Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Municipal Offices. View directions

Contact: Rosalind Reeves, Democratic Services Manager 

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors Holliday, Mason and Prince.

 

2.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

Councillors Smith and Williams declared an interest in agenda item 12 as Directors of Cheltenham Borough Homes and announced their intention to leave the chamber for this item.

 

3.

Minutes of the last meeting pdf icon PDF 171 KB

Minutes of the meeting held on 14 December 2015

Minutes:

The minutes of the last meeting held on 14 December 2015 were approved as a correct record.

 

4.

Communications by the Mayor

Minutes:

The Mayor announced that the Civic Dinner which had been due to take place at the Daffodil, would not take place at Princess Elizabeth Hall at Cheltenham Ladies College. Tickets were still available so Members were urged to contact the Mayor’s office by Monday if any were required.

 

A recital by Wells Cathedral Virtuoso would be held at the Pump Room in aid of the Mayor’s Charities on 3 March. Tickets cost £10 and were available through the Town Hall box office or online.

 

Further to the urgent decision taken at Council at its December 2015 meeting with regard to HCA funding and the YMCA the Mayor was pleased to report that the work on due diligence had been completed and documented on 16 December. The decision was very much appreciated by the YMCA. Contracts for the project had been signed in the last week and claims submitted to the HCA to permit a start on site in June 2016. The HCA had confirmed that it had now approved the claims and will be paying 75% of the total HCA grant of £1.054 M before the end of this month. The estimated date for project completion is July 2017. As previously reported grant funding from Cheltenham Borough Council to support these developments totals £496,000 and this will be paid from commuted sums received pursuant to section 106 agreement in relation to the ‘Thirlestaine’ site.

 

 

5.

Communications by the Leader of the Council

Minutes:

The Leader advised Council that the bid to support Neighbourhood Plans had received £40 000 of government support.

 

The launch of the BID took place on Tuesday 9 February and had been well supported. The vote on the BID was expected in March/April.

 

The first meeting of the 2020 partnership Joint Committee had taken place that morning (12 February) at which CBC was represented by Councillors Flynn and Walklett. At its meeting on 9 February the Cabinet approved the business cases for Customer Services and Revenues and Benefits to join the 2020 Vision Partnership which would formally commence on 1 April 2016.

 

6.

Public Questions pdf icon PDF 51 KB

These must be received no later than 12 noon on the fourth working day before the date of the meeting

Minutes:

1.

Question from  Mrs Jenny Kirkwood to the Cabinet Member Corporate Services, Councillor Jon Walklett

 

What are Cheltenham Borough Council doing to increase the number of women and younger people to become actively involved in terms of becoming Councillors?

 

 

Response from Cabinet Member

 

I thank Mrs Kirkwood for her question and have provided the following background relevant information as part of my answer.

 

Firstly I need to point out that the responsibility for the recruitment of suitable borough (and county) council candidates lies firmly with either established political parties or in the case of independents with local groups.

 

The second point relates to how the profile of CBC Councillors compares by age and sex over time and against the national picture. Taking age first the most recent Local Government Association survey (dated 2013) published the average age of a sitting local Councillor at 60.2 years. The comparative figures for Cheltenham -  63 years in 2012 and 57 years in 2016 tends to demonstrate a reduction in age both in relation to four years ago and set against a national average. Interestingly whilst c.20 per cent serving CBC Councillors are aged 45 or less this also compares favourably with the 12.5 per cent recorded nationally.

 

Moving on, the proportion of female members currently serving on CBC is slightly down on the national average, 27.5 against 32.7 per cent.

 

Cheltenham Borough Council makes every attempt to involve and engage residents in our local democratic process. We encourage young teenagers in school groups and from school councils to visit the Municipal Offices and in recent times the Mayor has chaired debates on matters such as climate change and fostered encouragement with youth to participate. Local branches of the national parties also involve their younger members in political campaigning, action days and fighting for local causes. Similarly contact with local faculties providing tertiary education and training have been encouraged. Further information for those individuals wishing to become involved locally can be found on the Cheltenham Borough Council website under the “Councillors" heading which in turn will take you to the excellent Local Government Association page entitled "Be a Councillor".

