Agenda and minutes

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To approve the minutes of the proceedings of the Meetings of the Council held on 26 February, 2 March and 19 March 2009.

The minutes of the meetings of Council held on 26 February, 2 March and 19 March 2009 were signed by the Mayor.

Apologies were received from Councillors I Choudary, De Cruz, Duncan, Flavell, Hill, C Lill, J Lill and Scott.

The Mayor reported that Councillor I Choudary was in hospital recovering from an operation and on behalf of the Council expressed his best wishes for his recovery.

The Mayor announced that Item 11 “Community Forums: Activities and Achievements September 2008 to March 2009” would be considered following Item 5 “Public Comments and Petitions”. 

The Mayor referred to a letter received from Lieutenant Colonel Tim Robinson OBE, the Commanding Officer of the 9th/12th Lancers (Prince of Wales) Regiment, in respect of their march and civic reception on 18 March 2009.  Lieutenant Colonel Robinson commented upon the enthusiastic reception the Regiment had received from the people of Northampton and thanked the Council for the arrangements that had been made.

Councillor Hadland reported that Mrs A May, Senior Democratic Support Officer of the Council, was recovering well from a recent hospital operation and the Council expressed its best wishes for her speedy recovery.

Emily Butler, a member of the Youth Forum, commented that over the last six months she had met the Prince of Wales in respect of the Youth Forum’s work on the Holocaust Memorial and that he had congratulated the Forum upon its efforts.  She had also met a Holocaust survivor whose experiences had been very interesting.  She also commented that the Forum had received an additional £100,000 from the Government for the Money 4 Youth scheme and that the Forum had also been involved, together with Disabled Forum, in producing an access guide.  She also commented that the Forum had been working on a lighting scheme at the new Delapre Park play area.

Elizabeth Coe commented that the Money 4 Youth Scheme involved thirteen to nineteen year olds who put forward ideas for funding, which were then vetted and considered for approval.  She referred to the new play area at Delapre Park as an example of a scheme that had been implemented and also referred to the recent Anne Frank exhibition and events, which had been well attended by the public.  Elizabeth also stated that ideas had come forward for a Northampton festival and concerts in the Market Square.  She thanked the Council for its support of the work of the Forum.

Noor Homayourn stated that previously the Council did not have a disability guide and that Northampton had not featured in any national access guides.  The Disabled Go scheme provided information on a wide range of venues and the facilities that they had available for the disabled.  The Disabled Go leaflet was supplemented by a good website and he thanked officers of the Council and the Youth Forum for their support. 

Mr C Grethe commented that he wished to praise the work of all the forums, which not only allowed issues to be discussed but also for positive actions to come from them.  He thought the Disabled Go project was particularly useful and expressed his thanks to the Forum’s Co-ordinator for her work and queried whether further assistance was required.  He also referred to the recent Anne Frank exhibition and the Anne Frank awards and queried whether the forums should adopt a countywide approach.

The Mayor advised that five questions had been received from members of the public and Councillors and that these and the answers had been tabled in accordance with the Constitution.  The Mayor advised that he would take the questions in the order in which they had been received. 

Mr Adams asked a question of Councillor Beardsworth, as the relevant Portfolio Holder, in respect of the cover provided by the Tunstall equipment for residents living in sheltered housing and the number of reported faults from February 2008 to February 2009.  Mr Adams noted the response as tabled and asked a supplementary question that given the number of reported faults whether the Portfolio Holder would wish to reconsider her response as, in his opinion, the alarms were not fit for purpose.  Councillor Beardsworth replied that she did not wish to revise her answer.  Overall there were a small percentage of issues upon which work was being undertaken to remedy and that satisfactory backup systems were in place. 

Mr Adams asked a question of Councillor Beardsworth, as the relevant Portfolio Holder, in respect of how many Council housing asbestos surveys had been undertaken and at what cost.  Mr Adams noted the response as tabled and asked a supplementary question as to whether this work would be completed within a three to five year timescale or take twenty seven years to clear according to the total number of properties involved and the number surveyed from 1 October 2008 to 1 March 2009.  Councillor Beardsworth replied indicating that the objective was to make houses safe and the removal of asbestos was not always the only solution. 

