Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Duncan, Eldred, Hope, Massey, Perkins, Robinson, Stewart and Taylor.

To approve the minutes of the proceedings of the Meeting of the Council held on MeetingDate.

The minutes of the proceedings of the meeting of the Council held on 26^th June 2006 were signed by the Mayor.  In moving the minutes the Mayor referred to item 11 “Constitution” at the previous meeting when it had been suggested that a further report would be submitted to this meeting  and said that due to the political issues still outstanding this matter had been unable to be progressed and there was nothing further to report at this meeting.  A report would be brought to the September meeting.

The Mayor advised that he had carried out 56 engagements to date which had involved meeting with various groups, organisations and that he would continue to promote the town during his mayoral year.

The Mayor then advised that he had agreed to take an emergency motion with regard to the Racecourse.

He then asked Councillor Beardsworth to say a few words about a recent event that she had attended.  Councillor Beardsworth stated that he had attended the Special Olympics in Boston, Lincolnshire which this town had hosted in 1995.  However in the last two years Northampton had not hosted a team and she hoped that perhaps this would be possible in future.  She stated that a plaque had been presented on behalf of the town.  The Mayor thanked Councillor Beardsworth for her comments and stated that he hoped this could be taken forward and Northampton could host a team for future years.

At this juncture it was agreed to consider Item 6 Notices of Motion as the next item including the emergency motion.  Item 6B was considered first.

(A)   The following motion to be moved by Councillor B.Hoare and seconded by Councillor Hollis:-

“That procedural rule 3.4 be suspended to enable the following motion to be discussed and a vote taken

This Council welcomes the LGA report entitled “Leading the way:how local authorities can meet the challenge of climate change”. This Council recognises the importance of promoting a clean environment for the citizens of Northampton especially a clean air environment for the children of our town.

The Council therefore commits itself to producing a plan to reduce carbon emissions as part of its medium term plan and to working with other agencies within the LAA to reduce carbon emissions in all public services in Northampton.

That this Council supports the Climate Change Bill introduced to Parliament by Michael Meacher MP,John Gummer MP and Norman Baker MP which would require annual cuts in carbon dioxide emissions of 3 per cent to be delivered in a framework that includes regular reporting and new scrutiny and corrective processes.”

(B)The following motion to be moved by Councillor Simpson and duly seconded:-

“That procedural rule 3.4 be suspended to enable the following motion to be discussed and a vote taken:-

This Council recognises Northampton Racecourse as one of the most important parks in the town.

Further this Council;

Acknowledges that recent occurrences of anti-social behaviour and crime on the park have led to concerns about the safety of the environment on the park.

Welcomes the initiative by the Chronicle and Echo in its “Reclaim the Racecourse” campaign the recent summit held jointly with Friends of Northampton Racecourse.

Welcomes the “healthy living hub” initiative as a possible way of levering funds and resources to create a new public facility on the park.

Notes that it passed policy in 2003 to draw up a rolling 5 year plan for the park and that this has not happened

This Council resolves to;

Work with all stakeholders and partners to draw up a masterplan for the park.

Support the idea of the healthy living hub to seek lottery funding for plans to improve the park and develop new public facilities

Set up a Racecourse Action Team headed by a NBC manager that draws together all NBC stakeholders and external partners.

Actively seek external funding opportunities for improvements to the park

            At this juncture copies of the emergency motion were circulated and the Mayor pursuant to Procedural Rule 3.6.10 moved that the meeting be adjourned for five minutes to enable the tabled motion to be considered.

           The meeting resumed

           Councillors Church Simpson and Woods declared an interest in the motion as members of Friends for Northampton Racecourse.

(B)       Tracy Gilbey stated that she was speaking on behalf of Friends of Northampton Racecourse and a supporter of the Healthy Living Hub Project.  She explained that this had been set up by Friends of Northampton Racecourse and had generated some funding to carry out a feasibility study to consult widely with the community regarding ways of improving and enhancing the Racecourse.  She stated that early indications showed that there was a lot of support for the project.  A Racecourse summit meeting the previous week had been attended by key stakeholders.  She stated that the main reason she was speaking this evening was to highlight the amount of enthusiasm and support about the project which was extremely well supported by the local community and residents.

Steve Winder then addressed the Council stating that much of what he wanted to say had been covered by the previous speaker but stressed the importance of the involvement of the local community in such projects and stressed that this should be the way forward with all the Borough’s open spaces.  He stated that he hoped there would be consultation in any areas that were dealt with.

Councillor Wire then moved and Councillor Boss seconded that Procedural Rule 3.4 be suspended to enable the following motion and the emergency motion to be debated.

The motion was carried.

Councillor Simpson then moved the motion as printed under item 6B on the agenda and in so doing asked that the word “lottery” be deleted from the second resolved point and to add a final resolved point “to nominate relevant Councillors and senior officer to represent the Borough on the new Racecourse Partnership Board”.

            Councillor Church in seconding the motion proposed an amendment that the emergency motion regarding the Racecourse summit as circulated be treated as an amendment and added on to the existing Racecourse motion.

The emergency motion which Councillor Church was suggesting being taken as an addition to this existing motion was as follows:-

“This Council welcomes the Racecourse summit held on Thursday 20 July 2006 and congratulates the Chronicle and Echo for their initiative and involvement.  This Council also welcomes the contribution and attendance of all other Partners and Stakeholders especially the Friends of the Racecourse.  In particular this Council welcomes the Healthy Living Hub Initiative and appreciates the effort put in by stakeholders to take this forward.

