A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Council and councillors

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Catmose, Oakham, Rutland, LE15 6HP

Contact: Natasha Taylor, 01572 720991  Email: ntaylor@rutland.gov.uk

Link: Audio recording

Items
No. Item

95.

APOLOGIES

To receive any apologies for absence from Members.

Minutes:

There were no apologies.

96.

CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

Minutes:

The Chairman announced that the list of engagements and those of the Vice Chairman had already been circulated.

 

The Chairman announced that Mr Robert Wills, a successful local Uppingham businessman for many years and also involved in Uppingham First, had unfortunately passed away at the weekend.  The Chairman also announced the death of the wife of Councillor O’Shea, outgoing Chairman of Leicestershire County Council.  Condolences would be sent to the families on behalf of the Council.

 

The Chairman also mentioned the LLR Rutland Schools Championships, which were held on 28 June 2019 and hosted by Uppingham School, noting that there was a huge amount of talent coming through the junior ranks of athletics. 

 

The Chairman also met with the Oakham in Bloom judges on 4 July and was looking forward to hearing their deliberations. Uppingham in Bloom would be judged this week.

97.

ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE LEADER, MEMBERS OF THE CABINET OR THE HEAD OF PAID SERVICE

Minutes:

The Leader provided a summary from the Local Government Association (LGA) Annual Conference which he had attended with the Deputy Leader and Chief Executive last week.  Presentations were heard from James Brokenshire, Mark Carney, Boris Johnson,  Jeremy Hunt and others and they visited stands which covered many aspects of Local Government.  They met with the LGA to continue to plan for the peer review which would take place week commencing 30 September 2019.  They spoke to other Leaders and had discussions on HS2, the fairer funding review, adult and social care and climate change.  Councillor Hemsley expressed that they would welcome a motion on climate change coming to the next council meeting and was pleased to hear that the Growth, Infrastructure and Resources Scrutiny Committee would also be looking at this important topic.

 

The Chief Executive made a statement regarding Mr Christopher Parsons who had not met the deadline to formally accept his position as a County Councillor following the recent Local Government Elections.  As such a notice of vacancy would be published for the Ryhall and Casterton Ward on 9 July 2019.

98.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any disclosable interests under the Code of Conduct and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were received.

99.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

To confirm the Minutes of the 281st meeting and 23rd Annual and 282nd meeting of the Rutland County Council District Council held on 11 March 2019 and 13 May 2019.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the 281st meeting of the Rutland County Council District Council held on 11 March 2019 were confirmed by the Council and signed by the Chairman.

 

The Minutes of the 282nd meeting and 23rd Annual meeting of the Rutland County Council District Council held on 13 May 2019 were confirmed by the Council and signed by the Chairman.

100.

PETITIONS, DEPUTATIONS AND QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

To receive any petitions, deputations or questions received from members of the public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 28. The total time allowed for this is 30 minutes.  Petitions, deputations and questions will be dealt with in the order in which they are received and any which are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting.

Minutes:

i.   The following deputation was presented by Mr C Bacon on behalf of the Council to Protect Rural England:

 

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

The purpose of my deputation this evening is to report to you the professional opinion of the Head of Land Use and Planning at CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England), on the matter of the St George's proposals for development. This deputation has the endorsement of the Chairman of CPRE Rutland, who is unable to be here this evening to present it himself.

 

During recent months a number of Parish Councils have written to Sir Alan Duncan asking for his support and intervention with the Ministry of Defence to secure a significant reduction in the scale of their plans to develop the St. George's Barracks site.  Sir Alan has replied by saying that he supports Rutland County Council in pursuing their Memorandum of Understanding with the MOD and that, if RCC did not continue to work closely with the MOD, even more houses would be built on St.

George's. He cites the example of the Prince William of Gloucester Barracks at Grantham, where a larger development is planned and where the Local Authority has declined to work in collaboration with the MOD. It seems to us that Sir Alan is supporting the ambitions of the MoD rather than the significant weight of local opinion regarding St George's, and that this should be a matter of concern to all in the county.

 

Some of Sir Alan's letters to his constituents have been passed on to CPRE Rutland asking for our advice. CPRE Rutland has sought advice from the Head of Land Use and Planning at National CPRE. This is the highest level of professional planning advice in CPRE nationally, and is a well-respected source of such advice, particularly in government circles. His advice is as follows:

 

We have a planning system for a reason, which is to enable the right development to be located in the places where it will most appropriately meet the needs of the community that needs it.