 

In a supplementary question Mrs Kirkwood commented that it was very difficult for school or working Mums to attend a 2:30 p.m. Council meeting and asked whether the council was reviewing the start time of its meetings to allow a wider range of people to attend or stand as a Councillor?

 

The Cabinet Member advised that the council had tried to move to evening meetings, Planning Committee was an example, to try and accommodate those Councillors who are working during the day and the council does offer a childcare allowance which would be available to working mothers. He acknowledged that there was always more that the council could do and he would welcome any suggestions from the questioner.

 

 

 

7.

Member Questions pdf icon PDF 78 KB

Minutes:

1.

Question from Councillor Tim Harman to Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

 

The Borough Council has previously written to Lettings agents concerning a code of practice on the display of Lettings boards particularly in the Conservation Area but there are limited resources available for enforcement.

Will the Cabinet Member agree to convene a meeting with Officers, myself and a concerned resident in my ward to discuss a practical solution?

 

 

Response from Cabinet Member Development and Safety

 

The Built Environment Local Enforcement Plan (planning) was approved in January 2014 following extensive member consultation. This document sets out the priorities for action for an enforcement team which is stretched in terms of demand on its services. The priorities laid down in the Plan enable planning enforcement to be done in an equitable, transparent and consistent way. The Council has had some success in tackling this issue, but it remains a low priority in terms of the range of planning enforcement work carried out, much of which has a more direct impact on local amenity and public health.

 

A meeting can be convened with Cllr Harman’s constituent to discuss these issues in more detail.

 

2.

Question from Councillor Anne Regan to Cabinet Member Clean and Green Environment, Councillor Chris Coleman

 

Will the Cabinet Member please inform this Council on the number of brown waste bins still held unsold at the Depot and the value of this stock?

 

 

Response from Cabinet Member Clean and Green Environment

 

Cheltenham Borough Council has seen a year on year increase in the number of subscribers to the garden waste service which has resulted in the brown bins stock continuing to reduce.

 

In addition, we have been able to sell 1,000 of the brown bins each year for the last 3 years to Tewkesbury Borough Council at cost, which means that as of 27th January 2016 there were 1,764 bins in storage.

 

The average cost of a new 240 litre bin is at present around £23. At the current cost we have £40,572 worth of stock. It is important to note that because the bins were ordered in bulk at the outset the cost per unit was £15.45. At the original cost, the stock is worth £27,254.

 

As noted, there has been a year on year increase on the number of subscribers. The figures are as follows:

 

March 2012 - 11,205

March 2013 - 12,781

March 2014 - 13,699

March 2015 - 14,703

 

The number of subscribers has risen by nearly 1,000 again in 2015/16 and there are currently approximately 15,600 bins in use.

 

Given the successful campaigns that we have run to increase the number of subscribers, it is reasonable for us to hold stock at around the levels they presently are.

 

I am encouraged by the early indications that a significant number of customers have already taken the opportunity to renew early. By doing so they benefit from an "early bird" discount. We are also seeing new customers signing up to the service and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Principles pdf icon PDF 82 KB

Report of the Cabinet Member Development and Safety

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor McKinlay, introduced the report.  The report explained that the Gambling Act 2005 requires that the council produce, consult on and publish a statement of the principles that they propose to apply when exercising their functions under the Act. The Act also requires that the Statement of Principles should be kept under review and must be re-published at least every three years. Cheltenham Borough Council published its existing Statement of Principles in October 2012 and the Statement is now due to be reviewed and a new Statement of Principles will need to be published to take effect no later than January 2016.

 

The Cabinet Member reported that there were 20 licensed gambling premises in Cheltenham. These included one track licence at the racecourse, one adult gaming centre and 18 licensed betting premises.

