Agenda and minutes

Reverend Maz Allen opened the meeting with a prayer.

Councillors Britter, Coleman, Garnham, P. McLain and Wheeldon had given their apologies.  

None declared.  

25 February 2011

The minutes of the last meeting had been circulated with the agenda.

The Mayor advised that a minor amendment to the minutes was a required.  The words ‘upon a vote’ would be removed from item 7, Communications by the Leader of the Council.  

Upon a vote it was unanimously

RESOLVED that the amended minutes of the meeting held on the 25 February 2011 be agreed and signed as an accurate record.

These must be received no later than 10am on Monday 21 March 2011

The following responses were given to the Public Questions received:

The Mayor wished Councillor Driver, the Deputy Mayor a Happy Birthday. 

This would be the last Council meeting over which she would preside entirely.  The last year as Mayor had been the ultimate challenge and had proved nerve racking at times, but she had given it her all and she thanked members for their support and kindness.  It had been a wonderful year and she was rather sad that it was coming to an end.

Following the tsunami which had hit Japan she had attended a concert by 102 Japanese students and had offered her condolences on behalf of the town.

The Leader gave informal thanks to the Mayor on behalf of all members, this would be formalised at the next meeting, Annual Council. 

Other general comments included, the announcement about the Kemble-Swindon redoubling scheme which involved the restoration of a second rail track between Kemble and Swindon. This proposed work would benefit transport links and was good news for Gloucesterhsire.

The funding bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for £750k to redevelop Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum had been successful. This positive news meant that the redevelopment scheme could now move forward to the next stage, but fundraising would continue. 

Following on from the response by the Mayor to public question number 3, he was happy with the proposal to include Council in further discussions about the future use of Imperial Gardens but would need to take legal advice about exactly how Council could be involved in a Cabinet decision. 

As a point of clarification and as outlined in the budget proposals, toilets would not be closed until full discussions had taken place and alternatives were agreed, it was never the intention to close them on the 31 March. 

The following responses were given to the Member Questions received:

Report of the Standards Committee

Simon Lainè, Chairman of the Standards Committee, introduced the report as circulated with the agenda, to which there was little he could add. 

The main issue facing the Committee was the imminent demise of the Government’s national body Standards for England.  There was no great detail about the changes that would be imposed, the suggestion being ‘watch this space’.

There had been very few complaints over the last year, a reduction on the previous year.  The committee had upheld two recommendations of ‘no breach’ by the investigating officer and these investigations had been conducted in-house which had far reduced associated costs compared with previous investigations undertaken by external investigators.

The Standards Committee were comfortable but not complacent about the adherence to the Code of Conduct and would comment further when the Government proposals had been made clear.

In response to a question from a Member, the Chairman of the Standards Committee along with the Monitoring Officer confirmed that current indications were that Parish Councils would be responsible for their own conduct rather than the relevant district authority.

The Leader of the Council thanked the members of the committee for all that they had done over the last year and proposed that moving forward, Council would be involved in agreeing what to do next once further details had been made available. 

The Mayor thanked the Chairman of the Standards Committee for his attendance.

The Council noted the report.

Report of the Leader of the Council

The Leader introduced the report as circulated with the agenda and referred members to the addendum which had been circulated at the start of the meeting.  This set out modifications made to the action plan since the publication of Council papers and included indicators and targets for the Town Hall. 

In March 2010 the Council agreed a 5 year vision (2010-2015) alongside a 12 month action plan, which would be reviewed in June. 

It was now time to set an action plan for the coming 12 months.  The strategy had been developed in parallel with the budget which had seen a reduction of staff and therefore capacity, but despite the financial pressure the 5 objectives had been retained, though actions had reduced.  He outlined some of the actions that would deliver the current priorities, which included important projects for the borough (Recycling, St. Paul’s phase 2, the Art Gallery and Museum extension and the sale of North Place).