 

Rutland has an Adopted Local Plan that was prepared with and agreed by its community. The MoD's proposals should be assessed in the light of Rutland's existing housing need, which is low, and as a result of recent years of over-development,  is already well exceeding the established need. The defining principles of development in Rutland are the vision and strategy expressed in the Adopted Local Plan (repeated in the Local Plan Review dated July 2017) and not the pecuniary interests of the Ministry of Defence.   Therefore, the Local Communities and the Local Authority have no reason to be intimidated by our MP supporting a Government Department attempting to impose development which is not supported by either local or national planning policy, or, indeed, by local opinion.

 

Furthermore, if development (which isn't needed locally) goes ahead in this location, it means that development that should have happened somewhere else, e.g. in Rutland's existing towns, or other  ...  view the full minutes text for item 100.

101.

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL

To receive any questions submitted from Members of the Council in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rules 30 and 30A.

Minutes:

  1. Mr Baines

 

In view of the number of uncontested seats at both County and Parish level in the recent local elections is there anything the Leader can suggests to encourage more candidates to come forward?

 

Response provided by Mr Hemsley (Leader of the Council):

 

Thank you for the question it is a very pertinent one and one that has been at the fore front of the work we have done to encourage candidates to come forward.

 

RCC organised three prospective councillor events, two of the events were held on a Saturday in November 2018, well in advance of the election and another event was held in the evening in February 2019.

 

The main thing as a County Council we need to be promoting and encouraging young people to stand for council and I would not be here if I had not been told to stop moaning and get involved by one of our previous councillors.

 

These events were carefully designed to ensure that they were inclusive; provided information on all aspects of the councillor role (at both County and Parish level); gave insight into the day to day services provided by the Council as well as major projects being delivered.  There was also the opportunity to hear from existing councillors who spoke from different perspectives about the role. Attendees were able to ask questions of both officers, members and a member of the LRALC specifically for parish matters.

 

A booklet was also produced to accompany these events, the Rutland County Council “Guide to becoming a County Councillor” which provided information about the Council, the locality, what it meant to be a councillor and what support would be provided.

 

The events were well publicised. A communications plan was developed to guide the events’ promotion, and activity included:

 

              Issuing press releases to local media, resulting coverage in the Rutland Times and regular information communicated through Rutland Radio

              Putting forward Councillors for interviews with local broadcast media, resulting in Councillor Begy undertaking an interview about his experiences as a Councillor.

              Regular messaging through the Council’s social media channels

              Articles in the Council’s e-newsletter

              Advertising in the Rutland Times

 

Details of the events were also circulated to Parish Councils, local political branches and posters were displayed in libraries, in the public gallery at council meetings and on notice boards in public areas in the council offices.

 

All individuals who expressed an interest in putting themselves forward at the May 2019 local elections were provided with guidance and support.  There were two candidates briefing sessions in March 2019 to guide prospective candidates in completing nominations papers and to provide information on the process. In addition, the Elections Team were on hand to answer queries throughout the nomination period and informal checks were also offered to all people submitting nominations forms.

 

It is clear that at a local level in Rutland there was significant focus on attracting and supporting individuals to be a councillor. 

 

Looking towards the future it is clear  ...  view the full minutes text for item 101.

102.

REFERRAL OF COMMITTEE DECISIONS TO THE COUNCIL

To determine matters where a decision taken by a Committee has been referred to the Council in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 110.

Minutes:

No Committee decisions had been referred.

103.

CALL-IN OF DECISIONS FROM CABINET MEETINGS DURING THE PERIOD FROM 9 March 2019 to 5 July 2019 (INCLUSIVE)

To determine matters where a decision taken by the Cabinet has been referred to Council by the call-in procedure of Scrutiny Panels, as a result of the decision being deemed to be outside the Council’s policy framework by the Monitoring Officer or not wholly in accordance with the budget by the Section 151 Officer, in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rules 206 and 207.

Minutes:

No call-ins were received.

104.

REPORT FROM THE CABINET pdf icon PDF 52 KB

To receive Report No. 101/2019 from the Cabinet on recommendations referred to the Council for determination and to note the Key Decisions taken at its meetings held on 19 March 2019, 16 April 2019 and 18 June 2019.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No.101/2019 from the Cabinet was received, the purpose of which was to consider the recommendations referred to the Council for determination and report the Key Decisions made by Cabinet since the publication of the agenda for the previous ordinary meeting of the Council held on 11 March 2019.

