Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 7 July 2016.

The minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 7 July 2016 were submitted for confirmation.

Councillor E Anderton proposed and Councillor Gibson seconded an amendment to Minute 11 – Announcements - to delete the words “Mayoral event” and to insert instead the words “UK Civil Service events on behalf of the Mayor’s charities” in the first sentence.  The amendment was carried by 30 votes to 0 with two abstentions.

Councillor Beavers proposed and Councillor Barrowclough seconded an amendment to Minute 14(g) – Executive Report of the Health and Community Engagement Portfolio Holder – to include, in the second sentence of the penultimate paragraph (referring to Councillor Taylor’s response to Councillor Beavers), the words “no, I will not petition the Leader”.  The amendment was lost by 29 votes to 9 with 2 abstentions.

Councillor Fail proposed and Councillor Beavers seconded an amendment to Minute 16 - Constitution Amendments – to delete the name of Councillor Duffy from the second sentence of the preamble and also to insert the following two additional sentences before the final sentence of the preamble:

“Councillor Fail suggested that the proposed procedures were severely flawed and undermined the principle of resident representation.  As such Councillor Fail proposed that recommendations 3.2 and 3.3 should be rejected and taken away for formal reconsideration by all councillors with a view to obtaining a fair and robust procedure.”

The amendment was lost by 29 votes to 9 with 2 abstentions.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 7 July 2016 be confirmed as a correct record subject to the deletion of the words “Mayoral Events” and the insertion instead of the words “UK Civil Service Event on behalf of the Mayor’s charities” in the first sentence of Minute 11 – Announcements.

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 7 September, 2016 if possible.

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.

(The Mayor will introduce to the Council, the Youth Mayor for 2016/17, Jessica Basquill.  He will also make a presentation to the outgoing Mayor Will Burrell, and invite him to speak briefly on his term of office).

1.    The Mayor introduced Jessica Basquill, the new Youth Mayor for 2016/17, and presented her with the badge of office of Youth Mayor.  He also presented a permanent memento to the retiring Youth Mayor Will Burrell.  Will Burrell thanked the Council for the opportunity to be Youth Mayor, thanked various individual councillors and officers for their support and referred to some of the highlights of his period of office.

2.    The Mayor also referred to the following Mayor’s Charity events:

-       The Northern Festival of Remembrance, taking place at the Marine Hall on Wednesday 9 November 2016;

-       The Mayoral Ball to be held on Friday 24 March 2017 at the North Euston Hotel, Fleetwood.

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 2 September 2016 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 2 September 2016 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 Leader of the Council (Councillor Gibson) submitted a report. 

Councillor Gibson said that he agreed with comments made by Councillor Michael Vincent about the ineffectiveness of the recent consultation undertaken by Lancashire County Council on the delivery of its services and, in particular, its failure to properly take account of the comments made by Wyre Council and many other groups and individuals on proposals for library closures.  He said that the Deputy Leader of the ruling Labour Group on Lancashire County Council had used the consultation process to repeat his constant political mantra that the Tory Government was responsible for services cuts being implemented by the County Council.  He said that his meeting with Councillor Borrow had not been productive and in his view the County Council had made no serious attempt to take account of views expressed during the consultation process.

Councillor M Anderton said, with reference to paragraph 2.1 of the Leader’s report, that it was convenient for the Conservative Group that the forthcoming boundary review would be based on the number of registered voters, given that the recent changes to the voter registration system had resulted in an estimated 800,000 voters being removed from the electoral register across the country.  She suggested that a lot could be learnt from the Australian system, where voting was compulsory and where the government made it as convenient as possible for constituents to cast their votes, no matter where they were.

Councillor Gibson disagreed with the comments made by Councillor Anderton and said that if people chose not to vote it was their own fault.  He said that making voting compulsory would not make people who did not want to vote do so and pointed out that in countries where voting was compulsory there were always huge numbers of spoilt ballot papers.

Councillor S Turner said that in 2015/16 the Local Government Ombudsman had considered 12 complaints relating to Wyre, none of which had been upheld.  During the same period the Ombudsman had received 159 complaints about Lancashire County Council, of which 33 had been upheld, the third highest number in the country.  He recognised that Lancashire County Council was a large authority and was therefore likely to receive a higher number of complaints, but he suggested that the figures he had quoted indicated a poor level of performance, particularly when compared with the excellent performance of Wyre. 

Councillor Gibson agreed with Councillor Turner’s comments and said that, whilst one complaint was one too many, and without being complacent, it was very pleasing that none of the complaints received about Wyre had been upheld by the Ombudsman.  He said that the County Council was arrogant to disregard any underlying issues which might be revealed by the complaints which had been made.