 

The statutory consultation had resulted in three responses and there were no proposed changes as a result of the feedback.

 

A Member suggested that the BID should be on the list of consultees and the Cabinet Member agreed to add them.

Another Member commented that the number of betting establishments in Cheltenham was already high enough. Another Member suggested that there was a saturation level which could be incorporated into the policy.

 

The Cabinet Member acknowledged the Member’s concern but with the changes in government legislation, the council was only responsible for monitoring the proper running of the establishments. He was not aware of the option of a saturation limit but would ask officers to investigate this. The policy had to be revised every three years but could come back to Council at any point.

 

 

RESOLVED THAT (unanimously)

 

1.    The proposed changes to the Statement of Principles be noted;

2.    The consultation feedback be noted; and

3.    The Statement of Principles be adopted.

 

9.

Revised Street Trading Policy pdf icon PDF 80 KB

Report of the Cabinet Member Development and Safety

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member Development and Safety introduced the report and explained that the council’s current street trading policy was approved by Council on 22 February 2013 and came into effect on 1 April 2013. Consultation on proposed changes to the policy has been undertaken and in November 2015 Cabinet approved the draft policy and made a recommendation for Council to adopt the revised policy.

 

The Cabinet Member explained that the proposed changes to the policy would make it more prescriptive and enable it to deal with a number of issues in the town.


It was important to note that
this policy did not fetter the council’s discretion and applications for street trading consent for locations not approved can still be made and must still be determined. In these cases officers would refer applications to the Licensing Committee in accordance with the scheme of delegation. He drew particular attention to the concerns raised by the Licensing Committee and the officer responses to these set out in the appendix.

 

RESOLVED THAT (unanimously)

 

The amendments to the current policy be noted

1.    The consultation feedback and officer comments be noted

2.    The revised policy be adopted.

 

10.

Appointment of Mayor Elect and Deputy Mayor Elect 2016-17 pdf icon PDF 92 KB

Report of the Chief Executive

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chief Executive introduced the report which explained that Councillor Chris Ryder had served as Deputy Mayor since last year’s Annual Council Meeting and Members would be asked to elect her as Mayor at this year’s Annual Meeting. In accordance with the Order of Precedence in Appendix 2, Members had been approached to ascertain if they were willing and able to have their name put forward for appointment as Deputy Mayor for 2016-17.

 

In the course of this process, some members had highlighted that their decision on whether to put themselves forward for the role may depend on the results of the Borough elections in May 2016. Therefore it had been proposed that no nomination was put forward for Deputy Mayor elect at this stage and the nomination for Deputy Mayor was put to Annual Council in May following the elections. He had taken this proposal to the Group Leaders meeting and after discussion they had agreed to the recommendations as set out in the report.

 

As Deputy Mayor, Councillor Ryder, was concerned that she should have been asked for her view out of courtesy. Her opinion was that it was an honour for any Councillor to be put forward as Deputy Mayor when they became eligible and the lack of willingness to make a commitment at this stage demonstrated a lack of commitment to the role. The Mayor also highlighted that the appointment of the Deputy Mayor at Annual Council was only two days before the inauguration ceremony at the Town Hall and therefore could cause difficulties in finalising the details for the programme.

 

A number of members spoke in support of the recommendation to defer the nomination. They agreed that it was a great honour to be Mayor/Deputy Mayor but it was a personal and not a political decision and it had to be the right decision for the right person at the right time.

 

A separate vote was requested on recommendation 3.  Recommendations 1 and 2 were unanimous and recommendation 3 was CARRIED.

 

RESOLVED THAT

1.    The Order of Precedence in Appendix 2 be noted,

2.    Councillor Chris Ryder will be put to the Annual Council Meeting for election as Mayor for the Municipal year 2016 - 2017.

3.      The nomination for Deputy Mayor for the Municipal year 2016 – 2017 will be put to the Annual Council Meeting.

 

 

11.

