Agenda and minutes

The Chair was taken by Councillor Francine Haeberling, Leader of the Council.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 6

The Chair drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out on the Agenda

Apologies had been received from Councillors Malcolm Hanney and David Hawkins.

To receive any declarations from Members/Officers of personal or prejudicial interests in respect of matters for consideration at this meeting.  Members who have an interest to declare are asked to:

a)  State the Item Number in which they have the interest;

b)  The nature of the interest;

c)  Whether the interest is personal, or personal and prejudicial.

Any Member who is unsure about the above should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer prior to the meeting in order to expedite matters at the meeting itself.

There were no declarations of interest made.

There were no items of urgent business.

The Chair announced the intention to consider item 13 (Keynsham Schools Review) before item 12 (Bath Schools Review) and to hear item 6 (Questions and Answers) at the end of the meeting.

At the time of publication, 7 items had been submitted

Susan Dunn made a statement [a copy of which is attached to the minutes as Appendix 2] appealing to the Cabinet not to allow allotments in Pennyquick Park.  Susan presented a petition of 622 signatures to Cabinet.

The Chair referred the petition to Councillor Charles Gerrish for his consideration and response.

To be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair

On a motion from Councillor Francine Haeberling, seconded by Councillor Vic Pritchard, it was

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 3^rd March 2010 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

This is a standard agenda item, to cover any reports originally placed on the Weekly list for single Member decision making, which have subsequently been the subject of a Cabinet Member requisition to the full Cabinet, under the Council’s procedural rules

There were none

This is a standing agenda item (Constitution rule 21, part 4D – Executive Procedure Rules) for matters referred by Overview and Scrutiny bodies.  The Chair(person) of the relevant Overview and Scrutiny body will have the right to attend and at the discretion of the Leader to speak to the item, but not vote

There were none

This report lists the Cabinet member decisions, sorted by Lead decision maker

The Cabinet agreed to note the report.

In March 2008 full Council approved a strategy for the future of secondary schools in Bath & North East Somerset.  In May 2008 Cabinet agreed to consult on proposed changes to Keynsham schools, specifically the closure of Broadlands Community School and the expansion of Wellsway Community School to create a single secondary school for Keynsham.

A public consultation exercise on this proposal was undertaken between March and May 2010 and this report sets out the results of the consultation.

Brian Davies (Chair of Governors, Broadlands School) made a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 3] welcoming the proposals to continue to provide two secondary schools in Keynsham.  He looked forward to working with the Governors and staff of Wellsway School to ensure that local young people get the best opportunities.

Andrea Arlidge (Head, Wellsway School) made a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 4] supporting the proposal that there should continue to be two schools in Keynsham and committing to work with Broadlands School to serve the needs of the whole community.

Councillor Andrew Wait (Keynsham Town Council) said that the Town Council wished to express its support for the proposal that there should continue to be two schools in Keynsham because it would produce a stronger community.  He took the opportunity, while speaking, to say that he was appalled that the Cabinet was considering closing Culverhay, which in his opinion was the best school in Bath.

Councillor Adrian Inker made a statement on behalf of the Labour Group supporting the proposal that there should continue to be two schools in Keynsham.

Councillor Nathan Hartley made a statement supporting the proposal that there should continue to be two schools in Keynsham. He reminded the Cabinet that the public consultation had shown that 92% of respondents had supported the retention of both Keynsham schools.  He welcomed the confidence that would be given by the proposed assurance to both schools that no further reviews were envisaged.

Councillor Chris Watt introduced the item by reminding the Cabinet that the reason for the item being considered was the intention to raise educational outcomes for children in Keynsham.  He recommended the proposals to the Cabinet for their approval.

Councillor Charles Gerrish seconded the proposal.  He was pleased that the proposals would remove the uncertainty which the schools had suffered for some time.  He passed on to the Cabinet the comments of Councillor Alan Hale, who as an old boy of Broadlands School was very supportive of the proposals.

Councillor Francine Haeberling observed that the response to the consultation had been extraordinary.  She felt that it would be up to the two schools to work together to deliver the best education for local children.

On a motion from Councillor Chris Watt seconded by Councillor Charles Gerrish it was

RESOLVED (unanimously)

(1) To NOTE the results of consultation on proposed changes to Keynsham secondary schools;

(2) To AGREE that there are no changes to Keynsham secondary schools;

(3) To INFORM the governing bodies of Broadlands and Wellsway schools that the Council has no plans to undertake further reviews in the foreseeable future.

In March 2008 Council approved a strategy for the future of secondary schools in Bath & North East Somerset.  In May 2008 Cabinet agreed to consult on proposed changes to some Bath schools specifically the closure of Culverhay (boys), Oldfield (girls) and St Mark’s C.E. schools and a linked proposal to open one new co educational school in the north of the city and one new co-educational school in the south of the city.

A public consultation exercise on this proposal was undertaken between March and May 2010 and this report sets out the results of the consultation.

Ishbel Tovey made a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 5] in which she appealed to the Cabinet to support a coeducational Oldfield School.

