1.       When the continuous alarm sounds you must evacuate the building by the nearest available fire exit. Members and visitors should proceed to the visitors’ car park at the front of the building and await further instructions (during office hours staff should proceed to their usual assembly point; outside of office hours proceed to the visitors’ car park). Please do not re-enter the building unless instructed to do so.

       In the event of a fire any person with a disability should be assisted in leaving the building.  

2.       To receive any announcements from the Chair of the Meeting and/or the Chief Executive.

Pursuant to the adoption by the Council on 24 January 2023 of the Tewkesbury Borough Council Code of Conduct, effective from 1 February 2023, as set out in Minute No. CL.72, Members are invited to declare any interest they may have in the business set out on the Agenda to which the approved Code applies.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 25 July 2023.

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 20 September 2023).

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

To receive any questions submitted under Rule of Procedure 13. Any items received will be circulated by 5:00pm on Monday 25 September 2023.

(Any questions must be submitted in writing to Democratic Services by, not later than, Monday 18 September 2023 at 10:00am ).

To consider the progress made against the 17 recommendations from the gateway review report, in particular the new approaches to engagement with communities and robust programme management; to approve the new governance arrangements, including revised programme monitoring and reporting designed to improve visibility and transparency; and to agree that the Council, as promoter, explores opportunities with developers and landowners within the Garden Town area to align their proposals for development with the developing vision and aspirations for Tewkesbury Garden Town. 

To ratify the appointment of the Chief Executive as the Returning Officer for Borough Council elections; to appoint the Chief Executive as the Returning Officer for Parish and Town Council elections within the Tewkesbury Borough area; to ratify the decision taken under urgency powers to appoint the Chief Executive as the Council’s Electoral Registration Officer; and to appoint the Executive Director: Resources, Director: Corporate Resources and Head of Service: Democratic and Electoral Services as Deputy Electoral Registration Officers.

Councillor Hegenbarth will propose and Councillor Stanley will second:

That the Council notes:

-        There are over 800 children in the care of the County Council, and approximately 250 in-house foster carers in Gloucestershire - but many more carers are needed to meet growing demand.

-        Nationally and locally, recruiting and retaining sufficient foster carers is an enormous challenge.

-        That all elected Members, as representatives of our communities, should be encouraged to help promote fostering and support potential carers to come forward so that we can create a resilient, diverse, and caring foster parent network that can meet the needs of all children in our care.

-        That, whilst the responsibility for recruiting and retaining foster carers sits with the County Council, Tewkesbury Borough Council can assist by signposting prospective carers to where they can find relevant information, including a dedicated page on the Borough Council’s website.

That the Council supports:

-        Borough Councillors in promoting fostering and encouraging them to begin sharing information on foster carer recruitment across all networks so that we can ensure the message gets out boroughwide across a variety of platforms. This can include:

o   Sharing information about foster recruitment on social media.

o   Adding a link to https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/fostering/ onto email signatures.

o   Adding a section on foster recruitment to our local newsletters/ updates if this is appropriate, and not attached to any party-political messaging.

o   Sharing information on foster recruitment with Parish and Town councils, local schools and community organisations so that these groups can also help to disseminate information.

Additional information:

GCC_2786 Fostering Generic A4 Poster_AW.pdf (govdelivery.com)

The Chair will move the adoption of the following resolution:

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

To approve the separate Minutes of the meeting on 25 July 2023.