Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN1 1YL. View directions

Contact: Rachel Wilson  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

48.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mrs V C Ayling, J W Beaver, C J T H Brewis, A G Hagues, S F Kinch and Miss F E E Ransome.

49.

Declarations of Councillors' Interests

Minutes:

There were no further declarations of interest at this point in the meeting.

50.

Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 19 December 2014 pdf icon PDF 184 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

            That the minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2014 be agreed      and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

51.

Submission of Petitions

Minutes:

Petition in response to the Lincolnshire Integrated Risk Management Plan Consultation

 

In accordance with the Council's Petitions Scheme, Mrs Elaine Smith spoke for not more than five minutes in explanation of the petition in response to the Lincolnshire Integrated Risk Management Plan consultation.

 

It was reported that the Chief Executive had determined that the petition would be referred to the Executive Councillor for Fire & Rescue, Emergency Planning, Trading Standards, Equality and Diversity.

52.

Chairman's Announcements

Minutes:

The Chairman reported that since the last meeting of the County Council he had attended numerous engagements and thanked the Chairman's lady for supporting him on these engagements.  The Chairman also thanked the Vice-Chairman and his lady, as well as the immediate past Chairman and Lady for providing representation at civic functions when the Chairman had been unable to attend.

 

Some of the Chairman's duties had included attending the University of Lincoln's Graduation Ceremony where there had been the opportunity to meet staff and students, as well as attending the Army Training Regiment Reserve Service Reception at Prince William of Gloucester Barracks.

 

The Chairman was also delighted to have attended the Magna Carta Unification Reception held at The British Library in London where he had the unique opportunity to see the four original Magna Carta manuscripts on display.

 

The Chairman reported that he had been pleased to learn that he was the top fundraiser for the 2014 Lincoln Santa Fun Run, raising just over £1450 including Gift Aid for L.I.V.E.S.  He thanked those members and staff who sponsored him for their generous support.

 

The Chairman reported the deaths of two former County Councillors, Barry Fippard MBE who was elected to the County Council in June 1986 and represented the Lincoln Birchwood Division until his retirement in June 2009, and Amanda Puttick, who was elected to the County Council in May 2005 and represented the Donington Rural Division until her retirement in May 2013.

 

Councillors and Officers were invited to stand in silent memory.  Councillors then paid tribute to both Barry Fippard MBE and Amanda Puttick.

 

The Chairman advised that a complete itinerary of civic engagements, since the last meeting of this Council, was available from the Civic Officer on request.

53.

Statements/Announcements by the Leader and Members of the Executive pdf icon PDF 58 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Statements by the Leader and Members of the Executive had been circulated with the agenda.  It was noted that in the statement by the Executive Councillor for Crime Reduction, People Management and Legal, in the section relating to managing sickness absence, the corporate target for 2015/16 was to reduce sickness absence to 7.5 days, not 8 days as stated.

54.

Questions to the Chairman, the Leader, Executive Councillors, Chairman of Committees and Sub-Committees

Minutes:

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

 

Question by

 

Answered by

Subject

a) R Foulkes

R G Davies

Signage for road improvements

 

b) Mrs M J Overton MBE

M J Hill OBE

Future of local government finance

 

c) T M Trollope-Bellew

R G Davies

Interception of Members' e-mails

 

d) K J Clarke

P A Robinson

Issues raised during IRMP consultation

 

e) C Pain

C J Davie

Flood mitigation measures

 

f) P Wood

Mrs P A Bradwell

School Transport Policy for pupils attending Grammar Schools

 

g) R Wootten

R G Davies

Progress on Grantham Southern Relief Road

 

h) N I Jackson

R G Davies

Need for a temporary pedestrian crossing on Portland Street

 

i) S L W Palmer

M J Hill OBE

Initial discussions in relation to the Library Service Review

 

j) D C Morgan

Mrs P A Bradwell

Standards for carers employed either directly or indirectly

 

k) M Brookes

R G Davies

Review of the Boston Transport Strategy

 

l) J D Hough

M J Hill OBE

Extra funding secured for the Police

 

m) A M Austin

Mrs P A Bradwell

Continuation of the housing related support services

 

n) J P Churchill

M J Hill OBE

Future policy for wind turbines in the county

 

o) S R Dodds

Mrs P A Bradwell

Lincolnshire' position in school league tables

 

p) R A McAuley

R G Davies

Options for increasing the capacity of the A16 between Spalding and Boston

 

q) R B Parker

M J Hill OBE

Restrictions on information being given to Members?

 

r) J R Marriott

C J Davie

Renewable energy

 

s) G J Ellis

C N Worth

Status of Boultham Library

 

t) A J Jesson

R G Davies

Visit by the Secretary of State

 

u) R Kirk

Mrs P A Bradwell

Living wage for care workers

 

v) N M Murray

P A Robinson

Future of Lincoln North Fire Station

 

 

55.

