Agenda and minutes

36.1           Apologies for absence were received from Councillors D M M Davies, R E Garnham, Mrs H C McLain and T A Spencer.  

37.1           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.

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

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2015 and of the Extraordinary meeting held on 23 November 2015.

38.1           The Minutes of the ordinary meeting held on 22 September 2015 and of the Extraordinary meeting held on 23 November 2015, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as correct records and signed by the Mayor.  

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

39.2           The Mayor indicated that Councillor Derek Davies was unable to attend the meeting as he had recently had a fall which had resulted in a bad fracture of the shoulder. He advised that he intended to send a ‘get well’ card on behalf of the Council with its best wishes for a speedy recovery.

39.3           Referring to the terrible flooding currently being experienced in Cumbria, the Mayor advised that he intended, with the blessing of the Council, to send a letter of support to those Councils affected. He felt that the Borough knew only too well the distress that the area was experiencing and a letter offering support and understanding would be well received. Members agreed that they shared the Mayor’s sentiments.

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 Wednesday 2 December 2015).

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

40.1           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 8 December 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).

41.1           The following question had been received from Councillor Mrs S E Hillier-Richardson to the Lead Member for Finance and Asset Management.  The answer was given by the Lead Member for Finance and Asset Management, Councillor D J Waters, but was taken as read without discussion.

                  Question:

                  As 35% of New Homes Bonus money coming to this Council was available to other uses than supporting the budget, please could the Lead Member for Finance and Asset Management answer the following;

                  £959,606 of New Homes Bonus was used last year for the one-off programme, please provide a breakdown of exactly how this was used? Please could the information include the exact amounts granted to communities, stating the organisations involved and the communities this was supporting.

                  Answer:

                  The use of £959,606 of New Homes Bonus for the 2015-16 financial year was approved at Council on Thursday 19 February 2015. The approved useage was as follows:

·           Uncommitted Reserve - £150,000.

·           Business Rates Reserve - £250,000.

·           Borough Elections - £120,000.

·           Business Transformation - £109,606.

·           Business & Marketing Grants - £50,000.

·           Borough Plan Development - £60,000.

·           Planning Capacity - £40,000.

·           Grants Officer - £29,700.

·           Community Grants - £150,000.

                  To date, £71,300 had been allocated from the Community Grants budget although the next quarterly meeting would take place on Tuesday 15 December. The grants awarded to date were as follows:

·           Rugby World Cup Legacy Grant - £10,000 – Boroughwide.

·           Severn Area Rescue Association - £10,500 – Boroughwide.

·           Cheltenham Rugby Club - £19,000 – Southam.

·           Tewkesbury Town Council (Mitton Play Area) - £18,300 – Tewkesbury.

·           St Peter’s Church - £10,000 – Dumbleton.

·           St Mary’s Church - £3,500 – Deerhurst. 

41.2           The Mayor invited any supplementary questions and, in response, the Member asked the following:

                  How much New Homes Bonus had been received by Tewkesbury Borough Council as a result of homes built and completed in Bishop’s Cleeve since its inception; to include how many homes completed and money received as a result of those completions as well as an estimate to the end of the year?

41.3           The Lead Member advised that he would investigate and provide a detailed response following the meeting.  

At its meeting on 25 November 2015 the Executive Committee considered the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2016/17-2020/21 and RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2016/17-2020/21 be ADOPTED.  

42.1           At its meeting on 25 November 2015 the Executive Committee had considered the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2016/17-2020/21 and had recommended to Council that it be adopted.

42.2           The report that had been considered by the Executive Committee had been circulated with the Agenda for the current meeting at Pages No. 14-38.

42.3           The recommendation from the Executive Committee was proposed and seconded. During the discussion which ensued, a Member noted that the five year Medium Term Financial Strategy was based on the Council Plan which would need to be renewed next year. She therefore questioned whether it was the intention that the Medium Term Financial Strategy would be varied as a result of any changes to the Council Plan. In response, she was advised that the Medium Term Financial Strategy would definitely change, and probably in the very near future, for a number of reasons, not least the new Council Plan and the awaited financial settlement from the Government. The Strategy was a working document and therefore would be subject to change throughout its life. Referring to the Treasury Strategy and Minimum Revenue Provisions, a Member indicated that the Council’s approach had been very risk averse since the Icelandic banking crash and he questioned what the new strategy would be. In response, the Deputy Chief Executive indicated that the Council would be looking to diversify its holdings and reduce risk to ensure it had security in investment overall. In addition, the Lead Member advised that the Treasury Management Strategy would be considered and approved by the Council in due course.

