Venue: Parkside Suite - Parkside
Contact: Jess Bayley-Hill
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To receive apologies for absence Minutes: Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors S. Baxter, H. Jones, R. Lambert, D. Nicholl and S. Robinson.
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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: Councillor P. Whittaker declared a pecuniary interest in Minute Item No. 70/24 – the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 21st October 2024 and specifically the discussions around the Woodland Creation Application. This declaration was made on the basis that he could potentially benefit from the proposals that had been discussed at that meeting (although he had not been present at that Cabinet meeting). |
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Minutes: The minutes of the extraordinary meeting of Council held on 23rd of September 2024 were submitted.
The Chairman highlighted a typographical error, whereby Councillor Gray had been listed as having been present at the meeting alongside having given apologies for the meeting and it was noted that she had not been present.
RESOLVED that subject to the amendment detailed in the preamble above, the minutes of the meeting of Council held on 23rd September 2024 be approved as a true and correct record.
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To receive any announcements from the Chairman and/or Head of Paid Service Minutes: On behalf of the Council, the Chairman congratulated Councillors J. and S. Robinson on the birth of their baby daughter, Orla Robinson, since the previous meeting of Council. Councillor J. Robinson confirmed that both mother and baby were doing well.
The Head of Paid Service reminded Members that there was a need to respond to the Council’s new external auditors, Ernst and Young, concerning any conflicts of interest. A form had been sent to all Members and completed copies had to be returned directly to the auditors.
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To receive any announcements from the Leader Minutes: The Leader thanked Members and Officers for their hard work during the year and wished Members a happy Christmas and New Year.
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To receive comments, questions or petitions from members of the public A period of up to 15 minutes is allowed for members of the public to make a comment, ask questions or present petitions. Each member of the public has up to 3 minutes to do this. A councillor may also present a petition on behalf of a member of the public.
Minutes: There were no comments, questions or petitions from the public for consideration on this occasion.
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Urgent Decisions Minutes: The Chairman confirmed that no urgent decisions had been taken since the previous meeting of Council.
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Recommendation from the Licensing Committee Additional documents:
Minutes: The Chairman of the Licensing Committee presented a recommendation that had been agreed at a meeting of the Committee held on 19th November 2024. The recommendation related to the subject of the Gambling Act 2005 Review of Statement of Principles and consideration of consultation responses. Members had endorsed the proposals detailed in this report unanimously at the Committee meeting.
The recommendation was proposed by Councillor J. Elledge and seconded by Councillor K. Taylor.
RESOLVED that the draft Statement of Principles be approved and published with effect from 31st January 2025.
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Additional documents:
Minutes: At the start of the debate in respect of this item, Members agreed to suspend standing orders to permit the Electoral Services Manager and the Senior Electoral Services Officer respectively to speak at the meeting on this item of business.
The Chairman of the Electoral Matters Committee subsequently presented the Local Government Boundary Commission for England’s Boundary Review for Bromsgrove – Ward Patterning Proposals. The report had been considered at a meeting of the Electoral Matters Committee held on 22nd November 2024.
Council was advised that the Commission reviewed electoral and boundary arrangements of Councils to make sure as much as possible that they were fair. The first stage of the review was to consider the number of Councillors the District Council should have and the Commission had decided that this should be 31 which agreed with a previous submission from Council. The Commission had praised the Council submission and would be using it as an example of best practice in future reviews.
The review had reached its second stage where the Commission opened a consultation on Ward Patterning for the District. The consultation ran from 24th September to the 2nd December 2024. However, the Commission had kindly allowed the authority the extra time for Council to endorse a submission from Bromsgrove District Council. As part of the agreement, a draft submission had had to be sent to the Commission before the deadline which was received and acknowledged by them on 2nd December 2024.
To create this draft submission, a working group had been formed from the membership of the Electoral Matters Committee in consultation with all ward Members. With the help of officers, the working group had reviewed each ward in turn with ward Members being invited to comment or, if they wished, to attend the relevant working group meetings when their ward was discussed.
The working group had met on four occasions and had in depth discussions on ward changes. The outcomes of these meetings had informed the content of a submission that could be endorsed by Council and sent to the Commission.