Council Budget 2015/16 and Capital Programme Change for 2014/15 pdf icon PDF 123 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A report by the Executive Director Finance and Public Protection had been circulated together with a separate document which detailed the Executive's budget and council tax proposals.

 

It was moved, seconded and

 

RESOLVED

 

(1)  That there be one debate;

 

(2)  That Councillor M S Jones, Executive Councillor for Finance and Property, in introducing and moving the budget and in responding to issues raised during the debate be allowed to speak without limit of time;

 

(3)  That proposers of the amendments each be allowed to speak without limit of time;

 

(4)  That Councillors seconding the motions, each be allowed to speak for 6 minutes; 

 

(5)  That other speakers each be allowed to speak for 3 minutes;

 

(6)  That no further substantial amendments be moved (other than the original amendments moved by Group Leaders).

 

It was moved and seconded:

 

(1)  That the responses to consultation on the Council's budget proposals as contained in the appended Budget Book (Appendix D "Budget Consultation" pages 32 - 41) be noted;

 

(2)  That the Section 151 Officer's statement on the Robustness of the Budget and the Adequacy of Reserves (Section 10 – "Section 151 Officer's Statement on the Robustness of the Budget and Adequacy of Reserves", pages 19 - 22) be noted;

 

(3)  That the Impact Analysis relating to increasing the Council Tax by 1.9% in 2015/1 (Appendix C – Impact Analysis relating to increasing the Council Tax by 1.9% in 2015/16, pages 26 - 31) be noted;

 

(4)  That the service revenue budgets for 2015/16 contained in the appended Budget Book, (Table 2 "Net Service Revenue Budget 2015/16 and change over previous year", page 9) be agreed;

 

(5)  That the capital programme and its funding contained in the appended Budget Book (Section 7 "Capital Programme", page 16) and Appendix M ("Capital Programme", Page 60) be agreed;

 

(6)  That the County Council element of the council tax for a Band D property at £1,085.94 for 2015/16 contained in the appended Budget Book (Appendix B "County Precept 2015/16 page 25) be agreed;

 

And that together these form the Council's Budget

 

(7)  That the Council's Financial Strategy contained in the appended Budget Book (Appendix E "Financial Strategy", pages 42-49) be approved;

 

(8)  That the prudential targets for capital finance be agreed and the prudential indicators contained in the appended Budget Book (Appendix L "Prudential Indicators", pages 58 -59) be noted;

 

(9)  That a minimum revenue provision (MRP) be based on the asset life method and made in equal instalments over the estimated life of the assets acquired through borrowing as set out in the appended Budget Book (Section 9 "Minimum Revenue Provision", page 18) be agreed;

 

(10)That the changes to the 2014/15 capital programme as detailed at paragraph 1.20 to 1.21 of the report be agreed.

 

An amendment (i) was moved and seconded by UKIP as follows:-

 

 

"The UKIP Group proposes the following amendments to the Council Budget report:

 

Funding for the proposed changes to come from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

56.

Council Business Plan 2015-16 pdf icon PDF 99 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A report by the Chief Information and Commissioning Officer had been circulated.

 

It was moved, seconded and

 

RESOLVED

 

            That the Council Business Plan for 2015-16 be approved.

 

 

57.

Pay Policy Statement pdf icon PDF 93 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A report by the Executive Director of Children's Services had been circulated.

 

It was moved, seconded and

 

RESOLVED

 

            That the Pay Policy Statement be agreed.

58.

Members' Allowances 2015/16 pdf icon PDF 92 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A report by the Executive Director responsible for Democratic Services had been circulated.

 

It was moved and seconded that

 

            The Members' Allowance Scheme as detailed in Appendix A of the             report be agreed.

 

An amendment was moved and seconded by UKIP as follows:

 

"That the Members Allowances Scheme as detailed in Appendix A of the report be agreed save for amending the 2.2% increase of allowances to a 1% reduction in the allowances."

 

Upon being put to the vote, the amendment was lost.

 

A recorded vote was successfully requested for the substantive motion, and upon being put to the vote, the motion was carried.

 

Details of recorded vote taken:

 

Those voting for the motion:

 

Councillors B Adams, M G Allan, W J Aron, A M Austin, Mrs P A Bradwell, D Brailsford, A Bridges, Mrs J Brockway, M Brookes, J P Churchill, C J Davie, R G Davies, M J Hill OBE, D C Hoyes, A J Jesson, M S Jones, B W Keimach, T Keywood-Wainwright, C E H Marfleet, B McAuley, Mrs A M Newton, P J O'Connor, C R Oxby, C Pain, N H Pepper, S L W Palmer, R J Phillips, Mrs S Rawlins, P A Robinson, R A Shore, C L Strange, Mrs C A Talbot, T M Trollope-Bellew, A H Turner MBE JP, S M Tweedale, W S Webb, P Wood, Mrs S Woolley, L Wootten, R Wootten, N Worth and Mrs S Wray.

