Agenda and minutes

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

Councillor Fail said that he had made a statement at the Council meeting held on 19 January 2017 about the accuracy, style and content of the minutes of the meeting held on 1 December 2016 but, neither that statement nor a summary of it, was included in the unconfirmed minutes of the January meeting. He made further comments and proposed questions about the content of Council minutes and proposed an amendment, which was seconded by Councillor R Duffy, that the minutes of the 19 January meeting be confirmed subject to the addition of the following words:

 “Cllr Fail said that there was an inadequate level of detail in the minutes of the December meeting and that the level of detail employed had not been discussed, debated, or agreed by Council. He went on to say that minutes are meant to be informative and interesting and that ‘dumbing down’ to the lowest common denominator was not the answer. Members, Officers and most importantly, the public, need and deserve a full and accurate set of minutes. Cllr Fail concluded by saying this needs re-thinking and bringing to Full Council.”

The amendment was lost (by 6 votes to 34)

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 19 January 2017 be confirmed as a correct record (by 33 votes to 2).

To receive any declarations of pecuniary or significant other interest from any Councillor on any item on this Agenda.

All Members are asked to submit any declarations in writing by 9.30 am on Wednesday 1 March 2017, if possible.

The Chief Executive reminded Members that on 6 September 2012 the Council had passed a resolution granting a dispensation under Section 33 of the Localism Act 2011 enabling all Councillors to speak and vote on issues relating to the setting of the Council Tax (unless any Member was disqualified from voting under the provisions of Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 because a Council Tax payment had become payable and had remained unpaid for at least two months).  Councillors did not therefore need to individually declare an interest in agenda item 9 just because they were Council Tax payers.

No declarations of interest were made.

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 reminded Members about arrangements for The Mayor’s Charity Ball at the North Euston Hotel on Friday 24 March and a concert by Blackpool Male Voice Choir in aid of the Mayor’s charities, to be held at Thornton Little Theatre, on Friday 10 March 2017.

The Mayor said that he understood that Natalie Reeves was intending to stand down as a Councillor and that she would be resigning in mid-March, so that the election for the vacancy created could take place at the same time as the County Council elections on 4 May. He thanked her for her contribution to Wyre and wished her well for the future. The Leader of the Council (Cllr Gibson) endorsed the Mayor’s comments.

The Mayor said that, unfortunately, Cllr Ted Taylor wascurrently unwell and, following medical advice, he had indicated that he would regrettably not be able to be Mayor in 2017/18.  He announced that the new Mayor Elect was Cllr Alice Collinson. Cllr Collinson commiserated with Cllr Taylor but said she would be honoured to be Mayor.  She announced that the Deputy Mayor would be Cllr Julie Robinson.

The Chief Executive read to the Council the following statement which he had received from Councillor Michael Vincent:

“It has been brought to my attention that another person has registered to make comments on the Blackpool Gazette's website with the username "Michael Vincent". This person seemingly only posts on articles in some way related to this Council, but as they have not implied or stated that they are me, the Gazette will not agree to my request for this person to be required to change their username. It is possible that the person shares my name, however unlikely. 

For the avoidance of doubt, I am not the person posting on the Gazette's site as Michael Vincent. I do not have and do not have any intention of getting an account to post on that site. I believe in engaging with the community, but do not believe comments on a website are the correct forum”.

The Chief Executive stated that he had a duty to support and protect the welfare of elected Members as well as staff and, should the individual who had registered in the name of Michael Vincent continue to post messages which were clearly political and thereby could wrongly be attributed to Councillor Michael Vincent, he would instruct the Senior Solicitor to write to the Gazette requesting that the user be blocked or advised to change their registered name.  If they refused to do so, the Council would consider taking legal action to ensure Councillor Michael Vincent received the appropriate level of support and protection. He stressed that he would provide such support for any Councillor, irrespective of political party. 

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 24 February 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 24 February 2017 will be published and circulated separately.

None.

Report of the Leader of the Council (Cllr P 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 on the Council’s Pay Policy Statement for the 2016/17 financial year.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Pay Policy Statement for 2017/18, attached as Appendix A to the report, be approved.

