Agenda and minutes

Councillor Price proposed and Councillor Pippas seconded the nomination of Councillor Gerri Bird as Mayor for the Municipal Year 2014/2015.

 

Resolved that:

 

       i.          Councillor Gerri Bird be elected Mayor for the Municipal Year 2014/2015 (Councillor Bird then made the statutory declaration of acceptance of the office of Mayor).

 

Councillor McPherson proposed and Councillor Ashton seconded the nomination of Councillor Robert Dryden as Deputy Mayor for the Municipal Year 2014/2015.

 

Resolved that:

 

       i.          Councillor Robert Dryden be elected Deputy Mayor for the Municipal Year 2014/2015 (Councillor Dryden then made the statutory declaration of acceptance of the office of Deputy Mayor).

 

The minutes of the 3 April 2014 meeting were approved as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.

 

Abbey – Peter Roberts

Arbury – Charlotte Perry

Castle – Marie-Louise Holland

Cherry Hinton – Russ McPherson

Coleridge – Lewis Herbert

East Chesterton – Peter Sarris

Kings Hedge’s – Martin Smart

Market – Dan Ratcliffe

Newnham – Rod Cantrill

Petersfield – Richard Robertson and Ann Sinnott

Queen Edith’s – Tim Moore

Romsey – Dave Baigent

Trumpington – Nick Avery

West Chesterton – Ysanne Austin

It was noted that the following had been elected to the office of Councillor:

 

Abbey – Peter Roberts

Arbury – Charlotte Perry

Castle – Marie-Louise Holland

Cherry Hinton – Russ McPherson

Coleridge – Lewis Herbert

East Chesterton – Peter Sarris

Kings Hedge’s – Martin Smart

Market – Dan Ratcliffe

Newnham – Rod Cantrill

Petersfield – Richard Robertson and Ann Sinnott

Queen Edith’s – Tim Moore

Romsey – Dave Baigent

Trumpington – Nick Avery

West Chesterton – Ysanne Austin

 

 

 

The Council noted the appointment of The Reverend, Ruth Adams as the Mayor’s Chaplain for the Municipal Year 2014/2015.

 

 

The Council noted the appointment of Corporal Avinash Mocherla, as the Mayor’s Cadet for the Municipal Year 2014/15.

 

Resolved (unanimously), on the proposal of Councillor Catherine Smart, seconded by Councillor Moghadas that:

 

       i.          This Council expresses its appreciation of the manner in which the duties of Mayor were discharged by Councillor Paul Saunders during his period of office and that the Common Seal be affixed to a copy of this resolution for presentation to him.

 

1.       APOLOGIES

 

No Apologies had been received.

 

 

2. WELCOME

 

The Mayor welcomed a group of students from North Cambridge Academy to watch the Mayor making ceremony.  Representatives of Castle Townswomen’s Guild and students from the University of Cambridge were also welcomed.

 

 

3.       CIVIC CHURCH SERVICE – SUNDAY, 15^th June

 

The Mayor confirmed that the Mott Sermon would be preached at Holy Trinity Church on Sunday 15^th June at 9.30am.

 

 

4.       PROCLAMATION OF MIDSUMMER FAIR – WEDNESDAY, 18^th JUNE, 2014

 

The Mayor confirmed that the Proclamation of Midsummer Fair would take place on Wednesday 18^th June.

 

 

5.       OUTGOING MAYOR’S DINNER – Thursday, 26^th June

 

The Mayor reminded anyone planning to attend the dinner at Corpus Christi College to mark the term in office of Paul Saunders to purchase tickets from the Civic and Twinning Officer.

 

 

6.      ARMED FORCES DAY - 28^th June

 

The Mayor confirmed that, in support of national Armed Forces Day, the Armed Forces Flag would be flown from the Guildhall from Monday 23^rd June for one week. 