Sarah Moore (Culverhay Parent Action Group) made a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 6] in which she emphasised the Community School status of Culverhay School.  She reminded Cabinet members that the original proposals had been for a coeducational school on the Culverhay site and pointed out that the parent supporters' facebook page had 1224 signatures.  She presented a petition of 1900 signatures to Cabinet calling for the retention of Culverhay as a coeducational school.

The Chair referred the petition to Councillor Chris Watt for his consideration and response in due course.

Annette Scoging made a statement in which she drew attention to the option in the report which referred to a possible coeducational school on the Culverhay site.  This was the option which parents had been consulted about and at no time was the closure of Culverhay part of the consultation.  She appealed to the Cabinet not to close Culverhay School.

James Eynon (Head Boy, Culverhay School) made a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 7] in which he explained the benefits he had gained while at the school and appealing to the Cabinet to follow the original plans of one coeducational school in the north of the city and one in the south.

Bradley Weeks (Year 9 student, Culverhay School) made a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 8] in which he explained how he had grown in his abilities and confidence through the help given to him at his local school, Culverhay.  He listed the activities provided by Culverhay School which he had found so valuable and he appealed to the Cabinet not to make students travel 3 times as far to get to school.  . 

Cheryl Pope (Head of St Mark's School) made a statement in which she expressed her delight that the Council would be supporting the imaginative solution created by St Mark's and St Gregory's by their federation.  She anticipated the two schools benefiting greatly by the provision of new joint 6^th Form facilities.

Councillor Paul Crossley made a statement reminding the Cabinet that the local community had always asked for a coeducational school on the site of Culverhay; that the Council had for 15 years led the community to believe that it would provide such a school; and that it was not equitable to oblige families with some of the lowest incomes in the area to pay the increased travel costs which would follow from the closure of Culverhay.

Councillor John Bull made a statement in which he appealed to the Cabinet to allow Full Council to debate the issue.  He reminded the Cabinet that the consultation had been overwhelmingly in favour of local, coeducational provision across Bath and pointed out that children from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 98.

In February 2010 the Council adopted the 2009 edition of the CIPFA Treasury Management in the Public Services: Code of Practice, which requires the Council to approve a Treasury Management Strategy before the start of each financial year, a mid year report, and an annual report after the end of each financial year.  This report gives details of performance against the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy and Annual Investment Plan for 2009/10.

Councillor Francine Haeberling introduced the report which was the annual outturn report for 2009/10.  She proposed that Cabinet adopt the report and its recommendations.

Councillor Vic Pritchard seconded the proposal.

On a motion from Councillor Francine Haeberling, seconded by Councillor Vic Pritchard it was

RESOLVED (unanimously)

(1) To note the 2009/10 Treasury Management Annual Report to 31st March 2010, prepared in accordance with the CIPFA Treasury Code of Practice;

(2) To note the 2009/10 actual Treasury Management Indicators;

(3) To refer the Treasury Management Outturn Report and attached appendices to July Council.

The report presents the provisional revenue and capital outturn for 2009/10.  It refers to known potential revenue pressures for the current year, as a preface to a request to carry forward specific revenue budget items to 2010/11, and to write-off revenue overspends where recovery in future years, in combination with containing those pressures in the current year, would have an adverse impact on continuing service delivery.  The report also refers to requests to rephase specific capital budget items and to write off capital underspends in 2009/10 and to approve specific capital budget items in the 2010/11 capital programme.

Councillor Francine Haeberling introduced the report which was the annual outturn report for 2009/10.  She proposed that Cabinet adopt the report and its recommendations.

Councillor Charles Gerrish in seconding the proposals paid tribute to officers for turning round a projected overspend.

On a motion from Councillor Francine Haeberling, seconded by Councillor Charles Gerrish it was

RESOLVED (unanimously)

(1) To note the provisional revenue budget outturn for 2009/10;

(2) To approve the revenue carry forward proposals and write-off requests as exceptions to the Budget Management Scheme;

(3) That the Revenue Budget Contingency is increased by £2.290m and that earmarked reserves totalling £214k related to the Carbon Management and Procurement Programmes are created;

(4) To approve the revenue virements for 2009/10 and 2010/11;

(5) To note the resulting reserves position and that unearmarked reserves remain at the target level of £10.5m;

(6) To note the provisional outturn of the 2009/10 capital programme and funding;

(7) To approve the capital rephasing;

(8) To approve the capital programme 2010/11 items;

(9) To note the adjustments to the 2009/10 to 2013/14 capital programme and the final capital programme for 2009/10;

(10) To note the use of growth points funding in 2009/10, and to agree the proposed approach for 2010/11;

(11) To note the efficiencies achieved during 2009/10.

At the time of publication, 2 items had been submitted

There were 5 questions from the following people: Cllr John Bull, Cllr Eleanor Jackson, Cllr Nathan Hartley, Cllr Andy Furse (2).

[Copies of the questions and response, including supplementary questions and responses if any, have been placed on the Minute book as Appendix 1 and are available on the Council's website.]

There were no supplementary questions.