Report of the Leader of the Council (Cllr P Gibson) and the Chief Executive.

The Leader of the Council (Councillor Gibson) and the Chief Executive submitted a report on a refreshed Business Plan for 2015-2019 (2017 update), which had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 9 January 2017.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Business Plan for 2015-2019 (2017 update), as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, be approved.

Report of the Leader of the Council (Cllr P Gibson).

Please note: The report of the Head of Finance (S.151 Officer) on the Council’s Revenue Budget, Council Tax and Capital Programme which was considered by Cabinet at its meeting on 15 February 2017 forms part of the background to the attached report of the Leader of the Council, with paragraph 3.1 seeking Council agreement to the recommendations of the Cabinet.  An extract from minutes of that meeting, setting out the Cabinet’s recommendations, is attached as Appendix 1 to the Leader of the Council’s report to this meeting.  However, the detailed information from the Director’s report to the Cabinet is not repeated in this agenda.  That report can be viewed via the Cabinet agenda on the Council’s website at:

Cabinet – 15 February 2017

(A copy can also be obtained on request from the Democratic Services Team, tel: 01253 887481.)

The Leader of the Council (Councillor Gibson) submitted a report on the setting of Council Tax for 2017/18.  His report included reference to the report of the Head of Finance (S. 151 Officer) on the Revenue Budget, Council Tax and Capital Programme, which had been considered by the Cabinet at its meeting on 15 February 2017.  The full minute of that Cabinet meeting was included as Appendix 1 to his report.

The Mayor said that, in accordance with the usual convention, Procedure Rule 16.4 would be suspended so that the Leader when proposing the Budget and the Leader of the Opposition when commenting on or proposing any amendments to it, would not be time limited.  However, all other speakers in the debate would, as usual, be limited to a maximum of five minutes each. 

The Mayor also proposed that Procedure Rule 16.6(b) be suspended to allow a single debate to be held on any amendments proposed, the budget as a whole and the setting of the Council Tax.  The Council indicated its consent.

The Leader of the Council (Councillor Gibson) referred to the Budget proposals approved by the Cabinet on 15 February 2017 and formally proposed the recommendations on the budget and the setting of the Council Tax for 2017/18, as set out in his report (on pages 23 and of the agenda).

The Resources Portfolio Holder (Councillor A. Vincent) formally seconded the recommendations proposed by Councillor Gibson. 

The Leader of the Opposition (Councillor R Duffy) commented on the budget proposed by Councillor Gibson.  She said that the Labour Group would not be proposing any amendments.

Following a debate, a vote was taken on the Cabinet’s recommendations on the budget for 2017/18 and on the level of the Council Tax for 2017/18, as set out in paragraphs 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4 of the Leader’s report.

The Mayor reminded Members that the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 required that a recorded vote be taken on the decision to approve the Council’s budget and to set the level of the Council Tax.

The following Members voted in support of the proposals:

Councillors I Amos, R Amos, Lady Atkins, Ballard, Balmain, Berry, B Birch, C Birch, Bowen, Bridge, Collinson, Gibson, Greenhough, Henderson, Hodgkinson, Holden, Ibison, Ingham, Jones, Kay, Moon, Murphy, Orme, Ormrod, Pimbley, Robinson, V Taylor, A Turner, S Turner, A Vincent, Matthew Vincent, Michael Vincent, Walmsley, Wilson.

The following Members voted against the proposals:

Councillors E Anderton, M Anderton, Barrowclough, I Duffy, R Duffy, Fail, Lees, Reeves, Smith.

The proposals were therefore carried by 34 votes to 9 and it was

RESOLVED:

1)    That the formal Council Tax resolution as agreed by Cabinet 15 February 2017, as set out in Appendix 1 of the Leader be agreed, as set out below:

(PLEASE NOTE – the paragraph numbers, format and wording below directly reflect the numbering in the Appendix to the Leader’s report).

1.    that the following be approved:

a.    The Revised Revenue Budget for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.