Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors A. Dale, C. Hotham and R. Lambert.

(During consideration of this item, there was a brief adjournment from 18.06 – 18.11.)

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.

Members were reminded that all Councillors had been granted general dispensations by the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee earlier in the municipal year to take part in the debate and vote on the Council’s budget and Council Tax.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting of Council held on 22^nd January 2025 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of Council held on 22^nd January 2025 be approved as a true and correct record.

The Chairman advised that the High Sheriff of Worcester, Mr Charles Moyle, was due to visit local charities in Bromsgrove with the Chairman.   As part of this process, they would be visiting Catshill Foodbank, Age UK, Bosom Friends, the Harry Bennett Foundation and the Alvechurch Larder on Wednesday 26th February 2025.    The High Sheriff was also due to make a second visit to the District on the 19th March 2025 in order to visit two charities in Wythall.  Members were advised that they would be welcome to participate in these visits and were urged to notify the Chairman of the Council if they wished to take part.

The Head of Paid Service confirmed that she had no announcements to make on this occasion.

The Leader confirmed that she had no announcements to make on this occasion.

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.

A comment received from a member of the public will follow in a supplementary papers pack to this agenda.

The Chairman invited Mr J. Coleman to present the following comment, submitted in advance of the meeting, for Council’s consideration:

Dear Ladies and gentlemen of the Council.

My name is Jonathan Coleman and as many of you will be aware, I am one of the team of volunteers at Revise BREP who have been attempting to hold WCC to account over the BREP project.

As of our last meeting I am happy to say the new leadership behind BREP has been more responsive and open to discussion and accordingly we have made some progress.

These include:

More frequent updates on what is going on with BREP.
Looking into artwork being produced to show how the areas will be restored.
Areas of concern or worry of residents looked into.
Guarantees that all trees removed and replaced will be replaced *in Bromsgrove along the A38*
Reducing the impact of the works as much as possible (such as getting numerous lane closures removed over the Christmas period. 

Moving on from BREP however, it is time that we look and listen to the people of Bromsgrove who all know the only real solution to the transport issues in and around our town is a Western Bypass.

Worcestershire County Council has no money to perform a new study, but fortunately, Bromsgrove Council being fiscally responsible does have the reserves and the ability to commission a new study. And it needs to do so sooner rather than later.

The previous flawed study, as discovered when Bromsgrove Council commissioned a review, should have been re-done years ago. But instead has been used as a scapegoat to avoid investment in and around Bromsgrove in a way that would be meaningful. As an example, the A536 at Congleton is a project that shows how well planned infrastructure helps the area immensely. Resolving gridlocks and enabling traffic to flow freely through the area.

The current central government housing plans place potentially even larger demands on the Bromsgrove infrastructure, an infrastructure that is already bursting at the seams, no new supporting roads, and the existing plans designed to encourage more people through the town rather than around it.

Bromsgrove needs an infrastructure first plan. If developers want to build houses here, then we need the infrastructure to be developed first, not as an after thought or in many cases not at all. We need new roads to be built. We need new doctors. We need new schools. We need new dentists.

A simple survey of the residents of Bromsgrove will show the overwhelming majority agree. We set up a simple 4 question survey 2 weeks ago and have already had over 3000 replies.

As such, I hope that the council makes the right choice to support and order a study into a new Western Bypass Project so the proper investment our towns needs can be secured.

Thank you for your time.”

On behalf of the Council, the Chairman thanked Mr Coleman for attending the meeting to deliver his comments.   

There have been two Urgent Decisions taken since the last meeting of the Council.

Each Urgent Decision was informed by exempt information which is attached later in the agenda.

Council was advised that two urgent decisions had been taken since the previous meeting of Council.  These urgent decisions had been taken in relation to the following subjects:

·             The former Market Hall site

·             The Promoting Independent Living (PIL) Service

The urgent decision forms had been provided for Members’ information and were not subject to debate.

Members are asked to note that under the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, the Council is required to take a named vote when a decision is made on the budget calculation at a budget decision meeting of the Council.

At the time of publication of this agenda, the Cabinet meeting on 12^th February 2025 had not taken place. Therefore, any recommendations in respect of the reports considered at this meeting will be published in a supplementary papers pack to this agenda.

