Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Paul Aitchison, Jon Barry,  Susie Charles, John Harrison, Alycia James, Andrew Kay, Pam Pickles, Emma Smith, Susan Sykes and Peter Williamson.

To receive as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting of the City Council held on 12^th June, 2013 (previously circulated). 

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 June 2013 were signed by the Mayor as a correct record.

To receive declarations by Members of interests in respect of items on this Agenda. 

Members are reminded that, in accordance with the Localism Act 2011, they are required to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests which have not already been declared in the Council’s Register of Interests. (It is a criminal offence not to declare a disclosable pecuniary interest either in the Register or at the meeting). 

Whilst not a legal requirement, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10 and in the interests of clarity and transparency, Members should declare any disclosable pecuniary interests which they have already declared in the Register, at this point in the meeting. 

In accordance with Part B Section 2 of the Code Of Conduct, Members are required to declare the existence and nature of any other interests as defined in paragraphs 8(1) or 9(2) of the Code of Conduct. 

There were no declarations of interest made at this stage.

To receive any announcements which may be submitted by the Mayor or Chief Executive.  

The Mayor reported the sad death of former Councillor Albert Thornton. Albert was elected to the Heysham South Ward in May 1995 and served a period of 4 years before embarking on a lengthy career as a County Councillor.

Having lost his wife Lillian only last year, Albert’s own health began to fail and he became blind whilst still serving as a County Councillor.  He did not allow this to prevent him from serving his constituents and continued to work for them as best he could until his retirement from County earlier this year.

Albert died peacefully in the Royal Lancaster Infirmary on 19 June 2013 at the age of 87.  He would be sadly missed.

Members stood in a minute’s silence in his memory.

To receive questions in accordance with the provisions of Council Procedure Rules 12.1 and 12.3 which require members of the public to give at least 3 days’ notice in writing of questions to a Member of Cabinet or Committee Chairman. 

The Mayor advised that no questions had been received from members of the public in accordance with the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 12.

To receive an address from Stuart Langhorn regarding the licensing of dog boarding in the Lancaster District, notification of which has been received by the Chief Executive in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

The address will be heard in silence and referred to the relevant Committee for consideration.

Mr Stuart Langhorn addressed Council about licensing of home boarding of dogs.  A copy of his address had been circulated along with supporting documents.

Councillor Dixon, Chairman of the Licensing Regulatory Committee responded to Mr Langhorn’s address.

The Mayor thanked Mr. Langhorn and advised him that his address would be referred to the Licensing Regulatory Committee for consideration.

Mrs Yvonne Whiston presented a petition on behalf of her mother and other bus users and gave an address to Council regarding the withdrawal of bus services on the Morecambe Road route.

The Mayor thanked Mrs Whiston and informed her that the petition would be forwarded to the County Council, which provided bus travel in partnership with local bus operators. In addition, Mrs Whiston’s address would be referred to the City Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

To receive the Cabinet Leader’s report on proceedings since the last meeting of Council. 

The Leader presented her report updating Members on various issues since her last report to Council. She then responded to a number of questions from Councillors.

Resolved:

That the report be noted. 

To consider the recommendations of Council Business Committee from its meeting on 27^th June 2013.

Councillor Mace, Vice-Chairman of the Council Business Committee, presented a referral report regarding the Procedure Rules relating to Members’ questions on notice at Council meetings, following consideration of the matter by the Committee on 27 June 2013.

The Procedure Rules required that questions be submitted to the Chief Executive three working days prior to the Council meeting and that questions must be relevant to the powers or duties of the Council or must affect the district. The referral report asked Council to consider a recommendation from Council Business Committee to amend the Procedure Rules to include a right of appeal to the Mayor for any Member whose question on notice is rejected by the Chief Executive as not relevant.

Councillor Mace responded to several questions from Councillors before proposing the recommendation of Council Business Committee, seconded by Councillor Hall:-

“(1)      That the Council Procedure Rules be amended to allow any Members whose question on notice to Council has been refused by the Chief Executive, on the grounds that it did not satisfy procedure rule 13.4(b), the right of appeal to the Mayor.”

A lengthy debate followed before a vote was taken and the proposition was clearly carried.

Resolved:

(1)                           That the Council Procedure Rules be amended to allow any Members whose question on notice to Council has been refused by the Chief Executive, on the grounds that it did not satisfy procedure rule 13.4(b), the right of appeal to the Mayor.

To consider the recommendations of Council Business Committee from its meeting on 27^th July 2013.

Council considered a referral report from the Council Business Committee, presented by the Vice-Chairman, Councillor Mace.  The report asked Council to approve formal arrangements for Member Champions, to be included in the Council’s Constitution.

