Agenda and minutes

Councillor Cantrill proposed and Councillor Sarris seconded the nomination of Councillor George Pippas as Mayor for the Municipal Year 2017/18.

Resolved (unanimously) that:

i.  Councillor George Pippas be elected for the Municipal Year 2017/18.

Councillor Pippas then made the statutory declaration of acceptance of the Office of Mayor.

Councillor Price proposed and Councillor T Moore seconded the nomination of Councillor Nigel Gawthrope as Deputy Mayor for the Municipal Year 2017/18.

Resolved that:

i.  Councillor Nigel Gawthrope be elected Deputy Mayor for the Municipal Year 2017/18.

Councillor Gawthrope then made the statutory declaration of acceptance of the Office of Deputy Mayor.

The minutes of 23 February 2017 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.

·  Arbury: Patrick Sheil

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

·  Arbury: Patrick Sheil

The Council noted the appointment of Father Dr Isidoros Katsos as the Mayor’s Chaplain for the Municipal Year 2017/18.

Resolved (unanimously), on the proposal of Councillor Roberts, seconded by Councillor Bick that:

i.  The Council expresses its appreciation of the manner in which the duties of Mayor were discharged by Councillor Jeremy Benstead, during his period of office and that the Common Seal be affixed to a copy of this resolution for presentation at the next Council meeting.

Resolved (unanimously), on the proposal of Councillor Hipkin, that:

i.  The Council expresses its appreciation of the manner in which the duties of Mayor were discharged by Councillor Holland, during her period of office.

Civic Church Service

Members were reminded that the Mott Sermon would be preached at All Saints Church on Sunday, 28 May at 9.30am, and to confirm attendance with the Mayor’s Secretary.

Proclamation of Midsummer Fair

The Proclamation had been scheduled to take place on Wednesday 21 June and further details would be circulated.

Mayor’s Day Out

The Mayor confirmed that the Mayor’s Day Out would take place on Wednesday 16 August and the venue was once again Great Yarmouth.

Resolved (unanimously) to:

Appoint Councillors T Moore, McPherson, Page-Croft and Sarris Bailiffs of the City for the Municipal Year 2017/18.

Resolved (unanimously) to:

  i.  Approve the nominations of Councillors Ratcliffe and Roberts and Mr Clive Brown to the office of the Conservators of the River Cam to 31 December 2018.

The report was noted.

Appointment of Committees:

Resolved (unanimously) to:

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

  ii.  Agree to depart from proportionality on the Planning Committee.

Scrutiny Committees

Regulatory Committees

Other Committees

Resolved (unanimously) to:

  i.  Agree the Chairs and Vice-Chairs as listed below:

Resolved (unanimously) 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 2017/18.

Resolved (by 30 votes to 0) the following changes to the Constitution as set out in bold and “”:

Council Procedure Rules

6. Appointment Of Alternate Members Of Committees And Sub-Committees
 

6.2 Number

6.2.1 For each committee or sub-committee, the Council (or committees in respect of sub-committees) will appoint one alternate member in respect of each political group represented on that committee or sub-committee, “and two in the case of the major Scrutiny Committees for groups with more than one Committee member,” but shall not appoint an alternate member for a political group which declines to nominate an alternate member.

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21.  Length of speeches

Generally

21.1  “Except for Executive Councillors, Chairs and spokespersons, who may speak for up to 5 minutes,” no other speech shall subject to the exceptions provided elsewhere in Council Procedure Rules exceed “3 minutes” length (without the consent of the Council given by reason of the exceptional importance of the subject and which consent shall be ascertained by the Mayor either on his/her own initiative or on a motion made which shall be put without amendment or discussion.  Provided that it shall be within the discretion of the Mayor to permit up to a further 3 minutes beyond the time so mentioned without the necessity for any such consent.

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PART 4B-ACCESS TO INFORMATION RULES-APPENDIX 2 PUBLIC SPEAKING RIGHTS

“Extraordinary Council Meetings – public questions will only be taken on the single item of business for which the extraordinary meeting has been called.”

Part 4EE-AREA COMMITTEE PROCEDURE RULES

4.   Co-opted Members

4.1  Each area committee shall invite county councillors “where the clear majority of a County Council Division is within” the area to be co-opted members. “County Councillors may vote on all matters except for any decision relating to city council funding and the election of the Chair and Vice-Chair.” Area committees may appoint such other non-voting co-opted members as they choose. Co-opted members may be appointed either in respect of the whole work of the area committee, or in respect of specific aspects of that work.