42.4           One Member expressed great concern about the large amount of New Homes Bonus which was being used to support the finances of the Council. She was of the view that a larger amount of the monies should go to the communities where houses were being built. The answer provided to the question she had asked at Agenda Item 6 showed that much of the money spent on the one-off programme was going to Tewkesbury Borough Council i.e. elections, planning development etc. so in theory it was actually over 90% that was propping up the Council’s finances rather than the previously agreed 65%. In terms of the community grants budget she noted that not even half of that money had been used this year. She was of the view that the areas in the Borough where there was large scale housing development/completions needed that money for infrastructure etc. In response, she was advised that the New Homes Bonus funding was not allocated for any particular use by the Government and the reason it had been introduced was to force Councils to build houses. The point was taken about the needs of the communities but it should not be forgotten that Section 106 monies were negotiated for that purpose and, further to that, communities could apply for a share of the community grants pot should they wish. The hole in the Council’s budget was very real and ideas were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42a

To consider the current position in respect of the Gloucestershire Devolution Project.   

43.1           The report of the Chief Executive, circulated at Pages No. 39-53, provided an update on the progress of Gloucestershire’s devolution bid since its submission on 4 September 2015 and set out the next steps. Members were asked to note the current position in respect of the Gloucestershire Devolution Project.

43.2           The Chief Executive indicated that the bid document had been circulated to all Members of the Council for information shortly after its submission. There were two main areas upon which the Gloucestershire bid was based: economic growth and public sector reform. Within each of those areas there were two sub-workstream areas: Economic Growth - planning, transport and infrastructure (including housing growth) and business growth and skills development; and Public Sector Reform – healthcare commissioning and community safety. In addition, the bid included a ‘governance’ workstream which made a proposal to establish a Combined Authority for Gloucestershire.

43.3           Since submission, detailed conversations had been held with lead civil servants to develop the respective workstreams to allow an agreement with Government to be produced. The bid, as submitted, was welcomed by the Government and the Gloucestershire Partnership had initially been advised that it may be possible for a devolution deal to be agreed by Government for announcement in late November or early December 2015. However, this would be subject to the outcome of a ‘Ministerial Challenge’ meeting with the Secretary of State for local Government. That meeting had been held on 11 November 2015 and had involved a small group of representatives from the County including the Leader of the County Council, the Leader of Stroud District Council, both the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Local Enterprise Partnership and Tewkesbury Borough Council’s Chief Executive. The meeting had been positive and the Secretary of State had been supportive of the proposals for business growth and skills, health commissioning and community safety. However, he had requested that further work be undertaken on the planning and housing elements of the planning, transport and infrastructure workstream and on the governance workstream. The lead civil servant for the Gloucestershire bid had indicated that it may be possible to conclude the agreement for Gloucestershire in January 2016 subject to the additional work being agreed.

43.4           In terms of the next steps for the bid, work was underway to address the two outstanding areas identified by the Secretary of State and a draft version of the bid would be considered by Leadership Gloucestershire on 9 December 2015. Those amendments would then be discussed with the civil servants and, once finalised, the bid proposals would be included in the draft devolution agreement to be signed off by the Secretary of State. Once drafted, the agreement would need to be approved by all partners prior to being announced by the Government and, as part of that process, the final draft documentation would be presented to Tewkesbury Borough Council, and other partner Councils and Boards, for approval in the New Year. In respect of the Combined Authority, a formal governance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

To note that the Tewkesbury Regeneration Partnership now includes the Lead Member for Organisational Development in place of the Lead Member for Health and Wellbeing.

44.1           The Mayor drew attention to the note on the Agenda for the current meeting and it was 

                  RESOLVED         That the amendment to the membership of the Tewkesbury                              Regeneration Partnership to replace the Lead Member for                                       Health and Wellbeing with the Lead Member for Organisational                               Development be NOTED.

Councillor Mrs J Greening will propose and Councillor Mrs M A Gore will second that:

‘Tewkesbury Borough Council notes that more than six million Syrian people have been displaced by civil war within their homeland and three million have fled to neighbouring countries.

The Prime Minister and the United Kingdom government are keen to support twenty thousand refugees seeking sanctuary and have pledged £215m over the next five years to help rebuild their lives within this country.

I would ask Members of this Council to join with other agencies, including ‘Severn Vale Housing Trust’ and ‘GARAS’ to help coordinate and support limited numbers of displaced Syrian families settle within the County of Gloucestershire’

 45.1          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 proposed that the Motion would be referred to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

45.2           The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee indicated that his Committee would need to know exactly what it was required to do if was decided by the Council that the Motion should be considered in that way. The Deputy Chief Executive advised that a report would be provided to aid the Committee’s consideration.

45.3           Accordingly, it was

                  RESOLVED          That the Motion be referred to the Overview and Scrutiny                                   Committee for consideration.

46.1           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 of the meeting held on 22 September 2015.

47.1           The Separate Minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2015, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.  

(Exempt –Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 – Information relating to any individual) 

To consider the staffing structure of the Development Management Team.

(Exempt –Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 – Information relating to any individual) 

48.1           Members considered the staffing structure of the Development Management Team and approved the staffing structure as set out within the report along with the use of market supplements for existing and new senior officer posts.