Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 7.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting including the members of the public seated in the overflow facility in the Banqueting Room and drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure set out on the agenda which was read out.

Minutes of previous meetings:

1. Special Meeting Tuesday 16^th November 2010

2. Ordinary Meeting Tuesday 16^th November 2010

3. Special Meeting Thursday 2^nd December 2010

4. Special Meeting Thursday 20^th January 2011

RESOLVED that the minutes of - the previous ordinary meeting of the Council held on 16^th November 2010; the special meeting also held on 16^th November 2010; the special meeting held on 2^nd December 2010; and the special meeting held on 20^th January 2011 - be each approved as a correct record and be 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 personal and prejudicial or personal.

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Solicitor to the Council and Monitoring Officer before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

The Divisional Director Legal and Democratic Services advised Members orally on the issues they needed to consider in reaching a decision on whether they had an interest to declare in the matters on the agenda for this meeting.

Councillor Malcolm Hanney declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in the report on the Budget and Council Tax (agenda item 8) as Chair of NHS Bath and North East Somerset Primary Care Trust.

Councillor Rob Appleyard declared a personal and prejudicial interest in the report on the Budget and Council Tax (agenda item 8) relating to the possible sale of land agreed as a Trustee of the Somer Community Housing Trust.

Councillor Rob Appleyard declared a personal and prejudicial interest in the report on the Budget and Council Tax (agenda item 8) relating to the budget scrutiny as the Vice-Chair of the Norton Radstock Town Council.

Councillor Appleyard indicated that he would vacate the Council Chamber

and not take part in the discussion and voting on those matters.

Councillor Loraine Morgan-Brinkhurst declared a personal interest in the report on the Budget and Council Tax (agenda item 8) relating to the proposed Liberal Democrat amendment on the Bath Transportation Package funding, as her home was near the route, and indicated that she would vacate the Council Chamber and not take part in the discussion and voting on that amendment, and on the Budget agenda item.

These are matters of information for Members of the Council. No decisions will be required arising from the announcements.

The Chairman:

1.  Announced that in the 2011 UK Youth Parliament Elections, Mike Fidanoglu from BeechenCliffSchool had been elected MYP for Bath with Fiona Collier, HayesfieldSchool as deputy and that Alec Howells, WrithlingtonSchool had been elected MYP for North East Somerset with Shyam Sawhney, NortonHillSchoolas deputy.

2.  Informed Council of the recent death of Mrs Kate Scully MBE, formerly youth worker in the DAFBY team (Democratic Action for B&NES Youth) and invited the Council to place on record condolences to her family and colleagues and indicated that her funeral would take place on Friday 25 February 2011.

3.  Encouraged all Councillors who had not done so already, to purchase their tickets for the Charity Ball taking place on the opening night of the Bath Comedy Festival on 1 April.

4.  Asked everyone to turn off their mobile phone or switch it to silent to avoid disrupting the meeting and because of the possibility of interference with the sound system or the videolink to the Banqueting Room.

5.  Referred to the agenda item timings on the briefing sheet for this meeting which had been agreed with the Group Leaders and asked Councillors to keep contributions to debate brief and relevant and not to repeat what had already been said by colleagues.

6.  Informed Council that, in the absence of the Vice-Chairman, she had asked Councillor Bryan Chalker, Immediate Past Chairman, to assist with the speakers` list for this meeting.

7.  Indicated that she proposed to waive Council Rule 37, so as not to permit Councillors seconding motions or amendments being able to reserve their right to speak until later in the debate, but to require all seconders, if they wished to speak, to do so when they had seconded the motion or amendment. The Council indicated its agreement.

8.  Indicated that she would announce a comfort break between 8pm and 9pm if the meeting did not appear to be near its conclusion by then.

If there is any urgent business arising since the formal agenda was published, the Chairman will announce this and give reasons why she has agreed to consider it at this meeting. In making her decision, the Chairman 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.

PUBLIC QUESTIONS, STATEMENTS, PETITIONS AND DEPUTATIONS

There were no items of urgent business for this meeting.

The Democratic Services Manager will announce any submissions received under the arrangements set out in note 5 above. 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.

POLICY AND BUDGET FRAMEWORK AND CABINET ITEMS FOR COUNCIL DECISION

Ms Tracey Quinn made a statement in support of a petition signed by residents in the Kingsway area of Oldfield Ward in Bath urging the Council to provide and stock grit bins at strategic locations in the area to enable local residents to grit roads and pedestrian areas during icy weather.

In response to a question from Councillor Will Sandry, Ms Quinn said that two of the most difficult road junctions in the area would significantly exceed the criterion of 200 vehicle movements per day used to allocate grit bins.

In response to a question from Councillor John Bull, Ms Quinn said that she was aware that, in deciding on the location of grit bins, the road gradient is measured but that in many cases the pavements had a steeper slope which made them impassable in bad weather and this needed to be taken into account as well.