 

Those voting FOR – 42

 

Those voting against the motion:

 

Councillors R G Fairman, R L Foulkes, D M Hunter-Clarke, R J Hunter-Clarke, C E D Mair, Mrs M J Overton MBE, Mrs H N J Powell and Mrs A Reynolds.

 

Those voting AGAINST – 8

 

Those abstaining:

 

Councillors K J Clarke, P M Dilks, S R Dodds, G J Ellis, I G Fleetwood, J D Hough, N I Jackson, R C Kirk, J R Marriott, D McNally, C Morgan, N Murray, R B Parker, Mrs J M Renshaw, R A Renshaw and Mrs J Smith.

 

ABSTENTIONS – 16

 

RESOLVED

 

            The Members' Allowance Scheme as detailed in Appendix A of the             report be agreed.

 

59.

Bourne Town Hall pdf icon PDF 99 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A report by the County Property Officer had been circulated.

 

Prior to debate on this item, the Chairman reminded members that in considering this item they were acting in the Council's capacity as sole corporate trustee of Bourne Town Hall Charitable Trust and they were subject to the general duty on all Trustees to act at all times in the best interests of the charity.

 

It was moved and seconded

 

1)    That a Committee to be known as the Bourne Town Hall Trust Management Committee with the membership and Terms of Reference as attached at Appendix A to the report be established;

 

2)    That Councillors B Adams, D Brailsford, G J Ellis, R L Foulkes and S M Tweedale be appointed as members of the Committee in accordance with paragraph 5.1 (a) of the Terms of Reference attached at Appendix A of the report;

 

3)    That the Monitoring Office be authorised to make such amendments (including consequential amendments) to the Council's Constitution as are necessary to incorporate the said Committee within the Constitution as a regulatory or other Committee;

 

4)    That paragraphs 5.2, 5.3, and 6.4 of the Terms of Reference, attached as Appendix A of the report, be amended to read 'Supporting officers' instead of 'Supporting members'.

 

An amendment was moved and seconded by the Lincolnshire Independents as follows:

 

"2) Appoint seven councillors as members of the Committee in accordance with paragraph 5.1 (a) of the Terms of Reference attached at Appendix A."

 

Upon being put to the vote, the amendment was lost.

 

A vote was taken on the original motion, and upon being put to the vote, the motion was carried.

 

RESOLVED

 

1)    That a Committee to be known as the Bourne Town Hall Trust Management Committee with the membership and Terms of Reference as attached at Appendix A to the report be established;

 

2)    That Councillors B Adams, D Brailsford, G J Ellis, R L Foulkes and S M Tweedale be appointed as members of the Committee in accordance with paragraph 5.1 (a) of the Terms of Reference attached at Appendix A of the report;

 

3)    That the Monitoring Office be authorised to make such amendments (including consequential amendments) to the Council's Constitution as are necessary to incorporate the said Committee within the Constitution as a regulatory or other Committee;

 

4)    That paragraphs 5.2, 5.3, and 6.4 of the Terms of Reference, attached as Appendix A of the report, be amended to read 'Supporting officers' instead of 'Supporting members'.

 

 

60.

Local Pension Board for Lincolnshire Pension Fund pdf icon PDF 123 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A report by the Executive Director Finance and Public Protection had been circulated.

 

It was moved, seconded and

 

RESOLVED

 

(1)  That the legal requirement for consultation in accordance with the Regulations on the Pension Committee's Governance Compliance Statement be noted and that Council delegates the scope and process of this to the Executive Director of Finance and Public Protection;

 

(2)  That the decision to approve the establishment, composition and terms of reference for the Local Pension Board, having first had regard to the outcome of the consultation, be delegated to the Executive Director of Finance and Public Protection;

 

(3)  That a change to the constitution to provide for the Pension Committee to have regard to the advice of the Local Pension Board once established, be approved

61.

Local Pension Board for Lincolnshire Firefighters Pension Schemes pdf icon PDF 117 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A report by the Executive Director of Finance and Public Protection had been circulated.

 

It was moved, seconded and

 

RESOLVED

 

1)    That it be noted that from 1 April 2015 the Council will become the scheme manager for the Firefighters Pension Scheme 2015.  As scheme manager for existing schemes and the Firefighters Pension Scheme 2015, the Council is under a duty to establish a Local Pension Board for the schemes from 1 April 2015;

 

2)    That the decision to approve the establishment, composition and terms of reference for the Local Pension Board be delegated to the Executive Director of Finance and Public Protection.

