Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Alec Dubberley  Democratic Services Manager

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Items
No. Item

40.

Thought for the day

Minutes:

Council stood in silent tribute to Sir David Amess who was murdered carrying out his work as a Member of Parliament in Southend in October.

 

As the Mayor’s Chaplain was unable to attend, The Mayor delivered the thought for the day, which was on remembrance, and a poem called ‘In Flanders Fields’ which inspired the use of the poppy.

41.

Apologies for Absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bosworth, Feeney and Towsey-Hinton.

42.

Mayor's Announcements.

Minutes:

The Mayor spoke about his attendance at a number of engagements, including the opening of Apollo House Children’s Home in Mapperley and the new Sainsbury’s store in Cowlick.

 

The Mayor also attended a remembrance service at All Hallows Church along with the Youth Mayor as well as the Polish Cross Remembrance Service in Calverton.

 

The Mayor, at the request of Councillor Brooks, paid tribute to the staff and volunteers at the Richard Herrod Centre for the work done over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst working as a volunteer at the vaccination centre, Councillor Brooks had been impressed with how the staff had adapted to working in a clinical setting whilst maintaining good humour and professionalism. The Mayor thanked the staff at the centre praising them as one of the Council’s greatest assets.

43.

To approve, as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 15 September 2021 pdf icon PDF 267 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

That the minutes of the above meeting, having been circulated, be approved as a correct record.

 

44.

Declaration of Interests.

Minutes:

Councillor Brooks declared a Non Pecuniary interest as a Trustee of Gedling Conservation Trust and a volunteer with The Waterside Care Trust.

45.

To deal with any petitions received under Standing Order 8a.

Minutes:

None received.

46.

To answer questions asked by the public under Standing Order 8.

Minutes:

None received.

47.

To answer questions asked by Members of the Council under Standing Order 9.

Question from Councillor Martin Smith

“We’re delighted that this Conservative Government has invested £210,426 of ‘Welcome Back Fund’ into Gedling to improve our high streets and public spaces. Could the Finance Portfolio Holder update us on where this funding has been spent?”

 

Question from Councillor Greensmith

“Can the Environment Portfolio Holder confirm plans for road sweeping during autumn to prevent flooding?”

 

Question from Councillor Adams

“What progress has the Council made to reduce its £200,000+ annual spend on B&B temporary accommodation?”

 

Question from Councillor Sam Smith

“This Council has spent £70,500 over the last three months on agency staff for our environment departments. This is in addition to £45,000 approved between April and June. Yet bin collections are still being missed. What is being done to recruit more internal staff, reduce the agency costs to the taxpayers of Gedling and improve bin collection services?”

Minutes:

Question from Councillor Martin Smith

 

“We’re delighted that this Conservative Government has invested £210,426 of ‘Welcome Back Fund’ into Gedling to improve our high streets and public spaces. Could the Finance Portfolio Holder update us on where this funding has been spent?”

 

Response from Councillor Michael Payne

 

“May I thank Councillor Smith for his question.

 

Just as a bit of background information, Gedling Borough Council was initially allocated £105,213 as part of the Reopening High Street Safely Fund in July 2020.

 

Despite claims from the opposition that the money has been provided by this Government, in reality this funding was sourced from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and is subject to European rules on eligibility, spend, and procurement processes.

 

As part of this process, the Government required a Grant Action Plan submitting and agreeing before any spend could be claimed for reimbursement, therefore any expenditure we did make during that year was committed at risk of not being eligible for reclaim.

 

This process took some time with the Grant Action Plan being submitted in July 2020 and the contract being finally signed by government officials in April 2021, some 9 months later. The end date for this project was 30th June 2021, giving us 10 weeks to spend it all, which was impossible.  This has affected ALL local authorities and not just Gedling.

 

These design flaws in the initial scheme were recognised by the Government when they announced the new Welcome Back Fund this year.  This Fund was set up in response to some of the criticisms of the Reopening High Street Safely Fund, and the inability by local authorities to spend it due to the inherent risks designed into the scheme. It is less prescriptive and gives a greater degree of flexibility over spend.

 

The new Welcome Back Fund allows for any underspends from the previous Reopening High Street Safely Fund to be added into this new scheme, which allocated a further £105,213 to Gedling Borough Council.

 

Turning to the question about what we are spending the grant on, I (Jenny) reported this to the Cabinet meeting held on 5th August this year.  This report set out what the council has done since June 2020 and what it proposes to do up to 31st March 2022.

