Agenda and minutes

21.1           Apologies for absence were received from Councillor R Bishop.

22.1           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.

22.2           The following declarations were made:

22.3           There were no further declarations made on this occasion.

To approve the Minutes of the meetings held on 12 and 17 May 2016.

23.1           The Minutes of the meetings held on 12 and 17 May 2016, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as correct records and signed by the Mayor. 

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

24.2           The Mayor indicated that, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 1.2, she had agreed to vary the order of business to allow Item 8 – Joint Core Strategy: Inspector’s Interim Report to be taken before Item 7 – Lead Member Presentation; the reasons for this would become clear when she explained how she intended to manage the Joint Core Strategy item.   

24.3           The Leader of the Council thanked the staff who had been involved in the administration of the EU Referendum, which had taken place the previous week, and indicated that they had worked very hard to ensure that the whole process had run smoothly.

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 22 June 2016).

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

 25.1          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 28 June 2016.

(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).

26.1           The following questions had been received from Councillor Sue Hillier-Richardson to the Lead Member for Built Environment.  The answers were given by the Lead Member for Built Environment, Councillor Derek Davies, but were taken as read without discussion:

Question 1:

In these new proposals, in this report, what is the number of housing units that will now be scheduled to be allocated, by the JCS, in the strategic allocations, to land entirely within the Cheltenham Borough Council, the Gloucester City District Council and the Tewkesbury Borough Council areas - i.e. the number scheduled to be built within these Councils’ borders and how has this number changed from the previous proposals?

Answer:

Provided below are tables to show which strategic allocations would be located in each authority area. This is based on what was presented in the Submission JCS (November 2014) and the recommendations in the Inspector’s Interim Report. Please note that the capacities, particularly those based on the Interim Report, are approximate and further work would need to be undertaken if sites were taken forward.  The tables also do not take into account the cross-boundary sites within Wychavon and Stroud Districts that the Inspector has recommended are explored.

Strategic Allocations within Gloucester City

Strategic Allocations within Cheltenham Borough

Strategic Allocations within Tewkesbury Borough

To agree the proposed response to enable further discussion on the implications of the Joint Core Strategy Inspector’s Interim Report. 

27.1           Attention was drawn to the report of the Development Services Group Manager, circulated at Pages No. 14-76, which summarised the Inspector’s Interim Report following the extensive examination of the Joint Core Strategy (JCS) and set out the proposed response to enable further discussion on the implications of the Interim Report.  The Council was asked to note the Interim Report; to agree that Officers attend the July hearings to discuss the Interim Report and the recommended way forward with the Inspector, identifying specific consequences and key points arising from the findings to the Inspector, as detailed within Appendix A to the report and expressed through the June 2016 Council meetings on this report; and to agree that a summary of comments made by Members at the Council meetings held by the JCS authorities be passed to the JCS Inspector for consideration.

27.2           The Mayor explained that the Planning Policy Officer would present the report and Members would be given the opportunity to ask questions.  A proposer and seconder would then be sought and the item opened up for debate.  Debate would take place on each heading in Appendix A, Section 4, from A-F, set out at Pages No. 24-27.  All additional comments made by Members on each section would be noted and the Council would be asked to approve them at the conclusion of the debate.

27.3           The Chief Executive advised that the Inspector’s interim findings had been accompanied by a request for comments from the three authorities; this was a little unusual as it was normal for Councils to simply be presented with recommended modifications.  It was important to recognise that the plan was currently with the Inspector; Tewkesbury Borough Council and the other JCS authorities were not in control of the plan and would not be until September 2016, assuming the timetable remained as currently planned.  The Committee report set out the Officers’ position in terms of the issues that they intended to discuss with the Inspector but it was accepted that Members of Tewkesbury Borough Council, and the other two JCS Councils, would have their own views and it was intended to let all Members have their say on the findings; their comments would then be logged and would form the basis of the report to the Inspector.  It was recognised that the other two Councils would be entering into similar debates and Officers understood that there may well be local variation between the comments.

27.4           In introducing the report, the Planning Policy Manager reminded Members that the Joint Core Strategy was the strategic planning document being prepared jointly by Gloucester City, Cheltenham Borough and Tewkesbury Borough Councils to provide a framework for meeting the development needs of the area over the plan period from 2011 to 2031. The Pre-Submission version of the plan had been submitted to the Secretary of State in November 2014 and, following the appointment of the Inspector, there had been an extensive examination with many hearing sessions throughout 2015/16, the last of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

To receive a presentation from Councillor Mike Dean – Lead Member for Customer Focus. 

28.1           The Mayor invited Councillor Mike Dean, Lead Member for Customer Focus, to make his presentation to the Council.