Councillor Beavers said that 62% of Lancashire County Council’s income had been lost since the Conservative Government had been in power.  She accused Councillor Gibson of seeking to score political points prior to the next County Council elections.  She  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26a

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

Councillor M Anderton said that she was very pleased to see that some of the long overdue repairs to the Marine Hall and Fleetwood Market were now being made.

Councillor Vincent said in response that repairs were prioritised and carried out where necessary.  Such works would continue to be undertaken when proceeds of sales became available.

Councillor Barrowclough asked when the efficiency savings referred in paragraph 2.3 of the report would be announced.

Councillor Vincent said that the efficiency savings for the current year had already been announced.  Efficiency savings for 2017/18 would be announced as part of the normal budget making process for next year, but he said that Councillor Barrowclough could be assured that the Council would continue to set a balanced budget.

Councillor Smith asked why the cost of repairs to Thornton Leisure Centre, referred to in paragraph 5.3 of the report, were having to be met from the Capital Investment Reserve, rather than under the regular arrangements for maintenance in the management agreement with the YMCA. 

Councillor Vincent said in response, that the need for additional roof and guttering repairs had been discovered only when more minor planned maintenance works were being undertaken and it was more efficient and less costly to undertake the additional works at the same time.

Councillor McKay welcomed the imminent start on works to the Teanlowe Day Centre referred to in paragraph 4.1 of the report. She congratulated the Portfolio Holder on achieving a positive outcome to the various concerns raised by users of the building.  She also said that she welcomed works now being proposed to improve facilities at the Cottam Hall pavilion, in conjunction with the local cricket club.

Councillor Vincent thanked Councillor McKay for her comments.  He said that finding a solution to the problems encountered at the Teanlowe 60+ Community Centre had been made more difficult because of ill-informed speculation about the future of the building.  He was very pleased that an outcome which was positive to the tenants, the local community and the council had eventually been achieved.  He pointed out that the consultation carried out by the Council had been effective.

Councillor Vincent confirmed, in response to comments by Councillor B Stephenson, that repair works at Fleetwood Market had already started.  He also pointed out that he had consistently stated that the Council would not undertake major capital investments until there were sufficient funds in place to complete a project.  The Council would not borrow money to undertake such works.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

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

Councillor M Anderton thanked Wyre staff for the great clean up job they had done after Tram Sunday.  She also said that she was proud of the Green Heritage Award given to Fleetwood Memorial Park and that Wyre staff were doing a great job on the Mount Grounds.  She asked when the shelters would be completed and whether there were any plans to repaint the Mount Pavilion in more sympathetic colours, possibly matching the railings which she said were looking very smart.  Finally, she said that, with the addition of so many more beach huts along the promenade, she had received complaints about the lack of refuse bins. There was currently just one large bin near the Café, which was frequently overflowing and was only emptied at 1pm.

Councillor Henderson said in response, that he would speak to the officers about the provision of bins and arrangements for emptying them.  He thanked Councillor Anderton for her comments about the Memorial Park.  He said, with regard to the comments about the problems with the water feature at the park referred to at the last meeting, that the cause of the problem had been identified by United Utilities and measures were being taken to resolve it.  He said that work on the Mount shelters should be completed within the next week or so.  The seats which had been taken away for refurbishment would then be returned.  He said he was unsure whether or not there would be sufficient money left in the budget to repaint the Pavilion, but he would check.

Councillor Orme thanked the Street Scene Team for their work over the summer period, particularly during the lead-up to the judging for the Britain in Bloom competition.  It was very pleasing that Knott End had been runner up in the Best Kept Large Village category. 

Councillor Henderson said that he would pass on the thanks from Councillor Orme and agreed that the Street Scene staff had worked very hard during the summer months to help local communities around the Borough with their Britain in Bloom entries.

Councillor Henderson said, in response to a question from Councillor Beavers, that he understood that a written response had been sent to her by Mark Billington following the last Council meeting explaining why the area between the car park at Fleetwood beach and the pitch and putt course had been tarmacked.  He said that he would check and send it to her again.

Councillor T Taylor said that he had heard rumours that the outdoor gym equipment was to be moved from Roundway to the Memorial Park and asked if or when that was intended that the relocation would take place.

Councillor Henderson said that it was not correct that a decision had been made to relocate the equipment to Memorial Park.  The equipment had been installed in its current position under a Section 106 Agreement attached to a planning permission  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26c

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

Councillor Murphy confirmed, further to comments made earlier in the meeting, that refurbishment works had already commenced at Fleetwood Market and that the tenants trading at the market were happy with the proposed works.

