To receive any apologies from Members.

Apologies were received from Mr Dale and Mrs Stephenson.

To receive any announcements by the Chairman.

The Chairman announced that the list of engagements had been circulated.

The Chairman also wanted to congratulate all those that had been involved in the organisation of the programme of events held in Rutland to commemorate the WW1 Armistice Centenary.

The Chairman also noted that the Civic Event held on 1 November 2018 at Kendrew Barracks had been a resounding success and it had been a pleasure to hold an event to thank the community champions in Rutland who work so hard for the benefit of their communities.

To receive any announcements by the Leader, members of the Cabinet or the Head of Paid Service.

Mr Hemsley, Leader of the Council, confirmed that further to the Report approved by Council in October 2018 increasing the number of places on the Planning and Licensing Committee to 12, the additional members appointed to the Committee were Mr Bird and Mr Lowe.

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.

No declarations of interest were received.

To confirm the Minutes of the 276^th meeting of the Rutland County Council District Council held on 8 October 2018.

The minutes the Minutes of the 276th meeting of the Rutland County Council District Council held on 8 October 2018 were confirmed by the Council and signed by the Chairman. 

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.

A deputation was received from Mrs R Mayho as printed below:

I am Rosalyn Mayho and am here with members, attenders and friends of Oakham Friends Meeting House and local members of Amnesty International.  We are supporting the work of Safe Passage, a charity whose mission is to provide unaccompanied child refugees safe and legal routes to the UK. 

Safe Passage, and other individuals and charities concerned with asylum seekers and refugees are working to ensure that following Brexit and the end of the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme in 2020, the UK government has something in place for these voiceless youngsters.  David Cameron pledged places for 22,000 people to be resettled by 2020 through a fully funded central government scheme, the VPRS; and indeed, we are on track to resettle 23,000 Syrians by 2020.  However there is nothing yet in place following Brexit and the 2020 deadline to ensure Britain continues to receive refugees. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; last year there were 63 million people worldwide fleeing war and terror.   The UNHCR has calculated that the UK has the capacity \ responsibility to resettle a further 10,000 people from 2020-30. That is only 1,000 a year for ten years.  To put it in perspective, before the beginning of World War 1 Britain took in over 250,000 refugees fleeing Belgium, most arriving in small boats.  In fact, in Ketton there are a couple of houses next door to the post office, where Belgium refugees were housed during WW1.  Again,  in 1938 -39, in just over one year during yet another period of major political upheaval, the UK resettled 10,000 children. 

 In June this year Lord Dubs visited refugee camps in Lesbos, Greece, where children have arrived from Turkey.  He said of his visit “I am still haunted by what I saw.”  He described the camps as being as bad as the “Calais Jungle,” these people have no means of release unless some other country is prepared to help them, he described them as virtually prison camps.

This is the 80^th anniversary of the Kindertransport when Britain took in 10,000 unaccompanied children from Czechoslovakia and Germany.    Lord Dubs was one of the children who arrived in Britain on one of those trains.  It saved his life – and he now passionately believes that we once more step up to the plate.  Rural communities could do it 100 years ago, we are sure we can do it again.

We, as members of the Rutland community, are asking our County Council as a matter of urgency, to lobby parliament to show core humanity and compassion by funding a new scheme within the local government framework to provide the appropriate infrastructure and support to properly enable unaccompanied child refugees to be resettled within the East Midlands Councils. 

Mr Foster, Portfolio Holder for Safeguarding - Children and Young People responded to the deputation as follows:

The Council is grateful to receive this deputation and I am sure that we  ...  view the full minutes text for item 405.

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

There were no questions from members of 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.

No committee decisions had been referred.

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.

No call-ins were received.

To receive Report No. 213/2018 from the Cabinet on recommendations referred to the Council for determination and to note the Key Decisions taken at its meetings held on 16 October 2018 and 30 October 2018.

