BABERGH DISTRICT COUNCIL
COUNCIL MEETING
MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE BABERGH DISTRICT COUNCIL HELD IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, COUNCIL OFFICES, CORKS LANE, HADLEIGH ON TUESDAY 15 DECEMBER 2009
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PRESENT: Ms J A Jenkins – Chairman
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Mrs J Antill
Mr C W Arthey
Mr P K Beer
Mr M P Booth
Mr J C Brand
Mr D M Busby
Mr J R B Cave
Mrs S P Clarke
Mr P G Gibson
Mr A J Hinton
Mr P J Holbrook
Mr L S Johnson
Mr P Jones
Mr D H Keane
Mr R E Kemp
Mr B L Lazenby
Mr J A B Long
Dr M R Miller |
Mrs M O Munson
Mr M Newman
Mr A F D W Osborne
Mr N A Ridley
Mr B Riley
Mr C A Roberts
Mr D C Rose
Mr J R A Sayers
Mr R C Smith
Mr R W Thake
Mrs C A Todd
Mr D M Walton
Mr A J Ward
Mr G S White
Mr R Whiting
Mrs S M Wigglesworth
Mr D L Wood
Mr L H Young |
The following Members were unable to be present: Mr N A Bennett, Mrs S Carpendale, Mr D G Grutchfield, Mr B D Hurren, Mr C M Spence, Mr H N Todd.
The proceedings were opened with a short prayer for those Members who had chosen to participate.
The Local Government (Access to Information Act) 1985 provides that an item of business may not be considered unless it is included on an Agenda. The Act does, however, make provision for an exception to this general rule to be made whereby reason of special circumstances, the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.
The Chairman advised that a situation had arisen where it has become necessary for the Council to consider a matter not included on the Agenda and that she was satisfied that there were good reasons for dealing with this matter at this meeting as a matter of urgency. (Local Government Review – Draft Representations to the Secretary of State (Paper J148).
Mr P K Beer, Mr J R A Sayers, Mr R C Smith, Mr A F D W Osborne and Mr D M Walton all declared prejudicial interests in Minute No.47 below in their capacity as Sudbury Town Councillors and indicated that they would not be present during consideration of this item.
Mr P K Beer and Mr J R A Sayers declared personal interests in Minute Nos. 52 and 53 below by virtue of being Suffolk County Councillors but indicated that their interest was such that they were able to speak and vote on the item in question.
Mr D L Wood subsequently declared a personal interest in Minute Nos. 52 and 53 below by virtue of being a Suffolk County Councillor but indicated that his interest was such that he was able to speak and vote on the item in question.
Mr B L Lazenby, Mrs M O Munson and Mr R Whiting all declared personal interests in Minute No. 47 below by virtue of them being Hadleigh Town Councillors but indicated that their interests were such that they would be able to speak and vote on the item in question.
Mr P G Gibson declared a personal interest in Minute No. 47 below by virtue of him being a Lavenham Parish Councillor but indicated that his interest was such that he would be able to speak and vote on the item in question.
Mr James Hehir and Mr Peter Berry
The Chairman referred to the recent deaths of Mr James Hehir, Chief Executive of Ipswich Borough Council and Mr Peter Berry, Countryside Officer at Babergh District Council. Members stood in silence for a minute as a mark of respect.
Members/Staff Get Together
The Chairman reminded Members of the Members/Staff get together to be held at 10.30 a.m. in the Courtyard Restaurant.
CAB Kiosk
The Chairman advised Members that the new CAB kiosk had been installed in the reception area and that appropriate Officers would be available following the meeting to enable Members to be familiarised with the kiosk.
The Boathouse, Cross Street, Sudbury
Petition signed by approximately 22 residents of the District objecting to the proposed variation of a premises licence in respect of the above premises. This petition was reported to the Licensing and Appeals Committee on 12 November 2009.
The Boathouse, Cross Street, Sudbury
Petition signed by approximately 60 residents of the District objecting to a new premises licence application in respect of the above premises. This petition is to be reported to the Licensing Sub-Committee on 22 December 2009.
