Agenda and minutes

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To approve the minutes of the proceedings of the Meeting of the Council held on 7 December 2009.

In respect of the minutes of the meeting held on 7 December 2009 the Mayor proposed and Councillor Yates seconded “That the minutes of the meeting held on 7 December 2009 as circulated be amended as follows:-

That on page 6 the paragraph referring to Councillor Clarke’s question to Councillor P D Varnsverry and the response be deleted and replaced by “the Mayor ruled that as the title of the Portfolio to whom the question from Councillor Clarke in respect of Credit Unions was addressed did not exist that it was out of order and could not be presented” and

that on page 8 the paragraph referring to Councillor Clarke’s question to Councillor P D Varnsverry and the response be deleted and replaced by “the Mayor ruled that as the title of the Portfolio to whom the question from Councillor Clarke in respect of the One Stop Shop was addressed did not exist that it was out of order and could not be presented”.’

Councillor Clarke commented that he did not agree with the proposed amendment and that the minutes as printed were, in his view, correct.  He requested that if agreement could not be reached that the minutes be not moved and the issue further investigated.

Upon a vote the amendment was carried.

RESOLVED:That, subject to the following amendments, the minutes of the meeting of Council held on 7 December 2009 be signed by the Mayor:

That on page 6 the paragraph referring to Councillor Clarke’s question from Councillor P D Varnsverry and the response be deleted and be replaced by “the Mayor ruled that as the title of the Portfolio to whom the question from Councillor Clarke in respect of Credit Unions was addressed did not exist that it was out of order and could not be presented” and

“That on page 8 the paragraph referring to Councillor Clarke’s question to Councillor P D Varnsverry and the response be deleted and replaced by “the Mayor ruled that as the title of the Portfolio to whom the question from Councillor Clarke in respect of the One Stop Shop was addressed did not exist that it was out of order and could not be presented”.

Apologies were received from Councillors S Chaudhury, I Choudary, R Conroy, Crake, Hadland, M Hoare, Lane and Woods.

The Mayor commented that a shelter box to support the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti was on display in the Guildhall and that a town-wide collection would take place in the town on 23 January 2010.  The Mayor invited Councillors to make contributions.

Mr Adams in referring to the Portfolio Holder for Housing’s report and the reference in it to a named company and asked if she was aware of a press release of 16 October 2009 which stated that the company had a proven track record on delivering decent homes and that the Council was delighted to be working with them.  Mr Adams commented that he believed that the company  had a proven track record of bid-rigging and colluding to push up prices.  At the time of the press release this company had been named by, and was under investigation by, the Office of Fair Trading since April 2008 having illegally pushed up the cost to the taxpayer for schools, hospitals, police stations and other major works in the public sector.  The Office of Fair Trading had fined them over £1m in November 2009.  The company had registered an appeal but this was only in respect of the size of the fine.  Mr Adams asked if the Portfolio Holder was still content that the Council should be associated with this company.

Attached are the questions of which notice had been given and the responses given.

The Mayor advised that four questions had been received from members of the public and Councillors.  The questions and responses had been tabled in accordance with the Constitution.

Mr Adams asked Councillor Beardsworth as the relevant Portfolio Holder whether she was aware of recent legal decisions which had resulted in Liberal Democrat controlled Portsmouth having to reinstate on-site wardens and Conservative controlled Barnet having to keep to current arrangements:  If required could she give an assurance that NBC’s current service was legal?  Councillor Beardsworth commented that the Council was aware of the recent legal determinations regarding Portsmouth and Barnet and their sheltered housing services respectively.  In reviewing the Council’s own sheltered housing service the Council had kept itself abreast of developments regarding the legal challenges against other local authorities.  Each case was made on its own merits and there were fundamental differences between Barnet and Portsmouth and the Council’s position.  The Council was confident that it had complied with its legal obligations.

In the absence of Mr McNabb the Mayor noted that his question and the response would be sent to him.

Mr Adams asked Councillor Beardsworth as the relevant Portfolio Holder the total numbers of housing stock subject to a type 2 asbestos survey; and how many had required the removal of some asbestos product; and how many of them had been registered with asbestos in situ that would need regular monitoring and whether that monitoring was in place.  Councillor Beardsworth replied that the total number of housing stock subject to a type 2 survey was 1721 and that 212 had required the removal or seal/encapsulation of some asbestos and that 1104 had been registered with asbestos in situ that would require regular monitoring; and that monitoring was in place.  As a supplementary question Mr Adams asked if the Portfolio Holder would agree with him that there was still a long way to go to get a full register.  Councillor Beardsworth commented that a lot had been achieved but there was still more work that needed to be done.

