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Contact: Democratic Services Committee Manager
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To Elect a Mayor for the Municipal Year 2015/16 PDF 427 KB Minutes: Councillor Roberts proposed and Councillor McPherson seconded the nomination of Councillor Robert Dryden as Mayor for the Municipal Year 2015/16. Resolved that: i. Councillor Robert Dryden be elected Mayor for the Municipal Year 2015/16 (Councillor Dryden then made the statutory declaration of acceptance of the office of Mayor). |
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To Elect a Deputy Mayor for the Municipal Year 2015/16 Minutes: Councillor Owers proposed and Councillor Roberts seconded the nomination of Councillor Jeremy Benstead as Deputy Mayor for the Municipal Year 2015/2016. Resolved that: i. Councillor Jeremy Benstead be elected Deputy Mayor for the Municipal Year 2015/16 (Councillor Benstead then made the statutory declaration of acceptance of the office of Mayor). |
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To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 16 April 2015 PDF 67 KB Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of the 16th April 2015 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Mayor. |
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To Note the Returning Officer's Report That The Following Have Been Elected to the Office of Councillor · Abbey: Caroline Hart · Arbury: Carina O’Reilly · Castle: Valerie Margaret Holt · Cherry Hinton: Mark Ashton · Coleridge: Jeremy Benstead · East Chesterton: Gerri Bird · Kings Hedges: Kevin Price · Market: Oscar Edward Gillespie · Newnham: Markus Gehring · Petersfield: Kevin Blencowe · Queen Edith’s George Gregory Pippas · Romsey: Anna Smith · Trumpington: Zoe O'Connell · West Chesterton: Damien Tunnacliffe Minutes: It was noted that the following had been elected to the Office of Councillor. · Abbey: Caroline Hart · Arbury: Carina O’Reilly · Castle: Valerie Margaret Holt · Cherry Hinton: Mark Ashton · Coleridge: Jeremy Benstead · East Chesterton: Gerri Bird · Kings Hedges: Kevin Price · Market: Oscar Edward Gillespie · Newnham: Markus Gehring · Petersfield: Kevin Blencowe · Queen Edith’s George Gregory Pippas · Romsey: Anna Smith · Trumpington: Zoe O'Connell · West Chesterton: Damien Tunnacliffe |
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To Note the Appointment of the Mayor's Chaplain for the Ensuing Year Minutes: The Council noted the appointment of Father Peter Edwards as the Mayor’s Chaplain for the Municipal Year 2015/16. |
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To Note the Appointment of the Mayor's Cadet for the Ensuing Year Minutes: The Council noted the appointment of Mr Dan Beattie, representing St John Ambulance, as the Mayor’s Cadet for the Municipal Year 2015/16. |
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To Pass a Resolution of Thanks to the Outgoing Mayor Minutes: Resolved (unanimously),
on the proposal of Councillor Price, seconded by Councillor Pippas that: i.
The Council expresses its appreciation of the
manner in which the duties of Mayor were discharged by Councillor Bird and her
consort Alan Pooley, during their period of office and that the Common Seal be
affixed to a copy of this resolution for presentation to at the next Council
meeting. |
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Mayor's Announcements Minutes: APOLOGIES
No Apologies were
received. PRINCESS
CHARLOTTE OF CAMBRIDGE The Mayor informed
the Council that on the news of the
birth of the Royal Princess, a letter of congratulations had sent by the Mayor
to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on behalf of the City Council. CIVIC CHURCH SERVICE – SUNDAY, 31st May The Mayor announced
that the Mott Sermon would be preached
at Holy Trinity Church, Sunday, 31st May at 9.30am. OUTGOING MAYOR’S DINNER – Thursday, 11th June Councillors
were asked that if anyone was planning
to attend the dinner at Corpus Christi College to mark the term in office of
Councillor Gerri Bird to arrange the purchase of their tickets from Sue
Edwards. TWINNING The Mayor informed the Council that at the end of her year in office,
Councillor Bird visited Cambridge’s twin City of Szeged in order to attend the
annual Bridge Fair. The Mayor announced that on 13th June he would be
visiting the twin City of Heidelberg, accompanied by the Executive Councillor
for Planning Policy and Transport and the Director of Environment, to mark the
50th anniversary of the signing of the City’s Friendship Agreement with
Heidelberg. The Council were informed that in July, a group of
four civic guests from Heidelberg would be visiting Cambridge, to coincide with
Big Weekend during which some Second World War commemoration events will take
place to mark 70 years of peace in Europe. PROCLAMATION OF MIDSUMMER FAIR – WEDNESDAY,
24th JUNE, 2015. The Proclamation of Midsummer Fair would take place on Wednesday, 24th June 2015. MAYOR’S DAY OUT The Mayor confirmed
that the Mayor’s Day Out would take place on Thursday 21 August 2015 and the venue was once again Great Yarmouth. |
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To Elect from among the Members of the Council Bailiffs of the City for the Municipal Year 2015/16 Minutes: Councillor
Smith proposed and Councillor Hipkin seconded that Councillors Gawthrope,
McPherson, Moore, Pippas and Meftah be appointed as Bailiffs. Resolved that Councillors Gawthrope,
McPherson, Moore, Pippas and Meftah be appointed as Bailiffs of the
City for the Municipal Year 2015/2016. |
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To Consider The Recommendations Of The Executive For Adoption |
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Additional documents:
Minutes: Resolved (28 votes to 0) in
favour:
i.