 

To summarise, these actions are:

 

-           The Communications team are about to launch a ‘Rediscover’ campaign that aims to drive footfall in the town centres and get more people shopping locally across the borough. The campaign will highlight businesses across the region using the council’s social media channels.

-           A new website dedicated to supporting local businesses and promoting Christmas events will be launched this month.

-           Roll out a “quality scheme” for businesses to be accredited for being Covid secure.

-           Continue employing a Retail Business Advisor, who has already made a significant impact working with our retail businesses in the borough, providing tailored support and building relationships.

-           Use of footfall counters to provide an analysis of shoppers for each  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

48.

Changes to Representation on Committees pdf icon PDF 135 KB

Report of the Democratic Services Manager.

Minutes:

Councillor Hemmingway joined the meeting at 6:47pm.

 

Consideration was given to a report of the Democratic Services Manager, seeking approval to change committee memberships and outside body representation as set out in the report.

 

In moving the recommendation Councillor Wilkinson explained that due to a change in circumstances, no amendments to the membership of the Planning Committee would be proposed.

 

RESOLVED to:

 

Replace Councillor Roxanne Ellis with Councillor Rachael Ellis on the Environment and Licensing and Licensing Act Committees.

49.

Appointment of co-opted Parish Representative to the Standards Committee pdf icon PDF 140 KB

Report of the Head of Governance and Customer Services.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report of the Head of Governance and Customer Services, seeking approval to change committee memberships of the Standards Committee, to fill the vacant post of co-opted Parish representative.

 

RESOLVED to:

 

Co-opt Martyn Thorpe, Parish Councillor for St Albans, on to the Standards Committee to fill the vacant post of co-opted Parish representative until the annual meeting in 2022.

50.

Review of the Code of Conduct for Members pdf icon PDF 273 KB

Report of the Head of Governance and Customer Services.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report of the Head of Governance and Customer Services, to obtain agreement from Members that the Council’s current Code of Conduct for Councillors remains unchanged.

 

RESOLVED to:

 

1)    Note the work undertaken by the Standards Committee and Working Group in reviewing the Council’s Code of Conduct; and

 

2)      Agree that no changes are made to the Gedling Borough Council Code of Conduct.

51.

Council Tax Reduction Scheme pdf icon PDF 298 KB

Report of the Director of Corporate Resources.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Corporate Resources, seeking approval for the current Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS) to continue without revision in 2022/23.

 

RESOLVED to:

 

Approve and adopt the Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS) 2022/23, from 1 April 2022 with no changes to the CTRS for working age people as described in Section 2 of the report, except for the annual uprating and amendments of allowances and premiums in line with Housing Benefit levels.

52.

External Audit Procurement pdf icon PDF 256 KB

Report of the Director of Corporate Resources.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Corporate Resources, seeking approval for the Council to accept the invitation from Public Sector Audit Appointments Ltd (PSAA) to “opt-in” to their sector-led national scheme to appoint a local auditor to audit the Council’s accounts under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and the Local Audit Regulations 2015.

 

RESOLVED to:

 

Accept the invitation from Public Sector Audit Appointments Ltd to “opt-in” to their sector-led national scheme to appoint a local auditor to audit the Council’s accounts from 2023/24 to 2027/28 under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

53.

To receive questions and comments from Members concerning any matter dealt with by the Executive or by a Committee or Sub-Committee (Standing Order 11.1). pdf icon PDF 151 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

In accordance with Standing Order 11.1, a number of comments were made and responded to by the appropriate Cabinet Member or Committee Chair.

54.

To consider comments, of which due notice has been given, under Standing Order 11.03(a).

Minutes:

None received.

55.

To consider motions under Standing Order 12.

Motion One

 

This Council is deeply concerned by the shocking levels of sewage discharged into our waterways, rivers and oceans locally and across the country.

 

This Council expresses concern at figures published by the Rivers Trust, which highlight in 2020 alone there was at least 5,752 hours of sewage spills into waterways across Gedling parliamentary constituency by water companies and at least 4,279 hours of sewage spills into waterways across Sherwood parliamentary constituency.

 

This Council firmly believes there should be a statutory duty on all water companies to take all reasonable steps to ensure untreated sewage is not discharged from storm overflows. In light of the harm caused to the environment, individual and public health, this Council wishes to see the practice of discharging raw sewage into our nation’s rivers, waterways and oceans eliminated entirely, not simply progressively reduced.

 

This Council resolves to engage with agencies including Severn Trent Water, the Environment Agency, Nottinghamshire County Council and the UK Government to urge swift action to stop the disgraceful discharge of raw/untreated sewage in our waterways and rivers.

