Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Thornton and Wall.

There were no declarations of interest.

Minutes of the meeting held on 21 July 2014.

A Member believed it was important to record in the minutes whether a member of the public who had submitted a public question was in attendance at the meeting and as such this should be indicated in the minutes of 21 July 2014. He also referred to minute item 16 and the particular reference to the approval of Councillor Whyborn as the elected representative on UBICO. For clarity, he proposed that this should be amended to read “board observer”. These changes were supported by Members.

RESOLVED THAT

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 July 2014, as amended, were then approved and signed as a correct record.

The Mayor reported that he had attended a very interesting talk in the context of Black History Month. He urged Members to support the wide variety of events which were taking place around the town.

The Leader of the Council reminded Members that at the last Council meeting Penny Hall had been appointed as the Council’s representative on the Cotswold Conservation Board. Subsequent to this the Board had been in touch to say that the nomination should be an elected Member of the Council. As a result an email had been sent to Members seeking a nomination for this position.

The Leader reported that the Statement of Accounts had now been signed off.

The Leader gave thanks to all those Members and officers who had been involved in the LGA peer review process. A detailed report from the peer review team was awaited.

These must be received no later than 12 noon on Tuesday 7 October 2014.

Report of the Cabinet Member Development and Safety

The Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor McKinlay, introduced the report which had been circulated with the agenda.  The report explained that Sexual Entertainment Venues (SEVs) are regulated under Schedule 3 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 as amended by Section 27 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009. The amended provisions were adopted by Council on 11 October 2010 and the current policy statement was adopted by the Licensing Committee on 4 February 2011. On 16 September 2014, Cabinet had considered the consultation feedback and approved amendments to the current policy as outlined in section 7 of this report. Cabinet had taken the view that it was reasonable to set a nil limit for SEVs in predominately residential areas but to retain the existing policy in the town centre. He reminded Members that the authority was obliged to make a differentiation between locations which would not be the case if it applied a nil limit for SEVs across the whole borough. He highlighted that Cabinet had defined the town centre as the town centre shopping area, shaded blue in the map in appendix 3.

The Cabinet recommendations were now being forwarded to Council for their approval. He advised that if Council should not approve the recommendations today then technically they should go back to Cabinet for a final decision. However he indicated that Cabinet would accept Council’s decision today on the policy as the final one to be adopted by the authority.

In making these recommendations he did not consider the council was opening the floodgates and the Licensing Committee would still make an informed decision on each individual application.  His personal view was that it was much better to legalise and regulate these types of establishments rather than saying no outright and running the risk of them going underground or finding alternative ways to operate their businesses. It could also proliferate the use of Temporary Event Notices (TENS) during periods such as race week.

The Mayor invited Members to ask questions on the report and the following responses were given by the Cabinet Member assisted by the Business Support and Licensing Team Leader, Louis Krog

• If the amended policy was passed by Council, the SEV situated in Bath Road would fall outside the defined town centre area and therefore what would happen when its licence came up for renewal?
  • This would be a material consideration for the Licensing Committee when considering any renewal application and the applicant would have to give evidence as to why an exception should be made in their case to renew their licence.
• Would it be more sensible to redraw the map to include the other side of Bath Road (where the current SEV was situated) in the town centre area?
  • This could be done but there would be little point in doing this as an existing establishment would always have an argument that it is an existing business whatever area it fell into.
• Could the Cabinet Member clarify the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report of the Chief Executive

The Chief Executive, Andrew North, as the Electoral Registration Officer introduced the report which had been circulated with agenda.  He explained that the council had a statutory duty to review its polling districts, polling places and polling stations every five years, to ensure that all electors have such reasonable facilities for voting as are practicable and to ensure that the polling stations are accessible to all electors including those with special needs. A consultation exercise had been completed and consideration had been given to the views put forward.

The Chief Executive reported that one change was being proposed, namely that the current polling district of Charlton Park Ward, Polling District EA, be split so that electors living in the north of the polling district vote at Cheltenham East Community Fire and Rescue Station, Keynsham Road and a new polling district ED be created for the remaining electors. The Chief Executive explained that Councillors Baker and Sudbury had undertaken a residents’ survey earlier in the year and had received strong support for the change. Councillor Smith, the other ward Member for Charlton Park, was also broadly supportive of the suggestions. He also gave the assurance that the event of a fire the fire engines would not be in the way of the polling station.