The Mayor noted that in the absence of Mr Swinn, the response to his question by Councillor Woods as tabled would be sent to him. 

Councillor Davies asked a question of Councillor Crake in respect of the proposals for glass recycling collections not being introduced at the expense of brown bin collections.  Councillor Davies noted the response as tabled and asked a supplementary question in respect of wide advertising of glass recycling and brown bin collections.  Councillor Woods, on behalf of Councillor Crake, commented that this would be widely advertised and undertook to look at a suggestion that if unused brown bins were returned to the Council that they be recycled to vulnerable groups of residents who had need of them.

Councillor Davies asked a question of Councillor Glynane, as the relevant Portfolio Holder, in respect of the Lib/Dem policy towards future community centres.  Councillor Davies noted the response as tabled and asked whether given the unease and uncertainty of the future of many community centres that the Portfolio Holder would do something to improve the situation and where there was a need create more community centres.  Councillor Glynane replied that the position of community centres needed to be confirmed and were an important facility of the growth of the town over the next few years.  He commented that before considering new facilities he hoped that the use of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

At this point each of the Cabinet members made a presentation on their respective portfolios, which had been circulated with the agenda.

Councillor Woods, as the Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Partnerships and Improvement, submitted his portfolio update and apologised for the delay in the availability of the reports on this occasion.  Councillor Woods made particular reference to Peter Murphy, the Lead Official on the Government Monitoring Board who was moving on, and expressed his thanks to him and best wishes for his future.  Councillor Hadland concurred with the comments in respect of Peter Murphy.  In answer to a question from Councillor Perkins, Councillor Woods reported that the Minister was now considering the disengagement of the Government Monitoring Board.  In answer to a question from Councillor Hadland, Councillor Woods undertook to write to him with a figure for the number of local businesses now benefiting from the payment of invoices within ten days. 

Councillor Woods, on behalf of Councillor Crake, submitted the portfolio update for Environment.  Councillor Clarke commented that the majority of residents within Castle Ward would not be included in the kerb-side glass collection service nor did the majority have brown bins.  He queried when residents of Castle Ward and the town centre generally would benefit from the glass recycling scheme.  Councillor Woods indicated that the Administration had a manifesto pledge to introduce glass recycling across the town’s 65,000 homes.  Properties that currently had black sack collections would be part of a second phase of introducing the scheme.  He noted that some of the flats in Castle Ward already had recycling facilities.  Councillor Larratt asked whether the Portfolio Holder was aware of the services provided by South Northamptonshire and Daventry District Councils where all recyclit was collected either weekly or fortnightly at no expense of the brown bin collections.  On behalf of a constituent who lived alone and was in poor health he queried how moving the brown bin collection to monthly would help him.  Councillor Woods commented that the system of recycling had been inherited by the Administration and that the Council received top prices for its recyclit because of the recycling separation and its quality.  He was aware of the service provided in other areas but it was not possible to move to that type of service immediately.  The Council needed to introduce a service at as lower a cost as practicable.  Councillor Woods indicated that he would be happy to discuss the issues raised by Councillor Larratt’s constituent.  In answer to a query from Councillor Golby, Councillor Woods noted that the proposal did not represent a reduction in service, as many people did not put out their brown bins every fortnight.  The proposal represented an economic and good way of introducing glass recycling.  Councillor Woods, in answer to an invitation made by Councillor Malpas, agreed to visit Belinge Lakes with the Portfolio Holder to discuss with residents how they could be made safe given the sediment deposits in them.  In answer to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Proposed by Councillor Palethorpe and Seconded by Councillor Larratt:

“It has recently come to the publics’ attention that local building firms have been excluded from the shortlist for the refurbishment of council housing. Nothampton Borough Council has a civic duty to encourage growth in the local area, and this responsibility has grown as the economic downturn has destroyed jobs and businesses in the town.