Report No. 213/2018 from the Cabinet was received, the purpose of which was to consider the recommendations and note the key decisions of the Cabinet since the publication of the agenda for the previous ordinary meeting of the Council on 8 October 2018.

Mr Brown introduced and moved the recommendations in the report.  Mr Callaghan seconded the recommendations in the report.

Mr Brown noted that the Growth, Infrastructure and Resources Scrutiny Panel had reviewed the Corporate Debt Policy in September and the Panel had been supportive and were keen to ensure that people experiencing problems were identified and offered appropriate support as early as 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 8 October 2018, as detailed in Appendix A of Report No. 213/2018;

2)    Council APPROVED the recommendations from Cabinet:

i)      To approve the Corporate Debt Policy detailed at Appendix A of Report No. 145/2018;

ii)     To approve the adoption of the Council Tax Protocol detailed at Appendix B of Report No. 145/2018;

iii)   To approve the authorisation of the Strategic Director for Resources, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Regulatory Services, Waste Management, Planning Policy & Operations, Property Services, Finance including Revenues & Benefits and Internal Audit to review and make minor changes to the policy and the Council Tax Protocol in line with changes to legislation, guidance and best practice.

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.

Report No. 220/2018 Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Principles.

Report No. 220/2018 was received from the Strategic Director for Places the purpose of which was to provide members with the information they need to assist them with their decision to adopt the Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Principles for Rutland County Council (Appendix C of Report No. 220/2018).

Mr Baines introduced and moved the recommendations in the report.  Mr Oxley seconded the recommendations.

During debate the following points were noted:

i.      Members were impressed with the way in which the report had been written with clarity and clear language;

ii.     Rutland Citizens Advice Bureau had been contacted, as requested at the Licensing Committee, they had confirmed that they had received no referrals or notifications with regard to gambling in Rutland.

RESOLVED

Council APPROVED the recommendations of the Planning and Licensing Committee to adopt the Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Principles for Rutland County Council (Appendix C of Report No. 220/2018)

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Mrs K Leishman left the meeting and did not return.

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

There were no reports from the Scrutiny Commission/Scrutiny Panels.

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

i.      Mr Bool - Combined Fire Authority

All areas of administration, budget and service delivery were as expected.  A recruitment campaign was currently underway to increase diversity in the Fire Service.  There were now five rapid response vehicles which were proving to be very valuable, Mr Bool would provide some statistics to members on the use of these vehicles.

ii.     Miss Waller - SACRE

Earlier this year the Children and Young Peoples Scrutiny Panel suggested that the next presentation of the SACRE Annual Report may include a video of young people talking about their experiences in relation to religious education.  This has been taken forward and a video was being put together by participating schools.

iii.    Mr Baines - Rural Community Council Awards

Event held on 11 October 2018 Rutland had three nominations and two came away with an award, with one achieving runner up.  Members were encouraged to nominate projects for next year.

iv.   Mr Baines - Scholarships for Leicester University Launch Event

Event held on 8 November 2018 and all members should have received an invite, but Mr Baines had become aware that this invite had not been received by some members.  Sir Laurence Howard former Lord Lieutenant had agreed to be the patron of this scholarship fund which was aimed at students who would struggle financially to attend university and it was hoped that it would encourage those who would not have considered university education due to financial constraints to apply.  Mr Baines would circulate nominations forms and would be happy to speak to any members to provide further information.

v.     Mr Hemsley - Meeting with Federation of Small Business(FSB)

Mr Hemsley had met with the Chairman of the FSB regarding the impact of Brexit on small businesses.  Agreed that small businesses would need support, but there was little that could be done to influence the outcomes.

To consider any Notices of Motion submitted by Members of the Council in accordance with Procedure Rule 34 in the order in which they are recorded as having been received.

There were no notices of motion.

To receive Report No. 199/2018 from the Chief Executive.

The Chairman confirmed that this item had been withdrawn.

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

There was no other urgent business.