Hamilton Road Quarter – Why Ignore Option Four?
Petition signed by approximately 46 residents of the District objecting to the three options put forward for consultation and requesting that an Option 4 is introduced. The issues raised will be incorporated in a report when the matter is considered by Strategy Committee on 11 February 2010.
Managing Babergh Car Parks (Strategy Committee)
Mr N A Ridley introduced Paper J143 Managing Babergh Car Parks outlining the responses from Sudbury Town Council, Hadleigh Town Council and the Lavenham Parish Council on whether they wish to manage the respective Babergh owned or operated car parks in their areas.
It was appreciated that the offer to the Town and Parish Councils to submit proposals to manage Babergh’s car parks did involve very tight deadlines as there was an urgent need for Babergh to integrate any such proposals into its budget making process by mid December. Sudbury Town Council were the only Council who has submitted a proposal to take on the management of the car parks and an analysis of their proposal was outlined in Section 6 of Paper J143.
RESOLVED
(1) That the Town and Parish Councils be thanked for their responses on the managing of Babergh car parks.
(2) That for the financial, legal, operational and asset management reasons set out in Section 6 of Paper J143, Sudbury Town Council’s offer to manage Babergh’s car parks be declined.
Mr M P Booth and Mr R E Kemp voted against the decisions referred to above and requested that this be recorded in the Minutes.
None received.
None received.
Members had before them the draft timetable (Paper J147) prepared by the Director of Corporate Services.
It was noted that the Council meeting scheduled for 19 April 2011 would not be the Annual Council meeting.
RESOLVED
That the timetable of meetings for 2010/11 set out in Paper J147 be approved.
The Director of Corporate Services reported that interviews have been conducted to appoint an independent member to the Standards Committee and the interview panel (comprising the Vice-Chairman of the Standards Committee, the Monitoring Officer and the Deputy Monitoring Officer) recommends the appointment of Mr Andrew George to serve on the Committee for a 4 year term of Office.
In addition authority was sought to enable reciprocal arrangements with other local authorities to share independent members of Standards Committees to consider Code of Conduct complaints in particular when the need arises due to conflicts of interest or lack of availability.
RESOLVED
(1) That subject to the receipt of satisfactory references, Mr Andrew George be appointed to the Standards Committee as an independent Member for a term of 4 years commencing immediately.
(2) That thanks and appreciation be extended to Mr John Newton, the outgoing independent member and Chairman of Standards Committee, for his work and service to the Committee over the past 8 years.
(3) That pursuant to The Standards Committee (England) Regulations 2008 authority be given to the Standards Committee for an independent member of another Standards Committee to be appointed temporarily to the Standards Committee to consider a particular allegation or matter, if the need so arises, and for reciprocal arrangements to be put in place with other Suffolk Standards Committees.
The Chief Executive reported that the Boundary Committee has succeeded in the Court of Appeal in overturning the judicial review brought by Forest Heath District Council, St Edmundsbury Borough Council and Suffolk Coastal District Council.
Following the Court of Appeal ruling the Secretary of State has given the Boundary Committee a revised date of 8 December 2009 to advise on Unitary proposals for Suffolk, Norfolk and Devon.
From 8 December there is a 6 week period in which representations on the Boundary Committee’s proposal may be made to the Secretary of State. It is understood that at least one Norfolk Authority is lobbying for the representation period to be extended.
The Secretary of State may not make a decision before the end of 6 weeks from the date of receiving the Boundary Committee’s alternative proposal.
RESOLVED
That the latest position be noted.
The Chief Executive submitted a report (Paper J148) providing an update to Members on the advice now provided by the Boundary Committee to the Secretary of State and requested Council to agree the representations it wishes to make to the Secretary of State by the deadline of 19 January 2010.
Attached to the report as Annex A was draft representations which Members were requested to consider and agree as the Council’s response. The recommendations 2.1 and 2.2 contained in Paper J148 were subsequently moved and seconded.