 

 

7.       MAYOR’S DAY OUT

 

The Mayor confirmed that the Mayor’s Day Out would take place on Thursday 21^st August in Great Yarmouth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Councillor Perry proposed and Councillor Pitt seconded that Councillors Moghadas and McPherson be appointed as Bailiffs.

 

Councillor Pitt proposed and Councillor O’Reilly seconded that Councillors Moore and Pippas be appointed as Bailiffs.

 

Councillor Hipkin proposed and Councillor Holland seconded that Councillor Meftah be appointed as a Bailiff.

 

Resolved that Councillors Meftah, Moghadas, McPherson, Moore and Pippas be appointed as Bailiffs of the City for the Municipal Year 2014/2015.

 

 

 

 

Councillor	Item	Interest
Cantrill	14/34/CNL	Personal: Trustee of Winter Comfort
Reid	14/38a/CNL	Personal: Member of LGA Committee
Todd-Jones	14/38b/CNL	Personal: Member of Unison

 

 

 

The Mayor confirmed that Councillor Bick had resigned from the post of Leader to enable a new election to take place.

 

Councillor Benstead proposed and Councillor Price seconded the nomination of Councillor Herbert as Leader of the Council

 

Resolved (unanimously) to:

 

       i.          Elect Councillor Herbert as Leader of the Council. 

 

     ii.          Note the Executive Councillors as follows:

 

-        Executive Councillor for Strategy and Transformation: Councillor Herbert

 

-        Executive Councillor for City Centre and Public Places: Councillor O’Reilly

 

-        Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources: Councillor Owers

 

-        Executive Councillor for Housing: Councillor Price

 

-        Executive Councillor for Environment, Waste and Public Health: Councillor Roberts

 

-        Executive Councillor for Planning Policy and Transport: Councillor Blencowe

 

-        Executive Councillor for Community, Arts and Recreation: Councillor Johnson

 

   iii.          Note the revised Executive Councillor portfolios set out in amended Appendix 1 of the officer’s report - as circulated around the Chamber and included in the Council ‘Information Pack’.  

 

   iv.          Approve the revised scrutiny arrangements set out in the amended Appendix 2 and the amendments to the Constitution set out in Appendix 3 - as circulated around the Chamber and included in the Council ‘Information Pack’.  

 

 

 

Resolved to:

 

       i.          Agree the number and size of committee and membership of committees as listed below:

 

SCRUTINY COMMITTEE	NOMINATION(S)	NUMBERS (1) =Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Community Services	Liberal Democrats   Labour	3 (1)     5 (1)       8 Total	Reiner, Reid, Austin (Alt: Moore)   Moghadas, Sarris, Baigent, Sinnott, Ratcliffe (Alt: Robertson)

 

SCRUTINY COMMITTEE	NOMINATION(S)	NUMBERS (1) =Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Environment	Liberal Democrats   Labour	3 (1)     5 (1)     8 Total	Pitt, C.Smart, Moore (Alt: Tunnacliffe)   Gawthrope, Robertson, Ratcliffe, Perry, M.Smart (Alt: Sinnott)

 

SCRUTINY COMMITTEE	NOMINATION(S)	NUMBERS (1) =Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Strategy & Resources	Liberal Democrats     Labour	3 (1)       5 (1)     8 Total	Bick, Smith, Cantrill (Alt: C.Smart)   Robertson, Benstead, Sinnott, M.Smart, Baigent (Alt: Sarris)

 

 

SCRUTINY COMMITTEE	NOMINATION(S)	NUMBERS (1) =Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Housing	Liberal Democrats   Labour           Indep/Cons	2 (1)     5 (1)           1 (1)   8 Total	Blackhurst, Avery (Alt: Pitt)   Todd-Jones, Birtles, Bird, Baigent, Robertson (Alt: Gawthrope)   Holland (Alt: Hipkin)

 

 

REGULATORY COMMITTEES

 

