Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors K Cook, S Kirk, Mrs S Rawlins, A J Spencer and A H Turner MBE JP.

Councillor S R Parkin advised that she had a DPI related to the labour amendment of the Council Budget (agenda item 6) in relation to her tutoring business and would leave the meeting for discussion of this item.

Councillor S P Roe advised that he had a DPI in relation to the Council Budget (agenda item 6) and would leave the meeting for discussion of this item.

RESOLVED

            That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 December 2020 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Chairman reported that the devastating loss of lives all around the world continued to be witnessed and we were comforted to know our NHS staff and key workers were continuing to work hard and tirelessly to keep us all safe and well.  The rollout of the vaccine was proving to be successful and this gave us hope for the future but we must continue to encourage all to adhere to the guidelines issued by the Government.

The Prime Minister's announcement on the Government's roadmap for emerging from the current lockdown was awaited, and it was hoped that it would enable schoolchildren to return to lessons in their classrooms, as soon as it was safe to do so.

The Chairman looked forward to being able to carry out his civic duties in person rather than via the virtual world afforded to us by the likes of Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

The Chairman was pleased to attend the virtual Public Sector Compact Apprenticeship Celebration Event last month, where he was invited to speak about the importance of the apprenticeship scheme and in particular how Lincolnshire County Council contributed greatly to this.  It was inspiring to hear from providers who reported on how apprentices had continued to progress with focus and determination, despite facing such unique and difficult challenges, and this was recognised and celebrated.

On a sadder note, the Chairman reported the death of the following former County Councillors:

Mrs Edna Chapman who represented the Grantham North West electoral division from 1985 until 1993 and again from 2001 until 2009.  Mrs Chapman served as Chairman of the Council for the year 2005-2006.

Mr Jim Dodsworth who represented Wainfleet and Burgh electoral division from 1981 until 2001.

A number of members paid tribute to the two former councillors.

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

(NOTE: Councillors S R Parkin and S P Roe left the meeting at 11.07am)

A report by the Executive Director – Resources had been circulated together with a separate document entitled 'Council Budget 2021/22' which described the Executive's Budget and council tax proposals.

RESOLVED

(1)  That there be one debate;

(2)           That Councillor M J Hill OBE, Leader of the Council, 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 six minutes;

(5)           That other speakers be allowed to speak for three minutes; and

(6)           That no further amendments be moved

It was moved and seconded that the Council:

Council Budget 2020/21

1. approves that the budget for 2020/21 be amended as follows:

1.1       a new Support for Businesses Reserve of £12.000m be created for the purpose of implementing schemes for supporting Lincolnshire businesses, by a transfer of £12.000m from the Financial Volatility Reserve; and

1.2       £0.200m be transferred from the Financial Volatility Reserve to the existing Flood and Water Risk Management reserve for the purpose of providing 5,000 sandbags across the county, the part refilling of grit bins throughout the winter, and localised sandbags provided for emergency response to Parish Councils. 

Council Budget 2021/22

2. has due regard to the responses to the consultation on the Council's budget proposals as contained in the appended Budget Book (Appendix D - Budget Consultation Feedback);
3. has due regard to the Section 151 Officer's Statement on the Robustness of the Budget and the Adequacy of Reserves as set out in the appended Budget Book (Section 11 - Section 151 Officer's Statement on the Robustness of the Budget and Adequacy of Reserves);
4. has due regard to the Impact Analysis relating to increasing the Council Tax by 1.99% in 2021/22 set out in the appended 'Budget Book' (Appendix C – Impact Analysis relating to increasing the Council Tax by 1.99% in 2021/22);
5. approves:

5.1  the service revenue budgets for 2021/22 contained in the appended Budget Book, (Table 2 - Net Service Revenue Budget 2021/22) subject to the addition of £25k recurring expenditure in 'Other Budgets' to cover the County Council's share of the cost of Lincolnshire District Councils providing discretionary Council Tax relief for Special Constables, with a corresponding reduction of £25k in the proposed transfer to the Financial Volatility Reserve Earmarked Reserve;

5.2  the capital programme and its funding contained in the appended Budget Book (Section 8 - Capital Programme) and (Appendix P - Capital Programme), subject to the addition of a further £2.3m to the new Rural Road Fund to maintain Highways funding at record levels, with the stated purpose of the fund to be amended to read "Investment Fund for Rural Roads across the county, with priority primarily afforded to minor rural and unclassified roads". This will be funded by a corresponding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

A report by the Executive Director – Resources had been circulated.