            This Council requests the Cabinet to discuss and address the outcomes of the summit and work with partners and stakeholders to drive them forward.  Council also requests Cabinet to identify resources and support and develop a viable action plan and long term vision for the Racecourse in partnership with partners and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Councillor Roy asked a question of Councillor Hadland as Leader whether, given the emphasis in the Improvement Plan on the role of the individual Ward Councillor, he could give details of the results so far into investigating the potential of questions being submitted to Portfolio Holders sufficiently in advance to enable publication in the Council Agenda.

Councillor Hadland advised that various constitutional amendments had been recommended to Council at the last meeting which had included the issue of questions however a decision on this was deferred and the Constitutional Review Working Group would consider the changes again and report to Council in September.  The issue of questions would be considered then.  In response to a supplementary question Councillor Hadland stated that the Constitution Working Party had discussed both types of questions ie those from members of the public and those to Portfolio Holders.

Councillor Roy then asked a question of Councillor Caswell as the Portfolio Holder whether he could give details on partnership working with the WNDC on the development of the Blueberry Hill Diner Site in the town centre and his opinion on the time taken to progress to date.

Councillor Caswell stated that this site was purchased earlier this year on the Council’s behalf by EMDA following a meeting with the Regeneration and Growth Team.  The site was immediately adjacent to landholdings held by the Council and was secured to provide an opportunity for bringing forward regeneration of the St Johns Area.  Further funding had also been secured by the Regeneration and Growth Team from EMDA for the demolition of the existing buildings and this demolition was almost complete.  Discussions were in hand with the stakeholder partners including WNDC to discuss the Central Area Framework document recently produced by consultants BDP.  This work would be presented to Councillors after the summer and would for the basis of the Central Area Action Plan work and wider consultation thereafter.

NB Councillor Larratt declared an interest in the above question.

Councillor Roy then asked a question of Councillor Palethorpe whether he could give details on the progress or otherwise on the completion of security measures on Park Square flats since the last full Council given the admission that progress up to the last full Council had been unacceptably slow.

Councillor Palethorpe advised that there was the need to look at a technical feasibility study and he would be asking for consultation with the community and those who would be responsible for security measures which would involve the CASPAR Group.  In response to a supplementary he stated that he would put a response in writing to Councillor Roy.

Councillor B Hoare then asked a question of Councillor Caswell as the Portfolio Holder regarding the Bullen Report.  He stated that in March 2003 Northampton Borough Council commissioned Bullen Consultants to undertake a strategic Flood Risk Assessment of Northampton.  This was duly considered by the Planning Transportation and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee on 17 March 2005 and that Committee resolved to make eight recommendations to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Councillor Hadland read out a joint statement on behalf of the three party leaders, copies of which were circulated.  Essentially the joint statement advised that the leaders of each political group had worked together to agree a method of cross party working between now and the election which was more appropriate to the Borough’s circumstances than the current Improvement Board arrangements.  They had agreed to strengthen decision making in the Council by ensuring that all key decisions were taken by the Cabinet with Portfolio Holders making delegated decisions.  Other processes had been streamlined to improve cross party knowledge of the issues the Council was dealing with and involvement in decision making by the introduction of four new political functions to focus on namely; (1) Leadership Briefings; (2) Cross Party Consultative Group; (3) Quarterly Performance Reviews; (4) Development, Improvement and Peformance Panel.  The statement advised that Scrutiny would continue and Improvement Clinics would be developed further based on the pilot study.  A review of the Area Partnerships was currently being undertaken to ensure better public consultation, Ward Councillor involvement and feedback from these groups into and from Council decision making.  Following the visit to the Minister the previous week the Council were pleased that the Minister had welcomed our efforts to date but it was clear that we must accelerate the pace of change.  All Councillors and staff needed to focus on improving the weakest services, that we ensured a stronger customer focus, that our budget setting followed our priorities and that we continued to work with partners offering clear community leadership.

A joint Powerpoint presentation by the three party leaders and the Chief Executive was then made entitled “New Working Arrangements for Political Governance and Recovery”, copies of which were circulated.  The presentation outlined the way forward in terms of the operation of full Council, Cabinet it being noted that Cabinet would meet six weekly.  There would be cross party leadership briefings and a Development, Performance and Improvement Panel to replace the Improvement Board.  This would meet on a six weekly basis to receive and monitor reports and provide advice and comment on Councillor and Managerial Development, Performance Management and Recovery Plan Milestones.  Meetings would be open to all Councillors.  Details were also given in terms of the budget setting process for 2006/07 and in terms of the new Meeting Cycle the Senior Leadership Team would meet weekly on a six week rota at Cabinet, Leadership Briefing, Development Performance Improvement Panel and Consultation for Cabinet.                         .  Reference was also made to a 20:20 Vision Forum which would aspire to become a revitalised LSP.  In considering the presentation comment was made that the LSP (Local Strategic Partnership) was a partnership involving other bodies and organisations and not just a Borough Council body and therefore a structure of the actual Local Strategic Partnership could not be changed without wider consultation with the other partners.

There were none.

At this juncture the Mayor took the opportunity to wish Northampton Town Football Club all the best in the forthcoming season and it was agreed that the Chief Executive send a letter on behalf of the Council wishing them all the best.  This was duly agreed.

The meeting concluded at 8.50pm