The Commission would take into account any submissions made, so it was important the Council provided an official submission. This, with other submissions received, would help the Commission to formulate their draft recommendations in March 2025. The Commission would then run a consultation on their draft recommendations from 6th May to 14th July 2025. Once this concluded, the Commission would publish their final recommendations in November 2025. The legal order would be made in Spring 2026 for implementation in time for the May 2027 elections.
In concluding her comments on the submission, the Chairman of the Electoral Matters Committee thanked the working group for all of their hard work together with the support of officers, which had helped when drawing together the Council’s submission.
Following presentation of the report, there was a discussion of the process that had been followed by the working group when developing the Council’s draft submission. Members noted that there had ... view the full minutes text for item 68\24 |
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Political Balance Report Additional documents: Minutes: The Leader presented a report focusing on changes to the political balance at the Council. Members were advised that this report had been prepared following changes to political group membership at the authority.
During consideration of this item, reference was made to the changing size of the political groups over the course of the year and the potential for the appointments to chairmanship positions to reflect the political make up of the authority. Members noted that at present, Chairmen of Committees were appointed at the first meeting of a Committee held in a municipal year. The suggestion was made that these appointments could instead be confirmed through Council. However, Members also commented that constitutional rules at the Council had recently been changed to enable Members from political groups that did not form part of the administration on the Cabinet to serve as the Chairmen of certain Committees. Furthermore, it was noted that there would be opportunities to consider which Members to appoint to different chairing roles at the start of the 2025/26 municipal year. The suggestion was made that the most suitable candidate, with the appropriate skills for the position of Chairman of a Committee, should be appointed in each case.
The recommendations were proposed by Councillor K. May and seconded by Councillor P. Whittaker.
RESOLVED that
1) for the remainder of the 2024/25 Municipal Year, the Committees set out in the table in Appendix 1 be appointed and that the representation of the different political groups on the Council on those Committees be as set out in that table until the next Annual Meeting of the Council, or until the next review of political representation under Section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, whichever is the earlier; and 2) Members be appointed to the Committees and as substitute members in accordance with nominations to be made by Group Leaders.
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To note the minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 21st October 2024 Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 21st October 2024 were noted.
During consideration of this item, questions were raised as to the reasons why Councillors K. May and K. Taylor, who had declared other disclosable interests at the Cabinet meeting in respect of the Woodland Creation Application had not done so again at the Council meeting. Members were advised that this declaration had not been made by either Councillor as the matter was not due to be debated at the Council meeting.
(Prior to consideration of this item, Councillor P. Whittaker declared a pecuniary interest in the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 21st October 2024 in relation to the debate on the Woodland Creation Application. However, he did not leave the meeting as there was no debate and no questions raised concerning the subject of the Woodland Creation Application.)
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Questions on Notice To deal with any questions on notice from Members of the Council, in the order in which they have been received.
A period of up to 15 minutes is allocated for the asking and answering of questions. This may be extended at the discretion of the Chairman with the agreement of the majority of those present.
Minutes: The Chairman advised that five Questions on Notice had been received for consideration on this occasion.
Question from Councillor M. Marshall to the Cabinet Member for Planning and Regulatory Services
“Can the Cabinet Member confirm what action is being taken to challenge and reverse Worcs Highways’ unacceptable stance not to attend future Bromsgrove Planning Committee meetings which: · compromises the professional integrity and independence of our planning officers who will be required to accept and present Worcs Highways evidence at Committee without question · undermines the legitimate need for members to scrutinise the evidence of a key statutory consultee · erodes public confidence in the democratic accountability of Highways and the planning process for decisions impacting the District’s residents?”
The Cabinet Member for Planning and Regulatory Services responded by explaining that a formal response had been raised by the Assistant Director for Planning, Leisure and Culture Services with her counterpart at Worcestershire County Council. The following statement had been issued by Worcestershire County Council in response, which was read out at the Council meeting:
“As the statutory consultee for highways, Worcestershire County Council review planning applications submitted to the District Councils (Local Planning Authorities), and provide comments and recommendations for the districts to use as part of their wider assessment of the individual planning applications.