It was moved, seconded and

RESOLVED

            That the Council approves the Pay Policy Statement 2021/22 attached at Appendix A to the report, as recommended by the Pay Policy Sub-Committee.

(Note: Councillor S R Parkin rejoined the meeting at 12.48pm)

A report by the Executive Director – Place had been circulated.

(NOTE: Councillor H Spratt left the meeting at 12.54pm)

It was moved, seconded and

RESOLVED

            That the County Council supports the Green Masterplan as attached as Appendix A to the report.

(NOTE: The meeting was adjourned at 1.20pm and reconvened at 1.50pm)

(NOTE: Councillors P Ashleigh-Morris and R D Butroid did not rejoin the meeting when it reconvened)

A report by the Executive Director – Place had been circulated.

It was moved, seconded and

RESOLVED

That the County Council:

1.    Approves the document attached to the report as Appendix A for publication as the "Review of the Lincolnshire Minerals and Waste Local Plan – February 2021".

2.    Approves the document attached as Appendix B to the report for publication as the "Lincolnshire Minerals and Waste Development Scheme – February 2021" and resolve that it takes effect on 19 February 2021.

3.    Authorises the updating of the Lincolnshire Minerals and Waste Local Plan as a whole in accordance with the Lincolnshire Minerals and Waste Development Scheme referred to in the recommendation above.

(NOTE: Councillor E J Poll left the meeting at 2.09pm)

A report by the Monitoring Officer had been circulated.

It was moved, seconded and

RESOLVED

That the Council approves the changes to the Constitution shown in Appendices A, B, C and D of the report.

A report by the Leader of the Council had been circulated.

It was moved, seconded and

RESOLVED

That the decision made under Rule 17 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules in the Council's Constitution by the Chief Executive be noted.

(NOTE: Councillor S P Roe left the meeting at 2.20pm)

(NOTE: Councillor R P H Reid left the meeting at 2.21pm)

Motion by C J Davie

It was moved and seconded as follows:

In 2012 this Council signed the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change and we have made significant progress in reducing the Councils Carbon footprint to date. The Executive recently approved the Green Masterplan, that we debated earlier today, and this is the Council's road map to becoming zero carbon by 2050.

We also note the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnerships significant involvement and support for the low carbon economy which has an economic value to the area of £1.2bn per annum and holds enormous potential for future investment of up to £60bn over the next 15 years. Already employing over 12,000 people the newly announced off shore wind licenses, issued by the Crown Estate, presents further opportunities for growth, not just in offshore wind but in other technologies such as hydrogen and carbon capture that are setting up in our wider economic area and are part of long term Government initiatives.

In 2013 this council agreed a Wind Energy Position statement due to the enormous public concern over large scale industrial wind farms coming into the County area and the harm they would cause to our visual amenity and landscape settings which are a significant driver for our visitor economy. In 2015 the government's own position statement made it clear that communities must support any local application for wind turbines before it could be approved and this is explicit in Paragraph 154 (b) of the National planning policy Framework. This motion seeks to update this councils position statement, especially as the turbines which were of concern in 2013 have been replaced by much bigger units having a much greater visual impact.

This Council and the GLLEP both recognise the huge importance of our County for its role in the agri-food sector, especially for high quality food production and for supporting the requirements of the supply chain to meet contractual requirements to achieve zero-carbon targets. It is therefore vital the County’s highly prized Grade 1 Agricultural land is, wherever feasible, protected solely for the production of food and for the appropriate investment in new technologies to achieve zero-carbon targets to be supported across the agri-food sector.

Within the strategic Economic plan is the need to progress 100,000 new homes in the GLLEP area by 2035. In Lincolnshire the progress to modern zero carbon homes has been painfully slow and leadership is now required to push developers to build the homes of the future. The arguments often used by developers against such a move vary but if whole life costings are used as a benchmark then there are no arguments that will prevail against Lincolnshire leading the way in building the homes that a modern, environmentally and socially aware workforce require.  The public sector can set the standard for the properties that they seek to build as landowner and promoter of new development sites

It is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.