Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors B Adams, Mrs V C Ayling, N M Murray and Mrs C A Talbot.

There were no declarations at this point in the meeting.

RESOLVED

            That the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 13 September        2013 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

RESOLVED

            That the minutes of the Extraordinary meeting of the Council held on         22 November 2013 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a       correct record.

(a) Objection to the removal of co-ordinators at Miller's Road, Waddington

In accordance with the Council's Petition Scheme Mrs Carol Phillips spoke for not more than three minutes in explanation of the contents of the petition objection to the removal of co-ordinators at Miller's Road, Waddington.

The Executive Director Performance and Governance had determined that the petition would be referred to North Kesteven District Council.

(b) Request for action to taken regarding road safety on the A631

In accordance with the Council's Petition Scheme Mr Geoff Keeley spoke for not more than three minutes in explanation of the contents of the petition requesting action to be taken regarding road safety on the A631.

The Executive Director Performance and Governance had determined that the petition would be referred to the Executive Councillor for Highways, Transport and IT.

(c) Objection to the application by Network Rail to close the Ballast Hole pedestrian rail crossing

In accordance with the Council's Petition Scheme Dr Keith Linley spoke for not more than three minutes in explanation of the contents of the petition objecting to the application by Network Rail to close the Ballast Hole pedestrian rail crossing.

The Executive Director Performance and Governance had determined that the petition would be referred to the Executive Councillor for Highways, Transport and IT.

(d) Petition supporting a 20mph default speed limit in Abbey Ward, Lincoln on all residential roads

In accordance with the Council's Petition Scheme Mrs Ann East spoke for not more than three minutes in explanation of the contents of the petition supporting a 20mph default speed limit in Abbey Ward, Lincoln on all residential roads.

The Executive Director Performance and Governance had determined that the petition would be referred to the Executive Councillor for Highways, Transport and IT.

The Chairman reported that his civic engagements since the last Council meeting had been varied and had given him the opportunity to continue visiting places within Lincolnshire and meeting interesting people.  He thanked his wife Linda for supporting him on these engagements and also Councillor Bill Aron and Amanda Job, Vice-Chairman and Lady, for representing them at civic functions when, due to other commitments, they had been unable to attend.

He reported that his duties had included visiting the Lincolnshire Farm Kitchen, attending the Lincolnshire Police Annual Recognition Awards Ceremony, the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance and the Remembrance Day Service at Lincoln Cathedral, the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership Community Remembrance Service and Lincoln College Awards Ceremony, where we had the opportunity to meet staff and students.  The Chairman was also delighted to welcome HRH The Princess Royal to the County when she visited Grantham, West Pinchbeck and Boston.

The Chairman advised that that evening he would be attending a Lincolnshire Police Christmas Carol Service and the Lincoln Sea and Marine Cadets Awards Evening.

Members were reminded that the Local Government Boundary Commission originally gave notice that they would be carrying out an electoral review for Lincolnshire in 2014.  The timetable for that review would have required a decision at this meeting about a submission to the Commission on the future size of the County Council (number of Councillors).  The Commission has now informed us that they are delaying their review of the County Council by a year.  The proposal on size required next year will be developed by a cross party working group before reporting back to Council.

The Chairman was delighted to announce that as part of the County Council's wellbeing strategy, 385 Council employees took part in the Global Corporate Challenge, where they walked around a virtual world measuring every step using an Accelerometer, which was the latest in pedometer technology.  They competed against employees from all over the world. The challenge lasted for 16 weeks, which research has shown to be a behaviour changing period. Lincolnshire County Council successfully completed this challenge and came second in the world in the Government category. This was out of 100 councils!

On a sadder note, since the last ordinary meeting of Council there have been the deaths of County Councillor Chris Underwood-Frost, who represented the Scotter Rural Division from May 2001, and former Chairman of the County Council, Jack Libell, who represented the Louth Marsh Division from 1976 to 2005.  The Chairman invited those councillors who wished to do, to pay tribute to both gentlemen.

The Chairman advised that a complete itinerary of civic engagements since the last meeting of this Council are on deposit in the Members’ Foyer.

Statements by the Leader and Members of the Executive had been circulated with the agenda.

