Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 8.

The Chairman drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out on the agenda.

It is a legal requirement that the first formal business at the Annual General meeting shall be the election of a Councillor to be the Chair(man) of the Council. The term of office of the Chair(man) expires on the election of his/her successor at the Annual meeting of the Council in 2016.

The present Chair(man) of the Council is Councillor Martin Veal who will preside over the election of his successor.

Once the new Chair(man) is elected, he will make and sign the Declaration of Acceptance of Office, and receive the Chain of Office from the former Chair(man), after which he may address the Council.

The newly elected Chair(man) will preside from this point in the proceedings.

It was proposed by Councillor Dine Romero, seconded by Councillor Patrick Anketell-Jones, and supported by Councillors Robin Moss, Sarah Bevan and Jonathan Carr and

RESOLVED that Councillor Ian Gilchrist be elected Chairman of the Council for the Council year 2015/16.

Councillor Gilchrist made and signed his Declaration of Acceptance of Office, received the Chain of Office from Councillor Martin Veal and presented the Consort’s badge to Mrs Gilchrist.  Councillor Gilchrist then addressed the Council.  During his speech, Councillor Gilchrist indicated that his preferred form of address was ‘Mr Chairman’.

FROM THIS STAGE OF THE PROCEEDINGS, COUNCILLOR IAN GILCHRIST PRESIDED AT THE MEETING.

It was proposed by Councillor Tim Warren, seconded by Councillor Tim Ball, and supported by Councillors Robin Moss, Sarah Bevan and Jonathan Carr and

RESOLVED that Councillor Alan Hale be elected Vice-Chairman of the Council for the Council year 2015/16.

Councillor Alan Hale made and signed his Declaration of Acceptance of Office, received the Chain of Office from Councillor Ian Gilchrist and thanked the Council for his appointment.

On a motion from Councillor Tim Warren, seconded by Councillor Dine Romero, it was

RESOLVED that the minutes of 17^th February 2015 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to complete the green interest forms circulated to groups in their pre-meetings (which will be announced at the Council Meeting) to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest made.

Councillor Ian Gilchrist presented Councillor Martin Veal with his past Chairman’s badge.

It was proposed by Councillor Francine Haeberling, seconded by Councillor Dine Romero and supported by Councillors Robin Moss, Sarah Bevan and Jonathan Carr and

RESOLVED that this Council places on record its appreciation of the services performed by Councillor Martin Veal in the office of Chairman of the Council for 2014/15.

Councillor Veal then addressed the Council and, in so doing, thanked Members and officers for their support during his year in office. He outlined the diverse and rewarding range of duties and contacts that the year had presented to him.  He concluded by thanking his family for their patience and support, and thanked the public for generously supporting his chosen charities.

The Chairman then;

1.  Welcomed and congratulated all newly-elected Councillors and invited the Council to place on record its appreciation of the past service given by the Members who retired following the Election;

2.  Invited Council to note the appointment of Cllr Dine Romero as Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Cllr Robin Moss as Labour group Leader, Cllr Sarah Bevan as Independent Group Spokesperson, Cllr Jonathan Carr as Green Group Leader and confirm that Cllr Tim Warren remains in office as Conservative Group Leader, and further note that political groups have been formed with membership of Conservative 37, Liberal  Democrat 15, Labour 6, Independents & Village Voice 5 and Green 2;

3.  Invited the Council to stand in silence as a mark of respect following the recent death of Parish Councillor and Chair of the Avon Local Councils’ Association, Peter Duppa-Miller;

4.  Asked everyone to turn off their mobile phone or switch to silent to avoid disrupting the meeting, and explained that some Councillors are accessing their meeting papers via iPads;

5.  Announced that the meeting was being webcast and invited anyone who did not wish to be filmed to make themselves known to the camera operators; and

6.  Congratulated the Property & Project Delivery team for winning two more awards for the Keynsham development, this time from the British Council for Offices. They won in the South West section for Innovation and for best Corporate Office. They have also been shortlisted for a RICS award for Regeneration.

There were no items of urgent business.

In accordance with the rules within the Constitution concerning Chief Officer’s action (Urgency Part 4G, rule 3) it is reported that the Chief Executive has taken the following decisions since the last meeting of Council;

Urgent decisions by Chief Executive

On 19^th March 2015, the Chief Executive was asked to consider reports on amendments to the Council Capital programme and borrowing limits.

