Agenda and draft minutes

A minutes silence was observed in memory of Former Councillor and Mayor Ronnie Shewan.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on Thursday 25 January 2024.

The Mayor updated members that the draft minutes of the Council meeting held on 24 January 2024 had been amended to correct an error at minute 46.

Councillor Fail raised an amendment to minute 51c. He clarified that although he referred to the housing type figures shown in the Authority Monitoring report for 2021/22, his question was regarding the housing figures reported for 2022/23.

The Chief Executive confirmed that the minute was not factually incorrect, but acknowledged Councillor Fail’s correction and agreed this would be clarified in the minutes of this meeting.

The minutes of the Council meeting held on 25 January 2024 were approved, unanimously, by those who were in attendance.

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.

The Mayor announced that the Mayoral Selection Panel had nominated Councillor Jane Preston as the Mayor Elect for 2024/25 for approval at the Annual Council meeting.

On behalf of the Council, Councillor Vincent said a few words in memory of former Councillor and Mayor Ronnie Shewan.

The Mayor reminded members of her charity race night at Garstang Golf Club on Saturday 6 April 2024 to raise money for her Mayor’s charities. She thanked those who had bought a horse; this was £5 per horse. Tickets were £40 per person and were available to book online.

The Mayor added that she was going to host a final fundraising event in April; details regarding this would be shared with members in due course.

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

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

None.

Report of Councillor Michael Vincent, Leader of the Council and Rebecca Huddleston, Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Vincent, and the Chief Executive, Rebecca Huddleston, submitted a report on the council’s Pay Policy Statement 2024/25.

Councillor Vincent introduced his report.

It was proposed by Councillor Vincent, seconded by Councillor Berry that the Pay Policy Statement in respect of 2024/25, which was attached at Appendix A of the report be approved.

It was agreed, unanimously, that the Pay Policy Statement 2024/25 be approved.

Report of Councillor Michael Vincent, Leader of the Council and Rebecca Huddleston, Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service.

Papers to follow.

Following a verbal update from Councillor Vincent, the Mayor confirmed that the staff pay line report had been deferred to a future meeting of the Council.

Report of Councillor Lesley McKay, Resources Portfolio Holder and Clare James, Corporate Director Resources.

The Resources Portfolio Holder, Councillor McKay, and the Corporate Director Resources (and S.151 Officer), Clare James, submitted a report to confirm the Treasury Management Policy and Annual Investment Strategy, Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Policy Statement and Capital Strategy 2024/25.

Councillor McKay introduced her report.

It was proposed by Councillor McKay, seconded by Councillor Vincent that the Treasury Management Practices, MRP Policy Statement, Prudential Indicators and Capital Strategy for 2024/25 as considered by Cabinet at their meeting on 14 February 2024.

Councillor McKay and Vincent responded to a question from Councillor A Walker regarding an update on the potential for the council to develop an ethical investment policy.

It was agreed (28 votes to 0, with 13 abstentions) that the Treasury Management Practices, MRP Policy Statement, Prudential Indicators and Capital Strategy for 2024/25 be approved.

(a)  Report of Councillor Michael Vincent, Leader of the Council and Clare James, Corporate Director Resources (S.151 Officer).

Please note: The report of the Resources Portfolio Holder and the Corporate Director Resources (Section 151 Officer) on Revenue Budget, Council Tax and Capital Estimates was considered by the Cabinet on 14 February 2024. The attached report of the Leader of the Council and the Corporate Director Resources (Section 151 Officer), seeks Council agreement to the recommendations of the Cabinet. An extract from the minutes of that meeting, setting out the Cabinet’s recommendations, is attached as item 10(b).

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Vincent, submitted a report on the Revenue Budget, Council Tax, Revised Capital Budget 2023/24, and Capital Programme 2024/25.

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 to the budget as a whole. The Council agreed unanimously.

Councillor McKay provided members with a verbal correction to the report, she clarified that the figure at 3.4c ought to read £9,860,830 (£3,000 less than stated in the report published owing to a late change to a Parish Precept). The figure at 3.4d should then read £251.95. She confirmed no other figures were affected.

Councillor Vincent introduced his report, he had unlimited time to do so.

It was proposed by Councillor Vincent, seconded by Councillor Berry that the recommendations as set out in paragraphs 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4 be approved.

Councillors Fail and Rushforth made comments to the proposed budget, they had unlimited time to do so.

Councillors Belshaw, Sorensen and McKay made additional comments to the proposed budget.

Councillors Berry and Vincent responded to the debate.

In response to comments from Councillor Vincent, Councillor Fail raised a personal explanation to clarify his previous comments regarding the spending of council reserves.

A recorded vote was taken on the Cabinet’s recommendations on the budget for 2024/25 as set out in paragraphs 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4 of the Leader’s report.

The following members voted in support of the proposal: Councillors Amos, Lady D Atkins, Sir D Atkins, Baxter, Berry, Birch, Bolton, Bowen, Bridge, Cartridge, Catterall, Collinson, Ellison, Ibison, Jackson, Kay, Le Marinel, Livesey, McKay, Meekins, Minto, Nicholls, Preston, Rendell, Robinson, Rushforth, Swift and Vincent.

The following members voted against the proposal: Councillors Beavers, Belshaw, Duffy, Fail, Fielding, Higginson, Martin, Moliner, Smith, Sorensen, Swatton, A Walker, C Walker and Wells.

The proposal was therefore approved (by 28 to 14) and it was agreed:

Report of Councillor Michael Vincent, Leader of the Council.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Vincent, submitted a report on the setting of Council Tax for 2024/23.

Councillor Vincent introduced his report.

It was proposed by Councillor Vincent, seconded by Councillor Berry that recommendations 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 be approved.

A recorded vote was taken on the recommendations of the Council Tax 2024/25 report as set out in paragraphs 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3.

The following members voted in support of the recommendations: Councillors Amos, Lady D Atkins, Sir D Atkins, Baxter, Berry, Birch, Bolton, Bowen, Bridge, Cartridge, Catterall, Collinson, Ellison, Ibison, Jackson, Kay, Le Marinel, Livesey, McKay, Meekins, Minto, Nicholls, Preston, Rendell, Robinson, Rushforth, Swift and Vincent.

The following member voted against the recommendations: Councillor Sorensen.

The following members abstained from voting: Councillors Beavers, Belshaw, Duffy, Fail, Fielding, Higginson, Martin, Moliner, Smith, Swatton, A Walker, C Walker and Wells.

The proposal was therefore approved (by 28 votes to 1, with 13 absentions) and it was agreed:

1.    That this Council’s Band D equivalent Council Tax for the 2024/25 financial year of £226.31 together with parish precepts, as submitted in the report on the Budget, be approved for each of the valuation bands as set out in table A of the Appendix to these minutes.

2.    That it be noted that for the year 2024/25 the major precepting authorities have stated the following amounts in precepts, in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, for each of the categories of dwellings in the Council’s area as set out in table B of the Appendix to these minutes.

3.    That having calculated the aggregate in each case of the amounts at 3.1 and 3.2 above, and in accordance with Sections 30 and 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, the following amounts are set as the Council Tax for the year 2024/25 for each part of its area and for each of the categories of dwellings as shown in table C of the Appendix to these minutes.

None.

None.