Agenda and minutes

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

The Chairman drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out in the Agenda.

It is a legal requirement that the first formal business at the Annual General meeting shall be the election of a Councillor to be the Chair(man) of the Council.  The term of office of the Chair(man) expires on the election of his/her successor at the Annual meeting of the Council in 2012.

The present Chair(man) of the Councillor is Councillor Sarah Bevan who will preside over the election of her successor.

Once the new Chair(man) is elected, he will make and sign the Declaration of Acceptance of Office, and receive the Chain of Office from the former Chair(man), after which he may address the Council.

The newly elected Chair(man) will preside from this point in the proceedings.

It was proposed by Councillor Francine Haeberling, seconded by Councillor Paul Crossley and supported by Councillors Robin Moss and Doug Deacon and

RESOLVED that Councillor Peter Edwards be elected Chairman of the Council for the Council Year 2011/12.

Councillor Edwards made and signed his Declaration of Acceptance of Office,  received the Chain of Office from Councillor Sarah Bevan and presented the Consort`s Badge to Mrs Ann Edwards.  Councillor Edwards then addressed the Council.  During his speech (a copy of which is available on the Council’s Minute book), Councillor Edwards indicated that his preferred form of address was ‘Chairman’.

FROM THIS STAGE OF THE PROCEEDINGS, COUNCILLOR PETER EDWARDS AS CHAIRMAN PRESIDED AT THE MEETING.

The Council will be invited to appoint a Councillor to be the Vice-Chair(man) of the Council.  The term of office of the Vice-Chair(man) expires on the election of his/her successor at the Annual meeting of the Council in 2012.

Once the new Vice-Chair(man) is elected, he/she will make and sign the Declaration of Acceptance of Office, and receive the Badge of Office from the Chair(man), after which he/she may thank the Council for the appointment.

It was proposed by Councillor Eleanor Jackson, seconded by Councillor David Dixon and supported by Councillors Francine Haeberling and Doug Deacon and

RESOLVED that Councillor Rob Appleyard be elected Vice-Chairman of the Council for the Council Year 2011/12.

Councillor Appleyard made and signed his Declaration of Acceptance of Office, received the Badge of Office from Councillor Edwards and thanked the Council for his appointment.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on Tuesday 15^th February 2011.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the last meeting on 15^th February 2011 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman, subject to an amendment from Councillor Loraine Morgan-Brinkhurst MBE to add the words “and on the Budget agenda item” at the end of the final paragraph of minute number 72.

Apologies were received from Councillor John Bull

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.

Councillor Tim Ball declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 14 as a Bath & North East Somerset Foster parent.

Councillor Sharon Ball declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 14 as a Bath & North East Somerset Foster parent.

Councillor Gerry Curran declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 14 as a Bath & North East Somerset Foster parent.

[Councillor Colin Barrett declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 13 as an honorary member of WWISE – this declaration was made at item 13]

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

During this item, the Chair(man) will present Councillor Sarah Bevan with a Badge to mark her year in office as the Chair(man) of the Council.  Councillor Bevan may then address the Council.

Councillor Peter Edwards presented Councillor Sarah Bevan with her Past Chairman's Badge.

It was proposed by Councillor Nathan Hartley, seconded by Councillor Francine Haeberling and supported by Councillors Robin Moss and Doug Deacon and

RESOLVED that this Council places on record its appreciation of the services performed by Councillor Sarah Bevan in the office of Chairman of the Council for 2010/11.

Councillor Bevan addressed the Council and, in so doing, thanked Members and officers for their support during her year in office. Councillor Bevan also paid tribute to the support which Councillor Edwards had given both to her, and to the Office of Vice Chairman, over the previous Council Year and wished him well for his term of office as Chairman.

The Chairman then;

(1) Advised Council that, due to family circumstances, the Leader of the Labour Group was unable to attend the meeting.

(2) Welcomed and congratulated all newly-elected Councillors and invited the Council to place on record its appreciation of the past service given by the Members who retired following the Election, and to note that work was in hand to develop a scheme to enable the Council to formally recognise their contribution.

