Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 6 December 2018.

Agreed (by 25 votes to 8) that the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 6 December 2018 be confirmed as a correct record.

To receive any declarations of interest from any Member on any item on this agenda.

None.

To receive any announcements from the Mayor, Leader of the Council, Deputy Leader of the Council, Members of the Cabinet, a Chairman of a Committee or the Chief Executive.

1. The Mayor reminded members that the Mayor’s Charity Ball would take place at The North Euston Hotel on Friday 8 March 2019 and that tickets were now available from the Mayor’s Secretary.

2. The Mayor announced that a Mayor’s Charity Concert would be held at The Church of St Peter and St David, Lord Street, Fleetwood on Thursday 14 March 2019 at 7.00 pm. 

3. The Mayor also announced that a concert by the Liverpool Royal Philharmonic Orchestra entitled ‘Fleetwood Voices’, sponsored by Regenda, with proceeds going to the Mayor’s Charity, was to be held at 7.30pm on 22 February 2019 at the Marine Hall.

4. The Mayor said that she was pleased to announce that (subject to her re-election as a councillor on 2 May 2019) the Mayor Elect for 2019/20 was Councillor Ann Turner. Cllr Turner said that, if re-elected, she would be honoured to be Mayor and announced that her Deputy would be Cllr B Birch. (She also said that her Mayoress would be Cllr Kay).

5. Cllr R Duffy thanked members for the messages of good will she had received from members about her future health. She said that because of her impending surgery and follow-up chemotherapy treatment and, as she had already indicated that she would not be a candidate at the May elections, this was likely to be her last Council meeting. The Mayor expressed the best wishes of the Council to Cllr Duffy for a successful operation and a speedy and complete recovery.

To receive any questions or statements from members of the public under Procedure Rule 9.1.

Any questions or statements received by the specified deadline of noon on Friday 11 January 2019 will be published and circulated separately.

None received.

To receive any questions from Members of the Council to the Mayor, a member of the Cabinet or the Chairman of a Committee under Council Procedure Rule 12.1

Four questions have so far been received:

(a)  A question from Cllr R Duffy to the Leader of the Council (Cllr Henderson) about councillors allowances.

(b)   A question from Cllr Gibson to the Planning and Economic Development Portfolio Holder (Cllr Michael Vincent) about comments made at the last Council meeting relating to the number of Council meetings.

(c)  A question from Cllr Gibson to the Planning and Economic Development Portfolio Holder (Cllr Michael Vincent) about responsibility for matters relating to Member Development.

(d)  A question from Cllr E Anderton to the Street Scene, Parks and Open Spaces Portfolio Holder (Cllr Bridge) about the number and distribution of penalty notices issued for environmental offences.

Any further questions received by the specified deadline of noon on Friday 11 January 2019 will be published and circulated.

(a)  Cllr R Duffy withdrew her question to the Leader of the Council about Members Allowances (previously published with the agenda) because a report on the Members Allowances Scheme was to be considered later in the meeting.

(b)  The Planning and Economic Development Portfolio Holder (Cllr Michael Vincent) responded to a question (previously published with the agenda) and also to a supplementary question from Cllr Gibson relating to comments made at the last Council meeting about the number of Council meetings. Cllr Vincent said that he had not misled the Council and that he did not therefore need to apologise.

(c)  The Planning and Economic Development Portfolio Holder (Cllr Michael Vincent) responded to a question from Cllr Gibson (previously published with the agenda) and also to a supplementary question, about responsibility for matters relating to member development. He said that the current Leader of the Council had chosen to sit on the Councillor Development Group himself, rather than to delegate that role to the Planning and Economic Development Portfolio Holder (as Cllr Gibson had done when he had been the Leader of the Council). In doing so, Cllr Henderson had avoided a potential conflict of interest which could have occurred if the Planning and Economic Development had been required to make a decision on a member development issue, having previously being involved as a member of the Group.

(d)  The Street Scene, Parks and Open Spaces Portfolio Holder (Cllr Bridge) responded to a question from Cllr E Anderton (published with the agenda) and also to a supplementary question, about penalty notices for environmental offences. He said that information about the numbers of penalty notices issued, broken down by area but not by ward, would be collated on a quarterly basis and would be included in his future Executive Reports.