She subsequently approved;

·  An increase in the capital budget for Odd Down Sports Ground of up to £290K to cover an additional scope of works, to be funded by a Revenue Contribution to Capital (RCCO) from the Outturn underspend for 2014/15.

·  The capital project for a new Primary School in the Ensleigh Development to be fully approved with a total budget of £4m funded by Basic Needs Grant and available Developer’s contributions from 2015/16 onwards.

·  An increase in Council borrowing limits by £7 million from the 2015/16 allocation to fund additional capital expenditure and a consequent adjustment to the capital programme.

These decisions were deemed as urgent and were taken following consultation with Political Group Leaders, the Monitoring Officer and the Section 151 Officer.

The Council noted the following decisions that the Chief Executive had made concerning amendments to the Council Capital programme and borrowing limits since the last Council meeting;

·  An increase in the capital budget for Odd Down Sports Ground of up to £290K to cover an additional scope of works, to be funded by a Revenue Contribution to Capital (RCCO) from the Outturn underspend for 2014/15.

·  The capital project for a new Primary School in the Ensleigh Development to be fully approved with a total budget of £4m funded by Basic Needs Grant and available Developer’s contributions from 2015/16 onwards.

·  An increase in Council borrowing limits by £7 million from the 2015/16 allocation to fund additional capital expenditure and a consequent adjustment to the capital programme.

These decisions were deemed as urgent and were taken following consultation with Political Group Leaders, the Monitoring Officer and the Section 151 Officer.

Council noted this item.

The Council is required to elect a Councillor to be the Leader of the Council for the 4 year term from May 2015 AGM to May 2019 AGM.

The Council is asked to note that all decisions regarding the appointment of a Deputy Leader, Cabinet Members and portfolios, the executive delegation scheme and frequency of Cabinet meetings are decisions solely for the Leader to make and publicise in due course.

Councillor Tony Clarke, seconded by Councillor Liz Richardson, proposed Councillor Tim Warren as Leader of the Council and spoke in support of the nomination.  Councillors Dine Romero and Robin Moss supported the nomination and added their thanks to Councillor Paul Crossley for his 13 years as Leader of the Council.  It was then

RESOLVED that Councillor Tim Warren be duly elected as Leader of Bath and North East Somerset Council for the period ending with the Annual Meeting in May 2019.

Note – the above resolution was passed with all Councillors voting in favour, except for the Labour group and Green group who abstained.]

This report invites the Council to consider its non-executive and regulatory committee arrangements for the Council year May 2015 – May 2016, and associated annual business.  It is anticipated that an update report will be issued prior to the meeting, in the light of discussions underway between political groups.

The Council considered a report on its non-executive and regulatory committee arrangements for the Council year May 2015 to May 2016.

Councillor Tim Warren moved the recommendations and, in so doing, outlined the Panels and Committees that were proposed, introduced the role of Member Advocate, explained the new Cabinet Assistant role and explained that he had decided to make appointments to his Cabinet, as follows;

·  Councillor Charles Gerrish  - Finance & Efficiency

·  Councillor Martin Veal  - Community Services

·  Councillor Vic Pritchard  - Adult Social Care & Health

·  Councillor Tony Clarke  - Transport

·  Councillor Marie Longstaff  - Homes & Planning

·  Councillor Michael Evans  - Children’s Services

·  Councillor Patrick Anketell-Jones  - Economic Development

He outlined the ways in which they intended to deliver on their manifesto.  The proposal was seconded by Councillor Charles Gerrish and then

RESOLVED

1.  To approve a structure for non-executive and regulatory decision making, and the Scrutiny function as set out in the Constitution,  and identified in its current form in this report at Appendix 2, with the following amendments;

a.  the revised number of panels and remits as shown in the attached scrutiny remits document;

b.  the change of name from Development Control to Development Management committee;

c.  the revised political proportionality table and alterations to the number of seats as shown in the revised Appendix 1;

d.  the removal of the Restructuring Implementation Committee from the bodies in Appendix 2 being established at this meeting;

2.  To approve the terms of reference for Committees and Panels etc as set out in Appendix 2 to the report and constitute those bodies accordingly, with the necessary revisions arising from the decisions of this meeting;

