Agenda and minutes

7.1             The Committee’s attention was drawn to the Tewkesbury Borough Council Code of Conduct which was adopted by the Council on 26 June 2012 and took effect from 1 July 2012.

7.2             There were no declarations of interest made on this occasion.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 14 April 2015.

8.1             The Minutes of the meeting held on 14 April 2015, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.  

9.1             The evacuation procedure, as noted on the Agenda, was advised to those present.

9.2             The Mayor advised that he had allowed a change in the order of Agenda Items so Item 9(2), Report of the Leader of the Council, would now be taken before Item 9(1), Membership of Committees.

9.3             At the invitation of the Mayor, the Leader of the Council thanked those members of staff that had been involved in running the election and count so successfully earlier in the month. He felt it was a credit to the Council that the process had worked exceptionally well throughout.   

a)   To receive any questions, deputations or petitions submitted under Council Rule of Procedure.12.

(The deadline for public participation submissions for this meeting is 19 May 2015).

b)   To receive any petitions submitted under the Council’s Petitions Scheme.

10.1           There were no items from members of the public on this occasion.

To receive any questions submitted under Rule of Procedure 13. Any items received will be circulated on 26 May 2015.

(Any questions must be submitted in writing to Democratic Services by, not later than, 10.00am on the working day immediately preceding the date of the meeting).

11.1           There were no Member questions on this occasion.  

To elect the Leader of the Council (who will also be the Chairman of the Executive Committee) for the ensuing Municipal Year.

12.1           Upon being proposed and seconded it was

                  RESOLVED          That Councillor R J E Vines be elected as Leader of the                                     Council, and therefore Chairman of the Executive Committee,                                for the ensuing Municipal Year.  

12.2           Councillor Vines thanked the Council for its endorsement in his leadership and indicated that he would continue to do his best for the Borough during the year ahead.

To elect the Deputy Leader of the Council (who will also be the Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee) for the ensuing Municipal Year.

13.1           Upon being proposed and seconded it was

                  RESOLVED          That Councillor D J Waters be elected as Deputy Leader of the                          Council, and therefore Vice-Chairman of the Executive                                           Committee, for the ensuing Municipal Year.

Any papers available prior to the meeting will be circulated to all Members.

1.      To determine the Membership of the:

• Executive Committee
• Overview and Scrutiny Committee
• Audit Committee
• Planning Committee
• Licensing Committee
• Standards Committee
• Ad-hoc Committees

o  Employee Appeals Committee

o  Employee Appointments Committee

o  Housing Allocations and Homelessness Review Committee

2.      In accordance with the Constitution, to receive a report from the Leader of the Council and

a.  to confirm the number of Lead Members on the Executive Committee and the scope of their Portfolios

b.  to determine the areas for which a Member Specialist is required and appoint accordingly.

c.  to determine any other proposals put forward in the Leaders’ report.

3.      To determine:

         a.  the Outside Bodies to which the Council should make appointments and the                      representation on those Bodies.

         b. the Council’s appointments to the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel, the                  shared Legal Services Joint Monitoring and Liaison Group and the Shared Building             Control Joint Monitoring and Liaison Group.

4.      The Membership of the Board of Severn Vale Housing Society runs for the term of the Council. Members are therefore asked to agree the Membership of the Board (the Lead Member for Health and Wellbeing plus one other).

5.      The Council will at this stage adjourn for a brief period to allow each Committee, as set out below, to hold a formal meeting to conduct the business set out in the enclosed Agenda: 

1.      Overview and Scrutiny Committee                                

2.      Audit Committee                                                    

3.      Planning Committee                                              

4.       Licensing Committee 

5.       Standards Committee   

 Report of the Leader of the Council

14.1           The Leader of the Council indicated that, as part of the Constitution, he was required to report at the Annual Council meeting on the number of Lead Members and scope of their Portfolios for the coming year, the number of Specialist Members and the specialist areas to be covered, and any other matters in relation to the political management of the Council.

14.2           Accordingly, he proposed that the number of the Executive Committee be reduced from 10 Members to nine Members and that there be nine Portfolios with the Leader of the Council taking on a Corporate Portfolio with eight other Portfolios covering:

Customer Focus

Organisational Development

Finance and Asset Management

Built Environment

Clean and Green Environment

Community

Economic Development/Promotion

Health and Wellbeing

 He also proposed that each Portfolio Holder should have a Support Member from the same Political Party who would attend the Portfolio Holder Briefings in order to be fully informed of what was happening within the Portfolio. The Support Member would not represent the Portfolio Holder at meetings or deal with the press in relation to Portfolio matters.

14.3           The Leader indicated that there were a number of Working Groups, Boards and Panels that needed to be established under the new Council but in light of the composition of the Council he proposed that authority be delegated to the Borough Solicitor, in consultation with the Leader and Deputy Leader, to review the constitution/composition of the following and establish them if required:

Community Infrastructure Levy Working Group

Planning Policy Reference Panel

Leisure Facility Member Reference Group

Member Development Working Group

Flood Risk Management Group

Grants Working Group

Junction 9 Area Member Reference Panel

Transform Working Group

Joint Staff Consultative Group

The Horsford Trust

Chief Executive Appraisal Panel

Tree Panel

14.4           Members agreed and, accordingly, it was

                  RESOLVED          That the Leader’s report be NOTED and authority delegated to                               the Borough Solicitor, in consultation with the Leader and                                         Deputy Leader, to review the constitution/composition of the                                    Groups set out in Minute No. 14.3 above and establish them if                            required.

