Agenda and minutes

Minutes of meeting held on 26^th June 2014 (previously circulated).

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as a correct record.

There were no items of urgent business authorised by the Chairman.

Councillor Knight declared an interest in item 7 on the agenda, the nature of the interest being that he had served as an appointee to the Local Government Association.

The Senior Democratic Support Officer introduced a report on the committee timetable for the 2015/16 municipal year, reporting that the timetable was based on the pattern of meetings for the 2014/15 municipal year.

It was noted that officers recommended moving the Planning and Highways Regulatory Committee meeting on the proposed timetable from Monday 1^st June 2015 to Friday 5^th June, which would allow the agenda to be published following Annual Council with the names of committee members included.

In the course of debate, it was suggested that meetings of Council, Cabinet and Cabinet Briefing be held at the later time of 6:00pm, to allow councillors in full time employment to attend meetings with greater ease.    There was a consensus of support to hold Cabinet and Cabinet Briefing meetings at 6:00pm, whilst the decision to move the start time of Council meetings was taken to a vote.   

Upon being put to the vote, three members voted in favour with three against and no abstentions, whereby the chairman’s casting vote carried the proposal. 

It was also suggested that the proposed Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 1^st September 2015 be set back by one week, to accommodate those members with childcare considerations, with subsequent meetings of Budget and Performance Panel on Tuesday 8^th September, Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday 9^th September, and Audit Committee on Wednesday 16^th September each moving back by one week to accommodate the change.    This proposal would be dependent on the Section 151 Officer’s view on the feasibility of changing the Audit Committee date, in light of the council’s budgetary reporting commitments.

A further suggestion was made to increase the number of Council meetings by one per annum, in order to schedule a meeting between the proposed dates of Wednesday 15^th July and Wednesday 21^st October 2015.  

Resolved:

(1)                          That the Planning and Highways Regulatory Committee meeting scheduled for Monday 1^st June 2015 be moved to Friday 5^th June for administrative reasons;

(2)                          That officers be requested to investigate the feasibility of moving the Audit Committee meeting from Wednesday 16^th September to Wednesday 23^rd September, to accommodate moving the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday 1^st September to Tuesday 8^th September and consequential changes of the Budget and Performance Panel scheduled for Tuesday 8^th September to Tuesday 15^th September and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday 9^th September to Wednesday 16^th September;

(3)                          That the 2015/16 committee timetable be recommended to Council subject to the following changes:

                                 i.             that the start time of Cabinet meetings and Cabinet Briefings be changed to 6pm;

                                ii.             that the start time of full Council meetings be changed to 6pm;

                                        iii.    that an extra Council meeting be scheduled to fall between 15 July and 21 October, preferably in late September.

The Democratic Services Manager introduced a report on an amendment to the petition scheme, to clarify that only original petitions with signatures should be accepted by Council, and not photocopies.

In the course of debate, members discussed whether petitions should be returned after their consideration at Council, whereupon it was agreed that petitions should be retained by the authority for the protection of those people who had provided their signature.

Resolved:

That the constitution be amended in line with the proposed change of wording to the petition scheme, and to confirm that Lancaster City Council would retain petitions which had been submitted for consideration.   The amendments are set out in the appendix to this minute.

The Senior Democratic Support Officer introduced a review of outside bodies, which had been carried out in line with a request from the previous meeting.

It was noted that the majority of outside bodies had returned positive feedback about their relationship with the city council, whilst a small number had ceased to function or undergone a substantial change to their constitution.    Organisations in the latter category would be reported to Annual Council in 2015 as appropriate.

In the course of debate, members considered the merits of establishing councillors’ level of attendance at meetings of outside bodies.    It was agreed to recommend to Council that  officers in Democratic Services circulate a template to each appointee to an outside body, to record their attendance over the course of the municipal year.   The results could be incorporated in a report to Annual Council, at which appointments to outside bodies were made.

Resolved:

(1)          That the review of outside bodies be noted;

(2)          To recommend to Council that officers in Democratic Services be requested to circulate a template to each appointee to an outside body to record their attendance over the course of the municipal year.   The results to be incorporated in the Chief Officer (Governance)’s report to Annual Council, at which appointments to outside bodies are made.

It was noted that the Conservative group had requested the replacement of Councillor Billy Hill with Councillor Joan Jackson on Council Business Committee.

Resolved:

That the appointment of Councillor Joan Jackson to Council Business Committee be approved, in place of Councillor Billy Hill.