The Chief Executive then made reference to correspondence received from Councillors Ryder and Regan with regard to Warden Hill Ward, Warden Hill Ward of the Parish of Leckhampton with Warden Hill Polling District TB in terms of creating a new polling district for the roads in the south east corner of polling district TB and a new polling place and station at the Brizen Young Peoples Centre for the electors in the newly created polling district. He reported that this proposal had been looked at carefully and discussions had been held with the ward Councillors but this was deemed to be not as well based in the community so at the present time the existing polling district and polling station would remain unaltered.

Finally, the Chief Executive reported that the full list of polling districts, polling places and polling stations would be published for a further period of six weeks, during which time individuals have the right to make representations to the Electoral Commission.

Members welcomed the proposed change and said it would make it more convenient for those who lived at the north end of Charlton Park ward who currently had to travel by car.

A ward Member from Warden Hill felt that the Warden Hill proposal should be considered further in the future regarding the Up Hatherley Parish Council ward boundary but recognised that there would need to be more community involvement. In response the Chief Executive explained that TB and TC were different parishes and it was required by law that there were separate polling stations. He highlighted however that a review could be requested at any time, i.e. not necessarily within the 5 year period if there was significant community feeling.

RESOLVED (unanimously)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

The Cabinet Member Finance introduced the report which sought approval to keep the Local Council Tax Support Scheme (LCTS) unchanged for 2015/16 and 2016/17. He explained that in 2013/14 the Council received approximately 90% of the cost of the previous year’s national council tax benefit scheme from Government. CBC had been working closely with other local authorities in the county and adopted the LCTS and whilst the aspiration had been to agree a permanent scheme this was not possible at this stage due to delays in welfare reforms and policy changes arising from a general election in May 2015.

Members agreed that continuing the present scheme for a further two years was a sensible way forward.

RESOLVED

That the Local Council Tax Support scheme be kept unchanged for 2015/16 and 2016/17, other than the annual uprating of premiums, allowances, non-dependent deductions and any changes to the national pension age scheme that need to be reflected in the local working age scheme.

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

The Cabinet Member Finance introduced the report which outlined the progress made in developing the Council’s Asset Management Plan and Capital Strategy and made some initial proposals at this stage.

He reminded Members that the significant capital receipt generated from the sale of North Place and Portland Street car parks gave the Council an unrepeatable opportunity to invest in the infrastructure in the town and it was important that the funds were used carefully in order to have a long-term impact. The Asset Management Plan and Capital Strategy would propose how these receipts would be used and set a continuing framework for capital investment.

The Cabinet Member Finance explained that there was a robust system for evaluating capital bids and establishing priorities against the corporate plan. He reported that the Asset Management Working Group (AMWG) and the Budget Scrutiny Working Group (BSWG) as well as the Cheltenham Trust were also involved in the process. In the context of the Cheltenham Trust he reported that the Trust had already set up a committee to look at capital investment.

The Cabinet Member explained that capital projects relating to the High Street public realm improvement works, car park investment and the town hall chairs were being proposed now for approval as they all had a degree of urgency about them. The Cabinet Member confirmed that BSWG and AMWG had appraised the projects at recent meetings and given positive feedback.

In terms of capital investment in the high street the Cabinet Member explained that the council was working with the Cheltenham Development Task Force to unlock potential growth in the town. They were looking at the High Street as a whole in terms of opportunities to improve the environment and boost it as a commercial area which would help tackle a number of priorities. In so doing there was also scope for attracting private sector investment. The proposed investment of £450 000 in public realm and £111 000 in design work would facilitate works in key areas of the high street. By pooling resources with business and Gloucestershire highways there would be a degree of unity in enhancing the area.

The Cabinet Member brought to Members attention an amendment to the cost of the work for replacing the town hall chairs which now stood at £84 500. Recommendation 2 of the report now read “bringing the total funding of projects to £896 200”.

Responses to questions were given as follows :

·         Accommodation strategy - officers were continuing to investigate opportunities and there was currently interest in two properties in the town. Broad costings had been made for new build offices on the Shopfitters site but in the Cabinet Member’s view a move to existing office accommodation rather than new build would be more cost-effective and could be realised much quicker. Work would continue and the Asset Management Working group would be kept fully informed. All Members would be kept informed of any new developments.

·         High Street paving - it was acknowledged that this was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

There were no notices of motion.

None received.

There was no urgent business.