 

62.

Minutes of the Council's Committees

62a

Planning and Regulation - 8 December 2014 pdf icon PDF 178 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

            That the minutes of the Planning and Regulation Committee held on 8 December 2014 be received.

62b

Planning and Regulation - 12 January 2015 pdf icon PDF 101 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

            That the minutes of the meeting of the Planning and Regulation Committee held on 12 January 2015 be received.

62c

Pensions Committee - 8 January 2015 pdf icon PDF 118 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

            That the minutes of the Pensions Committee held on 8 January 2015 be received.

 

  

Prior to debate of the motions, the Chairman made a statement in relation to a question that Councillor P M Dilks had tried to ask under item 7 (minute number 54) of the agenda, as follows:

"Councillor Dilks has asked me to reconsider the ruling that he could not put a question to Councillor Robinson. My perception at the time was that the question was related to his activities about libraries in his division which seemed to me to be wrong on two counts, that a question was being asked about a councillor's divisional activity rather than his executive responsibilities and that the correct executive member for this subject was Councillor Worth.  It has been put to me by Councillor Dilks that in fact he wished to ask a question that did relate to his executive councillor responsibilities.  Perhaps the long preamble to the question made it difficult for me to see this.  I have consulted the monitoring officer who has considered this matter with some legal advice and his ruling is as follows:-

The Constitution is not explicit about the nature of the question that may be asked, however, whatever the intent of the clause might have been in particular, it was explicit in that a question can be asked on any matter in relation to which the council has powers over or which affects the area, consequently the question was able to be put."

 

The Chairman then invited Councillor Dilks to put his question to Councillor Robinson.

63.

Motions on Notice Submitted in Accordance with the Council's Constitution

Minutes:

Motion by Councillor M J Hill OBE

 

It was moved and seconded that:

 

'This council notes:

 

1.    The difficult funding scenario for local government in general and LCC in particular, resulting in a budget saving requirement of £200m plus for this council.

 

2.    The agreed budget reduction to the library service of £2m as a contribution to the financial issues noted in paragraph 1 and the recent service prioritisation exercise.

 

3.    The steady decline in active borrowers – 25% in ten years – along with the continuing growth in the use of online services, a trend reflected nationally.

 

4.    The proposed model which designates 15 core libraries plus universal and targeted support as well as potentially 35 volunteer-led libraries with substantial council support.

 

5.    This could result in delivery of the necessary savings, keeping more libraries open with increased access and opening hours, and the welcome enhanced engagement of volunteers with all ensuing benefits to local communities.

 

6.    The failure of last year's judicial review challenge to the lawfulness of the model proposed by LCC Executive in December 2013.

 

7.    The recent actions of the council to address the issues raised in the JR that led to the decision being quashed. This included the receipt of expressions of interest from organisations wishing to provide a library service for Lincolnshire.

 

8.    The legal framework in which we have to operate in and officer advice regarding such.

 

IT IS PROPOSED that:

 

In the light of the evidence, this council supports the decision of the Executive to go out to tender on the basis recommended in the report that it considered on 3 February 2015.'

 

A recorded vote was successfully requested and upon being put to the vote, the motion was carried.

 

Details of the recorded vote taken:

 

Those voting for the motion:

 

Councillors B Adams, W J Aron, Mrs P A Bradwell, D Brailsford, A Bridges, Mrs J Brockway, M Brookes, J P Churchill, C J Davie, R G Davies, R L Foulkes, M J Hill OBE, D C Hoyes, M S Jones, B W Keimach, T Keywood-Wainwright, C E H Marfleet, J R Marriott, Mrs A M Newton, P J O'Connor, C R Oxby, N H Pepper, Mrs S Rawlins, P A Robinson, R A Shore, C L Strange, Mrs C A Talbot, T M Trollope-Bellew, A H Turner MBE JP, S M Tweedale, W S Webb, Mrs S Woolley, L Wootten, R Wootten, N Worth and Mrs S Wray.

 

Those voting FOR – 36

 

Those voting against the motion:

 

Councillors K J Clarke, P M Dilks, S R Dodds, G J Ellis, J D Hough, D M Hunter-Clarke, R J Hunter-Clarke, N I Jackson, A J Jesson, R C Kirk, B McAuley, C Morgan, N Murray, Mrs M J Overton MBE, C Pain, S L W Palmer, Mrs H N J Powell, Mrs J M Renshaw, R A Renshaw and P Wood.

 

Those voting AGAINST – 20

 

Those abstaining:

 

Councillors C E D Mair, D McNally and Mrs A Reynolds.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

 

 
 
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