Agenda and draft minutes

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

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

Apologies were announced as detailed above.

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 4.4 Appendix 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 Democratic Services Manager announced that the Monitoring Officer had issued a general dispensation for all Councillors for agenda item 8 “Report of the Independent Remuneration Panel – Members’ Allowances Uplift” to enable Members with potential disclosable pecuniary interests in relation to remuneration for their roles as Councillors, to take part in the debate and vote.  Failure to do so would impede the transaction of the business of the meeting.

The Democratic Services Manager also referred to the dispensation still in place for certain Councillors with regard to covid and long-term health conditions.

There were none.

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;

Bob Goodman made a statement concerning a number of Council services.  With regard to recycling rates, he stated that when he had introduced fortnightly collections as the responsible Cabinet Member at the time, rates had risen (despite many doubts being expressed that it would be successful).  However, rates had fallen since then, and he wondered what the Administration were doing to address this.  He also raised the situation regarding the recent problems at Charlton House and noted that there had been no resignations despite the suffering of residents.  He queried the Council’s social housing approach and lamented the state of the bus services in the area.

Mark Stricklin made a statement regarding mobile phone networks in Bath.  He read out a number of individual posts from people describing the problems they experienced with connectivity which were affecting their home and work life, and asked why the area did not yet have 5G.  He commented that network coverage seemed to be deteriorating and called for the situation to be sorted out.  Councillor Kevin Guy asked Mr Stricklin if he was aware that the Liberal Democrats had fully supported the erection of a 5G mast in Newbridge in 2022, to which he replied that he was not aware.

Simon Banks made a statement which had been circulated in advance to Members regarding urban green spaces and in particular development plans on the Tufa field.  He called for full ecological, economic and environmental impacts of the development of sites to be carried out.  Councillor Tom Davies mentioned that he had met residents twice to discuss proposals and asked if Mr Banks would be interested to join the next such meeting, to which he replied that he would.  Councillor Vic Pritchard asked Mr Banks if he was aware that the policy provided that if a development was permitted, the ecological impact must be assessed, identified and protected and if they show that development is not appropriate, this is a material consideration meaning future applications should be refused.  Mr Banks replied that he was aware of this.

David Ferris made a statement about residents’ parking zones which he considered were not effective or wanted by local communities.  He commented that they simply displaced traffic to other areas and wondered if they were genuinely to benefit residents or just a method to increase revenue.  He stated that a Park & Ride site was definitely needed on the east of Bath and suggested that part of the Bath Rugby ground at Lambridge would be an ideal site for a mini Park & Ride and outlined his reasons for suggesting this.  Councillor Vic Pritchard asked Mr Ferris how he would negate the need for the proposed Park & Ride sites at Snowhill and Camden, to which Mr Ferris referred to his earlier suggestion regarding the section of the site at Lambridge which he considered was ideal for infrastructure and connectivity reasons.  Councillor Robin Moss asked Mr Ferris if he would like  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.

The Council, in its statutory role as the local planning authority, has a duty to periodically review its Local Plan to determine whether it requires updating. In spring 2020, the Council commenced work on the Local Plan Partial Update (LPPU) which amends or updates parts of the adopted Core Strategy and Placemaking Plan (together comprising the Local Plan) to better address Council priorities, in particular the climate and ecological emergencies. The draft LPPU was submitted in December 2021 to the Secretary of State for examination by an independent Planning Inspector. The Inspector has completed his examination and has concluded that the submitted LPPU is legally compliant and can be made sound, subject to a schedule of ‘main modifications’ (Appendix 1). The Council now needs to consider and decide whether it accepts the Inspector’s recommendation thereby enabling it to formally adopt the LPPU. If the Council does not accept all of the Inspector’s recommendations, then it cannot adopt the LPPU.

The Council considered a report following the submission of the draft LPPU in December 2021 to the Secretary of State for examination by an independent Planning Inspector. The Inspector had concluded that the submitted LPPU is legally compliant and could be made sound, subject to a schedule of ‘main modifications’ (Appendix 1). The Council was asked to accept the Inspector’s recommendation thereby enabling it to formally adopt the LPPU.

On a motion from Councillor Tim Ball, seconded by Councillor Vic Pritchard, it was

RESOLVED to

1.  Accept the Main Modifications listed in Appendix 1, which the Inspector considered are needed to make the Plan sound in accordance with section 20(5) of the Planning and Compulsory Act 2004 (as amended);

2.  Agree the additional minor modifications listed in Appendix 2 to the B&NES Local Plan Partial Update, which are needed to ensure clarity, consistency and factual accuracy in the Plan;

3.  Adopt the B&NES Local Plan Partial Update as modified in 1 and 2 above, as set out in Appendix 3, and as amended in the supplementary paper, including for the purposes of section 38(6) of the Planning & Compulsory Purchase Act;

4.  Agree the B&NES Policies Map is amended in line with 3 above; and

5.  Delegate responsibility to the Head of Planning Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning and Licencing, to make minor textual amendments to the Local Plan Partial Update prior to publication.

[Notes;

1.  The above successful resolution was carried with 48 Councillors voting in favour and 3 Councillors abstaining.]

The Member Allowances Scheme provides that Members’ allowances are uplifted at the same rate as officers’ salaries are adjusted, in line with the National Joint Committee agreement.  In previous years, this has been done on a percentage basis but, as the officer increase this year is not a percentage but a fixed amount applied to each spinal point, the Independent Panel were consulted on an appropriate percentage to apply to Members’ allowances.

The Member Allowances Scheme was agreed and adopted by Council on 4^th May 2021 following recommendations from the Independent Remuneration Panel.  The Panel were further consulted in December 2022 regarding an appropriate annual percentage uplift amount (set at the same rate as officers’ salaries are adjusted, in line with the National Joint Committee agreement) as the officer increase this year was not a percentage but a fixed amount.

On a motion from Councillor Richard Samuel, seconded by Councillor Karen Walker, it was

RESOLVED to

1.  Agree that the basic allowances and special responsibility allowances paid to Members be increased by 4.04%, backdated to 1 April 2022; and

2.  Thank the Panel for their work.

[Notes;

1.  The above resolution was carried with 49 Councillors voting in favour, 1 voting against and 1 abstention.]

Councillor Dr Kumar made a statement about the recent situation at Charlton House.  He queried why the situation had not improved following the inspection in May but had in fact worsened by the further inspection in October.  He stated that an issue such as this was too important for political games and called on the Administration to take responsibility, listen and learn.