By removing obstacles that prohibit local companies from bidding for council contracts, money invested by this authority may continue to provide services to the local tax payer, whilst also injecting additional millions of pounds into the local economy. This would also help prevent large out of town companies from winning council contracts, but subcontracting the work to local companies whilst creaming off the difference.

We therefore request that cabinet take action to ensure that local businesses are afforded an equal opportunity to bid for all contracts awarded by this council (whilst continuting to provide value for money) to maximise investment, secure jobs and stimulate economic growth within the borough.”   

Councillor Palethorpe proposed the motion set out on the agenda commenting that in Northampton unemployment had doubled over the previous year and bankruptcies were up by 79%.  He commented that the Council had a responsibility to help people of the town and particularly mentioned the £78m of housing repairs that needed to be carried out.  He further commented the Council needed to look at how the work was commissioned and the income this could provide to the town.  If voids could be turned around more quickly then these could be available to help the Homelessness Team to keep the number of people in temporary accommodation at an absolute minimum. 

Councillor Woods commented that the Administration was working hard to correct the problems of the last twenty years.  He noted that a contract for £3.4m worth of housing work was due shortly to be made and another £26m was to be allocated over the next few months.  He noted that this was effectively new money, as budgets had been underspent in previous years.  He agreed that it was important for local companies to be helped where possible, but this had to be done within the appropriate rules.  He noted that the £26m worth of work would be bundled in such a way as not to disadvantage smaller businesses. 

Councillor Larratt stated that whilst the focus had been on housing, the principle applied to all sorts of goods and services, for example, the amount of money the Council spent on information technology; how much of this could be spent locally.  He noted his own personal experience of the Civil Service and all embracing contracts with national companies were not always the most beneficial approach for local suppliers.  He believed it would be possible for contractors to be required to use local sub-contractors and suppliers and he suggested that the Council’s procurement process should help local companies to the benefit of local jobs and the local economy.

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Councillor Woods submitted the minutes of the meeting of the West Northamptonshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee held on 16 December 2008 and noted that himself and Councillors Church, Hollis and P D Varnsverry were the Council’s representatives.  Councillor Davies was an observer.  These minutes were submitted for noting.  Councillor Davies seconded the noting of the minutes. 

It was noted that meetings of the Joint Strategic Planning Committee were open to the public and that Councillors could attend if they so wished.

The Mayor commented that the Council could receive a report on the work of the Joint Strategic Planning Committee if it so wished.  Councillor Woods stated that all Councillors, as part of the consultation strategy, would be able to comment on the draft Joint Core Strategy once it was published later in the year.

RESOLVED: That the minutes be noted.

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Councillor Woods submitted a report that set out two alternative cycles of meetings for 2009/10 and reported that Cabinet preference for the cycle set out in Appendix 1 of the report.  Councillor B Hoare seconded the adoption of Appendix 1.

Council discussed the report.

RESOLVED: That Option 1 set out Appendix 1 of the Cabinet report be approved as the meeting cycle for 2009/10.

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Councillor Glynane submitted a report referred to Council by Cabinet in respect of the activities and achievements of the Community Forums in September 2008 to March 2009.  He made particular reference to the Disabled Go project, the Money 4 Youth scheme, the Christmas ice-skating in the Market Square and the Anne Frank festival, all of which represented good examples of community engagement.  He also made reference to the help and support of Heart FM, BBC Black History project, Jewish Northampton and to other individuals.  Councillor Yates seconded the adoption of the report. 

RESOLVED: (1) That the report be received and that the congratulations of Council be added to those of Cabinet to the Forum’s Co-ordinator and Members in respect of the achievements of the Community Forums.

(2)   That Council continues to support the work of the Community Forums.

N.B. Councillor Clarke declared a personal interest in this item in so far as the report referred to Northampton Town Football Club of which he was an employee.

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