To agree the Telecommunications & Local Area Network project be added to the
Capital Plan. |
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To Consider Recommendations of Committee for Adoption |
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15/18/CIV: Procedure for Submitting Substantive Amendments to Full Council Meetings PDF 47 KB Additional documents: Minutes: Resolved (28 votes in
favour to 14 votes against):
i.
To
adopt the changes to the Council’s
Constitution proposed in appendix 1 of the Head of Legal Services’ report
attached to the agenda of these minutes. |
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15/25/CIV: Constitutional Updates PDF 43 KB Additional documents: Minutes: Resolved
(unanimously) to :
i.
Note the changes in Executive portfolios with
responsibility for public health moving from the Executive Councillor for
Environment, Waste and Public Health to the Executive Councillor for Community,
Arts and Recreation as set out in Appendix 1 of the Head of Legal Services’
report attached to the agenda of the minutes.
ii.
Agree the revised scrutiny arrangements set out
in Appendix 2 of the Head of Legal Services’ report attached to the agenda of
the minutes. |
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A15/26/CIV: Nominations for Committees for the Municipal Year 2015/16 PDF 67 KB Minutes: Appointment of Committees: Resolved to:
i.
Agree the number and size of committee and membership of committees as listed below: SCRUTINY
COMMITTEES
REGULATORY
COMMITTEES
OTHER COMMITTEES
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15/27/CIV: Nominations for Chairs and Vice Chairs of Scrutiny & Regulatory Committees PDF 45 KB Minutes: Resolved to: i. Agree the Chairs and Vice-Chairs as follows:
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15/29/CIV: Appointment of Independent Persons PDF 40 KB Minutes: Resolved to: i.
Confirm the continued appointment of Mr Sean Brady as the Council’s Independent Person and Mr
Robert Bennett as the Council’s Deputy Independent Person for 2015/16. |
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Additional documents: Minutes: Resolved to: i. Note the record of Members’ attendances at Committee, Sub Committee and Working Party Meetings for 2015/16. |
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Group Leads 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 is appended to this summons. Minutes: 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 Democrat Group’s
priorities for the forthcoming Municipal Year, which had been circulated around
the chamber. Councillor
Hipkin gave an oral Annual Statement on the Minorities Group’s priorities for
the forthcoming Municipal Year. |
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Adoption of Annual Policies and Priorities 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. Minutes: Under the Scheme for Annual Statements, that of Councillor
Herbert was deemed to be a motion for adoption by the Council. Resolved (by 28 votes to 0) that:
i.
The Annual Statement of the Labour Group, as appended to the
agenda, be adopted as Council policy for 2015/16. |
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Public Questions Time - see at the foot of the agenda for details of the scheme Minutes: Mr Carpen addressed the Council and made the following statement:
i.
In
the 28 days up to the general election my YouTube account had over 3,500 views
with over 15,000 minutes looking at video footage of the hustings
I attended, interviews and local council debates.
ii.
What
plans does the Council have to provide online services such as digital video as
a means of educating people about how local government in Cambridge functions
and to promote local issues such as the City Deal. The Executive Councillor for City Centre and Public Places
responded:
i.
The Council recognised the growth in digital
communications which was why the Council were investing in improvements to the
website and working to improve our social media activity.
ii.