COMMITTEE/SUB COMMITTEE	NOMINATIONS	NUMBERS (1)= Alternate	NOMINATIONS
PLANNING	Liberal Democrat     Labour           Indep/Cons	3 (1)       4 (1)           1 (1)   8 Total	Pippas, C.Smart, Tunnacliffe (Alt: Avery)   Blencowe, Gawthrope, Dryden, Hart (Alt: Bird)   Hipkin (Alt: Holland)

 

 

COMMITTEE/SUB COMMITTEE	NOMINATIONS	NUMBERS (1)= Alternate	NOMINATIONS
JOINT DEVELOPMENT CONTROL COMMITTEE	Liberal Democrat     Labour	2 (2)       4 (2)       6 Total	Avery, C.Smart (Alt: Tunnacliffe and Pippas)   Blencowe, Robertson, Dryden, Price, (Alts: Gawthrope and Herbert)

 

 

COMMITTEE/SUB COMMITTEE	NOMINATIONS	NUMBER (1)= Alternate	NOMINATIONS
LICENSING	Liberal Democrat     Labour             Indep/Cons	4 (1)       7 (1)             1 (1)     12 Total	Austin, Bick, Pippas, Smith (Alt: Moore)   Benstead, Owers, Sinnott, Gawthrope, McPherson, O’Reilly, Bird (Alt: Baigent)   Meftah (Alt:Holland)

 

OTHER COMMITTEES

 

COMMITTEE/SUB COMMITTEE	NOMINATIONS	NUMBER (1)= Alternate	NOMINATIONS
CIVIC AFFAIRS	Liberal Democrat   Labour	2(1)     4 (1)     6 Total	Cantrill, Pitt (Alt: Bick)   Benstead, Hart, McPherson, Robertson (Alt: Moghadas)

 

COMMITTEE/SUB COMMITTEE	NOMINATIONS	NUMBERS (1)= Alternate	NOMINATIONS
EMPLOYMENT APPEALS SUB	Liberal Democrat   Labour         Indep/Cons	2     5         1   8 Total	Pippas, C.Smart     Birtles, Gawthrope, Price, Sarris, Blencowe   Hipkin

 

COMMITTEE/SUB COMMITTEE	NOMINATIONS	NUMBERS (1)= Alternate	NOMINATIONS
TRANSPORT AREA JOINT COMMITTEE (AJC)	Liberal Democrat   Labour	2     4     6 Total	C.Smart, Tunnacliffe   Blencowe, Robertson, O’Reilly, Ratcliffe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resolved to:

 

       i.          Agree the Chairs and Vice-Chairs as follows:

 

Committee	Labour Nominations		Liberal Democrat Nominations		Opposition Spokes
	Chair	Vice Chair	Chair	Vice Chair
Community Services	Moghadas	Ratcliffe			Reid, Reiner
Environment	Gawthrope	Perry			Pitt, C.Smart
Strategy and Resources	Robertson	Sinnott			Bick, Smith,
Housing	Todd-Jones	Part 1: Tenant/ Leaseholder   Part 2: Birtles			Blackhurst, Holland
Planning	Dryden	Blencowe			C.Smart, Hipkin
JDCC	Blencowe (City Lead)				C.Smart
Licensing	Benstead			Smith	Smith, Meftah
Civic Affairs	McPherson	Benstead			Pitt
Employment Appeal Sub Committee	Price				Smart, Hipkin

 

 

 

Resolved to:

 

       i.          Confirm the appointment of Mr Sean Brady as the Council’s Independent Person and Mr Robert Bennett as the Council’s Deputy Independent Person for the Municipal Year 2014/15.

 

 

Resolved:

 

       i.          That Councillor O’Reilly take the place of former Councillor Ward on the Conservators of the River Cam.

 

 

Group Leaders will each have the opportunity to speak for not more than 15 minutes on their Group’s priorities for action and objectives for the forthcoming municipal year in the following order:

 

Councillor Herbert

Councillor Bick

Councillor Hipkin

 

The Annual Statement of the Labour Group and the Liberal Democrat Group are appended to this summons.

