BABERGH DISTRICT COUNCIL ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETING

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BABERGH DISTRICT COUNCIL HELD IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, COUNCIL OFFICES, CORKS LANE, HADLEIGH ON TUESDAY 11 APRIL 2006

PRESENT: Mrs S M Wigglesworth – Chairman

The following Members were unable to be present:- Mr P K Beer, Mrs S Carpendale, Mr N H J Irwin, Mr C D Kerr, Mr J A B Long, Mr J M Owen and Mr C M Spence.

The proceedings were opened with Prayer.

Prior to the commencement of the meeting Mrs S M Wigglesworth, the retiring Chairman of the Council, thanked the Public, Members and Officers who had supported her during her Term of Office as Chairman of the Council.

1 ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN

It was proposed and seconded that Mr R W Thake be elected Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

Resolved

That Mr R W Thake be elected Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

Mrs S M Wigglesworth vacated the chair and Mr R W Thake thereupon made his Declaration of Acceptance of Office and presided over the meeting.

2 ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIRMAN

It was proposed and seconded that Ms J A Jenkins be elected Vice-Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

RESOLVED

That Ms J A Jenkins be elected Vice-Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

Ms J A Jenkins thereupon made her declaration of acceptance of office.

3 MINUTES

RESOLVED

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 23 February 2006 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

4 DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

The following Members all declared personal interests in the Item referred to in Minute No. 12 below in the capacity indicated but advised that they would speak and vote on the matter.

Mr B L Lazenby also declared a personal interest by virtue of being a Board Member of the South Suffolk Leisure Trust.

Mr P J Holbrook and Mr J R A Sayers indicated that they had received advice from the Monitoring Officer that they had personal and prejudicial interests in respect of Minute No. 12 below and that they would withdraw from the meeting.

Mr A C Bavington declared a personal interest by virtue of being a Great Cornard Parish Councillor in respect of Minute No. 12 below. He also referred to the advice he had received from the Monitoring Officer that he should declare a personal and prejudicial interest as he had signed a petition by the Save Gainsborough Countryside Action Group. He indicated that he did not feel that this advice was correct and therefore intended to speak and vote on the matter concerned.

Mr N MacMaster declared a personal interest in his capacity as a Great Cornard Parish Councillor in respect of Minute No. 12 below.

Mrs K Saward, as Monitoring Officer, informed the meeting that it appeared from the declaration of interests that it may be necessary for the Council to consider an urgent item of business from the Monitoring Officer ahead of Agenda Item 8(c).

5 CHAIRMAN’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

Beacon Awards

The Chairman informed the meeting that the District Council had recently received two Beacon Awards in respect of the BeActive Scheme and the Joint Waste Recycling Initiative. He congratulated members of staff in the Leisure Section and Waste Recycling Sections in achieving the awards.

6 TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATION OF PETITIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH COUNCIL PROCEDURE RULE No. 13

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 13, it was noted that the following petitions had been received:-

Development of Land East of Carsons Drive, Great Cornard

Petition signed by approximately 1,830 residents of the district.

Change of use from A1 to A5 – 50 North Street, Sudbury

Petition signed by approximately 104 residents of the district.

7  QUESTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC

See Appendix attached.

8  QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS

None received.

9  RECOMMENDATIONS AND REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES

(a) CAST (Strategy Committee Minute 139(a))

RESOLVED

(1)That the Proposed Customer Access Priority Requirement and Delivery Arrangements detailed at Appendix 1 to Paper E286 be approved.

(2)That the positioning Option for delivering customer access at Appendix 2 to Paper E286 be approved.

(3)That arrangements be made to undertake a further Business Process Re-engineering review, from May 2006, to cover service requests in Environmental Services.

(4)The further BPR Reviews be not undertaken, from August 2006 prior to receiving a progress report on CAST on 28 September 2006.

(5)That the high level Programme Plan for 2006/07, including major deliverables and milestones, resource requirements, spending plans and risks, set out at Appendix 5 to Paper E286 be approved.