The indicators used to measure performance had been reviewed in light of the Government’s national indicator set having been lifted, which had allowed for local performance indicators which would be more meaningful.  These had been split between service indicators for which the council could directly influence the outcome and community indicators which the council was not directly responsible for. 

The draft action plan had been considered by the three overview and scrutiny committees and the feedback received was included in the report.  An urgent matter for resolution was Economic Development (ED) given that the ED Manager had recently commenced maternity leave and the ED Officer had subsequently tendered his resignation. 

Despite the financial constraints there was a commitment to achieving positive outcomes for the borough over the coming 12 months.

The following responses were given by the Leader to questions and comments made by members;

• He acknowledged the importance and urgency of finalising the role of the council in supporting the economic development of the town.  Whilst the one-off funding was no longer available for local businesses, that staffing budgets were still in place. 
• He did not accept the suggestion that the development of the action plan had been a meaningless exercise.  The matter of indicators was a separate issue, the government indicators had been swept away and their substitutes were very much work in progress and proposed improvements would be welcomed. 

Upon a vote it was

RESOLVED (with 1 abstention) that the 2011-12 corporate strategy action plan be approved and used as the basis for monitoring the council’s performance over the next twelve months.

None received.

The Mayor confirmed that a petition had been received on behalf of the Bath Road Traders on Monday 21 March:

Cheltenham Borough Council has taken upon themselves without consultation with residents, shoppers or traders to close the public toilets in the Bath Road shoppers car park.  This will leave a blossoming trading area without public toilet facilities, especially in regard to disabled access, thus driving many shoppers to alternative shopping areas and endangering business to the Bath Road.

We the undersigned call on CBC to take proper consultation on the closure of the Bath Road Shoppers Car Park Public and Disabled Toilets.  It is unacceptable to make a closure of the facilities on Tuesday 31 March 2011, without discussion with residents, shoppers, disabled and traders.  We therefore ask for the suspension of the closure.

The petition would be debated at the next Council meeting on the 16 May 2011.  (This was subsequently deferred by the petition organiser).

Councillor Smith felt that as a point of principle, despite the fact that the toilets were not to be closed on the 31 March as clearly anticipated by the petitioners, the fact that it had been scheduled to be debated after that date was nonsensical. 

Councillor Surgenor, as a point of clarification confirmed that there were in fact two car parks in Bath Road and the petition referred specifically to the Bath Terrace car park, which the petition should have made clear.

There were no urgent items for discussion.

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 items of business 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 1, 3 and 5, Part 1, Schedule 12A (as amended) Local Government Act 1972, namely:

1.         Information relating to any individual.

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

5.         Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

The following members were in attendance for this item: Councillors Barnes, Bickerton, Cooper, Fisher, Fletcher, Flynn, Hall, C. Hay, Holliday, Jeffries, Massey, McCloskey, H. McLain, Rawson, Regan (Mayor), Stennett, Stewart, Sudbury, Teakle, Walklett, Wall and Wheeler.

The Council was recommended to approve the resolution as set out on the agenda.

Upon a vote it was

RESOLVED (Voting: For 20 with 2 abstentions) That in accordance with Section 100A(4) Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the remaining items of business 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 1, 3 and 5, Part 1, Schedule 12A (as amended) Local Government Act 1972, namely:

1.         Information relating to any individual.

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

5.         Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

To approve the exempt minutes of the meeting held on 25 February 2011

The following members were in attendance for this item: Councillors Barnes, Bickerton, Cooper, Fisher, Fletcher, Flynn, Hall, C. Hay, Holliday, Jeffries, Massey, McCloskey, H. McLain, Rawson, Regan (Mayor), Stennett, Stewart, Sudbury, Teakle, Walklett, Wall and Wheeler.

The exempt minutes of the meeting held on the 25 February 2011 had been circulated with the agenda.

Upon a vote it was 

RESOLVED (Voting: 20 For with 2 abstentions) that the exempt minutes of the meeting held on the 25 February 2011 be agreed and signed as an accurate record.