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: Governance  Email: governance@rutland.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors J Burrows, G Waller and A Walters.

 

2.

CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

Minutes:

The Chairman confirmed that his engagements had been circulated in advance of the meeting. Councillor Dale also expressed his thanks to Mr Nick Woodley for his service as a Councillor and offered his congratulations to Hamish Watson, an old Oakhamian who had been selected for the British Lions rugby squad.

 

3.

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

Minutes:

There were no announcements from the Leader, Members of the Cabinet or the Head of Paid Service.

 

4.

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:

There were no declarations of interest.

 

5.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

To confirm the minutes of the meetings of Rutland County Council held on 8 March, 22 March, 10 May and 7 June 2021.

Minutes:

The minutes of the Council meetings held on 8 March, 22 March, 10 May and 7 June were agreed as true records of the proceedings.

 

6.

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:

No petitions, deputations or questions from members of the public had been received.

 

7.

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:

Question from Councillor Waller to Councillor Stephenson, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Communities, Environment and Climate Change

 

Live and Local, when it is fully operational, provides much needed social contact in our villages and mitigates against social isolation and low level mental health problems.  It also provides an income generation opportunity for our village halls, through raffles and the sale of refreshments for example, which in turn keeps our village halls open for further social interaction opportunities.  RCC currently subsidises Live and Local to the tune of £2,500 annually.  The remainder of the income they need to operate coming from ticket sales and fundraising activities.  At our scrutiny committee meeting to discuss the budget savings I asked if this saving could be delayed till next financial year in order for the parishes to have the opportunity to replace RCC’s subsidy with a subsidy through the parish precept. Cllr Stephenson declined my request instead indicating she would negotiate replacing RCC’s grant with one from The Arts Council and talk to parishes about this proposed withdrawal.  I would therefore like to ask:

 

1.    What was the outcome of Cllr Stephenson’s discussion with The Arts Council?

2.    What was the outcome of Cllr Stephenson’s discussion with parishes?

3.    If Live and Local cannot continue in Rutland because of this reduction in their income what additional low level mental health support will RCC be putting in place to fill the void?

 

In response to Councillor Waller, Councillor Stephenson replied:

 

I would like to thank Cllr. Waller for her question: it touches upon pertinent topics: culture and arts provision within the county, mental health, rural isolation and fundraising opportunities for individual parish councils, all these against the backdrop of a decreasing authority budget and one with an agreed need to balance the books which does not rely upon reserves to do so. It is also pertinent that our cabinet report tonight includes a budget paper: how we spend the public’s money including key underlying principles.  The portfolio holder has made clear in scrutiny meetings that simply putting off these changes for another year is not the best course of action; this needs to be consistent across the budget areas, regardless of the sums involved – the authority and community need to evolve now for the greater good of all going forward.

 

To add to Cllr Waller’s most helpful background to the Live and Local events within the county: between 2015 and 2021 there have been 59 shows over 9 villages and 1 town; this equates to roughly 9 shows a year; 1 show per village per year. There is sufficient budget to deliver the planned programme up until September 2021 with additional ability to deliver a further 2 shows between September 2021 and May 2022. 

 

1)    When the draft proposals for the budget came to scrutiny in April, I committed to arrange a meeting with Arts Council England to explore the possibility of the match funding to come from the Parishes rather than RCC.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

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:

There were no referrals of committee decisions to Council.

 

9.

CALL-IN OF DECISIONS FROM CABINET MEETINGS DURING THE PERIOD FROM 8 MARCH 2021 to 5 JULY 2021

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:

There were no call-ins of decisions.

 

10.

REPORT FROM THE CABINET pdf icon PDF 426 KB

To receive Report No.89/2021 from the Cabinet on recommendations referred to the Council for determination.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor K Payne, Portfolio Holder for Finance, gave an introduction which covered Report No.64/2021 – Budget Savings 21/22 and Report No.66/2021 – Revenue and Capital Outturn Report.  Having listened to the comments from colleagues in Scrutiny, Councillor Payne announced that they would like to withdraw the third recommendation outlined in Report No.64/2021 which asked for delegated authority to be given to the Chief Finance Officer, in consultation with the Chief Executive, Leader and Portfolio Holder to spend up to £500k to allow savings projects to be accelerated. Instead requests would be made on a case by case basis rather than for a sum up front.

 

A vote was taken on the remaining recommendations as outlined in Report No. 64/2021 and 22 voted in favour and 1 abstention.

 

RESOLVED:

 

Council

 

1.    APPROVED the principles (in para 2.2.2) to guide future work and decision making in respect of budget savings;

 

2.    APPROVED budget savings of £598k to be applied in 21/22 and changes to funding of £613k;

 

3.    NOTED the provisional position on the 20/21 outturn (para 2.6) and that the provisional underspend does not change the projected gap of £2.7m for 22/23.

