Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 8.

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

It was proposed by Councillor Dine Romero, seconded by Councillor Tim Warren, and supported by Councillors John Bull and Sarah Bevan and then

RESOLVED that Councillor Cherry Beath be elected Chairman of the Council for the Council year 2017/18.

Councillor Beath made and signed her Declaration of Acceptance of Office, received the Chain of Office from Councillor Alan Hale and presented the Consort’s badge to her husband, Richard.  Councillor Beath then addressed the Council.  During her speech, Councillor Beath indicated that her preferred form of address was Chair.  She informed Council that her chosen charities would be the Genesis Trust and the Mid Somerset Festival.  Councillor Beath said she also intended to work on raising awareness of diabetes, as well as championing the work of unseen volunteers and trying to look after the more vulnerable members of our community.

FROM THIS STAGE OF THE PROCEEDINGS, COUNCILLOR CHERRY BEATH PRESIDED AT THE MEETING.

It was proposed by Councillor Sarah Bevan, seconded by Councillor Bob Goodman, and unanimously

RESOLVED that Councillor Karen Walker be elected Vice-Chairman of the Council for the Council year 2017/18.

Councillor Karen Walker made and signed her Declaration of Acceptance of Office, received the Chain of Office from Councillor Cherry Beath and thanked the Council for her appointment.

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.

There were no declarations of interest made.

On a motion from Councillor Tim Warren, seconded by Councillor Dine Romero, it was

RESOLVED that the minutes of 23^rd March 2017 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Councillor Cherry Beath presented Councillor Alan Hale with his past Chairman’s badge.

It was proposed by Councillor Tim Warren, seconded by Councillor Dine Romero and supported by Councillors John Bull and Sarah Bevan and

RESOLVED that this Council places on record its appreciation of the services performed by Councillor Alan Hale in the office of Chairman of the Council for 2016/17.

Councillor Hale then addressed the Council and, in so doing, thanked Members and officers for their support during his year in office. He praised the amazing volunteers he had met and the diverse and rewarding range of contacts he had made over the 339 events he had been able to attend during the year. He informed the Council that he had recently been privileged to be able to donate £2000 to each of his chosen charities.  He made particular mention of the Citizenship Ceremonies which he had found highly rewarding.  On conclusion, Councillor Hale then took a seat in the body of the Chamber.

The Chair then;

1.  Welcomed the newly elected Councillors;

2.  Asked everyone to turn off their mobile phone or switch to silent to avoid disrupting the meeting, and explained that some Councillors were accessing their meeting papers via iPads;

3.  Announced that the meeting was being webcast and invited anyone who did not wish to be filmed to make themselves known to the camera operators;

4.  Encouraged Members to sign up for the Equalities Theatre training arranged for 20^th June; and

5.  Reminded Councillors of the pre-election restrictions that applied in making their speeches.

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 people;

Rosemary Naish, Chair of the B&NES Avon Local Councils Association, made a statement on behalf of local Town & Parish Councils, highlighting the diverse and valuable work they do for their communities and supporting the Parish Liaison meeting, which they found to be an extremely valuable forum for engagement with the Council.  In response to a question from Councillor Lin Patterson asking why Rosemary considered the Association had such a high take-up within local Councils, Rosemary responded that it was perhaps due to the training and professional support that they offered, enabling local Councils to operate more efficiently.  Councillor Sarah Bevan asked if Rosemary was able to give one or two key updates to the Parish Charter which was being brought back to Council later in the year, to which Rosemary responded that it was being presented to the Communities, Transport & Environment Scrutiny Panel on Monday 22^nd May so she considered they should have the opportunity to consider it first.  The Chair thanked Rosemary for her statement (linked to the online minutes) which was referred to the relevant Cabinet Member.

