Agenda and minutes

The Chairman drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure, as set out on the agenda.

Apologies were received from Councillors Lew Kew and Doug Nicol

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 Officer before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

The Council’s Monitoring Officer gave specific advice regarding declarations of interest in relation to the budget report.

Councillor Lorraine Morgan-Brinkhurst MBE declared an ‘other’ interest in agenda item 8 as the Council’s representative on Bath Tourism Plus, as non-executive Director on Sirona Care and Health and as a member of the Bath in Bloom Committee.

Councillor Geoff Ward declared an ‘other’ interest in agenda item 8 as an Environmental Health practice professional.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson declared an ‘other’ interest in agenda item 8 as a Friend of Victoria Hall.

On a motion from Councillor Paul Crossley, seconded by Councillor Eleanor Jackson, it was

RESOLVED that the minutes of 8^th November 2012 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman made the following announcements;

1.  He passed sympathies to those Members who had recently lost family members, mentioned the recent death of former mayor of Bath Ray Rosewarn and asked the Council to stand in silence as a mark of respect following the recent death of former Councillor and Honorary Alderman Gordon Wood.

2.  He checked that everyone had received copies of the supplementary information that had been circulated following the despatch of the agenda.

3.  He asked everyone to turn their phones to off/silent and reminded members of the public that some Councillors were accessing their meeting papers on their iPads.

4.  He referred to the agenda timings and asked everyone to keep contributions relevant and not to repeat comments already made.

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

There were no items of urgent business.

Statements to the meeting were made by the following people;

·  Joanna and Beinn Wright and Mani Campion-Dye made statements in support of a skate park on the east side of Bath and presented a petition of 572 signatures.  In response to a question from Paul Crossley as to whether the community would work with the Council to help raise funds, Joanna Wright responded that her husband was an ex-skater and would be happy to do so, as would many others in the community.  Councillor John Bull referred to the site next to Lambridge training ground which Joanna Wright had mentioned as a possible site for a skatepark and asked whether they had approached Bath Rugby about it.  Joanna Wright responded that it would be an ideal site on the right side of the road but they hadn’t approached anyone about it yet. Councillor Bryan Chalker asked who had signed the petition and what kind of responses they had received from people.  Joanna Wright responded that there were only 2 people had refused to sign due to concerns about noise.  Generally people were positive – the key issue was about siting it in the right place.  The statements are available online and copies have been placed on the Minute book.  The petition was referred to the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods.

·  David Redgewell from the South West Transport Network made a statement calling for the Council to work with the new Police Commissioner regarding the night bus network.  He called for a co-ordinated approach with Bristol regarding night services in the south east Bristol area, eg; Brislington for which B&NES was the contract holder, and wanted consideration of buses until 3am.  He also asked for a joined up approach for areas such as Whitchurch which is served by both Bristol and B&NES.  The statement was referred to the Cabinet Member for Transport.

This report presents the Cabinet's draft medium term financial plan, and revenue and capital budgets for the 2013/14 financial year together with a proposal for a Council Tax level for 2013/14.

The Council considered a report setting out the Cabinet’s draft medium term financial plan, and revenue and capital budgets for the 2013/14 financial year together with a proposal for a Council tax level for 2013/14.

In addition to the reports circulated with the agenda, all Councillors received a copy of the draft minute of the Resources Policy Development and Scrutiny (PDS) Panel meeting held on 11^th February with the Panel’s comments on the budget proposals.  Councillors also received Appendix 6 – Formal Council Tax Setting resolutions (incorporating precepts from Parishes, Fire and Police), Cabinet’s amendments from the 13^th February Cabinet meeting and and an Equalities update from the Monitoring Officer.

On a motion from Councillor Paul Crossley, seconded by Councillor Francine Haeberling, it was RESOLVED that the Council suspends Council rule 42, Content and Length of Speeches, for the duration of this debate so as to enable variations to be permitted to the length of speeches by the Cabinet Member for Community Resources, the Conservative, Labour and Independent Groups and the Chair of the Resources Policy Development & Scrutiny Panel.  During the debate, a motion was received from Councillor Paul Crossley that the meeting continue until 10.20pm in accordance with Council rule 48.  This was accepted by the meeting.

