To receive any questions submitted from Members of the Council in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rules 30 and 30A.
Minutes:
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 that Councillors themselves are important promoters of the role and much has been done following the election to ensure that Rutland County Councillors who are new to the role feel supported through a comprehensive induction plan. We hope that Councillors will share their positive experiences of being a Councillor in Rutland and encourage more candidates to put themselves forward for the role at the next election.
The Council is also currently in the process of reviewing the current Members Allowance Scheme to bring the rate of allowances to a more realistic level in order to reflect the time commitments of the role and also to enable a more diverse group of people to become Councillors.
Mr Baines asked the following supplementary question:
Would the Leader support me in regretting and condemning the behaviour reported to me at the Local Elections in May where a group of candidates stood talking when approached by another candidate one was reported to say “there is an unpleasant smell around here” and turned and left. Such behaviour breaches the spirit of the code of conduct which we have all signed and deters prospective candidates from applying.
The Leader responded by agreeing that any unbecoming behaviour was unacceptable and he certainly would not condone it.
The Chief Executive also responded, highlighting that as Returning Officer no such incident had been reported to her, but that conduct at Polling Stations fell within her jurisdiction and in some cases could necessitate a complaint to the police. She invited Mr Baines to provide more information regarding this incident to her following the meeting.
This Council has rightly appointed an Armed Forces Champion. Agriculture is the largest industry in Rutland historically and today with 75% of the area being actively farmed and managed. Agriculture and its ancillary industries support large numbers of workers and contribute big sums to the local economy. As we see from the make-up of this Council there are more farmers and people associated with farming around the table than any other industry. There will inevitably be turmoil and realignment in the farming industry due to Brexit and I believe this Council needs to promote and applaud the good work farmers do, not only providing food but also with all the conservation work they do (75% of the farmed area is managed in environmental schemes) Rutland is the beautiful place it is because of farmers looking after the land. Is it time for the Council to appoint a farming champion?
Response provided by Mr O Hemsley (Leader of the Council):
We have an Armed Forces Champion as it is part of the Armed Forces Covenant and they have a specific role to fulfil. Being a rural County, and as you mention, we have a large number of farmers and I believe that several County Councillors come from farming backgrounds, as I do. As a Council we meet regularly with several organisation such as the NFU, the Land Trust, the Woodland Trust and we are members of SPARSE. I would suggest that we have a very strong representation for and from the rural community, so in answer to your question I think that the answer has to be no.
Mr Brown asked the following supplementary question:
The reason why I asked the question was that the recent Defra figures showed that 550 people are directly employed in agriculture in Rutland and at least 50% of the farms would not be viable without the current level of support. So I disagree with Councillor Hemsley.
Mr Hemsley responded that we were well represented from the farming community and that if they all did their job properly there was no need for a Farming Champion.
Back in January when this Council approved the Homes Infrastructure Funding bid for the development at St George’s the Leader assured members that should the bid be successful this Council would determine whether or not to accept the grant, after due consideration of the conditions attached to acceptance. This Council has been successful in its bid for Garden Communities Funding for St George’s. Will the Leader assure us that it will be this Council and not cabinet or officers who will determine whether or not to accept the Garden Communities grant, after consideration of the conditions attached to it, especially as the total value of the St George’s project, of which this grant is part, exceeds the £1m under which delegation of decision making takes place?
Response provided by Mr O Hemsley (Leader of the Council):
Thank you for the question Councillor Waller.
The Financial Procedure Rules (at paragraph 6.6) state:
“If the Council receives grant funding from Government or other sources, then acceptance of the terms of conditions is the responsibility of Cabinet (where the amount exceeds £1m acceptance will be for Council) unless, in the cases of emergency/short notice, the Council would be at risk of losing funding OR the amount of funding is less than £500k. In these cases, the Chief Executive, Leader/Portfolio Holder for Finance and Chief Finance Officer may agree to the acceptance of terms”
You will note that this decision could have been taken by officers. The officers and I decided that this should be taken through the Council’s democratic decision making processes. As this amount is below £1m Cabinet is the correct place for this decision to be made.
I have taken advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer on the issue of the delegation. Their advice is that it is the value of the grant and not the value of the project that determine where a decision is to be made.
We all agreed on these rules and work together on them as part of the Constitution Review Working Group.
A report dealing with this issue will be placed before Cabinet on 16th July and that report will be published tomorrow.
Miss Waller asked the following supplementary question:
We have heard a number of deputations regarding St Georges Barracks (SGB) this evening and there is clearly a feeling that decisions are being made by the few and not the many, is this not an opportunity for the Leader to recognise that as this grant is an integral part of the overall project, it should be considered as part of that project and therefore should be considered by Council in its entirety?
Mr Hemsley responded as follows:
The Chief Executive has spoken with officers from the Garden Communities Fund. Acceptance of the grant simply commits the Council to spend the funding this year on design work. Should the SGB project not proceed for whatever reason, the Council will not be required to repay the grant. Neither does the acceptance of the grant fetter any future decision the Council may make with respect to SGB. So I disagree that the decision should be made by Council, it should be made by Cabinet due to the value.
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At 19:55 the Chairman adjourned the meeting to allow Members of the public to leave the Council Chamber should they wish.
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The Chairman reconvened the meeting at 19:57.
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