To receive reports from Cabinet Members. (In accordance with Procedure Rule 11.3 Councillors will be able to ask questions or make comments).

The Leader of the Council (Cllr Henderson) submitted a report.

Cllr Henderson received comments from Councillors Fail and Gibson.

Agreed that the report be noted.

The Resources Portfolio Holder (Cllr A Vincent) submitted a report.

Cllr A Vincent responded to questions and comments from Councillors E Anderton, Lady Atkins and Gibson.

Cllr Vincent said that comments made by Cllr E Anderton and Gibson relating to New Homes Bonus would best be addressed at the budget meeting of Council in March.

Agreed that the report be noted.

The Street Scene, Parks and Open Spaces Portfolio Holder (Cllr Bridge) submitted a report.

Cllr Bridge responded to questions and comments from Councillors Ballard, Lady Atkins, B Birch and Catterall.

Cllr Bridge said that he would attempt to find out why the wind turbines at Café Cove on the Promenade at Cleveleys appeared to be frequently breaking down and arrange for Cllr Birch to be informed of the outcome.

Agreed that the report be noted.

The Planning and Economic Development Portfolio Holder (Cllr Michael Vincent) submitted a report.

Cllr Michael Vincent responded to questions and commentrs from Councillors E Anderton, Fail and Shewan.

Agreed that the report be noted.

The Neighbourhood, Services and Community Safety Portfolio Holder (Cllr Berry) submitted a report.

Cllr Berry responded to questions and comments from Councillors Robinson, Gibson, Fail, Beavers and Lady Atkins.

Agreed that the report be noted.

The Leisure, Health and Community Engagement Portfolio Holder (Cllr Bowen) submitted a report.

Cllr Bowen responded to a question and comments from Cllr Beavers.

Agreed that the report be noted.

Cllr Berry responded to a question from Cllr A Vincent about a recent Flooding Task Group report.

Report of the Resources Portfolio Holder (Cllr A Vincent) and the Service Director People and Places.

The Resources Portfolio Holder (Cllr A Vincent) and the Service Director People and Places submitted a report on proposals seeking approval of an updated Localised Council Tax Support Scheme to replace the existing scheme from 1 April 2019.

An amendment proposed by Cllr Fail and seconded by Cllr E Anderton, to change the figure for the flat-rate non-dependent Localised Council Tax Support deduction specified in recommendation 3.2 from £5 per week to £3.70 and to delete recommendation 3.3 on the discontinuation of the Second Adult Rebate Scheme, was LOST by 9 votes to 28.

Cllr A Vincent confirmed that the new scheme would be monitored to ensure fairness of impact and containment of costs.

Agreed (by 29 votes to 9):

1.    That a £10 per week income “cushion” (up or down) be introduced, thereby removing the need to re-calculate entitlement to Localised Council Tax Support in respect of low value changes to a claimant’s weekly income.

2.    That a flat-rate Localised Council Tax Support non-dependent deduction of £5 per week be introduced to replace the current tiered non-dependent reduction rates.

3.    That the Second Adult-Rebate Scheme be discontinued. 

4.     That the current additional maximum deduction from entitlement to Localised Council Tax Support for working-age claimants be maintained at 8.5%. 

5.    That none of the other possible changes to the current Localised Council Tax Support Scheme which were under consideration, be implemented at this time.

Report of Service Director, Performance and Innovation.

The Service Director Performance and Innovation submitted a report on the outcome of an interim review of the Members’ Allowances Scheme undertaken by the Independent Remuneration Panel.

Agreed (by 29 votes to 9):

1.    That, in line with the formula applied since 2012 and endorsed last year, the Basic Allowance paid to each Councillor be increased by 2%, from £4,176 per annum to £4,260 per annum, with effect from 3 May 2019.

2.    That, in view of the planned arrangements to provide tablet computer devices to all councillors from May 2019 to enable paperless meetings to be introduced, the IT Allowance of £186 per annum currently paid to each councillor be withdrawn from 2 May 2019.

3.    That provision be included in the Members’ Allowances Scheme to enable the Chief Executive, in exceptional circumstances, to make a payment to a councillor experiencing financial hardship to obtain internet access at home.

4.    That no other changes be made to the Scheme.

None.

None.