 

This Council encourages and supports the use of its Overview & Scrutiny processes to assist in holding to account those agencies responsible for discharging raw and untreated sewage into our waterways and rivers locally.

 

This Council calls on our local Members of Parliament, Tom Randall and Mark Spencer to publicly support our call for the banning and elimination of discharge of raw and untreated sewage into our waterways, rivers and oceans.

 

This Council also calls on Gedling borough’s two Members of Parliament to campaign and vote for a statutory requirement on water companies to eliminate not simply progressively reduce the discharge of raw and untreated sewage into our waterways, rivers and oceans.

 

Proposer: Councillor Boyle

Seconder: Councillor Payne

 

Motion Two

 

This Council agrees with Sir John Armit, Chair of the UK’s National Infrastructure Commission, who recently commented that the Government should stop making councils ‘plead on bended knee’ for vital funds if ‘levelling up’ is to work. This Council concurs with Sir John Armit’s view that the system of bidding for multiple pots of ringfenced funding to Whitehall is ‘inefficient and ineffective’.

 

This Council’s recent ‘Levelling Up Fund’ bid would help to kickstart high street regeneration, improve Arnold town centre and encourage healthy travel in Netherfield. It was a bid that could help to make Gedling borough an even better place to live, work and raise a family.

 

This Council notes the Prime Minister’s response to our local Member of Parliament at Prime Minister’s Questions on 30 June 2021 that the ‘Levelling Up Fund’ would ‘indeed invest in infrastructure projects that improves life across the country but in his constituency (Gedling) particularly.’

 

This Council is therefore extremely disappointed not to have received a single penny from the UK Government’s ‘Levelling Up Fund’, which follows on from communities across Gedling borough not receiving a single penny from the UK Government from the Towns Fund and the Future High Streets Fund too.

 

This Council  ...  view the full agenda text for item 55.

Minutes:

Motion One

 

Upon a notice of motion received in the name of Councillor Boyle, a proposition was moved by Councillor Boyle seconded by Councillor Payne, in the following terms:

 

This Council notes:

 

This Council is deeply concerned by the shocking levels of sewage discharged into our waterways, rivers and oceans locally and across the country.

 

This Council expresses concern at figures published by the Rivers Trust, which highlight in 2020 alone there was at least 5,752 hours of sewage spills into waterways across Gedling parliamentary constituency by water companies and at least 4,279 hours of sewage spills into waterways across Sherwood parliamentary constituency.

 

This Council firmly believes there should be a statutory duty on all water companies to take all reasonable steps to ensure untreated sewage is not discharged from storm overflows. In light of the harm caused to the environment, individual and public health, this Council wishes to see the practice of discharging raw sewage into our nation’s rivers, waterways and oceans eliminated entirely, not simply progressively reduced.

 

This Council resolves to engage with agencies including Severn Trent Water, the Environment Agency, Nottinghamshire County Council and the UK Government to urge swift action to stop the disgraceful discharge of raw/untreated sewage in our waterways and rivers.

 

This Council encourages and supports the use of its Overview & Scrutiny processes to assist in holding to account those agencies responsible for discharging raw and untreated sewage into our waterways and rivers locally.

 

This Council calls on our local Members of Parliament, Tom Randall and Mark Spencer to publicly support our call for the banning and elimination of discharge of raw and untreated sewage into our waterways, rivers and oceans.

 

This Council also calls on Gedling borough’s two Members of Parliament to campaign and vote for a statutory requirement on water companies to eliminate not simply progressively reduce the discharge of raw and untreated sewage into our waterways, rivers and oceans.

 

Councillor Scroggie left the meeting at 7:58 pm.

 

There then followed a debate on the motion, the proposition was put to a vote and was supported.

 

It was therefore

 

RESOLVED that:

 

This Council is deeply concerned by the shocking levels of sewage discharged into our waterways, rivers and oceans locally and across the country.

 

This Council expresses concern at figures published by the Rivers Trust, which highlight in 2020 alone there was at least 5,752 hours of sewage spills into waterways across Gedling parliamentary constituency by water companies and at least 4,279 hours of sewage spills into waterways across Sherwood parliamentary constituency.

 

This Council firmly believes there should be a statutory duty on all water companies to take all reasonable steps to ensure untreated sewage is not discharged from storm overflows. In light of the harm caused to the environment, individual and public health, this Council wishes to see the practice of discharging raw sewage into our nation’s rivers, waterways and oceans eliminated entirely, not simply progressively reduced.

 

This Council resolves to engage with agencies including Severn Trent Water, the Environment Agency,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.