Councillor Murphy agreed with comments made by Councillor Michael Vincent about the success of the works undertaken to transform the Fleetwood Promenade. He said the conclusions of the independent review of the Coastal Communities Fund Scheme, referred to paragraph 2.1 of his report, showed that the local people consulted during the review had been very favourable in their support for the project.  He said that he had recently spoken to a senior officer from the Department of Communities and Local Government about a further bid for £400,000 under Part 4 of the CCF Scheme for works to Cleveleys and Fleetwood. The DCLG officer had been very impressed and he hoped that the bid would be supported.

Councillor M Anderton also referred to paragraph 2.1 of the report.  She said that it stated that “the CCF scheme is now complete”.  She asked for an update on the Ecology Zone, which she said was not complete.  She accepted that extracts of the CCF evaluation report were positive about what had been done, but she felt, having read the full report, that the Council had “missed a trick” by not picking up on the responses survey stating that more could be done for children, particularly teenagers.  She suggested a skate park instead of just a skate bowl or actually having boats for hire on the boating lake for example.  She said that the main negative comments centred on the charge for using the splash pad and the loss of a free paddling pool for children.  She also referred to the lack of toilet facilities and pointed out that it was a long walk to the cemetery toilets when there was a closed toilet on the boating lake.  Finally, she understood that there was tender exercise taking place for the letting of the market café and asked for an update.  She said that if there was not a positive response the Council should consider bringing the café in-house thereby enabling the Council to offer incentives to coach drivers to bring in customers.

Councillor Murphy said in response that the splash-pad was a fantastic facility and referred to the usage figures given at the previous meeting.  He said that when the boating lake had been refurbished tenders had been sought for an operator for hire boats on the lake, but no response had been received.  Councillor Murphy said that it was correct that the Ecology Zone was not yet complete, but said that those works could not be finalised until work on the sea defences had been completed.  Councillor Murphy said he was not in a position to reveal the details at this stage but he was aware that a tender had been received from a local Fleetwood café  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26d

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

Councillor Berry, when introducing his report, referred to the flooding that had occurred on 22 August at Churchtown and Garstang.  He said that 83mm of rain had fallen over a 3 day period, including 49mm in just 12 hours at Abbeystead.  The Council had provided the sandbags and advice to local residents but, unfortunately, 16 houses had been flooded at Churchtown and 2 houses had been flooded at Garstang.  He thanked members of the Churchtown Food Defence Group and Council staff for the work that they had done to help the effected local residents.  He said that it had been apparent during this latest incident that those residents who had installed flood protection equipment since the previous floods had fared better than other residents.  He said that the availability of grants for such works would be promoted further.  He said that the Council would be participating in a meeting to be held soon, involving all the relevant agencies, to review the latest events and to see what additional measures could be taken to prevent recurrences, in both the short and longer term.

Councillor M Anderton expressed concerns about the number of recent burglaries from garages and sheds in the area. 

Councillor Berry said that this issue had been raised at Community Safety Partnership meetings.  The Police and partner agencies were doing what they could to address the problem, particularly by advising residents about the risks of theft of expensive equipment from sheds and providing advice on security measures.

Councillor Lady Atkins said that Garstang Sports and Social Club had only very recently re-laid carpets and replaced equipment following the previous floods in the winter and had been inundated again.  She asked the Portfolio Holder to ensure that United Utilities were properly maintaining the Garstang pumping station properly.  A generator had been there for some time which appeared to be pumping water into large containers.  She said that United Utilities and the Environment Agency needed to take further action as soon as possible to reduce the risk of future flooding.

Councillor Berry said that the Council was pressing for measures to be implemented as quickly as possible to retain water for longer in the Abbeystead area.  He said that he was not aware of what United Utilities were doing at the pumping station.  He advised Councillor Lady Atkins that the Sports and Social Club were likely to be eligible for a grant and suggested that she advised them to apply.

Councillor B Stephenson said that the Council should be grateful for funding from the Police and Crime Commissioner for the replacement and upgrade of the 13 CCTV cameras in Fleetwood referred to in paragraph 3.1 of the report.  He said, however, that 13 cameras were not sufficient.

Councillor Berry said in response that the Council did appreciate the £10,000 which it (and the other Lancashire districts) had received from the Police and Crime Commissioner for the last  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26e

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

Councillor Bowen, when introducing her report, referred to recent tragic events at beaches around the country, where people had been drowned.  She said that Wyre Council should be commended for providing lifeguards and signs on the beaches on its coastline.