General Fund Revenue and Capital - Revised Budget 2015/16, and Final Budget Proposals 2016/17 pdf icon PDF 172 KB

RECOMMENDATIONS AS AMENDED BY CABINET 9/02/16

 

The following is the recommended process to be followed for the debate relating to the Council’s Budget for 2016-17 (Agenda item 11). The rules of procedure shall be varied accordingly for this item only.

 

1 a).     The Mayor to propose suspension of the following rules of debate:

 

-           That the time limit on speeches is relaxed with regard to the following speeches:-

 

§  Cabinet Member Finance, (Finance), when moving the motion to adopt the budget being proposed by the Cabinet (“the Cabinet’s budget”), Stage 2(i).

 

§  Group Leaders when making Budget Statement on behalf of group, Stage 3(i) – (ii).

 

-           To permit the Cabinet Member Finance and Group leaders to speak more than once in the debate, (in addition to any right of reply etc), for the purpose of putting and answering questions at Stage 2(iii).

 

1 b).     The Mayor to remind Members that a recorded vote is required on any significant decision relating to the budget or council tax (including any amendments) as set out in Part 4A – Council Procedures Rule 14.5 as required by the ‘Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014’. This will apply to agenda items 11 and 12.

 

 

2.         Budget Statement and moving of motion

 

(i)         The Cabinet Member Finance shall deliver the budget statement and formally move the resolutions set out in the report of the Cabinet Member Finance. (N.B. Not time limited).
He will invite the Section 151 Officer, Paul Jones to introduce his Section 25 report.

 

(ii)        The seconder shall formally second the motion. (N.B. The seconder may reserve their speech until later in the debate prior to the closing speeches) 5 minute limit applies.

 

(iii)       Members may then ask questions of the Cabinet Member Finance (who may refer them to the Section 151 Officer when appropriate), on matters relating to agenda item 11. (N.B. members are limited to one question only, without supplementary, and the Cabinet Member Finance shall wait until all questions have been put before responding).

 

3.         Statements by Group Leaders

 

(i)         Statement on behalf of the Conservative Group including tabling but not moving, any proposed amendment to the Cabinet’s budget. (no time limit)

 

(ii)        Statement on behalf of the People Against Bureaucracy Group including tabling, but not moving, any proposed amendment to the Cabinet’s budget. (No time limit).

 

4.         Formal moving, Seconding, debating, discussion and voting on any amendments tabled in the following order:

 

            - People Against Bureaucracy Group

            - Conservative Group

 

N.B. 

§  The Cabinet Member Finance has the right to a speech in reply at the end of the debate on any amendment. (10 mins).

 

§  The mover of an amendment may speak to move the amendment, (10 mins), and also has the right of reply to the debate immediately before the speech of the Cabinet Member Finance. (10 mins).

 

§  Amendments carried will become part of the substantive motion going forward. Once  ...  view the full agenda text for item 11.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Mayor invited the Cabinet Member Finance to introduce the budget which would then be followed by a statement from the Chief Finance Officer, Paul Jones, as the Council’s Section 151 officer. To facilitate the presentation of the Budget, the Mayor proposed suspension of certain rules of debate, namely:-

 

That the time limit on speeches is relaxed with regard to the following speeches;

·         Cabinet Member Finance when moving the motion to adopt the budget being proposed by the Cabinet.

·         Group leaders or Group spokesperson when making budget statements on behalf of their group.

 

The Cabinet Member Finance and Group Leaders could also speak more than once in the debate (in addition to any rights of reply etc.) for the purpose of putting and answering questions.

 

This was agreed unanimously by Council.

 

 The Mayor reminded Members that a recorded vote must be held  on any significant decision relating to the budget or council tax (including any amendments) as set out in Part 4A – Council Procedures Rule 14.5 as required by the ‘Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014’. This will apply to agenda items 11 and 12.

 

 

The Cabinet Member Finance introduced the 2016/17 budget proposals with a detailed speech (please see Appendix 1).