 

Mr G Brown introduced and moved the recommendations in the report.  Mr Hemsley seconded the recommendations.

 

During debate the following points were noted:

 

  1. Mr Cross congratulated the officers and relevant Portfolio Holders for the work that had gone into the Revenue and Capital Outturn Report and for ensuring that money had been spent wisely and savings made where possible.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.  Council NOTED the Key Decisions made by Cabinet since the publication of the agenda for the previous ordinary meeting of the Council on 11 March 2019, as detailed in Appendix B to this report.

 

2.  Council APPROVED the recommendations from Cabinet:

 

a)  To set up 2 new reserves and amend the ceiling of 2 reserves as detailed in section 2.4 of Report No. 79/2019.

 

 

105.

REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES OF THE COUNCIL

a.            To receive reports from Committees on matters which require Council approval because the Committee does not have the delegated authority to act on the Council’s behalf.

b.            To receive reports from Council Committees on any other matters and to receive questions and answers on any of those reports.

Minutes:

There were no reports from Committees of the Council.

106.

REPORTS FROM SCRUTINY COMMISSION / SCRUTINY PANELS pdf icon PDF 63 KB

To receive the reports from the Scrutiny Commission / Scrutiny Panels on any matters and to receive questions and answers on any of those reports.

 

i.      Scrutiny Annual Report 2018/19 - Report No. 104/2019

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Annual Report 2018/19 (Report No. 104/2019) was NOTED by Council.

 

Mr Dale reported that attendance at the recent Adults and Health Scrutiny Committee meeting had been poor which had been disappointing especially because there had been an external presentation from Mr T Sacks, Chief Operating Officer of the Clinical Commissioning Group.  Mr Dale urged members to attend Scrutiny meetings where possible and to find a substitution if they were unable to attend.  All Members were welcome to attend Scrutiny Committee meetings.

 

Miss MacCartney requested an update from the Scrutiny Commission Chairman on the year ahead and the plan for this year’s annual report.

 

Miss Waller confirmed that it was anticipated that the Centre for Public Scrutiny would be commissioned to do a review of Scrutiny at Rutland in the autumn and that the outcome of this review would form much of the content of this year’s report.

 

 

 

                                                                                                                       

107.

JOINT ARRANGEMENTS AND EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS

To receive reports about and receive questions and answers on the business of any joint arrangements or external organisations.

Minutes:

  1. Mr Bool - Combined Fire Authority

Mr Bool had circulated his report to members electronically.

 

  1. Miss Waller - East Midlands Regional Scrutiny Network and East Midlands Councils Employment Board and Refugee and Asylum Seekers Board

Miss Waller had circulated notes to all members on these meetings.

 

  1. Mr Oxley - Fair Trade Forum

Mr Oxley had missed the meeting as it had coincided with a Council meeting, but had met with the Chairman separately.  Rutland had had Fairtrade status since 2007, but this was due for renewal and it was his intention to bring a question on this back to the next Council meeting.

 

  1. Mr Lowe - Carlton Hayes Mental Health Trust

Mr Lowe had attended the first meeting and intended to give further details at forthcoming Council meetings.  Mr Lowe urged members to put forward applications for funding if they were aware of someone who they thought might qualify, they could refer to the website or approach him to discuss.

 

  1. Mr Baines - SPARSE

Mr Baines intended to make a more detailed report to Cabinet on the meeting attended on 24 June 2019 where discussion took place on the Fairer Funding Review and the Report of the Select Committee.

 

108.

APPOINTMENTS TO OUTSIDE ORGANISATIONS, WORKING GROUPS AND FORA

To appoint a member to the vacant RCC Member seat on Rutland SACRE.

Minutes:

Mr Hemsley confirmed that the appointments to Safeguarding Boards were the relevant Portfolio Holders for Adults and Children and that each would act as the alternate for the other. Should neither be able to attend a meeting another Cabinet member would attend.

 

Mr Hemsley also asked members to put their names forward should they wish to take the vacant Rutland seat on the Rutland Access Group.

 

The Chairman asked for nominations for the vacant RCC Member seat on Rutland SACRE. Mr Hemsley nominated Mrs R Powell and Miss Waller seconded the nomination. As there were no further nominations, Mrs Powell was appointed to the vacant seat on Rutland SACRE for the 2019/20 Municipal year.

 

109.

CRIMINAL RECORD CHECKS FOR MEMBERS pdf icon PDF 106 KB

To receive Report No. 93/2019.