Councillor Herbert spoke to a written Annual Statement on the Labour Group’s priorities for the forthcoming Municipal Year, which had been appended to the agenda for the meeting.

 

Councillor Bick spoke to a written Annual Statement on the Liberal Democrats Group’s priorities for the forthcoming Municipal Year, which had been appended to the agenda for the meeting.

 

Councillor Hipkin spoke to a written Annual Statement on the Independent/Conservative Group’s priorities for the forthcoming Municipal Year, which had been circulated around the Chamber.

 

The scheme for Annual Statements provides that the Statement of the Leader of the largest group on the Council shall be deemed to be a motion for adoption. It may therefore be debated and amendments proposed after which it shall be put to the vote and, if carried, shall be adopted as Council policy for the municipal year.

 

The Council will therefore consider the Annual Statement of the Labour Group as a motion for adoption.

 

If the adopted Annual Statement contains proposals which fall outside the Council’s budgetary or policy framework, the proposals shall not be acted upon until there has been a report to the relevant Scrutiny Committee(s) and Executive Councillor(s) in the normal way and approval at a subsequent meeting of the Council. 

 

 

Under the Scheme for Annual Statements, that of Councillor Herbert was deemed to be a motion for adoption by the Council.

 

Resolved (by 25 votes to 0) that:

 

       i.          The Annual Statement of the Labour Group, as appended to the agenda, be adopted as Council policy for 2014/15.

 

 

 

 

Mr Carpen addressed the Council and made the following points:

 

 

       i.          In April 2012 Councillor Johnson promised to deliver a Cambridge Societies' Fair on the condition that he was elected.

 

     ii.          As the new Executive Councillor responsible for delivering this can he now ask officers to:

 

-       begin the scoping and planning necessary to deliver this - in particular how to work best with students in further education.

 

-       give very serious consideration to a 'community mapping exercise' - to ensure no community groups are missed out.

 

-       work with Mr Carpen and colleagues working on a 'community action summit' this September at Anglia Ruskin University. 

 

   iii.          Asked the Executive Councillor to report back with a progress update at the next Council meeting.

 

 

The Executive Councillor for Community, Arts and Recreation responded:

 

i.                 The Cambridge Community Fair was planned for 2015. Officers would start discussing and developing options, with partners, early in the new year. At the moment a lot of officer time was being spent on the Grants Review which was a very important and complex piece of work.

 

ii.               In respect to any preliminary planning work with students, Officers would be discussing ideas with the Volunteer Centre and universities. This would build upon the work in 2013 following a Labour Motion to Council by Councillor Roberts which called for closer links between town and gown.

 

iii.             Organisations such as the Volunteer Centre, Cambridge Hub, Cambridge Student Community Action and Anglia Ruskin Student's Union Volunteering Service already did a lot of work matching up students and other volunteers with voluntary groups. There would be a need to ensure that they were all working together, complementing each other and not duplicating or overlapping work.

 

iv.             The Council worked closely with voluntary sector organisations such as Cambridge Council for Voluntary Services, Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum, the Volunteer Centre, Disability Cambridgeshire and Living Sport to ensure access to their member groups for disseminating information or seeking opinions. In addition, Cambridgeshire.net provided a fantastic database of groups, clubs and organisations in the city as well as opportunities for volunteering. There would be little point in Officers spending time duplicating what was already there. Instead officers would focus their time on delivering issues set out in Labour's manifesto around tackling poverty and social exclusion.

 

v.              The Head of Community Development had been asked if he or a senior member of his staff could assist on the day of the summit. However, as mentioned, Officers had a very challenging work programme to deliver and would not have capacity to become involved in the planning and organisation of the event. It was suggested that Mr Carpen contact the Head of Community Development to confirm his attendance.

