Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out in the Notes

The Senior Democratic Services Officer drew attention to the evacuation procedure as set out in the Agenda.

Councillor Michael Evans had sent his apologies for this meeting.

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 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.

Questions submitted before the deadline will receive a reply from an appropriate Cabinet member or a promise to respond within 5 days of the meeting.  Councillors may ask one supplementary question for each question they submitted, up to a maximum of two per Councillor.

There were none.

Councillors and members of the public may register their intention to make a statement if they notify the subject matter of their statement before the deadline.  Statements are limited to 3 minutes each.  The speaker may then be asked by Cabinet members to answer factual questions arising out of their statement.

Members of the public and Councillors addressed the Cabinet just before item 8 of the agenda.

Cabinet is asked to note the strategic governance review conducted into the joint working arrangements between authorities of the West of England, to consider whether the test for establishing a combined authority is met and to take the necessary steps to agree and submit to the Secretary of State a scheme for the establishment of a Mayoral Combined Authority for the area of Bath and North East Somerset Council, Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council.

Christina Biggs (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) read out a statement (a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 1 and on the Council's website) where she highlighted matters with Devolution Governance Scheme, Rail Powers and Road Schemes within the Devolution proposals.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson expressed her concerns on congestion at the road leading into Midsomer Norton recycling centre, the state of A367 road and the hole in the wall at Radstock Methodist Church.  Councillor Jackson also said that it was unclear how much funding Bath and North East Somerset would receive compared to South Gloucestershire and Bristol and asked the Cabinet to be clear with public on the benefits of the devolution deal and scrutiny involvement.

Councillor Dine Romero said that she did not believe this was a good governance scheme.  Councillor Romero expressed her concerns on the security of devolution deal and on scrutiny involvement in the process.  Councillor Romero also expressed her concern on a Mayor appointment, even if one was based in Bath.  Councillor Romero concluded her statement by saying that, following the outcome of the EU Referendum, this was not a good time to pursue devolution deal.

Councillor Tim Warren thanked all speakers.

Councillor Tim Warren read out the following statement:

‘Following many months of negotiations, we have achieved the best possible deal – and one that far outweighs any other devolution deal done elsewhere in the country, both in terms of the funding secured and safeguards in place.

- At more than £1,000 per person this represents by far the biggest financial deal of any devolution package in the country.

- And in terms of protections for our area, we have secured more safeguards than any other deal in the country with a veto over planning matters, unanimous approval required over financial matters, and protections in the voting system to ensure that one area cannot dominate over the others.

However, before we move to a decision on this I would like to address a couple of matters which have arisen in recent days and also make clear the decision Cabinet is taking today.

Firstly, there have been some questions raised over the impact of the Brexit vote on this deal.  Over the past few days we have had a number of conversations with both the Treasury and DCLG in this regard.  They have offered assurances that the devolution deal is still on offer and the commitments made can and will be honoured.  They have also confirmed that the timetable remains the same – that if Council wishes to proceed to the next stage of this devolution deal then we need to take a decision by the 4th July.

Secondly, the decision by our neighbours in North Somerset Council to withdraw from the process. Obviously we are disappointed by this decision, but we also respect it.  We have a very strong working relationship with North Somerset, and whatever the outcome of today’s decision we will continue to do so.  We will still  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.