6.1 An area committee shall, at its first meeting of the municipal year, elect “City Councillors as” Chair and Vice Chair……

6.1.2 In the absence from any meeting of the Chair and Vice Chair, a “City Councillor as” Chair for that meeting……

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

Annual Statement of the Labour Group is appended.

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 appended to the information pack for the meeting

Councillor Hipkin gave an oral Annual Statement on the Independent/Green Group’s priorities for the forthcoming Municipal Year.

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 30 votes to 0) that:

i.   The Annual Statement of the Labour Group, as appended to the agenda, be adopted as Council policy for 2017/18.

The Leader of the Council will update Council and answer questions from members.

The Leader of the Council Councillor Herbert stated that being part of the Combined Authority process would present economic prospects for Cambridge and the surrounding areas; he welcomed collaborative working with follow Councillors to ensure those opportunities and highlighted the commitment to the affordable housing programme. 

The Leader explained he had taken the lead on spatial planning, which would link local plans, national infrastructure commitment and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough footprint. The role would also take into account land commission, focusing on the environment and supporting disadvantaged communities and individuals to benefit from growth and prosperity.

A detailed report would be presented to the Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Committee in July providing further updates on the Combined Authority.

In response to Members’ questions the Leader said:

  i.  Central Government had shown no commitment to devolution.

  ii.  There was a need for integration for the different funding streams available to Peterborough City Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, Local Enterprise Partnership, City Deal and funding for transport from the office of the newly created Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

  iii.  A decision had to be made to determine which organisation would lead on transport.

  iv.  The Local Enterprise Partnership and the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough should work together as they both had a significant amount of growth funding.

  v.  The City Deal and the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough had to collaborate; one was responsible the transportation strategy for greater Cambridge and the other for Peterborough and Cambridge. But it had yet to be worked on how this would occur to determine what was the best future transport options.

  vi.  Believed that progress could be made on a shared term of reference with the Mayor of Peterborough and Cambridgeshire and the City Deal.

 vii.  Committed to a clean air zone in the City Centre.

1) Councillor Austin to the Executive Councillor for Streets and Open Spaces

How can homeless people in the City be confident their belongings will not be disposed of in the future?

The Executive Councillor responded that the Council shared a commitment to support the homeless and vulnerable spending £1.2 million in assisting rough sleepers. A further grant of £400,000 had been awarded to continue the Council’s work.

While the Council did have a legal duty to keep the streets, safe, clean and accessible, it was not the Council’s policy to dispose of personal effects belonging to homeless people in the City and apologised to those concerned. 

The Executive Councillor advised that she had been out with the Council’s Street teams and had seen the care that was administered when working with those who were homeless and vulnerable.

An accessible central collection point for personal items to be claimed could be available in the future. Currently if personal processions needed to be removed they were kept at the Council’s depot and Officers worked closely with outside agencies to reunite those processions with the correct owners.

The Executive Councillor concluded the City Council and their partners would continue to work with those who were homeless and vulnerable to address the issues that they faced to move forward.

2) Councillor Tunnacliffe to the Executive Councillor for Streets and Open Spaces

Is the Executive Councillor happy with the extent of routine car parking on Midsummer Common in front of the Fort St George pub in breach of the rules of the common?

The Executive Councillor stated that neither she nor Officers were happy to see vehicles parked on the Common that should not be there. Access to the Common for vehicles was limited and should remain that way. 

The matter was recently discussed at the Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Midsummer Common and a recent visit had shown some of the issues that had been raised, such as damage to the grass caused by delivery vehicles which had not used the newly constructed loading bays.

Reassurances had been given that the Executive Councillor, fellow Councillors and Officers would continue to work hard to resolve these issues. Midsummer Common was a special area of the City and should be kept that way.

3) Councillor O'Connell to the Leader

Does the Leader believe the Punt Tout Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) is working effectively?

The Leader replied that the PSPO was a result of extensive consultation following previous efforts to reduce the issue of punt touts in the City Centre; such as the approval of a byelaw on Bridge Street and the introduction of a voluntary code of conduct, which many punt operators had refused to abide to.