 

vi.             Given this response, reporting back to the next Council meeting would not be necessary.

 

Mr Carpen addressed the Council and made the following points:

 

       i.          Throughout 2014 he had been disappointed to find that local public sector institutions were ignoring correspondence from local residents trying to hold them to account, and repeated correspondence from local Councillors and Area Committees.

 

     ii.          When standing as a candidate he had also found that his correspondence was ignored.

 

   iii.          Asked if the Council could make it clear to the heads of all local institutions spending taxpayers money to deliver public services that:

 

-        such behaviour was unacceptable and is a contempt of the Council

-        such behaviour was a barrier towards Cambridge becoming a city greater than the sum of its parts

 

   iv.          Suggested that the Council’s Executive consider implementing a new, simple process where the Leader of the Council writes to ministers responsible for those institutions asking for their assistance following repeated refusals to engage with the Council - with the knowledge that any correspondence from the Leaders of Councils in that capacity has to be responded to by Ministers of the Crown.

 

    v.          Asked that outcomes from this be reported back to the next meeting of the Council.

 

 

The Leader of the Council responded:

 

       i.          Thanked Mr Carpen for the question and the information that he regularly provided on his blog.

 

     ii.          Whilst the City Council had service standards relating to responding to correspondence, for example responding to Facebook/Twitter posts within 4 hours and letters/emails within 7 days, it could not directly influence others. 

 

   iii.          The City Council had to focus on its own standards and particular issues that have been identified by the public should be raised through the relevant Area Committee.   

 

Mr Carpen made the following supplementary points:

 

       i.          He was concerned that Councillors and Area Committees had contacted external bodies such as schools and bus companies and received no response. The Council needed to follow this up and ensure that responses were received.  

 

 

     ii.          With a new administration in place it was an ideal time to make clear that this would not be tolerated.

 

The Leader of the Council responded:

 

       i.          Discussions with Coleridge Community College and Long Road College regarding engagement with the democratic process were progressing well.

 

 

     ii.          Councillor Ashton would be following up with the other schools in the south area to discuss engagement ideas. 

 

   iii.          The Committee Services Team would be asked to chase Netherhall, Hills Road and Long Road schools following the commitment at South Area Committee to follow this up. However the Council's main focus needed to be on responses on matters that are directly its responsibility. 

 

 

Mr Carpen addressed the Council and made the following points:

 

       i.          Alex Aiken, Executive Director of the Government Communications Service inside Cabinet Office had confirmed that people in Communication roles would not be eligible for promotions or sideways moves if they did not learn digital skills.

 

     ii.          All local public sector jobs in Cambridge that have a management function should have basic data analysis and social media skills as a mandatory competency.

 

   iii.          Could the Leader and Chief Executive of the Council consider this specific proposal and report back to the next Council meeting.

 

The Leader of the Council responded:

 

       i.          Specific competencies are based on the individual posts, and digital skills form part of these where appropriate. 

 

     ii.          The Council has corporate Twitter and Facebook pages and other parts of the Council operate social media accounts to disseminate information.

 

   iii.          Further improvements to the Council’s communication processes were being investigated.

 

1.     From Councillor Pitt

 

Executive Councillor for Environment Waste and Public Health: Councillor Roberts

 

How often in the last year have air quality monitors shown hazardous results?

 

The Executive Councillor responded that Cambridge City Council had 5 continuous monitors at the following roadside sites:

 

·       Regent Street

·       Gonville Place

·       Parker Street

·       Newmarket Road

·       Montague Road (replaced monitor that was previously in Silver Street)

 

Pollutants measured at these sites include, nitrogen dioxide, Particulate Matter -PM10 and a finer fraction of Particles PM 2.5.

 

The annual mean concentration was only exceeded at one automatic monitoring site namely Parker Street in 2013 compared with two sites in 2012. Although there has been a slight decrease at this site since 2012.