(6)That the Chief Executive, in consultation with the CAST Programme Board, be authorised to make ongoing operational and tactical decisions to progress CAST, in accordance with the objectives, action plans, budget and spending plans determined by the Council.

(7)That update reports be submitted to the Council through the Strategy Committee meetings during 2006/07 as follows:-

28 September 2006 Strategy, for 31 October 2006 Council

8 March 2007 Strategy, for 17 April 2007 Council

(b)IEG 6 Statement (Strategy Committee Minute No. 139(b))

RESOLVED

That the IEG 6 Statement attached as Appendix A to Paper E287 be submitted to the ODPM, subject to the Head of Organisational Development in consultation with the E-Government Steering Group being authorised to make any necessary changes as work is completed that affects the Statement to ensure that the IEG 6 Statement correctly reflects the situation at 31 March 2006.

The Chairman informed the meeting that prior to dealing with Item 8(c) on the Agenda (Babergh Local Plan) he referred to advice received from the Monitoring Officer. He advised that the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 provides that an item of business may not be considered by a Committee unless it is included on an Agenda. The Act does, however, make provision for an exception to this general rule to be made where by reason of special circumstances the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered as a matter of urgency.

The Chairman advised that a situation had arisen where it had become necessary for the Council to consider a confidential item (Monitoring Officer Report – The Local Plan) and that he was satisfied that there were good reasons for dealing with this matter at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

10 EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC

RESOLVED

That pursuant to Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the business specified below, on the grounds that if the public were present during this item, it is likely that there would be the disclosure to them of exempt information as indicated against the item.

The meeting was also satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

PART II

11 MONITORING OFFICER REPORT – THE LOCAL PLAN (Exempt information by virtue of Paragraph 5 of Part I)

Councillors Bavington, Holbrook, MacMaster and Sayers all declared personal interests in this item but indicated that they would speak and vote on the matter.

The Acting Head of Legal and Administrative Services, in her role as Monitoring Officer, submitted a report (Paper F10) relating to advice provided by the Monitoring Officer.

RESOLVED

That the recommendation contained in Paragraph 2.1 of Paper F10 be noted.

The meeting adjourned for lunch at 1.20pm and resumed at 2.00pm when the Press and Public were re-admitted to the meeting and the following Members were present:-

Mr R W Thake – Chairman

12 RECOMMENDATIONS AND REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES

Babergh Local Plan (Alteration No.2) Post Inquiry Modifications – (Strategy Committee Minute No. 155)

Due to Councillors Bavington and MacMaster not observing the advice of the Monitoring Officer, Kathryn Saward was not present during the discussion of this item.

Mr G S White was not present whilst this matter was considered.

During the course of discussion of this matter an amendment was proposed and seconded that the site at Carsons Drive, Great Cornard be deleted from the Local Plan and be replaced with an allocation of part of the Carsons Drive site and part of the Shawlands site with a proviso that an area of woodland adjacent to each site be secured, protected and transferred to the Parish Council for the purpose of a country park.

Upon being put to the vote this amendment was lost.

Mr N A Ridley, as Chairman of the Strategy Committee introduced this item and referred to the revised Appendix B to Paper E314 that had been circulated to all Members.

It was noted that the Government planning policy advice (in PPG3) would indicate that the density of development should be between 30 to 50 per hectare. Any planning application submitted which had figures very much higher than that would likely to be construed as “over development”, given the context of the Carsons Drive site.

At this point in the meeting Councillors Bavington and MacMaster withdrew and did not take any further part in the debate.

A further amendment was proposed and seconded that the site at Carsons Drive be deleted. Upon being put to the vote this amendment was lost.

RESOLVED

(1)That the responses to the recent public consultation exercise be noted.

(2)That the proposed detailed responses on each issue and to each representation, set out in Appendix C, and the proposed non-substantive changes at Appendix B (Revised), be agreed.