28.2           The Lead Member introduced his presentation and began by showing a short You Tube video by Mark Foden on ‘The Future of Local Government’.  The following key points were covered during the presentation:

·       “Making the SIMPLE complicated is common place; Making the complicated        SIMPLE requires creativity.  Creativity is just a DIFFERENT WAY OF            THINKING”.

·       Council Plan Value: Putting our customers first – Digital Priority: Digital      services – developing excellent digital services, enabling our customers to get       the information they need online.

                        Council Plan Value: Positive about working with others – Digital Priority:     Joining up with our partners – using technology to tackle complex issues and          working together seamlessly with our partners.

                        Council Plan Value: Value our employees – Digital Priority: Developing a   digital workforce – giving staff the digital tools and skills required to deliver             services effectively and efficiently.

                        These applied to all service areas.

·       Tewkesbury Borough Council Heroes – Iain Stark, Programme Officer; Joe          Cole, Web Application and Digital Developer; Matthew Reeve, ICT Operations            Manager; Helen Langley, Customer Services Team Leader.

·       New Corporate Website –

                        Current Website: not user friendly for mobile devices; costs around £65,500 to      run over a five year period due to hosting fees and licences; 2014 Peer             Review feedback ‘Community groups and the private sector found the   Council’s website difficult to navigate and clunky…’; over 900 pages to        maintain.

                        New Website – Square Space: fully mobile responsive and will have a modern      design; projected costs for hosting £150 per year; robust and secure;         opportunity to revise information held on website; easier for staff to maintain;           potential to make significant savings.

·       ICT – New help desk and intranet; considering cloud storage; disaster        recovery; payment security – ensure we are compliant; ICT replacement          programme; look at legacy systems; new ICT Strategy.

·       Customer Services – New Customer Care Strategy; Customer Care          Standards; new complaints and Freedom of Information systems; service    review; look at customer satisfaction.

                        Case for different way of thinking – Received a formal complaint handled by         the Communications and Policy Manager; nature of the complaint meant it            could have been dealt with by someone else; Communications and Policy    Manager worked with partners to form a response rather than forwarding it on;          cut out the time delays; end result – customer gave us a compliment.

·       Equality and Diversity – Review our current Equality and Diversity Strategy;          deliver our equalities agenda; create new objectives and actions; re-establish   our Equalities Group.

28.3           In response to a Member query regarding cloud storage, the Lead Member provided assurance that the cloud was a very secure way of storing information; no data would be compromised and services would continue to have the same access to information. 

28.4           The Mayor thanked the Lead Member for his informative presentation and accordingly it was

RESOLVED          That the presentation from the Lead Member for Customer Focus be NOTED.

Councillor Allen has resigned as a representative of Severn Vale Housing Society. It was previously agreed that the Lead Member for Health and Wellbeing should take a seat on the Board but in these circumstances it is for the Council to agree the appointment of a new representative. 

29.1           Members were informed that Councillor Ron Allen had resigned as a representative of Severn Vale Housing Society.  It had previously been agreed that the Lead Member for Health and Wellbeing should take his seat on the Board but, in these circumstances, it was for the Council to agree the appointment of a new representative.

29.2           A Member indicated that he was a representative on the Severn Vale Housing Society Board and had been involved in discussions with the Board and its Executive in relation to the interim Housing and Planning Bill, which had since become an Act of Parliament.  The Act included a proposal that local authorities which had transferred their housing stock, such as Tewkesbury Borough Council, would no longer be able to appoint Members to the Board of the registered provider.  Whilst the regulations had not yet been agreed, he proposed that no further appointments be made until such time as the implications of the Act became clear.  The Member provided assurance that Severn Vale Housing Society was happy that its governance requirements were being met and he would retain his seat on the Board and report back where necessary.  This proposal was seconded and the Mayor opened it up for debate.  A Member queried what the composition of the Board was likely to be going forward and he was advised that this was currently unknown.  The Deputy Chief Executive indicated that the regulations proposed to reduce local authority influence over registered providers by limiting or prohibiting the amount of representatives the local authority may appoint and it was likely that, in future, the Board would be comprised of private individuals with particular skill sets.  Upon being put to the vote, it was

RESOLVED          That it be AGREED not to appoint a representative to replace Councillor Ron Allen on the Board of Severn Vale Housing until such time as the implications of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 became clear.   

30.1           The Mayor 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. 

(Exempt –Paragraph 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 –Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings)

To receive a report from the Borough Solicitor to enable the Council to determine a response to legal proceedings.  

(Exempt – Paragraph 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 – Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings)

31.1           The Council considered an application seeking to bring proceedings against the Council and resolved to file a defence to enable the Court to hear from all parties and decide whether the case would proceed and, if so, on what grounds; and, in the event that the Court granted permission to bring proceedings, a further report be brought to the Council for a decision in the light of a detailed further assessment of the legal risks, prospects of success and likely cost implications.