Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 19 October 2017.

Cllr Henderson announced that it was the intention, from January 2018 onwards if possible, to make a sound recording of each full Council meeting and to upload it to the Council’s website, so that anyone wishing to listen to the full proceedings or hear what individual Councillors had said would be able to do so. He said that the availability of an audio recording would complement the formal minutes, provide greater transparency and accountability at relatively little cost and hopefully avoid the regular challenges to the accuracy of the minutes currently made by members of the Labour Group.  He informed Members that this meeting was being recorded to check the effectiveness of the equipment to be used.

Councillor A Vincent proposed and Cllr Henderson seconded a proposal that the minutes of the meeting held on 19 October 2017 be confirmed as a correct record.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Council meeting held on 19 October 2017 be confirmed as a correct record (26 votes to 11, with 2 abstentions).

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

All Members are asked to submit any declarations in writing by 9.30am on Wednesday 6 December, 2017 if possible.

Cllr Fail declared a “significant other” (non-pecuniary) interest in agenda item 17 (Notice of Motion proposing that the Council express support for an independent regulatory body for football in the UK) because he was a member of Blackpool Supporters Trust.  He said, however, that as the jurisdiction of the proposed independent regulatory body, if set up, would apply to all professional football clubs in the UK, not just to Blackpool FC, he did not consider that this interest gave rise to a perception of a conflict of interest or was likely to prejudice his judgment and he therefore intended to participate and vote on the item.

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.

The Mayor said that she had recently attended the funeral of Alderman Robert Williamson, who had been a Wyre Councillor from its inception in 1974 until 1995 and had been Mayor in 1988/89.  She said he had been much respected by his local community in Hambleton and throughout the Wyre area and would be sadly missed.

The Street Scene Parks and Open Spaces Portfolio Holder, (Cllr Henderson) referred to the North West in Bloom awards received by the Council, as listed in his Executive Report, and presented the Mayor with the trophy for the Heritage Award 2017, given to The Mount at Fleetwood.

To appoint a new Leader, following the anticipated resignation of Councillor A Vincent as Leader of the Council with effect from 7 December 2017, in accordance with Article 9 of the Constitution for the remainder of the period until the Annual Meeting after the Council elections to be held in May 2019.  Councillor Henderson will be proposed as Leader of the Council by the Conservative Group.

The Mayor said that, as indicated on the agenda, Cllr Alan Vincent had submitted his resignation as Leader of the Council with effect from this meeting.  As also set out on the agenda, the Chief Executive had been informed that the Conservative Group had chosen Cllr Henderson as its nominee to be the new Leader of the Council.

Cllr Lady Atkins made a formal proposal, seconded by Cllr Moon, that Cllr Henderson be appointed as the new Leader of the Council. No other nominations were made.

RESOLVED that, in accordance with Article 9 of the Constitution, Cllr Henderson be elected Leader of the Council for the remainder of the period until the Annual Meeting after the next elections in May 2019.

Report of the prospective Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive.

Cllr Henderson, having been appointed Leader of the Council under the previous agenda item, introduced the report he had submitted as prospective Leader with the Chief Executive, on the proposed composition of his Cabinet.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the appointment by the new Leader of the Council of the following Members to the Cabinet, with effect from 7 December 2017, be noted:

-       Cllr A Vincent as Resources Portfolio Holder

-       Cllr Murphy as Planning and Economic Development Portfolio Holder

-       Cllr Berry as Neighbourhood Services and Community Safety Portfolio Holder

-       Cllr Bowen as  Leisure and Culture Portfolio Holder

-       Cllr Michael Vincent as Health and Community Engagement Portfolio Holder.

2.    That the intention of Cllr Henderson to retain his former responsibilities as Street Scene, Parks and Open Spaces Portfolio Holder, in addition to his responsibilities as Leader, be noted.

3.    That the designation of Cllr A. Vincent as Deputy Leader of the Council, with effect from 7 December 2017, also be noted.

4.    That the re-appointment of Cllr Kay as Lead Member for Children and Young People and the re-appointment of Cllr Ormrod as Lead Member for Older People, to support the Cabinet and the Council, be noted.

Report of the prospective Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive.

Cllr Henderson, having been appointed Leader of the Council under agenda item 6, introduced the report he had submitted as prospective Leader with the Chief Executive, on appointments to committees.