Minutes:

Report No. 93/2019 was received from the Strategic Director for People, the purpose of which was to advise Members of the DBS role in carrying out criminal record checks and how this aligns with the Council’s Safeguarding policies and practices and to consider a proposal to undertake DBS checks for Members who hold specific roles and offices within the Council as outlined in the report. 

 

Mr Wilby moved the recommendations in the report and provided a brief introduction clarifying that only members with specific responsibilities, as outlined on the report, would be required to have the Criminal Records check. 

 

Mrs Stephenson seconded the recommendations in the report.

 

During debate the following points were noted:

 

  1. Miss Waller and Mr Baines agreed that the wording in section 4.5.4 and 4.5.5 of the report was ambiguous and required clarification. The Chief Executive confirmed that clarification would be provided outside of the meeting;
  2. Mr Oxley expressed concern that information would be withheld from members of the Children and Young Persons Scrutiny Committee if they had not had the required checks.  Mr Wilby confirmed that when sharing sensitive and/or confidential information it was always appropriate for it to be anonymised by redacting any information which was likely to reveal to identity of an individual. As information was protected in this way it could still be provided to Scrutiny Committee Members where appropriate;
  3. Mrs Briggs, Chief Executive, also highlighted the importance of Data Protection when dealing with information regarding individuals;
  4. Mrs Powell requested further guidance on contact with vulnerable people which might be made during councillor surgeries.  Mr Wilby advised that a referral should always be made to the appropriate duty team should there be any concern regarding the safety of an individual.  Mrs Briggs also confirmed that further guidance would be issued regarding Councillors lone working and personal safety.

 

RESOLVED

 

1)    To NOTE the purpose and type of Criminal Record Checks through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

2)    To APPROVE the proposal to carry out DBS Checks for Members undertaking specific roles - as outlined in paragraph 4.5 of Report No. 93/2019.

3)    To ADOPT the policy for managing positive disclosures as outlined in Appendix A of Report No. 93/2019.

4)    To AUTHORISE the Head of Human Resources to work with Members to carry out the DBS checking process.

 

110.

EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC AND PRESS

Council is recommended to determine whether the public and press be

excluded from the meeting in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local

Government Act 1972, as amended, and in accordance with the Access to

Information provisions of Procedure Rule 239, as the following item of

business is likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in

Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

Paragraph 1 - Information relating to any individual.

Minutes:

Council resolved to exclude the public and press from the meeting in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the LocalGovernment Act 1972, as amended, and in accordance with the Access toInformation provisions of Procedure Rule 239, as the following item ofbusiness was likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined inParagraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

111.

APPOINTMENT OF INDEPENDENT PERSONS pdf icon PDF 64 KB

To receive Report No. 100/2019.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No.100/2019 was received from the Monitoring Officer, the purpose of which was to recommend to Council that RCC appoints the Panel of Independent Persons established by the authorities listed. To delegate authority for the decision regarding which of the Independent Persons to use for Rutland Conduct matters to the Monitoring Officer and to note the intention to enter into a joint re-appointment process in relation to advertising and interviews in order to source another panel of Independent Persons.

 

Mr Hemsley moved the recommendations in the report.  Mrs Stephenson seconded the recommendations.

 

During debate the following points were noted:

 

  1. Miss Waller had understood that the report was asking for a joint recruitment exercise but that once recruited there would be one Independent Person allocated to Rutland.  Mr Horsfield, Monitoring Officer, clarified that Rutland would be able to draw from the whole panel and that this would be beneficial in circumstances where the Independent Person was accessed by the subject or complainant and as such became prejudiced from involvement in providing advice to the committee.

 

RESOLVED

 

1)  To APPROVE the appointment of the Panel of Independent Persons established by Leicestershire Authorities in 2016 as detailed in the report;

2)  To APPROVE the selection of appropriate Independent Persons from the Panel be delegated to the Monitoring Officer;

3)  To NOTE that the existing appointments to the Panel are due to expire in May 2020 and that Rutland will join the combined recruitment exercise with the authorities listed in order to establish a new panel, subject to Council approval.

 

--o0o--

Council resolved to return to public session.

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112.

ANY URGENT BUSINESS

To receive items of urgent business which have been previously notified to the person presiding.

Minutes:

There was no other urgent business.

 

 

--o0o--

The Chairman reminded Members that the Parish Council Forum would be held on Monday 15 July 2019 and that all Members were invited to attend.

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