3.  To approve the appointment of Members to the Committees and Panels in accordance with the requirements of political proportionality and the nominations made by the political groups as shown in revised Appendix 1;

4.  To appoint as Chairs of such bodies, those Councillors as may from time to time be nominated by the political group to whom the chairmanship of the body (as allocated in the revised Appendix 1);

5.  To authorise the Monitoring Officer to fill any casual vacancies in membership of all the bodies constituted and vacancy in the office of Chair of such bodies in accordance with the wishes of the political groups and the allocation of chairing entitlements made at this meeting;

6.  To agree that the bodies on which independent members are to have seats are as shown in the revised Appendix 1;

7.  To authorise the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Chairs of the Policy Development & Scrutiny Panels, to constitute and support any required Panel joint working as out lined in paragraph 6.1 of the report;

8.  To appoint members to Avon Fire Authority on a proportionality basis to be determined;

9.  To approve the allocation of Political Assistants to qualifying groups in accordance with section 8 of the report;

10.To instruct the Chief Executive, in consultation with Group Leaders, to make provision for support to the three  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

This report seeks confirmation of the designation of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services (Maria Lucas) as the Council’s Monitoring Officer with effect from 1 June 2015.

The Council considered a report seeking approval for the designation of the new Head of Legal and Democratic Services, Maria Lucas, as the Council’s Monitoring Officer from 1^st June 2015.

In moving and seconding this motion, Members placed on record their thanks to Vernon Hitchman for his many years of service with Bath City Council and Bath & North East Somerset Council.

On a motion from Councillor Tim Warren, seconded by Councillor Dine Romero, it was

RESOLVED that the Council designate the post of Head of Legal and Democratic Services as the Council’s Monitoring Officer, in accordance with section 5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (as amended by Schedule 5 paragraph 24 of the Local Government Act 2000) with effect from 1 June 2015.

The Democratic Services Manager will announce any submissions received. The Council will be invited to decide what action it wishes to take, if any, on the matters raised in these submissions. As the questions received and the answers given will be circulated in written form there is no requirement for them to be read out at the meeting. The questions and answers will be published with the draft minutes.

David Redgewell made a statement (linked to these minutes online) calling for a modern bus fleet, promoting the MetroWest system and urging the Council to seriously consider the implications for Bath of the City Regions initiative and address it before a solution is imposed upon the area.  In response to a question from Councillor Lin Patterson asking Mr Redgewell if he would favour a Park & Ride or investment in public transport, he responded that he felt they were mutually compatible.  The Chairman thanked Mr Redgewell for his statement which was then referred to the Cabinet Member for Transport.

Rolf Stein presented two petitions regarding North Road, Bathwick and calling for traffic calming and enforcement measures to be included in the improvement programme for this year.  The text of Mr Stein’s presentation has been added to the online minutes.  In response to a question from Councillor Patrick Anketell-Jones about whether Mr Stein had car usage numbers and average speed details for the road, he responded that the average was about 30mph, meaning some cars were clearly going faster than that.  In response to a question from Councillor Dine Romero about whether Mr Stein was aware that the previous administration had agreed to implement a 20mph limit in sections of this road and had called on central Government for the same powers as London and Wales with regard to weight restrictions, Mr Stein responded that the 20mph section is supported as is the fuller proposal they are seeking.  In response to a question from Councillor Sarah Bevan about the use of the road as a rat run and alternative routes, Mr Stein responded that it was a convenient point of access for the A36 in both directions.  The Chairman thanked Mr Stein for his statement and referred it to the Cabinet Member for Transport.

Following the publication of ‘Care Matters: Time for Change’ in June 2007, there has been a requirement for all Local Authorities to develop and publish a Pledge to their Looked after Children and Care Leavers. The Pledge sets out the services and support children should expect to receive.

Since the implementation of our Pledge in 2008 Bath & North East Somerset’s Pledge to Children in Care has continued to be updated to reflect current regulations, guidance and best practice. The new Council following local elections is invited to affirm its commitment to the Pledge.

The Council considered a report inviting it to affirm its commitment to the Pledge to Children in Care.

On a motion from Councillor Chris Watt, seconded by Councillor Dine Romero, it was

RESOLVED to approve the Bath and North East Somerset Council Pledge to

Children and Young People in Care.