Outside agencies such as the Police had taken part in the consultation and it had been determined that a PSPO would be a good idea.

Since the introduction of the PSPO over forty fixed penalty notices had been issued to those who had been caught breaching the order, second notices had been issued to a small number of operators.

Legal advice had determined that a PSPO could not be issued on the basis of just touting (advertising or being on the streets) but there had to be a wider breach to issue a notice.

The Leader resolved that future intervention would ensue as it was evident the matter was not be taken seriously.

4) Councillor Avery to the Executive Councillor for Housing

Could the Executive Councillor please give figures for homes known to be unoccupied in Cambridge and, in so doing, comment on his perception of the urgency of bringing empty homes into occupation?

The Executive Councillors specified that bringing empty properties back into occupation was a priority of the City Council and an empty Property Officer within Environmental Services had been employed full time to address this issue.

There were currently in the region of 500 empty properties within the City that had been empty for at least 6 months.  317 of those  empty properties had been recorded as being empty between 6 and 12 months, many of which being part of a natural turnover of property, between lets, being sold or refurbished. 

The Empty Property Officer had reported 75 long term empty privately owned properties which without the Councils on-going intervention would remain un-occupied and a wasted resource in the City.

The Executive Councillor acknowledged that empty properties could have a negative effect on the neighbourhood and environment, falling into disrepair, becoming a magnet for anti-social behaviour.

Between the months of April 2016 to the end of March 2017 a total of 39 long term empty properties had been brought back into use with the intervention of the Empty Property Officer.

5) Councillor Bick to the Executive Councillor for Housing

How satisfied is the Executive Councillor that tenants of the City Council’s two-storey sheltered housing scheme at Stanton House recently had to wait 12 weeks for a repair to the scheme’s only lift? During this time it remained inoperative, leaving access only to a chairlift which proved completely inadequate in enabling tenants to carry washing, shopping and rubbish, let alone their strollers, trolleys and medical equipment - absolute necessities for older people?

The Executive Councillor stated that this had been an unsatisfactory situation but everything had been done within the Council’s control to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

Those residents who had not able to use the stairs had access to a stair lift and City Homes staff were regularly on site to help residents such as carrying items between floors.

The existing lift, approximately 20 years old, was maintained as part of an annual servicing programme with a specialist lift contractor. Repairs were carried out by the same specialist as required on both a routine planned and response basis. 

When the lift had failed the parts required were not available and were sourced direct from the original manufacturer in Germany. The delivery of parts did not materialise as quickly as promised and the extended delay did lead to some unavoidable inconvenience to residents. When the parts arrived they were expressed delivered to site and installed by a manager from the Council’s contractor rather than wait for the next available engineer.

The Executive Councillor confirmed installation was now fully functioning but a project had also been included in the Council’s five year planned works programme for complete replacement of the lift in 2018/19 subject to budget.

6) Councillor Cantrill to the Leader

What is the Leader’s view of the extensive agenda for the city deal meeting in July that will consider a number of important schemes within the city?

The Leader responded that the General Election in June had left no other choice than to rearrange June items to July. This would also allow more time for Officers and allow them to work with outside organisations such as resident associations. There would be a proposal to split the meeting into two, a morning and afternoon. As standard all items would be given considerable consideration.

Council calls on the Executive Councillor for Environmental Services and City Centre to establish a member-led review of the planning and delivery of the recently reorganised waste collection routes in the city.

Councillor O’Connell proposed and Councillor Bick seconded the following motion:

Council calls on the Executive Councillor for Environmental Services and City Centre to establish a member-led review of the planning and delivery of the recently reorganised waste collection routes in the city.

Councillor R Moore proposed and Councillor Roberts seconded the following amendment to the motion (deleted text struck through and additional wording underlined).

Council calls on the Executive Councillor for Environmental Services and City Centre to establish a member-led Environment Scrutiny Committee to undertake at its next meeting a review of the planning and delivery of the recently reorganised waste collection routes in the City and consider the already planned Officer’s report to the Committee.

On a show of hands the amendment was carried by 26 votes to 12.

It was resolved (26 votes to 0) that:

Council calls on the Environment Scrutiny Committee to undertake at its next meeting a review of the planning and delivery of the recently reorganised waste collection routes in the City and consider the already planned Officer’s report to the Committee.

The decision was noted.