Digital video, alongside the many other forms of online
communication, was a growing area and the Council would like at appropriate
ways that it could be used.
iii.
It was worth remembering that there were many
residents who did not regularly access the internet and some who did not access
it at all. We need to bear this in mind when we think about how we communicate
with all of our residents, within our limited resources. iv.
It was imperative that the right balance was found
between online communications channels and more traditional methods such as the
local media and our residents’ magazine. All residents were entitled to
information about our services, whether they were online or not. Mr Carpen made the following supplementary points: i.
Important to acknowledge that freedom wasn’t free,
democracy was not a spectator sport. ii.
Acknowledged that the cost of time, resource and
equipment was not cheap and he would be launching a request for private support
to help cover his own costs. iii.
Heidi Allen, MP for South Cambridgeshire, had
agreed to a monthly 15-20 minute interview that would be put on-line. iv.
The same invitation was open to the local MP and
all City Councillors to participate. The Executive
Councillor for City Centre and Public Places responded with the
following: i.
Acknowledged the on-line interviews would assist in
improving the communication on local issues. ii.
Thanked Mr Carpen for his comments. |
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To deal with Oral Questions Minutes: When will the
Executive Councillor be publishing the results of the review of policy on
homelessness undertaken by the Lead Councillor for Homelessness? The Executive Councillor responded that there were a number of dimensions
to homelessness and the Council had been working with Officers over the last
twelve months to both ensure that every aspect is carefully monitored and
considered to improve the way the Council works to address homelessness. The numbers of people sleeping rough remained consistently low which is
due in part to the excellent network of partner agencies such as Jimmy’s and Wintercomfort (many of whom are supported financially by
the Council) that provide immediate support to those who find themselves in
dire straits with their housing. The amount of money spent on Bed and Breakfast accommodation for
homeless people was as low as it has been for several years. No family or
pregnant woman had spent more than 6 weeks in Bed and Breakfast for over a
year. The Council had been addressing the disruption caused to those who are
already in housing difficulties, particularly families, by placing them in
temporary accommodation outside of Cambridge. We were no longer using any
accommodation in Peterborough and officers have reviewed their processes for
checking that Bed and Breakfast accommodation is suitable and the process
through which the appropriate temporary accommodation is selected for the
homeless applicant. In some cases applicant’s chose to
be located outside of the city because of easier access to work and for other
personal reasons. Nevertheless, where an applicant had to be placed out of the
city it is currently on average no more than 6 to 7 days. One key factor in determining the length of stay in temporary
accommodation was the time taken to decide if an applicant is homeless under
the statutory definitions. Officers had improved their performance in this
respect but are still aiming to do even better. Over the last five years under
the previous collation Government, the number of people presenting themselves as homeless had increased and the Council
expected to continue to do so under the new Government. The Housing Portfolio Plan for 2015/16 clearly set out our strategic
objective “to deliver good quality housing related advice and direct measures
to help prevent homelessness”. The number of recorded preventions of
homelessness had continued to increase over the last 12 months to 470 which is
way above the average for the region. Despite the continual improvement highlighted in the information above
we were continuing to look at ways to further improve our homelessness ‘offer’.
For example, we are looking at the following measures to try and further reduce
Bed and Breakfast usage and out-of city placements:
i.
Increasing temporary accommodation supply
ii.
Considering a revision to the Lettings Policy by
introducing direct lets at the point of
acceptance of homelessness duty rather than allow applicants to bid for a
further 3 months. These measures and the Council’s overall approach to homelessness,
including Town Hall Lettings are part of the review of the Council’s Housing
Strategy that will be submitted to the Housing Committee for scrutiny in the
new municipal year. In considering the
reviews we had been assisted by Councillor Robertson, Lead Councillor for
Anti-Poverty Strategy and Councillor Baigent, Lead Councillor for Private
Rental Sector. 2) Councillor Bick to the Leader At committee the
Police stated that someone on Petersfield Green having a beer or a glass of
wine, but not creating any kind of problem to anyone, would remain perfectly
free to do so despite the imposition of a Public Spaces Protection Order. Why
therefore did the Leader choose to obscure this from the public, by wording the
PSPO notices that are shortly to be put in place as a general prohibition on
consuming or having an open container of alcohol? The Leader responded that the Police were entitled to have appropriate
discretion in the implementation of their own Order. The Police have been clear
in their intention that they would enforce the order to anyone who was in an
intoxicated state causing anti-social or intimidating behaviour. The objective
was to claim back public open spaces that all individuals could use,
particularly in the Northern part of the City where there was limited green
open public spaces. 3) Councillor Austin to the Executive Councillor for
Environment and Waste Could the Executive
Councillor identify what consultation he initiated prior to the recent
installation of the new model of litter bins on Parker's Piece? The Executive Councillor responded that a meeting had been convened and
all members of the Council had been invited to attend, subsequent area
committees had considered the issue and had raised concerns about the style of
the bins. It was considered that the
style of the bins was an operational matter and the new bins were of a higher
standard. The number of bins and dog bins across residential and open spaces had
increased, the number of people employed to empty bins on open spaces had
increased and the level of engagement had also increased. 4) Councillor Cantrill to the Leader What is the
Leader’s view on the Grosvenor proposals for the abbey stadium and the linked
sporting village in Trumpington? The Leader advised that the Grosvenor’s
proposals for the Abbey Stadium and the sporting village in Trumpington
were presented at public exhibitions held by Grosvenor at the Abbey Stadium and
in Trumpington on 18 & 19 May. No planning applications for the proposed
developments had been submitted as yet.