On a motion from Councillor David Bellotti, seconded by Councillor Paul Crossley, it was

RESOLVED

1.  To approve:

a.  The General Fund net revenue budget for 2013/14 of £123.632m with no increase in Council Tax, and the savings proposals in Annex 2, Appendix 5, with the exception of the proposed savings in Early Years and Children’s centres of £273k and the substitution to balance the budget of funds received in the final settlement as a result of the redistribution of unallocated funding from the New Homes Bonus (£174k) and by drawing an additional £99k from the Council’s Financial Planning Reserve and with the additional sum of £25,000 to establish a hardship fund for residents of Bath & North East Somerset Council to meet their Council tax costs on their main residence in the Council area for up to 6 months in the event that it becomes uninhabitable as a  result of flood or fire.  Funding of £25k to be made available for this purpose for 2013/14 with this amount being drawn from the Council’s Financial Planning Reserve.

b.  That no Special Expenses be charged other than Town and Parish Council precepts for 2013/14.

c.  The adequacy of reserves at Appendix 2 Table 9 with a risk-assessed level of £10.5m.

d.  The individual service cash limits for 2013/14 summarised at Appendix 2 Table 5 and detailed in Annex 1.

e.  That the specific arrangements for the governance and release of reserves, including invest to save proposals, be delegated to the Council’s Section 151 Officer in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community Resources and the Chief Executive.

2.  To include in its Council Tax setting, the precepts set and approved by other bodies including the local precepts of Town Councils, Parish  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78.

This report sets out the draft Integrated Transport Improvement Capital Programme for consultation. The programme of expenditure aims to develop the policies of the Joint Local Transport Plan in accordance with Government guidelines.

The Council considered a report setting out the draft Integrated Transport Improvement Capital programme for consultation.  The programme of expenditure aims to develop the policies of the Joint Local Transport Plan in accordance with Government guidelines.

On a motion from Councillor Roger Symonds, seconded by Councillor Paul Crossley, it was RESOLVED (unan)

1.  That the draft Transport Improvement Capital programme for 2013/14 as set out in Appendix 1 to the report is approved for consultation; and

2.  To delegate to the Group Manager, Transport and Planning Policy, authority to alter the programme, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport, as may prove necessary within the overall budget allocation.

In February 2012, the Council adopted the revised CIPFA Treasury Management in Public services Code of Practice 2011 Edition, which requires the Council to approve a Treasury Management Strategy before the start of each financial year and for this to be scrutinised by an individual / group of individuals or committee.  In addition, the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) issued revised guidance on local authority investments in March 2010 that requires the Council to approve an investment strategy before the start of each financial year.

This report fulfils the Council’s legal obligation under the Local Government Act 2003 to have regard to both the CIPFA Code and the CLG Guidance.  This report is being considered by the Corporate Audit Committee at the 5^th February 2013 meeting, following which any recommendations will be reported back verbally as an update to this report.

The Council considered a report which fulfils the Council’s legal obligation under the Local Government Act 2003 to have regard to both the CIPFA Code and the CLG Guidance in approving the Treasury Management Strategy statement and the Investment Strategy.

The report had also been scrutinised by the Corporate Audit Committee (5^th February 2013) and the Cabinet (13^th February 2013).

On a motion from Councillor David Bellotti, seconded by Councillor Will Sandry, it was

RESOLVED (unan)

1.  That the actions proposed within the Treasury Management Strategy Statement (Appendix 1) are approved;

2.  That the Investment Strategy as detailed in Appendix 2 of the report be approved; and

3.  That the changes to the authorised lending lists detailed in Appendix 2 to the report and highlighted in Appendix 3 are approved.

The purpose of this report is to invite the Council to name a Councillor as Chair(man) of the Council (Designate) for the next Council Year beginning in May 2013.  The Council, at its Annual Meeting on 16th May 2013, will still be required formally to elect a Councillor to be the Chair(man) of the Council for the forthcoming Council Year.

This report allows Council to indicate which Councillor is likely to take over as Chair(man) from the Annual General meeting in May.  This allows advance planning of the Chair(man)’s diary but will still require a formal election to take place at the May meeting.

On a motion from Councillor Paul Crossley, seconded by Councillor Francine Haeberling and with an indication of support from Councillors John Bull and Doug Deacon, it was

RESOLVED (unan) that Councillor Neil Butters be named as Chair(man) Designate for the 2013/14 Council year.

There were none.