If an application is to be determined by committee, local planning authorities make a recommendation based on all the evidence before them including from the full range of statutory consultees.
There is no requirement of statutory consultees to attend planning committees and the county council have never stated that they will not attend future committees.
The council will continue to attend where this is important or where the Chair of the Planning Committee considers it contentious or of wider public interest, balancing demands with resources and avoiding situations where attendance does not add any value.”
Councillor Marshall subsequently asked the following supplementary question:
“That is progress, as they previously said they would not be attending. How will we control this and make sure it happens?”
The Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration suggested that when Planning Committee members received the agenda for a meeting of the Committee, they should check the content straight away. Where Members identified an application where they felt it would be appropriate for a representative of Worcestershire Highways authority to be present, the Cabinet Member for Planning and Regulatory Services suggested that they should notify the Chairman of the Planning Committee meeting immediately so that a request could be submitted to Worcestershire County Council. Furthermore, it was suggested that the Cabinet Member for Planning and Regulatory Services could be copied into this correspondence.
Question from Councillor J. Clarke to the Leader
“Will you take action to ensure that Bromsgrove retains its Fairtrade Town status?”
The Leader replied by commenting that she was proud that, over ten years ago, when Fairtrade products were quite rare in shops and eateries, the Council had signed up to the Fairtrade Foundation Charity to be granted Fairtrade status. ... view the full minutes text for item 71\24 |
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A period of up to one hour is allocated to consider the motions on notice. This may only be extended with the agreement of the Council.
Minutes: The Chairman confirmed that there were two Motions on Notice for consideration at this Council meeting.
Private School Business Rates
The following Motion on Notice was submitted by Councillor S. Evans for Council’s consideration:
“Private school business rates
Council calls on Cabinet as part of the budget setting process for 2025/26 to ring fence any additional income that will result from the move by central Government to impose business rates on private schools (and that is retained by Bromsgrove District). The ring fenced pot will be used to fund development activities for young people as part of the Council’s leisure and culture brief and this will include activities aimed at supporting the development of SEND young people.”
The Motion was proposed by Councillor S. Evans and seconded by Councillor J. Clarke.
In proposing the Motion, Councillor Evans highlighted that the Motion had been submitted with the aim to ensure that the Council made the most of the current situation to the benefit of the local community. It was suggested that there would be approximately £550,000 additional income in business rates within the District as a result of the Government’s rule changes and approximately half of this income would be retained by Bromsgrove District Council. Furthermore, the suggestion was made that this funding should be ringfenced for investment in initiatives designed to support local young people. Whilst the Motion did not call on Members to determine the exact initiatives that should receive funding under this process, it was noted that this could include such activities as cycling classes and other youth activities. The investment would be justified on the basis that young people represented the future of the District.
In seconding the Motion, Councillor Clarke acknowledged that the Council had financial pressures that needed to be addressed over the following years. However, he suggested that the action proposed in the Motion came within the Council’s brief and would have a positive impact in the community.
Members subsequently discussed the Motion in detail and in doing so noted that the Council would consider any additional business rates income generated from private schools and the use of this as part of the 2025/26 Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) to address any pressures that the Council faced and to fund priorities as agreed by Council.
It was noted that ring fencing this funding would run counter to how the Council allocated resources. The Council budgeted for the use of its resources in the following way.
· In Tranche 1 of the budget the Council clarified and documented the various pressures (legislative and Council priorities) on the budget as well as allowable additional funding sources. At this point of the process, there was usually a deficit position. · By Tranche 2, the Council would understand the total funding available to the authority via the Local Government Finance Settlement and these additional sources of funding were added to the position agreed at Tranche 1 to give an overall position from which additional savings or priorities could be added. ... view the full minutes text for item 72\24 |
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To consider any urgent business, details of which have been notified to the Assistant Director of Legal, Democratic and Procurement Services prior to the commencement of the meeting and which the Chairman, by reason of special circumstances, considers to be of so urgent a nature that it cannot wait until the next meeting Minutes: There was no urgent business for consideration on this occasion.
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