Ms Quinn was thanked for her statement and for presenting the petition which was referred for consideration and response to the Cabinet Member for Service Delivery. A copy of the statement provided by the speaker which was circulated at the meeting is held on file in the minute book and published on the Council`s website with the draft minutes of this meeting.

This report presents the Cabinet's draft Medium Term Financial Plan, and Revenue and Capital Budgets for the 2011/12 financial year, together with a proposal for a Council Tax level for 2011/12.

The Council considered a report setting out the recommendations of the Cabinet on the review of the Medium Term Financial Plan for the period to 2013/2014 and the Revenue and Capital Budgets and Council Tax for 2011/12 (Report 8).

  In addition to the reports circulated with the agenda, all Councillors received a copy of the draft minute of the Corporate Performance and Resources Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Panel meeting held on 31^st January with the panel`s comments on the Budget proposals.

On a motion from Councillor Francine Haeberling seconded by Councillor Les Kew it was RESOLVED that the Council suspends Council Rule 42, Content and Length of Speeches, for the duration of this debate to enable variations to be permitted to the length of the speeches by the Cabinet Member for Resources, the Liberal Democrat Group, Labour and Independent Group Leaders and the Chair of the Corporate Performance and Resources O&S Panel.

On a motion from Councillor Malcolm Hanney seconded by Councillor Francine Haeberling it was RESOLVED that the Council:

1.  Approves:

a)  The General Fund net revenue budget for 2011/12 of £121.742m with no increase in Council Tax.

b)  That no Special Expenses be charged other than Town and Parish Council precepts for 2011/12.

c)   The adequacy of reserves at Appendix 1 Table 9 with a risk-assessed level of £10.5m.

d)  The individual service cash limits for 2011/12 summarised at Appendix 1 Table 5 and detailed in Annex 1.

e) That the specific arrangements for the governance and release of corporate headroom (which includes any amounts for which the purpose has not been specified in the budget report in relation to transfers to revenue budget contingency, the ongoing headroom allocations and the one off headroom allocations in Appendix 1) be delegated to the Council’s Section 151 Officer in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Resources and the Chief Executive together with the Chair of the CPR Overview & Scrutiny Panel.

2.  Agrees to include the precepts set and approved by other bodies including  the Local Precepts of Town Councils, Parish Councils and the Charter Trustees of the City of Bath, and those of the Fire and Police Authorities in its Council Tax setting.

3.  Acknowledges the Section 151 Officer's report on the robustness of the proposed Budget and the adequacy of the Council's Reserves (Report 8, Appendix 1, Annex 2) and approves the conditions upon which the recommendations are made as set out throughout Appendix 1 of Report 8.

4.  That in relation to the Capital Budget the Council:

  a)  Approves a Capital Programme of £34.108m for 2011/12 and notes indicative items shown in italics for 2011/12 and the Programme for 2012/13 to 2015/16 as shown at Appendix 1, Annex 3 of Report 8 including the planned sources of funding.

  b)  Approves the Minimum Revenue Provision Policy as shown at Appendix 1, Annex 4 of Report 8.

  c) Approves the Capital Prudential Indicators as set out in Appendix  1 Table 7 of Report 8.

5.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76.

This is a report on the Council’s policies for managing its investments and for giving priority to the security and liquidity of those investments, set out in the Treasury Management Strategy and the Annual Investment Strategy.

The Council considered a report on the policies for managing its investments and for giving priority to their security and liquidity set out in the Treasury Management Strategy and the Annual Investment Strategy.

On a motion from Councillor Malcolm Hanney seconded by Councillor Charles Gerrish it was RESOLVED that the Council approves:

1. The actions proposed within the Treasury Management Strategy Statement (Appendix 1 to Report 9).

2. The borrowing and debt rescheduling strategy as detailed in Appendix 1.

3. The Investment Strategy as detailed in Appendix 2 to Report 9.

4. The changes to the authorised lending lists detailed in Appendix 2.

5. The decision not to commit to a local authority bond issue to fund capital programmes prior to 9^th May 2011.

(Notes. 1. The above resolution was carried by a majority of Councillors voting in favour with no Councillors voting against and no Councillors abstaining from voting. 2. The wording in paragraph 5. of the resolution was added on an amendment from Councillor Tim Ball on behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group which was accepted by the mover and seconder of the motion.)

COUNCILLOR QUESTIONS, STATEMENTS, PETITIONS AND DEPUTATIONS

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.

There were seven questions from Members of the Council as listed in Annex 2 to these minutes. The questions asked and answers given in writing as circulated at the meeting are held on file in the minute book and published on the Council`s website with the draft minutes of this meeting.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson made a statement on the Council`s planning enforcement policy urging that resources be made available to enable a sufficient number of qualified staff to be employed to deal with enforcement matters throughout the Council`s area. The statement was referred to the Cabinet Member for Service Delivery for consideration and response.

Councillor Will Sandry withdrew his request to make a statement about the Council`s policy on the provision of grit bins as he had raised this matter in the debate on the Budget and Council Tax report earlier in the meeting.