Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
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Agenda and minutes

Venue: King Edmund Chamber, Endeavour House, Russell Road, Ipswich

Contact: Committee Services 

Items
No. Item

74.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

An apology for absence was received from Councillors Gerard Brewster, James Caston, Paul Ekpenyong, Jessica Fleming, Kathie Guthrie, Lavinia Hadingham, Matthew Hicks and Derek Osborne.

 

75.

To receive any declarations of pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests by Members

Minutes:

The following Councillors each declared a local non-pecuniary interest in Paper MC/17/20:-

 

Roy Barker

John Field

Anne Killett

76.

MC/17/15 Confirmation of the minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2017 pdf icon PDF 225 KB

Minutes:

RESOLUTION

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2017 be agreed.

77.

MC/17/16 Confirmation of the minutes of the meeting held on 8 August 2017 pdf icon PDF 201 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 8 August 2017 be agreed.

78.

MC/17/17 Chairman's Announcements pdf icon PDF 30 KB

Minutes:

A revised copy of Paper MC/17/2 was tabled, which included details of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Ceremony to C&K Meats Ltd, which was attended by the Chairman at the invitation of the Lord Lieutenant.

 

79.

Leader's Announcements

Minutes:

The report was tabled.

80.

To receive notification of petitions in accordance with the Council's Procedure Rule

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, The Chief Executive will report the receipt of any petitions. There can be no debate or comment upon these matters at the Council meeting.

Minutes:

None received.

81.

Questions by the Public

The Chairmen of Committees to answer any questions from the public of which notice has been given no later than midday three clear working days before the day of the meeting in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.

Minutes:

None received.

82.

Questions by Councillors

The Chairman of the Council, the Chairman of Committees and Sub-Committees and Portfolio Holders to answer any questions on any matters in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affect the District of which due notice has been given in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.

Minutes:

Question from Councillor Eburne to the Cabinet Member for Organisational Delivery

 

On 22nd September 2016 this council voted by a majority to “share accommodation in Endeavour House with Suffolk County Council and other public sector partners” (report C/70/16).  No business plan was provided but an annual cost of £633,000 revenue and an estimated £50,000 capital cost was noted in the report.  Separate costs were noted for two satellite offices.

 

Please can you advise what are the costs to date, both revenue and capital, and what are the expected revenue costs for 2018/19?

 

Note:  This should include all costs incurred since the decision was made on 22nd September including all rent (whether locations are fully occupied or not), utilities, consultant time (both for the move to Endeavour House and the work around future use the Needham Market office), removals from Needham Market to Ipswich, security provision for the Needham Market offices, fit out of Endeavour House and other locations in Mid Suffolk (such as Creeting Road) but excluding the satellite office.

 

Answer

 

The following costs are total costs, Mid Suffolk will incur 50% of these costs:

 

Costs incurred to date

 

·       Revenue £419k

·       Capital £40k

 

Expected Revenue Costs in 2018/19 excluding Stowmarket CAP (satellite office)

 

·       £665k

 

The costs and options for the future of the Needham Market offices have been separated out and will be included in a separate report coming to Members later in the year.

 

No security costs for Needham Market have been incurred to date, and the consultant’s costs for the future use of Needham Market office’s will follow from the Assistant Director - Investment and Commercial Delivery.

 

Supplementary Question:

 

As previously requested by Council, will Portfolio Holders be reporting to Council on progress within their areas of responsibility?

 

Answer (given by Councillor Gowrley, Leader)

 

Yes – I can confirm that a process is being put in place for Cabinet Members to update Council on a regular basis.

 

Question from Councillor Matthissen to Member for Planning

 

How many staff have left the planning department since 1/1/17 and how many vacancies are there currently?

 

Answer (given by the Chief Executive as Head of Paid Service)

 

13 staff have left the service since 1st January 2017.

 

There are currently 6 Vacancies across the service, all of which are in the process of being recruited to.

 

Background and further detail:

 

While 13 ‘have left’ as of today, a further 5 members of staff are expected to leave over the next three months.

 

There are a range of reasons for people leaving. It is important to note that of the 8 Planning Officers who have left since the beginning of the year, only 2 of those have moved to another Local Authority – 6 of them have either moved to private practice, retired or changed career.

 

Recruitment is underway for the following posts:

 

Development Management:

 

2 Grade 6 Principal Planning roles – adverts will go out imminently. These roles have been advertised recently and we were only able to recruit  ...  view the full minutes text for item 82.

83.

MC/17/18 Overview and Scrutiny Committee Report pdf icon PDF 122 KB

Minutes:

Councillor Eburne, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, presented Paper MC/17/18 summarising the Committee’s proceedings since her report to Council in July.

 

Councillor Eburne queried why Babergh Members had been able to call-in for scrutiny the item on the proposed merger, while the Mid Suffolk Members were under the impression that a call-in was not appropriate as the Cabinet had endorsed the proposed consultation and the formal decision would be made by Council at a later date.  The Chief Executive and the Monitoring Officer responded by outlining the position and clarifying the advice given and the Leader also responded.  It was confirmed that any decision of Cabinet, whether a key decision or not, could be subject to call-in.  The Babergh O&S Committee will meet to decide whether the call-in is valid within the relevant Procedure Rules.

 

Other matters raised included the following:-

 

·       Request for a Joint O&S Committee to look at Community transport issues including school transport. 

In this connection Members were advised that under the current Constitutional arrangements there is no provision for a Joint Committee to meet.  However, Councillor Eburne will raise the transport issue at her Forward Planning meeting with the Babergh O&S Chair.

The work of the Community Safety Partnership – as well as being scrutinised by both Councils’ O&S Committees, this is the subject of scrutiny by the Police and Crime Commissioner.

 

84.

MC/17/19 Revising and Updating the Council Tax Reduction (CTR) Scheme for Working Age Households pdf icon PDF 397 KB

Minutes:

Councillor Whitehead, Cabinet Member for Finance, introduced Paper MC/17/19, seeking Council approval to undertaken a public consultation on proposed changes to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, with a view to adopting a revised Scheme with effect from 1 April 2018.

 

By a majority vote

 

RESOLUTION

 

That public consultation be undertaken on the following proposed changes to the Council Tax Reduction (CTR) Scheme:-

 

·         Align the MSDC Working Age Council Tax Reduction Scheme with the Housing Benefit Scheme

·         Introduce a minimum weekly award of £1 per week

·         Make provision for Universal Credit.

85.

Resolution to Exclude the Public

Recommended Motion

 

That under section 100(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for item(s) {item number} on the grounds that they involve/it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act in the paragraph registered against the/each item:

 

Note:Information is exempt only if:

It falls within one of the 7 categories of exempt information in the Act and; In all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information

Minutes:

RESOLUTION

 

That pursuant to Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the business specified below on the grounds that if the public were present during this item, it is likely that there would be the disclosure to them of exempt information as indicated against the item.

 

The Council was also satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

86.

MC/17/20 Funding approval for acquisition of land (Exempt information by virtue of Paragraph 3 of Part 1)

Minutes:

Councillors had before them Paper MC/17/20, which was introduced by Councillor Gowrley, Cabinet Member for Assets and Investments, updating Members in relation to the funding required for land acquisition previously approved by Cabinet.  The Assistant Director - Investment and Commercial Delivery responded to Members’ questions about various aspects including timescales.

 

Members generally were in favour of moving forward with this acquisition at the earliest  opportunity.

 

By a majority vote

 

RESOLUTION

 

That the recommendation as set out in paragraph 2.1 of Paper MC/17/20 be approved.