The formal arrangements were set out in two documents, a model protocol and a role definition for Champions for inclusion in Part 5, Section 5 of the Constitution. The report also recommended that Council confirm that appointments of Member Champions should be made at each annual council meeting, with a consequential amendment to Council Procedure Rule 1.1 and that the role of Champion should only be open to non-Cabinet Members.

The report asked Council to note that Council Business Committee had asked the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) to consider amending the Members’ Allowances Scheme to permit reasonable travel and subsistence claims to be made by Member Champions in carrying out their roles. The Mayor informed Council that, since the report had been drafted, the IRP had met and agreed to the request to allow Member Champions to claim for reasonable travel and subsistence costs incurred carrying out their duties as Champions.

Councillor Mace responded to several questions from Councillors before proposing the recommendations of Council Business Committee as set out in the report.

It was then moved by Councillor Rollins and seconded by Councillor Burns, by way of an amendment:

“That the protocol be amended at Paragraph 9 by removing bullet point 3, which refers to a support officer in the Democratic Support team being designated to support the Council’s Champions.”

There was some debate on the amendment before a vote was taken and the amendment was clearly lost. 

A vote was then taken on the substantive motion which the Mayor declared clearly carried.

Resolved:

(1)        That the attached documents be added to the Council’s Constitution as Section 5 of Part 6 (Appointments and Designations - Member Champions).

(2)        That Council confirms that the appointment of Member Champions be made at each Annual Council meeting and that this item be included in the business for Annual Council shown in Council procedure rule 1.1 (Part 4, Section 1 of the Constitution).

(3)        That Council approves a generic role definition for Member Champions (as attached at Appendix 2) and confirms that Member Champion appointments be open to non-Cabinet Members only.

(4)        To note that the Independent Remuneration Panel has agreed to amend the Members’ Allowances Scheme to permit reasonable travel and subsistence claims to be made to Member Champions in carrying out their roles.

To consider the recommendations of Council Business Committee from its meeting on 27^th July 2013.

Councillor Mace, Vice-Chairman of the Council Business Committee, presented a referral report regarding the audio recording of Council meetings. This issue had been referred to the Committee following debate on a motion to Council on 13 May 2013 requesting that audio recording equipment be purchased and recordings of meetings be made publicly available on the Council’s website.

Councillor Mace responded to several questions from Councillors before proposing the request from Council Business Committee:-

“That speakers in Council meetings declare their names before speaking, always use a microphone and that sound recordings be prepared on an experimental basis and made available to Members and officers on request, prior to further consideration of the subject in budget discussions for 2014/15.”

Councillor Mace also proposed an addendum:

“That recording should stop when a restricted item is being discussed and the requirement for giving one’s name and speaking into the microphone should be limited to the period of the experiment and that a further decision on continuing the experiment should be made after 3 council meetings have been recorded.”

There followed a lengthy debate at the conclusion of which a recorded vote was requested in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 20.4.

A vote was then taken with Members voting as shown below:-

16 for the motion: Councillors Brookes, Graham, Hamilton-Cox, Helme, Hill, Histed, Caroline Jackson, Joan Jackson, Johnson, Mace, Parkinson, Rogerson, Rollins, Sowden, Thomas and Woodruff.

29 against the motion: Councillors Anderson, Ashworth, Bancroft, Bevan, Blamire, Bryning, Budden, Burns, Dennison, Dixon, Gardner, Greenall, Hall, Hanson, Kerr, Leytham, Marsland, Metcalfe, Newman-Thompson, Parkinson, Ian Pattison, Margaret Pattison, Price, Redfern, Sands, Scott, Sherlock, David Smith, Taylor and Whitaker.

3 abstentions: Councillors Coates, Forrest and Kennedy.

The Mayor declared the motion lost.

To consider the following Motion submitted by Councillors Tim Hamilton-Cox, Jon Barry and Dave Brookes ;

 “This Council notes that the coalition government is making disproportionate cuts to funding of local government, and calls on it to reverse this policy.

This Council advocates that Britain should join the 11 European countries that have pledged to introduce a transaction tax on all financial exchanges, including shares, bonds and derivatives, in the process targeting those who precipitated the financial crisis and going some way to paying off the national debt.

It should be part of a wider programme that proceeds with the urgent reform of the banks, separating the high-street and investment arms, a crackdown on high-earners’ and corporate tax avoidance, and proper regulation of the markets.

Further, the revenue raised should be used, among other things, to reverse cuts in funding to local government.

Council resolves to ask the Chief Executive to write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government informing them of council’s resolution.”

An officer briefing note is attached.

Councillor Hamilton-Cox proposed the following motion having given the required notice to the Chief Executive in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 16:-

“This Council notes that the coalition government is making disproportionate cuts to funding of local government, and calls on it to reverse this policy.