Council considered recommendations arising from the meeting of the Cabinet held on 12^th February 2025.

Pay Policy Statement 2025/26

The Leader advised that the Localism Act 2011 required English and Welsh local authorities to produce an annual Pay Policy Statement.  The Act required the statement to be approved by Full Council and to be adopted by 31^st March each year for the subsequent financial year. 

The purpose of the statement was to provide transparency with regard to the Council’s approach to setting the pay of its employees by identifying;

·             the methods by which salaries of all employees were determined;

·             the detail and level of remuneration of the most senior staff i.e. ‘chief officers’, as defined by the relevant legislation; and

·             the Committee(s) responsible for ensuring the provisions set out in this statement were applied consistently throughout the Council and for recommending any amendments to the full Council.

The Council’s pay and grading structure comprised grades 1 – 11. These were followed by grades for Managers, Assistant Director 1, Assistant Director 2, the Director of Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), Executive Director, Deputy Chief Executive and then Chief Executive; all of which arose following the introduction of shared services with Bromsgrove District Council.

Within each grade, there were a number of salary scale points. Up to and including grade 11 scale, at spinal column point 43, the Council used the nationally negotiated pay spine. Salary points above this were locally determined.  All Council posts were allocated to a grade within this pay structure, based on the application of a Job Evaluation process. Posts at the level of Managers and above were evaluated by an external assessor using the Hay Job Evaluation scheme.  In common with the majority of authorities, the Council was committed to the Local Government Employers’ national pay bargaining framework in respect of the national pay spine and annual cost of living increases negotiated with the trade unions.

All other pay related allowances were the subject of either nationally or locally negotiated rates.  Redditch Borough Council was managed by a senior management team who managed shared services across both Bromsgrove District and Redditch Borough Councils.  All of the senior officer posts listed had been job evaluated on this basis, with the salary costs for these posts split equally between both Councils.

The policy also set out:

·       The recruitment of Chief Officers

·       Additions to the salaries of Chief Officers (Members were informed that there was no performance related pay)

·       Termination payments

·       Advertisement/publicity of posts

The Council’s definition of lowest paid employees referred to persons employed under a contract of employment with the Council on full time (37 hours) equivalent salaries in accordance with the minimum spinal column point currently in use within the Council’s grading structure.  As at 1^st April 2024, this was £23,656 per annum.

Following the presentation of the report, Members questioned whether the grades detailed in the report applied to permanent staff only or also to agency staff.  In response, confirmation was provided that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96\24

Members are asked to note that under the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, the Council is required to take a named vote when a decision is made on the Council Tax at a budget decision meeting of the Council.

Under Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, any Councillor who is 2 or more months in arrears with their Council tax payments cannot participate in any item at the Council meeting concerning the budget.

As this meeting of Cabinet is due to be held on the same day as the Council meeting, any recommendations made by the Cabinet at this meeting will be tabled at the Council meeting.

The Chairman advised that a meeting of the Cabinet had taken place earlier that day at which recommendations had been agreed for the consideration of Council. Whilst there had not been sufficient time to prepare the minutes of that meeting in time for Council, recommendations had been tabled for Members’ consideration.

Local Development Scheme

The Cabinet Member for Planning, Licensing and Regulatory Services opened the item by thanking Mr J. Coleman for the comments that he had submitted earlier in the evening to the Council.  It was highlighted that the Council would be undertaking consultation in respect of the content of the Local Plan and the Cabinet Member for Planning, Licensing and Regulatory Services urged residents to take part in this process.

The Local Development Scheme provided a basic timetable for the Local Plan process at the Council.  The report had been reviewed at meetings of both the Overview and Scrutiny Board and Strategic Planning Steering Group (SPSG).  In both cases, Members had been advised that the Council had limited choice in terms of the timetable.  However, Councils needed to set their own timetables as otherwise, under the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), there was a risk of central Government intervention.

Further work would continue moving forward in respect of preparation of the Local Plan.  Members would have an opportunity to contribute to this work by attending meetings of the SPSG and all Councillors were urged to participate in this process.