Councillor C J Davie, Executive Director for Economic Development, Environment, Planning and Tourism was pleased to announce that an additional investment to the On Lincolnshire programme had been agreed which aimed to bring super-fast broadband to Lincolnshire.  The £510,000 investment from the County Council had levered in £684,000 from BT and £1.6m from the ERDF, which made a total of £2.794m.  This would improve broadband for an additional 5799 premises within the county. 

The programme was going very well and extra fibre optic spines were being laid across the county.  It was hoped that a further 14,000 premises would be upgraded and live by the end of January 2014.  The government had also started to engage with the authority in relation to funding for the 10% hardest to reach. 

Councillor C N Worth, Executive Councillor for Libraries, Heritage, Culture, Registration and Coroners Service was pleased to announce that following a rigorous assessment which included on-site inspections, the Collection, Museum of Lincolnshire Life, Discover Stamford and Gainsborough Old Hall had all received full museum accreditation.  This meant that they had national standards to perform to and was a demonstration of good practice.  However, it was also a pre-condition for future lottery funding applications.  The Executive Councillor paid tribute to Mark McCree, the Collections Access Management, and his team for all the work which had been put into achieving this.

Questions pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 10.3 were asked and answered as follows:

A report by the Executive Director Performance and Governance had been circulated.

It was moved, and seconded and

RESOLVED

            That the Council appoints Councillor Mrs Linda Wootten as the Vice-         Chairman of the Community and Public Safety Scrutiny Committee for            the remainder of the Municipal Year.

A report by the Executive Director Public Health had been circulated.

The Chairman invited the Executive Director Public Health to make a presentation to Councillors on the Lincolnshire Sustainable Services Review.

Councillors were given an opportunity to comment and ask questions following the presentation.

That the minutes of the Audit Committee held on 23 September 2013 be received.

That the minutes of the Audit Committee held on 11 November 2013 be received.

That the minutes of the Planning and Regulation Committee held on 2 September 2013 be received.

That the minutes of the Planning and Regulation Committee held on 7 October 2013 be received.

That the minutes of the Planning and Regulation Committee held on 4 November 2013 be received.

That the minutes of the Pensions Committee held on 10 October 2013  be received.

That the minutes of the Pensions Committee held on 29 November 2013 be received.

Motion by Councillor R J Hunter-Clarke

It was moved and seconded that:-

"To change the council's form of governance in accordance with Section 9 K and 9 KC of the Local Government Act 2000 to a committee form of governance as provided in Section 9B (1) (B) of that act.

This would be achieved by creating a cross party working group to determine how the system would work for Lincolnshire County Council.

We believe that this would address the democratic deficit that exists at county hall.  The power of the council is currently held with the nine Executive Councillors and this must be addressed.  In adopting a committee form of governance it would allow all councillors to more effectively be part of the decision making process.

The findings of the working group to be brought back for Full Council to vote on with the intention of adopting the new system of governance at the Annual Meeting in May 2014.      

1. Background

1.1.  The Localism Act was introduced on 15 November 2011.  The aim of the Act is to improve freedoms and flexibility for local government and to allow power to be exercised at the lowest practical level, close to the people who are affected by decisions.  The Act contains provisions that allow local authorities to change from operating executive arrangements to a committee system.

1.2. The Localism Act (the Act) now specifies that, in order to change from a cabinet system to a committee system, local authorities must:-

·         Pass a resolution to change their governance arrangements;

·         As soon as practicable after passing the resolution, make the provisions of the  new arrangements available for inspection;

·         Publish in one or more newspapers circulating in the area a notice which describes the features of the new system and timescales for implementation.

If a resolution is passed and publicity requirements above complied with Lincolnshire County Council will be required to cease operating their old form of governance arrangements and start operating their new arrangements.  This must take place "at the relevant change time" which, in the case of a move from a cabinet system to a committee system, is defined as:-

a)    The first annual meeting of the local authority to be held after the resolution to make the change in governance arrangements is passed, or

b)    A later annual meeting of the local authority specified in that resolution."

An amendment was put forward to replace the original motion with the following:

"The Council recognises that the current form of governance of a Leader and Executive may be seen as leaving a democratic deficit, whilst recognising the requirements of the Local Government Act 2000 this Council accepts that more decisions can be made by Full Council so as to give all Councillors an opportunity to make a contribution on behalf of their constituents and accordingly ask the current all-party Working Group on the constitution to bring back proposals to achieve that aim"

The amendment was put to the mover of the motion, and was accepted.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.