Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 5.

The Chair asked the Democratic Services Manager to read out the emergency evacuation procedure.

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.

The Monitoring Officer issued a general dispensation for all Councillors who pay Council Tax or were School Governors and therefore had an interest in these items, to enable them to take part in the debate and vote on agenda item 8 - Budget & Council Tax 2023/24.

In addition, specific dispensations were granted for the following Councillors;

·  Councillor O’Brien – a family member in receipt of adult social care services.

·  Councillor Craig – a family member in receipt of a social care package from B&NES.

·  Councillor Warren – a family member in receipt of an EHCP.

The following declarations of interest were also made;

·  Councillor Simmons – Chairman of Keynsham & District Dial a Ride – non-pecuniary.

·  Councillor Davies – spouse is Treasurer/a Trustee of Cleveland Pools Trust – non-pecuniary.

·  Councillor Jackson – member of Church Council of Trinity Methodist church, Radstock & Westfield – non-pecuniary.

·  Councillor Hodge – Chair of the charity The Friends of B&NES Society of Young Musicians – non-pecuniary.

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

On a motion from Councillor Karen Walker, seconded by Councillor Kevin Guy, it was unanimously

RESOLVED that the minutes of 17^th November 2022 and 19^th January 2023 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair made various housekeeping announcements, followed by the following statement;

I am delighted to inform council that B&NES Building Control Team was announced ‘team of the year’ at the national local authority building control building excellence awards.  The awards celebrate best practice and quality in construction and are attended by more than 850 leading construction industry figures.

The awarding panel stated that our building control customer service is exemplary with a full programme of engagement including regular email communications, technical seminars, and focused updates. The team works with over 40 partner companies, one of whom said, “B&NES Building Control are generous in providing clear, sensible and pragmatic advice and support during the design process and are keen to help find solutions when problems arise.”

Many congratulations to Phil Mansfield and the team; it is fantastic to see their proactive approach to working with local businesses and the quality of their work validated by national private and public sector partners.  Well done to all!

The Chair further informed Council that it had been a great honour to welcome the Queen Consort for a visit to the Royal Osteoporosis Society to launch their new buildings in Bath: a charity for which she has been a great ambassador and patron for a number of years.

If there is any urgent business arising since the formal agenda was published, the Chair will announce this and give reasons why it has been agreed for consideration at this meeting. In making this decision, the Chair will, where practicable, have consulted with the Leaders of the Political Groups. Any documentation on urgent business will be circulated at the meeting, if not made available previously.

There were no items of urgent business.

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.

Statements were made by the following members of the public;

Martin Thomas made a statement about Residents’ parking zones (RPZs).  He commented that the views from the consultation had not been taken properly into consideration, and partial support had been taken to mean full support.  He expressed the view that the RPZs appeared to be a means of increasing revenue regardless of them being very unpopular in the community and suggested there were other ways to limit traffic that would have less of a negative effect on local families and businesses.  Councillor Vic Pritchard referred to Mr Thomas having proposed 3 hour parking zones as an alternative and enquired if this had the support of other residents.  Mr Thomas replied that quite a few comments he had received had expressed a wish for something along those lines.

David Redgewell made a statement about bus services, in particular those serving the rural communities, acknowledging they are the responsibility of WECA but noting that WECA do not have precepting powers.  He called for longer term planning to be in place so passengers could rely upon these services and investment could be made.  He concluded by saying that the transport infrastructure needed to be handed to WECA.  Councillor Guy asked if Mr Redgewell was aware of WECA’s proposal for the 522 service through Paulton and other villages, to which he replied that he was.  Councillor Pritchard referred to the mention of the 672 service from Blagdon through Chew Valley to Bristol and that subsidy would be required from the 3 unitary authorities and asked if Mr Redgewell was aware if there had been any negotiation yet on this.  He replied that he understood the Mayor had been trying to achieve this, but as Bristol City Council were cutting their bus budget, this was a serious problem.  Councillor Moss asked if Mr Redgewell was aware if an equalities impact assessment had been carried out by B&NES regarding the cuts in rural buses, and Mr Redgewell replied that he was concerned as this had not taken place by any of the councils, despite him trying to push for this and it needed to be re-visited.  A full copy of the statement has been added to the Minute book.

Rosemary Naish made a statement expressing her concern about the future of rural bus services.  Councillor Guy asked Ms Naish if she agreed that the £50 million Dan Norris has to spend should be used to supply bus routes in North East Somerset, to which Ms Naish replied that she did not know about that.  Councillor Pritchard asked Ms Naish to clarify her comment that all rural transport had been removed, to which she replied that it was all rural subsidised transport.  Councillor Hardman asked if Ms Naish agreed that Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) was not a substitute for a regular service; to which she responded that she did agree.  A full copy of the statement has been added to the Minute book.

Bob Goodman made  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77.

This report presents the revenue and capital budgets together with proposals for increases in Council Tax and the Adult Social Care Precept for 2023/24.

The Council considered a report which presented the revenue and capital budgets together with proposals for increases in Council Tax and the Adult Social Care Precept for 2023/24.