(3)That the Acting Head of Planning Policy and Economic Development be granted authority to make any necessary minor changes, revisions and edits to correct any remaining errors, effect any updates, ensure consistency and aid comprehension of the Plan.

(4)That a further Public Local Inquiry into the objections raised in response should not be held.

(5)That the adoption of the Local Plan be pursued as soon as possible following adherence to the requisite formal adoption procedures.

13 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY (STEWARDSHIP) COMMITTEE

Ms J A Jenkins, as Chairman of the Overview & Scrutiny (Stewardship) Committee introduced that Committee’s Annual Report (Paper F2).

RESOLVED

(1) That the Committee’s Annual Report be noted.

(2) That the Committee’s Work Plan for 2006/07 as outlined in Appendix 2 to Paper F2 be noted.

14 EFFICIENCIES

The Head of Finance submitted a Report (Paper F1) advising that the Government expects Local Authorities to make £6.45bn in efficiency gains before the end of 2007/08. Attached to the report as an Appendix was the Annual Efficiency Statement which outlined details as to how the Council intends to deliver further efficiencies.

The Committee were also being requested to consider expanding the role of the current Procurement Member Champion (Mr H N Todd) to encompass the Efficiency Agenda.

RESOLVED

(1)That the 2006/07 Efficiency Statement set out in the Appendix to Paper F1 be approved, subject to the Head of Finance being authorised to make minor amendments if necessary before submitting it to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

(2)That the current Member Procurement Champion, Humphrey Todd, be re-designated as the Council’s Efficiencies and Procurement Champion.

15 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY (COMMUNITY SERVICES) COMMITTEE

Mr C J Hunt, as Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny (Community Services) Committee introduced that Committee’s Annual Report (Paper F3).

RESOLVED

(1)That the Committee’s Annual Report be noted.

(2)That the Committee’s Work Plan for 2006/07 as outlined in Appendix 2 to Paper F3 be approved.

16 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE

Mrs S P Clarke, as Chairman of the Standards Committee introduced that Committee’s Annual Report (Paper F4).

RESOLVED

That the Committee’s Annual Report be noted.

17 POLITICAL BALANCE AND COMPOSITION OF COMMITTEES

Members had before them a report (Paper F5) by the Acting Head of Legal and Administrative Services relating to the Council’s duty to review the allocation of seats to political groups and to approve the composition of its Committees. Members were aware that the names of the Grouped Members listed in Appendix 2 were as notified by the Group Leaders.

At the meeting amendments to Paper F5 were submitted and these are incorporated in the resolutions below.

RESOLVED

(1) That the current sizes and numerical allocation of seats be approved as set out below:-

(2) That the ungrouped member, Mr C W Arthey, be appointed to serve on the Development Committee.

(3) That the composition of Committees as set out below be noted:-

STRATEGY COMMITTEE

OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY (STEWARDSHIP) COMMITTEE

OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY (COMMUNITY SERVICES) COMMITTEE

DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

LICENSING AND APPEALS COMMITTEE

HADLEIGH AND DISTRICT SWIMMING POOL TRUST COMMITTEE

J C Brand
J J Chapman
D H Keane

STANDARDS COMMITTEE

S P Clarke             Co-opted Members         Parish Council Representatives
N H J Irwin
R E Kemp                 B Riley *                             J M Cole *
N A Ridley                J Newton *                          P F Cook *

* Appointed for 2 years with effect from 1 March 2006

18 APPOINTMENT OF SUBSTITUTES – COUNCIL PROCEDURE RULE No. 5

Members had before them a Report (Paper F6) by the Acting Head of Legal and Administrative Services setting out details of substitutes proposed to be appointed under Council Procedure Rule No. 5.

At the meeting an amendment to Paper F6 was submitted and this is incorporated in the resolution below.

RESOLVED

That substitutes be approved as set out below:-

STRATEGY COMMITTEE