When doing so, he pointed out that there were already 14 members on the Overview and Scrutiny Committee because Cllr Ellison had been appointed to that committee following the Bourne Ward by-election on 4 May 2017, so a further appointment (incorrectly referred to in paragraph 4.1 of the report) was not needed.

RESOLVED (45 votes to 0 with 1 abstention):

1.    That Cllr Ballard be appointed to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in place of Cllr Michael Vincent;

2.    That Cllr Catterall be appointed to the Standards Committee in place of Cllr Michael Vincent;

3.    That Cllr Lady Atkins and Cllr Ellison be appointed to the Planning Committee in place of Cllr S Turner and Cllr Jones;

4.    That Four Members - two Conservative Group nominees and two Labour Group nominees - (to be submitted to the Democratic Services Manager) be appointed as potential substitutes for Standards Committee hearings, in the event of it not being possible to convene a meeting with a quorum of three members of the Standards Committee for a particular hearing and that, when necessary, the Monitoring Officer be authorised to use the nominated substitutes to enable a quorum of three to be achieved.

5.    That Cllr Kay be appointed as a second Armed Forces Champion (in addition to Terry Rogers).

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 1 December 2017 will be published and circulated separately.

None.

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

Any questions received by the specified deadline of noon on Friday 1 December 2017 will be published and circulated separately.

None.

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

The Mayor said that the reports circulated with the agenda had obviously been prepared before the appointment of a new Leader earlier in this meeting so,  Councillor A Vincent and Cllr Henderson would present their reports and respond to comments or questions in their previous roles. Cllr Michael Vincent would submit his first report as Health and Community Engagement Portfolio Holder at the next Council meeting in January.

Cllr A Vincent submitted a report. 

Cllr A Vincent responded to comments and questions from:

-       Cllr Fail, about a combined authority for Lancashire;

-       Cllr E Anderton, about staffing levels;

-       Cllr Gibson, about two areas of land off Bourne Way owned by the Council.

RESOLVED: that the report be noted.

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

Cllr Vincent said, in response to a question from Cllr E. Anderton that he would consider the possibility of reimbursing Fleetwood Town Council for the cost of emergency electrical works they had apparently had to carry out prior to an event at the Marine Hall, if Cllr Anderton provided him with details of the circumstances.

Cllr Vincent said that he would arrange for a written response to be sent to Cllr Gibson about the costs of the commercial awareness training for staff commissioned from North West Employers referred to in his report.

Cllr Vincent also responded to comments made by Cllr McKay, about support provided to the Teanlowe Day Centre by Cllr B. Birch and Cllr C. Birch.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

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

Cllr Henderson responded to comments and questions from:

-       Cllr Orme, about improvements made to Preesall Park and support provided to residents across the borough during the recent floods;

-       Cllr E Anderton and Cllr B. Stephenson about the condition of the Mount Pavilion at Fleetwood;

-       Cllr Barrowclough, about the continuing impact of oil spillage in Liverpool Bay on Wyre’s beaches.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Planning and Economic Development Portfolio Holder (Councillor Murphy) submitted a report.

Cllr Murphy responded to questions and comments from:

-       Cllr Ballard, about the current position on the Hillhouse Enterprise Zone;

-       Cllr R Duffy, about the Council’s planning services;

-       Cllr Greenhough, about the latest position on proposals for a Fleetwood to Knott End barrage

-       Cllr Fail, about the consultation on the ‘publication’ draft of the Wyre Local Plan;

-       Cllr E Anderton, about a planning application;

-       Cllr S Turner, about the 4^th Wyre Business Awards.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

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

Cllr Berry responded to comments and questions from:

-       Cllr Shewan, about the Fylde Coast Choice Based letting Scheme;

-       Cllr Lees, Cllr R Duffy and Cllr Greenhough about issues relating to the recent floods.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Leisure and Culture Portfolio Holder (Councillor Bowen) submitted a report.

Cllr Bowen responded to comments from Cllr E Anderton about weddings at the Marine Hall.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Cllr Bowen responded to comments from Cllr Murphy about the management of successful events recently held at the Marine Hall.

Report of the Chairman of the Licensing Committee Councillor Bridge.