There then ensued a lengthy debate on this issue during which an amendment was proposed and seconded that the Boundary Committee’s preferred option for a Unitary Authority for the whole of Suffolk be accepted. Following the discussion on the amendment a recorded vote was requested in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 22.5. The result of the recorded vote was as follows:-
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For the amendment
Mrs J Antill
Mr P K Beer
Mr J R B Cave
Mr P G Gibson
Mr P Jones
Mr B Riley
Mr C A Roberts
Mr J R A Sayers |
Against the amendment
Mr C W Arthey
Mr J C Brand
Mr D M Busby
Mrs S P Clarke
Mr A J Hinton
Mr P J Holbrook
Ms J A Jenkins
Mr L S Johnson
Mr D H Keane
Mr R E Kemp
Mr B L Lazenby
Mr J A B Long
Dr M R Miller |
Mrs M O Munson
Mr A F D W Osborne
Mr N A Ridley
Mr D C Rose
Mr R C Smith
Mr R W Thake
Mr D M Walton
Mr A J Ward
Mr G S White
Mr R Whiting
Mrs S M Wigglesworth
Mr D L Wood
Mr L H Young |
The amendment was declared lost by 26 votes to 8.
Further discussions then took place and an additional amendment was moved to the effect that the third paragraph on page 7 of Annex A be deleted and the following paragraph modified accordingly. Upon being put to the vote this amendment was lost.
A further amendment was proposed and seconded accepting the draft representation as outlined in Annex A to Paper J148 subject to reference to the democratic deficit that would arise on a single unitary authority and also strengthening the arguments of a two unitary option. Upon being put to the vote this was accepted and is referred to in Resolution (2) below.
RESOLVED
(1) That the advice of the Boundary Committee to the Secretary of State as outlined in Paper J148 be noted.
(2) That subject to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Chairman of the Strategy Committee, being authorised to agree the final wording of the draft representations as outlined in Annex A to Paper J148 be approved subject to:
(a) An additional paragraph being included within the representations stating:-
Therefore, if this were the only unitary model the Secretary of State were minded to implement and, otherwise, no change were proposed, Babergh DC would in these circumstances be prepared to support the single unitary proposal in pursuit of much needed change to a unitary local government structure in Suffolk from April 2011. We would then, however, urge that particular attention is paid to avoiding the damaging effects of the democratic deficit, for example in relation to the decision-making processes for Development Control, that would arise from having a significantly reduced number of councillors serving Suffolk in the single unitary compared with the two-unitary option and, of course, compared with the current two-tier arrangements.
(b) The strengthening of the arguments relating to a two Unitary option with the subsequent weakening of the arguments relating to a single Unitary option.
Note: A copy of the final version of the letter to the Department for Communities and Local Government is appended to these Minutes.
(a) Suffolk Development Agency (SDA) Supervisory Board
The Director of Corporate Services reported that Babergh District Council has been asked to appoint a Member Representative to serve on the Supervisory Board which will be responsible for visioning Choose Suffolk’s long term future and strategy.
The following nominations to the SDA Supervisory Board were received:
Mr J R B Cave
Dr M R Miller
RESOLVED
That Mr J R B Cave be appointed as the Council’s Representative to serve on the SDA Supervisory Board for the remainder of his term of office.
(b) Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) Ipswich Policy Area Working Group
The Director of Corporate Services reported that Babergh District Council has been asked to appoint a Member Representative on the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) Ipswich Policy Area Working Group which will be tasked with establishing a process and means of future growth scale and distribution for the Ipswich Policy Area for the review period 2021-2031.
The group is only expected to meet on two occasions.
RESOLVED
That Mr A J Hinton be appointed as the Council’s Representative to serve on the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) Ipswich Policy Area Working Group.
Note: The meeting adjourned between 10.35 a.m. and 11.30.a.m. for refreshments and the Member/Officer get together.
The business of the meeting was concluded at 12.20 p.m.
Chairman
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