Luke Emmett made a statement welcoming the newly elected Councillors and calling for a new approach to public engagement in future. He highlighted some issues about the Council’s Petitions scheme and called for the Leader to attend the public meeting to which he had been invited by Bath Deserves Better via a petition from 38 degrees. Councillor Tim Warren asked Luke if he was aware that he, as Leader had offered to meet all the groups individually accompanied by the relevant Cabinet Member, to which Luke responded that he was aware and thanked him, although that wasn’t what the campaign group had asked for.  Councillor Dine Romero referred to Luke’s comments about current engagement not being effective and asked what he thought would improve it, to which he responded that a public open meeting, with no limits to contributions, at which the Council could share ideas and possibilities would give a real voice to the public in feeling they were helping to move the city forward.  Councillor John Bull asked Luke to elaborate on his use of the words ‘small print’ in relation to the Petition scheme, to which Luke responded that the Council’s response stated that their petition did not qualify according to the criteria within the scheme although he claimed that on the Council’s website just a name was required.  At this point the Monitoring Officer was asked to clarify the terms of the Council’s Petition scheme and she explained that their petition had not complied with the scheme which states that the name and address of each signatory is required to trigger a debate at Council.  She offered to follow this up in writing to Luke[1].  Councillor Sarah Bevan asked Luke why he had chosen to raise this issue now, to which he responded that the lack of response to the petition and the opportunity of a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

This report invites the Council to consider its non-executive and regulatory Committee arrangements for the Council Year May 2017 to May 2018 and associated annual business.

The Council considered a report inviting them to consider the non-executive and regulatory Committee arrangements for the Council Year May 2017 to May 2018 and associated annual business.

On a motion from Councillor Tim Warren, seconded by Councillor Dine Romero, it was unanimously

RESOLVED to

1.  Approve the structure for non-executive and regulatory decision making and Policy Development & Scrutiny working (set out in current form in appendix 3);

2.  Accordingly, appoint those bodies with membership, terms of reference and delegated powers as set out in the Constitution, noting the revisions outlined in paragraphs 5.3 (and with any necessary amendments arising from this meeting);

3.  Approve the allocation of seats on those Committees and Panels (such seats to be filled in accordance with the nominations made by the political groups);

4.  Appoint to chair each committee and panel those Councillors as may from time to time be nominated by the political group to whom the chairmanship of the body is allocated;

5.  Authorise the Monitoring Officer to fill any casual vacancies in membership of all the bodies constituted and vacancy in the office of Chair of such bodies in accordance with the wishes of the political groups;

6.  Determine the bodies on which co-opted and independent members are to have seats  as either voting or non-voting members and appoint such members accordingly (current arrangements are set out in Appendix 1);

7.  Authorise the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Chairs of the Policy Development & Scrutiny Panels, to constitute and support any required Panel joint working as outlined in section 7;

8.  Note the arrangements for the conduct of Cabinet business and the urgent decisions that have been taken in the last municipal year, as set out in section 8;

9.  Instruct the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with Group Leaders, to make appointments on non-executive outside bodies and note that the Leader or Cabinet Members will do so for executive outside bodies, where such vacancies arise, and note the future intentions regarding reporting annually to Council as outlined in section 9;

10.Approve the amendment to the non-executive procedure rules in the Constitution as outlined in section 10;

11.Note the calendar of meeting dates that has been prepared up to May 2019 which is available on the Council’s website;

12.Authorise the Monitoring Officer to make and publicise any amendment to the Council’s Constitution required, or take any other necessary action, as a result of decisions taken at this meeting on this and other reports within the agenda, or otherwise as required by law.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) is conducting an electoral review of Bath and North East Somerset Council. This is the first such review to take place in the area since 1997. This review will determine the correct number of councillors for the Bath and North East Somerset area as well as the correct boundaries for that number. This paper lays out the Council’s recommended position for the first stage of the review (councillor numbers), for which there is a mid-June deadline.

The Council considered a report concerning the Local Government Boundary Commission review of Bath & North East Somerset Council to determine the correct number of Councillors for the B&NES area, and the correct boundaries.

During debate, concerns were raised that further consideration was needed with regard to future housing projections and student population and assurance was given by the Leader that that would take place.  The Chief Executive also assured Members that the points made in debate would be taken on board before submission.

On a motion from Councillor Tim Warren, seconded by Councillor Liz Richardson, it was unanimously

RESOLVED

1.  To note the findings of the technical report and outline recommendation; and

2.  To delegate to the Chief Executive and Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer sign-off of the final wording of the technical report pending any material changes to underlying evidence.

This report updates Council as to the use of RIPA powers in the previous year. It also sets out the powers of the Council and the revised Policy.

The Council considered a report concerning the use of RIPA powers in the previous year and setting out the powers of the Council and the revised policy.

On a motion from Councillor Tim Warren, seconded by Councillor Charles Gerrish, it was unanimously

RESOLVED

1.  to note the use of RIPA powers in the key statistics set out in Appendix 1 of the report; and

2.  to consider and approve the revised RIPA policy at Appendix 2 of the report.

There were no items from Councillors.