 

The Cabinet Member Finance moved acceptance of the 2016/17 budget as set out in the report.The motion was seconded by Councillor Jordan who reserved his right to speak.

 

The Chief Finance Officer referred Members to his Section 25 report that had been circulated with the budget proposals. He highlighted his representation made on the interim finance settlement which given the severity of the front-loaded cuts had run to seven pages. There had been four main asks:

·         A request to remove council tax from the calculation in determining percentage cuts from the settlement core funding assessment. DCLG themselves refer to council tax as “an important source of funding which is used to meet the difference between the amount a local authority wishes to spend and the amount it receives from other sources such as government grants”. It was therefore wrong in his opinion to use the level of council tax raised, which had been subjected to twenty five annual council meetings  to determine the level of government funded support. As a consequence of this new methodology, the council’s average government funded spending power per head of population was projected to be £8 less than the average shire district urban authority by 2019/20. Unfortunately there was no change in the methodology set.

 

·         A fundamental review of New Homes Bonus allocations. In his opinion  Cheltenham had much less capacity for increasing the number of homes, compared to their rural counterparties given the tightly drawn boundaries. There was a separate consultation on NHB which the Council will respond to by the deadline of 10th March.

 

·         A major review of the front loading of the 2016/17 reduction in RSG. As referred to earlier given the council’s taxbase, Cheltenham was due to receive a much sharper decline in its RSG in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

12.

Housing Revenue Account - Revised Forecast 2015/16 and Budget Proposals 2016/17 pdf icon PDF 139 KB

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member Finance introduced the report which summarised the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) revised forecast for 2015/16 and the Cabinet’s budget for 2016/17.

 

The Cabinet Member explained that in July 2015 the Chancellor had announced that rents in social housing would be reduced abruptly by 1% a year for four years (as opposed to a 1% rise each year for 10 years).  Whilst this represented good news for tenants it invoked a great deal of uncertainty for CBH and the Council with an estimated loss of £6.7m to the HRA budget up until March 2020. CBH had subsequently worked closely with CBC officers to revise its budget and plans to ensure spending could be contained within the limits which were now necessary. He was pleased to report that as a result of this work the proposed budget was positive and would contain sufficient resources to maintain the decent homes standard, existing services, the long term viability of HRA reserves, delivery of the windows and doors improvement programme, delivery of the existing new build programme (schemes currently being progressed) and service improvements for vulnerable groups.

He reported that the savings targets which had been identified included management costs savings and the reduced need for the management revenue contribution to fund the capital programme. In 2016/17 the overall cost of repairs and maintenance had reduced to £4.1m; £7.7 would be invested in property improvements and major works, £400 k would be invested in disabled adaptation and £4m would be invested in new build. Whilst there remained uncertainty with regard to Government policy post 2020 the Cabinet Member explained that positive action had been taken whilst maintaining a high level of financial prudence. The Cabinet Member Finance thanked officers and CBH colleagues for their efforts in bringing forward this positive budget in difficult circumstances.

 

The Finance Director, CBH was invited to address Council. He explained that it was important at the outset to ensure that the impact of the cut was offset and this was achieved via a £1.4m cut in the management fee, £1m in repairs and maintenance and £2.2 m in the use of reserves. He made reference to the discussions he had with the Budget Scrutiny Working Group where he had highlighted that the quality of the service provided by CBH would not be reduced in order to deliver savings but they would be achieved via a leaner staffing structure, more efficient processes and a reduction in work sub contracted out.

 

A recorded vote having been required the following resolutions were passed unanimously.


Voting For 32: Councillors Babbage, Barnes, Britter, Chard, Clucas, Coleman, Fisher, Fletcher, Harman, R Hay, C Hay, Jeffries, Jordan,  Lillywhite, McCloskey, McKinlay, Murch, Nelson, Payne, Rawson, Regan, Reid, Ryder, Savage, Seacome, Stennett, Sudbury, Thornton, Walklett, Wheeler, Whyborn and Wilkinson.