Councillor Bowen said, in response to a question from Councillor M Anderton, that lifeguards were not on duty any later in the evening at Cleveleys then at Fleetwood.  She said however, that in view of the recent incidents around the country, she would discuss with officers if it might be possible to review the working patterns of the lifeguards to enable them to be deployed more flexibly, to take account of prevailing weather conditions and perhaps to enable them to work later on some occasions.

Councillor Bowen also said that she would check whether a letter had yet been sent to the two Fleetwood business men mentioned at the last Full Council meeting who had been the instigators of the “beside the seaside” initiative to thank them for their contribution and if not she would ensure that a letter was sent.

Councillor Bowen thanked Lady Atkins for positive comments she made about the refurbishment of the swimming pool, including the attractiveness of the new colour scheme and said that the feedback from users, particularly from school children using facilities at the start of the new term, had been very positive.

Councillor Bowen also thanked Councillor Balmain for positive comments he made about the excellent new facilities at the Garstang Leisure Centre and also the excellent improvements to the Garstang swimming pool.

Councillor Bowen thanked Councillor Robinson for positive comments about the excellent support provided by Wyre officers for the International Tractor Pulling event at Great Eccleston over the recent Bank Holiday weekend and also thanking the Deputy Mayor for attending.  Councillor Bowen said that it was a very large and popular event which helped to put Wyre on the map.  The Deputy Mayor, (Councillor E Anderton) said that she had very much enjoyed attending the event.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Health and Community Engagement Portfolio Holder (Councillor V Taylor) submitted a report.

Councillor M Anderton welcomed the excellent information piece included on the Wyre website about seagull nuisance, following the issues she had raised at the previous Council meeting.  She asked for an update on her further requests regarding on-line reporting of seagull nuisance, a review of data and the development of a Wyre policy with regarding to this growing problem, including the possibility of a bye law prohibiting feeding of seagulls in residential areas.

Councillor V Taylor said that various proposals to try to prevent the feeding of seagulls were being considered.  Whilst making a bye law was likely to be difficult the possibility of using anti-social behaviour provisions such as a Public Space Protection Order were being researched.  She said that there had been over 3,000 hits on the information published on the website.  There were also plans to provide residents with information on ways to prevent seagulls nesting on buildings.  She confirmed that provision for on-line reporting was already in place.

Councillor Taylor said, in response to comments made by Councillor B Stephenson, that seagulls were protected under the provisions of the Wild Life and Countryside Act 1981 and that they could only be culled if a licence had been obtained.  Such a licence was only likely to be granted in exceptional circumstances, such as in areas near to airports.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Councillor V Taylor said, in response to comments made by Councillor Gibson, that she had been disappointed by the way the County Council’s review of libraries had been undertaken, particularly the way in which a vast amount of information had been provided to County Councillors on the responses made to the consultation with only a very short time for them to consider it prior to a decision being made by the Cabinet.

Councillor V Taylor endorsed comments about the value to Wyre of the International Tractor Pulling Event at Great Eccleston.  She said she had received lots of positive comments from overseas visitors and from people attending from other parts of the UK, about the Council’s support for the event.

Report of the Chairman of the Audit Committee (Cllr McKay).

The Chairman of the Audit Committee (Councillor McKay) and the Head of Finance submitted a report referring to current issues being dealt with by the Audit Committee.  Councillor McKay said that it was a very effective committee, which often worked on a cross-party basis and was well supported by Clare James in her new role as Head of Finance.

Councillor Barrowclough referred to paragraph 3 of the report and asked that if possible future meetings should be scheduled to avoid clashes with Fleetwood Town Council meetings which were held on the last Tuesday of each month.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Report of the Leader of the Council (Cllr Gibson) and the Service Director Performance and Innovation.

The Leader of the Council (Councillor Gibson) and the Service Director, Performance and Innovation submitted a report to enable the Council to consider the appointment of a working group to consider proposals for a review of parliamentary constituencies.

Councillor M Anderton proposed and Councillor Beavers seconded an amendment proposing that the membership of the Working Group should be comprise of any councillors who wished to attend, but the amendment was lost by 31 votes to 9.

RESOLVED that a working group comprising the Deputy Leader and  Resources Portfolio Holder (Councillor A Vincent), Councillors Ballard, Holden, S Turner, Michael Vincent, M Anderton and Fail be appointed to respond to the consultation process on the 2018 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies and to submit comments and proposals on behalf of the Council to the Boundary Commission for England.

No Notices of Motion have been submitted under Procedure Rule 14.

None received.