(3) Invited Council to note the appointment of Councillor Doug Deacon as Independent Group Leader in succession to Councillor Chris Cray and confirm that existing Group Leaders remain in office, political groups having been formed with membership of Liberal Democrat 29, Conservative 29, Labour 5 and Independent 2.

(4) Congratulated Councillors Sharon Ball and Brian Simmons on their successful completion of the BTec in Local Governance qualification for Councillors, for which they are being presented with their certificates by South West Councils at the regional Awards ceremony on 9^th June 2011.

(5) Informed Council that, should the meeting appear likely to continue for some time after 8.30, he would be announcing a comfort break at that point.

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.

There was none.

Urgent decision by Chief Executive

On 7^th March 2011, the Chief Executive was asked to consider a report on the terms of a proposed restructure of the House of Fraser lease, including the acquisition of 8-10 John Street, under rule 3 of the urgency provisions in the Constitution.

He subsequently approved that;

1.1  Prudential borrowing can be used to facilitate the purchase of 8-10 John Street.

Urgent decision by Chief Executive

The Chief Executive, in consultation with the Political Group Leaders, and exercising his power under rule 3 of the Council’s Urgent Business and Absence Procedure Rules decided that Bath & North East Somerset adopt the Joint Waste Core Strategy for the West of England as part of the Bath & North East Somerset Local Development Framework and for it to come into effect on 25th March 2011.

The Council was invited to note two urgent decisions that had been made by the Chief Executive.

On a motion from Councillor Francine Haeberling, seconded by Councillor Charles Gerrish, it was then

RESOLVED

(1) To note that on 7th March 2011, the Chief Executive approved that Prudential borrowing would be used to facilitate the purchase of 8-10 John Street;

(2) To note that on 21^st March 2011, the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Political Group Leaders, and exercising his power under rule 3 of the Council’s Urgent Business and Absence Procedure Rules decided that Bath & North East Somerset adopt the Joint Waste Core Strategy for the West of England as part of the Bath & North East Somerset Local Development Framework and for it to come into effect on 25th March 2011.

Council noted this item.

1. The Council is required to elect a Councillor to be the Leader of the Council for the 4 year term 2011 – AGM of 2015; and

2. The Council is asked to note that all decisions regarding the appointment of a Deputy Leader, Cabinet Members and portfolios, executive delegation scheme and frequency of Cabinet meetings are decisions solely for the Leader to make and publicise in due course.

Councillor Tony Clarke, seconded by Councillor Chris Watt, proposed Councillor Francine Haeberling as Leader of the Council and spoke in support of the nomination.

Councillor Andy Furse then proposed Councillor Paul Crossley as Leader of the Council, seconded by Councillor Dine Romero.

The votes for Councillor Francine Haeberling were 29, the votes for Councillor Paul Crossley were 33 (there were 2 abstentions).

It was, therefore,

RESOLVED

(1)  That Councillor Paul Crossley be duly elected as Leader of Bath and North East Somerset Council for the period ending with the Annual Meeting in May 2015;

(2)  To note that all decisions regarding the appointment of a Deputy Leader, Cabinet Members and portfolios, executive delegation scheme and frequency of Cabinet meetings are decisions solely for the Leader to make and publicise in due course;

(3)  To note that Councillor Paul Crossley has decided to make appointments to his Cabinet as follows:

o  Councillor Nathan Hartley  Early Years, Children and Youth/ Deputy Leader

o  Councillor David Bellotti  Community Resources

o  Councillor Simon Allen  Wellbeing

o  Councillor Tim Ball  Homes and Planning

o  Councillor Cherry Beath  Sustainable Development

o  Councillor David Dixon  Neighbourhoods

o  Councillor Roger Symonds Transport

(4)  To note that Councillor Paul Crossley announced his intention to revisit the Bath Transportation Package and, in so doing, not proceed with the Bus Rapid Transit scheme.  He also announced that they would be taking immediate steps to revoke the decision to close Culverhay school and commence consultation on converting to co-educational status with a target date for implementation of September 2013.

This report sets out recommendations on the decision making structure for 2011/12 which the Council needs to consider and determine.

The Council considered a report on its non-executive and regulatory committee arrangements for the Council year May 2011 to May 2010 and other associated business.