Membership of Committees 2015/16

14.5           Upon being proposed and seconded it was

RESOLVED          That the following Committee Memberships be AGREED:  

To appoint three Members of the Council as Trustees of the Mayor of Tewkesbury’s Appeal Fund for the ensuing Municipal Year. The Trustees for 2014/15 were:

Councillors P W Awford, J R Mason and D J Waters.

The Mayor and Chief Executive are automatically Trustees and as such Councillor Allen cannot be one of the named Trustees for this year.

NB: The Fund is officially called the Mayor of Tewkesbury’s Appeal Fund but this does of course refer to Tewkesbury Borough. 

 15.1          It was proposed, seconded and

                  RESOLVED          That Councillors P W Awford, J R Mason and D J Waters be                             appointed as Trustees of the Mayor of Tewkesbury’s Appeal                                   Fund for 2015/16.

The Council is asked whether it wishes to recommend the award of the distinction of Honorary Alderman to appropriate immediate past Members of the Council. 

16.1           It was proposed, seconded and

RESOLVED          That an Extraordinary meeting of the Council be convened, on a date to be agreed, in order to confer the honour of Honorary Alderman upon former Councillors Brian Calway, Brian Jones, Allen Keyte, Tony Mackinnon, Margaret Ogden, Jude Perez, Audrey Ricks, Gordon Shurmer, Bill Whelan and Claire Wright.

Councillor M G Sztymiak will propose and Councillor P N Workman will second that:

'this Council acknowledges the importance of car parking in Tewkesbury and the adverse impact a shortage of car parking can have on the vitality of the town's businesses. The Council also recognises the significant contribution made by small businesses and retailers to the local economy and seeks to support local commerce.

The new car parking price structure introduced in April this year is intended to help local trade by encouraging shoppers and visitors to stay longer in the town than the previous charging policy by offering better value parking over one hour.

This Council accepts that the town centre car parks are the most convenient for the majority of shoppers. It also accepts that the new car parking charges should mean increased use of the car parks which would affect the capacity of the car parks to support extra and longer visits.

The Council therefore resolves not to sell the Oldbury Road car park for a minimum of 12 months but to keep it as a car park so that the impact of the new charging structure on the capacity of the town’s parking can be assessed’. 

17.1           The Worshipful the Mayor referred to the Notice of Motion set out on the Agenda and indicated that, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, it was necessary for the Council firstly to decide whether it wished to debate and determine the Motion at this evening’s meeting, or whether it wished to refer the Motion, without debate, to a Committee for consideration with authority either to make a decision on the matter or to bring a recommendation back to Council.  Upon being put to the vote it was agreed that the Motion would be determined at the current meeting.

17.2           Councillor M G Sztymiak proposed and Councillor P N Workman seconded that:

'This Council acknowledges the importance of car parking in Tewkesbury and the adverse impact a shortage of car parking can have on the vitality of the town's businesses. The Council also recognises the significant contribution made by small businesses and retailers to the local economy and seeks to support local commerce.

The new car parking price structure introduced in April this year is intended to help local trade by encouraging shoppers and visitors to stay longer in the town than the previous charging policy by offering better value parking over one hour.

This Council accepts that the town centre car parks are the most convenient for the majority of shoppers. It also accepts that the new car parking charges should mean increased use of the car parks which would affect the capacity of the car parks to support extra and longer visits.

The Council therefore resolves not to sell the Oldbury Road car park for a minimum of 12 months but to keep it as a car park so that the impact of the new charging structure on the capacity of the town’s parking can be assessed’. 

17.3           In speaking to the Motion, Councillor Sztymiak expressed the view that the Council should remember that part of the reason for wanting to sell the Oldbury Road car park was the fact that it was underutilised. However, since that decision was taken a new Car Parking Strategy had been introduced which sought to encourage people to stay longer in the Town by revising the charges which now meant that it was more attractive and better value for money for visitors to stay longer than an hour. For this reason, he felt it was essential that the Council waited for 12 months before selling the car park as this would allow an assessment of the effect of the new parking charges and strategy on the Town and its car parks. The car park was a valuable public asset which was vital to businesses and the organisations that operated in the Town. In seconding the Motion, Councillor Workman advised that the future of the Oldbury Road car park was one of the biggest decisions to affect the Council in recent years. He felt that the Car Parking Strategy would have the effect that the Council was hoping for; in encouraging visitors  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

18.1           The Chairman proposed, and it was

RESOLVED:         That, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely discussion of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.  

To approve the separate Minutes of the meeting held on 14 April 2015.

19.1           The separate Minutes of the meeting held on 14 April 2015, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.