (any recommendations will be circulated separately following the Cabinet meeting on 7th March 2012)

FINANCIAL MONITORING REPORT - QUARTER 3 2011/12

The recommendations from the Cabinet were moved by Councillor R. Hollingworth and seconded by Councillor Mrs. M. A. Sherrey.

RESOLVED:

(a)    that the increase to the 2012/13 Capital Programme of £659,000 in respect of the schemes carried forward from the 2011/12 Capital Programme, as set out in Appendix 3 to the report , be approved; and

(b)    that the increase to the 2012/13 Capital Programme of £12,000 (to be funded from revenue underspend) in respect of GIS software be approved.

The minutes of the meetings of the Cabinet held on 1st February and 22nd February 2012 were received for information.

To consider the report of the Head of Legal, Equalities and Democratic Services

A report of the Head of Legal, Equalities and Democratic Services on proposed changes to the Council’s Constitution had been circulated with the agenda for the meeting.

Subsequent discussions had taken place between Councillor R. Hollingworth, Leader of the Council and Councillor P. M. McDonald, Leader of the Labour Group and, as a consequence, supplementary papers were tabled which included a summary of proposed changes which had been agreed by the two Leaders (Table 1), a summary of proposed changes which had not been agreed (Table 2), together with the relevant sections of the Constitution which showed the proposed agreed changes.

The proposed changes set out in Table 1 were moved by Councillor M. A. Bullivant and seconded by Councillor Dr. D. W. P. Booth.

At the request of Councillor P. M. McDonald and with the consent of Councillor R. Hollingworth, it was agreed that item 4 in Table 1 (Part 4 Council Procedure Rules Para 11.1) be deferred for further consideration. Arising from comments made by Councillor C. B. Taylor with regard to Item 2 in Table 1 (Part 20 Code of Practice – Planning Services), it was agreed that these proposed changes be deferred for further consideration and that both deferred items be reported back to the next meeting of the full Council on 18th April 2012.  

Having been put to the vote, it was

RESOLVED that approval be given to the proposed changes to the Constitution as set out in items 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of Table 1 and summarised in the Appendix to these minutes.

The proposed changes set out in Table 2 as indicated below were moved by Councillor P. M. McDonald and seconded by Councillor L. C. R. Mallett.

 An amendment was moved by Councillor Mrs. S. J. Baxter and seconded by Councillor L. J. Turner that, with regard to item 3, the proposed wording “that the Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny must be a member of the largest non-controlling group” be changed to “that the Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny will wherever possible be a member of the largest non-controlling group.”

Having been put to the vote  ...  view the full minutes text for item 112.

To deal with any questions on notice from Members of the Council, in the order in which they have been received.

There were no questions on notice.

To consider the following motion submitted by Councillor P. M. McDonald:-

"In view of this Council's continuing unsatisfactory performance in the provision of services; the spiralling employee costs; £millions spent on the merger with Redditch Borough Council; the £half a million costs of the heads of service who only work two and a half days a week; the debacle of the Marlbrook Tip that has become an environmental disaster through Council negligence; and the incompetent management of the ALDI site, the Labour Group calls upon the leader of the Council to resign."

Members considered the following motion submitted by Councillor P. M. McDonald.

"In view of this Council's continuing unsatisfactory performance in the provision of services; the spiralling employee costs; £millions spent on the merger with Redditch Borough Council; the £half a million costs of the heads of service who only work two and a half days a week; the debacle of the Marlbrook Tip that has become an environmental disaster through Council negligence; and the incompetent management of the ALDI site, the Labour Group calls upon the leader of the Council to resign."

The motion was moved by Councillor P. M. McDonald and seconded by Councillor C. J. Bloore.

Following a response by Councillor R. Hollingworth, a procedural motion was moved by Councillor Mrs. M. A. Sherrey and seconded by Councillor M. A. Bullivant that the matter be now put to the vote. Having put the procedural motion to the vote, the Chairman declared it to be carried.

Following a right of reply by Councillor P. M. McDonald as the mover of the substantive motion, on a requisition under Council Procedure Rule 17.5, the following details of voting on the motion were recorded:

For the motion: Councillors C. J. Bloore, Ms. M. T. Buxton, L. C. R. Mallett, Mrs. C. M. McDonald, P. M. McDonald, E. J. Murray, R. J. Shannon, S. P. Shannon and C. J. K. Wilson (9);

Against the motion: Councillors Mrs. S. J. Baxter, Dr. D. W. P. Booth, Mrs. J. M. Boswell, J. R. Boulter, J. S. Brogan, M. A. Bullivant, R. A. Clarke, S. R. Colella, Dr. B. T. Cooper, R. J. Deeming, Mrs. R. L. Dent, S. J. Dudley, K. A. Grant-Pierce, Miss P. A. Harrison, R. Hollingworth, Mrs. H. J. Jones, R. J. Laight, P. Lammas, B. Lewis, J. A. Ruck, C. R. Scurrell, Mrs. M. A. Sherrey, C. B. Taylor, C. J. Tidmarsh, L. J. Turner and M. J. A. Webb (26);

Abstentions: 0

Accordingly, the Chairman declared the motion to be LOST.