During consideration of this item, the Cabinet Member for Planning, Licensing and Regulatory Services highlighted that the Cabinet had amended the second recommendation in the report to request a delegation to the Assistant Director of Planning and Leisure Services to be used following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning, Licensing and Regulatory Services, rather than to grant a delegation directly to the Cabinet Member.  This amendment had been required, in line with constitutional requirements at the authority, because Cabinet Members did not have individual decision-making powers.

The recommendations were proposed by Councillor K. Taylor and seconded by Councillor K. May.

RESOLVED that

1)          Bromsgrove District Council Local Development Scheme 2025 be approved as the Council’s programme for plan-making, effective as of 19^th February 2025; and

2)          Delegated authority be granted to the Assistant Director for Planning and Leisure Services, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning, Licensing and Worcestershire Regulatory Services, to approve updates to the Local Development Scheme as required.

Council Tax Resolutions 2025/26

The Cabinet Member for Finance presented the Council Tax Resolutions 2025/26 for Council’s consideration.

Members were informed that the Council Tax Resolutions ensured that the Residents of Bromsgrove were charged the correct Council Tax.  That Council Tax included elements for a number of partner organisations including:

·             Worcestershire County Council

·             Bromsgrove District Council

·             The Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia

·             The Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service

·             The 19 Parish Councils in the District

The report detailed how much each precepting authority was charging across the full range of property  ...  view the full minutes text for item 97\24

At the time of publication, the Cabinet meeting due to be held on 12th February 2025 had not yet taken place. Therefore, the minutes from this meeting will be published in a supplementary papers pack to this agenda.

The minutes from the Cabinet meeting held on 12^th February 2025 were noted without comment.

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.

Each elected member due to ask a question, may ask up to one supplementary question which must be based on the origial question or the answer provided to that question.

the Chairman advised that there had been five Questions on Notice submitted for consideration at this meeting.

Question submitted by Councillor J. Elledge:

“Can we please get a list of all bus shelters in the district along with -

A/ who owns them

B/ which team maintains each one

C/ the current state of repair of each one and example of what each repair status means

D/ the planned maintenance schedule for them?”

The Leader provided responses to each part of the question in turn.

In respect of part (a) Members were advised that a list of all Council owned bus shelters had already been circulated. Currently there was no list available of bus shelters under the responsibility of third parties.  In terms of part (b), the Council’s Minor Works Team maintained Council owned bus shelters.  In respect of parts (c) and (d), Council was informed that bus shelters were inspected every two years to identify any issues which were then prioritised to be addressed.  The last inspection was in 2023 and they were due to be inspected again in 2025. The Council was also looking at utilising software within Environmental Services that would allow the authority to track the condition of bus shelters electronically.

Councillor Elledge subsequently asked a supplementary question which sought clarification as to whether bus shelters that were not owned by the Council were instead owned by Parish Councils.

The Leader responded by explaining that there was a mixture of arrangements in place.  Bus shelters were owned and maintained by Bromsgrove District Council, Worcestershire County Council, Parish Councils and some Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations. 

Question Submitted by Councillor J. Clarke

“I regularly receive comments asking what the Council is doing to reverse the decline of our High street. So, I went on a short walk through the town centre. This revealed 20 businesses are boarded up and with forthcoming closures, including the Halifax and Lloyds, this will soon rise to 23.  

Has this Council explored using the High Street Rental Auctions powers launched in December as a way of tackling this problem?”

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration responded by explaining that the Council was in the process of reviewing the High Street Rental Auctions (HSRA) powers alongside the recent Town Centre Healthcheck to explore potential properties that would be suitable for the powers. The authority had the power to hold rental auctions to let qualifying high-street premises that had been unoccupied for the whole of the preceding year, or for at least 366 days in the preceding two years. Should there be qualifying premises, the success of the initiative required willing potential tenants to bid on the vacant properties.

Councillor Clarke subsequently asked a supplementary question which made reference to the availability of funding to support the HSRA process and he questioned whether the Council would be submitting a bid for this funding.

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration explained that this was in the process of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 99\24

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.

The Chairman highlighted that one Motion on Notice had been submitted for consideration at the Council meeting.  However, in advance of the meeting, group leaders had agreed that the Motion should be referred for consideration at the following meeting of the Constitution Review Working Group scheduled to take place on 10^th April 2025.  On this basis, it had been agreed that the Motion would not be debated at the meeting.

There was no urgent business for consideration on this occasion.