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 Mark Shelford 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.

Cabinet made a decision on 11th October 2017 regarding an approach to Community-led Libraries (Decision E3000 - Modern Libraries Community Led Approach).

A Call-in of the decision was held on 13th November 2017 by the Communities, Transport and Environment Policy Development & Scrutiny Panel, and this call-in was upheld.

Cabinet therefore needs to consider its response to the call-in and the Panel’s recommendations.

The Chair informed the meeting that the Cabinet had made a decision on 11th October 2017 regarding an approach to Community-led Libraries (Decision E3000 - Modern Libraries Community Led Approach).  A Call-in of the decision was held on 13th November 2017 by the Communities, Transport and Environment Policy Development & Scrutiny Panel, and this call-in was upheld.  Cabinet therefore would need to consider its response to the Call-In and the Panel’s recommendations.

The Chair invited Councillor John Bull to address the Cabinet in his capacity as the Chair of the CTE PDS Panel.

Councillor John Bull read out a statement (attached as Appendix and available on the Minute Book at Democratic Services) where he highlighted three recommendations made by the CTE PDS Panel when the Call In was upheld. Councillor Bull expressed his concerns that an Addendum to the report had only been published less than 24 hours before meeting and that proposals in that document were still short of a full consultation. 

The Chair thanked Councillor John Bull for his statement.

The Chair invited Public and Councillors who registered to speak to address the Cabinet.  All speakers would have up to 3 minutes and all speakers should only speak to the recommendations of the Panel.  The Chair reminded everyone that he used his discretion for this meeting to allow 30 minutes for Public and Councillors to speak and that he would intervene to stop the speaker if they stray from speaking about Panel’s recommendations.

Caroline Ambrose read out a statement (attached as Appendix and available on the Minute Book at Democratic Services) where she expressed her concerns on the decision made by the Cabinet on 11^th October and highlighted options that the Cabinet would have following the outcome of the Call In.

Kathleen Still read out a statement (attached as Appendix and available on the Minute Book at Democratic Services) where she expressed her concerns on an impact that Cabinet decision might have on Paulton library and the Hub, in particular on current team of volunteers.

Alison Hall addressed the Cabinet by outlining the benefits of Paulton library and its links to Paulton Schools and asked the Cabinet to take on board recommendations made by the CTE PDS Panel on 13^th November 2017 Call In meeting before making final decision.  Alison Hall also said that Paulton library was not just a place for borrowing books – it was also a social hub for all, contributing against social isolation especially amongst elderly people.

Councillor Joe Rayment addressed the Cabinet by complaining on the timing of this meeting, that the Cabinet should have planned this meeting well in advance, that the Addendum should have been published earlier and that allocated 30 minutes for Public and Councillors to speak was against Constitution.

The Chair reminded Councillor Rayment that he should focus his statement on the recommendations from the CTE PDS Panel.

Maria Lucas (Monitoring Officer) explained that the Constitution requires the Cabinet to consider the report and/or recommendations from the Call-In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 149.