 

 

RESOLVED THAT

 

  1. The revised HRA forecast for 2015/16 be noted.

  2. HRA budget proposals for 2016/17 (Appendix 2) including a proposed rent decrease of 1% and changes to other rents and charges as detailed at Appendix 5 be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

13.

Treasury Management and Annual Investment Strategy 2016/17 pdf icon PDF 91 KB

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member Finance introduced the report which complied with the CIPFA Code of Practice on Treasury Management as it set out the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy Statement for borrowing and prepared an Annual Investment Strategy for council approval prior to the start of a new financial year.

 

The Cabinet Member highlighted recommendation 1 which was crucial to the strategy, i.e. that the Council should invest prudently the surplus funds held on behalf of the community giving priority to security and liquidity in investments. He then made the following points :

 

·         the council had stayed within the Prudential Indicators

·         the S151 Officer had reported that the Capital Financing Requirement guideline had been complied with and no difficulties were envisaged in the future

·         the council was currently maintaining an under-borrowed position. This meant that the capital borrowing need (the Capital Financing Requirement) had not been fully funded with loan debt as cash supporting the Council’s reserves, balances and cash flow had been used as a temporary measure. This was a prudent strategy in the current circumstances as investment returns were low and counterparty risk was relatively high.

·         in terms of investment policy the Cabinet Member highlighted that the aim was to act cautiously due to the uncertain economic situation both nationally and internationally. He emphasised that the council did not solely rely on credit ratings but collected a range of intelligence. The council’s treasury management advisers and officers were constantly monitoring the performance of  investments with the counterparties. There was currently a strong biais towards investing at the short-end of the market with investments only made abroad where they have a minimum rating of AA- and only for durations of up to 1 year.

·         The treasury management budget was cautious in its projection of investment income particularly as the base rate was unlikely to increase in the short term.

 

The Cabinet Member wished to put on record his thanks to those officers responsible for treasury management matters as well as the Treasury Management Panel and its Chair Councillor Harman. They played an important role in monitoring, scrutinising and approving the report.

 

 

RESOLVED (unanimously) THAT the Treasury Management Strategy Statement and Annual Investment Strategy for 2016/17 at Appendix 2 be approved including :

 

1.    The general policy objective ‘that Council should invest prudently the surplus funds held on behalf of the community giving priority to security and liquidity’.

2.    That the Prudential Indicators for 2016/17 including the authorised limit as the statutory affordable borrowing limit determined under Section 3 (1) Local Government Act 2003 be approved.

3.    Revisions to the Council’s lending list and parameters as shown in Appendix 3 are proposed in order to provide some further capacity. These proposals have been put forward after taking advice from the Council’s treasury management advisers Capita Asset Services and are prudent enough to ensure the credit quality of the Council’s investment portfolio remains high.

4.    For 2016/17 in calculating the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP), the Council will apply Option 1 in respect of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

14.

Notices of Motion

Minutes:

There were no notices of motion.

 

15.

To receive petitions

Minutes:

None received.

 

16.

Any other item the Mayor determines as urgent and which requires a decision

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.

 

17.

Local Government Act 1972 -Exempt Information

The Council is recommended to approve the following resolution:-

 

“That in accordance with Section 100A(4) Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the remaining agenda items as it is likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, if members of the public are present there will be disclosed to them exempt information as defined in paragraph 3, Part (1) Schedule (12A) Local Government Act 1972, namely:

 

 

Paragraph 3; Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular

person (including the authority holding that information)

 

Minutes:

The Council approved the following resolution:-

 

“That in accordance with Section 100A(4) Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the remaining agenda items as it is likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, if members of the public are present there will be disclosed to them exempt information as defined in paragraphs 3, Part (1) Schedule (12A) Local Government Act 1972, namely:

 

Paragraph 3; Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

 

 

18.

Exempt Minutes

Exempt Minutes of the meeting held on 14 December 2015

Minutes:

The exempt minutes of the meeting held on 14 December 2015 were agreed as a correct record.