 

 

A further vote was taken on the recommendations as outlined in Report No.66/2021and there voted 22 in favour and 1 abstention.

 

RESOLVED:

 

Council

 

1.    APPROVED the 21/22 budget adjustments for new grant income of £1.567m and planned expenditure of £1.458m as per Appendix E1.

 

2.    APPROVED the setting up of one new reserve for donations received as detailed in section 3.5.3.

 

3.    NOTED potential future pressures highlighted in Appendix G

 

4.    NOTED changes to the capital programme as per Section 4 and Appendix F

 

5.    NOTED the revised MTFP in Appendix I (which assumes that Cabinet/Council will approve decisions recommended in this report and the Budget Savings report 64/2021)

 

 

6.    NOTED that view of the Council’s s151 Officer that the positive outturn position does not change the financial challenge facing the Council and that action is needed quickly to reduce reliance on reserves.

 

Councillor Stephenson, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Communities, Environment and Climate Change introduced Report No.65/2021 – Highways Capital Programme: Second allocation 2021/22.

 

A vote was taken on the recommendation and there were 22 votes in favour and 1 abstention.

 

Council RESOLVED:

 

1.     That the spend of the Department for Transports (DfT) for the balance of the Highways Maintenance Block funding allocation, and both the Capital Pot Hole and Incentive funds received, as well as the carried forward £106,000, to the value of £1,487,000 is used for proactive highway drainage, Bridges, Street Lighting structural survey, carriageway and footway works as per Appendix A.

 

11.

REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES OF THE COUNCIL

  1. 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.
  2. 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 the Committees of the Council to consider.

 

12.

REPORTS FROM SCRUTINY COMMISSION / SCRUTINY COMMITTEES

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

Minutes:

There were no reports from the Scrutiny Commission or the Scrutiny Committees to consider.

 

 

13.

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:

Councillor J Fox addressed Council regarding the upcoming inaugural Arts & Crafts Market at Gaol Street in Oakham and thanks were expressed for the support of Oakham Town Council for the project.

 

Councillor M Oxley addressed Council regarding the Fairtrade Steering Group which was working to renew Uppingham’s Fairtrade Town status following delays due to the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

 

Councillor R Powell addressed Council regarding her recent attendance at the National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (NASACRE) conference as the Chair of the Rutland SACRE and offered to provide Members with further information outside of the meeting.

 

Councillor K Bool addressed Council regarding the Combined Fire Authority following it’s annual meeting on 16 June where he had been appointed to the Combined Authority’s Employment Committee and as Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee.

 

Councillor E Baines addressed Council regarding recent attendance at several bodies on behalf of the Council.  The Rural Community Council was working with local communities in a several different ways, including the provision of assistance for mental health issues and support in the neighbourhood planning process. The Rutland Water Partnership was considering several projects of local significance. In conclusion, having attended the Most Sparsely Populated Councils Group of the Local Government Association on behalf of the Leader, Councillor Baines reported he had attended sessions on the funding of rural Councils and highlighted examples of planning policies being utilised in South Norfolk.

 

The following written report was also received from Councillor G Waller regarding her first meeting of the Carlton Hayes Charity.  

 

‘On Thursday 1 July I attended my first meeting of the Carlton Hayes Charity. https://www.carltonhayes.co.uk/ a mental health charity covering Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.  The full history can be found on the charity’s web site but briefly it was formed in 1834 to support mentally ill patients in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland access mental health support; primarily hospital care.  Since the advent of the National Health access to hospital has been free so the charity shifted its focus to providing grants to other charitable organisations who support people with mental health problems.  These activities range from outings, social interaction activities, practical help to access services, transport and so on.  Most of the grants go to organisations based in Leicester and Leicestershire but that is because Rutland based charities and not for profit organisations are not applying.  Please try and raise the profile of Carlton Hayes if you have any contact with organisations who might be able to apply to it for a grant.’

14.

APPOINTMENT OF STRATEGIC DIRECTORS - PEOPLE DIRECTORATE pdf icon PDF 219 KB

To receive Report No.95/2021 from the Chief Executive.

Minutes:

Councillor G Brown, Chair of the Employment and Appeals Committee, introduced Report 94/2021, the purpose of which was to seek Council approval for the appointment of Mr John Morley to the post of Strategic Director of Adults and Health, and the appointment of Mrs Dawn Godfrey to the post of Strategic Director of Children and Families. Following Council’s approval of the creation of the positions at the Special Meeting on 7 June 2021. Members spoke in strong support for the two candidates.

 

A vote was taken on the recommendations and there was a unanimous vote in favour.