Councillor Malpas asked Councillor Hoare that at the previous Council meeting he had asked the Leader of the Council whether or not a consultant was being employed to prepare for the closure of Cliftonville by finding space for additional staff at the Guildhall and if so at what cost to the authority.  The Leader of the Council had been unable to give an answer but agreed to investigate and respond.  However, he had not received a response.  Councillor B Hoare apologised to Councillor Malpas and confirmed that the Council would be engaging specialist advice to make best use of private sector expertise.  In doing so the authority was seeking advice from Counsel as to flexible working practices, more efficient use of its office space and attendant improvements to its information and communication technology systems.  The tender process to commission this advice was not yet complete and therefore it was not appropriate to fully publicise the details at this stage.

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

Councillor B Hoare presented his Portfolio Holder report.  Councillor Palethorpe commented that in respect of the Leader of the Council’s comments about improvements the Council had made and the Council’s release from special measures that there were a number of former Councillors and a wide range of people that had contributed to the Council’s improvement.  Councillor B Hoare commented that he was happy to acknowledge the contribution that everyone had made.  Councillor Hawkins in referring to the comment about WNDC, queried the Administration’s view of the WNDC being transformed into a democratically accountable regeneration vehicle.  Councillor B Hoare commented that the Government had agreed that there should be a return of planning powers to the local district councils and that WNDC’s focus should be on major projects and the supporting infrastructure.

Councillor Mildren enquired whether the figures for postal votes could be broken down by Parliamentary constituency; whether canvassers carrying out door knocking were the Council’s own staff or otherwise brought in to do the job; and whether there was funding for this.  Councillor B Hoare commented that he would find out if the postal votes could be split by Parliamentary constituency and as far as he was aware door knocking was carried out by the Council’s own staff.  There was no specific sum of money for this work but it was taken from the overall sum of money given by the Government for the Annual Canvas.  Councillor Larratt enquired whether the Leader of the Council supported moves to retain Election night for the counting of votes rather than moving the count to the following day.  He noted that South Northamptonshire had now moved their count back to Election night.  Councillor B Hoare commented that when the count took place was a matter for the Returning Officer.

In the absence of Councillor Crake, Councillor B Hoare submitted the Portfolio Holder report for Environment.  Councillor Larratt asked if the Leader of the Council would pass onto staff at Westbridge Depot the Council’s thanks for all that they had achieved during the recent bad weather.  He compared the situation with that in Milton Keynes and believed that the Council had done very well.  Councillor B Hoare commented that the Council’s staff had carried out an exceptional job in difficult conditions, there were many individual stories of assistance given to the public.

Councillor P D Varnsverry submitted his report and commented that in respect of free swimming national figures for the latest quarter showed that the Council’s Trilogy pools had maintained their second place in the region, behind Leicester, and in the nationwide listings they were the first pools run by a non-Metropolitan Council. He noted that the Funding Officer for Leisure & Culture had been chosen for a prestigious 15 month secondment to the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.  His skills and talents would not be lost entirely during this period,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

A statement from the Leader of the Opposition regarding public finances.

Councillor Palethorpe commented that listening to Parliament it was clear that there would be little money available for public finances for the foreseeable future and that the Council would be in a difficult position.  He commented that the political parties could be in opposition to each other or they could jointly recognise the issues that were faced.  It was easy enough for all parties to say that the Government didn’t give the Council enough money.  Councillor Palethorpe commented that when talking to the public the Council should use terms that the public would readily understand and not jargon, for example, “efficiency savings”.  All parties needed to work with the Chief Executive to ensure that the right services were delivered by the right people at the right level.  He commented that it wouldn’t be the Government departments that would have the final say on the services that were delivered but would be the public and therefore the Council needed to work together.

Councillor Perkins responded commenting that he welcomed Councillor Palethorpe’s comments and he noted that some estimates indicated that to get back to the pre-crisis levels of debt would take until 2030.  Whichever political party formed the next Government of the country substantial cuts would need to be made.  However, the speed of those cuts would be important and the Conservatives had advertised that they favoured quick cuts which would affect Local Government both immediately and hard.  He commented that the Council must be realistic in what it said about budgets and savings and that the Strategic Business Reviews would take account of potential funding cuts.  The Council needed to have an open mind on how services were delivered and the quality that could be achieved.  He commented that this would guide the Administration’s policies and that they were prepared to make the hard decisions where necessary.

Councillor Palethorpe commented that he welcomed Councillor Perkins realism and that the funding for the development of the town would not come from Government but from other sources.  He commented that it was important that the Borough was viewed as a whole and that the Council should be clear on what it wanted to achieve and should not be frightened of making decisions notwithstanding the situation of the town centre.

(copy attached)

Councillor Yates submitted a report and Councillor Malpas seconded its noting.  Councillors had had an opportunity to contribute to the proposals which would now be submitted to the Constitution Working Party to respond to.  Comment was made on the need to provide more resources for Overview & Scrutiny if at all possible.

RESOLVED:                        That the report be noted.

(copy attached)

Councillor Perkins submitted a report and Councillor P M Varnsverry seconded the adoption of the recommendation.

RESOLVED:That the Council Tax Base for 2010/11 be agreed at 66,896 Band D equivalent properties and the associated Parish Tax bases within this:-

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