 

Annual and daily mean objectives for PM10 were achieved at automatic monitoring stations. The PM10 daily mean objective was exceeded 15 times out of an allowable 35 at Parker Street and 14 and 11 times at Gonville Place and Montague road respectively.  (35 or more exceedances in a year would be a breach of the objectives.)

 

Of the 54 non automatic monitoring sites, 5 sites had recorded levels at or above the Air Quality objective level compared with 12 in 2012, 19 in 2011 and 36 in 2010.

 

 

2.     From Councillor Reiner

 

        Executive Councillor for City Centre and Public Places: Councillor O’ Reilly

 

        Some residents were pleased to hear that Labour had committed before the election to remove the fence in Stourbridge Common; in light of this, could the Executive Councillor please tell us when the removal of the fence is likely to happen?

 

        The Executive Councillor responded that the temporary fence on Stourbridge Common was erected in April 2014 to protect 330m of recently repaired riverbank. The establishing vegetation would be assessed in July 2014, and it was envisaged that the fence would be removed at this stage.

 

3.     From Councillor Smart

 

        Executive Councillor for Planning Policy and Transport: Councillor Blencowe

 

As the new administration intends to centralise planning, removing it from the remit of the Area Committees and giving it all to the central committee, with no change in delegations, has any estimate been made of the time that will be needed in the central Planning Committee? Is it intended that the meeting will run on until it finishes, however long that might be, or is a cut off time envisaged? And if there is a cut off time, what will happen to the remaining applications?

 

The Executive Councillor responded that the detailed proposals would be considered at the Environment Scrutiny Committee and the Full Council in July.

 

It was envisaged that there would be a guillotine on proceedings, as currently happens with Area Committees and Full Council. Any remaining applications would then be taken to a reconvened meeting.

 

4.     From Councillor Cantrill

 

        Executive Councillor for Planning Policy and Transport: Councillor Blencowe

 

        Could the Executive Councillor reconfirm the position of the Council regarding the creation of the Chisholm Trail?

 

The Executive Councillor responded that the Chisholm Trail formed part of the City Deal. The City Deal would be signed next week and this would confirm the position.

 

5.     From Councillor Reid

 

Executive Councillor for City Centre and Public Places: Councillor O’ Reilly

 

What action will she be taking to have the tourist banners on King's Parade removed?

 

The Executive Councillor responded that obstructions on the Highway such as A-boards and street banners were enforced by the County Council under the Highways Act. City Council Officers had recently been working closely with the District Highway Manager and his enforcement team to visit King's Parade and ask for the banners to be removed. However they had subsequently re-appeared and the County Council's ability to enforce against this activity on a regular basis in reality was limited. The District Highway Manager had also raised some doubts over the use of the Highway Act as there could be some argument that the banners were not an obstruction.

 

It was confirmed that City Council Officers were investigating whether action could be taken by Trading Standards as some of the banners state, "Tourist Info Guided Tours Meeting Point" which gives the impression to some visitors that they were part of, or affiliated to, the Official Tourist Information Centre.

 

6.     From Councillor Avery

       

        Executive Councillor for Environment, Waste and Public Health: Councillor Roberts

 

Would the Executive Councillor for Environment, Waste and Public Health set out the detail of the implementation of the “Cleaner Cambridge Blitzes” programme?

 

        The Executive Councillor responded that additional bins would be added this summer and three new Dog Officers would be tackling known ‘hot spots’. Additional preventative work would also be undertaken by the Pest Control Service.

 

        Additional information regarding the “Cleaner Cambridge Blitzes” programme would be brought to future Area Committees to enable the public to have their say, and an Annual Report would be produced.

 

 

Review of Local Democracy in the UK by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

 

This 2014 review of local democracy in the UK by international peers has made a series of recommendations calling for greater devolution of powers to local government, increased tax-raising powers for councils and a fairer funding settlement for English local authorities.