On a motion from Councillor Paul Crossley, seconded by Councillor Manda Rigby, it was

RESOLVED

(1) To approve the structure for non-executive and regulatory decision making, Overview & Scrutiny and the Standards Committee as set out in the Constitution, and identified in its current form in the report at Appendix 2, with the following amendments;

1. That there be six O&S Panels (to be known as Policy Development and Scrutiny Panels) rather than the five contained in the Appendix, with the broad remits as set out in Attachment 2 to the minutes, and authority delegated to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Group Leaders, to finalise and publish the precise remits;
2. That the Restructuring Implementation Committee comprise three Members in the proportionality; Liberal Democrat 1, Conservative 1, Labour 1.

(2) To note the updated political proportionality as set out in Attachment 1 to the minutes, updated to reflect the notification of the formation of political groups in the ratio 29 Liberal Democrat, 29 Conservative, 5 Labour and 1 Independent, and revised decision making structure as outlined in the report and minute (1) above;

(3) To approve the terms of reference for and proposed actions by Committees and Panels etc as set out in Appendix 2 to the report subject to (1) a. and b. above and constitute those bodies accordingly;

(4) To approve the appointment of Members to the Committees and Panels in accordance with the requirements of political proportionality as shown in Attachment 1 to the minutes and nominations made by the political groups;

(5) To appoint, as Chairs and Vice-Chairs of such bodies, those Councillors as may from time to time be nominated by the political group to whom the chairmanship/vice-chairmanship of the body is allocated, as set out in Attachment 1 to the minutes;

(6) To authorise the Monitoring Officer to fill any casual vacancies in membership of all the bodies constituted and vacancy in the office of Chair or Vice-Chair of such bodies in accordance with the wishes of the political groups and the allocation of chairing entitlements made at this meeting;

(7) To determine that the bodies on which independent members are to have seats as either voting or non-voting members are as set out in Attachment 1 to the minutes and appoint such members accordingly;

(8) To authorise the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Policy Development and Scrutiny Panels, to constitute and support any required Panel joint working as outlined in the report;

(9) To agree that Council wishes to make an allocation of Political Assistants to eligible groups as set out in the report;

(10) To approve the allocation of Political Assistants to the Conservative and Liberal Democrat groups in accordance with section 8 of the report and instruct the Monitoring Officer to make available to the other two groups an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

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.

Tony Crombie made a statement regarding the Bath Transport Package and welcoming the Leader’s intention to revisit the plans.

David Dunlop made a statement regarding the Bath Transport Package – a copy of which is held on the Minute book and published on the Council’s website with the draft minutes of the meeting.

Stephen Macknerness made a statement regarding the Bath Transport Package – a copy of which is held on the Minute book and published on the Council’s website with the draft minutes of the meeting.

David Dunlop made a statement regarding Culverhay school – a copy of which is held on the Minute book and published on the Council’s website with the draft minutes of the meeting.

Tony Crombie made a statement regarding Culverhay school and welcomed  the Leader’s intention to reverse the closure proposal.

Pamela Galloway made a statement regarding the 6/7 bus campaign – a copy of which is held on the Minute book and published on the Council’s website with the draft minutes of the meeting.

[At this point in the meeting, Councillor Colin Barrett declared a personal  non-prejudicial interest as an honorary member of WWISE.]

Susan Charles made a statement regarding the benefits of warm water swimming for certain groups - – a copy of which is held on the Minute book and published on the Council’s website with the draft minutes of the meeting.

Tony Crombie made a statement regarding the Bath Recreation Ground, outlining the history of the covenant and calling for it to remain as an open space.

The Council’s pledge to Children in Care has been updated to reflect new regulations and guidance which came into force on April 1^st 2011.  The new Council is invited to affirm its commitment to the updated pledge.

The Council considered a report regarding the Council’s pledge to Children in Care  which had been updated to reflect new regulations and guidance which came into force on April 1^st 2011 and asking the Council to reaffirm its commitment to the updated pledge following the election.

On a motion from Councillor Nathan Hartley, seconded by Councillor Chris Watt, and supported by Councillors Liz Hardman and Doug Deacon, it was

RESOLVED to approve the updated Bath and North East Somerset Council Pledge to Children and Young People in and moving on from Care.

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 no items from Councillors.