This Council advocates that Britain should join the 11 European countries that have pledged to introduce a transaction tax on all financial exchanges, including shares, bonds and derivatives, in the process targeting those who precipitated the financial crisis and going some way to paying off the national debt.

It should be part of a wider programme that proceeds with the urgent reform of the banks, separating the high-street and investment arms, a crackdown on high-earners’ and corporate tax avoidance, and proper regulation of the markets.

Further, the revenue raised should be used, among other things, to reverse cuts in funding to local government.

Council resolves to ask the Chief Executive to write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government informing them of council’s resolution.”

An officer briefing note was attached which included the executive summary from the Government’s Spending Review and the Local Government Association’s briefing published on 26 June 2013.

Councillor Brookes seconded the motion.

An amendment to the motion was moved by Councillor Newman-Thompson to replace the words “to local government” at the end of paragraph four with “of public services.”

With the agreement of his seconder, Councillor Hamilton-Cox accepted this as a friendly amendment.

At the conclusion of the debate there was a request for a recorded vote in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 20.4 and Members voted as follows:-

29 for the motion: Councillors Anderson, Ashworth, Bancroft, Bevan, Blamire, Brookes, Bryning, Coates, Dixon, Forrest, Gardner, Hall, Hamilton-Cox, Hanson, Caroline Jackson, Kennedy, Leytham, Metcalfe, Newman-Thompson, Ian Pattison, Margaret Pattison, Price, Redfern, Sands, Scott, Sherlock, David Smith, Taylor and Whitaker.

13 against the motion: Councillors Burns, Dennison, Graham, Helme, Hill, Joan Jackson, Mace, Parkinson, Rogerson, Rollins, Sowden, Thomas and Woodruff.

4 abstentions: Councillors Greenall, Histed, Johnson and Marsland.

The Mayor declared the motion carried.

Resolved:-

(1)           This Council notes that the coalition government is making disproportionate cuts to funding of local government, and calls on it to reverse this policy.

(2)           This Council advocates that Britain should join the 11 European countries that have pledged to introduce a transaction tax on all financial exchanges, including shares, bonds and derivatives, in the process targeting those who precipitated the financial crisis and going some way to paying off the national debt.

               It should be part of a wider programme that proceeds with the urgent reform of the banks, separating the high-street and investment arms, a crackdown on high-earners’ and corporate tax avoidance, and proper regulation of the markets.

               Further, the revenue raised should be used, among other things, to reverse cuts in funding of public services.

(3)           That the Chief Executive write to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

To consider the report of the Chief Executive.

Council considered a report of the Chief Executive presenting a revised draft vision for inclusion in the Council’s Corporate Plan 2013/14.

Councillor Rollins, seconded by Councillor Johnson, proposed:-

“(1)      That the revised draft vision be included in the Corporate Plan 2013/14.”

There was no debate, a vote was taken and the proposition was clearly carried.

Resolved:

(1)        That the revised draft vision be included in the Corporate Plan 2013/14.

To consider the report of the Head of Governance.

Council considered a report submitted by the Head of Governance. The report noted that a vacancy had arisen for the City Council representative on the County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee. Council noted that it had decided that the appointment should be filled by way of nominations and voting at full Council and that, because it was a scrutiny body, only a non-Cabinet Member could be appointed.

Councillor Metcalfe nominated Councillor Gardner to fill the vacancy. The nomination was seconded by Councillor Newman-Thompson.

Councillor Rogerson then nominated Councillor Parkinson, seconded by Councillor Joan Jackson.

The Mayor called for a vote and, with 27 votes for Councillor Gardner and 11 votes for Councillor Parkinson, the Mayor declared Councillor Gardner appointed.

Resolved:

That Councillor Gardner be appointed as the City Council representative on the County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee until May 2015.

To receive questions in accordance with the provisions of Council Procedure Rules 13.2 and 13.4 which require a Member to give at least 3 working days notice, in writing, of the question to the Chief Executive. 

The Mayor advised that three questions had been received by the Chief Executive in accordance with Council Procedure Rules as follows:

(1)         Councillor Mace to Councillor Dixon regarding the byelaw requiring Hackney Carriages to return to specified ranks.

(2)         Councillor Whitaker to Councillor Hanson regarding Chatsworth Gardens.

(3)         Councillor Mace to Councillor Hamilton-Cox regarding car parking.

Details of the questions and answers together with any supplementary questions and responses are included at Appendix A to the minutes.

To receive the Minutes of Meeting of Cabinet held on 25^th June, 2013. 

Council considered the Cabinet minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 2013. The Leader responded to Members’ questions.

Resolved:

That the minutes be noted.