The Chairman of the Licensing Committee (Cllr Bridge) submitted a report on issues dealt with by the Audit Committee and the Licensing Team during the period October 2016 to October 2017. He thanked the members of the Licensing and Legal Teams for their diligent work in support of the Committee, to keep the residents of Wyre safe.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Report of the Leader of the Council and Resources Portfolio Holder and the Chief Executive.

Cllr A Vincent (in his former capacity as Leader of the Council) and the Chief Executive submitted a report on a more efficient and effective way of managing the governance of the economic development agenda across the Fylde Coast.

RESOLVED (unanimously):

1.    That the Leader of the Council be authorised, in his role as ‘member’ of the Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Economic Development Company (EDC), to dissolve the aforementioned company.

2.    That the proposed decision of the Cabinet, subject to paragraph 3.1 above to establish a Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Economic Prosperity Board (EPB), in the form of a Joint Committee and operating under the Procedure Rules attached at Appendix 1 of the report, be noted.

3.    That the proposed decision of the Cabinet to appoint the Leader of the Council to be this Authority’s representative on the EPB and to authorise the Leader of the Council, in accordance with the Procedure Rules of the EPB, to appoint a substitute member to attend in his absence, should the need arise, be noted.

Report of Resources Portfolio Holder and the Head of Finance.

The Resources Portfolio Holder (Cllr A Vincent) and the Head of Finance submitted a report.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the report on treasury management activity for the first half of the 2017/18 financial year be approved.

Report of the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive.

With the consent of the Council, the report which had been submitted by Cllr A Vincent (in his capacity as Leader of the Council) and the Chief Executive was withdrawn, because Cllr Balmain was present at the meeting and the dispensation referred to in the report was, therefore, no longer required.

Report of the chairman of the Standards Committee (Councillor B Birch) and the Monitoring Officer.

The Chairman of the Standards Committee (Cllr Birch) and the Monitoring Officer submitted a report on a suggested social media policy for councillors.

The report was formally proposed by Cllr Birch and seconded by Cllr Moon.

An amendment was proposed by Cllr Fail and seconded by Cllr R Duffy, to delete the words “be approved and included in Part 5 of the Constitution” from the recommendation and replace them with “will be reviewed by a Task Group and brought back to the Council for approval”.

A proposal made by Cllr Michael Vincent and seconded by Cllr Henderson that the amendment be altered, by replacing “a task group” with “a working group with a politically balanced membership” was supported (by 33 votes to 11 with 3 abstentions).

The following substantive motion was then approved (by 41 votes to 1, with 2 abstentions) and it was RESOLVED:

That the contents of the proposed Social Media Policy for Councillors, attached as Appendix 1 of the report, be reviewed by a working group with a politically balanced membership and brought back to the Council for approval.

(1)          Independent Regulatory Body for football in the UK

The following notice of motion has been submitted by Councillors A Vincent, Fail, Henderson and Orme under Procedure Rule 14:

“As Blackpool has obvious and evident issues between its football club and a huge majority of local fans, including many who live in Wyre, this Council has a duty to promote change to the regulatory system to ensure that energy is spent on building not destroying supporter and community relations, therefore:

This Council requests the Chief Executive to write to the PM Theresa May and the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports Karen Bradley MP confirming the Councils support for the concept of appointing a Government Independent Regulatory Body for football in the UK.

This Body should address conflicts between owners and fans with the Government to formulate a blueprint for how governance should work and the changes that might be needed to enable such a Body to help prevent future conflicts arising and to help resolve those that do." 

The following motion (which had been submitted under Procedure Rule 14 by Councillors A Vincent, Fail, Henderson and Orme) was formally proposed by Cllr A Vincent and seconded by Cllr fail:

“As Blackpool has obvious and evident issues between its football club and a huge majority of local fans, including many who live in Wyre, this Council has a duty to promote change to the regulatory system to ensure that energy is spent on building not destroying supporter and community relations, therefore:

This Council requests the Chief Executive to write to the PM Theresa May and the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports Karen Bradley MP confirming the Councils support for the concept of appointing a Government Independent Regulatory Body for football in the UK.

This Body should address conflicts between owners and fans with the Government to formulate a blueprint for how governance should work and the changes that might be needed to enable such a Body to help prevent future conflicts arising and to help resolve those that do."

RESOLVED (by 46 votes to 1) that the motion be approved.