Any planning applications coming forward would be subject to due process
including full consideration of the very special circumstances required to
justify development on land within the Cambridge Green Belt. Officers from both Councils were working
closely together. An application for the
sporting village would be considered by the Joint Development Control Committee,
whilst an application for Abbey Stadium would be considered by Planning
Committee. Linkages between the two projects would be full explored as part of
any planning application process 5) Councillor Holland to the Executive Councillor for Communities Will Cambridge
City Council be pressing Cambridge Live to encourage more use of the Large Hall
in the Guildhall by local schools and music groups than has been the case over
the past two decades? The Executive Councillor for
Communities advised that the Council would certainly work alongside and monitor
the aspirations highlighted in Cambridge Live’s
charitable objects (and the Council’s contract with them) which include
commitments to the following:
i.
The promotion of arts and culture
ii.
The advancement of education
iii.
The promotion of social inclusion through music and
other cultural activities. When run by the Council the halls were used by the Corn Exchange to
support education and engagement projects with young people, particularly around
the Classical Concert Series. As was shown at the launch of the 15/16 Classical
Concert Series and the Cambridge Live Launch, this partnership with
Cambridgeshire Music and local schools is flourishing and would continue to
grow and develop following the appointment of the new Corn Exchange Artist in
Residence, percussionist Evelyn Glennie, and a new
partnership with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Cambridge Live would be reviewing the ways that it engages with all
parts of the local community over the coming months but the charity had
inherited ongoing challenging financial targets for the Guildhalls and those
targets have to be managed alongside its community aspirations. Councillor Holland to the Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources What is to become
of the magnificent organ in the Large Hall which has fallen into disrepair? The Executive Councillor for
Finance and Resources responded that the organ would need significant
expenditure to bring back into use. Estimates several years ago suggested
it would certainly be in excess of £100,000 and had been recently suggested
that this could be as much as £500,000 based on a restoration elsewhere.
The allocation of funds for the restoration of the organ was not a Council
priority. If other funders could be
found to finance the costs of a refurbishment, it was likely that they would
need to guarantees that the organ would be used regularly for recitals, that it
would need to be maintained and not allowed to fall into disrepair again.
Ongoing repair and maintenance would need to be financed often as funders would
meet the initial capital costs but not ongoing revenue costs. The use for
regular recitals may also conflict with the use by Cambridge Live which could
disrupt the letting income of the Large Hall. It was difficult to gauge how
much interest there would be in organ recitals and whether or not this would
generate income to offset repair and maintenance costs or hire of the Large
Hall on a commercial basis. The Council’s priority was to
see Cambridge Live operating successfully and developing a sustainable
business plan for the future that protects a diverse range of cultural
activities. The lettings in the small and large halls in the
Guildhall are integral to Cambridge Live’s business
plan and include everything from art events to fairs and weddings.
The trust needs to build up its profile and develop the use of the halls.
Physically restoring the organ
would not be a quick job and even if financial
resources were not an issue, now was not the time to
be contemplating major works that could disrupt use of the halls
and have an impact on planned and future bookings. |
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Written Questions No discussion will take place on this
item. Members will be asked to note the written questions and answers document as
circulated around the Chamber.
Minutes: Members noted the written question and answer that had been circulated
around the chamber. |