 

RESOLVED

 

That Council:

 

  1. On the recommendation of the Chief Officer Appointment Committee, APPROVES the appointment of:
    a) Mr John Morley as Strategic Director of Adults and Health
    b) Mrs Dawn Godfrey as Strategic Director of Children and Families

 

  1. DELEGATES Authority to the Monitoring Officer to amend the Constitution (including the Scheme of Delegation) to reflect the changes to the Senior Management Team.

 

15.

BOUNDARY COMMISSION PROPOSALS pdf icon PDF 267 KB

To receive Report No.96/2021 from the Monitoring Officer.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr Phillip Horsfield, Monitoring Officer, introduced Report No. 96/2021, the purpose of which was to inform Council of the proposals by the Boundary Commission for the 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies and set out the mechanism by which comments could be made on the proposals. 

 

RESOLVED

 

That Council NOTES the proposals from the Boundary Commission for England and the mechanism by which comments may be made on those proposals.

 

16.

ANNUAL SCRUTINY REPORT pdf icon PDF 265 KB

To receive Report No.94/2021 from the Scrutiny Commission.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor P Ainsley, Chair of the Scrutiny Commission, introduced Report No 94/2021, the purpose of which was to report the work undertaken by Scrutiny for the 2020/21 municipal year. Thanks were expressed to all Members of Scrutiny and supporting officers throughout the previous year.

 

RESOLVED

 

That Council NOTES the Scrutiny Annual Report 2020/21.

 

17.

THE COUNCIL PRAYER pdf icon PDF 276 KB

To receive Report No.97/2021 from the Monitoring Officer.

Minutes:

Councillor O Hemsley, Leader of the Council and Chairman of the Constitutional Working Group (CRWG) introduced Report No. 97/2021, the purpose of which was to enable Councillors to consider the feedback from the CRWG and discuss the issue of prayers at Council.

 

Councillor S Harvey moved that any decision on Report No 97/2021 be deferred until results on the current census concluded, on the basis that this would give Members up-to-date data on the faiths within Rutland, and would allow for a more informed discussion and debate, this was seconded and it was proposed that the motion be put immediately to a vote. 

 

The motion was put to the vote and with 15 votes in favour, 7 against and 1 abstention, the motion was carried.

 

RESOLVED

That Council DEFER any decision on Report No 97/2021 until the results of the census have been published.

 

18.

NOTICES OF MOTION

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.

Minutes:

There were no notices of motion.

 

19.

ANY URGENT BUSINESS

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

Minutes:

LThe Chairman informed Members that in his opinion the cancellation of the Special Meeting of the Council scheduled for 26 July had been undertaken pre-emptively without proper consultation or his agreement, and invited Members to present their views on whether the meeting should be reinstated or rescheduled.

 

The Chairman and several Members expressed the view that Members had not been sufficiently consulted about the proposed meeting dates and that the Special Meeting should be reinstated for the 26 July. Reference was also made to other communications regarding a meeting date of the 28 July and concerns were raised by several Members regarding the potential impact of the various meeting dates on a recent meeting and decision of the Planning and Licensing Committee and on the potential for similar concerns at future meetings. Clarification on this matter was provided by Councillor E Baines as Chair of the Planning and Licensing Committee.

 

Mr Phillip Horsfield, Monitoring Officer, advised Members that although discussions had taken place regarding a potential move of the Special Meeting to 28 July this had never been formally agreed or progressed.

 

Concern was also expressed by several Members regarding the constitutional role of Council in determining Planning Applications referred to it by Members following a decision by the Planning and Licensing Committee, the Monitoring Officer agreed to investigate this issue and suggested this could be discussed by the Constitutional Review Working Group. 

 

With regard to the issue of the cancelled Special Meeting, the Chief Executive advised that the cancellation of the meeting on 26 July had been firstly informed by Members concerns on attendance, which had been expressed at an informal Members briefing at which Officers understood that they had consulted all Councillors and reached a shared understanding. Secondly on the ability of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation and the Ministry of Defence to provide the assurances on viability of the St Georges Barracks site in time for a 26 July meeting date whereas a later meeting date may allow these assurances to align with Council’s decision on the Local Plan and finally for reasons that the Monitoring Officer would share.

 

The Monitoring Officer then advised Council of the pre-election period for the expected Oakham South by-election and that although essential business was permitted to continue during the pre-election period, it was conventional for sensitive or controversial decisions to not be made during this period and in particular where they were of a long-term nature or likely to constitute a significant policy change.

 

It was moved by Councillor Bool that an apology should be issued to the Chairman regarding the failure of communication regarding the cancellation of the 26 July meeting, this was seconded. In response, the Chief Executive confirmed he had personally apologised to the Chairman the previous week regarding the issue.

 

Regarding the issue raised by the Chairman of the rescheduled Special Meeting, several Members expressed the view that the meeting on 26 July should not be reinstated on the basis of the advice provided by the Chief  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.