 

The recommendations are fully in keeping with LGA policy in this respect. As with all peer reviews, the onus is on the reviewed body, in this case central and local government in the UK, to address the finding and ensure the necessary improvements are in place.

 

The council supports the LGA view that the review is a fair reflection on the current pressures facing local government. The current model for financing and running local government needs to change and adapt to today's circumstances. It is important that local and central government work together to address these issues and take these recommendations forward.

 

When the delegation returns to the UK in five years, these vital reforms should be in full force and local government be able to look to the future with renewed hope.

 

 

Councillor Reid proposed and Councillor Pitt seconded the following motion:

 

“Review of Local Democracy in the UK by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

 

This 2014 review of local democracy in the UK by international peers has made a series of recommendations calling for greater devolution of powers to local government, increased tax-raising powers for councils and a fairer funding settlement for English local authorities.

 

The recommendations are fully in keeping with LGA policy in this respect. As with all peer reviews, the onus is on the reviewed body, in this case central and local government in the UK, to address the finding and ensure the necessary improvements are in place.

 

The council supports the LGA view that the review is a fair reflection on the current pressures facing local government. The current model for financing and running local government needs to change and adapt to today's circumstances. It is important that local and central government work together to address these issues and take these recommendations forward.

 

When the delegation returns to the UK in five years, these vital reforms should be in full force and local government be able to look to the future with renewed hope.”

 

Resolved (unanimously) to agree the motion as set out above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This council notes the decision of the outgoing ruling group to cease the council’s pest control service.

 

This council notes that the incoming ruling group have openly campaigned to reverse the decision, and that saving the pest control service therefore clearly has a public mandate.

 

This council values the important work done by the pest control service during many years of service and apologises for the uncertainty created for the staff by the situation that has arisen in recent months.

 

This council thanks Unison for their work in alerting the public and councillors to the dangers of this cut, and in representing the workforce affected.

 

This council resolves to immediately reverse the cessation of the council’s pest control service  and to fund the restoration of the service by reducing the Council’s underspent training budget of £301,860 by 25%. The balance of the savings will be considered in a wider budget review in July.

 

These changes to the Council’s budget are shown in the table below:

 

Amendment	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18
	£
Reverse saving “Cessation of the Pest Control Service”	13,800	54,500	54,500	54,500
Reduction of in the “Overall Training, Seminar and Conference” budget	(75,460)	(75,460)	(75,460)	(75,460)
Net Financial Impact	(61,660)	(20,960)	(20,960)	(20,960)

 

 

 

Councillor Roberts proposed and Councillor Owers seconded the following motion:

 

“This council notes the decision of the outgoing ruling group to cease the council’s pest control service.

 

This council notes that the incoming ruling group have openly campaigned to reverse the decision, and that saving the pest control service therefore clearly has a public mandate.

 

This council values the important work done by the pest control service during many years of service and apologises for the uncertainty created for the staff by the situation that has arisen in recent months.

 

This council thanks Unison for their work in alerting the public and councillors to the dangers of this cut, and in representing the workforce affected.

 

This council resolves to immediately reverse the cessation of the council’s pest control service  and to fund the restoration of the service by reducing the Council’s underspent training budget of £301,860 by 25%. The balance of the savings will be considered in a wider budget review in July.

 

These changes to the Council’s budget are shown in the table below:”

 

Amendment	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18
	£
Reverse saving “Cessation of the Pest Control Service”	13,800	54,500	54,500	54,500
Reduction of in the “Overall Training, Seminar and Conference” budget	(75,460)	(75,460)	(75,460)	(75,460)
Net Financial Impact	(61,660)	(20,960)	(20,960)	(20,960)

 

Resolved (by 26 votes to 0) to agree the motion as set out above.

 

 

There were no written questions.

Resolved that:

 

       i.          Record of Members’ attendances at Committee, Sub Committee and Working Party Meetings during 2013/2014 be noted.