On a motion from Councillor Richard Samuel, seconded by Councillor Kevin Guy, it was

RESOLVED

1.  To approve

a)  The General Fund net revenue budget for 2023/24 of £131.03m and the individual service cash limits for 2023/24 as outlined in Annex 1;

b)  The savings and income plans outlined in Annex 2(i), funding requirements 2(ii), in conjunction with the Equalities Impact Assessment Report in Annex 3.

c)  An increase in Council Tax of 2.99% in 2023/24 (an increase of £47.10 per Band D property or 91p per week).

d)  An increase of 2% to Council Tax for the Adult Social Care Precept in recognition of the current demands and financial pressures on this service. This is equivalent to an increase of £31.50 on a Band D property (61p per week).

e)  The movement in reserves outlined in section 5.6 and the adequacy of Un-earmarked Reserves at £12.58m within a risk assessed range requirement of £11.6m - £12.8m.

f)  To note the Children’s Services management plan set out in section 5.2.7 of the report.

g)  The Efficiency Strategy attached at Annex 4.

h)  The Capital Programme for 2023/24 of £87.89m including new and emerging capital bids outlined in Annex 5(i), planned sources of funding in 5.8.2, and notes the programme for 2024/25 to 2027/28 and that any wholly funded projects coming forward during the year will be added to the Capital Programme in line with the Budget Management Scheme.

i)  The delegation of implementation, subject to consultation where appropriate, of the capital programmes set out in Annex 5(i) to Annex 5(iv) to the relevant Director in consultation with the appropriate Portfolio Holder.

j)  The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) allocations and amendments outlined in Annex 5(v).

k)  The Capital & Investment Strategy attached at Annex 6.

l)  The MRP Policy attached at Annex 7.

m)  The Capital Prudential Indicators outlined in 5.8.6.

n)  The Annual Pay Policy Statement at Annex 8.

o)  The Community Contribution Fund pilot 12-month extension outlined section 5.5.

p)  The Council Tax Support Scheme for 2023/24 shown in the following link and referred to in 5.3.5:

https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-01/Proposed%20Council%20Tax%20reduction%20scheme%20April%201%202023%20-%20March%2031%202024.pdf

q)  To approve the Fees and Charges schedule for 2023/24 at Annex 11 and support its publication following approval of the budget.

2.  That the Council approves the technical resolutions that are derived from the budget report, and all the figures in that report, including the precepts for towns, parishes and other precepting bodies as set out in Annex 12.

3.  That the Council note the S151 Officer’s report on the robustness of the proposed budget and the adequacy of the Council’s reserves outlined in 5.7.

4.  That Council note the budget consultation responses in Annex 10.

[Notes;

1.  An amendment was moved by Councillor Joanna Wright, and seconded by Councillor Robin Moss, to request a budget  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78.

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s Treasury Management in the Public Services: Code of Practice 2021 Edition (the CIPFA Code) requires the Authority to approve a treasury management strategy before the start of each financial year. This report fulfils that obligation.

The Council considered a report which fulfilled the Authority’s legal obligation under the Local Government Act 2003 to have regard to the CIPFA Code to approve a treasury management strategy before the start of each financial year.

This report was scrutinised by the Corporate Audit Committee at the 7th February 2023 meeting, and reported to Cabinet on 9th February 2023.

On a motion from Councillor Richard Samuel, seconded by Councillor Mark Elliott, it was unanimously

RESOLVED to agree to;

1.  Approve the actions proposed within the Treasury Management Strategy Statement (Appendix 1);

2.  Note the Treasury Management Indicators detailed in Appendix 1,  and

3.  Approve the adoption of the Treasury Management Clauses (Appendix 3).

The Council was asked to formally confirm it’s annual meeting date.

On a motion from Councillor Kevin Guy, seconded by Councillor Karen Walker, it was unanimously

RESOLVED to agree that the Council’s Annual General meeting take place on 25^th May 2023.

Councillor Kumar made a statement entitled ‘Honesty is the best policy’, in which he picked up on various aspects of the Administration’s policies and highlighted his concerns about these.

Councillor Guy took this opportunity to apologise for an earlier remark made by him following the statements from the public, and also stated that he would apologise personally to the individual concerned.

On a motion from Councillor Karen Walker, seconded by Councillor Grant Johnson, it was

RESOLVED

that having been satisfied that the public interest would be better served by not disclosing relevant information, in accordance with the provisions of Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business and the reporting of the meeting be prevented under Section 100A(5A) because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended.

Section 85 (1) of the Local Government Act 1972 requires a member of a Local Authority to attend at least one meeting of that Authority within a period of six consecutive months, in order to avoid being disqualified as a Councillor. This requirement can be waived and the time limit extended, if any failure to attend was due to a reason approved by the Authority, in advance of the six month period expiring.  The Council considered such a request.

On a motion from Councillor Karen Walker, seconded by Councillor Alan Hale, it was unanimously

RESOLVED

1.  To note and approve the reason for the failure of Councillor Doug Deacon to attend meetings of the Council since 4th May 2021;

2.  To approve a further period from this meeting until Monday 8th May (being the fourth day after the day of election on 4th May 2023, when a Councillor not elected ceases to be a Councillor), for the non-attendance at meetings of Council and its Committees by Councillor Doug Deacon, due to ill-health.